Week 12: I'm Glad You Came

Well we walked in to Ottawa on Tuesday. Nellie, Pat and I took those last steps together all the way to St. Patrick's Basilica downtown. I am sad to say that Ottawa had the worst response of every town or city I walked through this entire summer. So many people angrily shouted at us with curses. A woman biked past us and said "Sorry. Pro-choice" as if she were being offensive. I felt very ashamed of my city as I walked that day. So many say that Ottawa is a great place to live and it is full of opportunities. But how proud can you be of the capital city when during the week there are countless children being killed in secret...

In the evening, the team had Mass at Divine Infant Parish. There we were greeted by mine and Alannah's family as well as many NET staff.

Tuesday night we drove to Montreal and on Wednesday we spent some time visiting shrines and holy sites. We went to Blessed Kateri's shrine and we got to see her tomb! Later on that day, half the team went to Trois Rivieres will the other went to see Notre Dame Basilica. Those of us who went to see Notre Dame were truly amazed at that Church. At first, we were unable to get in. We had to pay just to see the chapel. But there was this light show playing later in the afternoon and a generous group of strangers that we met paid our way in!

We spent the whole of Thursday in Quebec City. Only a few of us were wearing our PRO-LIFE shirts, but it was enough to make people turn their heads. The response was mostly negative with people laughing at us. But hey, that is the whole point of our mission. We spent a few hours at St. Anne de Beaupre - yet another beautiful Church. It was the biggest Church I had ever seen! There were so many tombs and tabernacles surrounding the sanctuary. Here are some pictures!

 

 

Some of us split up and we walked around the city for the rest of the day. We stopped at a few Churches, window-shopped, and watched street performers. It was a really nice day!

We arrived back in Ottawa Friday around noon. We spent most of the afternoon cleaning out the van and the RV. We then went to Mass at St. Pat's. Afterwards, we went to the Walker's for dinner where we were treated to probably the best meal we had all summer as well as wonderful entertainment from Alannah's brother Jonah.

Saturday we prayed as a team outside the Morgentaler Clinic. As usual, there were those who shook their heads at us as if to say that what we were doing was shameful. It doesn't make any sense. After praying for an hour or so, we went back to St. Pat's to meet up with some friends who would join us in walking around the city to Parliament Hill.

There was a small turn-out on the hill, but big enough to perk up some curiosity. In fact, someone from CBC news came and apparently (I didn't see it) we were on the 6 o'clock news! Wanda Hartlin, the head of CLC in Ottawa introduced us all and Frank Barrett, an avid pro-lifer, handed us all certificates from Pierre Lemieux MP.

Afterwards, we walked to St. Theresa's Church for a luncheon. The team then split up and we went to our designated Churches to speak at Masses. I was sent to my one and only Annunciation of the Lord Parish. It was so nice to be back at my Church or 11 years. So many people - many of whom I had never spoken with before - greeted me and hugged me saying that I had done a wonderful job.

Saturday night we had a potluck dinner at Annunciation and most of us gave our testimonies. Sunday we had a brunch at my house and we spent the rest of the day reminiscing on our amazing summer; looking at pictures, watching videos, etc. We then had an impromptu party in my basement which consisted of much laughter, music, food, and dancing. It was a great way to finish this amazing experience which I will never ever forget.

Week 11: Je Suis Pro Vie!

Well another week has come and gone. We’re nearly done our journey!

We did something a little different on Monday: the whole team walked through the city of Toronto for the whole day. It was great - we got a lot of positive responses. One construction worker shouted from a building “Pro-life! No abortion!” Later on, we passed a man who jokingly said “You guys must be trying to make a statement.” We were even joined by some Wilson children as well as some parishioners from Pat’s church.

Here are some pictures of walkers going through Toronto...

The rest of the week flew by pretty fast. We were split again into two teams; one team walked while the other rested. This week we walked through Whitby, Cobourg...and we ended on Friday in Kingston.  Friday morning, our pilgrim leader Pat left for the weekend to go to a friend’s wedding. Lucky for us, Carlos was on his way! For those of you who don’t remember or do not know, Carlos was with us for the first two weeks. He is Martha’s right hand man. He is from the states and he was the one who drove the RV from Washington to Vancouver. Anyway, we picked up Carlos late Friday night from the airport.

We went to Montreal for the weekend and boy was it a great weekend! Friday evening we went to Greg and Fiona Barrett’s house for dinner. It was a great meal and the company was very nice. Too bad we were all so tired - we weren’t very good company ourselves.

Saturday morning we went to Mass at St. Joseph’s Oratory. I have been there at least six times, but most of the members of the team had never been. After Mass, we spent some time in prayer and wondering around the beautiful structure. Later on that morning, we prayed outside the abortion clinic on St. Joseph street of all names. A few people passed us shaking their heads but that was the worst that happened. We then shared a picnic with the Barrett family in the park.

Some shots of the Oratory...

Saturday evening we hit up our churches for our usual Parish talks. Alannah and I managed to get this one church, St. Luke’s. It was the same Parish that her mother was once the choir director of. Their family had been members of St. Luke’s for several years and many of the parishioners remembered her family. Sunday we spoke at the Parishes again. One of the Masses was in French and I got to speak at that one. It was a little nerve-racking since it’s been a few years that I’ve studied French. Of course, immersion helped me to write up a satisfactory speech. Alannah’s family ended up coming to the last Mass of the morning. They were heading home from Dominus Vobiscum camp in St-Gabriel Quebec. When they discovered that Alannah would be speaking at St. Luke’s of course they were more than willing to stop by. So we visited with them for a bit at Tim Horton’s and then we went separate ways.

One point I would like to make is: although so many say that the Church is dead in Quebec, those who are faithful are really strong in their faith. I never felt more welcomed at a Parish this entire walk. Upon entering the church, Alannah and I were greeted by a lady named Julie Lafontaine. She was very sweet and very happy to see us. She showed us around the church and showed us where to sit and stand. She also introduced us to the priest. This was a great treat for us because normally we stumble into the church and have to look for the priest on our own. Another thing that made this Parish feel so alive was that at the Our Father everyone held hands. This reminded me of when I went to St. Mary's as a little girl. Finally, the music that was done was quite lively, especially one particular Mass that had four teens doing the music. It was wonderful!

Sunday evening was really great. We had a pizza dinner with several young adults - some married with babies. One of the couples, in fact, was Alannah’s cousin and her husband and their baby. It was so nice to see them, for it had been over a year since I had seen them last. It was also very encouraging at least for me to see these young couples - though older than I - who are very pro-life as well. They were encouraged by us, too. It was, however, a great change to be around people closer to my age. Sunday night we drove back to Kingston. It was a pretty late night but we managed.

Our newest member: Adrian!

Doing the dishes...

Making supper...

Only one week left until Ottawa!

Week 10: Feels Like Home

Hello all you wonderful readers/supporters! So this week was quite different than what we are accustomed to. Since the accident, we have made a few changes - some have been hard to get used to. Others have been somewhat of a treat. Allow me to explain...


Monday we began walking again. One team walked from the morning until early afternoon. The other team walked from the early afternoon until sunset. It felt really strange not to be walking for 8 or 10 hours. Also, driving to switch up the teams took quite some time. We found that splitting into teams for the day wasn't the greatest idea. So Pat came up with a solution...


On Tuesday it was decided that we would split into two teams: one team would walk and the other would have the day off! I think we have all enjoyed having days off. Though it's a little hard to motivate ourselves to get up in the morning the next day and walk 20km or so after lazing around the previous day. Of course, our days off are not totally relaxed. We'll buy groceries, find an RV park, and clean the RV which can take quite a while but can be very fun if we get creative. Another difference is that now that all of us are together at night, we have to pitch two tents (note Alex and Pat's wonderful pitching skills).


For those of us who had the "day off" on Tuesday, we prayed at the hospital (the same one we prayed at the weekend previous). We stood out there during rush hour, which was really great. It was so busy and there were a few honks and thumbs up.


Wednesday we walked through North Bay, the city my mom was born in...and Wednesday was her birthday! We were invited for dinner at the Silver's house. Their son Tim was on NET Australia at the same time Lindsay was, and their daughter Sam was on a Parish team at Annunciation of the Lord, my home Parish. Some of us ended up sleeping over at their house which is always a treat when it's in the middle of the week.


On Thursday, those who were walking went through Algonquin Park. I didn't get to see much which is unfortunate, but from what I heard it was beautiful. They even saw a moose! For those of us who were not walking drove to Barry's Bay in the afternoon. For those of you who do not know, Barry's Bay is a small, Catholic town located in the beautiful Madawaska Valley. It is also the home of my wonderful school Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy. It was so great to see familiar faces. That evening we were invited to have a BBQ at the school along with our fellow faculty and friends. That night, we stayed in the residences; the girls at St. Cecilia's (my house of two years) and the guys stayed at St. Paul's.

On Friday, we walked through the Bay and went all the way to St. Mary's Church in Wilno. John-Paul and Terry Meenan joined us for a short while. Yet again, I felt like I was in familiar territory. Every year, OLSWA has a pilgrimage to Wilno. It's about 11km of walking and boy did it feel like a piece of cake this time! We also got so many honks and thumbs up as we walked through these little towns. I don't think we've gotten such a great response before. 

Friday evening, half of us dropped by Cana Colony in Combermere. Cana is a Catholic family camp run by Madonna House. My family went in the summer of 1996. Though I did not remember the place at all, it did have a very homey feeling. I got to spend some time with my good friends the Timinskis. And Pat got to see his family who was participating in the week-long family retreat. I also got to see a few priest friends, such as Fr. Tom and Fr. David. 

After our nice visit, we headed out to our weekend destination: Toronto. 

We spent the weekend at Nellie's house which is in Milton. It was yet another relaxing weekend with amazing food and great company! Saturday we prayed at the Oakville Hospital. Some of you readers may already know that my mother grew up in Oakville. In fact, she worked at the Oakville Hospital when she was my age. It is also the place where my Nana spent her last days on earth, God rest her soul. There was an amazing turn-out at the hospital. We felt like celebrities as the other pro-lifers greeted us smiling and waving eagerly. And you want to know something amazing? The first woman I spoke to turned out to be my mom's neighbour growing up. The crazy thing is that while I was speaking with her I was sure she looked familiar, though I never remembered meeting her before. Anyway, this woman Laura and her mother Freda were so pleased to discover that I was Suzanne Nabieszko's daughter. Freda was one of my Nana's best friends and she spoke very highly of her. I can't even describe how I felt while I was speaking to these women. I felt at home. Actually, Barry's Bay, Cana and then Oakville felt like I was home. It was great!


Saturday evening, we picked up our eleventh member of the team: Alex's older brother, Adrian.


On Sunday we did our usual speaking at Parishes. We spoke at three Churches in Scarborough and one in Kitchener. The Parish that I was assigned to was St. Boniface which just so happened to be where Paul Taylor goes! Paul is a friend from OLSWA and he did the Canada walk last summer.


And speaking of friends, we were able to meet up with a few other friends of ours from school (Marie-Claire and Heather), and Nellie's friend Isabelle came over as well!

Week 9: Please Pray For Us!

Well three quarters of the way done. Only three weeks left until I go home.

We began week 9 in Sault Ste. Marie. And what a beautiful city too! I was quite surprised, however, at the smallness of it. To get anywhere in that city took maybe 15 minutes. And everyone seemed to know each other as well. Most of our host homes were parishioners from Our Lady of Good Council Parish. The priest there, Fr. Pat, was very welcoming and enthusiastic about our mission. There is also a great pro-life group in the “Soo.” In fact, every Saturday morning, a group of middle-aged people join together and pray at the hospital back entrance (where all the women enter.) This dedicated group of people have large posters and crosses that they place in the ground and hold in their hands for the few hours they are there. We were privileged to meet these devoted pro-lifers and we prayed with them for the morning. An interesting short story: one of the ladies praying with us was the first to speak at the Ottawa March for Life with the “Silent No More” Campaign. I could not remember her story per se but now that I have met her, I definitely will be keeping an eye out for her at the next March.

Saturday night, we had a nice team hang out. A bunch of us went to see the new Spiderman movie, which was a great way to relax after a long day of meeting with people and speaking at Parishes.

On Monday we went back to Terrace Bay where we had left off on Friday. I was on night shift this week along with Nellie, Pat, and Steve. It was a great week to walk at night. Nice and cool weather.

Here are some pictures of Lake Superior...

This stretch of the walk was pretty...empty. Of course the scenery was absolutely breath-taking. (That is, that which we could see with our night vision was beautiful.) Then again, we still get to see a lot because we walked to the early hours of 8am most mornings.

We walked through the Soo Thursday night. It’s always really great to walk through the city; walking past people, on a sidewalk, surrounded by lights and opened stores. It’s really nice. For me, walking at night is not too scary. I mean, it’s pretty easy to distract yourself if you spend most of the shift talking to and praying with your walking partner. Some walkers on my team, however, are rather frightened of the night. Some are scared of the animals. (We sometimes hear strange noises). Others still are scared of being hit by a vehicle.

~~~~~~~~~

This brings me to a more serious topic. Around 6:30am on Friday morning, Pat got a call from Martha, the woman basically in charge of Crossroads. It turns out that Andrew Moore, a walker from the Central US walk had been hit by a car at 5am that morning. We found out later that day that he had indeed passed away at the scene. It was a great shock and scare for all of us. Some of us thought that could have been me. Most of us, however, were shaken up mainly because we understand the danger entailed in this walk. And we understand just how much perseverance is required to continue walking. For those of us who were walking that morning (the night shift) we immediately prayed a rosary for Andrew. And when we found out he passed away, the whole team found a crucifix, knelt down and prayed. We also offered a Mass for him and his family.   

You may have already read about this sad story. It’s been on Life Site News and a few other papers. Andrew’s father also wrote a beautiful statement that I would encourage you all to read (on Life Site News.) His father mentioned how some call Andrew a martyr because he died while doing this walk. But it does not seem right to call him a martyr because he was not killed intentionally because of what he was doing. However, his father makes the point that a martyr is one who must die to self for God and for others. Crossroads really is a humbling experience. And as a fellow walker I understand that Andrew must have died to self in order to do this walk. I also know that he will be walking alongside us for the rest of our journey.

Because of what has happened, Crossroads has decided to no longer do night shift - a prudent idea. Our group has decided until further notice to have a morning shift and an afternoon shift; each will be walking maybe four or five hours a day. We may have to drive 50km each day to make up for what we would have walked that night. I will keep you posted when possible.

~~~~~~~~~

This past weekend we were in Sudbury. We stayed at a retreat centre that used to be an elementary school. We were well taken care-of by a staff of three lovely ladies. They made us meals, showed us where everything was, and overall made us feel very comfortable. It was very nice to spend the weekend all together, especially considering everything that was happening. Saturday we prayed at the hospital as per usual and we spoke at five Parishes in the area. The Mass I went to had four baptisms occurring. The priest was rather excited that we should visit his Parish the same weekend there were four babies being baptized. It was really beautiful.

Saturday night, the majority of the team went to see the new Batman movie which was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. It was yet another great way to relax and take our minds off of things.

So that is about all I wanted to say for this week. Also, our walk schedule may be changing slightly. It is undecided whether or not we will still be going to Quebec City now that we are walking less. But as I stated before, I will let you all know. Thank you for your continuous support and prayers! 

Weeks 6, 7, and 8: The Halfway Mark and After

My apologies to all those who have been signing on to my blog in the hopes that I would write every week. I hope you can understand that while on the road it is not easy to simply sit down and write for even half an hour. After a long day of walking, sometimes you just have to give in: have a shower, eat, and go to bed. I actually don't know how Pat manages to keep up with the team blog. I think he's part superman. I do have a good excuse not to have written, though, and you shall soon find out why...

Week 6

This stage of our journey began with a weekend in Regina. We were first treated to dinner at Boston Pizza and were welcomed by our host families the Friday evening. I stayed with a young couple and their four children. It was really great to stay with people who were closer to my age than that of my grandparents’. Older people are great, but sometimes it’s nice to have a weekend with a 30-year-old couple and their four little ones. I wasn’t able to get a picture, but there house was actually Atkinson St which was pretty awesome! On Saturday we did the usual praying outside the hospital. There was a pretty decent turn-out as well. However, there was no real response to our message. The people who drove passed us, looked but gave no response. The Parishes, however, were more than generous in their support. We were welcomed by eight different Churches, including one United Reformed.

Now on to my great excuse. Well I was on night shift along with Ben, Lindsay, Alex, and Cesar. Night shift really takes a lot out of you. You go anywhere between 24 and 30 hours with no sleep and you walk with this lack of sleep. Tuesday night was quite the adventure. Let’s just say Alex and I were hit with a really bad flu. I had a really bad fever that made me really cold to the point where I was shivering and it was really hot outside. Anyway, the two of us were driven to the RV park and by the morning, Lindsay had also caught the flu. So the three of us slept for quite a while and there was a no night shift the following night. Also, because of this little adventure of ours, we got behind one day in our schedule. But not to worry, we’ve all been doing well and those who were in better health really stepped up to the plate and went beyond their duties as walkers.

Now aside from this unfortunate event, it was a good week. Before we all got sick, on Monday evening we were invited for dinner in Redvers. We were welcomed by many young teens and their parents. One of the girls even wrote a song for us and it was really good! After the evening, we proceeded to walk 6km with the children. It was a lot of fun. Buggy. But fun!

On Thursday, I believe, the day crew entered Manitoba and we said goodbye to the province of flatness!

Week 7

This week started with a weekend in Winnipeg. It also included a farewell to Cesar who had joined us a few weeks into the walk. This time, we prayed at the hospital on Sunday which gave us a bit of a break on Saturday. Again, the turn-out was pretty amazing. And yet again, there was no real response. But our goal is really to just get people to start thinking. My host home? Well she was a dear. She was a 91-year-old woman full of spunk and wit. Alannah and I had a great time visiting with her. She spent most of our conversations discussing how much technology has changed (like most old people) but she did have some great stories to tell.

This week was pretty great! I was on night shift with Pat, Alannah, Nellie, and Steve - all the Ontarians of the group. Unfortunately, it was the day crew who got to walk into our home province. Still, we were able to get pictures!

Sunday was Canada Day. My first Canada Day not celebrated in Ottawa. Being on night shift, however, I was able to see some fire works from a distance. Monday night we walked right through the city of Winnipeg. It was a nice change to walk by street lights and opened gas stations as opposed to dark roads besides loud trains.

I hope I do not offend anyone when I say: Manitoba does not have much to it when it comes to beauty and nature. BC had the mountains, Alberta had straight roads going up and down, Saskatchewan had curvy and flat roads. But Manitoba was weird. It had pockets of trees here and there and then the random field. It was also extremely humid. We were all sweating like pigs while walking at night!

As said before, the day crew entered Ontario on Wednesday and boy did it feel like I was home! The smells, the trees, everything felt like home. The RV parks even felt like real campgrounds where the camp was built around the trees. (As opposed to the other parks we’ve encountered where the trees and hedges were clearly planted after the parks were built).

Week 8 

The start of this week began in Thunder Bay, home of OLSWA's former secretary Mary Sawchuck. Her brother, Fr. Terry was kind enough to offer his rectory to the entire team for the weekend. We enjoyed good company, great food, and a pretty relaxing weekend. He showed us some of the sites including the "Sleeping Giant", and island shaped like a sleeping man with his arms across his chest.

Saturday we did the usual praying outside the hospital. And in the evening we were invited to the Wensel's house for a BBQ. It was a great chance to get to know some other young people in the area. I found the Thunder Bay community to be very close-knit and strong. This family that invited us for dinner was also kind enough to let us stay at their cottage Wednesday night. Although there was no running water, it was nice to be in a house. There was also a beautiful lake in the back and we were able to enjoy a nice, long swim.

This week I was on day shift with Nellie, Alannah, Steve, Becky, and Pat. Let me just say one thing: I have never sweat so much in my life! Although we are in Northwestern Ontario, the weather made us forget where we were. It was about 33 Degrees everyday. Luckily, we had some wind to push us up and down those Ontario hills.

On Wednesday, we walked through Thunder Bay, the place where the famous Terry Fox stopped his run due to the spread of cancer into his lungs. We made a quick stop at his memorial site. 

The walk was very beautiful this week. We are walking alongside Lake Superior which makes me feel like I'm in BC looking back at the Pacific ocean. On our last shift of the week, Pat and Steve went for a quick dip and they said the water was very refreshing.

 We ended this week near Terrace Bay. (5 hours from our weekend stop of Sault Ste. Marie.)

Week 5: Sunshine and Stories!

O, glorious sun! I was on day crew again this week and boy was it sunny - not a cloud in that great big sky. Of course, we all have wonky-looking tans since the sun is always either in front of us, on our right, or behind us. Our left sides are still rather pasty.

In any case, this has been a week full of little adventures. We were in Saskatoon for the weekend. It’s a really nice-looking city. On Saturday, we prayed in front of the hospital for about an hour. We didn't get any responses, just fascinated looks (which is our goal). The Churches were again extremely supportive. I went to a small Redemptoris Church with Cesar and Nellie. It was really nice. Our team ended up going to this Church for Monday morning Mass, since it was the closest and earliest.

(Alright so here come the cool stories!)

Our team went to Monday morning Mass. The night shift people were exhausted as always - nodding their heads and trying to keep awake at Mass. Of course I was fine. So the priest began with his homily and as he was speaking, I noticed a young mother was struggling with her toddler. She then proceeded towards the washroom with her toddler and baby in arms. She then turned, held her baby out and said to me “Have a baby.” I didn’t even know who this woman was. It was great! Obviously she knew I could handle holding her child for a bit. And we all had our PRO LIFE shirts on, so clearly she knew what she was doing. That was Monday.

On Tuesday, we were invited to a Pro-Life BBQ in Moose Jaw. Two hours from where we were walking. Those of us on day crew knew that our day would be shorter so we really wanted to keep up a good pace in order to get in as much distance as we could. Of course, nothing ever goes as we plan here on Crossroads. So here we were parked on the side of the road ready to switch up the shift. Lindsay and Cesar had just gotten back and it was now time for Nellie, Ben and I to walk. Nellie and I were behind the van waiting for Ben as usual. Now here comes the exciting part. Nellie had just bent down to look at the license plate of our van when all of a sudden a truck zoomed past us and we had just enough time to see the back window shatter! The crazy thing is: we never found the object that hit the window. And I am certain that whatever it was it did not bounce off the windows because I was the glass go into the van and I didn’t see anything come out. We all had our theories. Cesar was convinced that someone threw a rock and it bounced off. Alex thought it was aliens. Typical.

So anyway, needless to say we stopped our walking at this time. We weren’t able to get a new window until the next day, so the Speedy Glass Repair people just covered it with plastic.

On Wednesday, we had to walk until midnight so we could let the night crew sleep some more. They hadn’t gotten much sleep since they were the ones who had to wait for the van to be fixed. So we walked into the night, with the beautiful pink sunset behind us followed by a raging fleet of mosquitoes. So here comes the exciting part: Nellie, Cesar and I got into the car to drive it 6km up for Lindsay and Ben. The car wouldn’t start. The battery died. Thank goodness for Nellie’s membership to CAA! In half an hour, we were given a boost and we continued with our night.

On Thursday, we went to a lady’s house for breakfast in Davidson. We had contacted the Church nearby to ask if there was a Mass we could go to. I guess she was the secretary of some sort. So she and her two friends cooked us a hardy breakfast. We then proceeded to go to a Mass celebrated just for the ten of us! They also gave us a great big poster to put on the back of our RV which reads “Take my hand not my life” and there is a picture of an adorable baby.

Later on in the day, I was sitting in the van parked at the gas station. Ben and Alannah were inside getting water. Just then, a man walked over to the van. I opened the door and he asked what we were doing. So I explained it to him. And he pulled out some money, handed it to me and said “have a safe walk.” Cool, eh? Later on in the day, Ben and I were walking and we happened upon a man stuck in his car with no gas. He rolled down his window and asked us what we were doing. He asked us if we were hungry (which we weren’t because we had just eaten some food), but he managed to convince us to take some of his wife’s famous banana bread. It was actually pretty good!

On Friday, Ben and I were walking and a man slowed down and asked us “Hey! Can I donate now?” We motioned to him that our van was just a little up the road. So he stopped behind the van and he chatted with the others for a bit and told them how he was very pro the sanctity of human life! 

Week 4: Entering Saskatchewan!

Wow, what a week! It was really great. But let me back track a bit to the weekend in Edmonton. I wrote the last post on Saturday. Let me tell you what happened on Sunday! I went to Mass with Alannah. The Church was really nice and the priest was a young man who was extremely supportive of our cause. Anyway, while in the back of the Church we met a lovely middle-aged couple. They asked if we were hungry (we were famished) so they drove us to McDonalds where they treated us to a light snack. We chatted with this couple about a lot of things. It turns out that they were converts to the Catholic Church. They were once part of a Christian denomination that was not giving them what they needed: the truth. So they searched and searched and eventually they found their place in the Catholic Church. In fact, it was at this particular Parish that they found their old Christian friends who had also converted. It was a really neat story - a lot of small world happenings too!

.....

So I was put on day shift for the week and boy have I missed the sun. We drove back to Drumheller and walked through the Badlands on Monday. It was quite an interesting walk. The mountain-like hills all around were really neat; they made us feel like we were in the desert or something. Alex and Steve made an adventure out of these hills as you can see...

Tuesday was quite an interesting day. In the evening, we went to a Church in the hopes of attending Mass. Turns out there was no Mass because the priest was away. BUT! Then the priest came out of nowhere (on a motorcycle) and started talking to us. He then offered to celebrate Mass just for the ten of us! It was amazing! He then let us use the Church kitchen to eat our dinner. Then the night crew left and the day crew stayed back to clean up. Four of the five of us were just sitting outside - some playing guitar, others just chatting. All of a sudden, a couple with a dog approached us.Their names were Delia and Charles and they lived just in the area. They were curious about what we were doing so we explained our mission. They were really amazed because Delia had just been discussing this with her husband as they were walking. In fact, she had been recovering from surgery and Charles thought they should only walk a certain distance, but she wanted to walk a little more and that is how they were able to meet up with us! I must say that meeting them made me feel so encouraged. They said things like “you have to show love and demonstrate to that pregnant teenager that you care” otherwise she will feel judged and more drawn to an abortion. Furthermore,  Delia said that society will treat a pregnant girl the same way her family does. So if her family supports her  - despite what she has done - then those outside the family will as well. And besides, we always tend to accept people after they have committed other sins of shame. So why do we judge a pregnant teenage girl who made a mistake? Speaking with Delia and Charles made me realize that I have to stop judging and start loving a whole lot more!

So back to our walking...the rest of the week went really well! We only got caught in the rain a couple times. I actually enjoy Saskatchewan rain. The sky is so huge and so open that it seems less dreary than Ontario rain, for example. Oh yes. And on Thursday we were attacked by mosquitoes. Literally. Attacked. As in Becky and Alex spend 6km running away from the bugs and were still eaten alive! Just wait until we get to Ontario, eh? Actually, cool side story: while Pat, Lindsay and I were walking (and swatting those darned mosquitoes) a pick-up truck drove by and a man hopped out and gave us some bug spray. It was awesome! He didn’t even ask what we were doing. He just said “I think you could use this.”

A few other people stopped to talk to us throughout the week, in fact. One time we were parked on the side of the road and this one man stopped beside us and began questioning us as if he were a cop or something. It was an odd exchange of words between us and him. He noticed that there were a couple of people walking down the road and asked what we were doing. He didn’t seem all that excited; however, that afternoon we were getting tons of HONKS from the cars driving in the same direction we were waling. They can’t even read our shirts from where they were. So who knows - maybe this man called up all his friends and told them to drive by them white-shirted kids!

Alright, I know Saskatchewan is known for being the flattest province in Canada. And after spending a few days in Alberta, I couldn’t imagine anything flatter. But I was wrong. Saskatchewan really is as flat as it gets. Alberta’s roads were fairly straight but they went up and down and up and down. Saskatchewan’s roads are fairly windy but extremely flat. No joke. You can see a truck coming for ten minutes. It’s crazy!

Well that’s about all I have to say for week 4. Enjoy!

 Doing dishes...

The "Badlands!"

See? Alberta is pretty flat too!

Steve and Becky...

First Saskatchewan sunset!

Day Crew!