Days 150-152: CRW and Craziest Retreat Ever!

After a SUPER long day yesterday, it’s time to turn around a run a weekend Confirmation Retreat (CRW) at St. Patrick’s. Apparently the group is two parishes (St. Patrick’s and St. Andrew’s) of about 70 retreatants every year, but this year they had to split the parishes due to a school event, so the group was cut in half. The group was very solid! Alot of fun, and i really saw the gears turning in their heads about this Catholic Faith. We all did a hefty amount during the retreat, and i had the pleasure of giving two talks again along with another small group. At the end of the retreat, before mass, everyone got news that Kobe died, and it shocked us all. At first i thought it was fake, but it was definitely real, and it distracted me from Sunday Mass. After the retreat, we got to chill and rest for a couple hours, decompress from a tiring few days. Eventually we came back together and made the most of the gym, playing various activities and card games. From there, we had to move all our sleeping stuff from the school to the church basement 3 minutes away since there was school the next day. So even with a little rest, we didn’t go to bed till late, and it doesn’t feel like we’ll stop soon. . . Today’s retreat is very weird. Its a school retreat, but it’s only half of the day, including lunch, so we only have 2 hours to do stuff. But it did allow us to take our time in the morning. The church gave us vouchers to a cafe down the street called Vicily’s, which was super bomb. Once we finished team prayer, we headed straight for St. Dominic in Ridgefield, WI. And let me tell you: it was the craziest retreat yet! We arrived 10 minutes before start time, and started the retreat with recess and lunch with the kids. But the youth were so welcoming! All ages came up to us saying hi, wondering what we were doing in our blue polos. Everyone was hyping us up, and the 8th graders were inviting us to their tables too. It was such a disappointment we only had 3 hours with them, i could’ve stayed there all day. Nonetheless, what a rush! After retreat and drama practice, we got to have custard at a Milwaukee staple called Kopp’s with Deb, a NET alum who schedules all the retreats in the diocese of Milwaukee. From there, we went to host homes, where Evan and I met Tim and Paula. Turns out, we would be staying a week with them! Sweet! We love that. For dinner, they served sea urchin casserole, which im still not sure what it is aside from delicious.