Creator Incarnate...

Hey Peoples

It's Isaac from iNFUSE two. I just wanted to let everybody know that the Olympics came to Medicine Hat. Not actually. We had an Equip(gr.6-9) night called Crazy Olympics. Tanya and I led the crazy Olympics, which consisted of a sort of relay race, followed by the two teams competing to see who could build the tallest structure that could stand on its own using just marshmallows and toothpicks. There was another game involving a hula hoop, but it's kind of complicated to explain. It was really fun though. The best part was the fact that we had a whole bunch of new students come. And we have just started a thing where, if it is your first time, or if you bring someone and it's their first time then you get a chocolate bar. It's awesome. The only bad part is that there is absolutely no way that I'm ever allowed to get one of those chocolate bars....

On Sunday, for Unchained(gr. 10-12), our night was about the Eucharist. Basically we heard an awesome talk about how awesome God is, and how cool it is that he's willing to be physically present, then we went into the chapel and actually spent time with him.

I love it! Eucharistic Adoration. It is definitely one of the highlights of our faith. Who else besides Catholics can be like, "yeah, I just knelt in the presence of God for an hour"? AWESOME!

Speaking of the Lord of the universe incarnate(nbd), we did our first citywide adoration on Thursday. We're going to be doing it once a month from now on. It was really cool. At the end, one lady came up to us and talked about how perfect the music was, and how it had really helped her enter in. I'm pretty sure normally they just have silent adoration so I'm really glad that our addition of music was appreciated. There weren't as many youth as adults, but hopefully now that we've really dived deep into what the Eucharist is, they'll be more open to it in February....

Okey, dokey. I don't think I have anything else interesting for you, other than the fact that a couple of weeks ago it was Kyle's Unbirthday and we celebrated by going to Ralph's Texas Steakhouse. He said, "I'm so glad I got to spend my unbirthday with good Canadians and great Texas barbecue."

God Bless

Isaac Sullivan

p.s. To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it. -- Mother Teresa

An Eventful Trek out West...

So after an amazing week in Peterborough, ON we started heading to Timmins where three retreats awaited us. On our way up north we encounted more snow than our vans could handle. After 4 hours on the road, visibility became so bad that we were forced to spend the night in North Bay, As if the weather didn't cause us enough trouble, along the way one of our vans ended up in a snowbank on the side of the road. Thanks to a random stranger who allowed us to use their phone, we called the tow-truck to pull us out. No real damage was done, thank God. Also, the generosity of our unexpected host homes in North Bay was unbelievable! Within a couple hours of knowing we were coming, they had a huge dinner prepared for us, and all of our accomidations set up! The next day, we tried to continue our journey to the Timmins diocese, but due to an accident on the highway we were forced to go back to North Bay for the night. (Above: Mary paying the tow-truck driver) Finally, on our third attempt, we made it to Timmins and we were able to do one of our three retreats planned.

Then our trek to Saskatchewan then began! We spend 4 days in the van, spending the night in Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and Regina. After over 30 hours of being in the van, we were very eager to arrive. We were very warmly welcomed in Prince Albert, and are very excited to get back to doing retreats!!

We would like to extend a special thank-you to all those who generously helped us along the way, whether it be housing us, feeding us, or allowing us to use their phone along the way. We realized how blessed we truly are, and that God is definitely taking care of us.

God bless and keep you!

-Silken Neutelings and Alex Sibiga

Encounter Team 1

Back into the swing of things..

Hello again! It's Lauren from iNFUSE Team 3! We're back in Halifax after January training in Ottawa, and have been greeted by a good bit of snow and some -15 weather, which for me as the poor little Texan, is AWESOME. I love the snow and the cold, but my Canadian teammates beg to differ. I wonder why I'm not Canadian....Moving on!

It's been fantastic being back at Saint Benedict! Everyone was excited for us to be back and we've settled back in! This past weekend, Saint Benedict hosted their Stewardship of Talent Fair after all the Masses, and I honestly was astounded by how many ministries there are in the parish! I think the total number was in the mid-60s! It was a really busy weekend, and it was also a perfect time to let people know that Massive Worship is coming to Saint Benedict in a few weeks, and people are really excited for what Massive Worship's music ministry will bring!

We're also having a parish fun night at the Oval, the snazzy and FREE outdoor ice rink that Halifax has (they even have free skates!) We're looking forward to some parish bonding time, complete with hot chocolate!!

I can't wait to see what this second half of this year in Halifax has in store for our team and for Saint Benedict Parish!

"My God, You are good, You are great, You are love, and I am loved." - "I Am" by The City Harmonic

-Lauren

iNFUSE Team 3

The Confessions of St. Isacc

Yo peeps!
After our crazy weekend in Montreal we headed to Pickering, Ontario where we did a confirmation retreat for grade eight students at St. Isacc Joges Parish.

The entire retreat was a success, but what really stood out was the prayer time. Normally during prayer time we offer to pray with each student individually. At this retreat not only did we offer to pray with each student, but two priests were also present to hear confessions. We have had several other retreats where confession was offered and as a result we were only expecting a few of the kids to go. To our surprise over three quarters of the class sat quietly at the back waiting to go to confession. The line was so long that we had to extend prayer time by ten minutes and even then about ten students weren't able to go because the end of the school day was approaching. It was so beautiful to see so many young people choose to go to confession and take it seriously.

At the end of the retreat I spoke with one student who expressed how much he enjoyed the day. His eyes were blood shot and watery and he expressed how thankful he was that we had come. We will never know how many lives God is touching through prayer and the sacraments. What matters is that he IS touching hearts and changing lives whether we see it or not.

Confession is an act of honesty and courage - an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.
-Pope John Paul II

May you always be aware of the gift that you have in confession.
Erin
Massive Worship

Love follows us around...

Happy New Year everyone!!
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Our team had an amazing time getting to see our families again :) It`s been a long time since I`ve given you news so I`ll do my best to catch up on everyhting that's happened.
Right before Christmas, we got the chance to head into Jean-Francois`s region, La Beauce, Quebec, on a parish mission and retreat that lasted ten days. He was so happy to be able to evangelize in his own hometown! It was our first parish mission, which is a retreat consisting of several evenings. We developed some awesome relationships with the people there. We were able to touch on several topics, which is difficult to do in a regular day-long retreat.
One crazy thing that happened while we where in St. Georges, La Beauce, was that we got invited into a public school to do class room presentations for the 7th and 8th graders. There are currently no Catholic schools in Quebec, so it was an excellent opportuniy to introduce God to people who have heard very little about Him. We got a very good response from them and they were very curious. We could see how much they were thirsting for Him, showing us that God puts the desire to know Him in each and every person.
After our time in La Beauce, we had the chance to see most of the other Netters at our Christmas retreat outside of Ottawa. It was wonderful seeing all our good friends again and sharing our experiences with each other before returning home for Christmas :)
Coming back from Christmas break, we had another week of training to freshen us up and improve our ministry skills. Our team stayed in Ottawa for several days, doing the music for the parish JF went to while he lived there. It`s been his parish for the 3 years he was going to U of Ottawa and he told us it felt like he was back home just for an instant, it was really cool!
Our next destination was Rouny-Noranda, which was a long but nice drive up in northern Quebec. It`s good practice for our drive all the way out to Alberta next month, my home province!! Everyone there made us feel super welcome, they were all so happy to see us we felt very loved. The retreat we had there was not only a gift for those who attended, but we grew alot as a team. God helped us all to rediscover the beauty in prayer. One boy in particular went up in front of the whole group and told us how some people forget about prayer, including himself, and that he had truly prayed this weekend. He told us how important he realized it is, and that he felt so welcomed by God. Praise God who works in our lives :) The retreat really brought the youth and families together, as well as our team. At mass on the last day, the Bishop of Rouyn-Noranda gave us his personal blessing, with the sign of the cross on each of our foreheads. What a blessing...God is so good!
We've had many joyful moments this past month, I hope you all did too. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We know this mission is important, and sometimes it's difficult. It's only by the grace of God that we can succeed. We love you all, God bless you abundantly :) You are in our prayers every day.

Julie Godin
Les Équipes Net

Salt in LaSalle

Welcome to Encounter Two’s first blog entry of the new year! 2012 has found our team busy getting back into ministry mode. We returned to road ministry after a week of training in Ottawa, and have spent our time in the southern plains of Ontario.

As someone who is from out west, one of the things I notice the most about Ontario winters is the use of salt on the roads (in Alberta we use sand instead of salt). Being surrounded by salt has led me to reflect on Jesus’s call to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. One day during a retreat, I was praying about this and I realized that we as a NET team spend our time being the salt of the earth. Salt brings out flavor in the ingredients it surrounds, bringing out the best in another, and only a little bit of salt is needed. Travelling Canada this year, and especially in this first week of ministry, I’ve realized that this is what we do, drawing out the best in others, even if we can only spend a little bit of time with them, with hopes that our time spent will have eternal benefits for them.

Our first few days of ministry were in LaSalle, Ontario, just minutes away from the American border and the booming metropolis of Detroit. It was there that I was able to see the effect that a NET team can have on others.

The first story comes from a host sister that Sarah, Julia, and I stayed with. She was so excited to host us, and shared her enthusiasm with everyone she met. She bonded really well with the three of us girls, and spent many hours chatting with us and asking us questions about NET and faith and God, and sharing her stories as well. On our last night there, after saying night prayer with the family, the dad thanked us for coming, and said that he could already see the change in his daughter that our being there had brought about. The next morning we arose to each find a letter from her, filled with many encouraging words and words of gratitude. It’s amazing to think of how much of an effect we could have on her in such a small time!

The youth minister in LaSalle also asked us to put together an evening program for the high school leaders who ran the EDGE nights, asking us to focus on leadership. He spoke to us in the afternoon about what he would like covered in the evening. Initially we were expecting little more than a large group discussion on leadership, but after talking to the youth minister, we decided to create an evening using elements from retreat ministry, but different from our regular retreats. We had only two hours to plan and prepare for the entire event, but the evening turned out to be a huge success. Many of the youth and young adults stayed and chatted with the team for over half an hour after the session was over, and we even took down seven names of people interested in doing NET!

The next morning we had a retreat for the grade sevens in LaSalle. I was nervous at first because I found myself having a hard time connecting with the youth at the beginning of the day. By the end of the day though, I had established many strong relations with the girls in my small
group. During prayer ministry, after praying with the girls, a few of them looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you". After prayer ministry, I encouraged the girls to read their Bible and pray their rosary, and our team gave away several Bibles and rosaries.

In conclusion, I would like to share with you an excerpt from a letter that one of the youth volunteers who was present at both events wrote to us. The letter was for me a testimony of the power of Christ that works through the NET teams. He begins by apologizing for not saying bye to us in person, and then continues:

…Know that you hold a special place in my heart, and I hope this could be a reminder that you hold a special place in the heart of Christ, and all His Church. The work you do and the way you use your gifts to glorify Him reminds me of the amazing-ness of His Love – it shines
through you to everyone you meet and it’s beautiful…

From the southern lands of Ontario,
Katie Foster
Encounter Team Two

(Top photo - Melissa giving the Confirmation talk; Bottom photo - Sarah hanging out with a host family)

Montreal maddness

Happy New Year!

Creative Lighting!



Our first week back on the road was filled with much preparation and music practice. On Friday we left Ottawa and headed toward Montreal. It was snowing like crazy and the freezing rain was coming down too. We arrived in Montreal safely and played a youth rally that evening at a parish in Montreal. After arriving we noticed that there were no lights on the stage. So we lit the stage with lamps! The weather was really bad and as a result the turnout was quite small with only twenty people attending. We praised the Lord anyway. J

The following day we headed to the other end of Montreal to do a youth rally in another church. Seventy people came that evening and it was evident that they were excited to have us. For many of them, it was their first time hearing Praise and Worship music. The evening was a huge success, most people were very involved, they were singing and clapping up a storm.

That evening after we had packed all the sound equipment into the trailer and had locked the church door, the van wouldn’t start. We walked over to the mall to try to get a boost. It was a 11:30 at night and it was -33 outside. As a result there weren’t very many people about. Then we ended up calling the friend of the man who organized the evening to see if he would give us a boost. He (we’ll call him Adam) got out of bed and drove over to give us a hand. We tried boosting the van three times, but it just wouldn’t start. Adam invited our entire team to come stay the night at his house. We were all amazed at how this young father of four would offer us so much in our time of need. This family ended up being such a source of joy for our team!

The following day Adam took off work to help us with our van and drive us where we needed to go. In the 30 hrs that followed God would provide for our every need once again. The tow truck driver boosted our vehicle and graciously helped us reattach the trailer once it had frozen halfway off the hitch. Adam happened to have put a tool box in his trunk two days before we arrived (he never kept it in his trunk). The toolbox contained the exact size and kind of screwdriver that the tow truck driver needed to fix our frozen trailer hitch. Even with all of the obstacles were able to make it to the St. Joseph's Oratory for part of the afternoon!

That night, we had many more obstacles come our way and each time God kept providing for our team out of his abundant goodness. God truly provides for us when we choose to rely on Him completely! J

Trusting in the Lord’s care,

Erin

Massive Worship



Mom, I'm going to Prison...

Heeeeey Everyone,

So, this week in the Peterborough diocese has been very eventful! We had retreats everyday this week, except one of our retreats got cancelled due to a snow day, so the priest at the parish we were at decided to take our team out for lunch instead! We went to Wild Wing, and had lots of laughs.

Now, on a more serious note, our team was given the opportunity to do some prison ministry this past weekend. It was an optional event, but our entire team was very enthusiastic about going. Driving up to the correctional facility was pretty intimidating, all the buildings was surrournded by fences topped with barbed wire, and servalence cameras surrounded the compound. We went through security, then headed to the chapel. We lead a praise and worship session, Tyler shared a personal faith story and we did a drama for them. Later on Christie walked us through the passion of Christ in detail, it was an intense talk, but everyone felt moved by it. There were tears in the eyes of many.

Throughout the day we had many opportunities just to talk to the men there, although I knew they had committed shameful crimes, none of that seemed to matter. Some of the men couldn't thank us enough for coming, but we were the ones who felt blessed to be there. The men were so open with us, and they felt so loved that we cared enough to listen. I can honestly say that going to the prison was one of my favorite encounter days on NET so far. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was there.

Here is what Mary had to say about her experience: "I left the prison feeling as though I'd encountered Christ in the most unlikely place and didn't know how to resolve the conflicting feelings in my heart. These men are just regular people. Sure some of them have very visible psychological issues but many of them don't. Many of them are fun to hang out with and when you look at them you see your brother or someone you might run into at a church event back home. The human spirit is an amazing thing that truly does image God. One cannot help but marvel at the fact that these men could undergo such tragedy and commit such crimes and yet when you look at them you can still see that image of God. My stomach still gets in knots when I think about yesterday and I think it will take time for me to unpack everything but I do know that God was there yesterday. No talent of ours or effort accomplished anything in an of itself but He did. I'm not naive enough to suppose that our one little retreat will do anything in the big scheme of things but if God wills it He can. "

On a lighter note, for our team day we went to the zoo! The guys found epic looking rocks, so it was the perfect opportunity for a photo shoot! Yeah, they are pretty cool.

Anyways, that's all for now!

God bless!

-Silken Neutelings

Encouter Team #1

Back on the Road!

Hello world!

Well, we are all back to our duties as NET Missionaries. Christmas break was a much needed break. Now we are all refreshed and ready for ministry!

On Sunday, we left Ottawa and headed to Peterborough, where we will stay for about a week and a half. We are doing retreats for various grades in around the diocese. Yesterday we were in a town called Lindsay, where we had a very different schedule. We had two retreats that were each 2 and a half hours long. So our schedule was quite congested, but the students seemed to benefit none the less.

Today we were in Lindsay again, but this time we did a retreat for 4 grade 7 classes from various schools. It pretty cool, although I bunch of the youth weren't Catholic, they had lots of questions about God and the church. I asked one of the girls there how she liked the retreat and she commented on how our team was a "really unique group of people." I took that as a compliment.

The people of the Peterborough diocese have been so welcoming! A few people (priests, seminarians and various others) have randomly stopped in to say hello! We felt quite loved by that gesture.

Ha, here is a picture of Matthew having some fun - maybe he is dressed as a Saint...?

That's all for now.

God bless you!

-Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team 1's Official Blogger

BACK IN THE HAT!!

Hey Everybody
iNFUSE 2 is back in the Hat and ready to get things done!
Firstly, I just want to update everybody on how my holiday went, because, I am blogger, and it is my right to bore you with whatever stories I want to tell you…

Sooo… I am one of nine siblings, and everyone was home… please allow me to reiterate this, EVERYONE was home for Christmas. All nine of us! My oldest brother, his wife, and their three sons came home from Thunder Bay. My sister, her husband and their son came home from Kingston. My sister who lives in Ottawa came home. I came home from Alberta…..
It was AWESOME!!! …Okay. There was really no story in particular. I just wanted everyone to share in my joy of being able to spend Christmas with my whole family… and share my sorrow in the fact that they left for Disneyland as soon as I got on the plane to come back to Alberta... Now I’ll actually talk about important stuff…

So, we’re going to be having Equip this week...Friday…the thirteenth…2012…not that it’s significant or anything…, and it’s basically just a fun time. The focus of the night is going to be crazy Olympics. Which is a lot of random games/activities which will be super fun. I know. I’m running them.

This Sunday for Unchained we’re going to be having a movie night. WOOT! Popcorn, pop, chips, probably a movie… I’m not really sure what movie, but iNFUSE 2 is a team of theatrical connoisseurs, and I guarantee that it will be enjoyable. And appropriate.

This is awesome because there are so many movies out there nowadays that aren’t. Just in case you were confused. But it will be awesome, so if you are in Grade ten to twelve, in Medicine Hat area, and want to watch a movie, and get free snacks, come check it out.

Also, This past Monday was Gloria chevalier's 21st birthday. We decorated our 15 passenger van and it was awesome.

Happy Birthday Gloria!!

God Bless

Isaac Sullivan

P.s. Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven. -- Pope St. Pius X