The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. Joseph, Indiana

The first outing of the day was to The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana.  The Shrine sets on 30 beautifully landscaped acres made to look and feel like the Holy Land.  As you journey this multimedia, interactive prayer trail you can experience the life of Jesus Christ from the Last Supper through His glorious Ascension. All of the sculptures are life size and made out of bronze.  

It was a cold and windy day, however, our boys did not complain this time.  The boys were in awe when they encountered the sculptures.  As we were walking through the prayer trail, it was extremely inspiring to see the boys showing much reverence. The boys would sit down, look at each sculpture of Jesus and meditate on it as they were listening to the thoughtful meditation playing through a speaker at each station. Some would sit down, some would stand, but all were definitely capturing a special moment with Jesus.  The boys were also practicing silence so as to not to disturb others who were visiting the Shrine.  Our boys also showed signs of maturity by not horse playing throughout the entire prayer trail journey.  I am extremely proud!

The Shrine had an amazing and beautiful gift shop!  There were so many wonderful, religious items to choose from.  Although, in my opinion, somewhat expensive, one boy expressed to me that even though some of the items were a little expensive, he was still going to buy religious items from this gift shop because all of the sales are used to maintain the Shrine and not charge a fee to all visitors who want to come and experience the Shrine.  Such wisdom and unselfishness. Needless to say, I also purchased a few items.  The owners of the gift shop were very welcoming and actually let us use their tables and chairs so that we could eat our lunch inside since it was still windy outside.
Next stop, Sky Zone indoor Trampoline park!!!

Sky Zone was a blast!!
The boys had multiple trampoline areas to choose from: volleyball, dodgeball, basketball dunking, and/or simply bouncing, flipping, and landing in a pit full of 10,000 foam cubes!! How fun and wow, what a workout!!

After Sky Zone, we went to a local ice cream place and 

Fr. Michael Vanderbeek bought everyone ice cream!!  Thank you Father!
After ice cream we drive back to SHAS for dinner.
Throughout the day, I have seen more and more of the boys making new friends with other boys that they did not know at the beginning of our trip. Also, due to the fact that our boys have been dining, praying, playing, and mingling with the apostolics and not to mention the fact that the apostolics are very welcoming and easily approachable, our boys have made friendships with many of the apostolic students!