Say Geronimo!

It's pretty insane to think that our team has been back in Weyburn for a month now and even crazier to think that we leave in just over three months! The time flies and it's already hard to think about the friends that feel like family who we will have to say goodbye to in just a few months. Our team can't say enough how much we love the community of Weyburn.

If we said that coming back to Weyburn was like diving into ministry, I think it's safe to say that is this point we have completed the dive and are flooded with work. We've said geronimo, taken the dive, and are working hard on small groups, youth groups, youth masses, youth bands, building student relationships, recruiting volunteers, and so so SO much more!

The best part about semester II so far has been seeing the fruit of our ministry. With renewed passion for the ministry, we can focus less on the organizational aspect of ministry and more on the relationships we have with students in the community. We are going deep with our students and they are responding by praying, making a commitment to Christ, and asking us questions! We have growing numbers in our youth groups and we couldn't ask for anything better! Praise be to God who knows exactly what He is doing. He knows what He is about and we couldn't be happier to be His hands and feet. .

Confident in God, our team is moving forward and we do not doubt that His steadfast love. His love sustains, guides, and brings us peace.

Pray for us as we pray for you!

Boys to Men

I used to be terrified of all-men's retreats. Now I can hardly wait for the next one.

As one of six women on our team in a room of over one-hundred young men in grade ten, it's not too unreasonable to feel intimidated. Normally I lead small groups of girls only, and this time I would be in charge of my first-ever small group of nine young men.

I got along with the men fine, actually. It was easier than I thought to find common ground, and they were very interested in my life and my interests. Of course, the time came for us women to leave, as they were going to have the men-only session. The women on our team went up and prayed a Divine Mercy chaplet for them in the church, and then the men joined us for prayer ministry.

It was a completely different set of people walking in. I had no idea what the change was, but what had only two hours before been a rambunctious school group had transformed into a group of visibly more reverent, mature young men. As I approached each of the guys in my small group to ask to pray with them, they all told me beautiful things that they had learned:

"Faith is the most important thing."

"I can and should trust God more."

"I can pray to God for strength and support."

I sat down next to the one young man in my small group who had been the most searching, and he looked me in the eyes and said, "I learned that it's time I was a man, because I have been childish, and I should be a man now."

Whoa.

There's a quote in the Bible which says, "As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens man" (Proverbs 27:17). The men on this team are called to be that for the young men they encounter this year: ones who sharpen and refine each other into weapons for the army of God. I have experienced that firsthand, with what was originally an intimidating group of boys becoming a powerful, inspired group of men, brothers in arms and brothers in Christ. And that is an undeniable force to be reckoned with.

Peace,

Samantha (Encounter 2)

The Farthest North

Over the past three weeks our team has been split up. Half of us stayed in Yellowknife to continue the youth ministry we started and the other half of us, along with Adele Costanza (the youth coordinator) and Bishop Mark, pushed farther north in the Northwest Territories. We were traveling the regions of the Deh Cho and the Sahtu, via the winter road, holding youth events and nights, with the goal of raising up youth leaders for the diocese. We visited the communities of Fort Simpson, Tulita, Deliné, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells, and Fort Providence. It is almost as if we were a traveling (Encounter) team except we were spending more time in each place. I find it really great that we had enough time to get to know the youth that we met. 

The Diocese of Mackenzie Fort Smith is so vast and widespread; we have been given this amazing opportunity of traveling and reaching out to youth and calling them closer to Christ. We were able to take two reliable trucks on snow covered back-country roads. Who would have thought that in the Northwest Territories there would be mountains... Not me. 

The spirituality of the aboriginal peoples is amazing. There is no doubt in them that The Creator exists and that he looks after us. 

After a retreat in one of the communities we visited, I felt drained. We had invited the youth to a night of prayer the following evening but I got the impression that none of them were interested at all. The next night however we had 10 youth show up… it was really cool to see that they wanted to come out to a prayer night. They all took bibles and rosaries and were really excited that we had been there but also sad to see us leave.  

Our team is back together now, safe and sound; we are ready to dive deeper in to the many aspects of our ministry. We are extremely busy but have so many good things tell of, so stay connected.

As for now thanks for reading and God bless

Ben and the rest of iNFUSE NORTH.

Falling in Love

"I am a horrible person."

The girl I had spent all day in small group with avoided my eyes as she spoke to me. The prayer ministry music in the background would have muffled a quieter voice, but hers was clear, direct, honest.

"Why do you think that?" I asked, gently.

"I have done so much crap to other people," she said, "and it's awful, but it's true."

Well, I thought, she may think she's horrible, but God has given her so much clarity in this moment. I've met full-grown adults who don't analyze their actions so deeply.

"First of all," I said, "you are not a horrible person. You are a person, who God created good, who has done something 'horrible'. Every person makes mistakes, and the fact that you recognize those mistakes for what they are, and that you're sorry for them--that's a gift."

The girl nodded, biting her lip. I noticed that at this point there were tears in her eyes, but she was refusing to let them fall yet.

I leaned closer to her, and said, "You know that God sees everything, right?" She nodded. "Okay," I continued, "then He has seen these bad things that you've done, you know?" She nodded again, looking ashamed.

Then I smiled at her, and I said, "And God still absolutely loves you."

The girl let her tears fall in that moment, and I knew then that she was sensing the love of God, maybe for the first time in her life. A girl who had been mostly quiet and kept to herself for much of the day was finally opening up to the One Who would never stop loving her.

I feel honored to be able to bring that message to these youth, particularly lately, as I have given a few talks on the sacrament of Confirmation. In the talks, I say that God is ready for us to fling wide the door of our hearts to Him to accept His grace and love.

I like to think of it this way: when two people begin dating, they don't just stop interacting. They talk. They hang out on a more personal level. They find out all of the little reasons to love each other even more. But falling in love with God, opening up to Him, is even better, because He already knows all of those reasons, and the biggest reason is that you are His child. There is nothing you can do to make Him love you any less, and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more than He does right now.

The girl in prayer ministry let me pray with her after her experience of God's love, and in that moment as we prayed together, I imagined her and I approaching the throne of God and me saying to her heavenly Father, "Here is your daughter. Let her know how loved she is by You."

And by the looks of things, He certainly did.

Peace and love,

Samantha Wigglesworth (Encounter 2)

Christmas leads to Lent

It’s a room full of love. Many Netters have fond memories within, the main room of CDL (Centre De L’Amour near Rockland, Ontario) where Mass, formation and evening prayer occur daily. A room of love and memory, but not just memory, since the living bread of the Eucharist resides so often there. I was so happy to return there for December retreat with my team, the place where our Net mission began.

                Do you ever get distracted in prayer? I don’t mean so much the giggles of a buzzed toddler distracting you, or the typhoon of air that recurringly buffets in your direction by a rotating fan. I mean the diving into the analysis of the problems, events and plans of life. Basically, do you ever struggle between concentrating on Love itself, God, and the business of life? I do.

                Beautifully, evening prayer conducted at CDL is prepared in such a manner as to make it easier to enter into prayer or conversation with Jesus. Sweet, blockade to thinking about the business of life; activated. Prayer should be as smooth as an oiled bowling lane. Super smooth.

                Twas’ the last evening prayer of our December retreat and Praise & Worship included traditional Christmas hymns, delightfully adjusted to an acoustic setting. Usually a crucifix on a pedestal stands before us, and it was the same this evening. As we started praying an odd distraction surfaced in my mind, or was it a distraction? I began to wonder, wouldn’t it have been lovelier if instead of a crucifix we had before us a figure of the baby Jesus?! After all, it would be fitting for the season, I thought to myself. Amidst my disgruntled state, I then realised that Christ’s loincloth on the statue was probably around the same amount of swaddling cloth Christ had been wrapped in after his birth… In that instance, I thought in wonder how great God is to leave so many indications in the Bible story of his redemptive work during Holy Week.

                After the prayer time I went to my brother on team, Peter, and told him about my experience. He shared with me that he too had reflected upon the relationship between the Nativity manger and the cross. Peter pondered with me, “Isn’t it striking how adult Christ dying on the cross was just as pure a sacrifice as if infant Christ had been nailed to and executed on the cross?!” Thank you Lord for your perfect sacrifice.

                All of us on Encounter 1 are busy on the road and have been faced with new challenges as we evangelize throughout the western part of Canada. Many of us on team, practically all of us, begin Lent with some sort of physical ailment. Please pray for us as we enter into the Lenten season and continue in our journey of interiorizing the Christmas miracle continuing into the greatest miracle of all, that God died for our sins in our place and defeated death in his Resurrection.


-Francis Nowak

Kristy and her family helping Melissa and Maddie (the Internationals) with there first felled tree.

Host Homes

Hey world!

The past week or so here in Beauce has been so very busy, but really wonderful! Over the past week, we've put on our first youth night of the year, traveled to Québec City for a meeting with other members of the diocese involved in youth ministry, hung out with youth we hadn't seen in a month, had an unbirthday* for one of our teammates, and went to new host homes! Arriving in a new host home is always really exciting and every single one is so different! Getting to live with different families and see how they live their lives has been one of my favourite parts of my NET year thus far.
*unbirthday: noun, a super epic surprise party that takes place in order to celebrate a team member's birthday because it is very hard to celebrate birthdays on the actual dates when you're on a NET team

My family has hosted NET Canada team members for over ten years. I have grown up around NET and have had almost 100 different NETters stay at my house over the years. Now being on the other side of things is definitely an interesting adventure. All this being said and in spite of my family's experience of hosting, I never realized the value of host homes. Without host families generously taking us in, it would not be possible to do any of our work this year. As one of my fellow NETters mentioned, "We are nomads, but we are not homeless". 

I'd like to share a personal experience I had with a host family recently. For their sake, I will keep names anonymous and details to a minimum. I recently stayed with a family that wouldn't consider themselves practicing Catholics. However, their daughter has a strong faith and comes to our youth events. She has been asking her parents for years if they could host NETters. Finally, they said yes. One evening, my host mom and I were talking and the conversation progressed into something deeper than small talk. Long story short, she confided in me and opened up to me about struggles in her family, recent family deaths and the lack of faith the members of the family have. She broke down and cried as she explained how she felt about all of it, and I could see how much she was hurting. All she needed was someone to listen to her. During the conversation, she told me she wouldn't bother mentioning some of the stuff she mentioned to me, to other people because they wouldn't understand, but she knew - because of my faith - that I understood. 

God used me in a way I wasn't expecting. While so much of my energy is spent focusing on youth and events, it's so easy for me to forget that being a witness is evangelization in and of itself. I did nothing special, I just happened to have a listening ear in a time when someone needed to be heard. Evangelization doesn't always mean putting on huge youth events and seeing conversions happen before your eyes. Upon meeting the family, I had no idea what they had been through. There is a very specific reason as to why I stayed with them, why I had that conversation with my host mom and why I now feel very called to pray for the whole family. I can take no credit for the work I do. God called me to La Beauce and continues to call me to His work in even the seemingly smallest moments - listening to someone when they need it. 

“Though it is true that this mission demands great generosity on our part, it would be wrong to see it as a heroic individual undertaking, for it is first and foremost the Lord’s work, surpassing anything which we can see and understand." 

(Pope Francis)

Until next time. God bless,
Rebecca 
Les équipes NET (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Lisa, Josée, Zak & Matt)

Hey!

Things are going really great out here! We are back in the thick of things, visiting schools,
putting on youth retreats and forming small groups. We also recently gave three
classroom presentations to a local high school. That alone is pretty amazing, seeing as how the schools are very secular here and do not usually allow people to come present things on their faith.

Well I have a beautiful story to share. Back in the fall, our team went to mass in a town called St Côme. I saw a young man during the Mass and felt convicted that I should talk to him afterwards. However, as soon as mass ended he walked really quickly to the exit. I practically had to run to catch up to him, but I did! I invited him to our next event and he came! He has now come to several of our events. He has also openly shared some of his struggles with mental illness with me. He has suffered a lot. However, he has a beautiful faith and God is bringing him through. I really feel as though God has been using me as an instrument in his life.

We recently had a leaders retreat this past weekend. The retreat was for those who are interested in taking leadership positions in youth ministry, specifically for when our team leaves. I invited him and he came. While there, he really opened up. He spoke about how he is often plagued with guilt and negative thoughts he can’t control. He also told us he hadn’t been to Confession since his First Communion. Seeing as how he is now 25, that means he probably had not gone to Confession in at least 15 years.

At the retreat, we had scheduled an hour of Adoration and had a priest to hear Confessions. We had been encouraging this man to go to Confession throughout the whole retreat. Well, long story short, he went! You could see the difference on his face afterwards. You could see the healing. As he prayed and wept before the Blessed Sacrament, I knew he was being embraced by the Lord. He looked so alive afterwards, like someone had just lifted a huge burden off his soul.

Great things are happening out here and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

God bless,

Zak
Les équipes NET (Rebecca, Josee, Andrée-Anne, Lisa, Sara & Matt)

God will give you the strength!

            Have you ever had those days when no matter what you do you still feel like you are half asleep? Well I have. This week we had quite a few late nights and early mornings making me very tired. It is not only the little amount of sleep but also the busy days that make one tired.

         

            Before one youth night I said to Mike that I was extremely tired and just not mentally ‘there’. He said something like this, ‘yeah it is pretty hard. Remember that you are doing the work of the Lord. If we ask God for the strength he will give it to you.’ I could not believe when I reflected after the youth night, God really had given me the strength. Although I felt exhausted after God knew that I needed his strength to be able to be present to the youth.

Recently we have had two New Year kick off events. We did a sledding event for the iGNITE middle school youth night and a Minute-to-win-it contest for the high school AWAKEN youth night. We were so blessed to be able to give the youth prayer cards at iGNITE. We all recited the Angel of God prayer together and it was so beautiful to imagine how millions of angels from heaven were right there praying that prayer with us and the youth.

            It seems like whenever it gets warm here (warm being -18 or higher), like it was the past week, it always brings clouds and lots of snow. So if you want nice weather it is almost better when it is -30 with clear skies. The best part about the clear skies is the Northern lights. The northern lights are out every night but it is about finding that time when the sky is clear and our Creator displays the most wonderful fireworks show ever. They come mostly in short bursts but it is one of the most rewarding sights ever. It is just a little piece of the beauty of God that He rewards us with.

God bless and thanks for reading, 

Ben and the rest of iNFUSE North (Mike, Olivia, Meghan, Cameron, Steph, and Shaina)