Hello fellow friends on the world wide web!
Encounter Team One here in beautiful British Columbia! We are currently here in the Okanogan and the weather here is absolutely GORGEOUS. It was +27C yesterday! Feels like summer.
The other day we had a family retreat and I was leading a Gr. 4 and under small group. I had a 7 year old boy in my group and he was sitting beside me during the talk. He leaned over to me and asked if I wanted to pray a rosary with him, I was kinda stunned at first, but I agreed to after the talk. After the talk was over, it was announced that we were going back into small group, so I tried to explain to him that we had to go join the others in our group and maybe we could pray a decade with everyone. But he replied saying “I want to pray a couple whole rosaries, and a divine mercy chaplet for all the souls in purgatory and I don’t want to spend time with the group, I want to spend time with God.” I was blown away! I didn’t know how to respond! Such a young child, so on fire with love for God and for others. Later on he pulled John aside and said “C’mon, we have to go say bye to Jesus!” So he ran off to the church. I felt really inspired by his how in love with Jesus he is, it was to beautiful to witness.
Host families continue to amaze me. Over and over I have the privilege to stay with really beautiful, holy families. For the last 4 days, me and 2 of the other girls got to stay with an especially awesome family in Armstrong, BC. Every night, no matter how late it was, and no matter who might be over at their house, they always prayed a rosary. It made me realize that there really should be no excuse for missing prayer. If it's important, then nothing else matters. This family was just so fulfilled with Jesus' love, you could tell by how vibrant and happy they were.
May God bless you continually everyday!
-Silken Neutelings
Encounter Team One's Official Blogger
Encounter Team One's Official Blogger
This reminds me of a kid that I that was in my group at a week long camp that I was counselling at. We had a time where we just had a really good talk and it was really just random stuff until she expressed to me that her favorite thing that she ever read was the beatitudes. She listed them off and described how she strives to be pure of heart, merciful, righteous, and a peacemaker. I was just shocked to hear this from a grade 6 student. I never realized how holy someone could be at such a young age. I still don't think I could confidently list off the beatitudes and she did it so easily. These are the things that make youth ministry amazing. When the seeds you scatter land on lush, healthy earth, the fruits are beyond description.
ReplyDelete-Josh Bruce