Lia's Big Adventure: Remember the Alamo

I'm spending the week in Texas visiting my dear friend Christina (from my NET team) and hanging out with my cousin, taking advantage of the fancy suite her work put her up in for a training in Dallas.

The first half of the week I hung out in Georgetown with Christina & her family. Christina is one of my favorite people and her mom is awesome, so it was really fun to get to hang out with them. Chris and I went out for bar-b-que and did a wine tasting at Georgetown Winery. I spent time at the local coffee shop doing my Cyber Monday shopping and bought some books at the used bookstore. We sat at her home talking and I taught her to crochet.

On Tuesday we took a mini road trip down to San Antonio to see the Alamo. I don't know what I expected but when I got there I was really surprised by how small it was.

It was beautiful though. I had never thought about how it was both a mission AND a war memorial. It was so interesting to see details like the names of Mary and St. Anthony statues along side tributes to those involved in the battle.

As a Catholic Chicana this was kind of a weird stop on my trip. I celebrate Mexico's defeat of the French Army on May 5th. I'm very aware that some of my family has been in the Southwestern United States since it was Northwestern Mexico. So is this the site of Mexico's last stand in Texas? Or as an American do I "remember the Alamo" as a huge defeat that became the rallying cry that lead to further victories against the Mexican government? Or as a Catholic do I view it mainly as a sacred place where Mass was celebrated? When it came down to it, all those conflicting feelings obscured each other and it felt like a generic tourist destination for most of my time there. Still, in the quiet moments before it closed, I was reminded of the sacraments celebrated, the lives lost and the sacredness of the space. Later, on the Riverwalk we took a tour boat and the operator told us one hotel was built several stories shorter than planned when it was discovered a taller building would have cast a shadow on the Alamo at sunset. That sort of respect is remarkable and something Texas clearly does a lot better than California, and I'd be willing to bet MOST other US states.

God bless Texas.

OT: Taking on responsibility

So I've told ya'll about NET*. A couple months ago my teammate & I went to an alumni retreat that was pretty awesome. The lady who's home it was held in was also on NET our year. She's always been one of my favorites. For the last 5 years or so, she's been the Diocesan Contact Person (DCP) for the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Basically, that means she coordinates the schedule for the NET team while they are in LA every year. She also meets up with them and helps them out if they have any problems while they're here.

So toward the end of the retreat she told me she'd like to step down and was thinking about asking me to take over. Now, I don't live in the LA diocese... but I am planning to move nearby and the diocese I will live in doesn't host NET. I've been praying about it since then. In the meantime, the current DCP stopped working and is now a stay-at-home mom. Her stated reason for stepping down as DCP was that the "busy" time overlapped with her busy time at work. So I kind of figured she wouldn't be stepping down anymore. It was still on my mind, though, so I emailed her to offer any help I could. Her response? "It's yours! Thank God! I was getting so worried!" Ha.

So now I'm the NET DCP for LA. Crazy. I hope I don't screw it up.






*Why does talking about NET make me say "ya'll"?

Off Topic: 10 years later

From August 1999 to May 2000 I volunteered with NET Ministries. Alumni of the program are affectionately referred to as "Netters" and the year they volunteered is referred to as the year they were "on the road". Why? Because after training you grab your one suitcase, your sleeping bag & your pillow, get into a 15 passenger van with 9-11 people you just met and head out all over the country. Why? Because 20 years ago Pope John Paul II was all about a "new evangelization"- basically saying people already part of the Church needed to be evangelized. So every year NET gets a bunch of young adults together, trains them, prays with them and then divides them up into teams that run around giving retreats to young people & their families.

The "Dream Team" (Team 6 99'-2000)

I've been thinking about my year on the road a lot lately. I haven't seen most of my teammates in years, but I still feel like I can tell them anything and when something hard comes up they are some of the first people I ask for prayer. Several times a year the girls have a "virtual women's session". On the road, we had scheduled time to meet "as women". Sometimes several hours of our packed schedule would be set aside to pray, talk & play with just the girls. At one point, the ladies of our team made a point to have at least a few moments of "women's session" every single day. It's hard to express how crazy that was if you've never been on NET. Every minute was scheduled for us. We had retreats 6 days a week at least. The 7th day was packed with driving or practice or meeting with bishops. My team ended the year with a 16 day sprint... not a single day without a retreat. But for a while, even if it meant a two minute huddle outside the van where we each said 2 words to describe how we were feeling- the women of Team 6 had women's session every single day.

Looking badass after paintball

NET taught me a lot about healthy relationships. Unless I was in the bathroom, I was with at least one teammate almost every moment of every day. We worked, ate, prayed, played, traveled & slept together every single day for a school year. Is it any wonder there were strict rules for how to resolve conflict? NET taught me to be honest about how I feel, to address things as they come up, to see the other person's point of view, to ask for and accept forgiveness. We were big on actually "saying the words". Say "I'm sorry and I need your forgiveness". Say "You're forgiven. I accept your apology." Say "I appreciate these things about you." Say "This fight hasn't changed the fact that I love you."

Those skills have come in really handy. It helped me repair my relationship with my mom so that when she passed away we were closer than I ever remember us being. It helped me get through a really rough patch with the soldier last year and get our friendship back on track. It helped me move from a child-parent relationship to an adult friendship with my father.

Chicago, Illinois (This photo took FOREVER while we froze by the lake. Totally worth it.)

For all the lack of sleep, annoyances, colds that lasted months because we couldn't slow down to heal, nights spent on a gym floor, weeks of eating pizza every day, small groups that refused to cooperate and missing my friends at home-- NET was an incredible experience that helped me grow as a person & grow closer to Christ in more ways than a other single year before or since. I thank God every single day for that experience & for the people He put on my team.

"All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved." -Acts 2:44-47