Day 47-48- St. Louis (Part 1)

I woke up at 8:30 this morning, which was the greatest feeling ever. Then I asked Nels what the plan was for the day. He said we would have team prayer, Men’s Session, Lunch, then we would travel to Clarksville, MD, for our next stop. Everything went according to plan: team prayer was swell, the van was loaded, and the guys went to IHOP to have Men’s Session. Only, by the time it was 1pm, we get a call from NET saying we were supposed to be in Maryland by 1pm… no one is to blame for this, just simple miscommunication. So we headed back to the convent, picked up the girls and left. The 2-hour drive passed rather quickly, and we were at St. Louis parish/school in Clarksville, Maryland in no time! We would be there for 4 days and lead 4 retreats, one for youth group, the others for the school. Fortunately we did not miss a retreat, as the retreat would start at 4pm. Tonight was a youth group, grades 6-8, so it should be pretty easy. Well, for me not so much. For small group I took the rowdiest bunch of 6th graders Ive ever met. There were yelling, talking over eachother, not listening and overall being straight up disrespectful to all of us. But, they did ask alot of questions about the faith, specifically about Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, so at least conversation was fruitful compared to most small groups, so its hard to complain. After a long day, we were picked up by Moreen and Jim Osborn, a couple that has been around St. Louis for years, especially since Moreen has worked there for 17 years now. They were super prepared for us too, as they had snacks and drinks galore for Jakob, Moriah, Ellie, Monica, and I. They said, and I quote, “This is your house now.” This made me happy yet uncomfortable, because thats way too much freedom for the 5 youngest Netters on the team. It worked out well though, and we went to bed soundly, ready for a big day ahead of us. . . It feels like school all over again. Get up early, arrive to school by 8am. Only now I am leading a retreat for 6th from 9-3:30. Today was really lowkey for me, as I had no small group, but I got to lead a very awesome large group game. It was a gender-war game, and the competition got intense. It was extremely successful for the first time trying that game too. After the retreat, we got to have Team Prayer in the old chapel built in 1889, the same year the state of Washington was born. It was so cool having praise in worship in there no doubt. When we got home, we had dinner and hung out with the Osborn’s. All they had on their agenda was the newest episode of This is Us at 9pm, so we hung out and watched it with them. I now understand how and why everyone gets sucked up in that show, because now I’m hooked! Although I didnt like how I just dropped into Season 3/4 and fully understood everything that happened, but its okay! Maybe I can watch it with mom when I get home.