Days 70-77: Virginia (10/23-10/30/20)

After one full week in North Carolina, we spend the next full week in Virginia, where we only have two retreats and two service days. We left Fayetteville, NC before noon, and arrived at St. John the Apostle in Leesburg, VA for dinner. I remember last year being in Leesburg staying with my teammate Ellie’s dad, but never putting on a retreat. This time around we are putting on back-to-back 9-hour confirmation retreats. Lots happened during our stay in Leesburg. First, the guys stayed with the wonderful Probst family, who treated us so well. They had three kids at home, and four dogs as well, who were all so fun. I also got to see my friend Vincent, who served on NET last year! I haven’t seen him since January, and he’s another person I never though I’d see again after getting taken off last year. Bad news: our trailer broke!! The left axle completely broke, and the wheel fell off the trailer. Luckily, there was a place nearby called Trailer Care, who only repairs trailers. All we had to do was call a tow and get it in before we left, which happened! Praise God we were in Leesburg for four days, total Divine Providence. It broke on the first morning, and got in back the day before leaving. . . As for the week, we put on retreats the first and second days, which were super fun as tiring as they were. It was also the first time teammates got to take retreats off, which worked out really well. On day 3 in Leesburg, we had a team day that led us to a Catholic coffee shop and a farm with a massive corn maze, big slides, and pumpkin cannons. Finally, on day 4 we had ministry work, where I got lunch with Vincent and picked up our fixed trailer on my day off. Needless to say, Leesburg was a great time. Other fun things that happened in Leesburg:

• Chaos ensued in the corn maze, and as much as Grace and I wanted to contain the team it was more fun letting them walk through the corn like children

• Grace, Amanda, and Elizabeth’s host family had a theater in their basement, where we watched Napoleon Dynamite on team day too

• Our host family put on a bonfire for our team, and we learned a line dance called the Virginia Reel with them

• Our host family also paid for the cost of the repairs to the trailer! What a family

After Leesburg, we drove about an hour east to Alexandria, VA. We would spend three nights there, all with the Lynch family, who have a billiards table and a son who loves to jam to Taylor Swift. The first two days in Alexandria we did service at Good Shepard Parish for Miguel, the Youth Minister. The first day we scraped and painted their parking lot curbs, while the second day we did miscellaneous stuff inside since it was pouring rain outside. Miguel was super inspiring for our team, as he shared his beautiful artwork with us, which included a ridiculous amount of spiritual imagery and symbolism. On our third and final day in Alexandria, Grace and I planned this thing called FCT: Fun Catholic Things. It started with the National Basilica in Washington D.C., which was 30 minutes away from us. I went last year with my team a couple times, and had to show this team the beauty and vastness of this Basilica that has over 40 chapels inside!! Although it was very restricted due to COVID, we still experienced alot, which was nice. After lunch, Mrs. Lynch took us to the chapel of the Poor Clares, a cloistered religious order in Alexandria, before taking us over to Eucharistic Adoration at St. Louis parish down the road. That evening, we got to meet Grace’s family! The Buchheit’s live less than two hours away in Pennsylvania, and her three older sisters live in Leesburg and Alexandria, so it worked out that we met almost the whole family. Meeting teammate’s families are always the best, and this was no exception. . . Overall Virginia was very good to us. It was personally crazy being back in the same area I was in last year, especially so close to Maryland where I spent almost two months doing ministry in last year. I’m grateful for the familiarity, but also I would’ve never imagined in my life being familiar with any other state besides Washington. Although we experienced our challenges here in VA (obviously), we powered through another week on the road! It’s only been 5 weeks on the road, and we have traveled through 14 states, and did ministry in 6 of them. I know for a fact no other team this year can say that, and not many recent NET teams can say that either. I’m super grateful for this opportunity and this life that I live. Let’s keep going! There’s so much left to be done.