Days 83-86: More DC Adventures!

It was an early morning for us, earlier than usual, as we had to do personal prayer and team prayer before our 9:30am school retreat at St. Augustine School. It was a couple firsts for the team and myself: first all-colored school we have ministered to, and because it was a Men’s/Women’s Retreat, I gave my first Men’s Session talk on the road! I got it approved the week before, and I am super proud of it. Even better, the group accepted us well! Granted the teachers kept them in line, but it was still nice having a somewhat easy group. From there, we headed straight for our next retreat site in Gaithersburg, MD, also just outside of DC. Our next stop was a Homeschool community! Extremely different from our last stop two hours ago, but still different from what I am used to. We arrived at around dinnertime, so we got to have dinner at our host home. Nels and I paired up to stay with a gentleman named Rick. He worked for the Federal Reserve, and was a very calm and collected man. After dinner, we broke the ice with a game of apples-2-apples, then talked about various different religious topics and how God works in just about everything. Nels and I were captivated by his wisdom, and we enjoyed our time with him immensely. . . Today’s retreat is an evening retreat, leaving us with a full day of ministry work. Bet. We woke up at around 9am, ate breakfast and did personal prayer, and left for the retreat site. There were two parts to the building: one for the home school community, the other for miscellaneous things for us to do. In that time, we did team prayer and AME (aka skit) practice, super chill, super fun. AME practice tends to be our favorite because it gives us the most laughs and exploring other ways we can improve our ministry and relate to the youth. Finally, the retreat: 21 home schooled high schoolers, most of whom have been on a retreat before. I had the privilege of leading all the guys in a small group, which was so much fun! They all knew eachother from school, and most of them are in a theater troupe together! They’re doing “West Side Story” in April, and said if i was in town the team should watch. I really hope I’m in town for that. Also, two girls were slained in the Spirit during Prayer Ministry, which was crazy, and a couple were seriously considering NET, which is even crazier! Hope it works out for all sides. . . Another early morning back into DC for another school retreat. We left Rick’s house by 6:30am, and left Mother of God Community by 7:00 to get to St. Anthony’s School in Washington DC. This was another really solid group, which I’m super grateful for. The middle schoolers were energetic, hilarious but so much fun. Plus I had twins in my small group named Awesome and Marvelous, which was super sick! Turns out the night was gonna be cooler, as after team prayer and dinner, we were able to hook up to a projector in the main gym and play Coco in the big screen! Wasnt able to watch the whole movie, but it was the first movie night as a team, which is always something to get excited about. From there we headed to host homes, where the girls stayed with some sisters, and the guys stayed with the Capuchin Friars! They stayed on the Catholic University campus, and we got an inside scoop on the life of a friar, and the differences between a friar and a priest. It was all extremely fascinating, and although I’m not called to it currently, i would not be opposed to the idea of it. . . After a few consecutive days of retreats, we got another team day, which I won’t lie feels weird, especially with the amount of retreats we did to start the year. Ill take it though! We got breakfast with Fr. Fred, the chaplain for St. Anthony’s and a former accountant turned priest. The breakfast place, Murry and Paul’s, was so freaking cool!! You legit get any breakfast item, no menus, and they cook it for you! So I loaded my plate with eggs, pancakes, and sausage, and it was delicious. Would definitely recommend if you’re ever in DC. From there, Team 11 took on DC!! We took the metro into downtown, walked the National Mall, and went to the Air and Space Museum! I wont lie, I thought going back a second time would be more exciting than the first. I was wrong, but it’s all good. After a food truck fiasco that included our orders nearly driving away due to no food permits, we returned back to the van to head to the airport. Why the airport you ask? Well to pick up our supervisors Christina and Jaime of course! They have rejoined us for another supe visit, and the whole team is ready and excited to have them back. From the DC airport, we returned to St. Mary the Immaculate in Fredericksburg, VA to stay the night and lead our second of two confirmation retreats at the parish as we did last week, only this time with two more people! After a solid dinner and jam session with Jaime, I am beyond stoked to show them the team’s progress since October, and my progress as a Child of God. Plus, since last week’s crowd was so good, how bad could it possibly be?