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."
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.
It sounds absolutely wonderful, Maria. I'm so glad you all seem like you're having fun...hopefully. :-) And the updates are awesome. <3
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