Days 162-165: Happy Birthday Evan!! (2/6-2/9/20)

A very special day today, as Evan turns 20!! His gift: leading a retreat. Definitely not ideal in his big day, but with everything that’s been going on, he had to lead the retreat today. Even worse, it was an early morning, getting up at 5:00 to get packed, pick everyone up, and drive to St. Francis Cabrini in West Bend, WI for a school retreat. Fortunately, it was just 20 6th graders, and some of the most fun 6th graders we’ve had all year! They really enjoyed our silly humor, which is very rare for middle schoolers to like. Plus, we made sure that Evan’s spirits were up on his big day throughout the retreat, and I also gave the talk, which was alot of fun. After the retreat, the true gift of the day arrived for Evan: it was Adam!! After two long weeks without our boy, he finally returned to us with 4 less teeth, and we were filled with so much joy and excitement beyond imagination. Then, we entered team prayer, which i got to lead! In the second half, teammates get to lead team prayer when assigned by team leaders. Monica and Evan have already led at some point, and now it was my turn. And it was so much fun! I was able to give everything to Good and the team in prayer, and it was so empowering for me, especially some I’ve been struggling to focus in prayer. From there, we went to Culver’s as a team and hung out, then went to our host home, who served the whole team dinner before before the ladies went across the street for the night. . . Also, Evan, if you ever read this, thank you for all you’ve done for me. I am so grateful for your leadership presence, for redeeming certain parts of my life, and continuing to serve others no matter the circumstances. So grateful Fire you brotha! . . It was another service Tuesday for us, this time at St. Francis Cabrini, where we led the retreat yesterday, to paint their school offices. It was very relaxing, and very quick with all of us helping, but the best part was eating lunch with the students. Jason, Ellie, Roni, and I were sent to hang out with anyone coming through the cafeteria, which originally was the 6th graders who were ministered to yesterday. Then, once they left for recess, the younger students came in (4K-4th). So, naturally, Jakob began doing his one magic trick to fascinate the kids, and became super popular for it. Then they began looking at Ellie, and asked “What can YOU do?” Well, Ellie has a power voice, so she began singing. Once entertained, they looked at me and asked, “What can YOU do!?” And praise God, theres was a basketball hoop there, so i could grab the rim and dazzle the kids before they went to class. Is there wasn’t a basketball hoop, i would’ve been in trouble. After painting, we had chill time, made a video, and went to host homes down in Kenosha, WI. That night, the guys went to pick up Nels from the airport! He went back home for three days for family business, so even when Adam returned we never had a full team, but now we will! Our house father, Kurt, drove Adam and I out to go pick him up, and finally, after two long weeks, the brotherhood was reunited!! And drive Kurt has a man cave, we played cards at his poker table to celebrate. . . This weekend, we had two retreats at St. Mary in Kenosha, WI, both being day-long retreats. The first one on Saturday was a confirmation retreat, put on for students from St. Mary’s and St. Peter’s Parish. For a high school confirmation retreat, they had really good energy! Extremely respectful and open to what we had to say, and i had another awesome small group. As for Sunday’s retreat, it was a middle school youth group only for St. Mary’s parish, which was definitely alot more lowkey. The 6th grade guys were wild, hence it was a little more difficult than the day before (ironically), but it was still good. The retreatants in Wisconsin have really impressed me for the most part. There hasn’t been any super difficult retreat yet, like how there was a few on the East coast, so I’ve been super content lately on the ministry lately. Will continue to pray that it stays that way.