Team Two visits Anne's Land!

Hello to all blog readers!

This is Riane McCallum, writing to you from Perth-Andover, New Brunswick. We on team two have had a great week, full of ministry and adventures!

We started out our week on the beautiful island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This week truly was blessed in many ways. We began in Reserve Mines, where the people who welcomed us in were truly amazing! We felt so loved and welcomed and we knew that we would miss them when we left! Through the week we made stops in the beautiful towns of Cheticamp and Sydney Mines. In Sydney Mines, it was really neat because Trevor had an opportunity to visit long lost relatives. On we went accross the Causway to Pictou, NS. This retreat was a real blessing to witness. We only had about 16 youth and during the prayer time we had two priests hearing confessions. After about ten minutes none of the youth had gone and I was begining to think that none of them would go. It was really cool though, because one guy made the decision to go, and he walked to the front of the church and had confession, which started a stream of confessors. By the end of the prayer time, almost all every retreatant had their confessions heard! Praise God! The next day we travelled to Sydney River, NS. Again, this retreat was a great experience and we could really feel God working! Many of the youth were really inquisitive and had a lot of questions to ask. At the end of the night, a couple of guys retreatants hung out with us and played guitar for a while. It was great!

After leaving Syndey River, we spent the weekend in the beautiful town of St. Peter's (as seen in the Tim Horton's commercial in the Olympics!!). We had an opportunity to tour around the area a little bit, and let me tell you, it is just as beautiful as a story book! We ran an Encounter Evening on Sunday night, and again, our time there was blessed. We really felt God working through all of the youth that came, and it was so beautiful to see many of them take advantage of reconciliation! They also really participated in the night, singing the songs and engaging in small groups. It was a great night!

St. Peter's was our last stop in Nova Scotia. We were very sad to leave but consoled by the fact that we would spend the next two nights in Anne's land of Prince Edward Island!! PEI is my very favourite place in the whole world, and I was SO excited to visit! I have to admit that on the drive over the magnificent bridge, tears of joy were very present in my eyes! We attented a Chrism Mass at St. Dunstan's Basillica in Charlottetown, where we were very suprised to bump into a former NETter, Katrina O'Brien! We had a great night visiting with her and it was such a blessing to see her! The next day we had a team day. In the morning, the ladies toured Charlottetown and, in true "Anne" fashion, drank some delightful raspberry cordial, while the men toured the Cavendish beach. We all met up later in the day at the home of my kindred spirit, Anne of Green Gables! It was great to tour Green Gables and see the famous "puffed sleeves!" I am a huge fan of Anne's, and for many of us girls the visit to Green Gables was a childhood dream come true! The next morning we bid farwell to the rolling hills of PEI and landed in Perth-Andover, NB. Tonight will be our last night in the Maritimes, and we have enjoyed every minute of our time here!

Tomorrow we are journeying accross Quebec and landing in Ottawa for the Easter weekend!

I hope you all have a very blessed Easter weekend!

God Bless!

Riane

Québec, nous re-voici!!!

Bonjour à tous!

Ici Marise Poirier qui vous écris de Terrebonne, Québec. L'équipe a passé une semaine chargée d'événements très enrichissants durant la semaine qui vient de passer.

Dimanche dernier, nous sommes arrivés à Pickering, Ontario, ou nous avons animé des retraites du lundi au jeudi pour les jeunes candidats au Sacrement de la Confirmation. Personnellement, j'ai vraiment senti que l'Esprit Saint était présent durant nos retraites. Ce qui m'a vraiment frappée cette dernière semaine était le désir sincère des jeunes d'approfondir leur relation avec Dieu. Durant nos retraites, on commence souvent la journée avec une saynète, un jeu et les petits groupes. Durant les petits groupes, les jeunes ont la chance de partager leurs opinions et de poser des questions au sujet de la foi. Mes petits groupes de la semaine dernière étaient incroyables! Dans mon petit groupe de lundi, l'une des filles a partagé: « Aujourd'hui, c'était la première fois que je parlais à Jésus avec mon cœur. Je veux prier comme cela plus souvent. » Le temps de prière était particulièrement profond pour plusieurs filles dans mon petit groupe. Durant la retraite de jeudi, les filles de mon petit groupe étaient vraiment intéressées à apprendre comment prier le chapelet. Alors elles ont chacune reçu un chapelet et je leur ai expliqué comment le prier. Contrairement à ce que la société nous fait croire des jeunes d’aujourd’hui, je vois constamment des jeunes qui désirent ouvrir leur cœur à Dieu!

Après nos quatre retraites à Pickering, l’équipe s'est rendue à Montréal, Québec. Samedi, nous avons animé pour le diocèse de Montréal une rencontre pour la Journée mondiale de la jeunesse diocésaine. C’était vraiment merveilleux d’être avec un groupe d’environ 100 jeunes catholiques passionnés par leur foi - au Québec! Nous avons animé la musique, une saynète, une présentation sur le thème de Jésus, un témoignage et des vidéos pour annoncer la prochaine Journée mondiale de la jeunesse. On n’entend pas souvent parler de la foi catholique des jeunes au Québec. Mais je vous assure qu'elle est encore très vivante chez les jeunes! La présence d'une centaine de jeunes était un témoignage en soi!

Maintenant l’équipe se trouve à Terrebonne, Québec, pour la Semaine sainte. Nous passons la semaine à faire des présentations dans les cours d’éthique et culture religieuse, à animer des retraites pour les jeunes des paroisses et à préparer nos cœurs pour le sacrifice de Jésus sur la croix et la gloire de sa Résurrection! En plus, l'équipe a eu la chance aujourd'hui de visiter l'Oratoire Saint Joseph à Montréal. Pour moi, visiter l'Oratoire m'a vraiment fait réaliser la grandeur de Dieu. L'histoire du Frère André et la manière dont l'Oratoire Saint Joseph a pu être construit par la Providence me fait réfléchir sur l'importance de mettre toute notre confiance en Dieu. C'est incroyable de voir la grandeur de l'Oratoire et de réaliser encore plus la grandeur de Dieu! C'est avec grande joie que j'ai appris que le Frère André sera canonisé le 17 octobre 2010 par le Pape Benoît XVI!

Merci pour votre soutien et vos prières! C'est uniquement à travers la prière que nous pouvons persévérer!

Union de prières!

Marise Poirier
Équipe 3

It's not about me

There have been so many times this year when I have depended on myself rather than God for evangelization, when I have measured my success as a Youth Minister by how many teens become involved or how great a Lifenight turns out.

This weekend, I was feeling dejected about the small number of teens who attended the Lifenight.

I kept asking myself what I was doing wrong, why they weren't coming and what more I could do to bring them to Christ.

Caught up in these thoughts of self pity and hopelessness, God revealed a part of His heart to me through the cross.
What I heard and saw was this;
Who am I to feel sorrow from rejection, when Jesus Christ, hanging upon the cross, suffered so much more rejection than I? Even still as He looks upon His children, despite His immense love and passion for them, they still turn away, and His heart breaks for each soul who does not know Him. I have only given my time for one year to serve Him, whereas He gave His life for those who still do not follow Him. What is my sacrifice in comparison to His? How can I rely on myself to bring others to Him, when He is the one working through me?
A CORE member confirmed this revelation as she led us in praise and worship after the Lifenight. God's words through her reaffirmed my call to be completely abandoned to Him, letting Him work through me, and that if only one soul was brought closer to Him through our ministry, I had accomplished all that He wanted of me.

CREATING THE CHURCH OF TOMORROW

A prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprisethat is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,which is a way of saying that the kingdom
always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promises.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,and there is a sense of liberation,in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers,
not master builders;
ministers not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

As we reflect upon Christ's passionate love for us this Holy Week, may we be reminded of His desire to bring His fullness of life to each of our lives and the lives of those we encounter

God bless,
Hannah Bouwman
Team 4

Crunch Time!!! It's Great!

Hello! It’s Shayla from Team Five-Alive. You know last week in my blog, when I said it was crunch time? Well, this week was definitely crazy! Lets see…on Sunday we had our lifenight called ‘Give it Away Now’. On Tuesday we had Glass Alabaster and Real Men. Wednesday and Thursday we had all day Retreats. Thursday night we also had edge. Then coming up, we have an Edge Retreat and Crew sleepover Saturday to Sunday.

Sunday’s Lifenight was a blast. It was the one that we were collecting all the clothes for. The whole night was on the things that get in our way of our relation ship with God. There are many things that we can take out of our life to help us focus more on Him. With the clothing we had an activity where we weighed all the clothing. To our surprise, the total weight was around 1,100 pounds!!! All of this clothing that the whole community helped us acquire will go to the St. Vincent De Paul charity in Ottawa. Now that’s a lot of clothing!

Tuesday was the Real Men and Glass Alabaster. These are groups for the young men and women where they learn about purity and chastity, and how to be men and women of God. From what I heard from the men, it went really well for them (they didn’t release any information on what went on during their night). So, to be just like them, I’ll just say that women had a blast in Glass Alabaster. They were both socials, so we just had fun filled nights.

Wednesday and Thursday were the confirmation retreats. They were both really good groups of young teens. Both with their own forms of energy, and all super excited to be at the retreat. With some age groups it’s hard to tell what they would like and what they wouldn’t like. They were grade 7’s, during that time in their life where they’re either ‘too cool’ or full of energy and don’t’ care what others think. Lets just say both groups surprised me. I thought there were going ot be a lot of ‘too cool’ teens, but the game of Pull Up at the beginning of both retreats proved me wrong. Yes, there were a few who didn’t want to participate, but for the majority, they were flying across that circle doing their dance moves. Some of them I thought were never going to get out because they were having such a blast. Another part of the retreat that I absolutely loved were my small groups. Because of the weird boy to girl ratio in Perth and Smiths Falls, I ended up having not one, but two boys small groups. Was that ever quite the experience. I’ll just say that they’re more unpredictable than girls. Girls tend to be talkative with each other or talkative with you. I had no idea what to expect with boys. The first group I had was extremely energized, and they liked talking about their injuries, but they were so energized that I had to bribe them with chocolate to keep calm. They were really good though during prayer ministry. I was really proud of them. My second group was quite the opposite. They were extremely calm, and talkative, but it was a talkative where each person took a turn talking and listening to each other. They were so efficient at answering all the questions I had for them that it got to the point that I didn’t know what to do with our extra small group time…so I rewarded them with playing cards. That was fun. Once again, I was also blown away by their reverence during prayer ministry. The retreats went so well that I wish we could do more (picture to the left is Rebecca being prayed over before her Confirmation talk).

So, that was our busy week so far. It’s not over though because we have a retreat from Saturday to Sunday. From what I’ve seen the Edgers look extremely excited.

Well, until next week. God Bless you all!

Shayla Doucette
Team 5

Talent Show & a Secret Birthday Party

Voyage vers le sud, retrouvailles et séjour au berceau de la francophonie...

Bonjour à tous et à toutes!

Vous écrivant maintenant d'une banlieue de Toronto, Pickering, c'est Kevin Prada, votre blogueur fidèle, qui vous adresse la parole, en plein milieu de notre semaine de ministère anglophone dans une paroisse de cette ville, Saint-Isaac-Jogues. C'est après une retraite samedi passé avec certains jeunes confirmants de la ville de Sherbrooke que nous nous sommes déplacés dimanche jusqu'ici, pour y passer la semaine.

Comme le ministère francophone avec NET est tout neuf, nous sommes encore en train de répandre le nom de notre mission partout, particulièrement au Québec. Comme de raison, on apprécie particulièrement beaucoup les chances qu'on a de croiser la frontière du berceau de la francophonie des Amériques. Et je peux vous assurer que notre séjour, bien qu'il était bref, était super! Et nous, les gars, qui avons eu la chance d'être hébergés dans une chambre d'hôtel, avons bien apprécié le temps que nous avons pu passer entre nous. C'était du super bon temps passé en fraternité.

Puisqu'on n'est naturellement pas chez nous lors de notre année de service avec NET, c'est toujours intéressant pour l'équipe de pouvoir passer là d'où vient un des membres de l'équipe. Marise, native de Cornwall, ville située entre Sherbrooke et Toronto, a pu passer quelques minutes avec sa mère, que l'équipe a pu rencontrer. Ça m'a vraiment fait chaud au cœur de les voir durant les quelques brefs instants qu'elles ont pu passer ensemble.

Et finalement, nous voici, alors que notre séjour à Pickering est à moitié terminé. Franchement, les retraites ici se passent toujours aussi bien. Parfois, on rencontre des groupes de jeunes qui arrivent à la retraite et qui ne veulent franchement rien savoir de ce que nous avons à dire. C'est parfois même un peu comique de voir leurs premières réactions à notre message, au début de la journée. Mais habituellement, après la première heure, les jeunes s'aperçoivent qu'on n'est pas là pour leur imposer nos croyances et qu'on est jeunes et normaux. Alors là, c'est une toute autre histoire. C'est la "grosse affaire" de voir qu'on est normaux. Souvent, lorsqu'on pense à des missionnaires, on pense à des personnes super pieuses, qui prient à genoux vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre, sept jours sur sept. Mais lorsqu'ils s'aperçoivent qu'on n'est pas parfaits, qu'on vit les mêmes choses qu'eux, et que ça ne fait que quelques années qu'on n'est plus au secondaire, la foi catholique devient soudainement beaucoup plus pertinente. Lorsqu'on est capable de rejoindre un jeune qui était fermé au message plus tôt sans la journée, c'est un vrai cadeau, parce que c'est à ce moment-là qu'on voit le Seigneur le plus à l'œuvre.

C'est pas mal ça pour l'instant. Merci encore, comme toujours, pour vos prières constantes. C'est vraiment très apprécié, étant donné que notre ministère dépend de la grâce de Dieu. On se reparle la semaine prochaine, la semaine sainte, de Terrebonne, banlieue de Montréal!

Kevin:)

P.S. En haut, c'est une photo prise après un match de football, et je vous assure, c'était pas mal intense; et ci-bas, c'est une photo prise devant le monument dédié à Terry Fox, en quittant Thunder Bay la semaine passée.

Aloha Halifax, Ola Cape Breton!

Hello all you sweet chili heat blog readers! Writing you from Pictou, NS, is your friendly neighbourhood Netter Christian Bekolay! (If you are wondering who I am, it's the ruggedly good-lookin' guy third from the left in the lighthouse picture.) I'm about to take you unto the journeys of NET team 2's lives, and of our many travels, adventures, and missions since blogging last.

The past week and little bit has been a huge blessing to our team. Unfortunately, our trip to Newfoundland was cancelled which was disappointing, BUT because of this upset, we had a week of no retreats and nothing to really do. (nothing to do? HA no such thing in a netters life!) So, we were sent to Halifax Nova Scotia for some adventures! Upon arriving, I learned some very unheard of, but important, rules about Nova Scotia...1. No two houses beside each other are allowed to be the same color or shape; 2- There must always be a relaxed atmosphere around any person in order to be accepted by society; 3- At no time should you every swim in the Harbor. Period; 4- There is no such thing as "being too full to eat another bite". You can always have more.

Halifax was awesome, we didn't have too many things to do in regards of ministry work, but we were kept busy with St. Mary's University. Our first day we had lunch with the Bishop of Halifax along with some of the University students. (where we met up with some of NET's alumni, and had a big social gathering.) The following few days were filled up with advertising for the chaplaincy office on campus. As well, we held a retreat and went to a CCO coffee house within that time. Between all this, though, we did have a team day where we went for a visit to Peggy's Cove, NS! It was the perfect day for it, clear sunny skies, windy, and warm. It was truly a beautiful day. All the water, rocks, and the thunderous noise as the two clashed together couldn't help but make me think of God's power and beauty. In some places the splashes would go up to 50+ feet in the air. So beautiful. While we were there, we celebrated Claire's birthday and had cake and lunch in the Cove. What a treat! (seriously...that was some good cake. Thanks Claire for being born!)

While we were staying in Halifax, Meghan had the opportunity to stay at her own house with her own family in Halifax...or Spryfield...or Sambro...or Williamswood... (She told us at different times during this year that she was from each of these places...) So on one of the days in Halifax we went to visit the ol' Hall farm. It was awesome! We got to see a bit of the very friendly and generous town of Spryfield, as well, we got to meet the beautiful family of Ms. Meghan Hall. It was pretty tight, "yo." As well on that same day we celebrated Brenden's birthday by going down to the beach where we held the very first ever international game of Inukshuk Bowling. (Inukshuks...circle shaped rocks, NET team members. you get the idea) all in all it was a very good day. (Happy birthday Brenden!)

From there we had to say goodbye to Halifax and hello to Cape Breton Island! Now, in the Cape, our ministry has gone back into full-time ministry doing our encounter evenings as well as daytime activities. We have already been up and down the Island (almost literally all the way around). Through the mountainous terrain (where the snow on the sides of the road was piled up higher then the van) and by the coast to towns such as Reserve Mines and Cheticamp. Our ministry still continues to bring forth small miracles every day and we are constantly in thanksgiving to God for all the wonderful things He has done for us and the youth of Nova Scotia.

So that about wraps up our adventures up to now. At this point I would like to thank all of you for your support and prayers. May God bless all of your socks off, and I pray that you all have a good day and week.

In Christ, The Christian of Bekolay (Esquire)

Go British Columbia Go!!!

Hello Enchiladas,

Dominique from team 1 here reporting from Vancouver, BC., North Vancouver to be exact! We have finally arrived to the beautiful, extreme west coast!! It is absolutely gorgeous! Once again, so much has happened in such little time! I will tell you all about our week starting now:

We travelled through the mountains from Banff, AB, making a pit stop in Salmon Arm, BC. Our next destination was the Vancouver airport to pick up our awesome supervisors, then we jumped on a ferry to the Sunshine Coast! We drove into Gibsons and to St. Mary's Parish. We are really excited to be here! The ocean, mountain, rainforest scenery is blowing our minds! For some of the team it is a first seeing the mountains, and also for some the Pacific ocean.

We are in awe of God's ausgezeichnet creation! (For the non German world, including me, that means outstanding. I just learned it!) We were all very excited to take on the new challenge of our first overnight retreat! It started at 9am on Saturday and ended at 1pm the following day, and we loved every minute of it. We had 18 girls and 2 boys on the retreat! All of the youth brought a lot of energy to the day, making it go well. They truly invested in everything we lead them, and we had many opportunities to put our supes to work! Pat and Caitlyn lead a riveting round of River Crossing, which is an Experiential Learning Activity. Thanks, guys, for being so open! The community in Gibsons was amazing! There were so many adults during the retreat that were ready to help and serve at any moment! They truly helped make the days go smoothly! We said a hard goodbye to the youth and community, but our stay wasn't complete! Or at least by Fr. Matthew's standards, right before we left he took us down to the harbour for gelato! The best you'll taste in all of Canada!! Then off on the ferry once again to North Vancouver!

Now I forgot a major story about the ferry! So we were quite high up from the water on the ferry and Caitlyn was wondering how long it would take for "unknown object" to fall to the water. Now what she did not take into consideration was the speed of the boat and the wind and the fact that Brandi was standing beside her, downwind. So, said "object" flew down and back up and landed right in the side of Brandi's head! It was hilarious! If you care to know what the "object" was, ask Caitlyn!!

The supes are still here, they leave us tomorrow, but the time we had with them went very well. Today was a team day, and we were able to go for a hike on some of the beautiful rainforest trails of British Columbia! Our goal was to reach the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge. We hiked and explored for what seemed like hours, but didn't come across it! We later found out that we had walked right passed it! No regrets, we had an amazing time!

So that is it, in a nut shell! We are back to retreat tomorrow at St. Thomas Aquinas high school for the grade 9's. We are all doing great, the weather is great, and God is great! Continue to keep us in your prayers and may God bless you always!

In Christ,

Dominique Lanthier

ps. The olympic hype is over, but the streets are still showered with Canadian colours!! Some of us got to see the flame lit, but it was just turned off before we all could go see!!!

Casino Night, Ultimate, and Sun!!!!!!

Hello everyone! This week has been busy, yet we haven’t done much because of March Break. It’s been a long week of planning for retreats, people visiting us, and of course our awesome lifenight.

Sunday was a great day. Like always it starts were we get to sleep in for a bit, but it was our social night…it was Casino night! The games that we had panned for the night were (some of the usual) Poker, Black Jack, and some others, Euchre, Apples to Apples, and Buzz Word. I think the greatest thing that was donated to us to use at the lifenight was a slot machine. That thing was so much fun to play with. It had chips that you could use in it and whenever you ran out, we had the key to open it up and get them all back. Here’s a crazy side story. On Thursday a few of our teens came to visit us in the office, and one of them decided to play with the slot machine. No joke, I’m bringing her with me if I ever want to go to a casino. She won a load of coins like five times in a row. In all it must have been ten times. That’s ten times to my none! So, back to the casino night. I think the most entertaining part of the night was the prizes. We had a range of prizes that started really small and then got really big. From little hopping chicken-bunnies, to big foam hammers, and growing sponge things, to free 6-inch subs (just to name a few). These were all put into raffles that were done throughout the whole night. It was so full of energy, and I believe the teens had a great time just hanging out and playing card games. I know I had a blast!

Like I mentioned at the beginning, many people came to visit us throughout this whole week. We are doing a clothing drive for this lifenight coming up, and so far a huge section of our office is made up of garbage bags and boxes full of clothes, so there have been people dropping of bags then staying for a bit to chat (picture at top right). There have also been events going on at the hall where our office is so people pop in to say hi. Lastly, it’s March Break, so some teens have been coming by to hang out. Some have come by to talk and then play some Mario Kart- Double Dash with us. Thursday was an intense day. Double dash was played at the end, but a few of our teens came by and brought cupcakes for us (they were really good) and as something fun to do we all decided to play Ultimate Frisbee. So much fun! One of them was so intense and set on getting that frisbee tat he was flying everywhere, and at the end had some gashes in his hands and knees. Thank God they weren’t bad ones. Another one was so much fun to use to make funny team plans. Because he was so light James would get him to jump off his back and throw the Frisbee, or get on his shoulders and throw the Frisbee from the height of James’ shoulders. It was hilarious. At the end of the day we got some work done, lots of socializing, and lots of sun.

Today is our team day. All that I know to expect is bowling. So I’m extremely excited and can’t wait to get to this team day. So Team Five-Alive is going to leave you now for this week. God Bless you all!

Shayla Doucette
Team Five

STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE!

Hi everybody!

Emma from Team 4 here to fill you in on the adventures lives of the team.
We recently heard from the public high school that our team is allowed to go in once a week and do lunch hour presentations; we have named it “Fusion”.
The last 2 weeks have been great - we have been handing out popcorn surveys and just hanging out with some of the teens that come to our Lifeteen program. Today, however, we are hoping to do something along the lines of Crazy Olympics, which means more food and competition!

It’s always hard in a public school when the majority of the students aren’t Catholic, let alone Christian, so we are really praying to approach them in the right way.

We are trying to attract the attention of the grade 10 – 12 students to encourage them to come out to Lifeteen on Sunday nights!

So far we have had a couple of guys come out to Lifeteen that we met at the school which is awesome! Please pray that God works more and more in the hearts of these teens to bring them out to Lifeteen!

On a side note, my mum recently sent me some Australian food, so Hannah, Erica, Marissa and I had a bit of a party yesterday morning and swallowed every last crumb. So, I’ve included a photo for you, as well as a photo of a stop sign we spotted that was way too awesome not to take a photo of.

God Bless,

Emma

Team 4

Dominique here once again, reporting once again in a new location. We are in Cochrane, AB. Once again, that was Cochrane, Alberta!...anywho...

So I was pondering some things over in my mind and the main thing I pondered was how fast a week can go by!!! I can't believe it!

This week was pretty cool. We started out by traveling to High River: home of the Timberwolves, but more importantly home to NET's very own Riane McCallum! We spent only 1 day there, but loved every moment! It is an amazing community and everyone we met there will not be forgotten! It was pretty awesome having the opportunity to do a retreat in Riane's school. Riane, your family is beautiful! They love you and miss you, and a lot of people told us to say hi to you. So "hi!" We love it here!

We are always on the move, usually only staying in a location for 3 days, tops. So it was a nice change to travel to Cochrane and stay for a longer amount of time in same host homes! It gives us a chance to get to know the community better. The time spent here went fast and I think that is due to the many opportunities we have had to explore the area. And we also had a No-Ob, ministry, and team day all in a row! We had one retreat here so far, for the grade 10 class and it went quite well. We were able to do the retreat at an actual retreat site, so it was pretty neat. The facility was amazing and the youth really got into every part of the day. They walked to the site in the morning and we didn't even hear them come in, but when they left we heard them loud and clear all the way to the school! They were such a joyous group!

So I don't think I have mentioned this, but I will now. It was +16 today and we are in the middle of the mountains!!! Ya!! We have had no snow for the past couple weeks and beautiful sunny days every day. Praise the Lord!! It is so refreshing, but I am a bit disappointed that I missed the melting part of spring! I love rain and puddles and the smell of spring. It's like we skipped all of it, we went from loads of snow to the opposite! I miss my beautiful season of spring, for 2 years now I have missed it! But I love this weather as well! God is truly blessing us abundantly! The No-Ob day gave us a perfect a opportunity to relax. Some of us went into Calgary to explore, others went to Banff! It was an amazing day! The air was so clear in the mountains! Ministry day was very successful, we went over out talks, learned a few more skits, and perfected and wrote new dramas. Today was beautiful! We started off with team prayer at the beautiful chapel in St. Mary's church then split off for men's and women's sessions. The ladies headed to the upper hot springs in Banff National park. While the gentlemen headed for the park as well, not to conquer the warmth of glacier springs, but to conquer a mountain! Yes sir, they did just that. We ended off this beautiful day with dinner at one of our host families' houses and an awesome talk at the parish mission! We are back to retreat tomorrow for the grade twelves, then off to somewhere new!

I would like to officially announce the beginning of Freckle Season, and to let you all now that we are all tanning (or burning) nicely! Keep us in your prayers and may God continually bless you in this time of Lent!

In Christ,

Dominique Lanthier

Sherbrooke se voit presque à l'horizon

Salut! C’est, pour une autre semaine, Kevin Prada, qui vous écrit. Ayant terminé notre séjour à Winnipeg, nous sommes présentement en chemin vers Sherbrooke, Québec. WOW! Il y a deux chevreuils qui viennent tout juste de traverser la route! Ah, le chemin du nord de l’Ontario!…et on retourne à nos moutons. Je suis tellement fier de pouvoir faire partie de ce ministère et de cette équipe. Sincèrement, cette expérience que nous vivons actuellement sur la route est quelque chose de très spécial, un don de Dieu.

Notre séjour de plus de deux semaines au sein de l’Archidiocèse de Saint-Boniface, lui aussi, fut un cadeau. Je ne dis pas seulement ça parce que c’est mon chez-moi, mais ce sentiment se fait vraiment sentir par toute l’équipe. Comme vous le savez sûrement, avec NET, on ne reste jamais dans une chambre d’hôtel. À la place, on demeure toujours avec des familles d’accueil qui, avec la bonté de leurs cœurs, nous logent, nous nourrissent, et nous acceptent comme membres de leur famille, lors du court séjour qu’on passe chez eux. Ils nous gâtent tellement!! C’est vraiment un privilège de pouvoir rester avec eux. Certaines sont des familles très jeunes, des foyers pleins d’enfants, et parfois, ce sont des couples dont les jeunes ont tous quitté la maison. Mais peu importe, ils nous font tous chaud au cœur, avec la générosité qu’ils nous montrent dans l’accueil super chaleureux qu’ils nous réservent.

Aussi, les retraites de la dernière semaine ont été superbes. C’est rare qu’on anime des retraites pour les plus jeunes. Traditionellement, nos retraites sont destinées aux jeunes du secondaire. Mais cette semaine, on a eu la chance d’animer une soirée pour les jeunes confirmants de ma paroisse, Saints-Martyrs-Canadiens. Ces confirmants étaient majoritairement en cinquième année. C’est vrai que la majorité de la population nous considérerait comme jeunes, mais avoir pu passer cette soirée avec ces "très jeunes", ça a apporté beaucoup de jeunesse à notre équipe. On a tous raffolé de notre expérience, spécialement Déneige, qui "trippe" sur les enfants, et qui a, elle aussi, retiré beaucoup de vie de cette soirée.

Mais toute bonne chose en son temps et maintenant, on est de retour sur la route pour entamer une autre partie de notre périple. Cette fin de semaine, on arrive à Sherbrooke pour animer une retraite pour les jeunes de la paroisse de la Nativité. J’ai vraiment bien hâte de retourner au Québec. Mais pour l’instant, c’est pas mal ça. Cette semaine, on voyage. Ce soir, vers Thunder Bay, demain, Sault-Sainte-Marie, mercredi Ottawa, et finalement, après une journée à Ottawa jeudi, on arrive à Sherbrooke vendredi.

Merci pour vos prières! On en a besoin!

Kevin

East Coast say what!

Hey everyone!

Meghan Hall here again with another wonderful update about team 2! This week we left the wonderful province of Ontario and entered the lovely and ... bare... province of New Brunswick. And what would a long travel day (approx 13 hours) be without going 2 hours in the wrong direction? Well, I suppose it wasn't the wrong direction, but it was 2 hours out of the way. We ended up driving for 16 hours in the van! It was a great trip though, we got to see a little bit of Quebec which is a beautiful province! Good thing we weren't going to host homes though, we all got to sleep in the church basement in Rothesay! It was a lot of fun.

Our team day in Rothesay was wonderful! The girls on the team walked all around the town, we played on the train tracks and went to the park. It was so much fun! The guys went on an adventure of their own, although I don't know where they went, I do know when we walked back to the church the boys were throwing snowballs at us. Good thing us girls are tough!

I would, at this time, like to mention that I love the east coast. Because there aren't any catholic schools in the east coast we have night retreats which means we all get to sleep in! Speaking of retreats, our retreats in New Brunswick went great! One I'd like to tell you about is our youth group retreat in Woodstock. We had something like 12 youth show up, and it was one heck of a retreat! We got to meet a few special people, including Evan Leblanc's (from team 3) mom and sister! Although none of us stayed at their house we enjoyed meeting them a lot!

Wednesday also marked the day of our third supervisor visit! Yay Pat and Meaghan! We picked them up from the airport and they stayed with us until Sunday. It was a great visit. Especially because Claire, Brenden and I all got birthday packages! Yay birthdays! Pat and Meaghan planned our team day on Friday which was fun. They gave us a talk on decision making and we talked about team business stuff. I know, it sounds boring, but with both Pat and Meaghan around it was anything but boring! They even told us our team gets to travel to P.E.I. Riane almost cried she was so excited. On Saturday night the whole team went to a very epic hockey game; Timberwolves vs. Summerside! It was a great game, and the Timberwolves won 4-3. We all had a lot of fun just hanging out with our team. It had been ages since some of us had been to a game.

On Sunday we had a short and sweet good bye with our supervisors. We dropped Pat off at the airport on our way to Halifax and Meaghan came with us to Halifax to stay with some friends. For those of you who don't know, I'm from Halifax so needless to say I'm very excited to be home! I'm sure our week in Halifax will be exciting and epic and full of awesomeness. Until next week, this is Meghan Hall signing off.

Team 2's quote of the week: "Wooo! Yeah! Gold medal!" - Thanks to Meaghan Boyd for this one.

God bless!

Hello to all! It’s Shayla from Team Five. This week has really flown by so far. The whole team is being kept busy with ministry. There’s a lot on the go from the usual Lifenights and Edge, to an upcoming Edge retreat and Lifeteen retreat planning, Merge, XLT, and not to mention that Real Men and Glass Alabaster are starting soon. I guess you can call it crunch time for the parish ministry.

I had so much fun at our Lifenight. It was on the vocations of marriage, priesthood, and the religious life. Tom gave the priesthood talk and Rebecca gave the religious life talk. For the marriage one we asked a married couple in our parish to give the talk. They were amazing. They really knew what they were talking about because they give marriage talks often. What I found really interesting about the talk was that they got the teens really involved. We started by writing down what we thought is the one thing that helps a marriage and then posted it on the chalk board (picture to the top right). They then used that to show how each thing is equally important to help a marriage as a whole, and they really laid marriage out to show everyone that marriage isn’t as easy as it seems, or as people are lead to believe. After the talks we played a teamwork game. We gave each group a bag of Lego candy to use so they could put together a replica of a diagram. It was a bit difficult because every person in the group was given a handicap. They were blind, mute, or without hands. The teens really got into it, and loved the fact that they could eat their tools when they were done. Overall, a very fun and informative night.

On Monday, our team dropped Alyssa off for a personal retreat at the Divine Mercy center because she’s a team leader. After that the rest of us went into Ottawa to attend Mass with Cardinal Levada. It was at Notre Dame Cathedral, in downtown Ottawa. It was a very encouraging Mass because a lot of the homily was about evangelization. I was also very happy because I received the Eucharist from the cardinal. That was a first for me.

Yesterday was Edge. Like always, a million young teens attend Edge…well more like 60, but it’s still a lot. This night was on speech. We spoke about gossip, slander, sarcasm, and negative humour. I was blown away by a lot of the response I got to this topic in small group. My favourite part of the night was when we did a form of prayer ministry called "silent blessing". (editor's note: Silent blessing consists of the team member placing their hand on a retreatant's shoulder - with their permission - and silently praying for them for 30 seconds or so.) Normally it’s pretty difficult to keep a bunch of young people to stay quiet for long, but they were golden! During the prayer ministry, they were all so quiet. If we didn’t have prayer ministry music playing, you most likely would have been able to hear a pin drop in the gym. The Edgers never cease to impress me.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, we’re going to be having an Edge retreat soon! I can’t wait. The teens seem really enthusiastic about it, and I believe we’re, so far, getting a good response. Tonight is also going to be our second time ever doing XLT. I’m praying that it goes well. There’s no better combination than some Adoration and Praise and Worship. Well, we leave you now this week. God bless you all!

Shayla, Team Five-Alive

sins and how to erase them...

G'DAY!

Look I’m going to tell you about the busy life of a Parish NET team in the month of March!
Upcoming events include a talent show, a musicians retreat, a Lifeteen retreat, a couple of school retreats just outside of Wetaskiwin, a Women’s retreat, XLT (Praise and Worship + Adoration), our men’s and women’s groups - Glass Alabaster, and Real men for grades 9 – 12. And on top of that just working with our Delightful Crew and Core who assist every Edge and Lifenight, our soldiers who will be taking over when the fateful day arrives of the departure of NET Team 4.

In recent events, Lifeteen this week was called “Caught in the Storm”. It was based on sin and temptation. Just recently our team got permission to go into the non–catholic high school in Wetaskiwin, and the weekend after we went in, we got 2 new guys out from the school. God is truly blessing us and using us to spread His word. For our environment we had a maze, a waterfall, black clouds and a soundtrack of storms and lightning (I KNOW!!); this really set the mood! Hannah gave a talk on sin and temptation with a few Lord of the Rings references which made me a wee bit excited. For prayer ministry we gave the teens a chance to go to reconciliation. We also performed the “Bring me to Life” drama of which I have included a photo of some of the team and core members all "bloody" and sin-like. This is one of my favourite dramas simply because of its intensity! It involves a woman (Good Old Suzi MacLean!) who starts kneeling/praying in front of Jesus (Mr Robbie Labonte) and throughout the drama several sins get a hold of her and try to separate her from Jesus, but in the end it is our Glorious Saviour who is victorious! (Yay for all humanity)

Anyway, I think that this was a perfect time to show this drama to the teens and discuss the topic of Reconciliation and the infinite mercy that Jesus brings/ is bringing/has brought. A lot of our teens came to reconciliation, we even had a couple of people who weren’t Catholic come to the night and said they enjoyed it and learned a lot!
Thus concludes another GREAT lifenight, the Lord worked, teens came, communication took place, sins were forgiven! Please say a prayer for Sacred Heart Parish in Wetaskiwin right now...I don’t mean commit to a novena and fast from food for 9 days, but I mean stop reading this blog right now and take a minute to ask Mary for her Son to work like never before in the beautiful youth of Sacred Heart Parish! Thanks...

God Bless ya face off,

Emma, Team 4

P.S. pictured: Erica and I built a snowman with one of our crew members Anna!

Winni...l'ourson? NON... Winnipeg!

En lisant le titre ce ce message, vous saurez naturellement la ville de laquelle je vous blog actuellement: Winnipeg!! C'est Kevin, encore une fois, ici, en train d'entamer notre deuxième semaine de ministère en la belle ville de Winnipeg. On a eu une semaine pas mal remplie jusqu'à date, avec des retraites un peu partout.

Comme je vous l'ai raconté la semaine passée, nos superviseurs étaient en ville pour visiter l'équipe. Tout s'est vraiment très bien passé. Puis, vendredi passé, c'était leur envolée de retour à Ottawa.

La fin de semaine passée, on a eu la chance de se rendre dans un village, à une heure de la ville, Sainte-Anne des Chênes. Là, on a animé deux retraites, l'une le vendredi soir, puis l'autre, la journée du samedi. Ces retraites ont rassemblé les gens de partout dans la région, et ça a été un réel succès.

Mais pour être très honnête avec vous, je n'ai vraiment pas de grandes histoires à vous raconter de la dernière semaine sur la route. Je serais en train de mentir si je disais qu'on a fait la rencontre d'un OVNI provenant de la planète Mars, donc je ne le dirai pas...mais vraiment, les choses se passent très bien. J'ai vu le Seigneur à l'œuvre dans la dernière semaine lors de nos retraites, avec des jeunes qui arrivent, pas trop sûrs de leur coup, puis qui quittent avec une toute nouvelle foi et compréhension du Seigneur.

Je vous remercie d'avance pour tout le support que vous nous donnez! On en a bien besoin! Et comme toujours, que le Seigneur vous bénisse!

Net Alumni, The Twins Unite, and PBR...

Hello Everyone!

Dominique from team 1 reporting once again from the beautiful city of Okotoks, AB!!!

So we began the week in Estevan, Saskatchewan. Then we made the excursion to Brooks, AB; we are finally in Alberta!! Our three Albertans have been counting down the days! We met up with a NET Alumni and new youth minister, Mr. Jonathan Phang!! It was good to see him and hang out; he gave us a lot of pointers and jumped in during the retreats whenever we needed him. Mike was on his team last year in Etobicoke, ON and he really enjoyed the time to catch up with him. We spent 3 quick days there and loved every minute of it! Thanks JP for being so awesome! You and your ministry are in our prayers!

So we said goodbye and off we went to Barnwell, AB!! I didn't think it existed but, lo and behold, we ended up there! It was an exciting trip, with our destination being Brandi's house! When we drove up to the house she ran in and pounced on her family, and we were close behind. It was really great to finally meet them! But what we were all excited for the most was to finally see the twins together! We know Brandi, she is our sister, but Amanda was still her mystery other half! Because we know Brandi so well it's easy to tell them apart by their looks, but what we didn't expect was them to have the same voice and laugh. Over dinner, hanging out with their friends, and at youth group was crazy hearing them and seeing double. Amanda was instantly part of the team, we practically already knew her, Brandi spoke so much about her and her family! We all stayed at her house and we all had an amazing time! We love her family, it truly felt like home.

We put on a retreat for her youth group on Saturday, then ended off the day with a huge surprise! Her family arranged for us and some of her close friends to go to watch PRO BULL RIDING!! Aw ya!!! We all had a blast cheering like crazy! We started the night by praying over the bull riders and bulls, that no one would get hurt and our prayers were answered! I guess it is a normal thing to see for the Albertans, but for the rest of us, it was crazy to look at the crowd and see a sea of cowboy hats and plaid shirts and every second person wearing cowboy boots!! It definitely was an unforgettable experience! It was a very hard goodbye, none of us wanted to leave home, but we packed up and headed out again. We are in Okotoks at JPII Collegiate and are here until tomorrow. We had another alumni surprise today with a visit from Chris Moraes and his adorable son Matthew. The retreats are going great - we all love the youth, the teachers, and the school.

For a lot of us it was a first to see the mountains. It brings us all such great joy to think how close we are to them! We are all doing good, we miss you all at home, and we ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers! Cheers 'til next week!!

God Bless

In Christ,

Dominique Lanthier

Team 2 visits the Wick and heads out East!

Hello all blog readers, it's Claire from Team 2. Guess what? We have had an awesome week and want to share it with you!

Last week we had several grade 10 retreats which was a nice switch for us since we don't do a lot of highschool retreats. I really enjoyed working with the students, they had a lot of questions and opinions and weren't afraid to share them.

On Tuesday we traveled to Woodstock, home of Trevor, where we stayed for a night and did a retreat the next day. Trevor got to see his family and do a retreat for his old high school, which he really enjoyed.

For those of you who don't know, we have been greatly anticipating our stay at Lauren's house ever since we found out we were going there! So on Thursday, the long-awaited day came when we drove to Berwick (Wick for short), the lovely little hometown of Lauren Krol. All of the girls stayed at her house, and all the boys stayed at her neighbors'. Lauren's family is pretty awesome, just like her, and it was really great to see them all together. We all felt so welcome, they even made a sign for us with all of our names! The next day was a pretty relaxed Team Day; Lauren's mom made lunch for the whole team, which was delicious. In the afternoon we played a team game of Fishbowl, which is basically when one person tries to get others to guess a certain famous person without saying their name. It was very entertaining. After that, the guys went off to do manly stuff, and the girls stayed at home and made cookies! Not just any cookies, these were special. We each got a piece of dough and colored it, then used cookie cutters. They were very colorful and yummy! That night Lauren took Meghan and I went out to the barn. I suppose it would be helpful to mention that Lauren's family has a dairy farm so we decided to have a look at the milking process. I felt like a genuine farmer with my coveralls and boots. All the boys were also farmers for a night and took some pretty great pictures, so I included one.

On Saturday we bid farewell to the Krol family bright and early in the morning. At about 6:30 am, we headed off on our long trip to New Brunswick. We anticipated about 11hrs. for the trip, but of course everything takes a little longer than expected. It ended up being about a 16 hr. trip. It actually went pretty fast, for me anyway. We keep ourselves well entertained with games and fixing each others hair, etc.

So we are now in Rothesay, New Brunswick and loving it! It is so beautiful here and the weather has been gorgeous! Winter may not be over, but it has definetely been spring for a couple days. Yesterday was one of those days when you could just smell it in the air. I'm very excited for the rest of our month here on the East coast!

Well, that wraps up our adventures for this week. Hope you are having a very blessed Lenten season! God Bless!

Peacing out,

Claire Labish

Team 2

Busy and Loving Ministry

Hello, it’s Shayla from team five. This week has been really fun, and also touching. Many things have happened in ministry this week that make me proud to be on NET doing God’s work.

Thursday night was Edge. The night was on the family, and respecting authority and people in general. The night was full of fun from playing some games, and we also did the Vaseline skit. The teens found it hilarious! I must say, our team did a very good job with that skit. Even though we had a lot of fun that night, there was also a great reflection time. The teens were given time to reflect on their relationships with their parents, and with their authority figures in life. After that, they had the opportunity to write a letter to that person either asking for forgiveness, or just to thank them for all they’ve done. Normally it’s hard to get a bunch of young people to take moments like this seriously, but all the young teens were laying on the gym floor and writing away with the pens and paper we gave them. It was a beautiful sight to see. Not because they were writing letters, but because they looked sincere with what they were writing, and putting in an effort. It’s always so beautiful to see the Holy Spirit working through the teens.

On Sunday, the Lifenight was on the sacraments of initiation. We started with a wicked game; basically it was an obstacle-type of course and it was hilarious to watch everyone running around. What they had to do was run around in a circle five times with a ruler on your forehead, then put on a costume provided for every team, then use the ruler to play golf with an egg, then walk with a cup of water on their head. Finally they had to eat a biscuit and drink a cup of iced tea with elegance/manners. I didn’t have any major role in this lifenight, but I did get to have a small group. It was awesome because this is the first time that I really felt that the teens wanted to know more about their faith. I was getting really deep questions. So, I was pretty excited that they were really trying to understand their faith. (The top right picture is of some of our teens during the game, eating their biscuits and drinking their iced tea)

For our team day, we began by listening to an talk on attitude. That was an amazing talk. I was able to learn a lot while not getting bored out of my mind, and I was laughing practically the whole time. After that, as a team we decided to play King Sardine. Danica was the first to hide. I was so happy that I found her first because there was a hiding spot that I’ve been wanting to try out. So, when it came time for me to hide, I went into these cupboards by the girl’s washroom on the main floor by our team’s office. Was I ever cramped! It was worth it though because it took forever for everyone to find me. James found me after a few minutes, but I was literally in there for almost 15 minutes. We had a great time.

On Saturday, we (the girls) honoured the men. We set up the backyard of one of our host homes as a battlefield for a snow fight. There was a fort on either side, and the boundaries were marked off with coloured water. We also planned dinner for the boys. While I was cooking the chicken stir-fry, the rest of the girls went and ‘kidnapped’ the men. They blind-folded them and drove around town to confuse the men as to where they were going. When they got there, we took them to the backyard where we took off their blind-folds and hit them with snowballs. I must say, for James and Tom against four girls, they did pretty well in the snow fight. It was a great night. We had lots of fun and laughs. One thing to be remembered was that we watched the gold medal curling game for the men. WOOT! Go Canada!
That’s pretty much the update for Team Five-Alive. We pray that you al have a blessed week.

God Bless,
Shayla Doucette (and the rest of the team)

The Seuss is Loose

WINNIPEG!!!...le pays de Louis Riel...pis le mien en plus!

Salut à tous et à toutes! C'est encore moi, une fois de plus, maintenant arrivé en plein milieu de la belle ville de Winnipeg, Manitoba. À date, c'est un séjour rempli de joie: un retour à mes sources, l'arrivée de nos superviseurs, Liam et Tara, et ne l'oublions pas, une heureuse médaille d'or dimanche passé (je suis Canadien, il faudrait jamais oublier ça...). Donc, à date, c'est vraiment un très beau séjour.
Depuis mon dernier message, on a terminé le chemin depuis Thunder Bay, où nous avons été hébergés avec la famille de Carrie. Après huit heures de route, on est arrivé ici, pour deux semaines de ministère auprès de l'Archidiocèse de Saint-Boniface.

Jusqu'à date, les choses par ici ont été pas mal "relax", mais on commence en plein feu demain, avec quatre retraites intensives de suite pour remplir nos quatre prochaines journées.

Comme je vous l'ai sûrement déjà expliqué, avec NET, on a la tradition, puisque pas tout le monde célèbre son anniversaire sur la route, de planifier une fête surprise pour chaque membre de l'équipe, une journée lors de laquelle on fête et on honore chacun d'eux. Dimanche passé, c'était la journée de Conor. Il n'y aurait pas pu y avoir meilleure journée pour célébrer ce grand fan du hockey. Non seulement c'était les finales aux hockey masculin aux Jeux Olympiques, mais en plus, ici à Winnipeg, on a ouvert l'aréna, dans lequel on a diffusé la partie en entier, avec une foule de presque dix milles personnes! Donc c'était presque comme si on était là en plein feu de l'action à Vancouver, en train d'encourager nous joueurs canadiens, déçus du but américain avec quelques secondes restantes dans la troisième période, pour finalement sauter et crier de joie avec le dernier but canadien en prolongation. On est ensuite sorti pour un bon souper, et cela a conclu une journée que Conor et le restant de l'équipe ont bien aimée!

Ensuite, lundi passé, c'était la grande arrivée de nos deux superviseurs pour leur visite trimestrielle lors de laquelle ils visent à nous soutenir dans notre ministère, à nous aider à l'améliorer et à nous encourager afin de finir les trois derniers mois de l'année en force. Jusqu'à date, les choses se passent vraiment très bien, avec une journée aujourd'hui lors de laquelle l'équipe a beaucoup grandi.

Donc, à vrai dire, nous connaissons beaucoup de joie encore sur notre chemin et avec le gros de notre ministère ici au Manitoba qui commence demain. Comme toujours, je prends la chance de solliciter vos prières, puisque l'intercession est le plus beau cadeau qu'on peut nous offrir. Merci encore pour tout votre soutien et nous aussi vous gardons dans nos prières!

Asta la proxima!


Kevin Prada

P.S. En haut, c'est Conor, moi, Marise et Evan (de gauche à droite), devant un pont piéton bien connu de Winnipeg, l'Esplanade Riel; ensuite, au centre, c'est quelques membres de l'équipe qui se préparent pour le match de hockey olympique dimanche passé; puis en bas, c'est l'équipe réunie après un souper succulent pour la fête de Conor!

Team 2 meets up with some NET Alumni...then has a snow war!

"We are 12 going on 13..."

Coming to you live from Orillia, Ontario, Lauren and Adele are honoured to write this blog for you. So sit back, relax and fix your eyes upon the screen of your computer, as you read about our thrilling adventures of the week.

We had the privilege of welcoming Team 2 NET alumnus David Gonzalez back for two Encounter Days in Pickering, Ontario, last week. It was truly a blessing to have David join our team for those two days; he fit right in leading games, as well as being in skits and dramas. On one of the days we had the opportunity of having confession and more than half of the retreatants went. It was really beautiful to witness.

Following Pickering, we moved on to Bradford, where we had three Encounter Days at Holy Martyrs of Japan Parish, who hosted a NET Team for the 2005-2006 year. We also had the chance to meet one of the alumni from that year, Ray Reitzel, who is the Youth Minister for the Parish. A few of us stayed with Renee Maloney, who was an alumni from 2006-2007.

We finished our week with a fun-filled Team Day in the snow! The plans were to toboggan, but the wet, sticky snow was just too much to resist - a snowball fight ensued! It was an epic battle between brotherhood and sisterhood, men and women, male and female - only the best would survive. Forts were built and destroyed, people were tossed in snow drifts, alliances were made. Hours later, after the women dominated, we completed our Canadian winter day with none other than some good ol' Tim Hortons.

Sunday, February 28th, 2010, the epic battle continued in a grueling game of Apples to

Apples for Meghan's Birthday! The team surprised her by showing up at her host home, where we enjoyed lunch, followed by cake and ice cream. We played board games until 3:15, when the puck dropped for the men's Gold medal Olympic hockey game, and we had to pack up and leave for Orillia, Ontario. Both vans had the game on the radio for the drive and most of us caught the end of the game upon arrival. We are all very proud of Sidney Crosby, especially Meghan, a fellow Nova Scotian, on her day of birth - Happy Birthday Meghan!!!

Team two's quote for this week: " I believe in the power that comes, from a world brought together as one..." GO CANADA GO!!

Stay Sweet,

Lauren and Adele