"It's so FLUFFY..."

It is hard to believe it has only been two weeks since arriving here in Steinbach, Manitoba! Words cannot describe the warmth and joy of the welcome we have continued to receive from the community as a whole as well as the parish.

Although our flight to Winnipeg arrived earlier than expected, a welcoming committee was there waiting for us with cameras, a poster, and smiling faces. Even one of our future high school youth group members gave up her afternoon to meet us at the airport!

You are probably asking what sort of adventures iNFUSE Team two has had over the past two weeks. Well let me tell you, some have been quite interesting. Our third evening here saw us helping out at the local food bank where some miscommunication had led to a couple of areas in the town not being collected from. So there we were driving/walking around Steinbach, going door to door to collect non-perishable foods. It was so much fun and people were really generous. A trip to Winnipeg to watch Despicable Me has resulted in Amanda speaking in a Russian accent at times while another trip saw three of us girls getting our hair cut (and evangelizing in the process) as well as the discovery that Amy’s bank needed to know why she was spending money in Canada while she was trying to buy a winter coat. We have also been having some fun and games with our van, affectionately known as Frank, but the trip to the mechanic has solved many of those problems.

One of our best days, which started off with some issues with Frank, included Amanda teaching us how to make buns. They were incredibly delicious and thanks to Brenden’s creative side we ended up with a snowman bun.

Christ Our Saviour is an incredible parish and is so welcoming! We had the opportunity to attend their Thanksgiving parish potluck, which they used as a welcoming for us. The sense of community was beautiful. I don’t think I have ever seen that many people so coordinated over washing dishes! About a week later we had the chance to meet with parishioners interested in volunteering in the youth ministry program. We had over thirty people attend our information meeting! It is easy to see that this community is excited about youth ministry.

I can honestly say that I have learned so much from my host families on so many levels. My one family had me driving a quad and harvesting potatoes (yes, the city girl from Victoria, BC was driving a quad and harvesting potatoes – they will make a country girl out me yet!). I also learned the power of words when I was told that after having a hard day, my night prayer intention for those less fortunate than us helped one host family member sleep better than she thought she would. It is truly incredible how words can bring peace and joy to others, especially words used in prayer.

Coming up over the next few weeks we have a parish dinner, catered by Steinbach’s friendly neighbourhood NET team, dinner with Archbishop Albert LeGatt, parish-wide Adoration, and our first ever grade 7/8 youth group! We have been busy bees organizing all of this and getting to know our parish.

We are looking forward to the rest of our time here in Steinbach and are excited to see what each new day brings. Stay tuned for more updates from iNFUSE team 2!

God bless!

Elizabeth signing out :)