Happy day to you!

The past couple of weeks that we have been in Medicine Hat have been in many ways the highlight of this year.  God has been truly working in hearts for His glory.

Although we did many events in Medicine Hat, the highlight of the two weeks was the family that we were staying with. I felt immediately at home because the family was so welcoming. We began to get to know each of the members of the family and I can honestly say that after staying there for two weeks I have made new lifelong friends.

The most beautiful gift I have had this year was to watch one of the young men in the family come to understand the beauty of the Catholic faith, confession and the mass.  His new found love of being a Catholic has helped me to see how tangibly God is working in the hearts of those we minister to. A lot of the time we hear little bits and pieces of how people were touched by what we do, but to have him share with us so personally about how God is working in his life has reminded me again that this is so much bigger than anything we can do as missionaries. It is all in God`s timing. He knows when a heart is ready to know Him and love Him. To see a heart  so visibly come to know Him and love Him is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. I asked Him to write a little bit about his experience and here is what he had to say:

"The past two weeks of my life have been nothing short of a pinical spiritual awakening as a young Catholic Musician. Having the Massive Worship Team in my liturgical community let alone my own home has been the most beautiful experience. Having such loving, purposeful people who have helped me open my heart to the love of God has changed my life forever. I finally get it! I now am able to see, experience and understand  my faith as a Catholic and also can now grow to truly be thankful for the beautiful gift that is my life! The Mass has now taken on a whole new meaning for me! Being humbly aware of Jesus being present EVERY SINGLE TIME the consecration takes place! I went to confession for the first time in 6 years! There have been so many beautiful realizations in understanding the purpose of my faith! My heart has been open to know the love of God and now my life has been given a whole new meaning! I'm prepared to walk this Earth to share my gifts from God with as many people as my life allows and make this world a better place through Music! 

I know know where my life, my family, my love, my joy, my everything comes from. It comes from God, the one who loves me enough to give me this life, so in return I thank Him for everything I know he has given me, from every day, to every note I play! 

I love you Massive Worship Team, Net Ministries, and of course God our Father, I now am ready to live. Live my life a Catholic Musician and let Him live through me! "

"To be an apostle is to give Jesus to souls and souls to Jesus by making Him known in order to make Him loved, by filling yourself with Him in order to give Him..." - I believe in Love (book)

All we need to do is spend time with Him in prayer and to love and then he does all the rest.

Erin

The Sun Sets On This NET Year

The sun has begun to set on this NET year as Encounter Two is on the eve of Wrap-Up. As the light of the year fades into the twilight, I look back on this year and marvel at how God has worked and moved in and through this team. I have seen this team of ten leave everything behind to follow in the footsteps of Christ. I have seen the glory of God in subtle and majestic ways alike. I've seen small transformations in youth over a day. I've seen youth open new horizons in prayer, and sinners line up for confession, some for the first time in years. I've seen the broken admitting that they need help, and reaching out for that. I've seen youth become excited about their faith, and families come together in prayer. I've had adults tell me that we have given them hope for the youth, and I've had religious sisters tell me that we have renewed their faith. I've talked to NET alumni about the difference NET has made in their lives. I've seen our team grow in trust in God in seemingly hopeless circumstances. I have seen teammates transformed and healed as they become the men and women that God created them to be. As a team we give thanks to God for all that we have seen, and we look forward with joyful anticipation to what awaits each of us in the future.

Signing out for the last time,

Katie Foster
Encounter Team 2

Sault Ste. Marie

Hello from Encounter Team 1,

After spending many days in the van, we finally arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario!  We get to be here for 12 days, which is very exciting after being in various places for just one night on our way across the country.

We stopped in Thunder Bay where we all got to stay with Bishop Fred Colli! He hosts NET teams all the time, so it was really awesome to stay with such a famous host. Also, his house is a hundred year old mansion! He cooked his famous NET-team-dinner for us, and we had Persians (a Thunder Bay delicacy, it's basically a mix between a donut and a cinnamon bun with pink icing! Nom nom!)  The guys got one whole floor and the girls got another whole floor! He had a chapel in his house as well, so the Bishop celebrated Mass for our team before we hit the road the following morning. It was a good time.

The past couple days we have had retreats for Grade 7's from many different schools with up to 120 students!  Mary had a couple of really great moments with her small groups at the last two retreats.  The first was when a girl she was talking to at the beginning of the retreat told her about her experience at the Massive Worship parish mission the night before.  Her eyes were alight as she shared how much she'd enjoyed the team's sharing but that what really stood out for her was Adoration.  She shared how during Adoration she reflected on her sins and cried as she experienced God's love.  Later in small group another girl shared how she'd been at the NET retreat last year and that it had really changed things for her and one of her friends.  They had started looking into Christian music after falling in love with the song "One Way" and it had been a really great experience in her faith life.  The next day in Mary's small group a girl shared that after hearing John's talk on self image she turned to her friend and said that it had been a real eye-opener.  She also was later moved to tears during prayer ministry.  What really impressed Mary about this girl was that not only was she very clearly seeking truth and open to change but that she shared this with her friends.  It's not often that we get to see these many blessings in our work as students often keep things to themselves.  Praise God for His great work and for sharing these moments with us!

God bless!

Silken Neautelings and Mary Whalen
Encounter Team #1

To all of ou dear family and friends, We have come to our last blog entry. What an incredible year! We had the chance to meet and evangelize thousands of people and travel thousands of miles in our vans. Our team has really become like a family and we've seen amazing changes in each other, as well as in so many people that we had the privilege to minister to. During the last few weeks of our year, we were in the Toronto area, then in the area surrounding Ottawa. While we were in Toronto, we used Mathew's house as our "homebase." His family was incredibly generous and kind to us. They really adopted us as their own during our stay with them. We put on a retreat at Mathew's own high school, and God did some wonderful things. During prayer with the grade 12's many of the had amazing experiences, saying that they really felt God speaking to them. Their already-present faith was re-ignited. Praise God!! After leaving Toronto, we went for a stay at "Shalom House," which is a peaceful retreat center in Alexandria, nearbye Ottawa. We stayed there for two weeks, with the exception of a weekend at Youth Summit, travelling during the day to schools in Cornwall, Embrun, and Casselman. We got to hang out with some true Francontariens, some of which spoke only a little English! The Youth Summit, as I mentioned earlier, is a large bilingual, Catholic rally for young adults, which took place in Montreal this year. The highlights of the weekend were learning about Blessed Pope John Paul the II's Theology of the Body from the well-know Christopher West, and participating in a beautiful Eucharistic procession through downtown Montreal. It began at St. Joseph's Oratory and finished with adoration an reconciliation at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral. As we walked, holding our candles, and joyfully singing and talking with each other, people were awestruck from seeing over 400 young people, seniors, a blind man and a crippled man, following Christ in the Eucharist. Observers were taking videos, asking what we were doing, honking and cheering, and a few were crying even. We were a light in the darkness, by the Grace of God! Going to the Youth Summit was an amazing way to finish off our year with NET. It was very powerful for all of us, and it put in us a desire to continue deepening our faith and showing people the love of Christ during our whole lives. Our mission does not end with our year of NET, it is only the beginning.

Thank you, and may God bless you, now and forever. May he bring you hope and peace!
 Goodbye, my friends.
Julie Godin Les Equipes NET 2011/2012 "The truth will set you free." - John 8:32