Hello, I recently went to a pro-life boot camp. It lasted 5 days and was amazing! The camp started on a Friday and lasted until Tuesday. On Friday we arrived around 5:30pm for check-in at UD, after moving all of my stuff into my dorm room and meeting my room mates we all headed to the common room for the information on the week and to meet our groups, I was part of the Life-savers group. After organizing ourselves into six different groups we started on a scavenger hunt around the campus, my group finished first and got a prize of tootsie pops :). When all of the groups finished we did praise and worship in the chapel. By the time we ate pizza, as a late night snack, it was 9:00pm. When everyone had eaten their pizza (and popsicles) we lined up (girls on the right, guys on the left) with candles and processed back to the chapel for adoration and confession. Around 11:00pm we went back to the dorms for night prayer and lights out. On Saturday morning we had mass at 7:00am and then breakfast then we watched a movie on the truth to abortion, there were some graphic images but they were necessary for the video and for us to see. After seeing what really goes on in abortion mills like planned parenthood, we went to Southwestern, an abortion mill is Dallas, and prayed the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet in front of the building. On the way back to UD we talked about how it affected us to be praying in front of an abortion mill and knowing what is going on inside. Many of us commented that it felt like we were actually doing something for the families affected by abortion rather than just talking about it. When we got back we had lunch and free time then our groups gathered for skit prep. At 3:30pm our groups gathered together and said the Divine Mercy Chaplet. After the Divine Mercy Chaplet we listened to a talk given by Dave Pomerantz, the founder of Save the Storks. After a dinner break we listened to Alison M.* (Not me) speak. After her talk we watched a movie on the Demographic Winter and then our small groups discussed what we thought. On Sunday morning the girls were awakened (not really most of us were already awake and getting ready) by the sound of the guys singing songs. The only one that I caught the words to was "you don't know your beautiful by One Direction. After morning prayer in the common room we went to breakfast then we had a 'mom and baby bags' activity. During this activity you could make little diaper babies, sort through the items that all of the campers brought, assemble the baskets to give to the moms, or color crosses (There was a huge wall filled with crosses that needed to be colored, there were 13,744 crosses on the wall, I will explain them in farther detail in the next post). After we finished the activity we went to mass and then to lunch. After lunch we headed quickly back to the dorms to change into comfortable clothes. After we had changed we listened to a talk by Kristan H. from Students for Life America. After dinner and a talk by Rebecca we watched the film Crescendo then had a pro-life game night. We had Free time then night prayer and then the guys we singing along with a few of the girls. On Monday morning my group along with two others went to Fort Worth to pray at an abortion mill and then we went to a pregnancy help center and helped them to sort through some donations to give to the people who came for help. We then went to St. Patrick's Cathedral for noon mass and then to CiCi's pizza for lunch. After lunch we went to St. Michael's church and the guys pulled weeds on the sand volleyball quart and the girls sorted through maternity clothes. When we got back to UD we had skit practice and then dinner. After dinner one of the chaperons, Hali N. gave a talk then we had a sports tournament (really we just did different sports there was not really a winner or even real teams for some of the games). After night prayer a few of the guys along with some of the girls started singing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy after a few minuets all of the guys, most of the girls and a few of the chaperons we singing, it was AWESOME!! then we sang a few other songs that everyone knew, "Don't stop believing" and "You don't know you beautiful". Tuesday morning we had morning prayer and breakfast then we got on the buses and went to pray at an abortion mill then we went to Calvary hill cemetery (the place where over a thousand aborted babies are buried) and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet, it was a very touching and emotional moment. Upon returning to Ud we had mass and then lunch. Then we listened to a TOBET talk (theology of the body). After Ms. Monica finished talking to us Jacquelyn S. gave us a Pro-Life challenge and then we had dinner with our families. After diner our parents listened to a talk and the campers had final skit prep. after all of the skits we had night prayer and we gathered all of our stuff and checked out to go home. It was a fun and amazing experience and I plan on going again next year!
*names are not used for personal reasons. :)
