Here is a journal of our visit to St. John the Evangelist.
Johnnie F. Bob, and I left St. Bridget at around 9:00 am accompanied by Pam. We would be getting on our bikes in Bristol and Pam would be doing support for us.
Glad we decided not to try to bike from St. B's at 8:30 because it was real cold! Mike and Jeanette would hook up with John Ryan around 11:15 and pick up the equipment and leave for St. John's together. We would meet them there.
We got to Bristol around 10:00 ish and got on our bikes. First thing we hit was a pretty good hill. It really got our hearts pumping and sucking in the cool air.
The ride was pretty nice considering the cold and the ice patches we had to avoid.
Some of you who biked to Watertown form Holy Family in June during the weeklong will remember that wicked downhill entering Thomaston. Wow! I rode my brakes the whole way. Never know if you are going to hit gravel or an ice patch.
Then we had that long 2 mile gradual uphill as we approached Watertown. Pam was a perfect support person. Glad she was aboard.
We made it to St. John's around 11:30 and Pam and I actually attended their 12:00 mass.
Bob and Johnnie F waited for Mike and Jeanette and set us up downstairs and we were ready to go at 1:00.
We were greeted by Fr. John Cooney with a great big smile. he was pleased that we biked over and thanked us for returning to his parish.
There were between 50 and 55 9th graders who attended with their teachers. They had attended the 12:00 mass first.
After they had some cookies and juice they got organized and sat for our presentation. Teri Morgado, the DRE who invited us, runs quite a tight ship. She had those kids under full control and she was right on top of things with us as well.
We did our usual presentation but Teri and I had communicated earlier and I had provided her with an outline of our presentation and gave her some of the issues we would mention and speak to.
She formulated an outline from that and passed that out to the kids before we presented. They were instructed to take notes and that they would be required to write an essay based on what they heard. Required!
Believe me, they took notes even asking us not to move off of some of our slides so they could capture the information. They were really a good group of kids and seemed to really get into it. Of course like with any group of kids there were some who when asked a question just gave you that look. But, for the most part there were others that were quick to respond.
I think we did good and based on the feedback I received Teri Morgado agreed.
We handed out candy canes at the end of our presentation bringing the season we are in. Actually Bob started us off wearing a Santa's cap and mentioned how one of the first homeless families were actually Mary and Joseph. Nicely done.
While we were having the kids sign the banner I was approached by Teri and she handed me an envelope with a small stipend. Nice gesture.
As you can see below she wants to keep in touch with us. She thanked us and again mentioned how some of us biked over but emphasized that we had given up our time to come visit , especially at this busy time of the year. The kids and teachers were appreciative. Teri also mentioned to me that she has mentioned out group to all the DREs in the area and strongly suggested they asked us to their parishes. So hopefully we will get a few more invites out of that.
You know, this parish actually has BTC as a link on their own website. Cool!!
We gathered in the parking lot and hugged and drove home to St. B's feeling good about what we had accomplished for the day. God bless!
Peace,
Lou
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