EVERY muscle in their bodies were aching, but Australian Catholic University students have changed the lives of the residents of a small Peruvian shantytown forever.
ACU World Youth Day pilgrims worked with the Christian Life Movement to build a much-needed chapel for the community in Pamplona, Peru.
Students from ACU had raised more than $13,000 for the construction project before leaving Australia.
ACU pilgrim Alicia Timermanis said she would be “forever impacted” by her experience in Pamplona.
“The work we are doing and the love we are bringing on this mission is the most beautiful and wondrous thing I have ever done,” she said.
“For every aching muscle I have achieved something incredible and I cannot wait to give the rest of my journey here all of my passion and heart.”
The group, consisting of 42 students and staff from different ACU campuses, started their South American journey with a labour-intense mission week in the small Peruvian village.
To conclude the mission week, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru, and Australian Cardinal George Pell were to join with pilgrims in celebrating the first Mass in the newly built chapel.
Pilgrims were then heading to Rio de Janerio for WYD.
