In the hat!

Hello all!

Goodbye Kamloops, Hello Med Hat.

Just sending you a wee note from Medicine Hat, Alberta! We began our time here with three retreats in the local high school teaming up with the Medicine Hat parish team to put on retreats for 100+ students each time. All the retreats went well, many students were asking deep questions about faith and God.

We just finished a Massive worship encounter day, which is a day geared towards musicians in the parish, to give them the tools they need to play music in a contemporary way. It is always encouraging to see how God has blessed so many people with such beautiful abilities and it always surprises me how many people aren’t aware that their gift is to be used for Him and for his glory. Every time we do a music encounter day I become more aware of the need for a music ministry which helps people to encounter Christ more deeply and which encourages them to use their gifts without placing limitations on their abilities. Music is such a beautiful way to pray and to see people come to understand that Parish mission after parish mission, encounter day after encounter day is inspiring.

This is why we do what we do. To see musicians grow in faith and use their gifts to serve Him.

Erin

Kapuskasing

Hey Everyone!! How are you enjoying spring? Our team is doing well, having recently spent three excellent weeks in Kapuskasing, northern Ontario. During most of our stay, the whole team was given a vacant rectory to stay in. It gave us the chance to spend lots of time together in the evening, reinforcing our personal relationships and general team unity :) We were warmly welcomed by everyone in the whole area surrounding Kap that we visited. Also, ministry was great! The youth were very receptive and participated well. We really enjoyed putting retreats on and getting to know them over the course of our stay there. It was definitely a high point for us this year! Our last weekend in Kap, we put on a rally for the young people of the whole surrounding area, and all the students from the schools we visited were invited. We had around 20 youth come up and spend the 3 days with us playing "crazy Olympics", hearing talks, having small group discussions, eating together, praying together, watching skits and also performing them in a talent show...it was an intense experience for the youth and for us.

During all the retreats, the Holy Spirit worked in incredible ways. One of the students, upon arriving at a retreat, didn't want to be there at all. After talking to him for a bit he decided he'd participate a little. During the prayer time near the end, he was so intrigued by the experience that he decided to return for the weekend rally. He didn't really know what we'd be doing, but he said he came to find out more about God. The Saturday night we had a time of Eucharistic Adoration, which he'd never done before. Near the end, he came to a member of the team and told him about the amazing experience he's had while praying. In the middle of Adoration, he realized that God was really there and that He was the answer to all his questions. He said that he felt a deep peace, like God had taken care of all of his problems. What a beautiful moment! This young man touched the heart of our whole team with his testimony. God has made us realize that he can transform any life, even those we least expect. This is only one example of things that happen in the lives of young people all over the country. I invite you all to pray for those who have had a recent realization of God, that they may have joy and perseverance, and that they may not become discouraged. Please pray for us as well, in our last month together as a team with NET, that we may make it the best yet and give with all our hearts. May God bless you all!! Julie Godin Les Equipes NET

God is good… All the time!

Hello from iNFUSE #1,

Oh, by the way... it was 19 degrees yesterday! :D 

Oh my goodness!  There are so many things that have happened just this past week!  Let me start off by sharing with you about our Leadership Retreat.  Over the past few months, we have been training many volunteers to replace ourselves by the end of the year.  We are proud to say that God’s will WAS for this ministry to be successful because our volunteers have taken over!  We held a retreat for all of them because they totally deserve it, and it was an incredible weekend – God touched every heart at that retreat in some way.  It was an amazing opportunity to lead this retreat because it wasn’t like a normal youth retreat; it was with our adult volunteers who have already chosen Christ, who have already desired the fire.  I have every confidence in each one of them that they will do incredible things and flourish within this ministry.  Wow! God is good… all the time!

This is Phylicia, she wanted to see if she could
put all 7 of our Parka's on... Success!

Something else that’s brought us so much hope is our high school volunteer – aka The Squad!  Tonight we’re having our iGNITE Retreat for the Junior High youth, and the Squad is leading every bit of it! :D  You guys read from Rianne last week that the volunteers lead a whole iGNITE youth night – well this is A WHOLE OVERNIGHT RETREAT!  They have come so far in such a short amount of time, it’s been absolutely insane to watch.  All of our volunteers have so much zeal and passion… I don’t even have words!

OHHH, and I can’t finish this blog without telling you guys my newest passion… The St. Pats Youth Band! :D  Oh ya!  I have taken on a role as parent of the new youth band that pretty much fell into my hands!  This part of the ministry was something that was hoped for in the beginning, but because the parish already has three choirs, there was no need for a youth band – but after having the NET band play all year, the choirs have enjoyed having the NET Team do rotations.  It’s a beautiful hope that I carry now, and I look forward to letting you know the outcome!  Keep us in your prayers!

”You have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.  If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.” – James 4

May God bless your hearts,

~ Natalie (iNFUSE 1's Blogger)

Go Make Difference!

Hello hello!

Encounter Team #1 here!

This past weekend we were involved with a rally in Kelowna, BC. We weren't actually in charge of the retreat, we were just there to help out with games, skits, dramas, small groups, music and adoration. It was nice to be able to sit back a little bit, and get to experience the retreat more as a retreatant than a leader. It was awesome to get to hang out with the local CORE team, as well as the youth who came from all over the Nelson Diocese (some drove 9 hours to be at this retreat!!). The theme of the rally was "Go Make a Difference",  a representative from Development and Peace came to speak, along with 4 other local people who have created organizations to help others in the area, and throughout the world. Basically they were encouraging youth to get involved in social justice. The whole weekend was super inspiring, definitely a success I would say! Also, during adoration everyone was invited to light a candle and bring it up to the front as an offering for their prayers, it was beautiful to see all the youth participate.

Yesterday we drove from Kelowna , BC to Taber, Alberta. We left at 5:00am, hoping to arrive at dinner time, but due to a closed highway and detour involving a ferry, it ended up being a 17 hour travel day. Pretty exhausting, but we were very excited to finally arrive in Taber at Tyler's house.

To my surprise, tonight the guys on our team honored the girls! They told us to get all spiffed up, while they made up dinner - fajitas! So tasty! I was impressed. After dinner they had some 'After Meal Entertainment', which including them acting out each of us and our journey on NET together. It was thoroughly entertaining! They are just great.

Anyways, may God bless and keep you always!


-Silken Neutelings

Encounter Team #1

NET in Wonderland

Howdy y'all!!!

This week's blog entry is a tag teamed mess of awesomeness, and I (meaning Kyle) will be your host for this first bit (with the help of Tanya...). Tanya is super duper excited that her latest host home is a ranch! Our host home ministry is spectacular, and we are really pumped that our host home banquet is coming up next week!!! The host home banquet is our opportunity to thank all of our host families, volunteers, and parishioners, and it will be a spectacular evening filled with fun skits, good people, and great food!

We have had a incredible past couple of weeks. One of the junior highs, St. Mary's, put on a play at the Esplanade, which is the main theater of Medicine Hat. The play was Alice in Wonderland, Jr, and it was awesome!!! All of the students performed admirably and the costumes were so creative. The best part was after the play, we went into the foyer of the theater to chat with the cast. Students came up to us, and were so excited that we came. It was difficult to tell the students apart because of the fancy costumes and loads of makeup but we were able to congratulate them by name...eventually... ;)

Hey, Isaac here! Our last week has been packed with ministry. We did retreats at McCoy High with the help of Massive Worship. A three hour retreat for each grade, and they went great! I can't say for anyone else, but personally, my small groups were amazing. Our first retreat was for the twelfth grade, and for me, it was definitely the one to be feared (I'm only six months older than some of the people there) but it went so well. Our first small groups were only fifteen minutes long, and we had enough time to basically learn each others names and one interesting fact about each other. Our second and last small group was forty-five minutes long, and it started with me asking who was catholic, and that turned into discussion on the Catholic Church. It then continued into a very in-depth, mature, theological discussion on some of the Catholic Church's beliefs on things like pornography, and pre-marital sex. In the end it boiled down to them having a full-out discussion and me mostly just sitting there with my mind blown, watching random students quote random bible verses to support their beliefs, and prove their points. WOW! Some of them in the beginning had even protested to not being Catholic, but still stood whole-heartedly behind some of the catholic beliefs....

Also, in closing, I wanted to tell you about our last Unchained night. We had a social, and part of it (the best part) involved us filling a (new) rain gutter with ice cream, surrounding it with fun ingredients like sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. Everyone got a spoon, and as much of the rain gutter they could claim. Awesome.

Thank you for your prayers and support.
God Bless
Isaac