Tanzania: 2nd Half of Heritage Trip

We traveled to Oceanside where the Salvatorian Sisters runs safe house for Trafficked women. Some have been labor slaves and some have been sex slaves. It is incredible and heart wrenching to hear these stories. I never knew how prevalent it is here in the USA. Men will often seduce these young women by telling them they will get them a good job so they can help there family. Then they lure them in and hold them hostage and tell them if they leave they will kill there family. It is really sad the mind games they play on these women. Some are from foreign countries and don't even know the language. Some are from normal homes in the US and they decide to runaway from home and get caught by the wrong guys. It is sick and awful. These women have lived nightmares. The sisters have safe place for them. They work a lot with the psychological damage and emotional damage. They teach english and try to reincorporate them back into society. They are doing wonderful work down there.
We traveled to St. Mary's College where Fr. Sal is the campus minister there. It is run by the Lasallian Brothers and it really reminds me of St. Mary's in Winona. You can tell Sal loves working with College students. We then had a free day in San Francisco where Patric and I headed to Alcatraz. Very cool. I need to see escape from Alcatraz now. We then headed up to Napa where we met with the Drake's who hosted us. We saw Fr. AL and Fr. Bob who are the Chaplans at the hospital there. Then we headed to Orangevale where the Divine Savior parish is. Huge parish and we had a panel discussion for the parishioners after the last mass. From there we headed back across the US with our first stop in Lake Tahoe. Beautiful area. I would love to go back there and go skiing. We also stopped in SLC where I stayed with Noah and we skied up a mountain than back down early in the morning. It was beautiful. Then from there to Cheyenne in which we stayed wight he Lackey's then to Omaha and back. It was a great trip to learn about he different Salvatorian ministries. There is some amazing work being done.
It has been a few weeks and back into routine. The saddest news was one of my friends from college who I played soccer with died. His name is Jake Endemman. He was a great guy and down to earth. He had a laugh that could light up the room. He was simple and easy to be around and gave every ounce of energy on the soccer field. A wonderful man who touched man lives. He had a wonderful turn out at his funeral in Illinois. Death can come at anytime and that is the reality. Enjoy each day that we have.