Half a moustache

Christmas Greetings!
This last month of ministry has been super busy. I didn't realize just how tired our team was until one morning one of the guys on our team looked at one of the other guys and exclaimed "Matt did you only shave off only half of your moustache?" YES, WE ARE TIRED!

We recently did a few parish missions. At the end of one of them we had a lady in her thirties approach us and explain that she had had her conversion when NET came to her school when she was in grade 9. At that time, NET was not yet in Canada, they had come up from the states.  Today she has four kids and is living in a small community and is clearly still in love with God. When she shared her story with me I realized that we never know how many lives we are impacting with this ministry and that sometimes we may not see the fruit until much later. The gospel has clearly had an impact on her life and it is continuing to impact her and those around her. Go NET!

May Christ continue to bless you this season and always.

Erin

'Twas The Night Before December Retreat

'Twas the night before the night before December Retreat, and all through the north

Two NET teams they traveled, together they traveled forth.

The gas tanks were filled at the station with care,

In hopes they wouldn't run out before they got there.

Seats in the vans served as temporary beds,

As glory stories through the year ran through Netter's heads.

Two GPS's replaced the team's map,

So that the navigator could chat and then take a nap.

Ahead on the road there arose such a clatter,

"What on earth could ever be the matter?"

"The windshield washer fluid is out and we couldn't see"

So we filled it and forward we continued with glee.

As we get to the next town it begins to snow

The road up ahead is closed, as far as we know.

In Wawa we stop and continue no more,

Eating at a restaurant with very little decor.

The two teams gather and meet really quick

And say a prayer through the intercession of St. Nick (and others)

In the local church for Mass they all came,

Where they were welcomed warmly and people learned their names.

Hello Cameron! Hello Erin! And hello Emily and Matt!

Hello Kandace and Katie! Hello Mariah, Melissa and Matt!

Hello Cecile and Rhianne, Sarah and Julia, Colin and Eoin, Josh and Matt!

Let's stand over here and have a little chat.

"So your stuck here for the night?" the deacon asks,

We'll find you places, its not a hard task.

The community was great and took as all in,

We didn't have to resort to a motel or an inn.

In the morn' we arose and found the sky clear

And December retreat was now one day near.

Onwards we continued to the town of North Bay

To arrive at the retreat in less than a day.

We know God provided for us all the way,

Our hearts are lifted and together we pray,

We thank Him for His blessings and His grace,

For being with us and finding us a place.

And now it's the eve before December retreat

We'll clean out the garbage from between the seats

Clean our vans then we're off, to the camp we will go,

Nothing will stop us, not even the snow (God willing!)

Massive Worship and Encounter Team Two

Sends forth a message to people like you

We pray that God's blessings shine like a light,

and Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

And also...your spirit?

Hello again from the beautiful city of Halifax!

It's Lauren here, and I'm just going to fill you all in on what's been happening over here in Nova Scotia. As we all know, the Church switched to the New Translation of the Mass at the start of this Advent season, and I have to say it's been pretty funny stumbling through the Mass with everyone else. I don't think I've successfully said "and with your spirit" through the whole Mass. Then again, I'm not sure if anyone has. All I know is, it's been pretty interesting and quite entertaining, but putting humor aside, I am seeing the fruit of this change already. There is a deepened sense of reverence for Mass and what we say during the Mass and how important it is. It's been really amazing to see this change happen.

Ministry has been going very well as well! We've been focusing on parables with our Beyond group in the past few weeks and it's been really fun to teach the youth about parables and their importance. One of the highlights was when each of the small groups created a skit that reflected the message of the parable. With S.H.Y.G., our High School group, we had a night about God's Reckless Mercy and at the end of the night, we had confession available to the youth and every single one of them went. It was such a powerful night for them and we were all really blown away by how much the night impacted them.

Since it is the last week we have here in Halifax before we head back to Ottawa for December Retreat, we had a Christmas themed social night for S.H.Y.G. that included Gingerbread Houses, Christmas music, and Christmas games. The "Guess the Christmas Carol" game turned out to be quite intense, and probably the favorite part of the night. All in all, looking back at our first half here in Halifax, it's been amazing! We've met so many wonderful people and have seen God do some pretty awesome stuff too! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and look forward to sharing with you more Days in the Life of iNFUSE Team 3 after the break!

God Bless!
Lauren

(iNFUSE Team 3's Blogger)

From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another

The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other. - Anonymous

EPIC INFUSION!

Hey everyone

It’s Infuse 2 here once again to let everyone know how our ministry in the Hat is going.

Firstly, I want to start off with an explanation of what our past two nights have been about. For Equip, we did another night on ways to pray. We discussed with this second group the importance of prayer, and some awesome ways that they can talk to God.(ei, Praise and Worship, Scriptural reading, Journaling, etc...). It was great.

For Unchained, on the other hand, we had a much more laid back type of night. FEAR FACTOR!!!! (okay, maybe not laid back. just based more on social stuff than spiritual).. We made sure everyone participated. Even our supervisors who showed up in the middle for the once a month visit jumped in. We formed everyone into two teams, and asked for a contestant from each team for each challenge. We basically had a bunch of foods that, no matter what combination you put them in, would not taste good. (ei, Pickled herring, ice cream, croutons, molasses, mayonnaise, hot chili peppers, raisins, and etc). Then we posted them all on a big game show type wheel, and every time contestants came up, the wheel was spun twice. Those two choices were then put into a blender, maybe a little water was added, and once they formed a sort of lumpy soup, the contestants had to drink them. Your team got a point if you finished the drink at all, and two points if you finished

ahead of the other contestant. It was fun. Disgusting, but fun.

Also, Recently, we held our first Family Fun Day. It was Jeopardy themed, and we had a great turnout. We also played a game of Dutch Blitz, which I personally really enjoyed. It was awesome. We have another one coming up on December 10th, so be sure to keep your eyes open in the bulletin for more information on that. Oh...yeah... and I forgot... ITS SNOWED!!!! I wasn't nearly as excited as Kyle was, but he's texan, so it makes sense that he would flip out. But it is definitely beautiful.

Ok, thats all. It was great to talk to you guys.

God Bless

Isaac

P.s. To love God is something greater than to know Him. -- St. Thomas Aquinas

Awesome Sauce!

Happy Holidays!!
We find ourselves in the first week of advent, preparing for the birth of Christ and the return home for Christmas with great anticipation.
We are presently in Merickville, a beautfitful little town only a short drive from Ottawa. We spent all of last week in Windsor doing retreats and getting spoiled rotten by our host homes and contact people. We continue to be amazed by their immense generosity.
In the past week and a half in Windsor we had the rare chance to spend 4 nights in a hotel, swimming in the pool every night and eating all our meals in restaurants, all paid for by the school board! We also had the amazing opportunity to be hosted by NET Alumni, all with inspiring stories and a great idea of exactly what we needed at the end of the day. Awesome Sauce, as Melanie would say :)
In our past several retreats, God has blessed us with students who have an absolute craving for the Rosary. Without fail, during prayer time there is practically a mob of young people coming to take one of these treasures from the bin and asking us how to with pray them. And then they pray with them! By the grace of God, they have a desire for this beautiful devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary.
Also lately, a kind of message I've seen God giving our team is that everything that happens in our lives He will use for good. A member of our team recently lost his grandfather, and it's been difficult for him, but with the grace of God he seems to have found peace with it. Only a few days after, he was able to really help a student who had gone through a similar experience. I've also found that sharing our past experiences as a team has helped us to grow and learn from one another. God works in incredible ways...
Team life has been good, as we find joy in the little things each day. We built a snowman, we go to Timmy's 2-3 times a week, and we're constantly building our repetoir of inside jokes. We've really gotten to know each one's strenghts and weaknesses, what makes us happy and what drives us crazy. We are truly like brothers and sisters! God bless you all as we enter the most awesome season of the year!!!
Love from Les Equipes NET!
Julie Godin

Nova Scotia Bound!

Hello Fellow Inhabitants of the Worldwide Web!

So, Encounter Team #1 currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia! The scenery here is absolutely breath-taking!

On our team day we went to Peggy's Cove - because you can't visit Nova Scotia and skip out on seeing Peggy's Cove. It is unbelievably beautiful. We chose the perfect day to go, it was a pretty windy and cold, but super sunny and gorgeous at the same time! We made sure to hit up the gift shop there and get some souvenirs.

Ministry life has been going well, we had retreats in Enfield, Dartmouth and Timberlea thus far. We have had some really hard days, but also some really awesome ones. Last weekend the youth came into the retreat totally not wanting to be there, but when the day comes to a close, they didn't want to leave! It's amazing how God can change the hearts of the people we minister to in just one day, or even a couple hours!

It's finally SNOWING! A bunch of us were so excited for the first snowfall of the year, we had a big free-for-all snowball fight in the empty parking lot outside! It was a blast, even though a lot of us didn't have a our winter gear since our Supervisors are bringing it on their next visit. Unfortunately our retreat for this evening got cancelled because of the snow, I guess we get a snow day!

Anyways, there's a little update on the things we've been into the past week!

God bless!

-Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team #1's Official Blogger!

P.S. WE GOT TO VISIT THE HALIFAX TEAM!!!!! It was a short stop, but it was soooooooo nice to see them! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

Hello from Alberta!

Here we are, NET team two, traveling around the Edmonton Archdiocese. Recently we were in the heart of the archdiocese, right in St. Joseph's Basilica basement. We had a couple of retreats there last weekend, and returned to the facility once again to host an Encounter Day for several grade elevens.

The students were great, but one girl in particular caught my attention. She was friendly and kind, and though she wasn't in my small group, I found myself able to connect easily with her. At one point we were talking and it sounded like she was going through some struggles in her life, and that school wasn't her top priority at the time. During prayer ministry we had the sacrament of confession available, and this girl chose to stay behind in line after the group had moved on with the retreat schedule. I was talking to her about it afterwards, and she shared with me how awesome the experience was. She explained that she wasn't Catholic, so she didn't go through the actual Sacrament of Reconciliation, but she took the opportunity to go talk to the priest and talk about her faith. As I stood there talking to her after retreat, she expressed her gratitude over and over again for the day, especially for the opportunity that she had to talk to the priest. I don't remember her exact words, but in talking to her I realized that the work of NET is not in vain. People are being led deeper in their faith all the time through this mission. To God be all the glory!
Katie, Team 2

Life is a NET van

Hey everyone! We find ourselves at the end of our time in Toronto doing english ministry. It was an unforgettable experience for the whole team. During two weeks we personally met over 250 youth preparing for their confirmations. Most of them already have a relationship with God and an understanding of the sacrament. It was inspiring to see so much faith in the young people, it gave me alot of hope for the future!

At every retreat we had a time of prayer and a chance for the confirmands to recieve the sacrament of reconciliation. So many of them went that we had to lengthen out prayer time every day so that everyone in line would have the chance to go. Even some of those who didn't want to go at the start changed their minds and received all those awesome graces that confession brings us! It was great to see them open up to Christ!

Now we're spending a couple weeks in southwest Ontario. We're visiting several cities, moving every couple days in the area between London and Windsor. It's nice going back to our ministry in french. Please keep praying for us, prayers are vital for our mission!! Thank you all so much :)
Julie Godin
Les Equipes NET

Who is ..The Whole Family?

Hey Peoples

It’s Infuse 2 here once again to tell you about how our ministry’s going.

One word.

GREAT!!!

It really has been. We’re having our first family fun day coming up in a couple weeks. Jeopardy theme. Awesome! It’s an

afternoon event that we set up that is (hopefully) an attractive idea for the whole family. We’re going to be pitting family against family. Friend against friend. Cousin against cousin. Basically, whoever shows up is competing together as a family. It’s going to be really fun.

Also, in earlier news, from before, we’ve had a lot of fun with our past couple of Equip and Unchained nights. We didn’t have them this past weekend out of respect for Remembrance day, but before that we had a Myth-busters-based Equip night, and an Unchained night that was basically a great big explanation of some ways to pray. It was really cool. Rachel did the talk and she talked about stuff like Praise and Worship, traditional prayers like the rosary, and most importantly, the prayer of the Mass. Afterward, in small group, we had one grade ten guy who told us one of his amazing prayer experiences and how God really answered his prayer. It was really cool. For equip/Myth-busters we went through a whole bunch of myths that are generally believed about the Catholic Church and explained the truth about them. For example, one misconceived notion that we discussed was the belief that we as Catholics “worship Mary”. We explained how this was just a misunderstanding, that really Mary's whole goal is to get us closer to Christ. In small group at the end we had a person, a high schooler who was volunteering, not even one of the middle school participants, ask about a myth he had heard that he had always believed, and we discussed that as well, it was really cool!

Also, there’s something I never knew about Alberta, or maybe just Medicine Hat, that I want to share with you.... The deer walk the streets and sidewalks just like everyone else. It’s crazy. It’s not weird to see a deer on a main street just walking(there's one in the picture. sorry about the poor quality..). It’s CRAZY, but awesome.

Ok, I don’t really have anything else interesting to bore you with, so I’m gonna sign out now. It was nice talking to you all. I love you!

God Bless

Isaac Sullivan

p.s

Christ said, "I am the Truth"; he did not say "I am the custom." -- St. Toribio

(Photo above) MASSIVE WORSHIP CAME TO VISIT!!!!...Sorry. I just had a "MASSIVE" happy moment. They were having a team day, so they drove two hours and visited us. I LOVE THEM!

Prince Edward Island... What!?

Hello hello!

Encounter Team 1 is now touring around Prince Edward Island!! We had three travel days over this week, our journey started in Sudbury, Ontario and concluded in Charlottetown, P.E.I.! We spent about 30 hours on the road, the time in the van was great for team bonding! We stayed for a night in Ottawa on our way through, so we were able to stop at the NET office and see all the Staff and help them with some work. It was awesome to see some familiar faces! Then, on our way through the crazy traffic of Montreal the following day, our vans got separated. We were apart for about 4 hours! It was a pretty intense situation, but eventually we were able to contact the other van and we arranged to meet at a Tim Hortons in Quebec City. Yup, a random Timmy's... we didn't originally go to the same one, but we got the address and located them. Finally being reunited was SUPER exciting! Everyone was so happy, it was such a relief!

On Remembrance Day we had our Team day. Although our plans to go paint-balling fell through, we decided to play soccer instead. What a fantastic idea that was! It was POURING rain, thus, perfect weather for slide tackling! Everyone was sliding all over the place! It was a BLAST! We were all soaked by the time we were done. We then told the guys that we were going to honor them by setting up the hot tub for them and serve them hot beverages. They were so stoked, and we pulled it off quite nicely.

After a few days off, we were back to retreats on Saturday in Summerside, PEI. It was an evening retreat for youth Grade 8 and up. I had a girl in my small group who was absolutely in love with our team, and everything NET has to offer. By the end of the evening she was telling everyone that, when she is old enough, she is going to apply for NET! It was very exciting that she got so much out of the Encounter Day.

Well, there's a snapshot of the shenanigans we've been up to over the past week! Enjoy and God bless!!

Silken Neutelings

-Encounter Team 1's Official Blogger

This Piece of Heaven That I've Found, Rocky Mountains and Black Fertile Ground...

Greetings from Encounter Team Two!

Things have been busy for our team. We have spent the last month traveling around Alberta, visiting many parts of the province, including a team day to the beautiful Banff National Park. Most recently, we have been in Edmonton, AB, where we have been evangelizing and taking in the adventures the city has to offer.

Yesterday we had a retreat for about seventy grade nines in the south side of Edmonton. The retreat theme was Jesus Who, which focused on the difference that Jesus makes in our life. In her talk, Sarah focused on what Jesus offers us through a relationship with Him, namely freedom, love, and hope. Later in the day, one youth commented that she encountered God through Sarah's testimony, while another youth commented that she was able to understand freedom, love and hope through the actions of the NET team members. Many teens shared that Jesus was part of their lives, but they mainly only turned to Him in troubling times.

In prayer ministry, Matt from our team sang “The Heart of Worship”, a song that some of the youth were interested in looking up after the retreat. Following the song we performed a drama that followed Jesus’ passion and death through the eyes of an individual who is in relationship with Him. Melissa also shared her testimony on how she has come to know Jesus personally in her life. One youth shared how she found the drama inspirational and how she liked the prayer time because she “got to respond to God”. Another girl said that she heard God say to her in prayer that she needed to forgive, and she found it neat because she, “had never heard Him before”. One boy shared that it was on this retreat that he had his first real experience with God and had his first prayer.

The day was amazing, and concluded with an amazing Mass. In closing, I would like to part with the words from one teen present on the retreat:

Today, I definitely learned a lot about myself, about Jesus, and about my relationship with God. I have already given myself to God, but this experience definitely inspired me to pray and read my bible and become closer to God than I already am. This day has been spectacular! Thank you!

In Christ,

Katie Foster

Blogger, Encounter Team Two

Awake My Soul!

Hello again from the gorgeous city of Halifax!

These past few weeks have been going swimmingly! One of the highlights from last weekend was our High School Halloween Party. The team got all dressed up (and so did quite a few of the youth!) and we had a full on Halloween Party complete with a good game of Mafia, a DJ playing some great music, a costume contest and a great game of Sardines to make the night fantastic. Katie and Kyley (see right) went as twins (or rather Charlie Chaplin clones), but the winner of the night was one of the youth who dressed up as a gladiator! This most recent night was a great night themed around Holiness, which sparked some great discussion and ended in prayer time in the chapel. As we get more and more familiar with our youth, we're really seeing the nights make impacts in their lives.

Beyond, our Junior High Night, has been great as well! This past night's theme was "Daily Decision" which focused on prayer. The prayer time was really beautiful because nearly all the youth went to the prayer stations we had set up and they all had the opportunity to write out a prayer that they could use every day to start building up prayer in their lives.

Finally, on our last No-Obligation Day, Erin and I got to have a tour of Halifax from our host dad. He used to work as a tour guide in Halifax, so it was extremely cool to learn all these random facts about the city. The more time we have to go explore the city, the more we learn about it, and the more we are growing to love it! Halifax has such rich history and so many interesting things to see that are little gems spread across the city. We are truly blessed to be in such a wonderful city!

Many Blessings,

Lauren

iNFUSE Team 3's Blogger

P.S. I go through phases where all I listen to is Mumford & Sons, and I am currently in one of those phases. But that's not the point. Their song "Awake My Soul" has a line in it that I think is beautiful. It says, "Where you invest your love, you invest your life." I think that it's very true and very beautiful! Just thought I'd share!

"The end for which we are created invites us to walk a road that is surely sown with a lot of thorns, but it is not sad; through even the sorrow, it is illuminated by joy." - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Everyday We're Shufflin'...

Hello Friends =)

We are finishing up our visit in Sudbury, Ontario. We have been very busy throwing retreats for various confirmation classes, as well as a couple retreats for senior grades. Although we have some really tough days, we always come out of them more united as a team, and closer to God as a result.

Upon arrival, a few of us had the privilege of dining with the Bishop of the Sault Ste. Marie diocese. We had a fabulous dinner provided by one of our host families, and equally good conversation. We were even fortunate enough to receive the Bishop's blessing!

Last Saturday we had a confirmation retreat for 20 youth around Gr. 7/8. It was really cool to have a smaller group (considering we normally have between 60 and 100 retreatants), it was a lot more intimate and we could form relationships more easily. During our retreat the Confirmation candidates were presented to the parish, along with their families and sponsors. Following the Mass they were all invited downstairs for dinner and dessert, then we made them chuckle a bit with our AME (After Meal Entertainment) skit. There was a boy who came up to me after the retreat who told me directly that he was going to join NET once he was old enough!

Today after our retreat our team made an expedition to the Big Nickel (it's a Canadian Landmark, apparently). Although it was a great photo opportunity, the boys were more interested in playing on the playground nearby. It was a great way to finish off our time here in Sudbury.

Sudbury has been good to us, it will be sad to leave! Tomorrow we begin our 27 hour adventure to Prince Edward Island!! Hurray!! We are all so stoked to move on to another part of the country.

Well, that's about all for now. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel!

God bless!

Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team 1

I'm lovin it...

Hey Everyone!
We've had a great past two weeks, travelling from Terrebonne to Thetford Mines to Montreal, and now home to Ottawa.
Our last night in Terrebonne we had an evening retreat with youth from our host families. It went really well and it was a lot of fun! It was a chance to show them the ministry we'd been doing while they'd been hosting us. At the end we had to say goodbye, after three weeks of ministry there. We can't wait to go back in January!!
In Thetford Mines, we put on our first weekend retreat, with the help of our awesome supervisors, Nicole an Kevin. We stayed with Fr. Robert Lebel, who is a very well known french musician and a wonderful host. The retreat went amazingly, and since it was for three days, we got to know people quite well :) One young man who came wrote us a letter afterwards, talking about his experience.

"I want to tell you all that what you're doing is really awesome! Also, you form a beautiful team. A team that's dynamic and alot of fun! You each have amazing talents, so keep it up. I wish you a happy trip and safe travels. Thank you all and take care. God Bless You!" It was very encouraging :)

The morning of October 31st, our team was honored to attend a private mass with Archbishop Terrence Prendergast. Afterwards we were invited to a tour of his residence and to breakfast with him. He answered our many questions and told us about the history of the Ottawa diocese. We were so blessed to be able to spend the morning with such an amazing man!
Yesterday morning we had an Encounter Day at St. Patrick's Catholic School for Grade 6 students - what an awesome class! They knew so much about God and the Bible, and they were super enthusiastic about every part of the day. God is really working in that school :)
Lastly, a quick "Hi!" to all the other teams, and to our families, friends and sponsors. We miss you and we love you! God Bless!
Julie Godin
Les Equipes NET

Minute-to-win-it!

Hey Peoples!

This is Infuse 2 here to tell you about how great our ministry is going so far.

We’re off to a great start. We’ve been visiting the high school and junior highs once a week. We show up just before lunch starts and we just kind of hang out with the students. At Notre Dame, the first junior high we visited, I met an awesome group of grade six guys and we hung out in the cafeteria playing an epic game of “ninja”. When their lunch is over we head over to the other junior high, St. Mary’s, and I got to join in a game of football, which was awesome! At the high school, McCoy, the team put on a popcorn survey. So, basically, we cooked up a bunch of popcorn in the front foyer and then we wandered around inviting everyone to help themselves because it was free. We also handed a little survey full of nonsensical, useless questions about their favorite colour, tv series, and stuff like that, and then (very very sneakily) snuck one innocent looking question in about what they do Sundays 6-9pm....(that’s when we have our high school youth night...Sneaky! ).

Our supervisors came down for four days, and they planned our team day and it was awesome!!!(We went CURLING!).

We’ve also been able to start our youth groups off with awesome first weeks. We’ll be running three youth groups this year. “Equip, St. Pats”,“Equip, Holy Family”, and, “Unchained”. Equip, which will be run as two separate youth groups at the two parishes, is for the junior high students, namely, Grade 6 to Grade 9. Unchained is for high school age students and is being mainly run through Holy Family Parish. (The reason for the name is Acts 12:6-17, where Peter is arrested, but then through the awesome power of God, his chains are broken and he is free to evangelize, and tell how he was set free).

We had the same awesome theme for all three opening nights.

MINUTE-TO-WIN-IT!!!!!!

We played some intense games like “A bit dicey” and “paper dragon”, as well as being able to finish the nights off (thanks to some volunteers from the parishes) with snacks. Overall our introductory nights went over really well and we’re absolutely STOKED for next weeks themes. Unchained is going to be based on the lives of the saints, and "what is the communion of saints?".. and Equip is going to be a “Mythbusters” theme. It’s going to be awesome.

God Bless!

LOVE(!!!) - Isaac Sullivan

P.s. We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials - St. Teresa of Avila (so don't lose hope)

A BANJO-IN' YOUTH RALLY!

Hello people!
These past few weeks have been filled with much music... I mean lots of music. Music practice, band practice, more music practice...etc. There is a well known saying "practice makes perfect". Although we practiced a lot I wouldn't say that our first Youth Rally this past week in Ottawa wasn't completely perfect, perhaps better, however, i am giving it the title of 'epic' and as a result I have decided to change that well known saying.
So for future reference... "practice makes EPIC".


The evening consisted of; praise and worship, a talk, drama and testimony as well as a fun musical moment highlighting a fiddle, a melodian, and a banjo. Yup, you read right, a BANJO... how EPIC is that. Not only was the music fantastic, the crowd of grade 7's 8's and 9's loved the different instruments and the evening itself. It was a great evening of music, praise and most importantly Jesus. I spoke to several teens after and they expressed that they were so glad that they had come!

The following morning we packed all of our belongings, instruments and gear into a trailer and we hit the road. It's really interesting traveling in a seven passenger van with seven fully grown people and multiple backpacks. I guess you could compare it to cramming the seven dwarfs into one of those red wagons you see kids pulling down the street. People look at it and wonder "how did you ever fit all of that in there"? The answer is simple. Only by the grace of God. :)

Well, it's late here in Saskatchewan where we are right now and my body thinks that we are in Ottawa, so I should probably hit the hay.

Many Blessings,

Erin

P.S. PRACTICE MAKES EPIC!

Scarborough!

Hello from Encounter 1!

We have been all over the Southern part of Ontario recently, now when someone tells me something about a place in Southern Ontario, I will not stare at them blankly! Hurray!

Last week our whole team got to stay at DJ's house in Essex, ON. It was a great experience and his family made all of us feel right at home. While we were there we did a couple Confirmation retreats in Tecumseh, then headed back up to Chatham for a Spirit Day on Saturday. Spirit Day is basically a rally for all the youth receiving the sacrament of Confirmation this year. Although our team wasn't running it, we did the skit to start off the day, then our team was divided into two groups to do three prayer sessions throughout the day, each with a different group of youth. We got pretty good feedback for our work.

On Sunday we headed to Scarborough, where we did four Gr. 11 retreats in a row. The students were so thirsty for God's message, so it was a blessing the at we got the opportunity to bring it to them. The retreatants got a lot out of everything we presented them. Their teachers were really impressed with how much their students invested in the day. They couldn't thank us enough for showing Jesus' love to these youth, many of which come from broken families, or just hard lives in general. I know God worked through us each day and I believe He will continue to work in their lives in the future. We got a picture taken of our team, and we were told it would be put in their yearbook! How exciting! We even got a tour of the school, then a bunch of the teachers and the principle took all of us out for lunch. Our team felt so loved by all the students who attended our retreats, and we really didn't want to leave Scarborough. The ministry has been going really well, but please keep us in your prayers!

In Christ,

Silken Neutelings
Encounter Team 1

A Massive Year of Worship

Yo peeps!
Erin here from Massive Worship. This year is going to be massive and full of Worship! Our team of seven can hardly wait to cram into the van and begin traveling across the country proclaiming Christ and his kingdom through music. We are still in the midst of Massive worship training and will have our first official youth rally in the next couple of weeks. So pumped!
Last week we did our first practice retreat. It went well! We had a full band setup in a church basement  for the retreat and as a result the church janitor, secretary and a bunch of random repair men had quite the musical day. The retreatants also enjoyed the prayerful tunes, they were singing and dancing along and by the end of the day they were Congo lining it up.
Prayer time with the grade six students was particularly moving. When we entered into the church they were reverent, respectful and prayerful. Many of the students wanted prayer and some of them were praying the rosary and reading the bible during prayer time. All in all, the day went really well and our team is looking forward to starting ministry full time.
For now, we are still training in Ottawa. More updates to come.
Many melodies,
Erin

heres what they had to say...

Greetings from Encounter Team Two! We are currently in

Alberta, enjoying our team day with our supervisors. Retreats have been going well over the last two weeks. Rather than tell you how retreats have been, I would like to share with you what the youth say about retreats.
At the end of the day, we asked them how their day was, and ask them to share their experience. Here’s what they had to say:

“Favorite part: Church, chapel. AMAZING!” – 14 year old
male, Kenora, ON

“It was really fun, I loved that they told us about how
Jesus frees us, not holds us down. By learning that, it was really easy to be
honest and to be myself in prayer time.” – 14 year old female, Kenora, ON

“It was an amazing rollercoaster ride into Christianity
filled with fun, excitement and learning.” – 13 year old male, Cold Lake, AB

“I had a lot of fun! Today really helped me get closer to
God. I thought what you guys did was amazing and nothing was wrong. Keep it
up!!!” – 13 year old female, Cold Lake, AB

“My experience with NET was quite interesting. This
experience made me interested in the NET program. NET made me think about the
real things in life and things we’re surrounded by. I liked the experience… I
enjoyed myself.” – 14 year old male, Kenora, ON

“I liked everything in the retreat especially the prayer
times and games. I now know how I can talk to God on my own as a friend. The
NET people are friendly and entertaining, they have showed me a lot. I had the
best small group leader… I would like to go to more of these so I can get
closer to God in my own way. Thank you NET!” – 14 year old female, Cold Lake,
AB

“I think it was a lot
of fun. It was a good way to learn about God while having fun with your
friends. I liked how they used humour to soften up the serious stuff. I really
liked all the group activities (all the games). It was an awesome experience,
bringing us closer together and to God. Thank you for your help and support,
and thank you for helping us open our eyes and see God in a new perspective.” –14 year old female, Kenora, ON

“Loved the games, especially the penny one. I liked how open
everyone was, it made me feel trusted and that I could trust in return. Loved
the skits before and after prayer time, the one about Jesus on the cross really
struck somewhere inside of me which is harder to do than you’d think. I felt
connected to God, myself, and everyone else when we were praying in the church.
Thanks so much for praying with me. Keep being awesome!” – 14 year old female,
Kenora, ON

“The NET encounter day was a great experience. It’s good to
get youth to reflect on and develop their relationship with God. If you haven’t
guessed, my favourite part was prayer time. It’s not that I didn’t like the
rest of the day (it was amazing), but it was not as personal and eye-opening as
prayer time. The skits were hilarious and entertaining… and the song that Matt
Sullivan same in the top part of the church – well, I LOVED it!!! That and the
skit up there was absolutely fantastic! Thank you, NET team for sharing that
with me, as well as the rest of the school. I certainly won’t be forgetting
this day anytime soon! Thanks again!” – 13 year old female, Dryden, ON

“Today was a very exciting day, I did have an encounter with
God, even though I already believe and already go to youth group. You guys
today made me believe even stronger, and today, I realized that there is more
to live for, that God is always there for you, to be with you and to help you.
Today, I dedicated my life to God.” – 14 year old female, Kenora, ON

God Bless!

Katie
Encounter Team 2

Terrebonne :)

Hello to all!
We are so happy to be able to share our experiences with you :) We are still in Terrebonne, Quebec, for the next few days. After that, we`re heading to Thetford Mines in the Amiante region to put on out first weekend retreat!
In the past couple weeks we`ve done several classroom presentations with grade 8 and grade 10 students (secondaire 2 and 4.) During the presentation, we have a question period during which the students can ask us anything they want about NET, the church, and our faith in God. It`s a joy to see their expressions change as the presentation progresses and as we answer their questions. Those who seem uninterested in the beginning often change their attitudes as they hear our testimonies and they start asking some very deep questions. Others listen with great attention :) It`s moving to see how much the youth are thirsting for the truth of Christ. At the end of each presentation, there is almost always someone who comes up and thanks us for we what do. It`s very encouraging for us in our mission!
Last Saturday, we played sports all morning with a group of young people from the parish. It was a really good opportuniy to build relationships with them and get to know each other. Afterwards, we shared lunch with them and watched an awesome movie about the life of Pope John Paul II. It was a powerful afternoon for us since he`s the patron saint of our team. We are very blessed to have such an amazing man as our model of holiness!
Please continue to pray for us as we continue our mission in Terrebonne and Thetford Mines! Until next time, God Bless!

Julie Godin
Les Équipes NET

Behold, He makes all things new!

Greetings from iNFUSE Team 3's blogger, Lauren!

We've been in Halifax now for a full two weeks and I have to say, it has been amazing so far! Our office has becomes more our own each day as something new is put up on our door or our board. Being more acquainted with the staff (including Father's dog, Monsi and one of the other staff member's dog, Biff), Saint Benedict is feeling more and more like home!

The first weekend in Halifax, Saint Benedict hosted a workshop on the New Evangelization with a guest speaker Tom Quinlan. The first half of the day was really wonderful because Tom referred to Archbishop Mancini's pastoral letter that focuses upon the New Evangelization. When we read this letter as a team, we were all so excited for how on fire Archbishop Mancini is about the topic and how hopeful he is for the future of the Church. The second half of the day, we sat down with the rest of the parish leadership committee and again, we were just blow away with the desire everyone seemed to have to work towards strengthening the ministries they have already established in the parish, but knowing that there is so much more to work towards, and being such a new parish, they know that these steps will be difficult, but necessary, and certainly fruit-bearing in the near future! It was really great to see where the parish is at and knowing that everyone is so willing to work towards a great future in the Church!

This past weekend, after a good bit of planning, we had our first youth nights here at the parish. They were all social nights, so we could meet the youth and have a bit of fun, so the nights' theme was Idol Chef. They got to make their own pizzas in teams and come up with a song and I have to say, some of the pizzas were very inventive! After our high school night, which was a Confirmation Reunion, was over, we got to talking with the Confirmation Coordinator and she mentioned how most of the youth that came to that night really went through incredible transformation during their confirmation year. Many went from a place where they doubted God's existence to a place where their faith was truly growing and forming. I truly look forward to getting to know the youth better and seeing them grow even more in their faith this year.

We look forward to getting more and more into ministry and seeing God work in this parish day after day!

God Bless!

Lauren

(iNFUSE Team 3's Blogger)

iNFUSE Team 3: Back Row (L-R) Kyley Drach, Brandon Grimard, Katie Troutman, Braeden Mann, Adam Desjardinis; Front Row (L-R) Liane Beaulac, Lauren Jones, Erin Lindoff