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!
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