Flagstaff, AZ and St. George, UT

On the 16th, I left Santa Fe and headed to Flagstaff, Arizona, driving through snow flurries on the way. Once I arrived, I checked into the retreat center, where for the first time on this trip, I had to pay for lodging. The next day, I went to work at Full Circle Trade & Thrift. There, I worked with two men to help move about 75 desks/dressers from one building to another one down the street. Between the loading and unloading, during one of the four or five drives down the street, the man in charge asked me about my trip. After learning that I had to pay for my lodging, he generously offered to cover the charge. In addition to that, he treated me to lunch before I headed out. But before he sent me on my way, he and his wife (who own the store) gave me a sweatshirt for the rest of the journey. I continue to be amazed by the generosity of others!

After saying goodbye to everyone at Full Circle, I headed to the Grand Canyon. There are some things that pictures just can’t do justice. The Grand Canyon is one of those things. After walking around for a couple hours, I threw a snowball into the Canyon (it just seemed like the right thing to do) and headed back to the retreat center.

On the 18th, I drove from Flagstaff to St. George, Utah. Fun fact: you have to drive through Zion National Park to get to St. George. Not so fun fact: you have to pay $30 to get into the park, even if you are just passing through. Not willing to pay $30 just to use the road, I decided to delay my arrival and spend some time looking around the park. After I got my money’s worth, I made it to St. George and spent the night continuing to plan.

The next day, I worked at the Catholic Thrift Store in town. At the store, they had shelves stocked with boxes labeled “winter” on the top and boxes labeled “summer” on the bottom. My job was to flip the position of the boxes so the “winter” ones were on the bottom and the “summer” ones were on the top. . . I would be OK if I never saw a mini ladder again.

Thank you to everyone at Full Circle Trade & Thrift for your generosity and the good work that you do on a daily basis. Thank you to TJ and your roommates for hosting me. Thank you to everyone at the Catholic Thrift Store for the work that you do. And thank you to everyone who continues to support me and pray for me!