One of Our Teens

Hello! This is Shayla from Team Five and this week the blog is going to be written by one of our own Edgers, Rebecca, about her experience at the Edge retreat we had a couple of weeks ago.

"Before NET came to my town I just though that God was some guy that sat up there in heaven, doing his own thing. I knew that you could reach him by prayer and that when you died you went to heaven. And that was all I knew. So, when NET came and started the youth groups, I was curious. The thought actually never came to mind that there was more to learn than just what I knew. I had heard about the youth groups from teachers and friends, but I was not sure that I wanted to go. I thought that it would just be Mass but in a gym. Boy, was I wrong.

The first Edge night that I went to was A LOT of fun. I loved the games, talks and the dramas. I also met new friends that went to different schools. Edge nights continued to be full of action, fun and laughs. Soon I started dreading 9:00 pm on Thursday nights because I knew that it would have to end!

When I first heard that there was going to be an Edge retreat I was just sssoooo happy! I knew that if it was anything like Edge, I would really enjoy it. When they first handed me my registration form, I filled it out on the spot. Finally, after weeks of waiting, the day came. We played games, chatted, watched plays, made skits, listened to talks and more!!! The entire day was just so much fun.

The first part of the day we did the fun games and things like that. Then we went for lunch, which was really good. When we came back for the second part of the day, we were pumped! We had a Mass and went to adoration and confession. It may sound boring, but trust me, it is definitely NOT.

Adoration was uplifting. I have never felt so peaceful in my life. I think that God was really in the same room that we were in. The music that NET was playing was perfect, people were praying, the priest was doing confession at the back of the room, and it really cleared my brain. It was like prayer was pushing all the negative, unhappy thoughts out of my head and leaving new happy thoughts in their place.

Confession, how do I find words to describe it? It was amazing, the second that I was done; I could feel the weight of sin being lifted off my shoulders. I just could not stop smiling!!! I just felt so good, fresh, and new. Others were also smiling at each other and the most amazing thing of all…I had my answer! Two weeks before I had gone to the retreat I had been praying for God to give me an answer to a problem that I was having with my friends. Right after confession the answer was in my head. I knew what I had to do.

The retreat gave me new ways to look, talk, and listen to God. I now want to be more involved in the church than ever before. At the moment my friend and I are looking into going to adoration once a week together. NET has truly changed my life forever! Thank you NET!!!"

God Bless

Rebecca and Team Five

God Stuff

One day, Team 4 took a trip to Banff, we went with the Jackson family who Erica and I are currently staying with, the day was great, we went hiking, shopping, purchased maple tea, went in the hot springs...you know how this story goes, another fun weekend story!

The day was fantastic, our team had a lot of fun with The Jacksons and I even met a couple of Australians, BUT, I have something even more intriguing to share with you guys so let’s skip the fun stuff and get down to the God stuff.

When Josh and I first started seeking people out to help at our Edge nights (middle school ministry, Grade’s 7 – 9) we found about 6 great teens who were committed to helping out, but we saw more youth out there and we sought to bring more out. So our eyes fell upon a particular man named Kevin Jackson (yes, we went to Banff with his family), who is one of the most joyful people we have ever encountered, and along with that, he is in love with God!

So my view on Kevin was great, he plays about 17 instruments so we got along well in the jamming department, but I wanted to know more so I asked Kevin, how he come to know God! (P.S. best question to ever ask someone) He started to tell me a story about an Edge night we had a while back when, during prayer ministry, we asked the teens to write letters as a form of prayer. Kevin explained that as he was writing, he felt an overwhelming sense of emotion that he couldn’t explain. I asked him to elaborate and he said that he knew it was God’s presence. Kevin said that that moment changed his life; he is attending mass more often, is part of our Lifeteen program, helps out with Edge ministry, he even says he fights with his sister a whole lot less!

What an amazing story of God’s work in our ministry! I want to encourage you, fellow readers - if you are a youth minister, talk to your teens and ask them how God’s working in them, because the answer is a lot less intimidating and a lot more inspiring than idle chatter about how the weekend was.

God Bless you, heres a photo of Kev, say a Hail Mary for him could ya?

Emma
Team 4

Eh bien re-bonjour à tous les lecteurs fidèles du blog!

C’est Kevin Prada, de retour après une semaine de répit de composition de blog et je me rends compte, en regardant le calendrier, qu’il nous reste à peine deux mois avant la fin de notre année avec NET! Mais ces deux mois seront pleins à craquer! Actuellement, je vous écris de mon siège confortable, dans notre fourgonnette, qui part de Montréal pour se rendre à la petite ville de Barrie, en Ontario, pour entamer notre dernière semaine de ministère en anglais.

Comme je l’ai dit, on quitte maintenant Montréal, ou pour être plus précis, la ville de Terrebonne, en banlieue de l’île. On a passé la semaine dans cette ville, avec une communauté des Frères de Saint-Jean. Ce sont des prêtres et des frères qui habitent dans de petites communautés partout dans le monde! On a eu le privilège de passer cette semaine avec les cinq membres de cette communauté, au sein de la paroisse Saint-Louis de France, à Terrebonne. Traditionnellement, notre ministère consiste en l'animation de retraites. Ce sont donc des présentations, généralement d’une journée, durant lesquelles on aborde plusieurs différents thèmes par le biais de partages, de jeux, de musique, de témoignages et de prière. Mais notre ministère de la semaine passée a pris un tournant un peu différent de ce à quoi on était habitué. Ce qu’on a fait, comme on a eu le privilège de le faire en janvier lors de notre dernier séjour avec les frères, c’est d’aller visiter le Collège Saint-Sacrement, école secondaire privée du quartier, et d’animer des présentations d’une heure pour les étudiants. En tout, on a animé cinq présentations au cours desquelles on a rencontré environ 150 jeunes. Ces présentations consistaient en un partage, dont le thème était « Qui es-tu? », qui aborde le sujet de notre identité comme fils et filles de Dieu. Ce partage porte aussi sur l’amour que Dieu a pour chacun de ses enfants, sans exception, un amour inconditionnel et infini. Ensuite, on passait à un témoignage de l’un des membres de l’équipe et le tout se terminait avec une période de questions qui, pour certains, a duré plus d’une demi-heure! Bien que ces jeunes étaient un peu surpris de voir un groupe si nombreux de jeunes qui vivaient leur foi au quotidien et qui prenaient leurs croyances au sérieux, leur réaction était très positive et, comme en janvier, la période de questions a été le moment le plus fort de toute la présentation. Ces jeunes avaient tellement de questions sur un peu tout : la création, l’Église catholique, comment nous vivons notre foi, la sexualité, le péché, le bien et le mal, Jésus, bref, sur tout.

Ces périodes de questions, comme je l’ai dit, ont beaucoup apporté aux présentations. On était bien confiant que l’Esprit Saint nous inspirerait les réponses nécessaires. On a donc animé ces périodes, pour la plupart, avec une grande confiance…jusqu’à la dernière des présentations, mercredi passé. On a fait comme on avait l’habitude de faire et, tout à coup, l'un des élèves a commencé à nous poser toutes sortes de questions, au point où on s'est rendu compte qu’il voulait seulement nous piéger. Mais on a tenu le coup, fermement, mais avec amour, en restant forts dans nos convictions. On priait en silence, avec la confiance que l’Eprit saint nous inspirerait les paroles nécessaires. Une fois la présentation terminée, cet élève, qui avait voulu nous secouer un peu, est venu me voir et, sans rien dire, m’a lancé un regard qui semblait dire « bon travail » et m’a donné la main. Ce bref moment m’a beaucoup touché. Ça m’a frappé, parce que franchement, je pensais qu’on avait échoué dans ce qu’on essayait de faire, mais je me suis rendu compte que lorsque je me suis donné au Saint-Esprit et que je lui ai permis de m'inspirer, Il s’est occupé de tout. La façon dont je me sens vis-à-vis la présentation n’est pas importante. L’important, c’est d’avoir confiance que le Seigneur va prendre nos actions, nos paroles, et que c’est Lui, pas moi, qui va faire jaillir en eux la foi.

De plus, jeudi passé, on a pu fêter Evan, dans le cadre de sa fête surprise, qu’on organise pour chaque membre de l’équipe. C’est un peu notre façon de fêter chaque membre de l’équipe, puisque la date de fête de tout le monde ne tombe pas toujours durant les neuf mois de notre mission. On a commencé avec un peu de football, "touch" bien sûr…haha…, et ensuite on est allé au restaurant avec lui. C’était vraiment "le fun" de pouvoir le fêter comme ça!

Maintenant, au court de nos voyages, nous venons de traverser la ville de Cornwall, et nous espérons arriver à Barrie dans les quelques prochaines heures. On a bien hâte de continuer notre trajet. Mais il faut dire que notre séjour à Terrebonne, avec les Frères de Saint-Jean, a été particulièrement spécial. En plus, avec le Triduum Pascal merveilleux qu’on a pu vivre, ce temps qu’on a passé avec eux a été mémorable. Je sais, quant à moi, que cette ville, et particulièrement cette communauté, occupent une place très spéciale dans mon cœur.

Mais j’en profite à présent pour vous souhaiter, à tous et à toutes, de très Joyeuses Pâques, pendant ces cinquante jours du temps pascal qui est entamé. Je souhaite que vous et toute votre famille puissiez vraiment vous identifier au Christ ressuscité.

À la semaine prochaine,

Kevin Prada

P.S. En haut, c’est une photo de groupe, eh oui, vous l’avez deviné, dans la salle de bain…ne me demandez pas pourquoi, mais c'était le désir d’Evan…haha…; ensuite, c’est une photo de certains d’entre nous avec le Père Marie Élie, de la communauté de Saint-Jean, lors de notre dernière soirée avec eux; et finalement, c’est une photo du groupe sur un pont de l’île des Moulins, de Terrebonne.

Team 2 is filled with joy from the risen Lord!

Easter Greetings! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and are as joy-filled as we are! Christ is risen, Alleluia!

We are now back in Ottawa and from the amount of time we've spent here during training, it's almost like coming home. Of course, for Adele, she is actually home. As much as I loved the east coast, I am happy to be back in Ottawa and see some familiar faces. All the girls on the team had the privelege of staying with our lovely supervisor, Meaghan.

We arrived in Ottawa on Thursday and were greeted by absolutely beautiful weather. We went to the Pereiras' house and joined them for the Seder meal. For those of you who don't know, the Seder meal is a traditional Holy Thursday meal that is similar to the Jewish passover. It was very interesting, especially eating the traditional foods. Thanks Pereira family for inviting us!

The Holy Week Masses have always been my favourite, but this year they were even more special for me. I think it's because I have grown so much in my faith that I was able to enter more fully into the meaning of the Masses. On Good Friday, our team did the Stations of the Cross along with songs centered around Christ's death. This really got us into the spirit of the day and prepared us for the service later on. Again, this day had a lot more meaning to me. I focused a lot on Jesus' suffering and found myself really wanting to share in it. But I realized that even our greatest sufferings are nothing compared to what Jesus did for us.

On Saturday, we attended the vigil at St. Monica's parish; it was a beautiful Mass. Despite its length, I was able to stay focused the whole time and afterward I was filled with a deep sense of joy.

On Sunday we joined the Pereira family for an easter egg hunt and ice cream sundaes! We then tried our hand at cooking Easter dinner, which turned out delicious! After dinner, we had team prayer; we were all filled with joy and praised our hearts out to God. We also enjoyed some time at the park, on the right is a picture of Adele playing on the swings!

So we had a really wonderful Easter and are now gearing ourselves for our retreats this week. We've had a good bit of time off, so it's time to get back in the groove!

God Bless!

Happy Easter!

Claire

Team 2

Praise Be To God! Alleluia, Alleluia!!!

Hallelujah! Jesus is RISEN!!!....Hallelujah, Alleluia, Hallelujah!! What an absolutely beautiful word! It was worth the wait!

It is I, Dominique, hailing from team 1, reporting from Vancouver, BC. It has been a while since you have heard from us! I was sick of late and was unable to report to you, but we are back and all very well. Rejoicing in the joy of this season!!

We have travelled within this diocese for some time now, reaching every corner of the city...literally! Everyday we are in a new place. Surrey, North Van, West Van, Mission, Burnaby, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, etc! The city is vast, the people are pretty cool, the rain is wet, life is good! Praise the Lord!

Retreats are going great! This diocese, like others, has a great youth ministry! I have a deepened hope for the church while being here! These youth are on fire! We have been putting on Confirmation retreats for the better part of the time. And overall the youth know or have a very good idea of what they are getting into. The diocese puts on Spirit Days for the youth in grade 7 every year and has Matt Maher there every time. We come to a retreat ready to teach them a song, but they are already excited to sing; for they have learned the song right from the man who wrote it! We have just come from Maple Ridge, BC and were excited to see the youth so involved in the parish and youth group. We spent a lot of time in their awesome youth lounge! To see that the youth have a place to go, and that so many have the desire to learn more about their faith is amazing! There is so much in this diocese for the youth and young adults. We were able to join in on one of the events, we had the opportunity to attend Freedom. The topic was confession and there was a great turnout. It started out with a time of talks, small group, then ended off with confession. There must have been 20+ priests there!! I was in awe of the great reverence and faith that surrounded me in the packed church! I love the Catholic faith! It astounds me more and more each day! There is so much joy and hope in the church! Praise the Lord again!

We as a team have been truly blessed and continually are everyday! It is very humbling! We are all filled with great joy! Easter has been, especially to remember...or at least for me it was a first. We were in Maple Ridge at St Luke church, and were able to celebrate Easter Mass in a Benedictine Abbey/Monastery/Seminary!!! We travelled to Mission to Westminster Abbey! It is a beautiful church and was an amazing mass! The place was packed and all the priests, monks, seminarians we there in a large section. The church was filled with the sound of the great organ and the choir of all the monks! What an experience! We toured the grounds and were able to hike the trails on a rosary walk, then we headed back to the youth lounge to celebrate our Lord Risen from the dead and also Terin's unbirthday.

We all helped cook our Easter feast then were assigned saints to act out for the rest of the evening for the "Martyr Mystery" (Catholic twist to Murder Mystery! Thanks to April!) On the guest list: St Peter (Richard), St Philomena (Rachel), St John the Baptist (Donny), St Therese of Lisieux (Cynthia), St Joan of Arc (Brandi), St Gianna Beretta Molla (Terin), St. Maximilian Kolbe (John), St Stephan (Mike), St Cecilia (April), St Lucy (Dominique) and our beautiful host mother, Mary (Alexes) The night was so great, everyone dove into their characters and we all had a blast! I being St Lucy, was blind for the whole time and am not able to explain the decor, but I can say the food was delicious! My super hearing and innate sense of direction were put to use and I was able to; along with St Gianna, name the murderer of St Stephan and Peter! We all had an awesome time! Happy Unbirthday Terin!

Well that is all for now! I could go on there is still so much more that has happened to us, but there is more to come! I hope you are all filled with the great joy of the Resurrection and may God Bless you all! Praise the Lord!

In Christ,

Dominique Lanthier

PS. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!....in case I haven't said it...ALLELUIA!!