Blessings from Blessed Sacrament
I admit it, Chris and I really look forward to looking at evaluations. We like to see if what we thought ‘worked’ did. We like to see if our ‘read’ of the group is fairly accurate. There are times we say “no surprises there” and there are times someone drops something unexpected on us.
We didn’t do evaluations with the 6-8 grades at Blessed Sacrament. It seemed too much like ’school’ and not retreat to us. These young people needed work on team building and self-esteem. ”School” stuff from us just didn’t seem appropriate- almost like they would be graded on their experience. So today, when we got a package in the mail from them, we were taken aback.
In the package were 70ish thank you letters. Although all followed the same basic formula “thank you for… I liked…. I will use…..” each one was personal and reflective and a gift. Each one is a blessing.
Here are some excerpts:
“People tell me all the time to think before I act, but the way you explained it and acted it out made it make way more sense. I really liked the way you were teaching us by using things we could relate to.”
“I thought the retreat was cool. I just wanted to say thanks.”
“I learned from pulse that if you react too soon, you can’t take it back. Just like at home.”
“I know we are different but we are one Body. That is my favorite part.”
“You helped me see that I can have an impact.”
“The wall showed me that I can overcome anything life throws at me.”
“This experience with you guys was great. It really brought us together.”