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