"It's so FLUFFY..."

It is hard to believe it has only been two weeks since arriving here in Steinbach, Manitoba! Words cannot describe the warmth and joy of the welcome we have continued to receive from the community as a whole as well as the parish.

Although our flight to Winnipeg arrived earlier than expected, a welcoming committee was there waiting for us with cameras, a poster, and smiling faces. Even one of our future high school youth group members gave up her afternoon to meet us at the airport!

You are probably asking what sort of adventures iNFUSE Team two has had over the past two weeks. Well let me tell you, some have been quite interesting. Our third evening here saw us helping out at the local food bank where some miscommunication had led to a couple of areas in the town not being collected from. So there we were driving/walking around Steinbach, going door to door to collect non-perishable foods. It was so much fun and people were really generous. A trip to Winnipeg to watch Despicable Me has resulted in Amanda speaking in a Russian accent at times while another trip saw three of us girls getting our hair cut (and evangelizing in the process) as well as the discovery that Amy’s bank needed to know why she was spending money in Canada while she was trying to buy a winter coat. We have also been having some fun and games with our van, affectionately known as Frank, but the trip to the mechanic has solved many of those problems.

One of our best days, which started off with some issues with Frank, included Amanda teaching us how to make buns. They were incredibly delicious and thanks to Brenden’s creative side we ended up with a snowman bun.

Christ Our Saviour is an incredible parish and is so welcoming! We had the opportunity to attend their Thanksgiving parish potluck, which they used as a welcoming for us. The sense of community was beautiful. I don’t think I have ever seen that many people so coordinated over washing dishes! About a week later we had the chance to meet with parishioners interested in volunteering in the youth ministry program. We had over thirty people attend our information meeting! It is easy to see that this community is excited about youth ministry.

I can honestly say that I have learned so much from my host families on so many levels. My one family had me driving a quad and harvesting potatoes (yes, the city girl from Victoria, BC was driving a quad and harvesting potatoes – they will make a country girl out me yet!). I also learned the power of words when I was told that after having a hard day, my night prayer intention for those less fortunate than us helped one host family member sleep better than she thought she would. It is truly incredible how words can bring peace and joy to others, especially words used in prayer.

Coming up over the next few weeks we have a parish dinner, catered by Steinbach’s friendly neighbourhood NET team, dinner with Archbishop Albert LeGatt, parish-wide Adoration, and our first ever grade 7/8 youth group! We have been busy bees organizing all of this and getting to know our parish.

We are looking forward to the rest of our time here in Steinbach and are excited to see what each new day brings. Stay tuned for more updates from iNFUSE team 2!

God bless!

Elizabeth signing out :)

Greetings from Encounter Team 2. We have now been on the road for about 2 weeks and it has been amazing how much God has blessed our team already. All the host families we have stayed with have been so great to us, and everyday it just feels like we are continuing to be blessed wherever we go.

The day after we were told our teams, we had a great bonding day together. We were to build a tower out of noodles, marshmallows and tape. We made quite an impressive height and could have done better if we didn't run out of marshmallows but it was a great first day as a team.

Since the great fun of training we went to Sudbury for our first retreats. Sudbury was very welcoming to us and as a team we got to go on a couple adventures. One of our adventures was being able to go and see the big nickel. I'm thinking its probably worth more than it appears and says, but in case I'm wrong, watch out when you ask for change.

The guys on our team stayed at an empty rectory just outside of Sudbury and, one day arriving back from a retreat, we saw four black bears. There were three cubs and a mother hanging out that got spooked off by our vehicle across the street and behind a fence. Trevor was able to go take some photos of the bears, and the mother bear challenged him sending him running back to our van. They were quite the sight to see.

While in Sudbury we went off to a high school football retreat to support the son of some of the people hosting the girls on our team. At the football game a girl saw us from the first retreat that we gave in Sudbury which was to a grade 12 class. Apparently she had wanted to contact us since but didn't have any idea how to reach us. She figured that we had already left Sudbury so was very surprised to turn around at the football game and see our team behind her. She told us how since the retreat she has been praying more to God and wanting to work on her relationship with Christ. It was a great gift to our team to see how much God has already been working.

We are now out in Thunder Bay staying with Bishop Colli. This is our first night at his place but it has been great getting to meet him and talk to him. Next week we will be Alberta-bound heading to our first Alberta retreat in Cold Lake.

That is all for now but I will keep you posted of what new and exciting things happen to our team in the next blog.

~Patrick

Salutations from Team One!

Hello from Woodstock, Ontario, the dairy capital of Canada and the home of our friends Phylicia and Trevor (Hello if you're reading this!)

This is Maria reporting for Encounter Team One. Our team has been on the road for two weeks now and things are going peachy. We've done ten retreats so far, ranging from grade 5 to grade 12. Our team is bonding and we are finding common interests, as well as what makes one another tick. We had a great Thanksgiving weekend; on Saturday night we played some road hockey at the boys' host home, and it got pretty intense. Judith and I were the cheerleaders.

On Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving with our host families. Judith, Carissa and I were staying one house over from Katie and Claire, and the families were related so us girls were able to celebrated Thanksgiving and eat our turkey dinner together! On Monday, which was our no obligation day, we had a picnic at the river in Petawawa. The weather was lovely and the leaves were beautiful. We took a bunch of photos and hiked around there for the afternoon, enjoying the company and the beauty of God in nature.

Thursday's retreat was on the Military base in Petawawa, at St. Francis' Church. There were 28 grade seven students, and the energy was high. It was a great retreat; my small group was situated in the church, and I kept genuflecting when we came before the Blessed Sacrament. One of the girls in my small group asked after a few times, why I was doing that. I told her it was because we believed Jesus was present there in the Holy Sacrament. During prayer ministry I saw that girl go and get a Bible and a rosary. She studied the "how to pray the rosary" guide, then started praying. After she asked me if she could keep the rosary and Bible. Thanks to the awesome Fr. Zen, chaplain at the base, who found a Bible for her. After when we were leaving the Church, I saw the girl go up to the front of the Church in front of the tabernacle, bow and make the sign of the Cross. It's things like that which make every retreat amazing.

In Christ,

Maria Kalin

Team One.

What's Up in the North?

It’s hard to believe that we have been in the beautiful Yellowknife for two weeks already, and how amazing of a two weeks it has been.

Greetings fellow inhabitants of the World Wide Web! This is April Fogle here, your official “blogger” for iNFUSE Team 1 a.k.a Yellowknife. On behalf of the team, I hopefully will be your inside information on what is the latest happenings with our team and our ministry.

So the big question that everyone has for us is “What is Yellowknife like?” Well, I can most certainly tell you it is very beautiful. The only way I can describe it to you is that there is a lot of rock, and a lot of lakes, not so different from the beautiful northern Ontario. Also, as of the 14th of October...there is lots of snow! Not to fret all of you concerned readers, our team has been enjoying the snow quite a bit, partaking in multiple snowball fights a day. The parish has also so graciously donated us parkas that we will soon be pulling out, but although there is lots of white fluffy stuff on the ground, the temperature has not been so bad.

Speaking of the parish, let me tell you that they have been the most welcoming, hospitable community I have ever seen. They have welcomed us into their parish with open arms, ready at our every move to help us out and make sure we have everything we need. Fr. Ben, our parish pastor, has opened the basement of the rectory for us to use whenever we want, as well as we have our main office in the Diocesan Centre down the street from the church.

We were also welcomed the first Saturday night at the Parish Spaghetti dinner with cards and a gigantic banner. We were able to tell them a little bit about who we were, as well as play some music, and do a little skit for them. The night was a great opportunity for us all to meet each other, and all the fun and laughter we shared will hopefully reflect the rest of our year here.

We were also welcomed by Bishop Murray whose office is actually down the hallway from us. He gave us lots of great words of encouragement, and advice for our time here this year: “When coming to a new culture... watch, and try to learn instead of trying to fix things.” He explained to us that the people here are deeply spiritual, and that there is a lot we can learn from them. “Come with an empty cup... you are here to be filled up; to receive as well to give.”

Even though we have come to Yellowknife to serve and give of ourselves, the Bishop reminded us that the community has so much to offer as well, and that we should be open to not only want to fill them with Christ’s love, but also be filled by them. It is quite evident that our year here in Yellowknife is going to be very exciting, filled with great fellowship and community, and we look forward to taking the bishop’s advice to “pray hard and love the people.”

There is much more to talk about, but there are many more blogs to be written so I will leave you with that for now. This week the team is planning lots of school outreach at St. Patrick's Catholic High School; we already had a Popcorn Survey on Tuesday which was very successful and filled out over 150 surveys, and as well, we are all preparing for our first Grades 7 & 8 youth group (Ignite) next Friday. We are very excited for it, and can’t wait to start.

We look forward to telling you more about everything that’s happening, and until next time thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, they are greatly appreciated.

God Bless!

-April Fogle

Home Sweet Home In Wetaskiwin, Alberta!

Hello from iNFUSE Team 3 in Wetaskiwin, Alberta! After a 5-day road trip, we're finally here at Sacred Heart Parish. Why don't I start by introducing my amazing team?

This is a photo of us at our Edge Night initiation. Needless to say, the youth had fun. On the far left in the white facepaint, we have Cecile Richard. Cecile is our fearless female team leader and music leader. She hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and loves Mini Coopers.

Next, we have Emily Troutman. She is from Douglas, Ontario, and loves old things. Seriously. She was in her absolute glory driving through the prairies past all the old barns.

The smiley lass in the yellow shirt is Katie Doyle. Katie is back on NET for a second time around! Katie is an absolute delight - never a dull moment. Katie's hometown is Stratford, Ontario, also home of Justin Bieber. Which, if you didn't realize, is kind of a big deal.

The gentleman in glasses is Marcus Schonnop. Marcus is our marvelous male team leader. He is from Surrey, BC. Marcus loves forests, but isn't particularly fond of angry moose. Marcus is a patient, calm leader. We're all very confident in his leadership this year.

Next in line we have me, Emma Wynker. As the team's official blogger, I'll be documenting our amazing journey for all to follow! I am from Chilliwack, BC - home of the world's best corn on the cob. No joke.

Lastly, there's DJ Rouseau. DJ is absolutely hilarious. He has the most uplifting, joyful sense of humour. He has this incredible ability to put people at ease and make them feel welcome. DJ comes from Essex, Ontario. He likes comic books and is our team's van man!

So that's iNFUSE 3. We arrived here in Wetaskiwin at about 4 pm last Thursday... and promptly got lost. However, the community of Wetaskiwin wasted no time in demonstrating their hospitality. A sweet elderly lady and two exuberant hand-talkers directed us to our destination - Sacred Heart Parish. After a tour of the parish, the youth room, and our new office, we attended a dinner with all the people involved in Youth Ministry at Sacred Heart. Their passion for youth and evangelism is absolutely mind blowing! The overall feeling is that God has BIG plans for Wetaskiwin. We are all so excited to see what they are and to be part of them!

On Friday evening we were initiated into the youth community by the Edge group (grade 7 - 9 youth). That's my explanation for the elaborate face paint in the photo. In addition to our tribal facepaint, we were all given tribal names; Opa (Cecile), Chuckles (Katie), Rusty (Emily), Moose (DJ), Joker (Marcus), and Suzuki (me, Emma). The youth and leaders were so welcoming. We felt at home with them nearly instantly. The NETters weren't the only new people there, either. There were a number of first time Edgers; we can't wait to see them again! We're just itching to get to know everyone better as the year goes on.

We had our first unofficial team day this weekend. A host family took us all to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum here in Wetaskiwin. It was amazing! There was such a neat variety of old cars, tractors, farm equipment, airplanes...you name it. (Emily was in heaven.) The museum even had a old-school drive-in theatre with black and white movies. My personal favourite, however, was the pink cadillac. Loved it. It was a great day; lots of team bonding and getting to know our host families and the secrets of the city.

We were officially introduced to the parish at this Sunday's Masses. It was wonderful to meet and mingle with the parisioners, young and old. Praise God for bringing us to this awesome city!

We have a busy week ahead of us. Tonight (Tuesday), we have Adoration at Sacred Heart Parish. We're putting on our first school retreat on Friday. Friday evenings are Edge Nights, and on Saturday we're going to a youth rally in Edmonton. Then Sunday is our first Lifenight! It's exciting, and a little scary! But our trust is in the Lord.

This Thanksgiving, iNFUSE 3 is so grateful to be here in Wetaskiwin. And we are so thankful for all the support and generosity we have received. Please pray for our ministry. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more!

- Emma Wynker

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 5: 14-16