Days 240-244: The End of the Road (5/3-5/7/21)

We are officially in the home stretch! We have one more team day left, followed by three more retreats, then two days to travel back home to the NET Center in West St. Paul. Today was our final team day, but it is only a partial team day since we have to travel three hours from where we are at, Dothan, Alabama, back to Mobile, AL. In that time, we did team prayer, then did something I have wanted to do for years: a Try Not to Laugh Challenge with water. Basically, two people face off with water in their mouths, while the rest of the team tries and makes one person laugh. If you laugh, you obviously spit water on your opponent, but if the other person laughs, you get all wet! Take that, COVID! You may be wondering: who wins, the person that doesn't laugh, or the person who spits on the other? My answer: yes, but really it depends on the person who they believe the winner is. We did this all in our host dad's yard, and he even contributed some jokes himself. After we cleaned up and packed our things, we left our host dad, Mike, for bowling at Patricia Lanes in Dothan. I got the highest score in two games with 150, but I got challenged the second game to bowl left-handed... it did not end well for me. It was fun, though. After bowling, we booked it for Mobile, and arrived at St. Dominic School. We had dinner, then went to host homes for the night. The guys stayed at the office rectory, while the girls stayed with some of the teachers at the school. . . Today was the last time I would lead a NET Retreat, meaning writing the retreat schedule and appointing people where to go and what to do. It was for the 8th grade class at St. Dominic in Mobile, and I made the most of it. The youth were fortunately very receptive and invested in the retreat. It was another school retreat, but I was very satisfied for it being my last retreat lead. After retreat, we did team prayer and did some supplies work required for us by NET before we head back to headquarters. For dinner, we got to eat with the principal and the pastor at St. Dominic, and it was very intentional conversation, which was really nice. After dinner, the guys called Sally, who was still at home with her family following the death of her mother. She was doing really well, and the guys were being chaotic as always. It was very good for all of us, we miss our sister. . . We got up pretty early for a school retreat down the road in Mobile at St. Mary's School. Not gonna lie, I was really struggling to enter into the retreat at first, but once I started playing guitar for the youth, I was once again feeling it. Typically I like to play this mashup I created whenever I lead music, which is not often, and the youth absolutely LOVED it! They were straight vibing, and I was straight thriving off their energy. They had high energy throughout the retreat, and that really made the retreat go so well. Once again, though, we left as soon as the school day ended. We drove 5.5 hours back to the lake houses in Arkansas we stayed exactly a month ago. When we arrived, Grace and I took some hammocks out of the trailer for a quick final fun meeting, and gazed at the beautiful stars. It was a solid evening, and we shared how much we appreciated each other for this year. It was late, though, so we called it early and rested before one final retreat. . . Something I don't believe I shared was the impact St. Joseph had on me this year. Obviously, the Catholic Church dubbed this year as the year of St. Joseph, but after reading Consecration to St. Joseph by Fr. Don Callaway back in August (which I totally recommend by the way), he has influenced me in many different ways, from work ethic to attitude, and he has become my saintly role model this year. Hence, it is extremely fitting our last retreat, my last ever NET Retreat, would be at St. Joseph School in Greenville, MS. We put on a middle school retreat here a month ago, and now we host the high schoolers. It was a great retreat, too. I had a great small group, who ended up winning Roaming Pictionary (explanation of game on Day 203), and I did a lot on retreat. Everything went smoothly, but unfortunately, we had to leave before the retreat even ended. Samantha had to catch a flight home in Little Rock, Arkansas at 6:30 pm to attend a wedding, and it was a 2.5 hour drive to get there. So once we finished adoration, we all packed up and left at 2:45, while the school day ended at 3pm. We got to the airport a little after 5pm, and she made her flight home to Kansas City safely. We could hardly process our final retreat before dropping off another teammate! We would see her again soon, though, you'll see. We stayed the night in Little Rock, actually, setting up shop at Elizabeth's friend's house. Once we got there, the husband, Sean, went out to a minor league baseball game, and we tagged along! It was the Arkansas Travelers, and if you know anything about professional baseball, it is the Seattle Mariners' Double-A Affiliate, so all these players were on the Mariners technically! They were super cheap tickets, less than $10 per person, and there weren't many people in attendance on a Thursday evening. So, us boys caused scenes, making tons of noise and people laugh throughout the night. We had a blast, and I was so glad to watch some sportsball with my team. We took a pitstop at Sonic before going home, since Katherine's small group today apparently bullied her into getting some, and we got home at around midnight. That's something we can do now that we are done with retreats, hehe. . . We spent the next day traveling to Grandview, MO, to stay with Samantha's family! She would not be there since she is at the wedding, but we stayed busy with her other 7 siblings in the house. On the drive, we watched Rhonda's funeral mass in the van, which was touching for sure. When we got to the Christy house, we honored Samuel's summer birthday by playing 9-square and eat Taco Bell and watch the Lord of the Rings. It was a good night to say the least. . . We have one more day of travel left before heading into Wrap-Up Week, a time to celebrate the year and say goodbye to our teams. I will write one last blog describing what it was like, as it is very new to me, and I will begin wrapping up this page. Thank you to all who have read thus far, I appreciate y'all! Cheers to the end.