Days 55-60: Hurricane Delta; 1st Supervisor Visit (10/8-10/13/20)

Yes, there is a hurricane coming our way. Hurricane Delta is expecting to be a Category 3, heading straight through Louisiana. After further information, we learned the eye of the storm was going through Cankton, where we are currently at. In Baton Rouge, though, they will only catch the outer edge if the storm, which is far less threatening. Originally, we would head back to Baton Rouge Thursday evening, and put on retreats Friday-Sunday at Most Blessed Sacrament (MBS) in Baton Rouge. Now with the storm, Friday’s retreat got moved to Monday, but still holding out for the weekend retreat. With the storm coming, me, Grace, and Christina our supervisor, made the decision to head to Baton Rouge a day earlier than planned to be safe and stay with the Talbot’s during the storm. We said goodbye to the Bertrand’s, and headed back to Elizabeth’s house. We maximized the extra day in Baton Rouge, though, from our first haircuts since August, to a solid music practice, to a great dinner with teachers from MBS. It was also storming the night before, but it wasn’t just any rain. It was warm. I’ve never experienced warm rain before. So Grace and I made the impromptu decision to run out in the heavy, warm rain, splashing in puddles, and acting like kids as we got soaked. It was certainly a different feeling, like a mix of feeling fully alive and shamelessly childish, it was so incredible. One of those unforgettable moments. . . Hurricane day has arrived. It was coming in the night time, but we didn’t plan much for the whole day. We had more dyads and in the afternoon Grace and I had a webinar meeting with all the other Team Leaders, which was alot of fun. That evening for dinner, we had a surprise guest over: Caleb Boudreaux, NET Missionary ‘19-20, on Amanda’s team last year! He lives about 10 minutes from the Talbot’s and was invited over for dinner and some games that night. I got to know him at training last year, and he is a really great dude, though I never thought I would see him again after the NET year. I’m super grateful I got to see him again, and more glad the team got to meet him. . . The hurricane has passed now, and honestly, it was quite underwhelming. Again, it was only a tropical storm where we got hit, but there was no noise throughout the night, we just lost power. It allowed us to put on a Confirmation Retreat Weekend at MBS, though! The youth were really fun, and we had a great time with them. During the retreat, we added a couple more team members: our Supervisors Christina and Anthony!! The supes come out 4 times a year, with this being their first one. They were supposed to join us the day before, but could not because of the hurricane obviously. Yet they are with us now, and we are excited! . . The way Supervisor visits work is we put on retreats throughout the weekend, then the supes take over a team day and evaluate us on strengths and way to grow. The schedule changed, though... again. We had one more retreat today (10/12), but it was canceled upon arrival due to flooding in some of the classrooms over the weekend, not from the hurricane though. We rescheduled the retreat to the next day, meaning we had our team day today officially. The day was spent on examining our prayer life and doing team activities that stretched us hard. It was a solid day, and we learned alot about each other and team life, both good and bad. At least there are things to work on. . . Christina and Anthony’s final day in Baton Rouge with us: an 8th grade school retreat. Keep in mind this was the 3rd time scheduling this retreat, and it turned out so well!! The youth were amazing and invested in what we had to say, another incredibly fun group. In the evening, as our last hurrah with the supes, they took us out to Mango’s, a beach volleyball complex! We haven’t played since our first team day at Wapo, and it was so much fun getting back into it. We love some good competition.