Days 231-234: Our final Louisiana Retreats (4/24-4/27/21)

I cannot believe that is the title of this blog. We've been in Louisiana for so long, and we've continued to come back here every month of 2021. Man, the year truly is nearing the end... let's continue to make the most of it. We had back-to-back retreats at St. Anne's in Youngsville, LA, just outside of Lafayette. We drove from New Roads, where we stayed the night before, to get to St. Anne's before the retreat. The retreat turned out alright, the youth were a bit tougher than a normal Louisiana retreat, but we made it work. My small group of four guys was really neat because they all have known each other since kindergarten (they are in 7th grade now), so getting them to respond was easier since they were comfortable with each other. That evening, the guys were staying at the parish hall, but a family took us in for dinner and showers, which was really sweet of them. The mom, Desiree, was super sweet, and cooked red beans and rice for us. One of her sons, Coen, was on retreat, and we talked about BMX racing, since he competes at national tournaments. We then watched Moana and Soul with the family, and stayed with them until 9:30pm, much later than all of us expected to be there for. It was so worth it, they were awesome to be around. . . The second retreat at St. Anne was a high school retreat, which surprisingly was just as tough in terms of youth's response. There was a very broad spectrum of youth who really wanted to be there, and those who did not want to be there. But we gave our all, very proud of the team, and the chaperones were amazing too, shoutout Jessica and Peyton. Just like that, though, we left right after retreat for Marrero, LA, a 3-hr drive to the New Orleans suburb. We were returning to Archbishop Shaw High School, the all-boys school that we were at a month ago. We put on retreats for the freshman and sophomores, now we get the juniors and seniors. We got in at 9:30pm that night, and the guys stayed with the Salesians' rectory on campus! Fr. John, the youth minister, welcomed us in, along with a few of the other priests and brothers from the Order. With an early morning ahead of us, though, we went straight to bed, knowing there was opportunity for conversation tomorrow. . . The first retreat was for the seniors, and the theme chosen for them was what it means to be a man of God. Typically we only do this theme in Men's and Women's groups, but since it was an all-boys school, we made it happen, it was awesome. What we learned while setting up for the retreat, though, was this was the seniors' last day of high school ever. No more finals, this was it. I was leading the retreat, and although the boys were fun to be with, you could definitely see the senioritis by their lack of attention in certain areas, which made it a bit tougher for me, the retreat leader. Furthermore, the microphone situation was brutal! If I used the mic, only the people on the ends where the speakers were could hear me, but if I didn't, only the people in the middle could hear me, hence the lack of attention increased. It was a hard Catch-22, but there wasn't much I could do. Fortunately, the rest of the afternoon allowed me to shake off the logistics of the retreat. We had dinner with the Salesians, then went over to the ladies' host home, the Brown's, who had a boujee house. The house included a pool, a sand volleyball field, a Star Wars themed theater room, and some sort of castle room in the attic. They also had a massage chair that absolutely destroyed my back in the best way possible. I had no idea my back was that stiff until then, so smoothing out the knots felt incredible. Another fun thing: my parents were hosting NET Team 7 that night! This was the first time my family got to meet any NET Missionaries aside from me, and I was super grateful they met them! I facetimed them while at the house, and I was freaking out so much I disturbed the rest of the house. Awkward, but so worth it. . . This junior retreat at Shaw will likely take the cake as the best retreat of the year, for many reasons. Firstly, COVID and physical contact was not an issue with the school, especially with the class. There was roughhousing all day, and playing games was a wild time. Second, one of the ways we introduce ourselves on retreat is by rap, typically spitting two lines that talk about ourselves with a chorus in between. When each team members gave their rap, they got hyped for us, which is normal. What wasn't normal was a student from the front row walking up after everyone gave their rap, and making up his own! And it was fire too! All the kids got out of their seats and began mobbing him, with me right in the middle of it! Never seen anything like in my two years. Finally, Brenden played Country Roads by John Denver on guitar, and the whole crowd got into it. Flashlights were flying in the air, boys singing at the top of their lungs. Kids began forming a line in the back, arms around shoulders, swaying to that famous chorus, and the sway got up to over 30 people! It was lit. Plus, my small group was great, and most of our team got the opportunity to go to confession, including myself. It was an incredible way to end our ministry in Louisiana. But just like that, we had to go. We said goodbye to Father John and Brother Raf, and hit the road. Saying goodbye is hard, especially when it's home. Louisiana was certainly our team's home base, and we will miss it dearly. We arrived that night in Prattville, Alabama, close to Montgomery, and we will be in Alabama pretty much the rest of the year before we head back up to St. Paul. On the drive over, we hit 30,000 miles as a team! It was a very special moment, that's a lot of travel in just 8 months! About 3,750 miles per month, over 1,000 miles/week when only including ministry weeks. Now my back stress begins to make sense. We split into host families for the night, looking forward to what was in store for us in Alabama. What we experienced next, though, was nothing we could have prepared for...