Days 157-161: Holy Hill and Our Lady of Lourdes

Its been way too long since i have posted… whoops. Thanks for being patient with me.

We are out here in Pewaukee, WI for our first retreat of February. In January, we did 12 retreats for over 400 youth, which is super exciting but such a small number compared to first half. Hope to get more this month. We start at Queen of the Apostles in Pewaukee, where we had dinner last night. Since it was an evening retreat, we were able to do ministry practices and Men/Women Session, which was very strange without Adam still. As for the retreat, it was a good group, but my middle school small group was very distracted and loud, making it difficult for me. But instead of being short with them, I chose to love them harder and be patient with them, which is something i haven’t done yet and is really hard. But because of it, it was much more fruitful for me than it would have been if i hadn’t, which was really huge for me. It was also cool because i saw one of my small group members from St. Dominic school on Monday at Mass! Really cool being able to follow up with him and see him and his family. From there, it was our last night with Tim and Paula after spending a week with them. It was the longest we have spent at a host home, and it was great having that consistency. But i am so ready for a change of pace, get back into the rhythm of moving constantly. . . Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and also a retreat that ended 30 minutes before the Big Game. The retreat was North if Milwaukee at a small parish capped Divine Savior in Fredonia, WI. The group was super respectful, but just didn’t participate a whole lot, which is honestly okay, as it allowed me to share my knowledge since they were engaged and would rather listen. But of course, the game was on ask of our minds, since Jakob, our big Chiefs fan, was decked out in all his gear for the day. And thankfully, i got to watch it with Jakob at our next host home! Jim and Pam and their daughter Anna (who knows Sarah) we’re watching the game when we met them. And the Chiefs won in a wild one!! Jakob teared up, and began buying Super Bowl Champion Merch. It was awesome, and I was glad I got to witness it, especially since i didnt want the 49ers to win. . . So, its not quite Evan’s birthday (2/6/00), but because we have a retreat that day, we get to celebrate his birthday today! Some he loves photography and Jesus, we celebrated it by going to the best spot available for both of these things: Holy Hill. It is a Basilica with a Chapel, and it sits on top of a hill looking out on the Wisconsin landscape. They call it the Castle on the Hill, and it is so GORGEOUS!! The Basilica, the views, everything, it felt as if we were on top of the world. I would definitely recommend it for anyone in the Milwaukee area. After a couple hours there, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, and picked up a cashier at Dairy Queen, which we would eat back at the church. We ended the day with mass, and playing Nurtz with our host family. Another solid team birthday! . . Another service day today. It feels as if we have service projects every Tuesday. Today’s task: paint the Sacristy and Reconciliation Rooms of the church, while 3 others go to paint another parish 10 minutes away. Even with 5 of us painting the two rooms, it was very easy and quick to do. After service, though, came a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Our host family, Pam and Jim, are volunteers for the Lady of Lourdes Hospitality of North America, and provide a “virtual” pilgrimage to those in the US. What that means is, with special permission from Pope Francis, we are able to experience the Lourdes pilgrimage from our own backyard. Since we had time, we went on this virtual experience, which included the actual rock and water from Lourdes, France! It was quite the experience, of you don’t know about Our Lady of Lourdes, i highly encourage you to research it, is absolutely fascinating. . . Our last day in the Fredonia area came with an evening retreat at Our Lady of the Lakes in Random Lake, WI, only 10 minutes away. We got to play basketball together as a team before everyone arrived, and do some more ministry work. The retreat was alot of fun. The youth had great energy, especially the girls, and it was another extremely successful retreat. We definitely haven’t had as many retreats here in Wisconsin, but they have all been super fruitful and fun, so it works out. But again, ready to continue moving from place to place.