It is almost a tradition for the CL Texas community to start the year by spending a day together, enjoying our friendship. This year we decided to meet with the Louisiana CL Community at the Sam Houston Jones State Park, near Lake Charles. We had a "concentrated" vacation in one day: we started with the morning prayer, had a quick hike across a beautiful Louisiana swamp (that day was even too hot for the alligators), we sang, played games, had witnesses and celebrated Mass.

We were about 80 people from many parts: Houston, Austin, Corpus Christi, Lafayette—all brought together by the search for the friendship which gives meaning to life. The Lafayette community, made up of young families led by Fr. Sam (who met CL in the seminary) witnessed how, for them, meeting the Movement meant living with Christ as a friend, present in their daily lives. This friendship revealed how following Christ and "doing the right things" can also mean being happy and gaining satisfaction. Another group of friends from Houston presented the history of CL through song. We learned new songs and sung the ones we knew, discovering our roots and why these songs, which sometimes we take for granted, mean something to us now.

During the games, the intensity of the competition confirmed that that we pray hard, but we also play hard. We ended the day sharing a tasty jambalaya prepared by Allison.

When we were driving back home at night we were tired but we had our hearts full of the beauty we saw evident—right in front of us. Let's get this new year started!