Journal Entry: 1/26/2017

Mary Sauer

After Mass, the dioceses of Wichita and Lincoln gathered to take a picture on the front steps. Afterwards, we hurried to the buses. Fr. Zach stressed to us again and again the importance of moving off the bus quickly when we got to the National Mall. “Things move a lot faster on the coast than they do in Kansas.”
One of the kids jokingly asked for Father to explain it in Midwesterner terms. Numerous of the boys started joining around. 
“Run like a bull is chasing you!” 
“Run like the tractor is rolling down the hill because you forgot to put it in park!”
“Run like a tornado is coming!”
The Holocaust museum was something I will have a hard time describing. To start, they have you pick up a paper ID. The ID is about a person that died in one of the camps. Starting on the top floor and going down, they start with the rise of Hitler.  There are graphic images of the piles of bodies, and detailed descriptions of the gas chambers. There was a rail car that held prisoners, and I was given the opportunity to walk through it. The whole time, walking through it, the only thing I could think about was abortion in our society today. I could see the looks on my friends faces. They were in shock. 
Later on that night, we found out a major change to our plans. VP Pence said he would speak at the March. With a huge change of plans, we were told that we would be leaving for the March much earlier, due to high security. 
Before this announcement, everyone was exhausted. Sleep at the hotel had been 6-7 hours the night before, and the night before that we had been on the bus. Fr. Curtis reminded us of the value of redemptive suffering. In realizing that we would be a part of history, there was a renewed sense of energy.