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