Thursday, May 15, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Finishing Strong
Hello all!
Encounter
two here, and we’re finally back in the Ottawa area! The east coast was
amazing. It was so nice to be near the ocean for so long. We were able to hit New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. It was a really cool experience, for
most of us it was our first time being to Newfoundland! We didn’t get all of
the way to St. John’s, but we were able to go to Mary’s Town, Corner Brook, and
Stevenville. Newfoundland is such a beautiful province!
This Holy
week we did a fair amount of driving, as we celebrated Palm Sunday in Halifax,
Nova Scotia with Archbishop Mancini, and Easter Sunday in Deep River Ontario!
It was really cool to experience Easter with other families and take part in
other traditions. The families and the parish in Deep River really made us feel
at home!
Just
recently we had the opportunity to run an overnight Encounter Event at Centre
de L’Amour in Rockland, Ontario. It was really awesome being able to run an
event at the place where some of our NET training was held. We got to watch the youth grow in their faith
throughout the event, at the place where all of us grew a lot in our faith.
There was one gentleman in my small group that really wasn’t sure about his
faith, coming into the event. He was really awesome, and very real with me. He
was a very genuine guy and he wasn’t afraid to tell me exactly where he was at,
which was really cool.
At the end
of the second day there was a time of prayer and adoration, and all of the guys
in my small group were very engaged in it. After the adoration we met as a
small group, and he couldn’t help but share his experience. He told us about
how during that prayer time and adoration he realized that Jesus IS his best
friend, and that he wanted a relationship with Him. It was amazing because he
didn’t come to this realization through what we did or said, he came to it by
sitting in the presence of God and being open to Him. It was incredible to
witness!
As our year
of ministry is coming to a close, or schedule is busy as ever! Currently we are
in the Pembroke diocese, and our last events take place in the Toronto diocese.
Keep us in your prayers!
God bless
Mike McCallum
Encounter 2
Saturday, May 3, 2014
The Beginning of the End
The youth here never
cease to amaze me! For our junior high youth group a couple weeks ago we had a
time of Adoration, during which we invited the youth to approach the Blessed
Sacrament on the altar and sign cards as a physical sign of their commitment to
living their lives for Christ. As soon as the invitation was made, the first
person go
For Easter we spent the
entire day with one of the families in the area. It was beautiful out and we
spent the afternoon outside walking to their cabane à sucre (sugar shack) and
we spent some time exploring. We all had supper together and then we spent some
time doing music together before heading back to our host families.
Last night was our last
senior high school youth group and we spent the night empowering the youth to
continue their faith journey even after we leave. We had an obstacle course
that encouraged teamwork among them. We talked a little bit about the way society
views youth these days and the way that we’re called to rise above those
stereotypes and dare to do great things and make the world a better place. Paul
shared a bit of Pope Saint John Paul IIs love for youth and then we invited the
youth to join us in the Church and choose one of his quotes off the wall that
inspire them and reflect on it during prayer time. The youth were so responsive
to the message and it was a great way to end the year with this group of youth.
God bless,
Katelyn Sutton
Les Équipes NET
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