As White as Snow

Greetings Friends!!

It is official we have snow! And by snow I mean 4 inches in one night. The neat thing about snow is that it really cleans everything up. In a way, I see snow as kind of like Confession; the brown, and sometimes muddy ground, and green trees is like your soul before confession but after confession your soul is cleaned and becomes as white as snow. 

Confession: What does it mean to you? To me it means recognizing my sin and overcoming my pride. It means humbling myself enough to go to another person. 
Steph: It shows us that regardless of how many mistakes you make that God’s mercy is stronger than sin. 
Cameron: It means going in front of the Lord, in front of Jesus, and pouring out my sins. It means going to him, in the person of the priest, for forgiveness of all sin. Being able to be relieved of burdens that we no longer have to carry. 
Olivia: Confession means going to God knowing that His love and mercy is greater than my sins and that He is taking my sin upon himself. Confession is an opportunity to get rid of sin and receive graces to grow closer to Christ. Not only are you being reconciled of your sin, is also able to receive graces. As long as you are going with an open heart then you will be able to accept the love that God outpours then it is always a double gain. 
Pope Francis: "Everyone say to himself: ‘When was the last time I went to confession?’ And if it has been a long time, don’t lose another day! Go, the priest will be good. And Jesus, (will be) there, and Jesus is better than the priests - Jesus receives you. He will receive you with so much love! Be courageous, and go to confession,” urged the Pope on Feb. 19.

            Lets talk about that miraculous feeling you get after you receive reconciliation. Cameron shared, “I feel like the Holy Spirit has poured his grace upon me, and that Christ and me has washed of all my sin.” In a way similar to how Jesus said to Peter in John 13:8, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Christ listens to us confess our sin and washes it away so that we may share eternal life with him in heaven.

How awesome is it when you see someone you look up too going to confession? To me this makes me want to also receive this wonderful sacrament. Why would we not want to make use of this wonderful sacrament?

This weekend we welcomed our wonderful supervisors into the North. We were able to share in their great company and learn new and different ways to bring Christ to the youth of the North.

Thanks for reading,
Ben and a few team mates ~ iNFUSE 3

Prayer: A Proven Practice

Part of the lifestyle of NET includes daily personal and community prayer, which basically means that each day we start the day with an hour of personal prayer and spend about 45 minutes praying together as a team everyday. Personal prayer involves daily bible reading, journaling, and listening to God. Team prayer consists of the team coming together, singing praise and worship songs, and sharing intentions. Seems pretty simple, right?

Well, yeah, you are right. It is pretty straightforward. However, as simple and casual as it may seem, it affects every aspect of team life and our ministry. We all, as a team, make a commitment to prayer, and it's all too easy to tell when we are slacking. If we slack in personal prayer, team prayer becomes dry and boring. When team prayer is dry and boring we don't love each other as well as we could. When we don't love each other well, we fail to love anyone else as we are called to. It's a dangerous cycle to fall into; it just proves that prayer is truly fuel for our team and ministry!

Not only is prayer fuel for young adult missionaries, but it is fuel for every Christian striving to live their best life! When you know how much Christ loves you, it becomes easier to love those who are around you. And how do we discover how much Christ loves us? Through personal interaction with Him in prayer! When your life is saturated with prayer, Christ seeps into every interaction that you have, every task that you need to get done, and every aspect of your everyday life.

Putting prayer first changes your life and in turn changes every life that you get to touch. Prayer is a proven practice for changing lives, including yours!

~ iNFUSE 2, Weyburn, SK.

Love Is A Choice

      

        "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

John 13:34-35

NET training has taught me that love is a choice we make to actively and intentionally love every part of a person, good and bad. Love is the choice to seek out and strive to make your relationship with a person better because if you didn't, you would only be scratching the surface of what it could be if you went deeper.

Working in close proximity in a small office of 7 people is not an easy task. You can imagine how hard it would be to get along all the time. It's harder than I ever imagined it would be. That’s why it’s important for us to understand each other.

We have been taught on NET that if we want to love our brothers and sisters in the best way, we are to call each other to holiness. We do this by talking challenges out and being honest with each other. Our team is amazing and I couldn't imagine having any other person on my team. However, I don't always love the things they do, or the decisions they make. A lot of the time, the reason why I don’t love the things they do, is because I don’t understand where they’re coming from or why they did what they did. But I can make a choice to seek to understand and love them by having a conversation with them about the situation. In the end, I can love and understand them so much better because we talked it through. I know that I’m not always easy to love and so I feel very loved when someone talks to me about how they feel and it leaves us only with good feelings toward each other.

I've noticed also, that I have a lot of trouble being patient with my team. I can see that God is testing my patience and teaching me to love each member of the team in different ways through it. There are people who I find easy to love because we get along. But then there are people on the team that I have to work harder to love and it's not easy to do. Not because they aren't great people, but because I'm still learning how to love them. And I want to know how to love them in a way that makes them feel loved. So, I seek to understand ways that I can actively honour and love my team.

Prayer is an essential part of our life and love we have for each other. If we didn't pray, individually and as a team, we would probably be a mess. We would most likely have trouble serving each other and feeling unified. If we ask Him, God will give us the graces and everything we need in order to love each other, but have to want it. God wants us to love each other and waits for us to ask Him for His help to strive for that.

 

Slowly but surely, we are all learning how to love each other. There are always going to be things that need to be straightened out, but as long as we approach it the right way, we can work things out and feel loved all at once, which is exactly what we want to do.

I'm so excited to continue to learn how to love each member of my team so that we can be unified and work together in the best way possible. Christ has called us to love each other so that we can be His disciples and grow in holiness together.

Thanks for reading,

Until next time!

With lots of love,

Hunter!

iNFUSE 1 in Swift Current, SK.

Making Connections

Life has been moving very quickly here in Weyburn, and days in the office are filled with work and meetings, while evenings are filled with youth groups, host home nights, and general busyness. It seems that everyone knows our names and are excited about what we are doing. We feel very blessed to be so loved by the community.

All last week we spent our time in the office organizing for a big ministry day on Saturday. Saturday came and we held our first youth Mass, followed by our first high school youth group. The youth Mass was a bit of a surprise to the parish, as we used projectors for songs and had a more contemporary youth band. While the new music and worship style was a surprise for many of the parishioners, after the Mass we received many compliments and even one older couple saying it was the most engaging Mass they had been to in YEARS! We felt floored and were humbled by the fact that God is using us to accomplish such amazing things for this parish.

After the Mass, we rushed down to the church basement where we had pizza, pop, and minute to win it games for the high school youth of the parish. While we only had about seven youth show, they were engaged and enthusiastic through the whole night. Even after the night was over, the youth stayed and talked with us for half an hour after. It is our hopes and prayers the Youth Group will grow exponentially!

We have been deeply immersed in ministry here in Weyburn and we are so excited to be making connections with parishioners, young and old! We are humbled that God picked us to make a difference here in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

God Bless, The iNFUSE 2 Team

(John, Joey, Jacob, Whitney, Jillian, Ashley, and Rachel)

Right Click> Tools> Build Relationship with God

The dispersed conversations and laughter ease at the sound of microphone feedback as the red shirt clad young retreat leader announces the beginning of the last talk of the day. 

“Now, many of you may have experienced various things that are motivating you to further your relationship with Jesus. Awesome! However, in day to day life it can be easy to lose this motivation and forget to nurture our relationship with Christ. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED…we have some tools for you! Repeat.after.me.”

With this cue, the retreat leader utters the strangest yet most intriguing acronym known to mankind. 

“PSsssssFSssss”

The ensuing hiss of high schoolers repeating this odd arrangement of letters, though music to our ears, is halted approximately 13 seconds later and the acronym is thoroughly explained as a key to enriching our faith.

It rings so truly that Prayer, Sacraments, Fellowship and Service (or P.S.F.S.) are essential parts of spiritual growth. This applies not only to the youth but all people and most assuredly to NET missionaries.

As Encounter 1, we are given the unique gift of time to experience all these things in our evangelising journey together, travelling around Canada but ultimately travelling towards heaven.

Prayer - Personal Prayer, Team Prayer, Night Prayer, Dispersed During Day Prayer. The afore mentioned routine that was established within our training phase now brings us joy and focus for the work ahead. Is it as simple as that? No, some days it is difficult for us to commit our hearts to conversing with God. In fighting to not neglect prayer, we are given hope that we enter a relationship that is totally free and we are convinced that it is worth battling for.

Sacraments – receiving the body and blood of Christ at Mass during many of the retreats and on Sundays consistently reminds us of God’s love for us and the pertinence of sharing the Gospel to all those we meet.

Fellowship - a constant axiom whilst being on a team that truly shines when each one of us chooses to invest honestly in one another. Together in faith we can be strong. 

Service - “God is first, others are second, I am third”… now that sounds like a rallying cry to service if you ask my opinion and other respectable circles. ;) Daily, I am boggled by the testimonies of students and team mates sharing what they experience during Encounter Retreat days. The more we invest in service the more graces we behold. As in the prayer of Saint Francis, ‘it is in giving that we receive.’

Please keep us in your prayers so that Prayer, the Sacraments, Fellowship and Service are always sought by our team and that this message is instilled in the youth we encounter. I hope that you will get to know us to a greater degree this year via this blog.

God Bless,

Encounter 1 

Encounter1 = 11 members

6 Canadians

2 Australians

1 New Zealander

1 Salvadorian

1 Nazarene

Presence

Here I am

These are three of the most perfect words that one can say to God. This phrase was spoken by Our Lady in the film ‘Mary of Nazareth’, which my team and I went to see recently at the cinema in Kamloops, BC. The moment that “Here I am” was spoken, I was intrigued by the words. It was so simple, yet so profound. How could just being present, just being open, be so deep and so striking?

In the same way the presence of God, presented by those who strive to know Him, can be deep and striking. At the end of a recent two-day retreat, our team noted that the grade ten youth we had been spending time with were remarkably open to us, but more importantly, to God. We put up an open mic and allowed the youth to come up and share with their classmates about how they had been inspired during the two days. The last girl to come up shared something beautiful: “You guys showed us what I had been praying my peers would get to see. I hope you realize how powerful you are.”

NET tries to reflect God in everything it is, and our ministry is a ministry of presence. By merely being present, by encouraging the youth to be open to Christ, we reflect the part of God which is always present to them, always longing to draw His children closer to Himself. And that in itself is powerful enough to change hearts, move mountains (yes, even big BC mountains), and bring a beautiful light into what was once the darkness of being alone. Just by saying, “Here I am,” to youth, I have seen them dare to uncover their brokenness and become present to God, just the way they are, and know that He loves them just the same.

Just by simply saying, “Here I am,” and then pointing them to the cross and saying, “There He is,” I have seen hearts change in the light of His love. And THAT is powerful.

Peace and Love,
Samantha Wigglesworth ~ Encounter Team 2

The Sunrise is Hidden Behind Clouds for Now, but it’s Still Beautiful

It’s 6:45am and the dawn is greying. Our War Monument guard killed yesterday will not see this sunrise; neither will the gunman. Through the Mercy of God, rest in peace. Likely you remember where you were when you heard about the shootings; I was at an accounting seminar at the Ottawa Golf Course, 12km from Parliament. 

 We often remember such moments of tragedy. During 9/11, I was a young missionary at NET training. Between then and now, I’ve experienced death, both as a citizen watching major events unfold and beside a loved-one’s sickbed. Death is harrowing and profound, but I remember a prayer card at a host-home on my NET year that read, “Death is letting the candle blow out because the dawn has come.” The dawn outside is pale orange now and life is stirring outside.

 What would you consider the liveliest example of life? I think of a playground. A few weeks ago, I visited a NET team giving their first practice retreat at a school. It was the first retreat I’ve experienced since I was on NET 11 years ago. Such HOPE! From the playground to the NET prayer time; it was all throbbing with LIFE! My 18-month old just toddled into the attic where I’m writing – such LIFE! On that retreat, I “teared up” more than once (like many retreatants I might add), especially during the prayer time and hearing them all sing “may these ‘hallelujahs’ be multiplied.”

 The soldier and gunman were both once children on a playground. What went wrong? I don’t know. But our Lord said, “Without Me, you can do NOTHING.” Without God’s grace and blessing, no law, gun registry, protest, educational campaign or air strike will solve the world’s problems. Please pray. Pray for the deceased, their families, our Canadian leaders, military, and emergency workers…and pray that God’s kingdom come. Pray that His will be done in your life today, since you too are a missionary.

Robin Daniels, CA ~ Director of Finance, NET Canada

P.S. The sunrise is hidden behind clouds for now, but it’s still beautiful.

Not So Pop Culture

Not So Pop Culture 

As we start out our traveling as a team, there has already been a considerable amount of hours stacked up in our two vehicles. One thing that we found instantly that all of our team members have in common is that we love listening to driving music, so there is often someone's listening device hooked into the speakers for some tasteful background harmony to our conversations.

The other day I became really excited hearing one song from popular culture. The thing about living your life for Jesus means that you begin to interpret the world in a refreshed way. I became excited about this seemingly ordinary, secular song, because I was able to relate it back to God. And I found it's true that so many songs in popular culture can be linked back to themes of salvation, spiritual warfare, and especially searches for truth and love. It is as if the music scene is holding back all explicit mention of God, but their search for Him is bleeding through their work, leaving blots of Him that mark His presence.

The culture is a desert, and people are lost and hunting for an oasis where they can truly be at peace--and that oasis is Jesus. I saw it at a recent retreat where one of the girls sat off to the side by herself, completely uninvolved and not interested in being there. I felt drawn to talk to her, and despite the awkwardness, I kept speaking to her until I found common ground: she loved to read, and so did I. She was not placed in my small group, but I found out later that during the time of prayer ministry she approached her small group leader, packaged rosary clutched in her hand, and said, "I don't know why, but I just feel called to pray this every day." As she left that day, she had a rosary, instructions written by her small group leader for how to pray it, and an easier smile.

This girl had recognized what she had been searching for, and even though she didn't understand why, she had a newly focused understanding of how to get there. With the way God works, I know that won't be the last time people realize what they're searching for during this year. Our whole team is excited to listen to God's symphony of salvation, and to see how He plays upon us as His instruments to amplify His sound of love.

Encounter 2 Blog ~ Samantha Wigglesworth

Bonjour de la part de Les Équipes NET!

We pray "...that the seed which they sowed may grow and give fruit of new men and women with courage,  with foresight, with a heart open to the call of the Lord.” ~ Pope Francis 

Hello! Bonjour! 

It’s been about two weeks since we arrived in Beauce, and we are so excited for the year! The trip was about seven hours long, and we were given a very warm welcome. As a team, we are involved in twelve parishes, and have been presented to four, to date. The priests, the youth, our host families and the whole community are very excited with our arrival. Being a second year parish team, many parishioners and youth have now heard of NET and were especially enthusiastic to hear about the work we will be doing this year.

Last Friday, we had our kick-off youth event which involved music, a live game of Family Feud, small groups and snacks! This year, we will be putting on youth nights for middle school and high school youth, as well as young adult nights. We will also be having youth masses and Adoration nights in the various parishes. Looking at our calendar of events for the year, it is seemingly overwhelming and we have little free time, but we are so blessed to be in such a beautiful, welcoming (and not to mention, French) environment! 

To close off, I want to share a portion of Pope Francis’ homily from this past weekend. He spoke of our team patron saints, St François de Laval and St Marie de l’Incarnation, in thanksgiving of their canonizations. As you can imagine, it is a great inspiration and providential message he spoke:

“The Church of Quebec is prolific! Prolific in many missionaries, who went everywhere. The world was filled with Canadian missionaries, like these two. Now the advice: that this memory does not lead us to abandon forthrightness. Do not abandon courage! Perhaps… no, not perhaps. It is true. The devil is envious and does not tolerate a land that is so prolific in missionaries. Our prayer to the Lord is that Quebec returns to this path of fruitfulness, to giving the world many missionaries. And that these two who—so to say–founded the Church in Quebec assist us as intercessors; that the seed which they sowed may grow and give fruit of new men and women with courage,  with foresight, with a heart open to the call of the Lord.”

In Christ,

Rebecca Atkinson, Les équipes NET  (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Matthew, Josée, Lisa, Zak, Mickel)

Hello! Bonjour!

Nous sommes en Beauce depuis deux semaines et nous avons tellement hâte pour l’année! Notre voyage a duré environ sept heures et nous avons été chaleureusement accueillis. Comme équipe, nous sommes impliqués dans douze paroisses cette année et nous avons été présentés à quatre d'entre elles pour le moment. Les prêtres, les jeunes, nos familles d’accueil et toute la communauté avaient tous très hâte de nous rencontrer. Comme nous sommes la deuxième équipe à venir, pour une deuxième année de suite, beaucoup de gens ont déjà entendu parler de Les équipes NET et ils sont tous très enthousiastes d'apprendre ce que nous allons faire cette année.

Vendredi dernier, nous avons eu notre première soirée jeunesse avec de la musique, le jeu de La Guerre des Clans, des petits groupes et une collation! Cette année, nous allons organiser des soirées jeunesses pour les jeunes du secondaire et du Cégep et d'autres soirées spécialement pour les jeunes adultes. De plus, nous allons avoir des messes jeunesse et des soirées d’adoration dans les différentes paroisses de l'unité pastorale. En regardant notre calendrier de l’année, nous pouvons déjà voir que nous serons très occupés et que nous n'aurons presque pas de temps libre. Cependant, nous sommes vraiment bénis d’être dans un environnement si beau, accueillant et merveilleux!

Pour conclure, j’aimerais partager une partie de l’homélie du pape François de cette fin de semaine. Il a parlé des deux saints patrons de notre équipe – Saint François de Laval et Sainte Marie de l’Incarnation – en commémoration de leur canonisation récente. Comme vous pouvez l’imaginer, c’est un message vraiment profond et inspirant qu’il a partagé :

 «Église féconde que celle du Québec ! Féconde de nombreux missionnaires qui sont allés partout. Le monde a été rempli de missionnaires canadiens comme ces deux-ci. Maintenant un conseil : que cette mémoire ne nous conduise pas à abandonner la franchise et le courage. Peut-être – ou plutôt non,  sans peut-être ! – le diable est jaloux et il ne tolère pas qu’une terre soit ainsi féconde de missionnaires. Prions le Seigneur pour que le Québec revienne sur ce chemin de la fécondité, pour donner au monde de nombreux missionnaires. Que ces deux-ci qui ont – pour ainsi dire – fondé l’Église du Québec, nous aident comme intercesseurs. Que la graine semée croisse et donne comme fruit de nouveaux hommes et femmes courageux, clairvoyants, avec le cœur ouvert à l’appel du Seigneur.»

Que Dieu vous bénisse!

Rebecca Atkinson, Les équipes NET (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Matthew, Josée, Lisa, Zak, Mickel)

Contagious Joy

"The more joy we have in our heart, even in the midst of busyness,
and craziness, the more people can see Christ through us."

On the outside, the life of a NET team looks like it's mostly fun and games. On retreats we are all high-energy, we play fun games, and each week we even have a team day where we are obligated to have FUN together. While the lifestyle of NET is full of fun, it's easy to get bogged down with the weight of ministry. We are high-energy and happy during retreat but it's all too easy to bring our exhaustion and stresses to team life in the office. This exhaustion isn't exclusive to NET - everyone experiences it. We can enjoy one part of our day and find ourselves completely stressed out the next moment.

As a team, iNFUSE 2 has been working to figure out what to do with all of our anxieties and we have learned that by offering our worries and problems to the Lord, and really letting Him take our problems from us, we are filled with trust and joy that we can turn back to praise. Joy is a choice, and giving our problems to the Lord makes room in our hearts to effectively cultivate that joy. 

It's all too easy to talk about our struggles because often our struggles seem so much bigger than the joys in our lives. We would rather find a solution to the problem that is at hand than look and see the beauty that is actively working in our lives - the beauty which Christ Himself is showing us. It's a trap, really. The more that we focus on our stresses and try to solve our problems the more problems and stresses we run into. However, when our first response to stress is to give it to the Lord, we make room in our hearts to see the joy and peace that the Lord surrounds us with. And that joy is contagious! The more joy we have in our heart, even in the midst of busyness, and craziness, the more people can see Christ through us. The joy of the Lord is just that - it's only found in the Lord. Our joy and willingness to seek Christ in our problems encourages others to do that same in their lives. 

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. 1 Peter 3:15

Seek Christ, give Him your heart, and He will turn your worries to praise and joy! May the joy of the Gospel be contagious in you!

Peace,

Jillian and the rest of iNFUSE 2 (John, Jacob, Joey, Whitney, Ashley, and Rachel) 

No Snow Yet, Thank God!!

Trapper's Lake Spirituality Centre

  


HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM iNFUSE 3!!!!

This weekend our team was grateful to all spend Thanksgiving in warm and welcoming host homes. During a family games night, team members Meghan and Olivia were delighted to share in the laughter of their host family. On Monday evening, Mike, Cameron and I were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with the host family of Shaina and Stephanie. Sharing in a delicious meal, and being able to witness the wonderful presence of love in their family, makes us so thankful for the abundant generosity and hospitality shown toward us.
  During a Thanksgiving dinner in the earlier part of the weekend, I was playing with a little boy and his ball. As I was thinking over the day, I considered how the little boy was living an amazing life, but how he relied on everyone else around him to provide for his needs. I then considered that this is how we should be with God. We should place all our needs and wants in front of Our Father in heaven, for He is a generous and loving Provider.
  
  Yellowknife. It seems that a popular opinion of people from the south is that it is bleak up here, but really it is extremely beautiful. The lakes and rocks reflect the wonderful beauty of our Creator. The women on our team have settled into their host homes and we (the men) have settled into our home at the retreat centre at Trapper’s Lake.
  We have traveled around Yellowknife advertising for our first event, Theology Uncapped. During our advertising for this event we met many new people asking them for directions (we also went backwards down a one-way street)!

.  Our team was asked to come to the yearly Catholic school's city-wide Mass that was attended by all the students of the Catholic schools here in Yellowknife. We were introduced to about 1000 students! This weekend we attended all three of the Sunday Masses at St. Patrick’s so that we could introduce ourselves to the parishioners. We have been welcomed very warmly all over the community. Over the next couple weeks we will be attending Mass at some of the different parishes of the diocese.

Until next time, may God, our Father, Bless you and yours, 

Ben from iNFUSE 3

An iNFUSE Greeting

Greetings from iNFUSE 1 in Swift Current,

NET training was a lot of fun! We made a lot of really great friendships and memories that will last forever. Although, after six weeks of training we were definitely eager and ready to get on the road and finally embark on the mission we have been called to do at Christ The Redeemer Parish in Swift Current, SK. We traveled for 4 days from training in Ottawa to get to Swift Current.  From the time we left until the time we arrived in Saskatchewan, we laughed, we sang, we got lost, and we had a ton of fun. Being stuffed in a minivan of 7 full grown young adults was not an easy task. However, we managed to make the most of the hours in the van, and made really great memories as a team.

We arrived safely in Swift Current on October 1^st, and have been busy getting things started since we got here. So, what does that mean? Well, we had the opportunity to do dramas and introductions at three masses over our first weekend here. This last week we helped serve over 600 people from the community at the Parish’s fall supper. The team hosted our first sports night and had a really great time playing games and hanging out with the youth. One of the members of the team, Joy, who is from Australia, attended her first hockey game this past week, and we had a really great time cheering on the local team, the Broncos. We are so looking forward to our kick off nights for our junior and senior high youth groups which are coming up very soon. All of us have been enjoying getting to know each other and beginning to grow in unity as a team. We are now ready to use the skills we learned over training to enkindle a burning desire for the Lord in the hearts of the Swift Current youth. 

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about planting and watering a seed. He speaks about how it doesn't matter who plants and who waters the seeds, it matters only that it is God who makes it grow. We are simply working as a team and as a community, to plant the seeds of faith inside the youth of Swift Current, and helping God make those seeds grow so they can encounter the Lord and fall madly in love with all that He is. We cannot take credit for a youth encountering God, because it is God who is working through us. 
“Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or does the watering. What’s important is that God made the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters works together for the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work; for we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building."

Stay tuned til' next time,

Hunter 

iNFUSE 1, Swift Current, SK

Hey(burn) from Weyburn!

Greetings from iNFUSE 2!

After five weeks of training (plus two weeks extra weeks of music training for Rachel), four days in a minivan together, and several nights various host homes, the iNFUSE 2 team has safely arrived at our home for the year in Weyburn, SK! We have unloaded our trailer, met the parish staff, and settled into our office. We've been met with a warm welcome and are already feeling pretty great about being here.

On our first night here we had the opportunity to attend the closing Mass of their annual parish mission. We were thriled to see a good number of students from the grades 5/6 youth group in attendance. After Mass we had the chance to MGM (meet, greet, and mingle) with almost all of the youth and some of the other adults at the Mass. The youth seemed VERY excited to meet us and are also quite interested in getting involved in the ministry.

Today we are beginning to get to know the youth of Weyburn on the closer level as we visit schools. Today we are visiting a grade 6 class and then tomorrow we are being introduced to the rest of the school.

We are ready and pumped up to start our ministry here in Weyburn! Keep us in your prayers and know that we are praying for all of you as well.

Stay in touch for more blogs from Weyburn.
In Christ's service,

Jillian and the rest of iNFUSE 2 (Rachel, Whit-Whit, Ashley, John, Jacob, and Joey)

Travel Days

Travel Days 

October 4, 2014

In our travels towards our final destination of Yellowknife, our team, INFUSE 3, is getting to know each other on new levels.

You may wonder how or why the 7 of us have spent over 40 hours in the van together.
Well, our mission of sharing the Gospel has no borders. We are more than enthusiastic to reach out and share the joy and love of Christ with the youth of upper Canada!

On our drive, we have discovered how vast and stunning our huge country of Canada really is. We have come to see that our wonderful Creator shows Himself to us each and every day through his beauty in creation. For some of us, this is our first time driving across the country, but for the rest they are still stunned at its colourful and vast beauty. Today we have encountered our first snowfall. Every time we pass a construction zone we wave to the workers and it seems to not only make their day better but also ours.  

We have stayed in many different host homes up to this point. They have all been so kind, welcoming, and generous. We are so amazed at the continuous joy that previous NETTERS have brought to the host homes that we have stayed in. We would like to give a SHOUT OUT to all the NET alumni for their example and great love shown to all the host homes. One host dad explained to us how NETTERS always bring joy to their home and how our ministry has impacted their family. This long drive is a way for our team to connect and learn to be patient and loving towards each other before starting our diocesan ministry in the diocese of Fort Mackenzie Smith, Northwest Territories. 

"We have been blessed with great driving conditions. During our second day of driving, we drove around the beautiful Lake Superior in Northern Ontario."





As for now stay tuned for our continuous updates on our ministry and stories of how God is working through us to bring youth to Christ.

Thank you for reading!

God Bless,

Ben from INFUSE 3