Lifeteen Retreat!

Hello everyone, greetings once again from Wetaskiwin!!

It’s Josh here from Team 4 and it’s my pleasure to be writing this blog for you today!

This past week has been quite an active one, especially with our Lifeteen retreat this past weekend. Lots of planning and work went into it and God truly was able to use that and work through our team and the Core team.

So the retreat started on Friday night and that night was pretty much just a social for everyone to get comfortable. It seemed that everyone there was excited but, most of all, not really sure what the retreat would entail for them - it being their first Lifeteen retreat with us.

Saturday morning came around and my mind was mostly concerned with what would happen that night. We had planned a prayer session specifically praying for the Holy Spirit and when it came around I was still a little anxious as to how our teens would respond.
It was amazing…it blew me away how reverent and how deep into prayer and adoration of Christ they were. We had prayer stations set up and almost all of our teens went for prayers and were asking for specific things. Even when we went back into the hall to finish the night off with some down time, a few of our teens stayed back even longer to pray. Later we told them that they had been in adoration of Christ for an hour and a half and they couldn’t believe it.

They all agreed that it felt like it had passed in a simple instant.
It was very humbling to see that it wasn’t at all what we did; or what we were doing. God was the One and only One that was going to work in their hearts. It was also very moving to see, visually, where our teens were at spiritually.

Well thats all for now, I'll leave you with some photos from the retreat, Suzi and Erica doing music, and Emma, Marc, Robbie, Marissa and Suzi doing a superhero talk show

God Bless,

Josh

Team 4

Maintenant arrivé au Mur de maïs, c'est-à-dire Cornwall!

Salut à tous et à toutes!


Voici votre bloggeur fidèle de l'équipe 3, Kevin, qui est à la veille de se coucher en ce dimanche soir, venant tout juste d'arriver à Cornwall, là où nous allons passer les prochaines deux semaines.

Ce ne serait pas du tout une exagération de dire que la semaine passée a été très occupée pour nous. C'est vrai que, comme équipe itinérante, on voyage beaucoup, mais la semaine passée, on a voyagé littéralement à chaque jour. On est arrivé lundi à Barrie, ensuite mardi, on a fait le chemin vers Toronto, mercredi on s'est retrouvé à Whitby, pour ensuite faire le voyage jusqu'à Oshawa jeudi, et on est finalement retourné à Toronto pour passer la fin de semaine, dès vendredi. Seulement durant les retraites qu'on a animées au cours de cette semaine, on a rencontré presque 500 jeunes, animant des présentations particulièrement axées sur la confirmation. Et pour clore très agréablement notre séjour, on est arrivé chez Christiana, vendredi passé, pour y passer la fin de semaine. C'est toujours super de pouvoir faire un séjour dans la famille d'un des membres de l'équipe. On a pu passer du temps avec sa famille (qui, en passant, nous a préparé des repas formidables). Et comme Christiana n'était pas présente dimanche passé pour la chasse traditionnelle d'oeufs de Pâques, on nous a préparé toute une chasse dans le salon de la maison, qu'on a pu faire aujourd'hui! On a franchement été super bien gâtés.

Pendant nos retraites, on laisse toujours notre courriel d'équipe aux jeunes, les invitant à nous rejoindre si jamais ils avaient des questions, des commentaires, ou tout simplement pour nous dire allo. Parfois, il y a certains jeunes qui nous partagent ce que le Seigneur a fait dans leur coeur au long de la journée, et j'ai pensé vous faire parvenir quelques lignes d'un courriel qu'on a reçu d'un jeune du coin de Toronto qui a participé à l'une de nos retraites la semaine passée. "J'ai participé à la retraite et en premier lieu, je pensais que ce serait plate, et je ne voulais pas être là. À travers la journée, vous m'avez vraiment changé... Il y a un an, je pensais que Dieu, l'Esprit Saint et tout ça, c'était un tas de colle, mais j'ai tout de même demandé à Dieu que, s'Il existait, qu'Il me le montre... et maintenant, ce qui est arrivé aujourd'hui a changé ma vie... Quelque temps après que j'aie eu terminé de prier, j'ai souri et je ne pouvais pas m'en empêcher. Un sentiment m'a envahi et je me suis senti si content, si plein d'émotions, c'était un sentiment que je n'ai jamais senti avant, et je me suis mis à pleurer et je savais, je sentais Sa présence."

Comme je l'ai écrit dans presque tous les messages que j'ai affichés sur le blogue, le Seigneur est si présent dans notre vie de tous les jours, et voilà un exemple des résultats de la grâce du Seigneur. Je vous remercie encore pour toutes vos prières et je vous demande, si jamais vous en avez l'occasion, de persister dans vos prières pour nous... On en a besoin! Et de même, on vous garde tous, vous et vos familles, dans nos prières!

Kevin Prada

OH PRAISE HIM!!

Hello beautiful readers,

This is Adele from Team Two writing from Simcoe, Ontario.

This past week, as you know, we were in the beautiful city of Ottawa, Ontario celebrating Jesus' Resurrection, putting on a few Encounter Days and of course spending time as a team.
We had some really great Encounter Days this past week. One in particular that stood out was one we did for grades five to eight at Maryvale Academy. The students there were all so faithful and so knowledgeable in their faith that I learned so much from them. There was one student in particular in grade seven, who, when we asked about the rosary and if anyone knew anything about it, had said that Mary appeared to St. Dominic. We were all blown away by his mature answer. During the prayer time on that Encounter Day, most of the students, if not all, were kneeling and in deep prayer. It was so beautiful to witness such an amazing devotion. We also had the privilege of having Sean Milan, from Team One, join us for the day.

Thursday we had a relaxed team day. It started with men's and women's session. The men went to Smiths Falls to visit with Team Five. The women spend the morning sharing at my house followed by lunch and a movie - New York Minute. What better way to spend a women session with none other than our beautiful supervisor Meaghan?

On Saturday we traveled to Ingersoll, Ontario. We had an awesome Encounter Day on Monday, for grade eight students. It was a wonderful way to start out the week. They were all really receptive and enthusiastic, and really interested in learning more about NET and about God.

God has truly been working through us every day and showing us what an amazing opportunity we have to spread His word and at the same time learn from those around us.

PRAISE HIM!

In Jesus and Mary,

Adele

Hello Dear Readers!!

This is Terin Jenkins taking the blog for Miss Dominique this week. We have had quite the week seeing new parts of our lovely country and meeting more amazing people of God.

We took a ferry over to Vancouver Island and had the honour of meeting Donny's family. We hear stories of each others families but it is so thrilling to actually meet the people who are ultimately responsible for our being here. Donny took us for a tour of the place where his brother works and where he himself used to work. It's called Wild Play and it is the place to go if you want to get the old heart pumping a wee bit faster. They have a bungee jump as well as a canyon swing and also a high ropes obstacle course through the trees. We didn't get to go on any of courses but we did get the grand tour on the ground.

Unfortunately we only had 4 days on the Island but the time that we did have was wonderful. When we arrived we were welcomed with a BBQ thrown by the Life Teen crew from St.Joseph the Worker parish. A NET parish team was there last year so it was really exciting to hang out with the youth group. Our team went to the Life Teen Mass and attended the Life Night afterward and we were all thrilled to see that the ministry was going strong. The Encounter Day that we had at St. Joe's was really amazing. The teens really invested their enthusiasm and energy in to the day. We had the wonderful opportunity to have confession during the time that we spent in prayer and I was amazed to see over thirteen youth line up. Even after our time was finished six of them waited for over a half hour to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. God is amazing and He constantly reminds us that it is He who works in the hearts of the youth and that we are merely His tools.

On the Friday we were invited to go down to the university because there was a fundraiser going on for St.Vincent de Paul. The fundraiser was called Dye for a Cause and what happens is after paying $10 for a t-shirt you get to Tie Dye it any way you would like. Our team had such a great time making totally radical tie dye shirts with all kinds of colours. We were saying that NET should have a new uniform... hehehe. While spending the afternoon on campus we came to the conclusion that the Easter Bunny and all of his family live at the university, either that or word has spread throughout the bunny population of Vancouver Island that it is a safe haven for bunnies of all shapes, colours and sizes. No kidding there were bunnies EVERYWHERE!

Please continue to pray for our ministry. May God bless you and keep you.

Team #1

**Terin** (aka T-Dawg)

Massive Worship meets Paul Baloche

What does it take to write an amazing song, sung by thousands of congregations, broadcast on hundreds of radio stations and incorporated into countless Christian gatherings around the world? It's got to be singable, it's got to be relevant to our generation, it's got to appealing, and it's got to penetrate our deepest emotions and speak soundly for our hearts, straight to God. Well, a couple of weeks ago, myself and Program Director of NET and Massive Worship, Garth Pereira, had the opportunity to meet Christian worship leader and songwriter, Paul Baloche at the sold-out concert here in Ottawa.
You may be familiar with some of Paul's genius, and I bet you didn't even realize it, because how often do we credit worship music songwriters? Many of Paul's songs are among the most-used in churches, according to CCLI (company that handles copyright licensing of Christian songs and materials for use in churches.) Among them are "Open the Eyes of My Heart" (ranked number 2) and "Above All" (ranked number 22.) Knowing that, it's not too difficult to believe that this concert in the outskirts of Ottawa was full to the brim, and that the overwhelming majority of the audience was certainly church-goers, intent on an evening of passionate worship and prayer.
I must confess, I'm not a die-hard Paul Baloche fan, but I do appreciate his relevant songwriting and even admire the success of his work. Part of the reason that Garth and I attended the concert was to study the flow of Paul's set, the way that he leads and arranges his band, and also how he interacts with his audience. All of this is valuable to the ministry of Massive Worship, as it is our mission to train and equip musicians to be as effective as worship leaders like Paul Baloche. At the venue, Garth and I met up with local drummer, Kyle Doucette, who often works with Massive Worship for our large events. It was great to experience the concert alongside one of our musicians! By the end of the night, Garth had taken note on just about everything, from the color of lighting used, to each type electric guitar pedal, to the exact song list. I pretty much just took note of how amazingly well the band worked together, and how wonderfully Paul ushered the audience into prayer and worship. When I go to concerts, I love watching how the worship leader/band leader communicates with the rest of the band and also how they show love to their audience. It was a great night. All that was missing was a cello or violin or two, to warm up the stage, if you know what I mean!