Blood, sweat, tears.... And a spiritual battle.

So the first week of our northern Crossroads walk is over. We are into the second week, but what a journey it has been so far. As many of you know we started out from the Space Needle and as a group we walked about 2 miles and then day shift took over. I was on night shift so I did not walk until the night... Obviously lol. I will not bore you with the details. But here was the daily schedule. Mass in the morning. Day shift would walk all day. Meanwhile, we, the night shift, would do the shopping that needed to be done and hen John would drive us to the rv park wherein we would collapse from having no sleep. We then would get up around 6 ish and begin dinner. Along the way there were some bumps in the road and some very interesting stories. Here are some of my favorite stories of the week.
1. The dog-wolf hybrid. Grace and Peter were out on a shift. We were in the middle of the Cascade Mountains. John, Mario, and I were asleep in the support vehicle up at the transition point ( five ish miles ahead of the walkers walking). As they were walking a white dog/ wolf thing came out of the woods and began to go towards them. They tried calling us but since we were in the mountains we had no service. So they turned around and flagged down a car so they could be driven around the dog thing. Poor guys. We felt so bad even though it was not really our fault we did not have reception. Thank God they were ok.
2. I have officially bled for the babies. Wednesday night I walked the first shift and realized I was getting a blister. So I put a band aid on it and tried to ignore it. Well during my second shift it came off and when we reached the car after I took off my shoes I found that my sock was bloody and I had not one but four blisters that had begun to bleed. It was painful but nothing I could handle.
3. Peter and I heard a coyote on Thursday morning. But then later we saw the sun rise. We were surrounded by farmland so it was absolutely gorgeous. Especially when we saw the deer up on the hill.
4. John and I driving to the rv park called Jack' s resort. Literally in the middle of nowhere. Everyone else was asleep. I was helping him navigate from the front. We turn down this dirt road and the gps says we should be there. Well no rv park. We keep driving and John says it will just be around the corner. Still no rv park. John and I are cracking up and it seems so funny because we were so tired. Well we finally found the rv park after driving another 8 miles down the road. Quit the adventure.
5.We stayed in Spokane over the weekend with some Sisters. On friday night Alex and Dan Federico from the band Scythian (for all you Frannies reading this) and they played us our own private concert as we were visiting the sisters. It was so awesome!!!!!! They are going to be walking with us for the next 2 weeks. It has been really great getting to know them so far.
That is just a handful of the good stories. We met so many great people at the parishes we had mass at. They were so welcoming. It was really refreshing to meet people like that.

The other thing I pondered this past week is he fact this is not only a physical battle but is truly also a spiritual one.being on night shift is so challenging and is truly a struggle. I know I did anyways. I hurt my knee this past week so I could not complete my 15 miles each day. I had to cut down to 10 miles. But it was hard not to walk because I wanted to do much. Also after ten miles it put my group down a walker which is not really fair. But it was something I had to accept. It made it hard on the night shift though. People had to pull double shift and we really had to fight to get those 30 miles in every night. It was hard. You are tired, you are sore but you want to walk because you want the culture of life to prevail not the devil. He really makes it difficult. He tries to weasel his way in so we won't finish, but we fought through it. Even when Grace and I were crying on Thursday night because we were so tired and sore. We knew we Had to do it. The thing that really kept us going was this: struggling or suffering souls snuggle close to my merciful heart. Jesus said that to St. Faustina. It it's true. We need Christ to get us through these next three months. Otherwise we will fail. If it is one thing I have learned so far is to keep Mary and Jesus so close to your heart. If you do, the devil will never be able to penetrate it. I did find night shift to be very rewarding though. It is truly where the prayer and sacrifice come in because we are not always able to be witnesses at night as much as day shift is able.


Well that pretty sums up this past week. Week 2 is in full swing. Made it to Montana today!!! The pictures are from the Idaho/ Montana border. Really enjoying day shift. More later. Keep up those prayers! Please send me prayer requests if you have any!! Also please send me any questions!! Night you all!! Love and prayers!!!!
Jezu Ufam Tobie
Kirstin

And so it begins!!!

So Crossroads northern walk 2012 has officially begun!! Just a quick update of the last few days and then onto the actual walking.
So after arriving in Seattle last Wednesday, my team and I just hung out Wednesday night. We also had to pick people up after Allison and I arrived so it was better to not really have anything planned. By Wednesday night almost all of us were there. Only 2 of our guys couldn't make it Wednesday but one can Friday and one came Sunday. Here is my team!! They are all truly amazing people and I cannot wait to get to know them more!
So our walk director is Dave. He trained us and he is with us for the first week but he leaves this weekend.
Our walk leader ( fearless leader as he has been dubbed) is John. He is from LA and was actually on the same flight as Allison and I were for Seattle. Next is Grace and Zechariah from st. Louis Peter from Maryland. Josh from south Carolina. Amanda from Wisconsin, and Stephanie from Sacramento, and last but not least Mario from Ireland!! Everybody is great and training was really fun.

This past weekend we began talking to parishes about our mission and also asking for their financial support because we rely on there donations in order to survive this summer. Everyone was so generous and loving. They really wanted to help us which was wonderful because I feel sometimes people might be over asked to donate money. I gave the speech at my parish. It had me thinking about why I am doing this walk. Why give up my whole summer to walk across America? Well I realized a lot of it was because of my mom. Mom was adopted by my grandparents but if her birth mom had not chosen life when she found out She was pregnant then I would not be there. Then it got me thinking about how easy it would have been to abort my mother because of her birth mother' s situation and that one decision could change the future for so many. One decision. One. How many people should I have met by now? How many classmates did not get to go to school with me or graduate this year with me? What if I had been one of them? That is why I walk. I walk so they may have a chance to live the life I have had he opportunity to live.
So I bought about this all weekend. And then it was finally Monday!!!! Our first day of walking. We started as a group together at the space needle in downtown Seattle. And then the day shift took over. I am part of the night shift so I did not start walking until around 9 pm last night and finished around 6:30 this morning. It was very challenging. We take turns doing 5 miles each and we switch off with the other people on our shift but it is still so hard. My knee is in some pain right ow but I am proud to say I walked all 15 of my miles last night. It is also the first time I pulled an all nighter. Which needlessly to say made me feel quit sick earlier today. But hopefully my body will adjust to it soon. In fact in a few nineties I am going to sleep so I can be rested for tonight. Well that is pretty much it. I have little Internet access but I will do my best to keep as updated as possible. Please feel free to message me your questions and I will answer them as soon as possible. Keep up those prayers!! They are what get us through everyday and night shift! Also if you have eater requests please send them to me so I can pray for you too!! That's all for now!! Goodnight!!
Jezu Ufam Tobie
Kirstin

From the air!!!

So right now I am up in the air over the Kansas/ Missouri border! All I can see from the window is land for miles and miles with a house here and there but other than that not much. Well just checking in. Technically this will get posted after I land because I do not have Internet right now, but that's ok. More later from LA!
*Jezu ufam Tobie*
Kirstin
Ps. The first picture is over Kansas and the last three were taken over New Mexico! You could see the mountains from the plane!!!

Seattle!!!!!!

Well we have made it to Seattle! It has been quiet a day. Our first flight landed in LA at around 2:30 SET meaning it was 11:30 AM in California, and Allison and I were so hungry! So we quickly found our gate and then headed to get some food. Then we boarded our plane to Seattle. We have just landed and we are waiting to get our luggage. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to arrive safely. Please continue to watch over us as our journey continues. To everyone who is reading this, first of all thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It means a lot :) Second please keep sending those prayers our way. We would not be able to do this without you and them. Third please feel free to message me your prayer intentions so that I can pray for you while I am walking, after all I will be doing a lot of prayer this summer, lol. Well so long for now. Maybe an update later. My love and prayers to you all!!
*Jezu Ufam Tobie*
Kirstin
The picture was taken as we were flying to Seattle. I thought it was cool hat it looked like the earth was ending, lol.

The Night Before

So this is going to my attempt at trying to keep a blog this summer. It is tuesday night and I am getting very nervous/excited/OMGsh I can't believe this is happening. I just graduated from Franciscan University this past Saturday, and tomorrow I leave for three months to walk for the unborn children and to preach the pro-life message. It will hopefully be an awesome summer, but I am leaving behind so much, like my family, friends, URTM, a JOB! Yes, a job. I will not be making any money this summer, and I have loans to start paying off in November, but through this whole process of applying to Crossroads and getting accepted has really been guided by the Lord's hand. There is no doubt in my mind that I am suppose to do this this summer. Every prayer and action has been pointing to this since February, and now the time has finally come. 


So for those of you who have been reading this thus far and are saying to yourselves, "What is Crossroads?" well here is your answer. Crossroads is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to spreading the pro-life message. 


"Crossroads was founded in 1995 by Steve Sanborn, a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) as a response to John Paul II’s call to the youth of the world to take an active role in the pro-life movement in order to establish a Culture of Life. An integral part of Crossroads is our yearly pro-life pilgrimages across the United States. Each summer, young adults walk on four simultaneous pro-life walks across America from Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.. Walking over 12,000 miles and through 40 states, these young people hope to convert the hearts and minds of others – at the grass-roots level – by witnessing to the dignity and sanctity of all human life, from the moment of conception to natural death. Crossroads also conducts a pro-life walk across Canada each summer from Vancouver to Ottawa, which takes simultaneously with our other walks,"
-Crossroads web-site


Tomorrow I leave for Seattle for training, then on Saturday we will do a symbolic "first walk" through Seattle , and then Monday the real walking starts. I won't bore you with the details just yet, but they will be coming soon!!


Well, enough for now. Hopefully I will update tomorrow, in Seattle! 
Goodnight to all!
*Jezu Ufam Tobie*
Kirstin