This morning we woke up with the grace of God and were happy to spend our last morning with Mrs. Joan before heading to our work site for the day. Today we all came together at the Anawim Thrift store to help organize and help out the generous women who have dedicated so much of their time to helping others. At this site we were able to hear about what and why they do what they do. Which is providing group housing for the homeless, and some of the donations that come in go to those houses. A few of us were even able to take some books and clothing from the thrift store. Then we headed to the University of Houston to hang out and get to know some of the Houston students at the Catholic Newman center. Following this, we headed to our lovely stay for the week, the farm. The lovely hosts provided us with a delicious barbecue outside surrounded by all of their wonderful animals. After dinner we sat and shared our highs and lows which was an awesome thing to hear everyone’s thoughts about the day. We ended the day with a night sitting outside, chatting with Father John. Today, just like all of the other days thus far has been an awesome experience and has been eye opening in seeing what God has called us to do.

After a long night of rest, we were able to attend the 12:30 mass at St. Benedicts church. When walking into the church before the mass, we had the chance to say a few Hail Mary’s with the church before mass started. Being that it was the first week of lent, the church, the priests and the deacon who was helping the priests were all dressed in a deep purple color. The Homily of Fr. Huy was very powerful for he recited the story of Jesus in the dessert and how he resisted temptation. He told us to look inward and resist temptation and to not be foolish when messing around with things we shouldn’t be messing around with. After the Homily Fr. Huy was giving prayers to those who had special occasions and the children as well as the teens of the church and Jimmy went up to join the church crowd at the front of the sanctuary to get a blessing from the Fr. Huy. Next we were on our way to downtown Houston but had to make a pitstop along the way at Arandas Bakery to pick up pan dulce and other sweet treats. We visited Transco tower and the galleria area around the tower which had a fountain. We then went to have mass and supper at the Newman Center at Rice University. Before wrapping up for the night we went to the famous BUC-CES that Gio has been raving about all the time and it was massive! After getting knick-knacks from BUC-CES, we ventured back home and relaxed the rest of the night.

Today we set off on our long adventure down to Houston TX. All of us met outside of Bayer hall for a brisk Saturday morning prayer with Fr. Bill and then we headed out. The traveling was long but the vibes were high. Everyone was in high spirits with our travel buddies, our high hopes and future aspirations for the week ahead. When settling into Houston we all met up with Fr. Brendan and Fr. Huy at St. Benedicts, our wonderful hosts Obby and Ruben, as well as Miss. Joan and the Chop family who showed us their southern hospitality. Unfortunately for our group we were split up for the rest of the weekend. When meeting up with Obby and Ruben, we were able to learn a little bit about the church, their stories that related to how they came to live in Houston and how they devote their lives to God and to the community of the church. Later on, the menfolk were able to settle in at the ranch that Obby and Ruben had been so generous to let us stay at for the week and the ladies went with Ms. Joan to her humble abode which was a few blocks away. Even though we were apart for the night, we were able to FaceTime on the computer to chat about our Highs and Lows of the day and what we were most looking forward to this week. Finally, when we all said goodbye and goodnight, we decided to turn in early and get a good night’s rest for the day to come.