Back from Nashville

Thanks be to God, our time at the NRL Convention was a great success!

It is hard to give a summary, but in general I will say that those who we spoke to about the Wash for Life saw it as a project that will breath new life into the youth pro-life movement. We heard it said over and over, that the pro-life youth of America need to be given some way to be active, and that they need to be organized and unified. Many people we met are working toward these goals, and they were excited to see that the Wash for Life is a dynamic, practical way of accomplishing both.

There are several moments we could give as highlights of the weekend. For one thing, Jonathan and Ingrid were interviewed by Fr. Frank Pavone, for the Priests for Life TV program! We also got a picture with both him and former-supermodel-turned-pro-life-activist Jennifer O'Neill.


We met many people who are zealously working to protect human life in all the ways it is threatened; it is good to know that we have people like that on our side.

One story I should mention: the four of us can now say that we have eaten pizza with a movie star at 1:30am in a hotel lobby. Eduardo Verastegui is a Mexican actor and a very nice guy, who cringed every time he was introduced as the 'Brad Pitt of Mexico.' Needless to say, Ingrid and Hillary were very excited.

Eduardo was there with his producer, Leo Severino, who is way up there on the list of coolest people I have ever met. They were at the convention for a special pre-release screening of the movie Bella. It is a powerful, artistic movie with a good message. Eduardo, Leo, and the director each had a conversion experience some years ago, and gave up what promised to be very successful careers in the secular world in order to start a film company that could make a difference. The name of the company is Metanoia Films; metanoia is a Greek word that means a change of heart and mind. This movie is the first of many that will do just that.

So now, after yesterday's 10 hour drive that became a 13 hour drive thanks to the rain, we are back at the office taking advantage of what we learned at the convention. Lots of new people to talk to, letters to write, leads to follow... One good thing about this weekend is that we spoke with many people who will now go back to their own organizations and spread the word through their own networks. Over the weekend (to our delight) we received three that are the first from people we don't know. Soon, we hope, the sign-ups will start pouring in!