DCYC - Friday

I arrived at the High School Ministry office with my two friends, Daniella and Kassidy, and anxiously watched people arrive. We had no idea who was else was going to the conference, I was half excited to meet new people and half nervous that somebody I didn't feel comfortable around would show up. Luckily the room soon filled with a great group of people from all different schools and circles of friends, which made me even more excited.
We walked in late to the opening assembly but that didn't stop St. Ann's HSM from going full force, singing and dancing. Later that night Steve Angrisano told us a story that really stuck with me. He talked about how one night he was out with a group of Nuns and ended up in a bunch of crazy situations. In the few hours he was with these Sisters, they impacted the lives of four completely different people. The things he said about the Nuns made me realize a couple of things.
1) The nuns thanked the waiter and manager at the restaurant for the meal and how caring they were and said the meal was the best food they've eaten. Steve said these Nuns appreciated the food like they had not eaten in forty days. Simple, everyday things such as restaurants often get ignored. Yes, we pray before we eat, but do we really appreciate the food we eat? As an upper middle class teenager in Coppell, TX hunger is not something I am exposed to. But it is all around us, there are people just a few miles away from where I live who depend on Catholic charities and food banks for their meals. They can't just go out to eat whenever they feel too lazy to cook. I have volunteered at the food bank countless times and the most gratifying thing is getting to see how much the recipients of the food appreciate the people who package, shelf and sort it. The Sisters were just as thankful to the people cooking and serving the food as the people from the food bank are for the volunteers. If a group of Nuns, who certainly are never short of food and how it got there, can appreciate it that much, why can't we?
2) When the Sisters were walking out of the restaurant they were approached by a man whose asked them to pray for his wife, who had cancer. Of course the Nuns said yes but Steve was expecting that to be the end of the conversation. However, instead of taking off and praying for him later, the Nuns put their hands on the man right then and there and prayed over him and for his wife. In the middle of the street. How many times do we say, "I'll pray for you" and then wait until later to do it? Why can't we drop everything to pray for somebody? Fear? Something better to do? This made me realize a bad habit of mine, which I am deciding to call "pray-crastination" (ok well I think it is kind of funny???) As I go through the day I develop a list of things I will pray for that night, but WHY do I wait? We have the gift of prayer so we can use it wherever and whenever we need it, we should take advantage of that lovely ability we have.
3) After leaving the restaurant, Steve and the Sisters went to the grocery store. On the way there the traffic light was broken and Steve was freaking out because he thought he'd miss his flight. Outside of the grocery store there was a woman sitting on the ground and crying. The Nuns, went over and spoke with her. The woman's husband had just left her and her children homeless and she was on the brink of a breakdown. The Nuns prayed with her and gave her the address of a place where she could go for shelter, work and food. As they were driving Steve to the airport, one of the Nuns expressed how happy she was that the traffic light was broken on the way to the grocery store, because if they hadn't been there when they were, they might not have met the woman and been able to help her. Isn't that great? I absolutely love how God does things like that. And we often don't think of the things that slow us down as good things, but sometimes they are. God, along with Saint Anthony (he's awesome!!!) have worked that way in my life recently...
Over spring break I went on a school trip to London and Paris. Very late the night before we were to leave London, I got back to my hotel room and noticed I didn't have my phone. I looked everywhere, asked everyone but it was nowhere to be found. That night I repeated the prayer "Dear Saint Anthony, look around I've lost my phone and it can't be found." over and over until I fell asleep. I know a phone is a material thing that i don't necessarily need, but being halfway around the world without my parents is scary, let alone without a communication device. I was also afraid of what my parents would do, they definitely would not replace my phone if I was irresponsible enough to lose it in a foreign country. My tour guide, Linda called the bus company and asked them if they had my phone but they still had not returned her call when we were going through security at the train station to go to Paris. It was snowing very heavily in Paris that day and our train kept getting delayed. I had to find other ways to entertain myself while all of my friends were listening to music and playing games one their phones while waiting at the train station for nearly five hours. Eventually our train was cancelled and we had to stay another day in London. The extra day came with numerous blessings, we got to see a lot of things in London we didn't have time to before; The London Eye, The Tower of London, Piccadilly Circus etc. And during those times, it was a blessing not to have a cell phone to distract me from the beauty and history of the city. The afternoon we were leaving for Paris, Linda got a call from the bus company... they had my phone! Still today I don't think Linda knows how much I appreciate her. She easily could have said "Your loss kid" and not done anything, but instead she called every person possible to get my cell phone back and I am so thankful that God gave me such an amazing woman as a tour guide. We picked up my phone on the way to the airport and all was well again. But I truly could not process how incredible it was that we just so happened to be stuck in London that day I lost my phone. If God had not sent that snowstorm to Paris, I would have left the country without the cell phone that my loving parents provided me. Now, I know that my phone was not the sole reason it snowed that day, but that is the cool thing about Our Lord, he watches over every single one of us and sends his grace at all times. I know I was not the only person who benefited from Paris's snow. 
Linda to me was like the Nuns to the woman at the grocery store; they didn't have to help her out, but they did because that is what Jesus would do and they wanted to follow his example. It's what I always tell myself, "Never put yourself in a situation where you have the power to do something and choose not to" 
4) Being a Nun sounds like a 24/7 Jesus party and I want in! 

By the end of Friday night, I could tell this weekend was going to be transformational. 

A fun difference between this conference and a normal retreat is that there's no adult in your room to tell you when to shut up and go to bed. Needless to say, my friends and I did not get very much sleep that night. 

Thank you so much for reading my blog! I will post about Saturday (probably in 2 or maybe even 3 parts) as soon as possible. This is a busy week for me, please pray for my drill team as we go through line camp this week! 

In His name, 
Meredith 

If you have questions, prayer requests or just wanna say hi please leave a comment! And remember if you need somebody to talk to feel free to email me meredithmunro@icloud.com