Last words from Encounter Team One.

Greetings for the last time from Maria Kalin and Encounter Team One! This year has been such an amazing experience for all of us, and so with this last blog I would like to take the opportunity to share with you some of the experiences of my teammates. I hope you have enjoyed hearing about the adventures of Encounter Team One as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you! God bless! Maria Kalin

Hey friends! Judith here and I just want to say that you guys are great! It’s been such a blast here on NET and I’ve learned a lot about this world. Before NET I didn’t realize just how much this world needed Jesus but through my time on NET God has really showed me how much He needs us to reach out to those in need. I’ve come to fully know that I need to be His hands and feet, His name needs to be known in the hearts of this world, and that He will shine his light to the broken hearted through those who truly believe in his love and mercy. I thank God for revealing this to me and I pray that I can truly live my life for Him and others. Later days! From Team Awesome!

Hello faithful blog readers! This is Claire and there is so much that I’ve learned and experienced this year. I have to say that what stands out to me most is the generosity and love shown to us when on the road. It is easy to take for granted some of the host homes that we go to, because we have had over fifty. I have been blown away by the willingness of people to take random strangers into their home. And I have been so touched by the beauty of family, which has definitely inspired me to make relationships with my own family stronger. At one host home, the family had a handicapped daughter who could not do anything for herself, and the love and patience her parents had with her was so amazing. I stayed in another home for a few weeks where there were several small children. The parents talked to their children in such a calm and patient way and rarely did I hear them have to raise their voice. I thought to myself, “Wow, I hope I can be like that someday with my kids.” I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to serve on NET and not only do ministry, but be ministered to as well.

Yo yo yo whats up t-cat Tom Russell here! Well what can I say about this year, it has been such an amazing experience I have been blessed to have served two years with NET and have loved every minute of it! Being on NET has allowed me not only to spread the gospel message to many young people but grow leaps and bounds in my own faith and journey with God. I have been shown how much God provides and his immense love. I have been asked to think of my favorite team memory and that has proved to be a tough task but I think that my favorite team memory would have to be sitting around a fire after Easter vigil mass at Maria’s home in Armstrong till 4:30 in the morning just hanging out and chilling! I don’t think just one paragraph can sum up the amount of love I have for NET and the mission I have been blessed enough to be a part of! For anyone reading this all I can say is that NET has changed my life and I would not be the man I am this day without this journey.

Hello everyone! Carissa here. I would like to share with you all about something I have learned this year through the amazing examples of beautiful Catholic families. I have met and stayed with so many wonderful people who exemplify the Holy Family and the Trinity in the way God designed marriage and family life to be. I have realized and come to desire a holy family, not for myself, but to be able to glorify God through this great vocation. My ideas about the sacrament of marriage have been greatly blessed by meeting these wonderful families and by the love of God and my teammates. To be able to get along with both women and men in the same, friendly way this year has been extremely healing and life-changing for me. I am excited to live out Gods will in my life, not for me, but for HIM!

Hello, family, friends and people I don’t know! It’s Marky Marc and the funky bunch here and this is sadly the last time will be signing in. But there is some good news. I’m here to share with you what I’ve learnt on this amazing experience. God is everywhere, Jesus is present and the Holy Spirit will ignite us if we only give him the opportunity. I realize God does has a brilliant plan for me, but I’m human, I’m going to make mistakes, I’m going to fall and I’m going to struggle, and Jesus isn’t going to be there for me holding my hand through the tough times in my life… It’s because He will be carrying me through these times, He’s my savior, my passion and my friend. I’ve made a bond with Him that will never be relinquished, and that keeps growing stronger, and through Him joy, happiness and true love has entered my heart and will never vanish!

Greetings to all blog readers! Katie Foster here… On NET, we missionaries are called to evangelize at all times, on and off retreats. While many are familiar with our retreat ministry, an equally important aspect of a travelling team is host home ministry. When we stay in a host home, we invest in our host family, getting to know them, and at the end of the day, we invite them to pray with us before retiring to bed. On more than one occasion I have seen host homes touched by this very important act. Once, two of us were staying with a family that did not pray together, not even at meal times. We stayed there for three nights. The first two nights, we invited them to join us for night prayer, and they were eager to join us. On the third night, however, we didn’t have to ask – they asked us first! After praying together once again, one of the young girls looks up to her mother and says, “Can we do this every night?” Much to our surprise and pleasure, the mother agreed, and the family made plans to pray together every evening! Praise God! This is only one example of several host homes which have told me that they were really inspired by the night prayer that we have done with them, and that they desired to continue to pray as a family.

Hello from Mike McPherson. Our second last retreat in Belleville was pretty rowdy. The kids seemed really excited for us to be there but you could tell they just wanted to have fun. They enjoyed the games and the skits but when it came to talking about God they seemed to check out. In my small group I was trying to get them to talk about confirmation and try kept trying to change the subject. Finally I asked one grade 8 boy what he thought about confirmation and he said he thought it was a waste of time. We ended up talking more about God and why bad things happen. After telling them about how my Mom had died and how God saved me in my darkest hour we had some good discussion. After attempting to answer their difficult questions as best I could (pretty poorly I thought) small group came to an end. The same grade 8 boy spoke up. He said "When this small group started I didn't want to get confirmed, bit now I kind of do." I think telling him that if he wanted to be Catholic then this was his chance to make that choice, was what really rung true for him.