Days 208-212: Easter Break! (4/1-4/5/21)

This is surreal, being in a different time zone for Easter. Obviously, I did not have an Easter break last year, so this is extremely redemptive. Break goes from Holy Thursday through Easter Monday, all spent with the Talbot’s. For Holy Thursday, the guys got to honor the girls for all they have done for us by putting on a BET Retreat! BET (Brotherhood Entertainment Time) was basically a mini-NET retreat, but instead it’s ran by the guys given to the girls, having all the components of a NET retreat. From Intros to a main talk, small group and a time of prayer. The guys have been planning this for months, and it certainly paid off. After retreat, we ate dinner, chilled out, then attended Holy Thursday mass at Our Lady of Mercy down the street, where we put on a retreat back in February. We stayed an hour after mass for adoration, taking up the challenge of being awake with Jesus for an hour unlike his disciples who fell asleep in the garden when Jesus was praying. There, Samuel encountered a woman who sat next to him at mass and adoration, who was touched by his witness. The lady, Joann, was a elderly woman who had suffered a lot the past couple years, and Samuel was able to comfort her, which was a beautiful witness, I am extremely proud of him for that. . . For Good Friday, the Talbot family took us on a New Orleans-styled Stations of the Cross pilgrimage. As we mourned Jesus’ death, we walked to 9 different parishes across New Orleans to reflect on His road to Calvary, walking 5+ miles from the Lower Garden District to the French Quarter. It was a beautiful yet sorrowful day, exactly how it should be. . . Something I did not mention: I turn 20 on Easter Sunday this year, which is really cool in my opinion! So, on Holy Saturday, my team honored me and my birthday. We spent the morning playing basketball and watching The Chosen together, and it was really fun. I never want too much for my birthday, as humility is a virtue I have been working on, so it was essentially all I could ask for. The afternoon was spent doing classic Easter things: coloring eggs, decorating Easter-themed cookies, and playing 9-square... okay maybe the last one isn’t classic, but it sure had become a classic over the past couple weeks for our team. We also watched some of the NCAA men’s Final Four, and we all freaked when Gonzaga hit the game winner over UCLA. Even non-sports peeps (most of the team) understood that was really cool, and I was extremely honored by that. . . The Lord has Risen! Hallelujah! Happy Easter Sunday. We woke up early and went to 7am Easter Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Mercy. We took cute team photos, got changed, and left for Mama Boudreaux’s house in Rayne. Every Easter, the Talbot’s celebrate with the mother’s side of the family, the Boudreaux’s, out near Lafayette, with close to 30 of their extended family members. Of course, though, they live in a town called Rayne (pronounced “Rain”), this Seattle boy can never get away from it! They have a massive property, and were able to host a bouncy house, a volleyball net, and a good concrete area for 9-square. We spent the whole day there, mingling and playing various games, the highlight being an egg toss. For lunch, they have a yearly crawfish boil, and it was delicious. I was never a seafood guy until I came down south, and after trying crawfish here and there, I completed a massive tray with a good amount of crawfish. I was so proud, I was sending videos to my family sharing how proud I was! The Boudreaux’s were also sweet enough to buy cake for my birthday, which I greatly appreciated. In the late afternoon we went out to a man-made lake they recently bought and filled, where we could fish and kayak for a little while. After a long day, we drove back home and crashed hard. . . Our final day of break was a partial no-obligation day, our last one of the year in fact. It is only partial because we booked a lunch date at Gordon McKernan’s offices! Yes, we took Gordon up on his lunch offer, and he came through for us. He could not be there, unfortunately, but one of her representatives, Kristina, did provide for us. We ate in the courtroom in his office, and learned about his firm. Apparently, he indeed built his law firm on Christian moral values, and most if not all of his employees are some form of Christianity. Some of the people who worked in the firm even came in and introduced themselves, Catholic or not, and shared their personal testimonies of faith! Shoutout to Cherie, Chandler, and Courtney for coming and visiting us. They even sent us off with 12 goodie bags, the same ones they send off to clients after they finish a case with them. Inside each bag were more hot sauce, a mask saying “Got it Done!”, and a New International Version Bible! It was incredible, and they told us if we were ever in the area to come and visit again, no matter who it was. What a beautiful relationship we have created with this place, after it starting out as just a simple joke! Praise God for the divine encounter, most certainly a highlight of the year. We returned home to the Talbot’s, rested a little more, then packed up and said goodbye one more time to the family. After many trips to their house this year, this was our final goodbye, and one of the many signs to come of the end of the road. We drove an hour east to Metairie, LA, where we stayed the night at two separate places: an AirBnB for the ladies, and a rectory for the gentlemen. Apparently the guys were already here before when I was on my personal Oasis retreat, so it was neat seeing the connection they already made with the priest who lived there, Fr. Andrew. . . After today, there are 30 days left of ministry for the year before we start heading back to St. Paul for Wrap-Up Week. In this final month, we have 24 more retreats in 6 states, our busiest stretch yet by far. We will return to familiar places, while also hitting up new states. It is going to be intense, but it is going to be so worth it.