The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few

This is an expression in scripture I have heard a lot but I never realized how true it was until this past week. We six team members are here to build a foundation of youth ministry at Saint Thomas More. Six sounds pretty good for one parish right?

The problem being that the six of us aren't able to respond to all of the different opportunities that arise to evangelize. For example we have two high schools and two middle schools that we visit on a weekly basis. That’s hundreds of students, many of whom we simply don't have time to speak to. That’s many sports events and school celebrations we can’t go to, that’s 4 different sets of classroom presentations the six of us have to focus on in addition to already doing (this Sunday to Sunday) 5 different nights (Cornerstone, Leadership training, Conquest and Challenge, Compass, Cornerstone). We devote a full year

of our lives to do this and we still don't have enough time!

I keep getting getting into the mindset I had long before NET that makes it so easy to say ‘someone else will do it’ someone else will take up the call, someone else will evangelize this person. But I keep realizing that is completely the wrong attitude! We have so many opportunities to Love; to bear Christ’s light to the souls of so many of Edmonton’s youth. It is not a burden or a humdrum task, it is life itself! 

Josh Hickman
iNFUSE2
Edmonton Alberta

Dodgeball

Hello again!! Looking back over the past month at Saint Thomas More there have been two developments to our ministry. Firstly our visits to the Catholic schools attached to the parish has gone up from twice a week to thrice a week, and our junior high youth group Compass went from happening once a month to twice a month.

Its really exciting that we are now spending more time in ministry, which is awesome!! We go to both our high schools every week and one of the junior high's biweekly which makes building relationships so much easier. We now get to spend more time and minister our youth in their own comfortable school environment.

This past weekend we had a social night for our high school youth, we played glow in the Dark dodge-ball which was really fun with lots of time to hang out with the youth, eat some pizza and meet some new people who came out. Josh and Jessica even came as Austrian dodge ball superstars come to pump us up and they did a great job!!

Please continue to pray for us and this ministry.

Stay tuned for more on iNFUSE team 2.

God Bless,
Josh Hickman
St. Thomas More Parish
Edmonton

Empowering our Volunteers

We celebrated the Olympics
with Olympic nuggets from
McDonalds on our day off!

This week one of our main objectives was to interview our newly trained youth leaders, which is the final step in their application process! This means that they can now start participating in a more active way with the junior high school youth group by leading games and small groups, giving their testimonies and even start giving some of the talks. It’s been a really exciting week for both us as a team and the volunteers. For us it’s exciting to be able to really start handing over the reins to the volunteers who will be leading this program even after we leave. It’s also been a big week for the volunteers. We could see the excitement and how seriously they’re all taking this commitment as they came in one by one for their interviews.

Saturday night was the first youth night for most of them as volunteers since being interviewed and while, as a group, they were still learning the same roles they’ve been learning for the last few weeks (greeting, helping with snack, set-up, and take-down), we could see that they were taking the jobs all the more seriously knowing that they were officially volunteers. They joined us for our nightly pro/cons session at the end of the night after the youth had left and they showed us that they were very invested in the night and knew what was going on throughout the night. It’s been incredible to be able to watch them grow as leaders!

God bless,

Katelyn Sutton

Les Équipes NET

Caught up in Grace like an Avalanche

Greetings,
Talk about a whirlwind weekend.  So recently we took our youth for a ski trip at Marmot Basin in Jasper and boy was it ever something, the weather was beautiful,  the mountains were awe-inspiring.  But that is not where this story begins, our story begins that same day at 6:00 in the morning when loaded the youth onto a coach bus to head towards Jasper many laughs were shared, and many naps were taken.

When we arrived in Jasper we were all in awe of the mountains.  We continued the day by hitting the slopes, and after everyone was finished we headed to Hinton, a small community about 30 mins outside of Jasper, to Way of Holiness Retreat center where we played games had food and to close the night off we had prayer time, which included Adoration and Confession.  It was such a powerful night.
The next day we had mass and then got back on the buss to head back to Drayton Valley, all in all it was a great experience, and a fantastic way to marvel in God's beautiful Creation.

Fast Forward and we are back into ministry full steam ahead.  Things in the office have been very busy between Youth visiting and meetings abound we have been consumed but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Recently we had a youth night on St.Valentine's Day in which we had the youth act out the reason why we celebrate St.Valentine's Day and his life, these skits were Hilarious and informative.

God Bless,
Jonathon
iNFUSE 3,Drayton Valley

GET REAL

The word spread widely and on our very second youth night with the grades 5 & 6 youth group LIFELINE we were blessed to have double the attendance of the first night.

Our youth went away, having enjoyed the night spreading the word like wild fire and in turn increasing our numbers. It was great!

Our second night was a hit and again the youth were challenged to spread the word. They went away excited and wanting to invite friends.

In speaking to one of the mothers of a youth, she was very pleased and equally excited about her sons experience in Lifeline! She exclaimed that she was very pleased that this night she didn't have to do any convincing for her son to come along. He was very excited to attend! He invited 2 friends a long as well, and went away naming of others friends he wanted to bring.

It was great to see the youth enjoy yet another lifeline night, this one being more faith based in comparison to the last. We were very blessed that the youth were super interested in the fabulous talk done by our wonder Bailey Reiger about "Truth & Lies" starting off our theme for the year "Get Real"with a bang! The youth responded well, and small groups were a great time for the youth to really dig deep into the idea of what is "Real" and what is not. 

What a fantastic uplifting experience for us all! We look forward to a lot more of Gods glory pouring into this part of our ministry.

Stay tuned for more,
Melissa
iNFUSE 1
Montreal

So it all Begins...

After spending a couple months of becoming familiar with St. Ignatius of Loyola and investigating how best to serve the needs of our parish we had our very first grade 5 & 6 youth group night, LIFELINE! It went off with a hit, having started with a Mission Impossible night with a great group of youth coming along. They met the team, had a lot of fun with different challenges we set up, and ending in ice cream sundaes, which we all love. All the youth went away having had a great night and excited to invite their friends along to the next night.

Our theme for the year is "Get Real" - STAY TUNED more for Lifeline!

Almighties youth group 4 year reunion was a blast! A great turn out, we all had a lot of fun. We started the night with a meal the youth had prepared for their families, followed by games and celebration. Ending the night with a night prayer which was a great success, seeing some of youth in the church for the first time in a while. We all enjoyed praising God together, sharing intentions and prayers as a group. It left all feeling like the group had taken a step in faith together. What a great evening!

On Saturday evenings we have started up our young adult group, ages 18-25. Our first  night was a blast with a  great number of young adults, along with some who hadn't been to church or thought about their faith for many years. Following the ALPHA program was a great decision for this group, and a comfortable, non-threatening environment for these new young adults to explore their faith.

Stay Tuned,
Melissa Doorman
iNFUSE 1, Montreal

Flashmob in Old Québec?!

This Saturday for our young adult’s night we had a couple from the community come and give a testimony on how God has worked in their lives since they met. They told the incredible story of how they abandoned everything to God and left their families and country to move to Canada. Their story of total abandonment to the will of God and how God rewards us for our trust and surrender was absolutely inspiring. After the night, one of the young adults shared with us that their testimony helped her to finally understand what it means to give your life to God!

Matt at the Holy Door!

Sunday we accompanied a bus load of our teens to Québec for a youth conference called Montée Ado. They met new friends who share their beliefs, attended different workshops, passed through the Holy Door into the Cathedral for Mass with Archbishop Lacroix (soon to be Cardinal Lacroix!), and finished the day with a flashmob on the steps of the Cathedral in Old Québec! It was an amazing day and great chance for us to talk to the youth even more about their faith!

Here's the link to the flashmob: 
http://www.ecdq.tv/fr/videos/653ac11ca60b3e021a8c609c7198acfc

Until next time,

Katelyn Sutton

Les Équipes NET

Training Leaders

Currently one of our teams weekly events is a leadership training series we are running for the young adults we have met over the past 5 months who are interested in volunteering with the youth groups. During these two hour events we have a couple of short talks on various aspects of ministry on material we ourselves learnt during our training with NET. Last night we had one of these events and watching these newfound friends investing in ministry was awesome.

One of my favorite moments from last night was after everything was done two of our volunteers were getting ready to leave and putting gloves on their baby, (dinosaur gloves!) which propelled us into a conversation about Jurassic Park, touching on the morality of genetic engineering and then moving on to discussing Star Trek. It was just a beautiful moment to see the normalness of these volunteers who at the same time are devoting time to serve God. That simply by being themselves they were able to bring a bit of brightness to our day.

Josh H, iN2 Blogger

Taking Advantage of Winter!

It’s been another busy week full of blessings here in Beauce!

We had the opportunity to put on an Encounter Day retreat this past weekend for a group of our youth as well as a group that drove out from Terrebonne. Altogether there were about 40 youth that took part, and we were able to spend time getting to know them better during small groups, while playing games outside, and over meal times. It was also a chance for the teens from two different areas of Quebec to connect and discover new friendships. The retreat was followed by an evening celebrating the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple with music and a candle procession, and the team did a skit to correspond with the Gospel reading.

 

We also had a senior youth group devoted to prayer, where we split into 3 groups and had workshops to learn about various forms of prayer.  Each workshop included a mini talk, some discussion, and time to pray. The youth seemed to really enjoy the night, and it was cool to see them asking questions and genuinely curious about the topic.

Team Day this week was extra special as we celebrated Katelyn’s ‘Unbirthday’ by going to Quebec City for the Carnival! It was a great afternoon full of ice fishing, tubing, delicious snacks, and getting to meet the famous Bonhomme. Quebec is proving to us that there is plenty of fun to be had, even in the cold winter temperatures!

God bless,

Julie

Les Equipes NET

Beauce, Quebec

Encounter

On Sunday we had a high school youth night (called Cornerstone) where we were making hampers of food for families in need in the parish, just before the night was about to start I was getting ready to give the announcements after mass. I was standing just outside the doors to the church and I saw one of our youth who had been to a couple of the Cornerstone nights. She asked if it we had youth group that night and what we were doing. I told her that we were making hampers and she had a huge smile and said “that’s awesome! I want to come!”

It was such an incredible encounter, yet in those 10 seconds all the stress and weariness of the day was kicked aside. Countless times in the past year I have seen God do incredible things, all the little and big things that need to happen suddenly get done, little miracles every day! little things like people donating all the food needed for the hampers, or encounters like the one above. Praise be to God, He is always with us!

Josh H,
iN2 Blogger
St. Thomas More Parish
Edmonton

In God's Time

It is so true that God can do amazing things even in a short time and even when we don't feel completely equipped or prepared; the way that God works really doesn't depend on us.

We were asked to give a Confirmation talk for a group of grade 6 students and their parents only a couple of days before we had to give it. Daniel stepped up to the challenge and was able to drive home in a clear and simple way that the choice we make at Confirmation is not a graduation from the church but is about choosing to live in a relationship with Jesus. Blaise and Bailey also inspired them with testimonies about how they chose to live their relationship with Christ through Confirmation and encouraged the youth not to miss this opportunity to do the same.

We were also asked by the Leaders of the High School Youth group if we would lead a youth night, but with a last minute change I (Michelle) volunteered to give a talk on God's Mercy. Although I didn't feel equipped, God was able to work through my weakness. We arranged to have confession available as a part of the night, and at least 6 young people of their own accord took advantage of the amazing opportunity to receive God's Mercy and come back into relationship with Him.
“God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.”

God Bless,
Michelle Walsh
iNFUSE 1, Montreal

Quality Time

We were fortunate to get a great opportunity this past Friday to spend the day with quite a few of our youth! Many of the schools had the day off, so the brotherhood organized a day snowboarding with several of the guys while the group of ladies decided to stay warm and instead spent the afternoon watching The Princess Diaries together. Later that evening we also had youth group for our senior high school students, where we learned more about Christ’s love for us through a talk, activity, and prayer time in the church. After a few months of the team being here we’re really starting to experience the youth opening up and sharing their faith with both their peers and us, especially during small groups.

The local rink where we spend weekly Sports Nights 
skating and playing hockey

On Sunday morning half of the team went to Mass at one of the smaller parishes in the area, and helped host coffee and snacks afterwards. It was a really nice chance to visit with the parishioners and share a bit about our mission here in Beauce. In the evening we had Adoration in another one of the smaller villages and the church was full of people from all over the community, so much so that we almost ran out of chairs! It was incredible seeing so many families and youth out to worship together and spend time in prayer. We had a testimony, a priest available for confession and music throughout the evening, and also some time to socialize to conclude the night.

It’s such a blessing to be surrounded by such a vibrant and caring community!

God bless,

Julie

Beauce, Quebec