Days 31-34: End of Training (9/14-9/17/20)

First off, today is my Co-leader Grace’s birthday!! Yes, I’ve only truly known her for a few weeks, but we had to go all out for her (following COVID protocols obviously). The day before, on our day off, Amanda and I went to Cub Foods to go buy donuts, where we bought a variety of cream-filled donuts that will be ready the next morning. So I went early in the morning before our first obligations to pick up the donuts, then set up a table setting for her donuts, snacks, and other goodies we bought her, along with affirmation cards everybody on the team made. Then, she received all her gifts after mass as we were preparing for breakfast, and she loved it! It was a super cool thing to do for her, and I’m so excited to get to know her and grow with her! Happy birthday Grace, you deserve it. . . We had our final talks as a large group before we head for the road, mainly about theological topics such as the Eucharist, Scripture, and Mother Mary. The next part of training will be a little different this year than it was last year. Instead of training an extra week at the NET center and have a couple of practice retreats, our supervisor (Christina) will join us for a week and help us with ministry prep stuff and putting on a couple of retreats. I’m not sure how to feel about it yet, but we shall see. The night before the last day of training, we had a prayer meeting, filled with praise and worship and praying over eachother. It’s kind of like our last hurrah before leaving for the road. I loved it last year, and I loved it this year too. Though, it was much harder this year, as there were some wounds God revealed to me I didn’t realize I still had. Yet it was still extremely fruitful, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. . . The final day of training: Commissioning Mass!! Bishop Cozzens came in to give us an extra blessing to send us forward on our year of mission. It is super empowering, and it marks the end of a beautiful time at training. It will be hard to say goodbye to all these peeps, but I cannot WAIT to get on with my team and start road life. After the Mass, goodbyes were hard but so exciting, as we were on to greater things. Cheers to us!! From hereon out it’s just me and my 11 teammates/soon-to-be best friends. Let’s do this.