When I began my journey with LVC one of the things I was most worried about was the Midwest Winter. The Wintery Weather came up at one of our monthly spirituality meetings in the fall through one of our discussion questions “In the book about your life, which chapter are you headed to next?” At the time, I had answered “Surviving the Midwest Winter: literally and metaphorically.” As we creep our way through March, I feel that that is the chapter I’m currently in- and hopefully ending soon. No amount of warnings, even from my Minnesota-bred dad, prepared me for how cold Nebraska really isRead More →

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With winter in full swing and the LVC year approaching its halfway point, it’s easy to get sucked down into a portal of stress and cold. I like to think that what’s kept us afloat through it all has been our ability to smile through it all. This includes smiling through car troubles, below-freezing wind chills, or even just the stress of everyday life. We always seem to lift each other back up. Not long after the holidays had ended, I had a sliding collision with a telephone pole on my way to my LVC Placement. As it all happened all I could think ofRead More →

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Nebraskan weather may be getting colder by the day, but what we lack in warm weather, we make up in warm hearted guests. In the past month we have had the opportunity to host a few of our friends, either those we’ve just met or those who we’ve known from back home. When we looked back on our month, we found that it seemed like so long ago that our first visitors had come by. Everyone, from former LVC participants to family members, blessed us with their presence. So many of our days, we can feel like we are caught up in work or ourRead More →

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When I decided to embark on an adventure that would take me from the East Coast to the Midwest, I knew I would encounter a lot of new things- a new city, a new job, new friends, new skills. The last of these, I hadn’t thought too much about prior to beginning my LVC year. Now that we’re finally settled into to our placements and our new home- and we’ve gotten used to the dark, creaky corners of this old convent- we’ve been able to get to know each other on a deeper level beyond where we went to college, how big or small ourRead More →

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The new members of Hillstrom House are stoked and ready to stir up a storm (in the spirit of the Stormchasers, the local baseball team) in Omaha, Nebraska! The five of us have settled well in our new home in North Omaha, a former convent complete with two kitchens, a small chapel, and a flourishing garden. After exploring the many secrets and amenities of the house, we got busy acquainting ourselves with the city. Old Market, which initially drew our interest, is a quaint commercial district downtown by the Missouri River, complete with rustic breweries, a free art gallery, a labyrinthine bookstore, and a weekendRead More →

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