Days 123-126: December Retreat (12/15-12/18)

For some reason NET wont provide a mass for us when we get home, so on this cold Sunday, we had to attend a mass somewhete else. Fortunately, our host home lives right behind a church, so we attended the 6:45am mass in order to get to the NET center as quickly as possible. We left at 8:00, and drove another 6.5 hours. But we arrived! We were one of the first teams, along with teams 2 and 4, and then the chaos began! So many hugs, screams and luggage filled the NET center, as the missionaries reunited once again after 4 months. Everyone was overwhelmed, but I personally loved it. I made so many friends, some i kept in contact with throughout the months, others I didn’t, so for me getting to see familiar faces was the best thing ever. The purpose of the retreat was to relax, debrief, and catch up with everyone again, along with some fun activities every now and then. And that’s exactly what we did. We had a couple of praise and worship sessions, couple masses and team prayers, couple talks about going home, and a couple activities such as snowman building competitions and dodgeball for the guys. It was so relaxing and so enjoyable, and I still got to hang with my team. Definitely a highlight of the year. . . The day I returned home. I had a 3:30pm flight, but despite this I took a 10:30am shuttle, as it was one of the last shuttles out of the NET center. I was accompanied by Danny (Arizona, Team 10), Jocelyn (So. Cal, Team 8), and Paolo (Nor. Cal, Team 1). Since our flights were so far away, and there was no good shops in the terminal we were at, Danny and I took the lightrail to the Mall of America, only a 5 min ride. Once we got there, we ate lunch. I got Johnny Rocket’s, while Danny got some chinese food. I loved this because we never got too close during training, but because we’re both a part of NET and had 4 months of experiences. we just hung out with eachother like good friends and had a great time. We took our respective flights home, and before I knew it, I was swarmed by all my family, who had signs and hugs ready for me. It was a great surprise, but I didn’t realize how tired I was until I tried to get excited and just couldn’t. Fortunately, mama’s homemade tacos were awaiting me at home, which certainly energized me. Man, am I going to enjoy this break. . . Final Stats of First Semester: 55 retreats, 2763 retreatants, 8 States ministered and 18 States passed through. 353 Small Group Youth, 8 talks, 130+ pizza slices, and over 100 new friends made. I ministered In: Minnesota, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington DC, Michigan while passing through: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, West Virginia.