Days 144-151: FINALLY!! MINISTRY!! (1/27-2/3/21)

St. John’s School in Plaquemine, LA, has hosted NET for almost 20 years now, putting on retreats for grades 6-12, and the youth always look forward to this week. Now, it will be very different for them this year due to COVID restrictions, but as long as we could buy into the newer format, our jobs would be easy. Wednesday would be the 9-10th grade retreat, Thursday was 11th grade, and Friday was 12th. I led Wednesday and Friday retreats, while I had Thursday off. Fortunately, the youth really invested in the retreats I led, and praise for that because it made everything so much easier. For my day off, I mainly sat in my hotel room and rested, which was what I needed. Some other highlights in our time in Plaquemine: had a fun meeting with Grace on a boardwalk, watched Cars with the team, and explored the city area with the guys, where we turned a sidewalk into a game of Chutes and Ladders. Plaquemine was a lot of fun, not to mention the cajun food that was served: PRIME!! I love it here. . . After the 12th grade retreat, we packed up and headed on over to Vacherie, LA, where we would spend the weekend putting on back-to-back retreats at Our Lady of Peace Church. Our host home: a house on the bayou! Just us, which was super cute. The retreats were very good too. Saturday was a confirmation retreat, Sunday a youth group. They were both quieter crowds, but this was the first time they have come together as large groups since March, so I can’t blame them. We brought the energy, and for the most part, they responded well. I also got to play for Mass for the first time this year! I had a heck of a time, and I find great joy in it. When it comes to team life, Andrew wanted to share his book he was working on: The Captain of the Rosemary, a fiction novel! He has written 3 Chapters, and read to us a chapter for each night in Vacherie, which is fantastic! He has written at least one page everyday of the second half so far, and he’s made amazing progress that helps him personally. It’s a fantastic story, and I cannot wait for it to hit bookstores soon. . . After a chill morning at the Vacherie house, it was time to pack up and leave for St. Genevieve School in Lafayette, LA. This place was already special before we even got there: the school planned for us to come in the day before to hang out with the 8th graders for a couple hours, who will be on retreat tomorrow. When we arrived, the kids made a human tunnel for us to run through into the gym! We then played games and hung out for two hours, but we could’ve gone for two more!! Hence, the retreat the next day was super easy when it came to interactions, since we already befriended the group. It was a special retreat, no question about it. Moreover, the people taking care of us, Nicole and Jodi, are what I call a Catholic power-couple, super inspirational, and super awesome people. Praise God for our conversations with them. . . And just like that, we did 6 retreats in 7 days. After a busy week around Louisiana, we returned to Elizabeth’s house for a few more days. Retreats will be every other day for about another week form hereon out until we move to our next state, but our time thus far has been incredible. The southern hospitality is real, the food in unreal, and we’re just getting started here! According to Christina, our supervisor, we’ll be back here in March, and I’m so here for it. But we’ll stay in the present moment for now, because that’s where God wants me.