Arrington, VA and Roanoke, VA

Photo by @RoanokeCatholic

On the Friday the 16th, I arrived in the town of Shipman, Virginia. After talking for a bit, my hosts and I went to Trinity Episcopal Church in Arrington, Virginia, to set up tables and chairs for the next day’s community dinner. The community dinner is a monthly event put on by the church where adults with special needs are picked up and brought to the church to enjoy a good meal and some good company! On Saturday, we picked up 14 pizzas for the dinner and headed to the church to get the party started! After the get together wrapped up, we stuck around to clean up and put the tables and chairs away.

On Sunday, I hopped in my car and headed towards Roanoke, Virginia, for the second half of my two-stop Virginia trip. After attending Mass and grabbing lunch with Chuck, my host, I had the unique opportunity to speak to the youth group at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church! Part of my mission is to inspire others, and what better people to inspire than the youth!

On Monday, I went through training to become an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion so that I could help to bring the Eucharist to those who were homebound and could not attend Mass! After Chuck trained me, we went to visit an elderly woman in the hospital who had recently suffered a stroke. Rather than bringing her Communion as we had planned to do, we ended up praying over her, as she was physically unable to receive the Blessed Sacrament. As her time in this world comes to an end, please pray for a peaceful transition for her into the next life!

After leaving the hospital, I was ready to start making visits on my own. My first visit was with a woman in a nursing home. The second was with a man in his own home. As has been the case with the rest of my trip, Ministry of Presence came into play once again. Rather than providing them with Communion and leaving, I had the opportunity to sit and visit with each of them afterwards!

On Tuesday morning, I was able to bring Communion to another woman in a nursing home and spend some time with her as well. After that, I headed to Roanoke Catholic School to share my story with the two 9th grade Theology classes. During the first talk I found out that the teacher was a fellow graduate of Saint Mary’s. Crazy! After eating lunch and answering more questions from the kids, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with a reporter from the WFXR News team to talk about my trip (http://www.virginiafirst.com/news/local-news/minnesota-native-stops-in-roanoke-while-traveling-to-all-50-states-to-do-community-service)! After the interview was over, I headed back to the classroom to talk with the other Theology class. After asking some final questions, the class sent me off with a homemade Rosary for the road!

Once things wrapped up at school, I was able to bring Communion to two more women in the nursing home. One of the women, named Eda, was celebrating her 43rd birthday (give or take)! When I walked in and sat down, Eda started tearing up as she thanked me for coming to visit and bringing her Communion. After receiving Communion, we sat and talked for nearly 40 minutes! As it was time to go, I told her that my birthday gift to her would be to have all of you praying for her. So please keep Eda in your prayers!

On Wednesday, I said goodbye to my host family and headed down to Belmont, North Carolina!

Thank you to Carroll and Jennifer for hosting me in Shipman, and for the work that you and Trinity Episcopal Church do for the community. Thank you to Chuck, Julie, and Jonah for hosting me in Roanoke. Thank you to St. Andrew’s Catholic Church for allowing me to take part in your ministry. Thank you to Roanoke Catholic School for allowing me to speak to the students. Thank you to the students for the homemade Rosary. Thank you to everyone who played a part in getting my story on the news. And thank you to all of you who continue to pray for me and support me!