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Thursday, March 31, 2011
Vlog Round 2
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
We are FULLY ALIVE in Christ!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Truth Is Effective
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Heyo from Encounter One.
Video...Blog... VLOG!
Friday, March 18, 2011
In A Galaxy Far Far Away
Thursday, March 17, 2011
FOR NARNIAAAAAAA!
Melting snow and dropping eggs...
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
I Heart Shaunavon
What’s the strangest thing that happened in Shaunavon?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
"Why 'Y', you ask..."
We continue to have adventures with our dear van, Frank. Every second Saturday is our moving day in which we would load up the van in the morning and after our work day is over take it to our new host home. This past switch we were on the way to our first stop when we discovered that we had a flat tire…what was funny was that we were actually on our way to our mechanic’s house. How convenient is that? So we quickly gave him a call, as we were unsure of how to get the spare tire out from under the van, and he came to our rescue. We all got quite a laugh out of the irony of the situation.
The next day was our second LifeLine night which we entitled “Y”. We had a running joke that people would probably wonder why “Y” and to find out why “Y”, the teens would have to come out to “Y”. Try saying that ten times fast. The topic of the night was God’s purpose for us. We had the teens work together to try to make their way from one end of a maze, “birth”, to the other end, “heaven”. Then Brenden gave a talk about how many of us don’t think about our purpose and that God’s purpose for us is wonderful. We also talked about how we also have to work to realize this purpose and put it into action. Despite the fact that it was a long weekend, we had a really good turnout and quite a number of new faces.
The next Sunday was our REACT night. We played “Minute to Win It” games with the teens making up “countries” as their team names. I think my favourite team name “Running Refrigerator”. They all created flags that went with their team name and that flag was hilarious, with a fridge running after a chicken. The night was filled with flying cards, shooting elastic bands, flipping spoons, smiling faces and laughter. It was great seeing how the teens warmed up to each other after the first couple of games.
Glass Alabaster and Real Men continue to go really well. Last week the women looked at some of the lies the world tells us about what it means to be women and how it is actually our identity as daughters of God and brides of Christ that give us our worth and define us as women. This week we looked at the importance of female relationships throughout our lives. These women continue to amaze me with their openness and their desire to learn more about our worth as women. I cannot tell you what the men are doing in Real Men, but from what Andrew and Brenden have said it is great for them too. They had someone new come out this week and he is really excited to come back next time.
Our Discovery Faith Study is coming to a close. I have mixed feelings about it as I really enjoyed meeting our group of women every week, but I am happy to see how much they enjoyed it and grew from it. I know I felt reaffirmed in my beliefs through this study. One of the women has expressed an interest in leading it next year for a new group of parishioners. Isn’t that awesome?!?! I am so glad that we have been able to inspire her to take on that leadership role.
I almost forgot to mention, Matt and Caitlyn, our lovely supervisors, came and visited us during these past two weeks. It was great seeing them and getting their feedback on the work we are doing here. A huge plus was being able to share some of our stories with them. I am so glad that they are able to come out to meet all the wonderful people we have met here. I don’t think some of the stories we tell them would be quite so funny/inspiring/entertaining etc if they had not met the people involved.
Coming up we have a LifeLine night on Lent entitled “Desert(ed)” and a REACT night entitled “In a galaxy far, far away” (yes it is Star Wars themed) that is on the fact that the ends don’t justify the means. Our March family fun day is also coming up. The parishioners are getting ready to take part in some Crazy Olympic activities! We are also doing a lot of work with our volunteer leaders to get them ready for when we leave at the end of May.
Please keep us, our ministry and the mission of this parish in your prayers.
Until next time, this is Elizabeth signing off for iNFUSE team two!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Yay for minus fifteen weather!
While still in Regina some of us went to a Valentines dinner put on by CCO, with NET Ireland Alumnus, Reed Miller. We had dinner and met some very cool people, including the Marian Family. Sister Lillian of the Marian family gave a talk after the dinner and told us her very amazing story of how her family escape the Rwandan Genocide. Her story was very inspiring and reminded us that true peace comes from God and that He really can get us through anything.
The Prince Albert Diocese was an amazing couple of weeks. Ministry wise, we had quite a few ‘firsts’ while on retreat. We had our youngest retreats one day, and our oldest the next. Both those retreats were challenging but extremely rewarding. Apart from ministry, we stayed in some amazing host homes everywhere we went. The people of the Prince Albert diocese welcomed us so kindly and generously that this diocese will remain in our memories and our hearts.
One chilly (minus 30) day in the lovely village of Debden, Claire, Judith and I decided to take a walk around the town. We came upon a beautiful shrine to our Lady of Fatima, and when we got back to our host home, we asked our host dad about it. He told us a story that was amazing. During World War II, forty-nine soldiers went from Debden to fight (this is only a village of 300-some people). The Priest at that time prayed to our Lady of Fatima, that if she would keep them safe, he would a build a shrine to honour her. All forty-nine returned home at the end of the war, uninjured. He told of the story of two of those soldiers, two brothers. One was a pilot, and he flew in and out of the battle five times without being shot down. His brother was captured and put in a concentration camp. The camp was getting too full, so people were beginning to be shot on a daily basis. The day that he was scheduled to be shot, the war ended. So the shrine was built, in thanksgiving of the protection of Mother Mary. Isn’t that amazing? Go Mary!
Later, we traveled to the Calgary Diocese, and are now staying with Carissa’s family! We’re also enjoying the warmer weather of Alberta. My mom laughed at me, but -15 does feel significantly warmer than -35!
In the coming couple of weeks we will be continuing to travel the diocese of Calgary! Please keep us in your prayers!
Yours in Christ,
Maria Kalin
Encounter One