Peterbrough + Net Team = Win!

Hello Everyone, and welcome to another issue of " Adventures of NET Team 1".

We recently spent a week of ministry in the diocese of Peterborough, and what an exciting stay it was! Peterborough was our first diocese back on the road after our Christmas break, so we pulled up our socks and got right back into gear. We had a retreat each day, Monday to Friday, and Saturday as a Ministry/team day. Our first retreat was a little weird, we had four retreats on Monday, each an hour long; it was a little hard for our first retreat back - but we pulled through and after all it was a successful day.

Tuesday to Thursday were fairly smooth, I lead my first retreat on Wednesday, it was lots of fun (and a bit stressful!). On our last retreat of the week we had 180 students from 4 different schools! To say the least, we were a little bit intimidated, but through the Divine power of God, it turned out to be the best retreat of the week. Everyone was pulling their load, the students were super respectful and attentive! We couldn't have left the diocese on a higher note.

Saturday we started our day by joining a dozen local pro-lifers to silently protest outside the Peterborough hospital, then we enjoyed lunch with the Bishop. He told us many funny and interrelating stories. He showed us a cross that he wears around his neck; its original owner was Pope John Paul II. So we got to touch something that JP II touched, I though it was pretty cool! After that we ended our night with some swing dancing! One of our host families taught us how to swing for free, and free is always good when you're on NET. We have now arrived in Niagara Falls to begin a week of ministry in the St. Catherine's Diocese. We will then head to Winnipeg - stay tuned for next week's issue to read about our adventures out West!

As always, God Speed

Sean Milan, NET Team 1

Team 5 Back in Action!

Hello, this is Shayla from team 5. It feels so good to be back in Perth and Smiths Falls. We've all had an amazing Christmas with family and friends. Tom spent some time in Vegas, Danica was in B.C., Alyssa went to Rise Up, I spent some time in Toronto, and Rebecca and James just chillaxed at home. We didn't waste one minute of our break.

Life here in Smiths Falls and Perth is getting back in running order. We have our new year kick-off Lifenight this Sunday. It's going to be a game show type of night with a fear factor twist. I can't wait!

So far this week, on Tuesday, our whole team signed up to do an hour in the Adoration chapel every week. It will be on Tuesdays at 3-4 pm. After doing our first hour together, I really felt that this hour with Jesus every week will really help the ministry and our team as a whole. Adoration is just so beautiful.

This past Wednesday we had Merge (our lunch program in the high school). We based it around leadership and being leaders of faith in school. We started with a game called 'Seven Hands'. Basically, this game challenges the teens to work together and to take leadership roles. After this game, Alyssa gave a talk/testimony about being leaders and living out your faith in school.

This Thursday we had our first Edge night. Three words to describe it are Awesome, Energetic, and Loud. I'll just say that it was a huge turnout, with 112 young teens that came out to the Edge night! It was crazy. Our team felt like a retreat team because there were so many young people.

Praying for all the other teams!

God Bless,

Shayla

50 Words you can make with "Wetaskiwin"

Les équipes NET fait son apparition sur le blog!

Why hello once more! This, once again, is your jolly French blogger from Team 3, back, refreshed, and ready to roll, after a nice break over the Christmas season, ready to embark once more in life on the road. Up until now, I was asked to blog in English, but from now, in order to fully embrace our mission in French Canada, I will blogging in the language of love. So here it goes…

Bien bonjour, me voici finalement, avec le plaisir de m’adresser à vous en français, et selon moi, c’est la meilleure des deux langues officielles (haha! ne dites pas aux anglophones que j’ai dit cela…haha). Nous voici à peine trois jours dans la deuxième moitié de la mission en français, en banlieue de Montréal, à Terrebonne. On entame une série de présentations au Collège Saint-Sacrement, dans le cadre du cours d’éthique et de culture religieuse. Cela pose un défi important : les élèves ne sont pas nécessairement catholiques, ni chrétiens, même qu’il pourrait y en avoir qui seraient contre l’Église catholique. Et on est censé les évangéliser... Une grande leçon qu’on apprend en équipe, c’est que le Seigneur est avec nous, et qu’Il peut tout faire. Nous voilà arrivés, lundi, devant ce grand collège privé, prêts à mener notre première présentation, naturellement légèrement incertains de notre coup. Mais bon, le Seigneur, comme toujours, était si présent, et les jeunes réagissaient très bien. Et ce qu’il y a de curieux, c’est que la partie la plus populaire, c’est une période de questions à la fin de l’heure de la présentation, dans laquelle les jeunes sont libres de nous poser n’importe quelle question. J’ai été vraiment étonné par la réaction très positive de ces jeunes. Et ce que ça montre c’est que les jeunes sont vraiment en quête de la vérité, et ils ont plusieurs questions par rapport à cette vérité.

À part ça, on a terminé notre semaine de formation de janvier, dans le but de reprendre la routine sur la route, et c’était vraiment un succès ! C’était vraiment bien de se retrouver avec les gens des autres équipes, de refaire les liens, et de reprendre la mission.

Comme je l’ai déjà dit, le Seigneur est vraiment présent avec nous à chaque instant de notre mission. Je vous remercie pour tout votre support envers cette mission, financièrement, et encore plus, par votre prière pour nous. Et une fois encore, je vous lance l’invitation : si vous cherchez quelqu’un pour qui prier, on apprécierait beaucoup !

À la prochaine !

Kevin Prada

Second Half, Jesus leads!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Sean Milan reporting in for Team 1.

I can't even remember the last time I blogged. Well I have to admit, I did miss quite a few weeks, but what are new years' for? Making new resolutions! Okay, so we are on the same page now, going back a couple of weeks. December retreat began; now for all the NET alumni reading this, I'm sure you can agree with me when I say DECEMBER RETREAT ROCKS! Whooa, ha ha, yes it was lots of fun - mostly seeing the other teams and knowing that we were going to be home soon. My Christmas break was very relaxing, it was so much fun sleeping in till 3:00pm and wasting half of my day; but only for the first few days. Family and friends soon control your whole schedule! Ha ha, but it was a very relaxing time, to celebrate the birth of our Lord and the birth of a new year. It's crazy to think that half of the "NET year" has already passed, it seems like we were at training yesterday.

We just finished January training - once again it was awesome to reunite with the teams. Well, most of them. I will now take this opportunity to give a big loving shout-out to the two Irish teams and Team 4 in Wetaskiwin,AB. We love you all and we are praying for you! I'm very excited for this next half of the year, as our team goes to venture out West all the way to the Pacific, spreading the good news along the way!!!

Stay tuned next week when we will be in St.Catherine's, ON!

God Speed

Sean Milan NET Team 1