I'm sorry I didn't tell y'all! But I was in Washington DC last week for a whole week for the March for Life! WHOOT GO BABIES >3<
It was.....amazing....I can't really find any other adjectives... just amazing. Epicly awesome. One of the best experiences EVER.
I came back to school Monday and my religion/theology (that's what they're calling it nowadays) teacher assigned me a FREAKIN' IMPROMPTU ESSAY DUE THE NEXT DAY. It had to be at least 6 paragraphs, 8 sentences each! It's an essay! I can't believe him! I was like ".....really?"
So to save me time explaining the trip to DC for y'all, here's my essay that I wrote. Read it and then I'll add any more details of the trip that I remember later.
The march for life is basically a annual pilgrimage that students from schools all over take to go to Washington, D.C. for the anniversary of the case of Roe vs. Wade. Some of the things the students do up in the northeast states is sightseeing, but the main reason they go is to join hundreds of other pro-life teens and adults marching around the capitol in hopes that they will change the minds of the people in government to change the abortion law.
I chose to go because I'm a strong 'pro-lifer' and I want to help make a difference for future generations. Seeing all the people in my generation there, marching for the little babies, I knew it was going to be an experience of a lifetime. When I saw the itenerary the day I arrived to get on the charter bus on Monday, my jaw dropped as I noticed we were going to be going to Mass every single day of our whole trip. As you can guess, there was a little grumbling from everyone... well actually, a lot of grumbling.
Most of the teens going weren't used to going to Mass that often, but it was actually pretty cool. All the Masses gave everyone more time to grow closer in their faith and gave them opportunities to pray for the babies and mothers and abortion doctors and everyone else.The first day of our departure wasn't going to be all just sitting in a charter bus. Remember, we had Mass to go to! We stopped in Hanceville, Alabama at the National Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament for Mass in their underground crypt church, which was beautiful. After Mass, we looked around and visited their upstairs church, where there was a gigantic, eight-foot tall monstrance, where the Eucharist was kept. It looked like the sun, bright and dazzling. We also visited the Arlington Cemetery, where all the resting places of the people who died in any of the nation's wars were located. Just seeing all the white gravestones spread around the hilly landscape just was astonishing.
At the top was the tomb of the unknowns, and they were guarded twenty-four hours by a guard from the Army. For one hour the guard paces twenty-one steps back and forth in front of the tombs, which represents the twenty-one gun salute.We had MP3's two nights while we were there, and there were awesome songs that we sang that were from our generation's time. We also had inspirational talks and videos. One night we had adoration. I also got the opportunity to go to the sacrament of confession, which is always a great thing. On Thursday, we had Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which is the tallest building in Washington, D.C. After Mass, we walked around to tour the basilica, and it was really beautiful. Everywhere on the celing and walls were gigantic paintings and mosaics of scenes from the Bible. You know what? There were even 3 dinosaurs in a painting of the Creation! There were a pterydactyl, a dimetrodon, and another one that I couldn't make out, it was epic!
After we finished at the basilica, we went to visit the Holocaust Museum. I was blown away by the reality of all the adults and children killed. In one part, there was a video about all the 'medical experiments' the Germans did with their prisoners to develop better equipment for their soldiers. Everyone was given an information card about a real person who was involved in the Holocaust, whether they died in it or survived. That same day, we walked to the front of the White House and prayed the rosary there. Then we went to a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic and stood outside, praying for all the people inside the clinic. I hope together we inspired people inside to not get abortions. I've never done that and it was a great experience.
During our trip we also had two youth rallies. One was specifically for kids from Louisiana who were in D.C. for the March. The other one had teens from other states too. It was really cool to see so many kids like me who were pro-life. As we sang songs and had Mass, we were all brought together. It was awesome. Then on Friday it was time for the main destination of our trip...the actual March for Life! It was such an awesome experience, seeing the hundreds of other pro-life groups marching for the same cause. I knew we were all making a difference in peoples' lives, and as we marched past the capitol we sang songs and prayed the rosary.
Saturday, on our way home, we stopped by the Nashville Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia for yet another Mass. After Mass we had a small tour and some of the sisters described their typical day there. Seeing all the happy, smiling sisters was touching... all of them were so beautiful because they really reflected God's love. When one of the sisters told us how they had no cell phones or other electronics, everyone could hardly believe why they were always so joyful even though they were living lives of poverty. Well, the specific vocation that God calls us to is the one which will make us happiest, and God chose the sisterhood for those ladies there, and they love it. Our whole group of teens had a chant that we always yelled, where someone would ask, "What are we doing?"
We would answer with, "Saving babies!"
The person would then ask, "How are we gonna do it?" and we would all say, "Prayer and sacrifice!"
The whole trip was such an amazing experience... I'm so glad I went!
Yeah.....it was that amazing 8D
....We took 25 freakin' hours to drive to DC in a charter bus. And like, 24 hours to get back to Louisiana. I never want to see a charter bus again in my LIFE.
You know how hard it is to sleep on those?? I couldn't stay asleep. I've never been so tired in my life. And we stayed at a camp, in cabins. They made us stay up till 11:30pm and woke us up the next day at 5:00am! I need my 8 hours of sleep, people! Where's my schedule of bedtime at 9:30?! I demand proper sleeping times!
Don't ask....I didn't take that many pictures... Sorry ^^; I'm not generally a picture-taking person. It takes up too much time and I'd rather look at things longer through my own eyes and just remember what everything was like.
Although my memory's bad. Like alzheimers' bad. Hurr hurr.
~Eneko-chan
=^-^=
