Day One

Our journey started pretty early in the day, with our rented minivan and Suburban leaving at 7:30 am.

                                                                                                                                 7/7/2019

Most of us made up for the early start by sleeping for a good portion of the trip. We made a few stops along the way for various reasons. In New Jersey, we took a typical bathroom stop, and the first thing we noticed is that the weather was significantly cooler already. One of the more interesting parts of our trip was the drive through New York City. Some of us had never been to New York City, and it was fascinating to see the Empire State Building in the distance. We ate lunch at a Chili’s in Connecticut, and the food fueled the rest of the drive. The whole drive ended up taking around 11 hours, but it was a nice time to rest and reflect on the upcoming week.

Once we got to Boston, we met with our WonderVoyage guide and moved into out home for the next week, the Siena dorms in the Connor Retreat Center at Boston College. Despite the lack of AC, the amount of rooms, bathrooms, and fans more than made up for it. After unpacking we headed out for a quick dinner at a pizzeria close to the area. 

One of the first times we experienced seeing God in others was on our way home from dinner. We passed an older man who was walking on the side of the road without shoes. He didn’t know his name and was confused, talking to us about the Russians and Germans in war. Father Jon pulled over our car to help the man and knocked on the door of the closest house to ask to use their phone. The police showed up quickly enough so that we didn’t even have to use the phone. Another car ahead of us must have called in to say he needed help. We all saw God in Father Jon with they way he offered help and in the police officer for showing up so quickly.

Three of the nights that we are here, we are cooking our own dinners, Stone Soup style! The first group shopped for their groceries tonight; they had 30 minutes to spend less than a $56 and cook for 14 people. It was a success!

After we got to our home away from home, we had orientation led by Susan and we talked about the Godly moments we had encountered on our first day. We ended with the Compline prayer to close our first day of mission in Boston!