GO CANADA GO!!!....We're Alberta bound!

Hello Everyone! Dominique from team 1 here, reporting from Estevan, SK.

So much has happened since we last checked in. It's crazy how much stuff can happen on the road in what seems like a short amount of time! We have been cruising the beautiful prairies of Saskatchewan for the past month starting in the Prince Albert Diocese. Our visit there was great, and it was an honour to end off our visit by hanging out with Bishop Albert of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers).

Our next destination was the Archdiocese of Regina, and we started out our time here with a visit from our amazing supervisors and a visit to Archbishop Bohan. For the past week we set up home base in Regina, and travelled throughout the Archdiocese. We visited so many communities; one I would like to mention especially is Wilcox. We went to Notre Dame, which is a Catholic hockey boarding school with students attending from all over the world! I personally missed this amazing experience due to swine flu and spent my time there locked in a dorm room in complete darkness, but the stories I heard were pretty awesome! We all stayed in dorm rooms, ate in the cafeteria, played in the gym, watched the many hockey games, and truly felt like part of the community for the 4 days spent there. The retreats were in the church which was on site, and were a neat experience. It's not often that you can ask a crowd of youth in Canada where they are from and have a kid raise his hand and say "I am Nikita from Russia!", or others from Australia and the USA. It was very exciting! Some of us visited the set of Corner Gas, and then we returned to Regina in time to pick up Pat and Caitlyn . The time spent with them was short and fast, but awesome! It felt like we were just picking them up from the airport when we were dropping them off for their journey back to Ottawa!

Since the beginning our team has been filled with Olympic spirit - following as much of the games as we could, but most importantly our Canadian hockey teams! If we weren't near a TV you would find some of us huddled around a radio, or in the van during travel days, catching what we could of the game. We listened to and cheered during the gold medal game on the journey here from Regina and went crazy when Crosby scored the winning goal in overtime! I myself am a hardcore Canada fan and am so stoked that Canada has done so well! I couldn't think of a better way to put out the flame then to a performance by Neil Young, but could think of many other people to introduce Canada than William Shatner. It would have been nice to see Tragically Hip, Sam Roberts, or City and Colour there, but all in all it was a good presentation! The closing ceremonies were a lot of fun and definately summed up many Canadian stereotypes! It was new to experience the Olympics with other countries on the team. Alexes cheered for USA, Richard had 1 patriotic speed skater representing his nation, and Rachel was an honorary Canadian for the games!

We will miss this province as our time here is coming to a close. In a province where the sky meets the horizon, where you can fall asleep for an entire van ride and wake up, look outside and feel like you haven't moved an inch, where you can look to the sky and see true blue, then look again and see a grain combine soaring in the sea of blue!! Only in Saskatchewan! Now we are Alberta bound! Destination: Brooks!

We miss you all back home and wherever you are! Keep us in your prayers and may God bless you and may you find hope in this beautiful season of Lent!

In Christ,

Dominique Lanthier

"Because of the Transfiguration, we are filled with hope that will not leave us disappointed. The roughest Lent will result in the most glorious Easter. The transfigured Christ is the hope and promise of the risen Christ. Praise Jesus!"

Some Snow Injuries, a Movie, and a Mission!

Hello, it's Shayla from Team 5. This weeks blog has a different spin to it. You will be reading the account of our very own, James Richmond, on his snow adventure. Enjoy!

Snowballs
James Richmond, D.H.D (Doesn’t Have a Degree)

So, Shayla asked me to write about my adventures on Wednesday with the wet and wonderful substance we call snow. Here in Smiths Falls and Perth, it appeared like snow had forsaken us but God saw fit to dump several inches of the heavenly dandruff these past couple of days.

Now, I would just like to maintain that normally I am not hit by snowballs – I’m Jet Li. No explanation necessary. In any case, Wednesday night we were invited to a Knights of Columbus supper at their hall. As with all tragic conflicts, this war was merely the culminating point of several previous skirmishes.

This all started around 17:39 hours as we were exiting our office building (minus Alyssa and Danica – they went to their host home for supper and we were picking them up afterward for a movie). The supper was at 17:30 hours but we were a bit late because I was defeating the Dungeon Master of Soul Calibre II. As I was exiting, there were a few volleys of snowballs – one of which caught me on the right knee. Now, as this was an unprovoked attack from a Ms. Rebecca Bilodeau I had to follow up with a couple rounds of my own. Tom and Shayla soon joined in but since we had to leave due to our lateness, we made a temporary truce.

Arriving at the Knights of Columbus Hall, I quickly tucked and rolled out of the van and attempted a few ill-aimed shots but they splashed futilely against the window pane of the back door. Slightly miffed at the cowardice of my three opponents I vowed to not miss again. The supper was delicious and due to my ‘fullness’, I was lulled into a sense of security. It wasn’t until I saw Tom, Rebecca, and Shayla descending the stairs three at a time towards the door that I realized I was in trouble. I attempted to catch up by taking an entire flight of stairs in one great bound but I misjudged and almost went through the wall head first. I veered to the left once out the door attempting to draft behind Shayla and gain some time. Unfortunately as I rounded the corner I saw Tom wind up and let fly a 105mm round of wetness at me. Little did I know that simultaneously at my 6:00 position Rebecca had done the same. It was Pvt. James’ last stand. Being Jet Li I let my feet slide out from under me (the uneducated attribute it to mere ice) so the two snowballs passed over my head.

A vicious battle soon ensued and I found myself attempting to shove Rebecca in the snow on the opposite side of the battlefield. Hit by a snowball in the back by Shayla I attempted to maintain my balance but Rebecca managed to manoeuvre herself around and push me towards the snow bank. The treachery and betrayal of the moment weighed heavy on my heart and I never saw the incoming round that contacted my left temple and blasted me into oblivion.

My captors held me prisoner in the van as we drove to pick up Danica and Alyssa at their host home. Upon arrival I thought my ordeal was over but Rebecca quickly exited the driver seat, grabbed a chunk of snow, and whipped it at my face striking me in the left eye while I was still seated and belted in. She then retreated to the temporary safety of the home. Of course this indignity revived my manly instincts and I rallied Shayla and Tom to my cause. We set our ambush well and I locked the car so that no coward would be able to retreat the field. It was the Revenge of the Soaking Wet.

We waited for a good 10 minutes and nothing was happening. Tom and I were standing behind the van and I leaned closer to the back window and attempted see through the window. That was a stupid idea as I was beamed in the face by the windshield wiper. A couple of minutes later, Rebecca and Alyssa sped out of the home firing snowballs as they ran, and Danica followed them playing the neutral civilian. Despite their vicious attack, our ambush succeeded and the two girls were caught in a cross-fire of epic proportions. Seeing my chance I once again attempted to toss Ms. Bilodeau into the freezing embrace of the nearest snow bank. Realizing her imminent doom, Rebecca bashed my left eye brow with her forehead attempting to dislodge my hold. Moment gone we all piled into our van and went to the movies. Now, this would be the end of this tale but you forget one thing – I’m Jet Li and I don’t accept failure. After the movie Rebecca was fleeing towards the safety of the vehicle but my aim proved to be true and I struck her on the left cheek with the remnants of the snowball dripping down her coat to soak her innards. Victory!

I hope you all enjoyed reading this.
Keeping you all in our prayers,

Shayla Doucette, James Rishmond, Rebecca Bilodeau, Alyssa Gabrielson, Thomas Russell, and Danica O'Neill

God Bless!!!

busy as a bee with a bum full of honey!

Hello faithful blog reader! This is Hannah, your vivacious blog- napper from Team 4 in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.

The past week has gone by in a whirl as is only possible when you are in full swing with Edge, Lifeteen, school presentations, band jams and supe visits (when our delightful supervisors come to see us in action)! Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up with everything that is going on and we forget to see the little blessings God gives us each day. When I take the time to be silent and think about how God is present in each day, I see these little reminders of how much He loves us and takes joy in our love for Him.

Our Lifenight this weekend was “How far is too far?” and dealt with the exciting issue of chastity! One of our Core members and his wife gave an excellent talk on the importance of living out our call of purity, respecting the gift God gave us of sex and the sacredness of our bodies. The most beautiful part of our evening was when the men and women had a chance to pray over each other. The ladies honoured the men by writing letters encouraging the men to pursue purity, and the men gave each of the women a rose as a sign of their value as a beautiful daughter of God.

I was so blessed when one of our new teens approached me with a rose. He isn’t Catholic, but has become a regular member of our Lifeteen program. He handed me the rose and thanked me for the prayer and song (Hail Mary) we as women gave him, and also thanked me for making him feel welcome in the community. It is moments like these that remind me why God has called each one of us to this ministry, for building a community of faith and for allowing those who haven’t had the chance to meet Christ to encounter Him through us. Please continue to pray for our teens, especially the ones who are just experiencing Christ that we may continue to let God use us as instruments in shepherding His flock.

Tune in next week for updates on our Edge Retreat: The Seuss is Loose, which we are busily preparing for this weekend!

God bless you from here to there!

In Christ, Hannah

Tout un parcours...sur video!!

Voici finalement le blog de toutes nos activités depuis la semaine dernière! J'ai oublié de mentionner une chose: j'ai eu la chance de manger de l'orignal pour la première fois de ma vie, hier soir, après la pêche sur glace!! C'est excitant! En tous cas, à la semaine prochaine!
-Kevin

Olympics, Eggs, and Weddings!

Hello all of you wonderful people! It’s Shayla from Team Five-Alive. This week has been pretty busy for us here in Smiths Falls and Perth. We had a 5-day Supervisor visit, and two big socials to plan for Edge and Lifeteen.

Caitlyn and Ian arrived at our office on Thursday night, just before we had to leave for Edge. The social we did for Edge was the Olympics. I was almost afraid that it would be hard to get the young teens under control talking wise, but they were so into it, and really wanted to get through the games. What really helped out was that we had Tom, me, and some crew as police, and basically we kept an eye on everyone. That helped a lot with crowd control. One thing that we did with the Olympics was that we gave each team an egg that they had to babysit the whole time. Basically, in the end, the teams with their egg still whole got extra points. One team was lucky because I broke their egg by accident, so they got the extra points anyway. The whole night was bubbling with energy. As hard as it may seem to have an Edge with 90 young teens, it always lifts up my spirit for the rest of the week. They’re such a wonderful group! (To the top right is a picture of an egg that Tom, himself, is babysitting…)

Sunday was our Valentines Day Lifenight. We had a wedding reception with the speeches, flower toss, and dance. The set-up was extremely well done. We kept it simple, but nice. The cutest part was that Danica and I made bowties for the men and veils for the women. They all wore them to symbolize that we are all brides and grooms of Christ. I had a lot of fun with the dance part of the night. At one point we played the limbo song, and everybody was doing the limbo. A few people got extremely into it…a.k.a. my brother Kyle, Tom, and James. The night was just full of so much energy and it was a great time to bond with every one. (Alyssa is to the left doing her Maid of Honour speech)

On Monday night, we had to say goodbye to Ian and Caitlyn. It was really sad. I felt like I was losing part of my family…well, I was. They’re great Supervisors. Couldn’t ask for better!

Well, that’s all that’s been happening with Team Five-Alive. We’re praying for you.

God Bless,
Shayla Doucette