BTC –Day 2 Journal – Canaan, St. Joseph’s to Newington, St. Mary’s

BTC –Day 2 Journal – Canaan, St. Joseph’s to Newington, St. Mary’s

We woke up at our respective host families’ homes and got ready to journey over to St. Joseph’s for 7:30 mass. Pam had to get up extra early as she had to get to her last day of school (1/2 day). She left round 5:30 in the morning and would join us later in the day around 12:00 noon to ride. She can’t wait.

Mass at St. Joseph’s was very nice. A small gathering of parishioners and the team. Fr. Stephen co-celebrated with Fr. Jeffries. After mass, we ventured downstairs to the church basement to a wonderful breakfast of bagels, quiche, banana bread, sticky buns, etc. It’s funny how good you eat on these rides. We have so much yet we speak of those who have so little. We are so fortunate that we get a warm bed, hot shower, and a roof over our heads with plenty of food. A contrast to those who do not have those luxuries, We thank God each day for what we have.

After breakfast we bid Fr. Jeffries goodbye and thanked him for all he did to make our visit so pleasant. We went to Immaculate conception to pick up our bikes, pump up our tires, filled up our water bottles with water and Gatorade.

We began our ride going up the hill we came down to get to Immaculate. A bit tough to star the day, an uphill climb. But those in poverty have an uphill climb everyday. We were only doing this for a short time.

Our route for today’s ride was changed but the result made the ride a lot easier. Much downhill with just a couple of cool uphills. We enjoyed the ride very much except when it began to rain. In fact, it poured. We were all cold and wet and had to be extra careful especially going downhill. Again we could relate to the poor who live in this kind of weather routinely with no roof over their heads, no warm showers, we knew we would be warm and comfortable by days end. About 30 miles into the ride the sun came out and the day became a scorcher. Everyone put on sunscreen, even Lou. Pam joined us after going the wrong way on route 10. She met us at the Subway in Farmington. We do happen to eat from Subway quite often. ‘

We all rode to Newington to St. Mary’s together. A nice ride but we did have a doosie of a hill before getting there. We actually arrived at St. Mary’s an hour and a half early. Lucky for us because a powerful thunderstorm, possible tornado, hit the area while we were setting up our presentation and getting ready for supper. Thunder, lightening, hail stones. Wow! We lost power. Trees and branches were down. We heard stories of big trees crushing a couple of houses in Wethersfield.

When we first got to St. Mary’s some of the team spotted this little biker coming up the driveway. He was struggling to get up the hill. Lou immediately recognized his Grandson, Noah, and got back on his bike, forgetting about his sore butt, and rode down to greet him. It was a bit adventurous as Noah kept coming right at Lou. Lou felt he had to turn off to avoid Noah but Noah turn off in the same direction. Lou had to hit his brakes, couldn’t get out of his clips and hit the deck. His shifters got bent a bit and his front tire didn’t roll smoothly. Noah wanted to ride his bike with Grandpa. “Come on Grandpa, let’s race!” Lou did his best to fix his front wheel and biked with Noah for the next ½ hour.

The team went to their respective host families homes to shower before coming back here for the presentation. Lou and Joan and Fr. Stephen stayed at the rectory. Lou and Joan got to sleep in the pastor’s bedroom.

Fr. Dennis got out boxes of votive candles to use for light. The parishioners prepared the supper using Sterno. We all ate by candle light. When it cam time for the presentation, we did it in the dark. No slides tonight. Everyone knew heir part and the presentation went smoothly. Almost perfect. I guess everyone stepped up a bit because of the situation. It was a bit special doing so by candle light and flashlight. Fr. Dennis brought it all together when he compared all the candles to the light of Christ. Seemed so true this evening.

The food was fantastic, more than we could eat. And desserts galore. Everyone was so pleasant and nice to us. It is so amazing how people open their homes and their hearts to complete strangers all for a good cause. Seems there is something biblical here. Thank you all!!!

Lou’s son came to the presentation tonight. Made it special for Lou. His son, Thad , was impressed with our presentation and actually was quite moved by it.

We did good tonight.