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