Days 109-113: Start of Grand Rapids Tour

IT SNOWED!!! After lots of warmer weather than expected in the east, we’re finally getting some snow here in Michigan. And lucky for me, I got to experience Jakob’s first snow day ever! Him and Aimee live in Southern California, so they’ve never seen real snow before until today. I got the whole first reaction on camera, and it’s glorious. We meet up with the team at around 8:00am, ready to put on an 11-hr retreat, one week removed from doing any sort of ministry. There was about 50 expected to be there, but instead only 15 came. Works for me, I love smaller retreats. The group was not crazy energetic, but it was still a fun retreat and the kids were cool to hang around, so it was a very nice way to drive back into ministry. After the retreat and before wee went home for the evening, we had a snowball fight, started by Jakob of course. Oh yeah, we’re gonna have a blast here. . . Would you look at that, another team day! Not a whole lot of things better than starting the day with team prayer, as we usually do on team days. From there, Sarah and Nels has to make some calls, and sent the team out on a snow trail, which was absolutely gorgeous! From there we had lunch in the van, and Men’s Session at a place called Pump Time, which is essentially Menchie’s on steroids: more flavors, more toppings, more everything, definitely recommend. Once finished, we arrived at our next school: Our Lady of Consolation in Rockford, MI, where we did some ministry work before leaving for host homes. We arrived at our host home at 7:30, and met Chris and Lynn, who sent us straight to bed once we got there. Had no chance to talk to them (trust us, we tried), she just told us to go ahead and relax. To be fair, we would be seeing them again later this week, but still weird having a few hours of free time. With a tv and Netflix available, we are pizza while watching The Office, and it was super relaxing, just like it was the whole day. . . I noticed on our schedule we had alot of school retreats coming up, which is super exciting since we haven’t done a whole lot on road yet. Although it does mean early mornings, it calls for chill evenings and time to relax when i to the most. As for the retreat at Our Lady of Consolation, it was so much fun!! The youth were hyperactive, but super respectful when they needed to be. Plus, my small group was very sporty, so I was having a blast talking about sports with them! After some team prayer and chill time, we left for our next host home in Grand Rapids: Polly and her son Brayden. Polly is a NET alum, a team leader in fact, and she loves hosting teams. Brayden is 17 years old, so relating to him and making conversation was so fun, and something I hadn’t experienced a whole lot on the road. Plus, the whole team is staying, which we love alot, and it all adds up to a fantastic night, filled with nerf guns and jam sessions. The best part: we were there for multiple nights, so we actually get to spend quality time with the family! It’s gonna be a good time. . . Today’s retreat had many circumstances: Ellie, Aimee and Adam all had the retreat off, and today’s students came from two different places: Divine Providence Academy, and St. Anthony of Padua, both from Grand Rapids, but it took place at St. Paul/St. Peter in Grand Rapids. Yes, very confusing. Plus one of the team members went down sick, meaning we had pretty much 7. It worked out, though, as it always does. I have the talk and led a great small group, but we all had to recover. This led to alot of free time at Polly’s, where I got to call my family while everyone either napped or watched a movie. Since thanksgiving, it’s been a bit more difficult getting back into the swing of things, but lots of grace flows from it. . . Luckily, we do have another team day today. We got to sleep in until 8:30 this morning, which was so sick, leading into breakfast at 10 and team prayer 11. Since we were all struggling with either fatigue and some sort of sickness, this team day was spent inside watching movies. We watched two: Mrs. Doubtfire and Toy Story 3, which were nostalgic and extremely funny. Once it was time to go, we packed up our things and left for our next place. The guys stayed with a great couple, Dave and Lydia, who had two kids and a friend there to join us for dinner. What I will remember from their house is their basement: a full makeshift theater room with multiple video game consoles, a mini-basketball hoop, and a couple workout machines. While playing Smash Bros., we just had really lively conversation about various things, and it was another fun time. Not many other words describe these experiences in NET except for fun, but its what it truly is. Like I’ve said before, everyday is so new and so memorable, and i always look forward to what is to come.