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." *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.
(Pope Francis)
Until next time. God bless,
Rebecca
Les équipes NET (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Lisa, Josée, Zak & Matt)
Until next time. God bless,
Rebecca
Les équipes NET (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Lisa, Josée, Zak & Matt)
No comments:
Post a Comment