Well since I neglected to write about week 2 (and 3 and 4), allow me to share a few of my favorite memories really fast.
- WEEK 2: So for week 2 I was on day shift, which means I actually got to see where I was walking!! Here were the shifts for the week. Night shift: John, Grace, Peter, Stephanie, And Zechariah. Day shift: me (Kirstin), Mario, Josh, Allison, Daniel, and Alexander. Night shift started out from Spokane on Sunday night. Meanwhile we visited with the Sisters who were hosting us. Alex and Dan brought their guitar and violin over and they played some music for us and the Sisters! We had our own private Scythian concert!! It was really great and so much fun. Then Monday we began walking again!! This week was so much different from the week before. First of all I could see where we were walking! haha! It was really nice to actually see where I was walking. The mountains and the valleys were so beautiful, and talking with Alexander and Daniel was really amazing too. I think one of the most memorable ones I had was with Alexander. We were walking our last 5 miles of the day together and we began to talk about art and how it is so important to keep art in the schools and for kids to be artistic. We also talked about Pappa Benny and Blessed JPII. So good!! Probably the best day though, was when we pushed and made it all the way to the Montana border. It has been the brother's dream to make it to Montana and they finally did. We all got out of the car and walked across together. It was so epic!! And it was such a great feeling knowing we got Night shift all the way there too. The rest of the week was great. We walked through the Rocky Mountains of Montana, and saw some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. God's creation is truly amazing! I am so blessed to able to see these wonderful places and to be able to marvel at how great He is. So that is a quick catch up of week 2.
- WEEK 3: So week 3 I was on night shift again. On my shift was Allison, Josh, Zechariah, and Stephanie (we were finally on shift together!!!!!). I was really anxious about being back on Night shift again, but I knew the Lord wanted me there for a reason, and to my pleasant surprise this week ended up about really fabulous. We set off from Butte, Montana that night. Josh and I were the first ones to walk. It was still pretty light outside, but it ended up being a pretty bright night anyways because there was a full moon!! It was so beautiful, especially as we were passing this beautiful lake. As the moon shined down on it, it just glistened and sparkled and once again I a was marveling at the beauty of nature. The whole week ended up being very pretty at night because of the moon. Tuesday was a good night as well. I got to walk with Zech for the first time which was really nice since we had not walked together before. It is really great to actually got to walk one on one with people. You get to know the person so much more, and you truly get to see the person you are living with. Can I also just though in here that sunrises are amazingly beautiful! As Zech and I were walking the sun began to rise. I noticed the sunrises the first week of night shift, but I did not truly appreciate their beauty until this week. All the different and beautiful, brilliant colors. It was also so peaceful because not many cars would be going by, and the animals we were passing were just beginning to come up. I found that I really love this time of day (meaning 4ish in the morning) because it is so beautiful and peaceful. Also, ironically, for the next two weeks I often walked around that time everyday so I was able to keep enjoying it and was able to keep marveling at the beauty of it. At the beginning of the walk, Day Shift and Night Shift began leaving notes for one another. Sometimes they were funny, other times they were a bit more uplifting, and sometimes there were none at all. This week, however, Day Shift decided to change it up a bit and leave a video message for night shift. It is a video of Grace singing a song in Japanese, and Alex and Peter randomly dancing in the background. It was so funny and really lifted our spirits that night. In response we also decided to make a video using the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song. We decided we would film it during sunrise. It was so much fun!! It starts out with Stephanie and Allison discovering that there is only peanut butter and jelly to eat, which leads into our whole group dancing. Here are the links to both videos. In the Peanut Butter and Jelly one pay attention to the doors on the car too :)
- As for the rest of week 3, it ended very well. We got all the way to Billings, Montana and we learned we were ahead of schedule!! Yay!! We staid with our host families and Saturday was Allison's Birthday!! We celebrated that night after we went to the masses with a cookie cake and one last concert from the Fedoryka Brothers. It was a pretty awesome night. Sunday we spoke at parishes once again, ate some dinner at Olive Garden (Yum) and then us on night shift began walking once again.
- WEEK 4: So, this past week I was on night shift once again, so we started just past Billings. On my shift this week was Josh, Zech, Mario, and Grace. Grace and I were really excited to be back on the same shift again after not being together for three weeks, but alas Stephanie and I were not again :( and probably not for a while, unfortunately :( Anyways, Zech and Grace were going to try to stay up all night by watching movies. Well that lasted for about one five mile shift, and then they opted for sleep, haha. On Tuesday we decided to spend some of our time at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. It was really cool! Also very tragic at the same time, for both Americans and Native Americans. It was an awesome place to visit though. Wednesday night we ran into a slight issue though: A THUNDERSTORM!! Josh and I walked first that night. We saw Lightning from a distance, but we determined it was far enough away that we did not really have to worry about it yet. Well about 2 1/2 miles into our walk, all of a sudden there was lightning "all around" us, meaning it was about a mile away from us. Well we decided it might be best that we call the support van to come pick us up. We proceeded to spend the next hour or so in the van watching the lightning and catching up on sleep. Finally we were able to continue walking. We got done with 4.5 miles, woke Zech and Grace up in the van, and then noticed that the storm was getting a little close again, but we were determined to get 5 miles in (Because of the storm it was now around 12:30 AM and we still had not completed 5 miles yet). So we took off walking our last .5 mile. Well, the weather was not on our side, because as we began walking it started to rain, but not just rain. It began to hail too. So the van came and picked us back up and we went a little crazy in the van, marveling at the fact we couldn't even get five miles in. We also danced and began to wait for the storm to disappear once again. Here's a funny video of us in the van waiting for the storm to finish. Well we finally managed to walk, and we finished the shift. Thursday came and instead of Grace walking with us that night, Allison came along. She had been feeling sick earlier in the day, so Grace walked for her (yes she pulled a double shift). This ended up being another great night. Mass was not going to be until 12:15 PM the next day so we challenged ourselves to do 40 miles, and 40 miles we did! We are now 2 days ahead of schedule (that is 5 shifts of walking). We are in Rapid City this weekend, and on Friday we went to Mount Rushmore!! It was so cool to see, but of course the only thing I had going through my head was the movie National Treasure, because that is where they go in the second movie. I really enjoyed being there, and being able to see something that I may not have the chance to see ever again. Another thing that was awesome about this week, is that we staid with several host families. Each family was so open and generous to us. I had Elk for the first time! It was so good! A lot better than I expected. Another host family we stayed with was on a Cheyenne Indian Reservation, so we got to learn a lot about their culture. Every little detail on their clothes, blankets, and shoes means something. It really is incredible! Wednesday Night we stayed with another family, who had 8 adorable kids, and it was like being back home, which was really nice.
- It really is truly amazing how people are so welcoming. They invite us into their homes and parishes and really treat us so well. God's love just radiates. It is so amazing. It is also amazing with the support each of us seems to have at home. I was just talking to my dad earlier today (Happy Father's Day Daddy!!) and he was talking about how they have people come up to them and say we are praying for your daughter and her walk all the time. Even today on Facebook someone who I have not talked to in a while commented on something and said good luck. I did not even know she even payed attention to me. I would like to take the time to say thank you to everyone who is praying for us, who has donated to us, who has invited us into their homes and parishes. It really means more than we can say. Your prayers are what keep us going everyday.
- A few more things and then I promise this book of a blog post will be over. I have been reflecting on a few things these past few weeks. First, how important mass and the Eucharist truly is. Each morning we begin the day with mass. We are so lucky to be able to receive the Eucharist. The more and more we got into Montana the more we learned that there is a shortage of priests, and sometimes they are not even able to have mass every day. How lucky am I that at home we have enough priests to celebrate mass for us everyday. That is something I have never thought about before. I just took it for granted. This trip has taught me never to take the Eucharist for granted. It is a gift, a beautiful gift we are so privileged and so BLESSED!! Oh my gosh, words cannot describe how blessed we are. Wow!
- Another thing I have been contemplating this last few weeks is the beauty of the nature God has created. I always knew there were beautiful spots on the Earth, I just did not know there were so many. Each day has brought about it's own beauty. Each day has brought something different. There are so many different sides to Montana. There are the beautiful mountains and valleys, and there are the plains and deserts which have a whole different beauty in and of themselves. Then there are the Black Hills in South Dakota. We went to Mount Rushmore, and the drive there was so beautiful. And then there is a whole different beauty at night. Now I am the first person to admit I am very jumpy and get scared easily, especially walking at night where there are not really many cars, and every noise can be heard. But this past week I really tried (though not always successful) to let my fears go and to trust in God and to just enjoy the beauty that was before me, meaning the stars in the sky. Now how many of you have seen stars? Well okay all of us have, but how many stars have you actually seen because I can tell you there were so many more out there than I thought. Montana is known as big sky country, and boy does it live up to its name. There were so many stars and it was so dark that Josh and I were able to see the arm of the Milky Way Galaxy that our solar system lives on (a childhood dream for Josh). It was truly incredible. As I looked up there, I could not help but reflect upon how they are a shining and sparkling example of God's creation and how if we keep Mary and Jesus close to our hearts then we should be able to shine and sparkle just as the stars do in our love for Christ, and it helps us be a shining witness for the unborn. It made sense in my mind at 2:30 in the morning when I was walking, haha.
Jezu Ufam Tobie
Kirstin
P.S. check out these awesome videos made by some of my friends! They are truly worth watching!
This is us at the Montana Border
Mount Rushmore!
A Beautiful Valley in Montana
Crossroads!
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