Kayla Westerberry and Kayla Johnson met each other while participating on a mission trip to Lima, Peru through Benedictine College. Each is from a different area of the Diocese of Superior. (Submitted photo)
Kayla Johnson and Kayla Westberry, both students at Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas, and from the Diocese of Superior, met each other going on a mission trip together to Lima, Peru through Benedictine College.
Johnson shared the following testimony: “We spent our spring break along with 13 other Benedictine College students working in a deprived area of Lima know as Pamplona. Most of our time in Pamplona was spent building concrete stairs.
Although this task may sound a bit trivial, it is much needed. Pamplona is located on a mountain desert, making it very difficult to traverse. Many residents, especially children, severely injure themselves getting to and from their homes. By the end of our time in Peru, with the help of our new friends in Pamplona, we built 30 stairs and a large cement slab in a difficult to access region of Pamplona.
Although we enjoyed building the stairs, our favorite part of the trip was entering into relationships with the people we met in Pamplona. The people were so welcoming. Through such encounters, we both learned that people of Pamplona are not that different from ourselves; they are simply people who live in incredibly difficult situations. It is a very small world and we are thankful that the trip allowed us to meet someone from our own diocese while making friends around the world.”
