Days 65-69: North Carolina Pt. 2 (10/18-10/22/20)

This week is looking extremely different than a normal week on NET. For one, we have zero retreats. Rather, we have four 1-2 hour retreats in four consecutive days, three of them being youth groups. So they’re like mini-retreats? Again, ministry is ministry. After a long 13-hour day at St. Therese in Mooresville, NC, where we put on the 4 retreats in 1 day, we got to sleep in and take our time in the morning before heading out to St. Patrick’s in Fayetteville, NC. Apparently it is the oldest Catholic parish in the state, and we put on a quick 1-hour youth group for them after their Spanish mass. It’s definitely not enough time, but we made it work. That evening, we stayed at a small house right on St. Patrick’s property where all 12 of us stayed. There was no one with us, so we watched the original Robin Hood on their old TV and VHS, and it was a fire movie! Great suggestion by Samuel. . . We will return to Fayetteville eventually, but first, we would spend a couple nights in Greenville, NC, at East Carolina University! Upon arrival, we ate lunch with the ECU Focus Missionaries, and local Vagibond Missionaries. Focus is like NET, but it’s discipleship for college students on campus, and they are very popular. Vagibond mission, rather, are newer and alot smaller. Based out of Pittsburgh, their job is to go into inner city projects and meet kids and families that need a community away from the tough community they are currently living in. It’s a bold mission group, and they are very inspiring. After lunch, we had time to kill before our first of two youth groups at St. Peter’s Parish down the street from ECU. So we went to the Town Commons in Greenville, and explored the area for a couple hours. From there, we put on the evening high school youth group, which was pretty thrilling given it was only two hours. That evening, the Focus Missionaries took the guys out to ice cream, where I got this crazy “Cookie Monster” milkshake at a local shop called Simply Natural. And, quite simply, it was incredible. . . We didn’t have much planned before the evening middle school youth group. Luckily, God works in great ways. One of the high school youth group core team members, Mark, took out for lunch at this local chain called Cook Out, which was fortunate because our original lunch plans got canceled right before he reached out. After lunch, we met up with the Vagibond Missionaries and did contact work with them, hanging out with some of the local neighborhood kids while we grilled hot dogs. It was like doing local work for kids at home in Federal Way, and I was thriving. Plus, it was fun reaching out to a new community, and Vagibond mentioned it was their best day of work yet! Super grateful for being able to serve in that way. Oh, and the middle school youth group was just as great as the high school group. Before we called it a night, though, Vagibond invited us to their house for a bonfire, which was super fun. There were only five of them, so it allowed me to have a great conversation with my teammate Sarah. Fellowship with other Catholic missionaries are prime, though, since we all share the same faith and call to service. . . We said our goodbyes to all the missionaries the next morning, and headed for St. Ann’s in Clayton, NC. We had two events today: a homeschool gathering and a confirmation retreat. The first, a mass and luncheon with a homeschool community at St. Ann’s that included 10-15 families with a ton of kids. We got to play football with the guys, which was super fun, and just gave them a chance to talk to people outside their normal circle of people, which was refreshing for both parties. Then came the 1-hour confirmation retreat, which is definitely not enough time for a confirmation retreat, but we made due. It was great to see over 100 kids at the event, but sad to hear that parish is the only Catholic Church in the whole county we were in!! No wonder it was so large. Once we finished, though, we booked right back to Fayetteville, NC and the house at St. Patrick’s. I told you we’d be back. . . After five ministry days in a row, we had a solid team day. It started with a Maronite Mass, an Eastern Rite Mass. This is different from a normal mass in the fact that the sign of peace comes before the Liturgy of the Eucharist, rather than during the Liturgy. They also did intinction, meaning they dipped the body in the blood of Christ. They did this at Men’s Liturgy at Camp Wapo at training, but it’s the first time the ladies on our team have had the blood since quarantine. After mass and Men’s/Women’s Session, Grace and I surprised the team by playing Putt-Putt Golf! We had a baller of a time doing it. That evening, Deacon Josh, the deacon of St. Patrick, and his family took is out to dinner and a haunted trail in Pittsboro, NC. I was the brave driver through the trail, and it was a very fun time. Yes, I did scream a couple times, so what?