Scarborough!

Hello from Encounter 1!

We have been all over the Southern part of Ontario recently, now when someone tells me something about a place in Southern Ontario, I will not stare at them blankly! Hurray!

Last week our whole team got to stay at DJ's house in Essex, ON. It was a great experience and his family made all of us feel right at home. While we were there we did a couple Confirmation retreats in Tecumseh, then headed back up to Chatham for a Spirit Day on Saturday. Spirit Day is basically a rally for all the youth receiving the sacrament of Confirmation this year. Although our team wasn't running it, we did the skit to start off the day, then our team was divided into two groups to do three prayer sessions throughout the day, each with a different group of youth. We got pretty good feedback for our work.

On Sunday we headed to Scarborough, where we did four Gr. 11 retreats in a row. The students were so thirsty for God's message, so it was a blessing the at we got the opportunity to bring it to them. The retreatants got a lot out of everything we presented them. Their teachers were really impressed with how much their students invested in the day. They couldn't thank us enough for showing Jesus' love to these youth, many of which come from broken families, or just hard lives in general. I know God worked through us each day and I believe He will continue to work in their lives in the future. We got a picture taken of our team, and we were told it would be put in their yearbook! How exciting! We even got a tour of the school, then a bunch of the teachers and the principle took all of us out for lunch. Our team felt so loved by all the students who attended our retreats, and we really didn't want to leave Scarborough. The ministry has been going really well, but please keep us in your prayers!

In Christ,

Silken Neutelings
Encounter Team 1

A Massive Year of Worship

Yo peeps!
Erin here from Massive Worship. This year is going to be massive and full of Worship! Our team of seven can hardly wait to cram into the van and begin traveling across the country proclaiming Christ and his kingdom through music. We are still in the midst of Massive worship training and will have our first official youth rally in the next couple of weeks. So pumped!
Last week we did our first practice retreat. It went well! We had a full band setup in a church basement  for the retreat and as a result the church janitor, secretary and a bunch of random repair men had quite the musical day. The retreatants also enjoyed the prayerful tunes, they were singing and dancing along and by the end of the day they were Congo lining it up.
Prayer time with the grade six students was particularly moving. When we entered into the church they were reverent, respectful and prayerful. Many of the students wanted prayer and some of them were praying the rosary and reading the bible during prayer time. All in all, the day went really well and our team is looking forward to starting ministry full time.
For now, we are still training in Ottawa. More updates to come.
Many melodies,
Erin

heres what they had to say...

Greetings from Encounter Team Two! We are currently in

Alberta, enjoying our team day with our supervisors. Retreats have been going well over the last two weeks. Rather than tell you how retreats have been, I would like to share with you what the youth say about retreats.
At the end of the day, we asked them how their day was, and ask them to share their experience. Here’s what they had to say:

“Favorite part: Church, chapel. AMAZING!” – 14 year old
male, Kenora, ON

“It was really fun, I loved that they told us about how
Jesus frees us, not holds us down. By learning that, it was really easy to be
honest and to be myself in prayer time.” – 14 year old female, Kenora, ON

“It was an amazing rollercoaster ride into Christianity
filled with fun, excitement and learning.” – 13 year old male, Cold Lake, AB

“I had a lot of fun! Today really helped me get closer to
God. I thought what you guys did was amazing and nothing was wrong. Keep it
up!!!” – 13 year old female, Cold Lake, AB

“My experience with NET was quite interesting. This
experience made me interested in the NET program. NET made me think about the
real things in life and things we’re surrounded by. I liked the experience… I
enjoyed myself.” – 14 year old male, Kenora, ON

“I liked everything in the retreat especially the prayer
times and games. I now know how I can talk to God on my own as a friend. The
NET people are friendly and entertaining, they have showed me a lot. I had the
best small group leader… I would like to go to more of these so I can get
closer to God in my own way. Thank you NET!” – 14 year old female, Cold Lake,
AB

“I think it was a lot
of fun. It was a good way to learn about God while having fun with your
friends. I liked how they used humour to soften up the serious stuff. I really
liked all the group activities (all the games). It was an awesome experience,
bringing us closer together and to God. Thank you for your help and support,
and thank you for helping us open our eyes and see God in a new perspective.” –14 year old female, Kenora, ON

“Loved the games, especially the penny one. I liked how open
everyone was, it made me feel trusted and that I could trust in return. Loved
the skits before and after prayer time, the one about Jesus on the cross really
struck somewhere inside of me which is harder to do than you’d think. I felt
connected to God, myself, and everyone else when we were praying in the church.
Thanks so much for praying with me. Keep being awesome!” – 14 year old female,
Kenora, ON

“The NET encounter day was a great experience. It’s good to
get youth to reflect on and develop their relationship with God. If you haven’t
guessed, my favourite part was prayer time. It’s not that I didn’t like the
rest of the day (it was amazing), but it was not as personal and eye-opening as
prayer time. The skits were hilarious and entertaining… and the song that Matt
Sullivan same in the top part of the church – well, I LOVED it!!! That and the
skit up there was absolutely fantastic! Thank you, NET team for sharing that
with me, as well as the rest of the school. I certainly won’t be forgetting
this day anytime soon! Thanks again!” – 13 year old female, Dryden, ON

“Today was a very exciting day, I did have an encounter with
God, even though I already believe and already go to youth group. You guys
today made me believe even stronger, and today, I realized that there is more
to live for, that God is always there for you, to be with you and to help you.
Today, I dedicated my life to God.” – 14 year old female, Kenora, ON

God Bless!

Katie
Encounter Team 2

Terrebonne :)

Hello to all!
We are so happy to be able to share our experiences with you :) We are still in Terrebonne, Quebec, for the next few days. After that, we`re heading to Thetford Mines in the Amiante region to put on out first weekend retreat!
In the past couple weeks we`ve done several classroom presentations with grade 8 and grade 10 students (secondaire 2 and 4.) During the presentation, we have a question period during which the students can ask us anything they want about NET, the church, and our faith in God. It`s a joy to see their expressions change as the presentation progresses and as we answer their questions. Those who seem uninterested in the beginning often change their attitudes as they hear our testimonies and they start asking some very deep questions. Others listen with great attention :) It`s moving to see how much the youth are thirsting for the truth of Christ. At the end of each presentation, there is almost always someone who comes up and thanks us for we what do. It`s very encouraging for us in our mission!
Last Saturday, we played sports all morning with a group of young people from the parish. It was a really good opportuniy to build relationships with them and get to know each other. Afterwards, we shared lunch with them and watched an awesome movie about the life of Pope John Paul II. It was a powerful afternoon for us since he`s the patron saint of our team. We are very blessed to have such an amazing man as our model of holiness!
Please continue to pray for us as we continue our mission in Terrebonne and Thetford Mines! Until next time, God Bless!

Julie Godin
Les Équipes NET

Behold, He makes all things new!

Greetings from iNFUSE Team 3's blogger, Lauren!

We've been in Halifax now for a full two weeks and I have to say, it has been amazing so far! Our office has becomes more our own each day as something new is put up on our door or our board. Being more acquainted with the staff (including Father's dog, Monsi and one of the other staff member's dog, Biff), Saint Benedict is feeling more and more like home!

The first weekend in Halifax, Saint Benedict hosted a workshop on the New Evangelization with a guest speaker Tom Quinlan. The first half of the day was really wonderful because Tom referred to Archbishop Mancini's pastoral letter that focuses upon the New Evangelization. When we read this letter as a team, we were all so excited for how on fire Archbishop Mancini is about the topic and how hopeful he is for the future of the Church. The second half of the day, we sat down with the rest of the parish leadership committee and again, we were just blow away with the desire everyone seemed to have to work towards strengthening the ministries they have already established in the parish, but knowing that there is so much more to work towards, and being such a new parish, they know that these steps will be difficult, but necessary, and certainly fruit-bearing in the near future! It was really great to see where the parish is at and knowing that everyone is so willing to work towards a great future in the Church!

This past weekend, after a good bit of planning, we had our first youth nights here at the parish. They were all social nights, so we could meet the youth and have a bit of fun, so the nights' theme was Idol Chef. They got to make their own pizzas in teams and come up with a song and I have to say, some of the pizzas were very inventive! After our high school night, which was a Confirmation Reunion, was over, we got to talking with the Confirmation Coordinator and she mentioned how most of the youth that came to that night really went through incredible transformation during their confirmation year. Many went from a place where they doubted God's existence to a place where their faith was truly growing and forming. I truly look forward to getting to know the youth better and seeing them grow even more in their faith this year.

We look forward to getting more and more into ministry and seeing God work in this parish day after day!

God Bless!

Lauren

(iNFUSE Team 3's Blogger)

iNFUSE Team 3: Back Row (L-R) Kyley Drach, Brandon Grimard, Katie Troutman, Braeden Mann, Adam Desjardinis; Front Row (L-R) Liane Beaulac, Lauren Jones, Erin Lindoff