Christmas Update

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am sorry it has been so long since I updated you all. Please know that I pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary for all my benefactors everyday and carry your names and faces in my heart. My intention was to do a newsletter post a month, but it will probably be once every couple of months because I get a bit stressed with lesson planning and all. I have settled down in Belcourt, North Dakota on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. We have already had several days of school since Christmas Break. It was a challenge getting the kids into school again, but I think we are back in the groove again. 

The people up there are kind and remind me a bit of people from towns like Lufkin and Huntsville where I have family. The tribe is known as the Chippewa, and the population is mixed and called Métis (mestizo in French) as a result. The ancestral language is a mix of Cree (from the Canadian tribes) and French. Not many speak the language, just mostly the elders. The town is almost exclusively Catholic or made up of people who follow the “traditional ways” (i.e. native religion). Some try to make the two work together, as it used to not be as permitted back in the day by the government and some Catholics. The weather has been quite warm, so I think God has been merciful! We are finally getting into the negatives these coming weeks.

There are about 14 of us volunteers up there. Most of our service is at the school, but some of us help with the food pantry, youth ministry, and the nursing home. God blessed me with a new friendship closer to my age and who shares many of my interests. We are both discerning the religious life and love anime, languages, and learning in general. The other volunteers are mostly out of school and full of zeal and love for the Lord. They are also almost all women, but two new men just arrived. I feel like I have a new family up there and am at home.

My day-to-day is mostly teaching 5th and 6th graders. I teach math and religion and co-teach their ELA classes. The classes are much smaller, and I am finally getting a hang of where the kids are in their development when it comes to maturity and intellectual capacity. I have a good bond with the kids now, and they have made much progress. I also help out and play with the kids for breakfast, lunch, recess, and homeroom. Finally, I have been able to visit the homes of some of the locals and also the nursing home close by. 

I am still discerning the missionary priesthood. I was thrown through a loop when a fire (or nostalgia?) for St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits came up in my heart in a “spiritual conversation”. My friend up there is discerning with them and so I had a haunting feeling (in a good way) I should discern with them and not just SOLT (they run the mission). While I have met with a Jesuit vocation director not much has happened in that regard since our meeting. I am trying to see if a door opens. If not, I will just focus on SOLT or whatever door God may open. The latter has a come and see in February and I could apply for their postulancy called aspirancy if it seems right then. The SOLT vocations director wants me to be patient and wait on the Jesuits to follow up on my emails and the like.

Please keep me in your prayers! I feel like the Lord has healed me a lot and feel more like myself, like when I was in undergraduate school at ORU. The discernment for the priesthood is not as simple as I was hoping, but it is refining me and challenging me to trust God and praise him through all the unknown.

In Jesus’ Name,

Kyle