Following the novitiate year, the third year of formation for friars in our province is Brothers Walking Together (BWT). The bulk of BWT for my classmate Carlos and I will include nine months in Negril, Jamaica. In preparation for our time in Jamaica, our summer training included a trip with St. Francis Builds to help build a school in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

The values of both BWT and St. Francis Builds are openness, flexibility, patience, and persistence, with the bedrock of humility. All of those values were put to the test, and strengthened, during our training this summer.

In addition to building a school, our group built three additional structures to an existing hydroponics system through the leadership of Levo International. Learning about Levo’s vision and work was the continuous highlight of the trip for me. Levo has already installed a hydroponics system in Jamaica and one of my hopes for my time down there is to restart and improve that program with the help of the local community. 

I encourage you to click on the three hyperlinks included in this reflection to learn more about the work of the Friars and Levo. 

(Brothers Walking Together (BWT) – St. Francis Builds – Levo International )