Days 118-122: The Final Leg

5 days, 5 retreats, 5 schools, 5 cities. Lets do this. First up, St. Joseph in Pewamo, MI. Pewamo is a very small town in the middle of Michigan, so the middle school group was smaller than a usual school retreat, only 27 youth. We had to get up pretty early to get there, though, as it was a couple hour drive. This retreat was very interesting. It was only 4 hours, but it felt extremely awkward because the youth weren’t responding to any of the activities. Nonetheless, I still felt something stir in each of the retreatants, so I think we impacted them somehow. After team prayer and dinner, we had a 2-hour chill time as we waited on further instructions on where we were supposed to go for the night. I was so dead-beat tired for some reason today, so I wanted to go to bed ASAP. That night, we stayed with an elderly couple, Tony and Mary Ann, but since they weren’t home, we were accompanied by a neighbor, who were hosting a few of the sisters that night. His name is Nick, and he served with NET Scotland last year! Like Mitchell last week, talking NET lingo is always super fun and enjoyable. After a long day, and a longer day tomorrow, I went to sleep quickly after a bedtime snack. . . Next up, St. Francis of Assisi in downtown Ann Arbor, MI, only 10 minutes from the University of Michigan. We left again at 6:45 for another 2-hour drive over to Ann Arbor, where we led a retreat for almost 100 youth. It was one of our biggest retreats in awhile, but our job was made easy since the chairs were setup and the small groups were made by the teachers. This was a fantastic retreat personally, not only because I have another talk, but because I had the coolest kid in my small group: Garrett, an absolute Saint. He’s grown up in the faith, has two uncles who are priests, and absolutely loved it. He prayed over me while I was speaking in small group! No one ever does that! Plus the things he was saying was so fascinating to me for a 7th grader. Yes the other youth in my group were great, it was certainly a special group, but this dude was amazing. Shoutout to you, Garrett, who will never read this, I appreciate you. From there, we left Ann Arbor (we were there for less than 5 hours) for our next location: Assumption School in Belmont, MI, closer to Grand Rapids. The car ride was straight karaoke, which was super lit. We arrived at the school at 6:00pm, where Jakob and I were taken in by Kevin and Kathleen, who had 4 children including one who would be at retreat tomorrow. It’s funny how Jakob and I have this chemistry now when it comes to conversing with families. We feed off of eachother, it’s as if you could tell we’ve been together since Arrival Day (spoiler, we have!). It was a great family, and I had an enjoyable time. . . The retreat would be put on for three different schools: Assumption School, St. Charles in Greenville (the first parish we hit in Michigan), and St. Patrick in Parnell. It was a wacky retreat, for one a teammate got sick yesterday and it got worse, and each of the school’s had to leave at different times, so we had to adjust the schedule to get everything in while also making sure they get out on time. Very exciting and stressful, since our plans changed often during the retreat. Flexibility, a very fun teaching one must acquire After team prayer and music practice, we drove off to Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Grand Rapids, where Qdoba was awaiting us. The retreat contact person’s husband did NET, so she knew all the lingo, again, lots of fun. We stayed in the offices of the parish/school for the night, which was pretty big. Hence, the group came together and played Sardines the rest of the night. Man, no matter how tired or fatigued I am from the day, my team somehow always energizes me, and praise God for that, because I don’t know where I’d be without their life and zeal everyday, especially these past two weeks. . . Just like the day before, we pills combine two schools into one: Immaculate Heart of Mary, and St. Paul in Grand Rapids. This retreat held 130 youth, our biggest since the link retreat with Team 10, and the most by ourselves since Virginia back in the first couple weeks of being on the road. I don’t remember much, it all happened so fast I could barely keep track. I remember it being alot of fun, but also very fatiguing. At least it means I’m giving it all I got. Once we finished team prayer and our weekly Men’s Session, we drove off to host homes, where we stayed with the retreat contact person, Becky, and her husband Ray. They were a very sweet couple who have been wanting a NET team to at their parish, Holy Trinity in Comstock Park, MI, for years, but finally got the funds this year to bring one in. What a blessing, our final retreat of 2019 is going to fulfill someone’s goal, you already know it’s gonna be good. . . Our last retreat was only a 4-hour retreat, where it took place at a campsite. We gave everything we had, and although the group had meh energy, my small group was great, and we made that retreat so enjoyable for ourselves. To celebrate, we had a dance party in the main space once everyone left, and it was so rewarding after a hard-fought week. From there, we took off for the NET center back in St. Paul, where December retreat would be awaiting us. We wouldn’t drive the whole way there, but we would get about halfway there and drive the second half tomorrow. We stopped in Aurora, IL, at Roger and Elizabeth’s house. They had 5 kids, and for dinner fed us genuine carne asada. The Latinos were drooling, after all it has been 4 months. We performed skits for eachother, as Roger, a NET alum, taught the children a few skits, and it was a relaxing time. But man, I cannot WAIT to see all the missionaries again!! It’s gonna be so much fun, but will also be weird not being with just my team anymore. Let’s party!!!!!