If you are thinking about doing Crossroads, do it!! This will show you how much fun it is! Enjoy

At least for the central walkers, the end was definitely bittersweet.  We were physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted by the time we got to Washington DC. We were happy to be done but then again we really didn’t want to leave each other and start the next chapter of our lives.  I mean, we were so used to being with each other for literally 24/7 for three months! For me, it was a hard concept to think that we weren’t going to be with each other at all for who knows how long…

We Made it to the Shrine! Click on the pictures to see it larger.

Night trip visiting the monuments. Laura, Stephanie, Me, and Catie.

Yep, that's the fountain at the Capitol! Saturday, August 13th, 2011.

We enjoyed our last couple of weeks on the walk though, that’s for sure! We were ahead of schedule on our route, so to avoid getting to Washington DC too soon we stayed in Steubenville, Ohio for about 4 days.  It was great because we got to explore Franciscan University of Steubenville where we got official tours, advising appointments for those of us who are interested in the school, and just the great environment of being around more Catholic youth!  We were fortunate to have Victor Bermudez on our walk who is a current student at Franciscan so he showed us some of the ins and outs of the

We love Jarrod!

school.  All summer long he was trying to recruit me to go there and I kept telling him that there was no way for obvious reasons like money, the fact that I already attend a University, moving, etc.  And by the end of the summer I have to admit that I think he won. I considered it a little bit throughout the summer, but when we visited campus I was pretty sure that I wanted to go there.  I will most likely be a student there in the spring!…as long as that is still what God wants me to do.  See, weird things like that happen on Crossroads. It’s like God is just always talking to us and telling us what He wants us to do next. It may not feel like that then, but looking at it now He was definitely talking a lot, especially through other people. And He still is!

The last week of Crossroads was pretty fun because we got to meet up with all the other walks. It was very exciting because we knew that all the walks were experiencing almost the same exact things as us all summer but we didn’t know them or even really hear from them..except through this blog.  My favorite part of meeting up with all of them was rolling into the RV park and seeing three other RV’s almost exactly the same as ours lined up next to each other. It’s like each RV was its own story book because I knew they all had an incredible summer too with their own funny and exciting stories.

Cleaning the RV's

After staying at the RV park for the weekdays we then cleaned out all of the RV’s (which took almost a whole day), and then transferred to stay with the Little Sisters of the Poor across from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. They were so good to us! They housed all of the girls in guest suites and the boys stayed humble and slept in the gym/auditorium.If you ever get a chance to go to DC definitely visit the Basilica!! It’s amazing!

Abby Johnson giving her talk at the rally.

Ahhhmazing!

Then the day came where we all had to leave and say our goodbyes. It wasn’t as bad as I was thinking it would be. We were all actually happy to go home to our families and home lives. Although most of us went home, some of us were very blessed to go to Spain for World Youth Day instead! I was one of those. It was a great time! I have never been around so many Catholics in my life, about 2.7 million is what I heard. It was exhausting but very fun. The only thing I wish I could have done was really mentally prepare for it though. We really didn’t know what to expect especially coming straight from Crossroads. I wish I would have researched it more and looked at what it had to offer. Others may disagree but that’s just me, always wanting to be prepared.

Sleeping arrangements for the weekend..

Esta es la Juventud del Papa! Notice the screen says "unidad".

There he is!

The whole Crossroads group. Photo by Matt Coakley.

Now I am finally at home. It’s great to be with my family and I am definitely not going to take that for granted. The most common questions that I get asked are “How are your feet!?” and “Would you ever do it again?” My feet are amazing and as of right now I probably wouldn’t do it if it were in the next six months but I know next year when the time comes around I am really going to miss it. I’m not sure if I can miss a whole summer of not working again, but I guess I’ll just have to see what God has in store for me next year!

Thank you for reading all of this!!

Our Lady of Guadeloupe, Pray for us!

St. Margaret Mary, Pray for us!

God Bless,

Becky Frybarger

Central Walk 2011

However, as this summer has progressed, I have come to see His beauty reflected in His people. Awhile back, I was walking with my teammate, Joe, and all that day I had been praying with all my heart to see the face of Jesus in some way. As we were walking a woman stopped us on the side of the road, mid rosary. She wanted to know what we were doing and asked us lots of questions. As we explained what we were doing, a smile grew across her face, and eventually she exclaimed, “I get to meet such cool people!” She proceeded to pray over us and ask if there was anything we needed- money, water, anything. She gave us each a jug of water from her trunk (that she just happened to have) to carry as we walked, and as well as all of the money she had with her, just like in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 12:41-44) in the parable of the Widow’s Offering. She then promised to stop by later with more water and to give us even more money. I truly felt that God had answered my prayers. I saw the face of Jesus in this woman – so beautiful and so holy. She had long wavy brown hair, and a gentle face, full of care and compassion. She left us promising to keep us in her prayers and with several hugs. I was so moved by this woman and her love for a couple of strangers. When she returned with all of the money from her house as well as 10 other jugs of water, I thanked her over and over for her incredible offerings and the joy she had brought to my day.

In the evening prayers that night we read,

All I could think was: You have.

I have been so moved by everyone I have come in contact with the summer- my teammates, the people in parishes and at clinics, our host families, and even people we meet as we walk during the week. God has been creating us each as a masterpiece, forming us and molding us like clay, from the time of our conception until he welcomes us into His kingdom. All so beautiful and unique. That is what Crossroads has taught me. Let us never fail in protecting God’s creation, especially the fragile and vulnerable child in the womb.

Sending you my prayers and love,

Amelia Lamsam

1. We’re incredibly close to Washington, D.C. Most of us on the Northern Walk are in shock and disbelief that we’ll be closing this chapter of our lives so soon. (So very, very soon.) At the same time, however, we’re all looking forward to being able to take those last few steps to the Basilica as a team to show that we’ve successfully completed our mission.
2. I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly thank God for the departure of Night Shift from our walk. We got a bit ahead of schedule, and therefore are not doing any night shift this week. Some of my fellow teammates say that they’re actually going to miss it, but all I have to say on the subject is: PRAISE GOD.
3. Satan knows that this time of closure in the walk is absolutely essential. This is the time when it’s easiest for everyone to forget our mission, become apathetic and just go through the motions, and become easily frustrated with each other. Knowing this, the Prince of Discord has been doing a lot to make the end of our walk dysfunctional. But I came across a reading from Magnificat (Why There Are Storms In Life- the Meditation of the Day from August 1st) that really helped us to be more at ease, and I’d like to share it with you. Bear with me- it’s a little long, but so worth it. (The saints can communicate what I want to say so much more effectively, anyway, so why not read from them?)

“In tribulations God enriches his beloved souls with the greatest graces… The Lord sends them to us, not because he wishes our misfortune, but because he desires our welfare. Hence, when they come upon us, we must embrace them with thanksgiving, and must not only resign ourselves to the divine will, but must also rejoice that God treats us as he treated his Son Jesus Christ, whose life upon this Earth was always full of tribulation… Tribulation opens the eyes which prosperity had kept shut… By tribulations we atone for the sins we have committed, much better than by voluntary works of penance. ‘Be assured,’ says Saint Augustine, ‘that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a salutary medicine’… The same saint rebukes the sinner who complains of God for sending him tribulations. ‘Why,’ he says, ‘do you complain? What you suffer is a remedy, not a punishment’… By convincing us that God alone is able and willing to relieve us in our miseries, tribulations remind us of him and compel us to have recourse to his mercy… Tribulations enable us to acquire great merits before God, by giving us opportunities of exercising the virtues of humility, of patience, and of resignation to the divine will. The venerable John d’Avila used to say that a single blessed be God, in adversity, is worth more than a thousand acts of thanksgiving in prosperity. ‘Take away,’ says Saint Ambrose, ‘the contests of the martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns’… The man whom the Lord afflicts in this life has a certain proof that he is dear to God… When we are surrounded on all sides with tribulations, and know not what to do, we must turn to God, who alone can console us…

We should turn to God, and pray to him, and never cease to pray til he hears us… We must keep our eyes continually raised to God, and must continue to implore his aid, until he is moved to compassion for our miseries. We must have great confidence in the heart of Jesus Christ, and ought not to imitate certain persons, who instantly lose courage because they do not feel that they are heard as soon as they begin to pray… When the favors which we ask are spiritual, or can be profitable to our souls, we should be certain of being heard, provided we persevere in prayer, and do not lose confidence… In tribulations, then, we should never cease to hope with confidence that the divine mercy will console us.”

—Saint Alphonsus Liguori

(Saint Alphonsus Liguori (+1787), a bishop, founded the Redemptorists. He is a Doctor of the Church.)

…I think that says it all.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us!

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us!

PS- here’s a picture of some of your Northern Walkers at Notre Dame!

Amelia, Jason, Niamh, Jessica, Ben, and Jesus at Notre Dame!

Another thing to note about me is that I am a bit OCD. I suppose you could say very logical. I tend to think in black and white. I naturally tend to choose the black sharpie instead of going rainbow, and the print on my dorky name tag would rival Times New Roman. I’ll admit that I count a lot of things on the trip. I’ve counted my steps in a mile: 2,265. The highest elevation we’ve walked:12,206 ft. People who have walked with us:16. Mosquitos and flies squished on the top of the last rental: 17. Most tick sightings in one day:5 (not my favorite creatures……). I’ve even waved at EVERY car that passed on one of my shifts and counted how many waved back. 108 cars waved back, and 16 did not wave (I call these the “opposition”). Yeah, a bit OCD… So, by now you might be able to guess what God decided He wanted to be the theme for my walk: conquering my fears and just enjoying the rhythm of life. I found this out when two different guys told me on the same day that they thought it was part of their mission on the walk to help cure me of my fears. But, in all fairness I suspected what God was up to a bit before that anyway.

I was on night shift my first week of the walk. I dreaded night shift. Singing “Day is Done” during evening prayer would make me sick to my stomach because I knew I would have to go out and walk that night. I felt like I was going to die either by wild beasts, psycho men with guns who would shoot us, drivers falling asleep at the wheel or drunk drivers who would hit us as they swerved off the road. I could not walk without the light on and I would cringe and clench my fist when a semi or a car went by.  This was my introduction to a process that I now call “fears conquered”. I can now proudly say that I have conquered my fear of night shift and a number of fears since then. I keep a list in my journal that I will share with you. So far, I have conquered the fears of: night shift, walking at night with no light, walking in the Rocky Mountains with elk on the loose, drinking out of someone else’s cup without dire necessity, wading through a creek in Nebraska, lighting a firework, touching the snake we found on the road, lighting an artillery shell (a type of big firework…that fell over and exploded, but that’s another story), putting lighter fluid on the grill, lighting a lighter, showering at an RV park by myself, walking in a thunderstorm, walking ahead at night while a walker stopped to go to the bathroom, and walking through a sketch part of St. Louis when the bars were closing. These may seem insignificant, and the details are really irrelevant except to illustrate the point that Crossroads has given me something invaluable. This is what is at the real heart of this blog and walk:

Crossroads is slowly giving me the freedom to enjoy life and truly live as I haven’t before. I am finally learning to just live in the grey of life instead of the sharp and cold black and white. The transition itself has not been instantaneous and clear cut, but a process. God does not use black and white very often, that’s probably why the world is in color. I have learned this on my walk. I am slowly learning to just let go. I have found that I actually like to conquer my fears. In essence, Crossroads has turned some of my prose into poetry, my words to song, and my walking to dancing. It has given my heart more freedom just to simply “be”. It’s kind of hard to put the entirety of it into words, and I will say that the process is far from finished. I’m excited to see what other freedoms Christ will give me through Crossroads by the end of the walk! As of today though, I can proudly say that the name tag I wear, if any, says something like this:   “Hello, my name is: I am not my fears”

Kalin Lippsmeyer Central Walk 2011

Catie and I conquering the Nebraska Creek

Victor and I with the snake we found

Yesterday we prayed outside of a Planned Parenthood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Unlike the location of other clinics we have been at which were mostly on busy street corners, this one was tucked away into a calmer, more peaceful area. We could hear ourselves praying the rosary aloud, and the escorts on the other side of the parking lot could most likely hear us as well.  If it weren’t for their presence, it would be hard to remember the evil that was occurring right inside the building. As we joined a few others who were already praying I noticed artwork on the street. Drawn in chalk was a very simple display of love: a cross and a heart. How beautiful, how powerful, how perfect. A heart and cross to remind each and every person driving into the clinic that there is someone who loves them endlessly, someone who loves their unborn child endlessly, a reminder that they are not alone.

Midway through our first rosary one of the escorts walked over towards our group with a jug of water. The sun was out and it was a warm day, and initially I was shocked, was he going to be so kind as to offer those on the “other side of the fence” some water? But he stopped walking when he reached the chalk drawing and poured the gallon of water right on the beautiful display of love. The water washed away the cross and heart and dripped along the slope of the pavement just as the tears dripped down my face. It all became so real then. That small act of removing the simple artwork paralleled what was happening behind the doors of that very building. That escort tried to wash away, destroy, remove something that was a symbol of love, something that was inconvenient and annoying to him. Likewise women entered that very clinic carrying something that is the most precious symbol of God’s love, new life, but they view it instead as something that is in the way, something that they don’t want to face or deal with. And abortion “washes away” the “annoyance” just as the water washed away the chalk.

But as we continued to pray, the water dried. And remnants of the cross and heart revealed themselves. By the time we were leaving there were several sticks of chalk being passed around and pro-life graffiti soon adorned the street surrounding the clinic. God’s love prevailed once again. God gave us this small chalk wars victory at the perfect time. As we are nearing the last few weeks of the walk it is easy to forget at times exactly why we are walking. But God gave us hope today. Hope that one day all the prayers and all the sacrifices will lead to an end of all the evil and hurt that abortion brings. It is now so clear that I am not walking for myself, no one is. And most importantly no one is walking alone. Every single person that has been praying for us, every single person that has given us a dollar for food, every single person that has given an enthusiastic wave as they drive past in their car, every host family, every single priest we’ve encountered, they are all walking alongside us. They are the ones who allow us to run those last few miles of the shift after we are sure that we cannot go another step. And as crazy as it seems, every woman and even every man that walks into an abortion clinic is walking with us. As much as we would like to think we are walking for them, every scared woman who is looking for someone to turn to is walking with us every step of the way, simply because God knows the deepest desires of her heart. We are all one in the Mystical Body of Christ and as she cries out for help, we walk together.

Thank you all for the endless amount of prayers and support!

God bless,

Amy Ostrowski
Northern Walk 2011

Crossroads was here!Northern Walkers praying outside of Planned Parenthood

Me next to one of our pro-life chalk messages.Crossroads was here!Northern Walkers praying outside Planned Parenthood

Laura, Becky F, Kalin and I spelling out “love” in Salt Lake City

“Oh, how He loves us, oh! Oh, how He loves us, how He loves all!” How He Loves by David Crowder Band

The above lyrics are from one of my favorite songs. It is a great reminder of how God is constantly showing His great love for each of us. While so many times I forget this, God just continues to hit me over the head with a 2 by 4 reminding me just how much He loves me, loves each of us. Being on this walk is I’ve noticed it all the more. I would be lying  if I said this walk was a walk in the park because it’s not. However, whenever I (and the rest of the group for that matter) need it most, God makes His love revealed all the more to encourage us to keep going. This past week is full of examples. A couple people from our group had gone shopping at Walmart before napping in the RV. They realized later that they had forgotten a few things and had to go back in. When they went back in, they ran into a few people who had heard of  Crossroads (the conversation started because of the Pro Life shirt). They offered us showers, a cooler place to nap at their house, and for day shift to stay the night at their house. It was great! A couple nights later we were trying to find a place to stay for the night but not having much luck. A man had been in contact with us, trying to meet up with our group. He got us permission to park in a Church parking lot. While there, we found the priest who let us into the parish hall to do dishes and cook dinner. He ended up fixing us some amazing zucchini and offering to have day shift stay in the parish hall. However, a group of people came with the man who had been in contact with us and one of them offered their house for showers and sleeping. While I was on night shift and didn’t get to stay, I know day shift really appreciated it!

While God has been revealing His love to us in absolutely incredible ways, it’s not always through seemingly good things that God has been revealing His love. Through finding different sacrifices to offer up, like blisters and sore muscles, for the unborn and others we have promised to pray for, we are able to unite our sufferings to that of Christ and be able to see His love at work in our journey all the more. That is the beautiful thing about love- it is not always as pretty and happy as our society makes it out to be. The perfect love was poured out in the sufferings of the cross and glory of the resurrection. That is the same sacrificial love we are trying to imitate this summer. And as we strive to unite our sufferings with that of Christ, others make sacrifices that show us that same love as well. These sacrifices build up the Chuch on that foundation of love that Christ so willingly offered on Calvary and continues to show us every single day. It is simply up to us to ask for the grace to see that love- in whatever form it may come.

God Bless,

Catie Kneemiller

Central Walk 2011

It’s been a while, and I don’t have time to write much, but I wanted to let everyone know that we’re still doing great!

We’re not letting anything stop us, no matter how much the devil tries. We all love each other and we are pushing ourselves to get to D.C! We have been pulling longer and faster shifts this week than throughout the whole summer and it hasn’t been easy.

Still we’ve met so many incredible people along the way and we are blessed beyond my imagination.

And even though the road is tough, and we have lots of work to do, we still have time for a little fun here and there

We love to relax and one of the few times we really get to do so is during our meals! We’ve had families and priests take us in and cook for us and the support we receive is incredible!

All in all we always remmber what we are here for and we make sure we never lose sight on what is truly important on this walk. We thank everyone who’s been supporting us and ask that you continue to pray for us!

Yours in Christ,

Victor Bermudez

Central Walk, 2011

~Martin Haggard

I love music and poetry. They speak to me a lot, so I’ll share a few of my thoughts through a special song. Before I left to join the walkers (two weeks late- exams hadn’t quite finished) my little sister excitedly played a song for me titled Something Beautiful by NeedtoBreathe. Then when I arrived here and was missing my lovely family terribly, (Nil aon tintean mar do thintean fein)one of the girls played the same song in the van. It has since become my little anthem for this summer.

So some beautiful things I have discovered….

- A beautiful American family, my fellow walkers are such special people. Already we’ve built up hundreds of memories to tell the grandkids some day!

• “I’m sorry… I’m Irish” (a favored quote..)
• Daring a fellow walker (no names…) to speak to a cop using an English accent
• Having the craic in the van! (don’t worry its just an irish phrase… haha)
• Sharing Life Maps….
• Sleeping in Walmart car parks
• Hearing wild beasts attacking in the night and running the last mile
• Five of us girls holding hands around a fire and praying for the things that lie in the depths of our hearts,
• ‘Almighty’ laughter with host families around a dinner table (seriously, we could NOT stop!),
• During a game of ‘I spy…. something white’ our walk leader guessing ‘Niamh’

And the list goes on…

- A renewed relationship with my patron saint, St. Philomena, and my little sister Francis in heaven. (Although, I have two sisters at home, and now 6 American sisters!) I have felt so close to Philomena and Francis- they have given me a lot of strength. They are my sisters in heaven talking care of me. While reading a book on St. Philomena, I learned that there is a shrine to her and a relic of her bones not too far from where we are walking. I was filled with a desire to go and visit her, so I prayed that she would organize it if it was what was right. Then in Chicago last weekend a local priest showed us his extensive collection of relics, and of course there was a relic to my friend St. Philomena! I didn’t get to her shrine but she gave me that little blessing instead.

My little blessing from St Philomena...

- HE IS EVERYWHERE! The Planned Parenthood in Billings was the first abortion clinic I had ever seen in my life, and the experience was extremely upsetting for me. But I was shocked by the enormous presence of God that I felt while praying there. He was practically shouting at me “SEE Niamh, there is NO place or NO person that I ever abandon! All I ask is that you trust in me.” We just need to ask, as this song says “Hey now/ this is my desire/ consume me like a fire,/ cause I just want/ something beautiful to touch me.”

- This summer has presented me with many challenges. As any of the group will confirm, I cry A LOT! At times I feel like I don’t know why I am here, or what He wants me to do as the titled songs says “I am down on my knees/ waiting for/ something beautiful.” I feel like God has brought me to my knees this summer. It has been such a humbling experience so far- feeling powerless against the massive issue we are attempting to stand up against, exploring my personal relationship with Jesus and what I believe to be the truth, being so far from my home (Ireland) and learning so much about myself. God has shown me, in the short twenty years that I have been alive, that life is His biggest gift to me. Although I struggle very much with trying to figure out WHY we are actually here and what He needs me to do, I know for certain that life is precious. It is fragile and often very difficult, but as a beautiful woman that walked with us wrote “My cracks don’t prevent life, but allow life to blow through.” All our struggles and wounds are what allow us to live. “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Cor.12:10).

As a beautiful old man said to us with tears in his eyes after daily mass in South Dakota “He IS everything. It is done, we are safe. Now we have to live.”

So my ‘something beautiful’ this summer is the realization that I am alive, I am cherished, I will never be abandoned. If only all those innocent babies were allowed to experience this life and come to the same realization; that really would be something beautiful.

Mo chroi,

Niamh McGee.

P.S. BEST OF LUCK to the IRISH WALK starting this weekend!!! woooh!! Go mbeannai Dia is Muire daoibh….