Salt in LaSalle

Welcome to Encounter Two’s first blog entry of the new year! 2012 has found our team busy getting back into ministry mode. We returned to road ministry after a week of training in Ottawa, and have spent our time in the southern plains of Ontario.

As someone who is from out west, one of the things I notice the most about Ontario winters is the use of salt on the roads (in Alberta we use sand instead of salt). Being surrounded by salt has led me to reflect on Jesus’s call to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. One day during a retreat, I was praying about this and I realized that we as a NET team spend our time being the salt of the earth. Salt brings out flavor in the ingredients it surrounds, bringing out the best in another, and only a little bit of salt is needed. Travelling Canada this year, and especially in this first week of ministry, I’ve realized that this is what we do, drawing out the best in others, even if we can only spend a little bit of time with them, with hopes that our time spent will have eternal benefits for them.

Our first few days of ministry were in LaSalle, Ontario, just minutes away from the American border and the booming metropolis of Detroit. It was there that I was able to see the effect that a NET team can have on others.

The first story comes from a host sister that Sarah, Julia, and I stayed with. She was so excited to host us, and shared her enthusiasm with everyone she met. She bonded really well with the three of us girls, and spent many hours chatting with us and asking us questions about NET and faith and God, and sharing her stories as well. On our last night there, after saying night prayer with the family, the dad thanked us for coming, and said that he could already see the change in his daughter that our being there had brought about. The next morning we arose to each find a letter from her, filled with many encouraging words and words of gratitude. It’s amazing to think of how much of an effect we could have on her in such a small time!

The youth minister in LaSalle also asked us to put together an evening program for the high school leaders who ran the EDGE nights, asking us to focus on leadership. He spoke to us in the afternoon about what he would like covered in the evening. Initially we were expecting little more than a large group discussion on leadership, but after talking to the youth minister, we decided to create an evening using elements from retreat ministry, but different from our regular retreats. We had only two hours to plan and prepare for the entire event, but the evening turned out to be a huge success. Many of the youth and young adults stayed and chatted with the team for over half an hour after the session was over, and we even took down seven names of people interested in doing NET!

The next morning we had a retreat for the grade sevens in LaSalle. I was nervous at first because I found myself having a hard time connecting with the youth at the beginning of the day. By the end of the day though, I had established many strong relations with the girls in my small
group. During prayer ministry, after praying with the girls, a few of them looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you". After prayer ministry, I encouraged the girls to read their Bible and pray their rosary, and our team gave away several Bibles and rosaries.

In conclusion, I would like to share with you an excerpt from a letter that one of the youth volunteers who was present at both events wrote to us. The letter was for me a testimony of the power of Christ that works through the NET teams. He begins by apologizing for not saying bye to us in person, and then continues:

…Know that you hold a special place in my heart, and I hope this could be a reminder that you hold a special place in the heart of Christ, and all His Church. The work you do and the way you use your gifts to glorify Him reminds me of the amazing-ness of His Love – it shines
through you to everyone you meet and it’s beautiful…

From the southern lands of Ontario,
Katie Foster
Encounter Team Two

(Top photo - Melissa giving the Confirmation talk; Bottom photo - Sarah hanging out with a host family)

Montreal maddness

Happy New Year!

Creative Lighting!



Our first week back on the road was filled with much preparation and music practice. On Friday we left Ottawa and headed toward Montreal. It was snowing like crazy and the freezing rain was coming down too. We arrived in Montreal safely and played a youth rally that evening at a parish in Montreal. After arriving we noticed that there were no lights on the stage. So we lit the stage with lamps! The weather was really bad and as a result the turnout was quite small with only twenty people attending. We praised the Lord anyway. J

The following day we headed to the other end of Montreal to do a youth rally in another church. Seventy people came that evening and it was evident that they were excited to have us. For many of them, it was their first time hearing Praise and Worship music. The evening was a huge success, most people were very involved, they were singing and clapping up a storm.

That evening after we had packed all the sound equipment into the trailer and had locked the church door, the van wouldn’t start. We walked over to the mall to try to get a boost. It was a 11:30 at night and it was -33 outside. As a result there weren’t very many people about. Then we ended up calling the friend of the man who organized the evening to see if he would give us a boost. He (we’ll call him Adam) got out of bed and drove over to give us a hand. We tried boosting the van three times, but it just wouldn’t start. Adam invited our entire team to come stay the night at his house. We were all amazed at how this young father of four would offer us so much in our time of need. This family ended up being such a source of joy for our team!

The following day Adam took off work to help us with our van and drive us where we needed to go. In the 30 hrs that followed God would provide for our every need once again. The tow truck driver boosted our vehicle and graciously helped us reattach the trailer once it had frozen halfway off the hitch. Adam happened to have put a tool box in his trunk two days before we arrived (he never kept it in his trunk). The toolbox contained the exact size and kind of screwdriver that the tow truck driver needed to fix our frozen trailer hitch. Even with all of the obstacles were able to make it to the St. Joseph's Oratory for part of the afternoon!

That night, we had many more obstacles come our way and each time God kept providing for our team out of his abundant goodness. God truly provides for us when we choose to rely on Him completely! J

Trusting in the Lord’s care,

Erin

Massive Worship



Mom, I'm going to Prison...

Heeeeey Everyone,

So, this week in the Peterborough diocese has been very eventful! We had retreats everyday this week, except one of our retreats got cancelled due to a snow day, so the priest at the parish we were at decided to take our team out for lunch instead! We went to Wild Wing, and had lots of laughs.

Now, on a more serious note, our team was given the opportunity to do some prison ministry this past weekend. It was an optional event, but our entire team was very enthusiastic about going. Driving up to the correctional facility was pretty intimidating, all the buildings was surrournded by fences topped with barbed wire, and servalence cameras surrounded the compound. We went through security, then headed to the chapel. We lead a praise and worship session, Tyler shared a personal faith story and we did a drama for them. Later on Christie walked us through the passion of Christ in detail, it was an intense talk, but everyone felt moved by it. There were tears in the eyes of many.

Throughout the day we had many opportunities just to talk to the men there, although I knew they had committed shameful crimes, none of that seemed to matter. Some of the men couldn't thank us enough for coming, but we were the ones who felt blessed to be there. The men were so open with us, and they felt so loved that we cared enough to listen. I can honestly say that going to the prison was one of my favorite encounter days on NET so far. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was there.

Here is what Mary had to say about her experience: "I left the prison feeling as though I'd encountered Christ in the most unlikely place and didn't know how to resolve the conflicting feelings in my heart. These men are just regular people. Sure some of them have very visible psychological issues but many of them don't. Many of them are fun to hang out with and when you look at them you see your brother or someone you might run into at a church event back home. The human spirit is an amazing thing that truly does image God. One cannot help but marvel at the fact that these men could undergo such tragedy and commit such crimes and yet when you look at them you can still see that image of God. My stomach still gets in knots when I think about yesterday and I think it will take time for me to unpack everything but I do know that God was there yesterday. No talent of ours or effort accomplished anything in an of itself but He did. I'm not naive enough to suppose that our one little retreat will do anything in the big scheme of things but if God wills it He can. "

On a lighter note, for our team day we went to the zoo! The guys found epic looking rocks, so it was the perfect opportunity for a photo shoot! Yeah, they are pretty cool.

Anyways, that's all for now!

God bless!

-Silken Neutelings

Encouter Team #1

Back on the Road!

Hello world!

Well, we are all back to our duties as NET Missionaries. Christmas break was a much needed break. Now we are all refreshed and ready for ministry!

On Sunday, we left Ottawa and headed to Peterborough, where we will stay for about a week and a half. We are doing retreats for various grades in around the diocese. Yesterday we were in a town called Lindsay, where we had a very different schedule. We had two retreats that were each 2 and a half hours long. So our schedule was quite congested, but the students seemed to benefit none the less.

Today we were in Lindsay again, but this time we did a retreat for 4 grade 7 classes from various schools. It pretty cool, although I bunch of the youth weren't Catholic, they had lots of questions about God and the church. I asked one of the girls there how she liked the retreat and she commented on how our team was a "really unique group of people." I took that as a compliment.

The people of the Peterborough diocese have been so welcoming! A few people (priests, seminarians and various others) have randomly stopped in to say hello! We felt quite loved by that gesture.

Ha, here is a picture of Matthew having some fun - maybe he is dressed as a Saint...?

That's all for now.

God bless you!

-Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team 1's Official Blogger

BACK IN THE HAT!!

Hey Everybody
iNFUSE 2 is back in the Hat and ready to get things done!
Firstly, I just want to update everybody on how my holiday went, because, I am blogger, and it is my right to bore you with whatever stories I want to tell you…

Sooo… I am one of nine siblings, and everyone was home… please allow me to reiterate this, EVERYONE was home for Christmas. All nine of us! My oldest brother, his wife, and their three sons came home from Thunder Bay. My sister, her husband and their son came home from Kingston. My sister who lives in Ottawa came home. I came home from Alberta…..
It was AWESOME!!! …Okay. There was really no story in particular. I just wanted everyone to share in my joy of being able to spend Christmas with my whole family… and share my sorrow in the fact that they left for Disneyland as soon as I got on the plane to come back to Alberta... Now I’ll actually talk about important stuff…

So, we’re going to be having Equip this week...Friday…the thirteenth…2012…not that it’s significant or anything…, and it’s basically just a fun time. The focus of the night is going to be crazy Olympics. Which is a lot of random games/activities which will be super fun. I know. I’m running them.

This Sunday for Unchained we’re going to be having a movie night. WOOT! Popcorn, pop, chips, probably a movie… I’m not really sure what movie, but iNFUSE 2 is a team of theatrical connoisseurs, and I guarantee that it will be enjoyable. And appropriate.

This is awesome because there are so many movies out there nowadays that aren’t. Just in case you were confused. But it will be awesome, so if you are in Grade ten to twelve, in Medicine Hat area, and want to watch a movie, and get free snacks, come check it out.

Also, This past Monday was Gloria chevalier's 21st birthday. We decorated our 15 passenger van and it was awesome.

Happy Birthday Gloria!!

God Bless

Isaac Sullivan

P.s. Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven. -- Pope St. Pius X