Days 219-224: Team Oasis and North Carolina (4/12-4/17/21)

We had a 2-night, 3-day stay with the Doty's, with our full day being our Team Oasis Retreat, a time of deep prayer and solid rest. This would be our last major break of the year before pushing hard for the finish line in May. We left our lake house in Wetumpka, Alabama, at around noon, and drove the 4-5 hours to the Atlanta suburbs. Much of the ride there was me jamming out with Samantha to 2000's pop songs, aka our childhood, and it was fire. We arrived at the Doty's at around 5pm, and ate dinner at their neighbor's house, the Butz, where the ladies are staying for the next couple nights. Or friend Breanna joined us for dinner, who spent a lot of time with us back in February, and since we last saw her, she applied and accepted a job as a NET Missionary next fall! We are super pumped for her, and it will be fun for the peeps who return for another year. After dinner, Austin, the former NET Missionary, took us guys out for some late night fun, walking trails and hanging out at a downtown playground. It was likely our only night doing something fun like this, so we made the most of it. . . Our retreat was spent at St. Michael's in Woodstock, who graciously lent us the space for the day. It was a full day, with two full 1-hour guided prayer meditations, with 9-square, free time, and free Chick-Fil-A in between the meditations. Everyone had a different personal focus for the retreat, mine was returning to Christ and choose to finally talk to Him again. He spoke to me through music and a specific name, which was very interesting. It was a powerful day, and we took it home to process while playing Catan and eating dinner. That night, Austin was leading Praise and Worship at Kennesaw State University's Catholic Center just up the road. Of course, we went with him, and it was a lot of fun being in a college setting. Apparently, the community is just warming up to the idea of charismatic praise, meaning using your whole body to praise Jesus, so we gave the students a solid example of what that looks like. . . Just like that, we were off again. We said goodbye to the Doty family, please continue to pray for them, especially Austin, who is opening up a ministry in Michigan very soon! We packed our bags for Huntersville, North Carolina, where we were back in February too. On the way there, unfortunately, Andrew received news that his grandpa passed away. This was a devastating and shocking blow to him and the whole team. We knew that he would have to return home soon, and he would be out for a few days due to the loss. When we arrived at the O'Bryant's house, our host home in Huntersville, Andrew went upstairs and coped for the rest of the night. As for the family, we had a great evening with them. They had lived in Oregon beforehand, so I got to bond with them over the Pacific Northwest. They had two boys, both in high school, and they were really fun to hang around. . . Our first of two retreats in Huntersville was for the juniors at Christ the King High School at St. Mark's parish. We left Andrew at home, which was a difficult but correct decision. It was a solid retreat, Sally did a great job leading, but I had a difficult small group. Keeping their focus was iffy, but we powered through. We returned home, and had an awesome host home night, eating pizza and watching various music videos, from Michael Jackson to Rush. We got up the next morning, loaded up the trailer and left the O'Bryant's for Team Day led by Samuel and Sally. They first took us to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, which was really fascinating. I always heard about him from my grandpa, but really never knowing much about him. He was a great evangelist at the end of the day, which is what we as Catholics should always strive to be, hence I greatly appreciated his inspiration. From there, we went to lunch with the religion teacher from Christ the King, a former Focus missionary himself, then had a lowkey afternoon, taking a Target run, exploring a park, and getting ice cream at a local creamery. By dinnertime, we returned to St. Mark's rectory, where we stayed in February last time we were here. Tomorrow's retreat is the second confirmation retreat at St. Mark's we will put on. The first one was with the supervisors, and it was extremely fun doing a 12-hour retreat. Now, we get to run it all back with the second half of the confirmation group. . . It's strange, because of COVID we find ourselves doing split groups because of capacity. Yet, even though they are from the same class, both groups were extremely different. The first time was a very lively group of 8th graders, who were very knowledgeable of the faith, and really dived into the retreat. This group of 8th grade Confirmandi… not as easy. They were tough to break down, but once we split into Men's and Women's Sessions during retreat, you could visibly see the change in their mood about investing in the retreat. At the end of the retreat, we gave them a chance to share about their experience, and everything they shared was POWERFUL! Easily the best retreatant sharing we have had, even stronger than the last time we were here! God works in mysterious and different ways, but He is always working, which was my big takeaway from that retreat. As for Andrew, he joined us on retreat, and it helped distract him. He booked his flight home for tomorrow, and I will drop him off at 4:30am at the Charlotte airport. He'll be back, though, as we will pick him up in New Orleans in just a few days. But until then...