Days 147-149: Missing You from Milwaukee

Time to get back to work. Well, after sleeping in and having another chill morning. Got some ministry work done and played some wallball inside (after all its 2 degrees outside), but after a long few days, we finally depart from Barnesville. We don’t go to far though, just a little north up to Hawley, MN, at St Andrew’s. It was a high school youth group, an evening retreat that ran till 9:30pm. Not my preference, mainly because less time to invest in host families, but its not horrible. This retreat was fun! My small group of sophomores were a blast, but unfortunately were all ready to leave the church upon graduation. Hence, i gave them the “confirmation isn’t graduation” spiel, which i could tell they would chew on that night. Also, first time trying a taco in a bag: basically ground beef and lettuce and others taco toppings and put them in a Doritos bag, which turned out honestly better than i thought it would be. That night, Nels and I stayed with Cody, whose wife and kids were asleep when we arrived at 10:15. You don’t know nor care about their names, but itll be good for me when i read on this later down the road. . . These next two days will be travel days, split four hours a piece, to arrive in the Milwaukee diocese. And since we would stop halfway, we took a pitstop at the NET Center! Met up with Christina and Jaime and the rest of the mission staff, and even saw the Home Team on their day off! Went to Target and Chick-Fil-A as well. This all happened in the afternoon, but it came with bad news. During that time Adam scheduled a dentist appointment, as he has been having issues with his teeth, and since he was home for the few hours here in St. Paul he could go. When we all reconvened together at around 4pm, we learned he had to get his wisdom teeth removed, and works leave the road for at least two weeks. Although it was temporary, this was a big hit for our team. Losing a teammate, especially a brother as goofy and funny and energetic as him, is going to be tough. We’ll see how it goes. So we left him behind at the NET center, and headed to the Lavalla household in St. Charles, MN. Their daughter is on mission staff, and the whole family is absolutely amazing. We had such a fun time conversing, but it was already weird without Adam. . . Our host dad, who is becoming a deacon in May, invited us to 8am mass at his parish St. Charles. I was really in the mood, so i tagged along with Nels, Sarah, and Evan. I was very distracted, though, by the crucifix hanging above the altar, as the representation of Jesus weirded me out. If you saw a picture, you would agree. When we returned, we ate breakfast and finished our second leg of the travels. According to the schedule, we will be in the Milwaukee diocese for about 4-5 weeks, which is exciting. Our first stop is Holy Family Academy in Whitefish Bay, WI. It’s funny because we wouldn’t even stay the night here, we’re just running a retreat and driving another hour to Elkhorn, WI. Nonetheless, I have the power of friendship talk and lord a small group. Usually talk givers don’t get a small group, but without Adam I had to take one. Fortunately i love small group, so it’s not the worst thing in the world. After the 4-hour retreat and a stop at DQ, we arrived at St. Patrick school at 11pm, and unloaded as fast as we could to get to bed. Oh, and while Adam is gone, i took up his role as the trailer packer, so in other words i unloaded as fast as i could. Dang was i tired, and i wouldn’t get much more rest anytime soon.