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So here I sit in beautiful Southern California, beginning Day 2 of the California Adventure. I am out here leading a retreat called D-week. As we begin, let’s recap Day 1.

So Corinne Mei Mah, or “Corky” and I boarded our flight out of St. Paul yesterday morning around 11 AM. After a quick layover in Phoenix, or “The Dirty Phoe” we flew into Ontario Airport. For those of you diehard 24 fans, like myself, you’ll remember Ontario is where Jack Bauer saved the day in a “Flank 2” position.

Mary Weigan, one of the people who is staffing D-week came and picked us up and we headed to Sacred Heart Parish in Rancho Cucamonga (where I’m currently blogging from). After getting set up here, we drove down to Baldwin Park to meet Jacqui Quinonez, who served on NET during my year, and her boyfriend Eddie, who served the year before.

We met at the local Starbucks, hugged, screamed and cried and decided to head to dinner. Several places were floated, BJ’s Pizza, In and Out, but what we decided on became one of the most interesting places I’ve ever eaten.

Eddie said he knew of a great Mexican place called “the hole in the wall”. I soon figured out that this wasn’t the actual name of the Restaurant… it was literally a hole in the wall.

So we go to the back of this Mexican Butcher’s Shop and Eddie starts yelling in Spanish through the screen door. Finally someone comes and lets us in. We walk into what is quite literally the kitchen of this Meat Market. Nobody spoke English, so Eddie and Jaqui ordered for us.

I got a Burrito that began to melt my face off. It was quite warm to say the least.

After eating we all headed off to Burbank for a Bible Study on Theology of the Body. Margaret Adams, a NET Alumnus, led the group and really guided us through a very intricate document. If you have never heard of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, I highly recommend it. It will blow your mind, but be prepared; it’s the densest thing I’ve ever read.

We spent two hours dissecting 2 of the Pope’s Audience’s from September of 1979. He began discussing Matthew’s Gospel account of the Pharisee’s confronting Jesus on the issue of divorce. The central theme of the Theology of the Body is going back to the beginning, before the fall of man, all the way to the Creation. We have to go back before the fall to what we were intended to be.

In the end, it was a great that wouldn’t be complete without a late night trip to Denny’s, where we met Katie Carlson and her boyfriend.

Finally, back to the Sacred Heart Rectory, where I climbed in my guest bed and hit the sack.

Dweek was a whirlwind that was full of amazing youth from all over Southern California. There was great music provided by Francis Cabildo and crew, great talks and dramas by the team, and a lot of fun had by all.

I really wish I could explain it, but it just wouldn’t do justice to the week it was. I guess I’ll just let it stay the way it was in my mind… except the Mexican Butcher shop. If I didn’t write that down, no one would believe me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 4:00 pm and is filed under blog. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.