Merry Christmas from Massive Worship!

"Nibble, nibble"

Merry Christmas from Steinbach!

What better way to celebrate the season than with our first high school event – an “Elf” movie night! It was great to spend time with some of the youth who will be involved with our high school youth group in January. It was a lot of fun and it is easy to see how excited the youth are to start the youth group in the new year.

Our recent family fun day was a huge success with over 60 parishioners participating in our gingerbread house making contest. Thanks to one of our parishioners, we received a great deal on some gingerbread house kits to give to each family/team. The afternoon started off with a drama about the Annunciation and the struggles Mary had to face once she said “yes” to God’s request. We also had a talk about Advent and preparing for Christmas and a skit about the story of St. Nicholas. From there we handed out the kits and let the families design their houses together. Amy put together some wonderful prizes for the most creative and the cutest houses, as well as the family that showed the best teamwork. It was great seeing how different each house was and seeing all the different strategies each family had. One group of sisters had the genius idea of crushing a candy cane and using that to decorate the pathway to their house’s door.

My favourite part of the past week was when a parishioner came into our office after Mass and told us how his young son randomly says “nibble, nibble”. This line comes from a skit Andrew and Brenden performed at our parish talent show. I guess we are a memorable bunch, even to the younger parishioners.

Although the team is excited to go home for Christmas, we will definitely miss this parish. We hope that every parishioner has a blessed Christmas and New Year and that they may continue to grow in fellowship this season. And we wish the same to all of you reading this.

God bless!
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

“Win the game of football! Win the game of life!”

Hello wonderful readers. Welcome to another update from Steinbach, Manitoba! This past week has been full to the brim with fun, activity and, of course, ministry.

As some of you may know, Amy is from America. California to be specific, and since American Thanksgiving fell on one of our team days we decided that it would be an awesome idea if we watched Thanksgiving football together. The team also thought it would be a great day to celebrate Amy’s unbirthday too. So, just as we settled down to watch the game the five of us exchanged looks and broke into song singing “Star Spangled Banner”, which most of us had to learn in only a couple of days. It was incredible!!! We then pulled out some spicy chicken wings and watched the game together. We ended off the night by taking some photos out in the snow.

Did I mention that the very next day was Amy’s actual birthday? We were surprised by our contact people with an apple pie, complete with sparklers, in honour of Amy’s birthday. Later on that week some of our teens brought in a cake that they had baked for Amy. It was definitely a time of celebration.

We were also honoured to have our supervisors visit us again. They tested our teamwork by leaving us in a local park, in the snow, with a note stating that some of us had lost the use of legs, mouths, eyes etc. and a clue to direct us to our next clue. So, we wandered around Steinbach looking for clues, guiding and carrying each other. It was a lot of fun and really brought us together. The best part was arriving back at the Church to coffee, hot chocolate, cake and apple pie. Delicious!

Our last REACT night before Christmas was a great success! The night was entitled “Jesus Who?” and was focused on the freedom, hope and love that Christ offers to us. Brenden gave an incredible talk, which was followed by small group discussions. We then moved up into the church for a drama, testimony and prayer ministry. One of our high school leaders said he really enjoyed prayer ministry and that he felt renewed from it. That kind of feedback is just wonderful!

Although we only have a week and a half left here before we head home for Christmas, we plan to be excellent in our ministry and give it our all. We have a number of workshops, parish events and planning to do for January, but we are super excited to do it!

God bless!
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

Massive Worship on the Air

Happy Advent, readers!

We were recently in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where a parish asked us to play for Mass on Sunday which happened to be Christ the King Sunday, a great celebration. After we set up in the church we found out that they were actually broadcasting the Mass on the radio! Since it was the Saturday night Mass they were recording it so that they could broadcast the Mass the next day on the radio. Our first on-air broadcast! We might listen to it sometime... we'll see.

The Mass was beautiful.

We also had a very pleasant surprise! The French team was actually in Yarmouth the same time as us! They had a retreat at the same building in which we are staying. It was so nice to just hang out with them and catch up on each other’s ministries and team. As Netters, it is always a gift when you happen to run into another team and we really enjoyed having supper together. They also joined us in the congregation for Mass. It was just a very great day.

Then Sunday came around and we played once again for Christ the King Sunday. It went well again and then after the Mass a few people came up and thanked us, but one man in particular really had an impact on us: he came up and introduced himself and as he was about to start talking, he had to stop because suddenly tears started welling up and he was so moved and told us about his conversion when he was 47 and that the music "did his soul good". He told us to never stop what we were doing, and that it was time for his generation to step back and for ours to get out there and evangelize. He definitely put the point across that what we are doing really is making an impact and to keep it up. It was so inspiring to us, and all because we played at Mass. Never underestimate the power God has to work through you in everyday things.

That evening we played music for a Holy Hour that was dedicated to Saint Brother Andre.

The youth from the Parish then stayed and we had what we call a band-jam, which is basically where we take all of the youth who can play instruments and sing and form them into a band, or they are in their existing Worship band and we jam out a few songs. We give them tips on how to lead music and how to add dynamic to the songs. It was a lot of fun, and they were all very talented.

The hospitality we have been shown since we arrived in Nova Scotia has been absolutely amazing. Everyone is so welcoming and we have definitely been loved a lot through food. We have been eating very well! We are now in Halifax looking forward to doing some more events.

Hope everyone is doing awesome at the beginning of this Advent season!

God Bless,

Brandi Olson

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Happy Advent to you, faithful blog followers :)

In the last three weeks since our last blog we have been in Nova Scotia (for two weeks) and the last week has been spent back in Ottawa. We've been having an absolutely marvelous time.
In Nova Scotia we did a lot of evening retreats during the week and day retreats on the weekends. It was nice to have the days to do things with the team, or hang out with host families. While in Ottawa we only have had two retreats so far. The first one was in Russell and it happened to be our 40th retreat AND also happened to be at the exact location that we had our very first retreat: Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church. I had my small group in the same place I had my first. We've come a long way, geographically, spiritually, and as a team since that first retreat. Our second retreat was a weekend retreat that I will tell you more about in a bit.

The first Saturday we were in Nova Scotia we stayed in Dartmouth and us girls stayed at Judith's house! While we were there, we celebrated her un-birthday. The boys dropped us off and drove away, but then drove back about ten minutes later and surprised her! Then all through the evening Judith's friends stopped by to see her. She was completely not expecting it, and it was great to see her reaction. We ate cheesecake, destroyed a pinata, and did the oreo contest, which is where you twist the oreo apart, eat the icing, eat the cookie and then drink a glass of milk. I came in second, beaten only by Jacob. Judiths family is awesome!

We stayed in a lot of places for one night, including Cole Harbour, home of Sidney Crosby. We had our first snow fall when in Truro, NS. It's starting to feel like Christmas. The whole team stayed together at St. Benedict's Church in Halifax for four nights. We had a grand time, as we always do when we're together. Being together in the evenings gave us the opportunity to talk and play games like Mafia and Sardines. I feel like we've been doing a lot of growing as a team lately.

The last week in Nova Scotia we were able to see Massive Worship twice! How lucky are we?! We knew we were going to Mass and then lunch with our contact person, but right before we headed out the door Carissa and Tom surprised by saying MW would be playing at the Mass and then they were going to lunch with us too! It was so great to see their smiling faces. We got to hang out for a while after lunch and then on Saturday they stopped by quickly, just to participate in team prayer with us and talk for a little before they headed off to their next destination.

One of our evening retreats in Nova Scotia was kind of hard. It was a Confirmation retreat and the small group that I had would not talk. So to keep things from being awkward and absolutely quiet, I talked about Saints; how there was a patron saint for pretty much anything and also how you can ask Saints for intercession. At the end of the night, I was a little tired and worried that those girls really hadn't gotten anything out of small group. But Carissa came up later and asked, "Who was talking about saints in their small group? When we were heading to prayer ministry one of the girls behind me was telling her friend how they had heard about saints in their small group. Then she went on to talk about how saints live and how it would be cool to be a saint and be remembered for the good things that you did." That just goes to show that God can work in all situations to touch minds.

The East Coast was lovely, and as a first time visiter I was sad to leave. It was beautiful and a wonderful experience. We drove to Nackawic, New Brunswick last Monday, then on Tuesday we went from there back to Ottawa. I am very happy to be back in Ottawa, I must say. It feels kind of like home.

We just got back from our first weekend retreat and I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say we are a little tired, but very happy! The retreat was at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Russell, and seventeen youth (Gr. 9-12) came. It was phenomenal. From the very beginning there was great energy. The youth were excited to be there and they really invested in the whole weekend. It was so great to have all that time to really get to know them and have so many small groups. We also had men's and women's sessions which were very well received. It was so amazing to hear what they had to say during the large group discussion. A lot of them said their favourite part was small groups because they were able to talk about things that they normally wouldn't. One girl said, "It's awesome how close you (the team) are because it made it easier for us to come to you and just talk." A grade twelve guy said, "I'm sure I wasn't the only one who came into this weekend thinking it was going to boring. But it was so great and I feel more connected to my faith now that I ever have."

The whole weekend has just pumped me up even more for our ministry. We only have one more week left before Christmas break, but I am so excited for next year to see how God will continue to impact lives.

Till next time, God bless and stay warm!
Maria Kalin
Encounter One

How the West Was Won

Happy Advent to all our faithful blog followers!! Amanda reporting here for a change, having hijacked the blog from Pat. Or maybe Pat didn't have internet connection tonight. I'll let the reader decide. I think I speak for many on the team when I say I am looking forward to this Christmas with more excitement than ever. Not least of all because we can't wait to see our families and friends and inhale a deep lungful of the savory scent of home harbor.

Here's the sisterhood (minus me, taking photo) at West Ed Mall...

The ladies on team are loving our stay with Danica's family this week in Stony Plain, Alberta (just outside Edmonton). We recently held a Team Day here where all 10 of us competed to make the best gingerbread house ever seen in the world of architectural pastry design. The outcome of the competition is still up for debate, the evidence having been long ago digested. Enjoy the photo of the ensuing face-creaming party! (see below) Alberta has provided endless opportunities for team-bonding and memory-making and entertaining photo ops. All enjoyed our first no-obligation day in Edmonton, largely spent at West Edmonton Mall where some of us got ahead on Christmas shopping and others partook of Ron, Harry and Hermione's excellent adventures on the big screen. Bernadette and I recently stayed in Red Deer with a family from Newfoundland where we had oodles of laughs and fun going bowling, gazing at Jupiter and its moons through their telescope, and staying up jamming with our host mom on guitar and djembe (African drum) like a bona fide Newfy kitchen party. 'Twas awesome.

God is on the move here in the wild west. Just yesterday we all sat around after the retreat sharing story after story of teens in our small discussion groups who'd felt encouraged or empowered in their faith through the Encounter day. One girl in my small group had never been to a Catholic Mass before, but her friends helped support her and explain things throughout the Mass we had in the middle of the day. We talked often throughout the retreat and I could see her becoming more and more open to what we were talking about. During prayer time she began to cry and I gave her that space to have her moment with God. Before she left I asked how her day had been and she shared that she had given up on God when a beloved relative passed away. But when being prayed with, she was filled with the sense that her relative wanted her to move on. She was very grateful, and wrote on her feedback sheet that she was considering coming to church! Praise God for turning hearts back to himself. I sometimes think that the work we're doing this year may be something we'll look back on and think of as one of the most important things we ever did with our lives.

Upcoming events on the calendar include a surprise Mexican-themed unbirthday party for Danica tomorrow while we're at her home... sshh! Sombrero and pinata are stored in wait at this very moment. We'll be driving to Manitoba by Friday where we'll do retreats in Brandon (the town, not the team member) and Winnipeg. December 9th marks our very last Encounter day of 2010, then onwards and eastwards to Ontario for a week of December retreat with our much loved and missed fellow Netters, most of whom we haven't seen since training (exception: the Steinbach and Wetaskiwin teams - yay for surprise visits!)

25 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

God bless ya!

Many graces,

Amanda Walsh, Encounter Team 2

'Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow"

We have finally had a bit of snow here in Steinbach! For me, coming from Victoria, BC, it is super exciting to get even a little bit of snow. I feel so blessed in being able to experience this much snow and just to stand in awe of its beauty. I cannot wait for more to come.

So, I am sure you are wondering what has happened since our last blog. The team had the opportunity to meet with Pierre St-Amant, the youth ministry coordinator for the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, for a tour of the Diocesan office and St. Boniface. We learned a bit of the history of the area and how the diocese developed over time. Did you know the diocese used to cover the area from Winnipeg all the way to the West Coast?!?! Walking around the area and visiting the St. Boniface Cathedral and the Collѐge Universitaire De Saint-Boniface was so much fun.

We also had a chance to discuss ministry here in Steinbach and how our ministry fits into the plan the diocese has for this parish. The youth ministry coordinator for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, Erin Kinsella (a NET alumnus), also joined us for lunch. We had the chance to share NET stories (her team was stationed at my parish in Victoria in 08/09) and talk about what events we could do to bring the two dioceses together.

We had our first youth band practice the other day and it was a great first practice. The teens are super excited to learn new songs and, for a few, new instruments. I was given the job of teaching one of the girls a song on the bass. It was an interesting experience as I only started playing just over a month ago! We had fun and managed to make our way through the song. I’m really looking forward to our next practice.

Amanda and I had the opportunity to be substitute teachers for the grade three Sunday school class. Teaching the students about how God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us in our lives to move closer to heaven was a real treat. We even had Fr. Isidore visit us to ask questions about what they had learned.

My favourite part of the week had to be Friday which happened to be Amanda’s half-birthday (exactly 6 months till her birthday). She had mentioned it to our host family but did not expect what they did for her. The two of us were watching a movie with the family and during one of the breaks they decided to go get dessert. Next thing we know they come in with a chocolate cake (topped with candles), singing “Happy Half-Birthday”. We were so touched by how thoughtful they were.

That is all for now. Check in next week for an update on iNFUSE team two here in snowy Steinbach!

Yellowknife Retreat Team???

Greetings fellow inhabitants of the world wide web!

It has been yet another busy week in the life of Yellowknife iNFUSE team 1. God has blessed us with a bountiful amount of outreach this past week, and has shown us what a true blessing it is to be here in Yellowknife.

Wednesday, Mylene, Adam, Ben and I attended and participated in the Remembrance Day celebration at Weledeh School, and were honored in a special way for being servers to the community. It was a great blessing to us, and while we were there we all were really inspired to see the great Christian leadership that there is within the staff of the school.

Thursday was our Sports Night which we were hardly able advertise for at all, but fortunately we had over 20 people come out anyway. It was great to be able to finally have an event for High School specific ages, and we all were very excited to be able to connect with the youth.

Friday was our Ignite night themed “The Bridge,” which Mylene lead amazingly. Also Adam gave a talk explaining how we are separated from God by sin, and how by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that gap is “bridged” through the symbol of His cross (similar to the analogy used by Catholic Christian Outreach.) It was a great success, and our prayer time was very powerful. We’re excited to dive deeper into the mystery of God’s incredible love further down the road.

Saturday was our team day where we had an amazing time. We were able to go out to Trappers Lake where Bishop Murray lives, and we all found ourselves some pairs of skates, and went skating. We all discovered our enthusiasm for pond hockey, and had a great old Canadian game; the girls obviously defeating the guys. We also got to drive around on his ski-doo which was a real treat for some of us. That night we had our first official youth Sunday Mass, for which the team band played music, along with a few other members of the choir. We received lots of compliments, and were blessed even more with lots of smiles.

Moving on to the Sunday and Monday is were most of my excitement begins. We were invited to attend and assist with the Christian Leadership Team spirituality retreat,

One of many beautiful sun rises we were blessed with this week

(May I make a note that this was taken at 9 o'clock in the morning)

put on for students who displayed Christian leadership within

their classes in the high school. Let me tell you, what an

amazing group of young men and women they are. We

had so much fun with all them, and the really showed us how they are so excited about life, and aren’t afraid to show it. Our entire team was able to connect with almost every individual on the we

ekend retreat, and it now feels as though we have 43 best buds in the high school. We enjoyed every moment with them, getting to have each person in our small groups at one point throughout the weekend, playing games, singing songs, having prayer time, and just having great fellowship (including the awesome jam session I got to have with a few of them.) A highlight from the weekend was near the end, when all the small groups had to come up with ways they wanted to go out and share their faith with others, and they had so many amazing

ideas and sincere intent to accomplish these goals.

Finally Tuesday and Wednesday the team put on retreats for the grades 7 and 8 classes of St. Joseph’s School. They too were very successful; we didn’t want the days to end, and neither did the students. We had a lot of fun singing songs (quite exuberantly), putting on skits and dramas, and really enjoyed the small groups. Our greatest blessing though by far was the response to the prayer time. Many of the students made comments on their experiences during it, and many of the teachers expressed that the students got a lot out of the prayer time and also their personal appreciation. Our team enjoyed the retreats so much that we taken into consideration becoming the Yellowknife Retreat Team instead. Unfortunately we have decided to decline, due to our great passion for parish ministry (our exhaustion is also a possible contributing factor.) Nonetheless, God is SOOOO good.

So that is the conclusion of our ministry filled, God saturated, week. But we’ve got tons more coming up, and we don’t plan on slowing down. Tonight there is Sports Night which is now a set time of 6-8pm every Thurday, Movie night at Ignite on Friday along with the beginning of our Supervisor visit, youth Mass on Saturday, and a much anticipated Family night on Sunday. God is truly at work here. Thank you so much everyone for your thoughts and prayers, and I am so excited to tell you what more excitement God has for us next week. Praise the Lord!

God Bless,

April Fogle, Yellowknife iNFUSE Team 1

Our Response

Massive Worship has been kicking it in Nova Scotia for some time now. How I know that we have been getting the full experience of this reality is that one of our host families brought home live lobsters for supper. We were all very excited…it’s not quite the meal you would normally get down in Alberta where most of us are from… or Ontario…or Australia for that matter. Anyways the lobsters screamed and then hit the table and our host dad gave us a dinner tutorial on how to savagely tear apart a lobster with our bare hands. It was one of our more memorable experiences. Definitely worth documenting.

After we left we were faced with a predicament. We had a free weekend and nowhere to go. Then Divine Providence kicked in and a very awesome priest invited us to stay at his rectory in Digby, NS. It was a short walking distance from the waterfront of the Bay of Fundy, which was beautiful, there’s nothing quite like the coming up over the ocean.

He then invited us to play for Mass that Sunday, and since we didn’t have anything planned he decided to let us play a concert that same Sunday afternoon. The only thing is that it wasn’t advertised or anything, because it was so spontaneously planned, all Father did was invite people out when he was saying Mass that weekend.

We played for Mass and were welcomed warmly and then when the afternoon came around there were 60 people that came out to the concert! We were amazed. Especially because we weren’t even supposed to be there, it wasn’t scheduled, God just wanted us to be there, so we were.

These people came out not knowing what to expect and they were touched with a worship experience, and once again we were all moved by the grace of God working through our music and through us.

I am constantly in awe of the greatness of God. Personally, Massive Worship has changed my life too. I came onto the team not knowing what to expect and not knowing what Praise and Worship of God really means. There is a quote in one of our talks that says, “Worship is our response to who God is.” This hasn’t really meant that much to me until just recently. I feel that God has given me a glimpse of the true heart of worship. Worship really is our response to who God is… how can we know the love God has for us and not try in some small way to give it back? To offer up our lives as a prayer and to just give Him the Praise He deserves.

Being on Massive Worship has opened my eyes to the gift of Worship and I am so happy that we have this mission.

We are heading to Yarmouth tomorrow where we will be playing at Mass some more and an Adoration night. We are also excited because our wonderful supervisors will be joining us for the weekend. They arrive tomorrow and we all get to spend the weekend together at a Parish Hall. It will be a great time!

Until next time, have a very blessed month and I hope that God will some how call you, wherever you are, to respond to who He is.

Sincerely, Brandi Olson

It's Fun to Stay at the O-L-V-C!

iNFUSE 3 is walking in a Wetaskiwin winter wonderland! And this BC girl is confused – isn’t it still November?

Before the snow hit, iNFUSE 3 had a very successful retreat at Our Lady of Victory Camp. We stayed two nights in nice, warm cabins by a beautiful lake. On Friday night we ran Leadership training for high school students. The junior high students arrived Saturday morning, and we went non-stop until lunchtime the next day. We basically did… everything! We had several talks, testimonies, and small groups. The high school leaders really stepped up to the challenge of organizing 50 junior highs. We also had Mass, confession, AND Adoration. All in one day! Four priests came to OLVC to hear confessions. I wasn’t exactly watching how many people went, but the lines were long and the priests looked a little sleepy by the time they left! OLVC is one of the best places you can go to play… FLAG WARS! Which is like capture the flag, except better. There’s no better way to blow off some steam than to run around a forest for an hour. While flag hunting, of course.

After the retreat, we drove back to Sacred Heart Parish for our youth Mass and Lifenight. It was a social night, and we played a giant game of Dutch Blitz! Dutch Blitz is an amazing game when played regular sized. But imagine it with giant cards, full contact, and more people! Soooo obviously it went really well. If any of you wonderful readers are looking for stocking stuffers, I really recommend card games. Our first idea for a Lifenight social was a movie night – but this was so much more fun! There was way more bonding and memories. I’m so glad we steered clear of DVDs and went with games instead!

God has really blessed our music ministry! Every week at the youth Mass the band sounds more unified and confident. We have such musical talent here at Sacred Heart! So many people have stepped up to play and sing, but Cecile was having trouble finding a bass guitarist. Well, a bass player pretty much waltzed into the church yesterday during music practice, and asked if he could be involved! Isn’t God amazing? Sometimes I wonder why we worry about things at all – He always takes care of it.

Looking to the future, Infuse 3 has much cause for EXCITEMENT! This coming Sunday we are performing skits at a parish fundraiser. Let me tell you, the entire parish is looking forward to this event. It’s a Phillipino culture night; there’ll be dancing, entertainment, and a buffet! We’re all but drooling in anticipation. Plus, it’ll be nice to have a little reminder of warmer weather while the snow blows outdoors.

We’re also looking forward to our second supervisor visit at the end of the month! It seems like they just left us, and now they’re coming back! We’re all very excited, especially for our big team day. Snowman building competition, anyone? Thanks again for reading! Keep warm and toasty, wherever you are. My personal favourite way to stay warm is to find a heating grate… and sit on it. (For a prolonged period of time. With a good book. De-lightful!)

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” – John 15: 9-11

Breakdowns, Green Gables and Red Dirt, oh my!

Hello from Encounter Team one, currently situated in Prince Edward Island!

The trip from Ontario to PEI was out first really long car trip on the road. We drove from Midland, Ontario to Ottawa on Saturday, making it just in time for Mass at Divine Infant Parish. Carissa, Katie and I were lucky to spend the night we were in Ottawa with some of the lovely ladies of Casa Kibeho, the home of some of the women on NET staff. We got to see our darling supervisor, Erica :) We had a grand hilarious time watching 'The Swan Princess." (Erica? Today's the day, Willie...mwhahahaha!)
We drove from Ottawa to Nackawic, New Brunswick on Sunday which took us about twelve hours. Despite being such a long trip, it was a pretty great day, but we were glad to reach Nackawic, which is home of the World's biggest Axe, in case you were wondering.
We left for Prince Edward Island the next morning, and let me tell you, I was so excited to reach there. The Confederation Bridge was soooo huge! Crazy. And they have red dirt. I knew that fact, but it still made me excited to see it. We're all pretty stoked to be here. It's so beautiful! And the ocean? Phenomenal. It is so cool for a girl who is used to mountains to look out my bedroom window in the morning and see the ocean.

We had a little incident at Green Gables on Thursday. It was our team day so we went to check out Green Gables, which us Anne fans were super starry-eyed to see. But when we went to leave we found that the battery in our white van had died. So we chilled out in the parking lot for over an hour till the tow truck came, as well as a ride to get us to where we needed to be. In the meantime, we found it very funny that we were stuck at Green Gables while it was closed. We entertained ourselves by seeing how many people we could fit into the remaining van.

We are missing Mike this week (though he'll probably be back by the time this blog is posted). He went home for a few days for a wedding, so our team has been stepping up to try and fill the shoes of our music leader. Mark does a fantastic job on the guitar and Carissa joins him with her lovely singing voice. Retreats this week have gone really well. The youth are really receptive of what we have to say and we have had some great small groups and awesome prayer times. On Friday we had two retreats, one in the morning to afternoon, and then an evening one. We were a little worried that we would be dead tired by the time the second one was done, but God gave us strength and energy and enthusiam. Both retreats went awesomely. I've really notifced how God provides us with the strength we need over the last couple weeks. I thank God for giving us the renewed zeal each day for our mission and a connection and love for the youth we serve.

Next week we are heading to Nova Scotia and at the end of the week us girls will be staying with Judith's family!

Till next time,
Maria Kalin
Encounter Team One

“Slow down Woofy!”

Elizabeth here, with more to tell of the adventures of iNFUSE team two here in Steinbach, Manitoba. For our team day this week we had the opportunity to go to St. Malo’s, an area just outside of Steinbach which plays host to a beautiful chapel and replica of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. We were able to take some incredible pictures of the statues there and got to explore the property. We also had the opportunity to pray the Stations of the Cross which surround the outside chapel area. It was incredibly beautiful! On our way home we stopped in at a small, out of the way café/gift shop, named Thistle Lane Primitives, for cheesecake, hot chocolate and apple cider. The women working there were so welcoming and asked us a lot of questions about who we were, what brought us to Steinbach and subsequently about NET. It turned out that they even knew one of the families that were hosting us. What a coincidence…but I guess being in a small town it is bound to happen.

Our Talent Show, entitled “Steinbach’s Got Talent”, was a great success. We had around 45 parishioners come out at the prospect of being entertained. We had a number of musical acts, as well as skits and even an animal trick. We decided to do a coffee house theme and the team served a variety of beverages and snacks. We also offered three lovely gift certificates from local stores (and of course Tim Horton’s) for door prizes. I think my favourite act of the evening was one in which four ladies dressed up as nuns and sang a couple songs and did some comedy dialogue. It was hilarious!

We also had our second REACT night entitled BF4L. The group has now expanded to include grades 6, 7 and 8. The night was on friendships and how we can be the kind of friend that brings others closer to Christ. Amy gave an incredible talk with a funny story from her childhood that really stuck in the teens’ minds. I was really impressed with how well the teens participated throughout the night. We also have a number of high school volunteers who are helping out and they are some pretty great leaders.
Coming up this week we have a youth band practice and a meeting with the youth ministry coordinator of the St. Boniface Diocese. We have also been invited to a number of hockey games and even a high school dinner theatre.

That is all for now. Check in next week for more exciting news and for more of our adventures and ministry work here in Steinbach.

God bless,
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

Hello again, this past two weeks have been quite busy for our team. Our two weeks started off with a great visit from our team's supervisors in Kelowna. We made kites as a team and hopefully will fly them soon if weather permits. Our team just came from the Calgary diocese where we were able to visit every continent. We went to the Calgary Zoo to visit all the different continents' animals. Surprisingly enough the Canadian animals were some of the more exciting ones for some of our team members. It was also the only part of the zoo that some of us got lost in. Very recently we came to Edmonton and ended up getting to have some fun at the West Edmonton Mall and see the sea lions as well.

We have had many good responses on our experience sheets that we hand out with many youth enjoying their prayer time or really thankful that we came out. One specific great moment was in Kelowna we had a night all about confession. One of the girls after hearing Ben's talk felt like she needed to go to confession when she wasn't planning on going. Apparently it had been quite the long time since she last went and now she is forgiven.

Our team is now currently out in the Edmonton diocese. We will be here for at least 2 weeks and than we will be heading back towards Ontario with a stop or two on the way.

God Bless You from Encounter Team 2,
Patrick Pringle

Another Week in the Life of Yellowknife Infuse Team 1

Greetings fellow inhabitants of the World Wide Web!

So this past week has been quite the busy one, and it is showing no signs of slowing down. As a matter of fact, it's getting busier.

Friday night we had our second Ignite night which was themed “Road Trip” and I gave a talk about how life is like a Road Trip. It’s like driving in a convertible, and and the wind is blowing, and rocks are flying up and hitting you, and the rain is pouring down, and God wants to come and be the top of your convertible, and protect you from these things, and be with you there through those hard times. It was a great night, and thanks very much to the City of Yellowknife for donating street signs to us for our environment.

Saturday night and Sunday masses we spoke, asking for volunteers, and we received a great response, and are very excited to see how much support our parish has to offer us, and we are looking forward to working with all of them. Now we have tons of phone calls to make, to contact all of these amazing people.

Also on Sunday, Mylène and Adele’s host mom took us out to Cameron Falls about a 45 minutes drive away from Yellowknife for a hike. Our team very much enjoys the outdoors, and hiking is a very popular activity in Yellowknife. Although it was very icy, we enjoyed the challenge and it simply added to our sense of adventure. The falls were beautiful, and the view was wonderful, and it showed us yet another spectacular part of the amazing city of Yellowknife.

We were planning to go to Becheko (also know as Rae) which is about an hour away, to introduce ourselves to the Parish committee. Unfortunately we had a bit of a white out on the road, and we thought it was a little bit unsafe to go, so we cancelled the trip. Fortunately though, instead our team got some much needed hang out time instead. God is very good!

Monday we went into the high school to and had an official “introduction” to the school. Adele explained who we are, and what NET is, and then we did the good ol’ skit “I’m Glad That I’m A Netter,” and got quite a few laughs, and then we just introduced ourselves individually. Afterwards, we spoke to a lot of people, and they all seemed very enthusiastic about our presence, and interested in what we we’re doing.

Also while we were at the high school, we finally received word that we can start our sports nights! Yay! So our first night is Thurday, and we’re hoping to get lots of people out.

Speaking of events coming up... we have a lot of them. We have our first Ignite this Friday which is themed “The Bridge.” On Wednesday we are going to Weledeh school to partake in the Remembrance Day celebration. We are also starting our youth Mass on Saturday nights, so the band will be playing then too. Additionally, there is an overnight retreat happening this Sunday/Monday at the high school, and they have asked us to help out with that. As well as next week, we will have a few day retreats with St. Josephs School.

We are finding ourselves busier and busier as we go. Praise the Lord for providing us with opportunities to share His love. Please keep us and all of our events in your prayers. We appreciate them all very much!

Until next time have a great week!

God Bless,

April Fogle, Yellowknife iNFUSE Team 1

Having a SUPErb time!

Greetings fellow inhabitants of the world wide web!

This is April Fogle here again, with Yellowknife iNFUSE Team 1.

It has been quite the busy office here the past few weeks, as we are now really starting to get things rolling with our events. Also we were delighted to be graced by the presence of our wonderful supervisors Matt and Caitlyn.

Last Friday we had our first youth group for grades 7 and 8 called Ignite. We started with a youth mass which was very successful and the band did amazing if I do say so myself. There was also great turnout to the mass, as we welcomed all. Afterwards we had our Ignite night which was an introduction/kickoff for the youth group. We had lots of great fun with youth, playing games involving lots of balloons, introduction of the band along with some great music, and lots of chocolate (due to Halloween), and they seemed very excited to be there and are wanting to invite others next week.

Saturday night, Matt and Caitlyn arrived and we started of our supervisor visit with lots of fun, having a Halloween party. We all dressed up, ate nachos, and watched the very strange Coraline.

We have Kandace Neutelings on the left dressed as someone from the 80's, Mylene Regnier as Cindy Lou-Who, Adam Regier as an Irish hockey player right from St. Patrick's High School, Tyler Grimard as a giant clown, Ben Dennison as a ninja, myself as Cruela Devil, with Caitlyn Bondy, and Adele Costanza as my dalmation puppy dogs in the front. Finally right in the centre is Matthew Marchand as... well I'm not really sure. We all had a lot of fun dressing up.

On Sunday, we worked while having our one on ones with Matt and Caitlyn. It was also really great to have them a part of our meetings and all that we were doing, because they gave us helpful input, and it felt as though we had two extra members of the team. Monday was our team day, where we got to have a private mass with Bishop Murray, spend time in great fellowship, had men’s and women’s sessions (a time where all the girls and guys get time together separately), and some other activities. We then went to they guys host home and ate a wonderful supper, and then had a campfire outside, and many people on the team got to experience for the first time cooking bannock over the fire. It was delicious! The entire day was great and we all enjoyed ourselves very much, and greatly appreciated having our supervisors there. We ended the night by saying good-bye to them as they left for a few days to go to the Bishops retreat centre (Trappers Lake) for some rest and relaxation.

Our team has been charged and ready for action since the supervisors left, and we are very excited to continue our ministry. We are preparing for our next Ignite night, which will be themed “Road Trip.” We are planning to (in interactive ways) show how life is like being on the road trip, and how God wants to be with us on that journey. We are very excited for this night, and we have a lot planned, and we hope it is a great success. Please keep us and the youth coming out to this event in your prayers!

God Bless!

April Fogle

I laughed, I cried, my heart skipped a beat.

I can hardly believe what a month it has been!

We have recently done some ministry in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and were there for just over a week. We started out with our very first Parish Mission, and I don’t think any of us realized just how much it would bless us and also inspire the Parish Community. The Parish was very receptive of us and the Mission was very successful.

There were three nights and each night started out with Mass where we played music, followed by a bit of Praise and Worship music. Some of the music was new to the Parish and some of it was more well known.

Part of Massive Worship’s mission is to revive music in parishes and to basically show every generation that music is a very important part of the Mass and to unite the generations by playing new music that is Liturgical but by also playing old hymns and classic Mass songs in a way that is beautiful and appealing to all, ultimately leading everyone to enter into the beauty and importance of the Holy Eucharist. After the Mass someone from our team would give a talk, some of the themes were Heart of Worship, Identity in Christ and Your Gifts and Talents.

There was one woman in particular who had a very touching experience, here is a bit of what she had to say about the Parish Mission,

“…I went home and told my husband that I laughed, I cried, my heart skipped a beat….the best part was at the Mass; I truly felt the presence of the Lord and that is something I have wrestled with all my life, but these past three nights that is exactly what has happened at the consecration.”

It is a great blessing for us to hear this kind of feedback and to know that the Lord is working through us, even if we don’t realize it at the time.

Our team has since gone East and we are now in Nova Scotia. We stopped in St.John, New Brunswick for a night, and the day before that we were able to spend some time at St.Joseph’s Oratory.

It was an amazing place! It was so great to see the place founded by the most recent and Canadian Saint, St.Brother Andre.

We were able to do Stations of the Cross in the Basilica and saw the tomb. How awesome it was to actually touch the tomb of a canonized saint! It inspired each of us and I really recommend anyone who is in the area of Montreal to definitely make it a prioritized visit.

St.Brother Andre pray for us!

We are now in a farm house in rainy Windsor, Nova Scotia having a pleasant time working on our ministry, continuing to get our music prepared and writing talks and dramas and preparing for our upcoming busier weeks ahead. Once again if anyone is interested in anything that Massive Worship has to offer, or wants to know more about our ministry, please contact our supervisor Mairin at mairin@netcanada.ca

We really look forward to our time here on the East coast, it should be a blast and I have a feeling God has some amazing plans so continue to keep Massive Worship in your prayers!

God Bless and keep smiling!

Brandi Olson

Welcome your host...Brenden Gillespie?

Another week has gone by here in the lovely city of Steinbach. Our host homes continue to amaze me in how welcoming they are. We have only been in three different homes so far and they have each made me and the rest of the team feel like part of their families.

It has been great being able to participate and support our host families in their various activities. Cheering at hockey and volleyball games, being invited to birthday parties, and helping to cook cinnamon buns are just a few of the ways we have been able to connect with and support the families that have opened their homes and hearts to us.

At our first host home, Amanda and I started doing some crocheting (she was kind enough to teach me how) and the family we were staying with started knitting with us. It was great to see how excited they became about knitting together and from what I have heard they are still going. My crocheting, on the other hand, has been placed on the backburner for a bit but I’m hoping to continue soon.

One of our highlights for the week was that our supervisors were here for a visit. They picked a great time to come as they were able to experience our first Family Fun Day parish event. These events take place once a month and this month we decided to play Jeopardy! Thanks to my current host home, we were able to find a dashing three-piece suit for Brenden to wear as our game show host as well as a pair of lovely bright-coloured 80’s style dresses for Amanda and myself to wear as question board flippers. The rest of the team got to act as human buzzers, complete with helmets for protection.

The event was so much fun and a great success! We had between 20 and 25 people in a variety of ages. The categories ranged from Disney, Food, Sports and Pop Culture to Saints, the Bible and general Catholicism. Our final Jeopardy question was a real challenge as it required the participants to move around the church to find the answer. The question was: how many complete doorways (a door frame with doors) are there in the parish building? It was wonderful seeing the teamwork and fellowship between the youth, parents and parishioners.

Coming up this week we have our parish talent show which will showcase various talents from our wonderful youth and parishioners as well as Steinbach’s friendly local NET team. Our second REACT night, which is now open to grades 6, 7 and 8, is also coming up and we are excited to learn more about how to have good Catholic friendships with others!

Before I sign off I will leave you with a quote from our office quote board.

"If we can develop a love of truth in young Catholics and empower them to seek truth, we will have served them rightly." -Matthew Kelly

God bless from Steinbach,

Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

“OH WHEN THE SAINTS…”

Ladies and gentlemen! I am proud to announce that the first ever Steinbach iNFUSE grade 7/8 youth night went incredibly well! Our youth group is called REACT (stay tuned for an awesome logo) and for our first event we learned about the saints, which was quite fitting as All Saints Day was just around the corner. The evening was full of candy, music, games, a skit, and of course information about the saints. We had four game stations, each representing a different saint. Andrew ran a balloon/dart station for St. Sebastian. The teens would get a candy every time they popped a balloon. Brenden ran a “find the Smarties in the M&M’s” station for St. Jude in which the teens would race each other to find two different coloured Smarties and one peanut M&M amongst the regular M&Ms. I constructed and ran a blindfold maze/obstacle course for St. Paul in which the teens would be paired up, with one person blindfolded and the other person having to verbally lead them through the maze and over (or under) the obstacles. Amy ran our Jeopardy station for St. Thomas Aquinas in which the questions ranged from fun facts about us NETters to facts about the Church and the saints.

At the end of the night we let the teens pick three saint cards (each of us had chosen three saints to research and write a short bio about so the teens had eighteen saints to choose from). The cards turned out beautifully and we were even able to laminate them. The teens really loved the cards and were asking a lot of questions about the saints we introduced them to. One of our youth helpers was so excited to find out that there is a saint you can pray to when you have a headache.

We continue to have fun and games as a team. One of our more memorable nights saw us invited to three different events and on top of that Amanda and Brenden had a meeting with our contact people. We had to juggle a few things but we managed to pull it off. I would like to thank Amanda and Brenden for their awesome leadership and delegation skills! We have also discovered that we have some “Bible Ninjas” hiding Bible verses around our office. These little tidbits of God’s word are truly inspirational and are bringing us so much joy. The only thing is we don’t know who it could be…

I find that every day we spend here we fall more and more in love with this parish and community. The families we stay with continue to amaze me with how they welcome and include us as members of their family. The family Amy and I are currently staying with got us dressed up in rocker costumes and took us around town to drop off popcorn balls to various families from our parish. It was so much fun to bring treats to others on Halloween.

So, what do we have planned for the next week or so? We have our first Family Fun Day coming up which is a Jeopardy event. We are also looking forward to have Matt and Caitlyn, our wonderful supervisors, come and visit us. Plus we have a parish-wide talent show to plan for.
Keep us in your prayers as we continue to do God’s work here in Steinbach.

God bless,

Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

November BBQ? Is this Normal?

Hello faithful blog followers! It’s Emma Wynker checking in from Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Did November catch anyone else by surprise? Wasn’t it just summer? Ah well. Time flies when you’re having fun! Here’s an update on what iNFUSE 3 has been up to!

We had a Happy Halloween here at Sacred Heart. We did a social justice project with our Lifeteen youth called Trick or Eat. The idea was that since we’re all “too old” to beg for candy, we would go around and collect food donations for the local Salvation Army. We had a great turnout of youth, and the community really stepped up to the challenge. It took a full van AND truck to move all the donations! Thank you to all our wonderful collectors and donators! The costumes were really creative, too. My personal favourite was the youth coordinator here at Sacred Heart, who aptly came dressed as a leech. We also had a Holy Family going around collecting food, complete with a real baby! All in all, the night was a roaring success. Candy, community, and costumes – really, how can you go wrong?

This week we met with the principal of a local public school here in Wetaskiwin. We’ve been invited to come in and help with various clubs and groups. We’re also planning on giving presentations and participating in school-wide retreats. What an amazing link between the public school system and the parish! I’m hoping that just being there will inspire youth to be bolder in their faith. When we visited this week, they sure weren’t shy to welcome us and tell their friends all about the NET team! Praise God for this wonderful opportunity! Wooohooo!

Emily, DJ, and I checked out the Jr High Volleyball playoffs at Sacred Heart School the other day. Those girls are good! (Defending champs – yeah ladies!) But it was a little difficult to watch the game, because all the students in the bleachers wanted to chat with us! Awesomely awesome, I must say. It’s so nice to feel welcomed in the schools. The faculty at Sacred Heart School is phenomenal – they are so willing to have us come by any time and just hang out with the students. We play a little foosball, invite them out to EDGE, and share about God! It’s a good deal.

Our last team day was a blast to infinity and beyond! The ladies of iNFUSE 3 BBQ-ed up some shishkabobs to honour our wonderful brothers. FYI, in BC we don’t BBQ in November. It’s too wet. So this was a big deal for me. But you may ask, ‘How did we get DJ and Marcus out of the kitchen?’ Well, they were sent to find a nature trail somewhere past Wetaskiwin… which apparently they never did… But they must have liked their meal, because they didn’t even object when all the girls insisted we rent Toy Story 3 as our after meal entertainment! Best. Movie. EVER.

As always, we have a number of upcoming events. First on the list is our EDGE night. EDGE has a phenomenal guest speaker this week – Mr. Andre Reigner from CCO! On Sunday, we have our Lifeteen night. We also have two upcoming weekend retreats. This weekend, the Netters are attending a Leadership retreat at Our Lady of Victory Camp. And we are currently planning our first overnight retreat! More details on that to come! Keep reading, keep praying, and keep warm! Enjoy that extra hour of sleep, for all you readers who will be benefiting from the lovely time change. I know I will!

Hey again, so this past two weeks our team has been very busy with retreats and travelling. A few of the fun things that took place, though, were...
1- My (Patrick) jumping in a lake at 1:30 in the morning in Manitoba
2 - Seeing the last place where Terry Fox went
3 - Visiting the Steinbach team. While hanging out as a group one day we found a giant pile of leaves and had the great idea of burying Trevor in them. The photo to the left may just look like a bunch of leaves but Trevor was definitely under them all ready to jump out at any given time.

While on retreat, one of the times that was interesting was when we entered prayer ministry time. All appeared to be going normal but suddenly it seemed like God showed His love and grace to everyone there, and a number of the retreatants began to cry. It was so nice to see the holy spirit doing so much work through the prayer time and see how much the youth quieted down for, and responded to, prayer.

Currently our team is in High River for the night having just come from Peace River. Our next stop will be Kelowna, British Columbia. After that we will be heading back towards the east to continue retreats in the prairies.

Stay tuned and Ill try to keep you up to date next blog.

~Patrick

It's Farkle time!

Greetings from Maria Kalin and Team One! We are currently chilling in Bolton, Ontario and loving it!

Things are going great with our team! We spent the last few weeks in the London and Toronto Dioceses. We spent a team day in London at Tom's parents' house carving pumpkins. In the picture, Mark's pumpkin is the troll with the ears, Carissa's is the pretty lady pumpkin, Judith's is the baby one with the big eyes, Mike's is the Monster one, Jake's has a black eye, Marc's is his trademark Lion, Tom's is the two-toothed one, Katie's is the lovely lady pumpkin, Claire's has the Marian (the cross with the 'M') symbol and mine has the NET cross. We had a lot of fun scooping pumpkin guts and being creative.

We had a huge surprise last week, a visit with Les Equipes! Katie, Judith and I were driving to our host home after a retreat on Wednesday when we saw part of Les Equipes! We freaked out. Katie started snapping her fingers frantically and I was fumbling to get the window down and yelled at them! Thankfully we were at a stop sign and they ran up to our van and hugs were given and hands were shook. We didn't stop laughing at how excited we were till we got home. We stayed at a 'haunted' rectory with them for the next two nights before coming to Bolton. Pat and Erica came down for our first supervisor visit and stayed with us as well, (We love you both!) It was soooo great to see fellow Netters, and we had a blast catching up, hanging out and singing with them. Ah, Sean, how we have missed your infectious laughter. The whole French team is so joyful, we can't help but be invigorated by their zeal and love.

On Halloween the whole team went out for dinner and dressed up. Everyone had great costumes! I was seriously impressed by how awesome we all looked and how creative the costumes were. Jake was a Spartan Warrior, and Judith was a pirate who could take a ninja anyday. Katie was Velma, and she even had a little Scooby-doo doll. Claire was an elf, NOT one of Santas' elves, but one from Lord of the Rings. Mike and Marc were conjoined twins, Marc being the nerdy one and Mike being the normal one. Carissa and Tom were Raggedy-Ann and Andy. Mark and I were inspired by Tim Burton's, 'The Corpse Bride,' and went as a corpse bride and groom. After enjoying a great meal at Boston Pizza we went back to Judith and my host home and played 'Just Dance' on the Wii. Even the boys were dancing. It was great. We have been having some great team bonding times.

We have given some retreats for older grades in the last few weeks, and some of them having been a little trying. After one particularily trying one, we were all drained and talking about the day. Mike gave us something to think about and put the day into perspective when he said, "I think today was a great day. It was tough for us, but we brought Christ and the Mass to youth who don't usually experience that. It's easy enough and fun to put on retreats for kids who already go to Church, but this is why we're here...to bring Christ to those who don't know."

Amen, brother.

Until next time, keep us in your prayers as we are leaving Ontario and will be heading to PEI and Nova Scotia (Home of our very own Judith Webster!).

God Bless,

Maria Kalin

Encounter Team One.