NET In The North...Way Up North! ;)

Hello from iNFUSE #1, coming to you alive from Yellowknife! :)

I bet you’re wondering what’s been going on up here in the North for a while now… well, let me tell you… there was this big polar bear, and he had a coke bottle and well… I’m not authorized to tell you the rest BUT I can tell you that things up here are FANTASTIC!

Our team just got back from an 11-day trip to the upper communities of the NWT. We took two big trucks, and spent around 18 hours driving the winter roads of the north. We crossed four ice roads, and only got stuck three times! Oh, and did I mention that Bishop Murray came with us?!

We started in Fort Simpson where we hung out with the community during their Beaver Jamboree. It was this awesome weeklong festival where they have daily outside barbeques, and they do fun activities. When I say fun activities, what I really mean is HARD CORE games. There were fire-making competitions, log chopping competitions, and log pulling competition. My favourite part was the moose and fish barbeques. Moose was a first for a lot of us, so that was seriously cool! The second day we spent some time at the high school with the students, it was a great day, and the students were all super welcoming! One of the best parts was that our whole team got to stay at the priests house and had the Eucharist present right in our host home!

After Fort Simpson we headed to Wrigley – this tiny TINY town with a population of about 100 people, actually, it’s said that there are more dogs than there are people. We stayed in a school, and put on a 2-hour retreat with the community on the night we arrived. Four little girls showed up! It was a GREAT night, and as my first being Event Leader I had to come up with some creative flow for the night and Rianne shared about what the Lord had done in her life.

Our trip to Tulita was the roughest of them all, but definitely worth it. There we had our first OFFICIAL event, and over 30 people came! A lot of them were Elders, but they really enjoyed watching the youth play all the game and participate.

One of the luckiest parts of having Bishop Murray with us was that we got mass almost everyday on our trip. In Deline, the last mass we played was really amazing. A lot of the youth that had been coming to our sessions ended up coming to mass, when usually they’d be sleeping.Albert, the music guy, played with us, and it was so much fun. At the end of mass, Albert closed with How Great Thou Art, and I don’t know why I enjoyed it so much, but it was truly beautiful – he put serious heart into music leading!

The last day we were in Deline, the community had this awesome gathering in the community center where they had a fish barbeque – Young got the chance to fillet a fish for us, it was delicious! The food was great, and the little kids were a lot of fun. Deline was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and I think a lot of us felt very welcomed. One thing I’ve definitely taken from our trip there was their calmness. They truly live in the moment, and their culture is very important to them.

Though we were gone for only 11 days, I can vouch for everyone when say that we all got a lot out of it. Something that really stuck out was realizing that we have it way too easy down here… Up in the communities, water is something that’s not abundant, and heat is pure gold… I think our team lived in our snow pants the whole time. Even though it was the coldest place I’d ever been, and farthest place I’ve ever been, I would not have given up the experience to be up there for anything.

May God bless your hearts,

~ Natalie (iNFUSE 1's Blogger)

Howdy from the Hat!!!

Howdy from the Hat!!!

I have the honor this week to write for you, and what an incredible last couple of weeks we’ve had! Medicine Hat has kept us very busy, between Holy Family & St. Patrick’s parishes, McCoy High School, and Notre Dame Academy & St. Mary’s School. Three weeks ago, we got to go to McCoy’s production of Singin’ in the Rain. It was so much fun to get to see our friends and youth on stage in one of my favorite musicals. Now because we have been so busy lately, we wanted to make sure that you get all the possible information about what has been going on in the Hat thanks to our awesome, yet busy, God.

Two weeks ago, we had our Equip retreat for grades 6 through 9 held in one of the junior high schools, and it was phenomenal!

We had 38 students come out, What was most exciting was that some students brought their friends, and some of them didn’t even live in Medicine Hat, but they took time out of their visit to come to our retreat. It was really neat, because we got to deliver the Gospel to students, who don’t have the opportunity to come to our Equip nights. It was such an great day, that one of the students that lived out of town, came back the next weekend just in time for our Equip night on Reconciliation, where we not only got to talk about Reconciliation, but we also got to experience it, thanks to Fr. Long.

What an awesome witness of how powerful an encounter with Christ can be! During the retreat, we got to talk about how strong peer pressure can be, but how powerful still is the love of Christ. Gloria shared about personal image and defending against what other people might say. And Isaac was able to show exactly for whom and why God created each one of us.

The day was filled with

powerful dramas, and passionate personal stories. That ultimately lead to an encounter with Christ where we were able to pray with each of the retreatants and give them an opportunity to really open up to God. By the end of the retreat, one of the guys in my small group asked if we could share our favorite bible stories during our last small group, simply because he had a favorite and he wanted to know everyone else’s. We were very blessed during this retreat that we had the help of six volunteers, and we would not have been able to provide such an experience for the youth without their sacrifice and spirit. It was so exciting because after that very long day, we decided that we would just camp overnight in the school with our volunteers, and we were able to hang out, eat some food, pray a rosary, and then we watched the movie Courageous.

What an magnificent ending to such a great day! Please stay tuned next week, when we will talk about our Unchained retreat and how much God showed us what Real Love is! Keep us in your prayers as we keep you in ours. God Bless

From Your Humble Texan,

Kyle

Welcome to Beautiful British Columbia!!

Hey Everyone, Encounter Team #1 here!

So after being in the flatlands of the prairies for a couple months, my heart (and my voice...) screamed for joy when we finally entered the magnificent Rocky Mountains! I love admiring God's artwork, and what better way to do that than watch the sunrise between the mountains!!On our way from Canmore to Vancouver I had the luxury of staying at my house in Kamloops for the night on the way through. It was so great to see my family and friends, and be in a familiar place, even if it was just for one night!

In Maple Ridge, BC we were welcomed by the Parish of St. Luke's. The youth and young adults all really enjoyed our retreat, it was quite small so we were able to bond with them well. Later that evening the young adults joined us at our host home and we just hung out and enjoyed each others fellowship. Everyone was laughing the whole evening, it felt like we were part of their parish community.

God has been so good to us! He continues to use us everyday by spreading His word, and being a witness to all we meet. What a blessing.

May God bless you always!

-Silken Neutelings
Encounter Team #1's Official Blogger

Small things done with great love!

Hello from iNFUSE Team 3!!! There is actually something ALWAYS happening in Halifax! Saint Benedict Parish is busy and vibrant as ever! The Parish just hosted a talk by Donny Pauling, A former Playboy porn producer and out of the three events that he spoke at, the youth oriented one was the largest; over 900 people attended his talks! His testimony is so powerful and it was such a privilege to hear him speak!

Our team is also busy, busy, and more busy! We have events happening every weekend until we leave Halifax! We have our overnight retreats coming up for Junior High and High School, so we've got lots on our plate currently!

We just had a social night for High School where our youth got to paint the youth room! It was super fun and people got to be creative! We also got a wonderful visit from Encounter Team 2!! It was great seeing them again and we hope their ministry in Halifax goes well!

Amid all this busy hustle and bustle, it's sometimes hard to see our mission, but I've really seen that small things done with great love are just as important a part of what we do!

Well, we hope you are all doing splendidly and we look forward to keeping you all up to date on the great things happening on the East Coast!
Until next time!

Lauren (iNFUSE 3's Blogger)

"It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives." -Blessed Pope John Paul II

God is at Work!

Hello all, this is Silken from Encounter Team #1!

The last couple weeks have been filled with amazing host homes/retreats in Okotoks, High River, Brooks, Red Deer and Airdrie! Alberta has truly treated us well!

At one of our Grade 7 retreats in Okotoks, one of the girls in my small group and I got to talking after the retreat. She shared with me how some really incredible things had happened in her life, and she knew it was God showing himself to her. She said that she hadn't told anyone about it before, because she wasn't used to talked to people about God. I felt really honored that she would share something so personal.

Also while we were in Okotoks we honored the guys on our team. A couple of us kidnapped them from their host home, blindfolded them, and drove them to the school, where we had a pretty extravagant dinner made for them. It turned out really well, and it was a lot of fun!

Today we had a retreat for Grade 10 and 11's in Calgary. It was a good crowd, but a lot of the youth didn't know much about God. During our prayer time on retreat though, one of the guys in DJ's small group asked him to pray that he would have a better understanding of his faith. I know God really used us to make himself known to them today.

There's a tid bit of the shinanigans we've been up to!

God bless!

-Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team #1

The Splendor of the Mass

Hey all!

This past week we did a parish mission in Thunder Bay. The parish was extremely hospitable and excited to have us. After three masses on Sunday as well as the parish mission during the week, we were starting to recognize many parishoners and know them by name.





After the first parish mission night in which I give a talk called The Heart of Worship and share a personal story about how I have a vocal injury but I choose to praise God from the heart despite this circumstance, people kept coming up to me to offer words of encouragement. One woman arrived with a knit scarf the following evening. She explained that it was to keep my neck warm in the cold weather. Another couple brought a couple of books which they gave to me and encouraged me to read. Several parishoners approached father and asked him to pray for my throat. The second evening of the mission the priest asked me to come to the front and he and all of the people present at the mission extended their arms in prayer. It was so beautiful to see a parish so eager to support missionaries in any way possible. We were constantly being uplifted in both speech and prayer.

The last evening of the mission the theme was The Splendor of the Mass. After the mission we had snacks downstairs and many of the people expressed how this talk helped them to better understand the new translation of the mass and the reasons behind the change. One woman explained to me that we had brought so much joy to her life in the past few days and that she had been afraid that that joy would be gone once we left. Then during the talk that evening she realized that joy comes from Christ himself and that he is present at mass at her own parish every week. She left with a new found love of the mass and an eagerness to receive the Eucharist.

God is SO GOOD!

Blessings,

Erin

Alive To The Lord Among Us!

Greetings from Halifax!!

Lots has been happening as usual here at Saint Benedict, because this parish literally does not stop! It's super busy, especially this past week when Fr. James brought the wonderful Fr. Scott McCaig to Halifax for a parish mission. Now, I've been to parish missions before, but never one like this!! Fr. Scott talked about the Mass and how we must be alive to the Lord among us, and we were hanging on every word he spoke! The second night of the mission, Fr. Scott introduced the idea of the covenant gesture: raising your hands as a sign to say, "You are my God, and we are your people!" Most people really embraced the idea as seen in this picture to the right, and I was just so blown away! It was really beautiful to experience. The mission finished off with Adoration and I have to say that was my favorite part. As a music leader, I got to enter in fully the Adoration even though I was playing music. It was definitely the highlight of this second half.

Ministry has been going really well! We had a Confirmation retreat not too long ago, and since then the Confirmation Class has really changed tremendously! They enjoy coming and really have all become closer as a group! We've got lots of retreats for our Junior High youth and our High School youth, and we're all really looking forward to them and I personally can't wait to see what God has in store for them on these retreats!!

I hope this entry finds you all well and may God bless you abundantly!!

Lauren (iNFUSE Team 3 Halifax)

Seen and Unseen

Hey everyone! I just wanted to share something that my teammate, Eoin Ginty, shared with our team during team prayer the other day:

"After a difficult retreat, I was wondering why it was so difficult to make a connection with the students. During team prayer I felt God saying to me, that it is not us making a connection with the students, but instead it is God making a connection with them, but He is using us to make that connection. Often we can see God working in their life, and sometimes it is unseen. So God can be working in the heart of the retreatants even though it can be so difficult to see how. We must remember that it is God doing this work and not us!"

Keep praying for our team as we travel east!

God Bless,

Katie Foster

Encounter Two

(Top photo - The tabernacle in Bradford, ON; Bottom Photo - Melissa, Mariah, Sarah, Matt Sullivan and Matt Scott having fun at the Sullivan's house)

Alberta Bound!

Hello Everyone!

So, we finally arrived in Alberta last week. We were lucky enough to stay with both Sarah and Tyler's family's from the team, we all had a really great time with them, which made it super sad to say goodbye.

Last weekend we were asked to play Music for 3 Masses at different parishes in Lethbridge. The idea behind this was to give the parishes a taste of what will be coming this fall, which is a NET Parish Infuse Team!

There were lots of young people present at the Masses, so a Parish team definitely sounds like a good idea. After a week off of retreats due to winter break (yeah, they get a winter break here on the prairies, crazy eh?) we were eager to get back to business last Monday. We had an array of really awesome retreats where the youth and teachers loved us and wanted us to stay for longer!

Alex lead her first retreat at Tyler's old high school, so that was a pretty exciting day for both of them! Alex had a bit of a tough crowd, but by the end of the day they warmed up to us and responded really well to the prayer time at the end of the retreat.

That's about all for now. Till next time, God bless!

-Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team #1

P.S. Oh! We also stopped in Medince Hat to surprise the team there! Most of them had no idea we were coming, so they were super excited to see us.

March Madness

Hello family, friends, fellow Netters and curious strangers!

This past week our team has been in Edmonton, AB. This area is home to a few of us on the team. Matthieu was able to spend time with his friends and cousins and I got to see my whole family, which is awesome! We are spending the weekend in the french community of St. Paul, AB. All the men are staying with Matt's family, and all the women are staying at my grandparent's acreage. It's amazing getting to spend time with our families, those who fostered our faith our whole lives. Thank God for them!

Our retreats have mostly had a ton of students and some really awesome teachers too. One thing that's been cool is that we had to play a lot of games and activities that we haven't done much before. Because of either the number of students or the smaller amount of space, or both, we had to get pretty creative haha.
About 3 days ago, at a retreat, there was a moment that really touched my heart. We were all watching a drama, depicting the walk to Calvary and the crucifixion. I was sitting close to a young man and just as "Jesus" was being nailed to the cross he whispered, "Thank you, Lord." he understood the simple and beautiful message, that Christ died freely for our sins our of love for us. I know sometimes I forget to thank God for the huge gift of life and for the hope of heaven.
May God continue to bless you, and may you find joy in sufferings during this season of lent. We are praying for you all, and we thank you for your prayers!

Peace and Love,
Julie Godin
Les equipes NET

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." - Luke 17:6