Contagious Joy

"The more joy we have in our heart, even in the midst of busyness,
and craziness, the more people can see Christ through us."

On the outside, the life of a NET team looks like it's mostly fun and games. On retreats we are all high-energy, we play fun games, and each week we even have a team day where we are obligated to have FUN together. While the lifestyle of NET is full of fun, it's easy to get bogged down with the weight of ministry. We are high-energy and happy during retreat but it's all too easy to bring our exhaustion and stresses to team life in the office. This exhaustion isn't exclusive to NET - everyone experiences it. We can enjoy one part of our day and find ourselves completely stressed out the next moment.

As a team, iNFUSE 2 has been working to figure out what to do with all of our anxieties and we have learned that by offering our worries and problems to the Lord, and really letting Him take our problems from us, we are filled with trust and joy that we can turn back to praise. Joy is a choice, and giving our problems to the Lord makes room in our hearts to effectively cultivate that joy. 

It's all too easy to talk about our struggles because often our struggles seem so much bigger than the joys in our lives. We would rather find a solution to the problem that is at hand than look and see the beauty that is actively working in our lives - the beauty which Christ Himself is showing us. It's a trap, really. The more that we focus on our stresses and try to solve our problems the more problems and stresses we run into. However, when our first response to stress is to give it to the Lord, we make room in our hearts to see the joy and peace that the Lord surrounds us with. And that joy is contagious! The more joy we have in our heart, even in the midst of busyness, and craziness, the more people can see Christ through us. The joy of the Lord is just that - it's only found in the Lord. Our joy and willingness to seek Christ in our problems encourages others to do that same in their lives. 

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. 1 Peter 3:15

Seek Christ, give Him your heart, and He will turn your worries to praise and joy! May the joy of the Gospel be contagious in you!

Peace,

Jillian and the rest of iNFUSE 2 (John, Jacob, Joey, Whitney, Ashley, and Rachel) 

No Snow Yet, Thank God!!

Trapper's Lake Spirituality Centre

  


HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM iNFUSE 3!!!!

This weekend our team was grateful to all spend Thanksgiving in warm and welcoming host homes. During a family games night, team members Meghan and Olivia were delighted to share in the laughter of their host family. On Monday evening, Mike, Cameron and I were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with the host family of Shaina and Stephanie. Sharing in a delicious meal, and being able to witness the wonderful presence of love in their family, makes us so thankful for the abundant generosity and hospitality shown toward us.
  During a Thanksgiving dinner in the earlier part of the weekend, I was playing with a little boy and his ball. As I was thinking over the day, I considered how the little boy was living an amazing life, but how he relied on everyone else around him to provide for his needs. I then considered that this is how we should be with God. We should place all our needs and wants in front of Our Father in heaven, for He is a generous and loving Provider.
  
  Yellowknife. It seems that a popular opinion of people from the south is that it is bleak up here, but really it is extremely beautiful. The lakes and rocks reflect the wonderful beauty of our Creator. The women on our team have settled into their host homes and we (the men) have settled into our home at the retreat centre at Trapper’s Lake.
  We have traveled around Yellowknife advertising for our first event, Theology Uncapped. During our advertising for this event we met many new people asking them for directions (we also went backwards down a one-way street)!

.  Our team was asked to come to the yearly Catholic school's city-wide Mass that was attended by all the students of the Catholic schools here in Yellowknife. We were introduced to about 1000 students! This weekend we attended all three of the Sunday Masses at St. Patrick’s so that we could introduce ourselves to the parishioners. We have been welcomed very warmly all over the community. Over the next couple weeks we will be attending Mass at some of the different parishes of the diocese.

Until next time, may God, our Father, Bless you and yours, 

Ben from iNFUSE 3

An iNFUSE Greeting

Greetings from iNFUSE 1 in Swift Current,

NET training was a lot of fun! We made a lot of really great friendships and memories that will last forever. Although, after six weeks of training we were definitely eager and ready to get on the road and finally embark on the mission we have been called to do at Christ The Redeemer Parish in Swift Current, SK. We traveled for 4 days from training in Ottawa to get to Swift Current.  From the time we left until the time we arrived in Saskatchewan, we laughed, we sang, we got lost, and we had a ton of fun. Being stuffed in a minivan of 7 full grown young adults was not an easy task. However, we managed to make the most of the hours in the van, and made really great memories as a team.

We arrived safely in Swift Current on October 1^st, and have been busy getting things started since we got here. So, what does that mean? Well, we had the opportunity to do dramas and introductions at three masses over our first weekend here. This last week we helped serve over 600 people from the community at the Parish’s fall supper. The team hosted our first sports night and had a really great time playing games and hanging out with the youth. One of the members of the team, Joy, who is from Australia, attended her first hockey game this past week, and we had a really great time cheering on the local team, the Broncos. We are so looking forward to our kick off nights for our junior and senior high youth groups which are coming up very soon. All of us have been enjoying getting to know each other and beginning to grow in unity as a team. We are now ready to use the skills we learned over training to enkindle a burning desire for the Lord in the hearts of the Swift Current youth. 

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about planting and watering a seed. He speaks about how it doesn't matter who plants and who waters the seeds, it matters only that it is God who makes it grow. We are simply working as a team and as a community, to plant the seeds of faith inside the youth of Swift Current, and helping God make those seeds grow so they can encounter the Lord and fall madly in love with all that He is. We cannot take credit for a youth encountering God, because it is God who is working through us. 
“Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or does the watering. What’s important is that God made the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters works together for the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work; for we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building."

Stay tuned til' next time,

Hunter 

iNFUSE 1, Swift Current, SK

Hey(burn) from Weyburn!

Greetings from iNFUSE 2!

After five weeks of training (plus two weeks extra weeks of music training for Rachel), four days in a minivan together, and several nights various host homes, the iNFUSE 2 team has safely arrived at our home for the year in Weyburn, SK! We have unloaded our trailer, met the parish staff, and settled into our office. We've been met with a warm welcome and are already feeling pretty great about being here.

On our first night here we had the opportunity to attend the closing Mass of their annual parish mission. We were thriled to see a good number of students from the grades 5/6 youth group in attendance. After Mass we had the chance to MGM (meet, greet, and mingle) with almost all of the youth and some of the other adults at the Mass. The youth seemed VERY excited to meet us and are also quite interested in getting involved in the ministry.

Today we are beginning to get to know the youth of Weyburn on the closer level as we visit schools. Today we are visiting a grade 6 class and then tomorrow we are being introduced to the rest of the school.

We are ready and pumped up to start our ministry here in Weyburn! Keep us in your prayers and know that we are praying for all of you as well.

Stay in touch for more blogs from Weyburn.
In Christ's service,

Jillian and the rest of iNFUSE 2 (Rachel, Whit-Whit, Ashley, John, Jacob, and Joey)

Travel Days

Travel Days 

October 4, 2014

In our travels towards our final destination of Yellowknife, our team, INFUSE 3, is getting to know each other on new levels.

You may wonder how or why the 7 of us have spent over 40 hours in the van together.
Well, our mission of sharing the Gospel has no borders. We are more than enthusiastic to reach out and share the joy and love of Christ with the youth of upper Canada!

On our drive, we have discovered how vast and stunning our huge country of Canada really is. We have come to see that our wonderful Creator shows Himself to us each and every day through his beauty in creation. For some of us, this is our first time driving across the country, but for the rest they are still stunned at its colourful and vast beauty. Today we have encountered our first snowfall. Every time we pass a construction zone we wave to the workers and it seems to not only make their day better but also ours.  

We have stayed in many different host homes up to this point. They have all been so kind, welcoming, and generous. We are so amazed at the continuous joy that previous NETTERS have brought to the host homes that we have stayed in. We would like to give a SHOUT OUT to all the NET alumni for their example and great love shown to all the host homes. One host dad explained to us how NETTERS always bring joy to their home and how our ministry has impacted their family. This long drive is a way for our team to connect and learn to be patient and loving towards each other before starting our diocesan ministry in the diocese of Fort Mackenzie Smith, Northwest Territories. 

"We have been blessed with great driving conditions. During our second day of driving, we drove around the beautiful Lake Superior in Northern Ontario."





As for now stay tuned for our continuous updates on our ministry and stories of how God is working through us to bring youth to Christ.

Thank you for reading!

God Bless,

Ben from INFUSE 3