Catching Up

Greetings NET blog world!

This is John Lim of Encounter 1 reporting in on your latest update of our team. Since last we wrote, we have gone to the Archdiocese of Calgary, putting on retreats all over Southern Alberta. We had an awesome time at this one school for two weeks in Calgary, Clear Water Academy. Clear Water Academy is a private Catholic school in Calgary, with students from Kindergarten to Grade 12. We were able to either do a retreat or a classroom visit with every single grade at CWA!

Say hello to Mr. Hohmann's new tractor!

After spending a month in Alberta, we started making our way to beautiful British Columbia. Our team was very fortunate enough to have a week off of retreats during Holy Week at Quesnel, BC, the hometown of our very own Tanya Hohmann! We were so blessed to have the whole team stay over at the Hohmann's family ranch during all of Easter. As a guy who was born in a city of close to 6 million people (Seoul, South Korea), I am very much a city boy and spending a whole week at a ranch was quite an experience.

During Holy Saturday, our team got to help out at a retreat for St. Anne's R.C.I.A. candidates by doing music, dramas, and testimonies. Another fun fact is that I also went through the R.C.I.A. program 7 years ago, when I was in Grade 8, and was baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass in 2006. As our team attended the Easter Vigil Mass later that night, and seeing the retreatants/candidates get baptized and/or confirmed, I really appreciated my baptism and entrance into the Catholic Church, 7 years ago.

The Brotherhood looking out over the BC mountains as we prepare to go to Vancouver

The words "Welcome Home" echoed from my baptism, to this year's Easter Vigil Mass, and continued to follow our team as we entered the Archdiocese of Vancouver (There is a big "Catholics Come Home" evangelization program all over this diocese, welcoming back Catholics who have been absent from the Church). We're loving our time here in the home diocese of our regular blogger, Matt Bliault, and are very excited for the few months we still have left on this mission year. A big thank you for all the sponsors, host families, and retreatants we've met so far on the road, for all of the spiritual and financial support that we've received!

Until next time my blog peeps, this is John Lim of Encounter Team 1 signing off!