Leaving South Dakota Behind

Hello everyone,
Calvin Jensen here from the Northern walk. I'm happy to announce that, yesterday, day shift crossed yet another state boarder, leaving South Dakota behind and entering Minnesota.

But I don't like to look forward into the future. Instead, I would like to dwell on the past. So far, South Dakota has been the most supportive state we've gone though. I case you haven't already hear, South Dakota recently passed a bill outlawing ALL surgical abortions, and it goes to popular vote in November. (Pray for the bills success) But that's not all. While in South Dakota, we reacieved tons of positive feedback, and almost no negative feedback, the Govenor, State Senate, and State House are Pro-Life, and so is about 85% of the states Citizens. Also, through the kindness of others, all our walkers became incredibly spoiled by recieving showers every night last week.

Just one more quik thing to tell. On Monday morning, at 3:00 our vans battery died (sad day). However, since it was 3:00 we decided to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Amazingly, right after we finished, a man pulled up to see if we were all right, and we were able to be on our way. The power of prayer wins again.

Anyways, good bye and God Bless

Calvin and the Northern Walk.

ttfn (ta ta for now)

In middle of nowhere USA

Hello Family, Friends, and those I don't know who are praying for us,

My name is Jen Luoma, and I'm on the central walk with lots of other wonderful people. I'm proud to be representing New England on this walk as well as Boston College- go Eagles. We have been so blessed this past month, always having a place to stay and food to eat. We're walking hard, and even not showering all the time, in order to save babies. Anyways, Crossroads has been amazing so far and I'm looking forward to sharing my experience with everyone once I get home and have internet more readily accessible. Go Red Sox, Jen

God and Satan Duking it out on the Central Walk--As Always, God Wins

J.M.J.

I believe that it is God's will that we walk across the country with Crossroads, as warriors for the culture of life. I am confident of that. I also believe that Satan does not want us to persevere. He does not want us to walk across the country. If he cannot stop us from walking, however, above all, he does not want us to do so with good spirits, praising God all the way. He does not want us to do God's will and to love God.

This past week, I have seen more and more Satan adamantly trying to stop us and God showering His graces upon us, even before we knew that we needed them. Late Monday afternoon, we left Boulder, Colorado with the RV to meet the other half of our group, who was nearing Rocky Mountain National Park. As we climbed the mountains, the engine started making more noises, and the floor near the engine was getting extremely hot. We pulled over to let the engine cool off a bit, thinking that the Rockies were a bit much for the RV. When Dave turned the key, however, the RV would not start. After praying the Memorare, the engine readily started but was still making terrible noises. We thought the problem could be a belt, or at worst the transmission. Tuesday morning, however, when we arrived at the RV repair shop in Granby, Colorado, we found that the problem was that the engine was actually falling apart from the inside. We would have to leave the RV at the shop, at least through Thursday so that the engine could be replaced. Where would we sleep?

As soon as we found that the engine needed to be replaced, we called our office in Columbia, Maryland. Once again, God stepped up and provided that right in Granby, Colorado, lived the family of Erik Feltes, a 2004 walker. They happily put us up for the night, and provided us with a delicious dinner. What would we do for Wednesday and Thursday night, though? God once again, came through. He provided that our walker Jen, had an aunt, who had a Goddaughter, whose grandparents lived in Loveland, Colorado. (Confusing, distant relationship, yes, but God works in mysterious ways). Loveland was also right on our walk, and we were able to stay with Jen's acquaintances for two nights who provided us with wonderful lodging and meals.

Thursday, night, however, Satan took another shot at us. One of our walkers received a call that his grandfather had died. He needed to go to Denver right away so that he could fly home to Sacramento--Denver was about a 3 hour drive away at this point. How would he get there? Would we have to miss a whole night of walking? God was one step ahead of the game, though. He had provided that the former walker Erik Feltes had come up from the seminary in Denver to walk with us for the night. As a result, he was able to take our walker-Erik to Denver right away. In addition, God pulled through with style. See, the car Erik was driving was not his own but actually belonged to another seminarian, named Joe, who needed the car in the morning to take someone else to the airport, too. --Our Erik was able to get a ride back to Denver and a ride to the airport with someone who was going anyway.

Friday, Satan attacked again. Our RV was not ready yet and would not be ready until at least Monday, at which point we would have to drive back 4 or 5 hours to Granby to pick it up. In addition, the host family we were to stay with Friday night had something happen, and they would not be able to take us until Saturday at noon. We had no where to go Friday night.

Once again, God stepped up to the plate. He provided that Nate, from Iliff, Colorado, who attends Franciscan University of Steubenville, had heard about Crossroads on campus. He had called our office and asked if we could come over for a barbecue. When he heard about our situation, he gladly welcomed us into his home. And, because the rest of his family was out of town, there was plenty of room for 11 of us to sleep there.

We continue with good spirits and joyful hearts.

God wins again.

Stay tuned for more stories of the God and Satan duking it out--God always wins!!!


United in the Heart of Jesus,

Megan Otten, Central Walk

Holy Crossroads Batman!

I'm back to the Central walk! I missed my Crossroads family, but all is well. I left this past week to volunteer at a Steubenville on the Bayou Conference and God is sooooo GOOD! One of the Conference speakers shared her testimony of how she had an abortion. She had such a powerful story of God's love and mercy. Before I left for the dirty South, we were at a small gas station somewhere in Colorado. We ended up talking to the dynamic duo, no not Batman and Robin, but Tony and Tommy who are two 8th graders from that area. I was talking to them about what we were doing and why abortion is wrong. After I explained what an abortion was, Tommy asked me is it wrong for a woman to do that. I said yes and tried to explain how each person is unique and that it is wrong for a woman to kill her child. I pray and hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives and that they will seek the truth. You can pray for them too. Until next time... same Bat time, same Bat channel.

Where fore art thou tornados?

Greetings and salutations from te Central Walk leader, Dave "It's so breezy here" Kelch. I honestly don't have much to say. One of the main apostolates related to the greater mission of Crossroads is talking to A LOT of people and talking to A LOT of people A LOT. I love it very much, but it does tire out the vocabularic part of my brain.

What a lovely stay we've had in North Platte. Honestly, it has been one of our most relaxed weekends, and providentially placed I might add. This past week we experienced our first real problems i.e. the RV breaking down....family members passing away(pray for Erik).....and general exhaustion. Last night we had a chance to hear about our host Mom's son, Zach, who lost control of most of his body in a water accident. During his 9 -month stay in the hospital, he was on 7 different I.V. bags! There were two medicines being pumped into his body with analogous side-effects. One would keep him awake and one would make his drowsy. So, being unable to take him off of either medicine he would become very frustrated with being exhausted and unable to get to sleep. The family discovered that the only way he would be able to fall asleep would be to pray the rosary and enter into its beautiful Marian rhythm. So, they would pray it together and soon the doctor's learned (one of which was Jewish) that when the rosary was being prayed in the room, they shouldn't disturb them. Eventually, the medical staff actually just made a blanket order that no one was to disturb the rosary - the only way that Zach would ever find rest. Beautiful, eh?

Our Lady certainly found happiness in helping this beautiful family, as she does with every family.

God bless you all,
Dave K.

From the Mountains to the Plains

Hello everyone!

I think this is the first time that someone from the Central Walk has posted on this blog; we have been grossly inefficient in this regard. But it's been a beautiful wonderful walking experience thus far. We're in North Platte, Nebraska this weekend, but we went through Rocky Mountain National Park this last week which was spectacular. I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful landscape.

It's easy to get bogged down in the negative aspects of fighting abortion, contraception and euthanasia, but this walk thus far has allowed me to really see the positive aspects of the Culture of Life. I think the mountains are a great symbol of this, of the majesty and dignity of human life. Mountains bring out what is noble and glorious in man, and I know I will certainly miss them. When I think of the Culture of Life and what it will be like when it does come about across the world, I think of a lot of people eating a big meal around a table having excellent conversation on the Church and God in a house in the forest somewhere in the mountains. Of course, this is just the iconic representation that the Culture of Life has in my mind, but this trip has shown me that by walking, by praying as much as we do, by joining together in a close fellowship with one another and with those we meet, we are not just fighting the Culture of Death but are really building the community, the communio personarum, necessary to really create a total civilization of life and love. And that is really awesome.

We're in the plains now: cows, factory farms, corn. It's really breezy here. But that's part of the country too. God bless to everyone who reads this blog.

Pax Christi sit semper vobiscum,
Mark Spencer

Random Comment About Hugs

I love hugs! They are so great! (My fellow walkers can attest to the fact that I'm a hugger! ;) My favorite hugs are the ones I receive from frail elderly women after Mass. Most will add a few words of encouragement too, it means so much to me! Last weekend, Teresa and I attended a quaint little church in which a woman stood at the entrance and greeted every parishioner with a warm hug before Mass. How awesome is that?! There are so many people in this world who are starving for human touch...

*Christy
Northern Walk

Hello from the Northern Walk!
This is Jamie again. We are finally out of Montana!! Not that I don't love Montana (Calvin...), I do... I love Montana; its probably my favorite state that we will go through. Except Illinois of course -- SWEET HOME CHICAGO! It's just nice to move through states. We went through Wyoming in like 2 minutes. It was amazing. Now we are in South Dakota. Our favorite state because they currently don't do abortions here. :) Good one, SD!
We are staying at a parish this weekend -- Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Rapid City. I would like to say thanks to the priests for letting us stay here. :)
Today has been pretty fun so far. We went to Mount Rushmore. It was pretty cool; I've always wanted to see it. I got some pretty good pictures. Unfortunately I can't load them up here right now because I don't have a cord... sorry about that. Afterwards, we got some delicious frosties because at one of our masses last weekend someone donated Wendy's gift certificates because they didn't have any money on them. WOO HOO!!! Tomorrow we are going to see Walldrug. My Dad said that he heard its the place to be in SD. We will see. (Ug too much rhyming, sorry guys). Some people on the trip have been there - they're split on whether or not its ridiculous or cute. Don't worry, we're only tourists sometimes. We all know why we're doing this. Honestly though, its good to go out where people are because the more people that see our shirts the better. Plus people are always asking about us and what we are doing. I personally think that that is one of the best things about this trip: we want to show people that young people care about this issue and we are going to stand up for what is right. AND when we went to Wendy's today, we got a donation :)
OK that's all I have to say for now. I hope you all have a spectacular day. I'd like to say hey to my family and friends: I love you guys! <3 :)

God Bless,
Jamie

More Southern Pictures

Seth took a bunch of pictures when he was in LA with us.

Southern Pictures

(Tiny) shots from the southern walk. Hopefully I'll have bigger versions up soon.

From 11:00, clockwise:
Home sweet home, 40-60 miles east of Twentynine Palms, CA

Some of the gang in a church parking lot in Chino, CA

Miriam, Brendan, and Shannon walking

Ben about to shoot above walkers

A familiar sight

A Las Vegas host family with Elizabeth and Curt

In the middle: desert scenery... Ben and Curt ran up a hill in the desert one evening before starting night shift!

Prayer Vigil at the abortion clinic. 

Praying the Rosary at the abortion clinic. 

Billings, Montana

Hey everyone! This is Jamie :). Calvin's dad took some pics of us and he's letting me put them on the blog. YAY! In the top one, we were having a candlelit prayer vigil outside of Planned Parenthood with a bunch of people from the community. Then next one is us praying the rosary and other prayers outside of Planned Parenthood.

The vigil was very nice. We did some Praise & Worship at St. Bernard's Parish and did a very nice rosary by the Tabernacle with everyone. After that, we all walked with candles and crosses down the street to Planned Parenthood. We walked in silence and when we got there we said a Divine Mercy Chaplet. So many people yelled negative things out there car windows at us. Andrew, a guy who led the Central (I think) walk in 1997 said this about that: "I've never got yelled and screamed at so much as just now at Planned Parenthood." He explained that before when he did it, everyone was indifferent about us, confident that abortion was here to stay. But now that we are becoming stronger and more and more people are claiming to be Pro Life instead of Pro Choice, they are scared and this is a last ditch effort. They know they are losing the battle. It was very well said. One guy even yelled "Get a job, you hippies!" He doesn't even know what words to grab for! Andrew said he'd been called a lot of things, but never a hippy. Haha. That's pretty funny.

OK well, I have to go. I hope everyone has a good day! :)

-Jamie

"CAN I LIVE?"

We on the Northern Walk are pretty much obsessed with the song "Can I live?" by rapper Nick Cannon. Nick performs the song as a tribute to his mother who almost aborted him. At age 17, she walked away from the abortion clinic and chose life for her son Nick! The lyrics and music video are very powerful. Please view it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIrQ8z6_WJs&search=can%20I%20live and then share the link with everyone you know! Thanks ;)

Passionate for Life,
Christy Stutsman

Life, Jobs, and Hippies

"GET A LIFE!!!" a young man yelled from his car window while we were holding a prayer vigil at the Planned Parenthood in Billings yesterday. My silent response to his supposed "insult" was "Yes, thank God that I did get a life. I'm now standing here praying that defenseless babies in danger of being aborted will get a life too."

"GET A JOB YOU HIPPIES!!!" This shout came from another car while we were processing back to St. Bernard's. I've never received the 'hippie' label before so that made me chuckle a bit. And as far as the "get a job" part, I was reminded to pray for the many men and women who dedicate their lives to working (and volunteering) in the pro-life movement. Awesome, so awesome. Thank you all and may God continue to bless you in your ministry!

Passionate for Life,
Christy Stutsman
Northern Walk

Home for the Weekend

Hello everyone,

My name is Calvin Jensen, from the Northern Walk. This weekend we are in Billings, MT, which is my hometown by the way, and I have to say that I am glad to see my family again, not to mention sleep in my own bed, it's a real upgrade from the RV. Even though I miss staying at home and I miss my friends, my pets, and my family, I'm still glad that I am doing this walk over the summer.

the heat...

I, your faithful southern walker, was not always a southern walker. Oh no I started in the moderate climate of the northern walk, but I then volunteered to move down to the southern walk with its 90 degree heat... on the night shift. despite the heat, the broken refrigerator, the broken AC and the moldy carpet, we are encouraged by the generosity and support of the all of the people on the way.

Peace,
Curt Seidel

AMDG

Humility

Hey!! My name is Miriam and I am on the Southern walk.Right now we are in EL Paso, Texas and it is so much cooler here than it is in Arizona!! In AZ even if you weren't walking you still sweated, sweated, and sweated more still. Anyway, the people we meet as we go to parishes are so incredibly generous! It is so humbling to accept their generosity. In LA a woman at a parish we met made us strawberry muffins and then took her time to drive us around Hollywood!! It was so cool!!! I felt bad that she was spending her time to drive us around Hollywood, but it truly was a blessing to her and that was very humbling. In AZ we were at one parish going to masses their for a while and one morning this couple went and bought us breakfast as well as a bunch of groceries. Then the next morning they made us homemade waffles!! The last humbling experience I will mention (even though there have been many more) happened last night at our host's house. They soaked, washed, and messaged all our feet (very very dirty feet) with oil that had been blessed by their priest that had just passed away and who was very pro life!! That was the most humbling and beautiful experience. We all felt so bad she was touching our dirty feet, but it was a blessing for her and she was so humble about it as well. She touched our dirty, smelly, and blistered feet with loving hands as if she was bathing the feet of Jesus. All these experiences are teaching me to accept the gerosity of others when may be so hard to and that is so humbling and beautiful!!
God bless!! Miriam

Notes from the Southern Walk

Hi!
I'm Elizabeth Tevald and I was with the Southern walk until Phoenix. Those two weeks were amazing and I can't until I'm free to do more walking!

The best part of being a walker, I think, is being able to forget about yourself and just be a part of Crossroads- and see God working through you. I think that I ventured significantly out of my "comfort zone" at least 5 times in the first two days! When you see people respond to your message with incredible enthusiasm and generosity, you realize that it has nothing to do with the one speaking or wearing that t-shirt or walking down that road- it's all God working through you.

Of course, it's pretty neat to tell people that your group is walking to D.C.; the desert night sky is awesome; and there are a lot of great people to spend your time with. I learned the words to tons of country (and other) songs I'd never heard of before. (But, hey, it's a great day to be alive...) And even when it gets rough, Mom (aka Brendan Flannery, our walk leader) is always there to sort things out.

So hello to Mom and the kids, stalwart Southern walkers and endurers of the heat,
and to the other walks,
and to all our blog visitors!

AMDG

In Our Lady,
Elizabeth

Northern Walk Blog!!!

Hey Everyone!!
My name is Jamie and since I'm pretty much obsessed with blogging, I thought I'd blog on the Crossroads site too.
We are in the process of finishing our third week of walking (as are the Central and Southern walks - but we win (obviously)).
I would like to quote fellow walker, Jessica Cozart who said about Crossroads: "It's pretty much the best thing ever". I would agree 100% with that statement.
Right now night shift is at walk leader, Chris (*El Capitan*)'s house watching Beauty & the Beast. It's amazing. We have been singing Disney Songs all week. Our favys have been: Can you feel the love tonight? (Lion King - good one), Friend Like Me (Aladdin - good one), A Whole New World (Aladdin - good one), Under the Sea (Little Mermaid - good one), and Be Our Guest (Beauty & the Beast - good one).
During night shift you don't get a lot of sleep, but the stars are amazing (especially in Montana). In my past two weeks on night shift, I've seen 3 shooting stars. I can see millions of stars. Even the Milky Way Galaxy.
OK its over!

-Jamie

P.S. Don't worry, El Capitan has laid down some rules for our safety:
1.) Don't die.
2.) Don't get arrested.
3.) Don't eat at McDonalds.
4.) No listening to boy bands with long hair who are brothers (although he claims that he didn't say that last part which means that it would include all boy bands and not just Hanson. What he doesn't realize is that his precious "Beatles" are a boy band... the first boy band even. Bah!)

P.P.S. Listen to Brian Regan. It's hilarious!

K Its over.

Bye.

Let's Get this Blog Rolling!

Hey everyone! Let's get this blog goin'..We're hoping all three walks will post regularly so here's the important info: Go to www.blogger.com

Username: crossroadsprolife
Password: prolife

Jimmy