Team Two visits Anne's Land!

Hello to all blog readers!

This is Riane McCallum, writing to you from Perth-Andover, New Brunswick. We on team two have had a great week, full of ministry and adventures!

We started out our week on the beautiful island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This week truly was blessed in many ways. We began in Reserve Mines, where the people who welcomed us in were truly amazing! We felt so loved and welcomed and we knew that we would miss them when we left! Through the week we made stops in the beautiful towns of Cheticamp and Sydney Mines. In Sydney Mines, it was really neat because Trevor had an opportunity to visit long lost relatives. On we went accross the Causway to Pictou, NS. This retreat was a real blessing to witness. We only had about 16 youth and during the prayer time we had two priests hearing confessions. After about ten minutes none of the youth had gone and I was begining to think that none of them would go. It was really cool though, because one guy made the decision to go, and he walked to the front of the church and had confession, which started a stream of confessors. By the end of the prayer time, almost all every retreatant had their confessions heard! Praise God! The next day we travelled to Sydney River, NS. Again, this retreat was a great experience and we could really feel God working! Many of the youth were really inquisitive and had a lot of questions to ask. At the end of the night, a couple of guys retreatants hung out with us and played guitar for a while. It was great!

After leaving Syndey River, we spent the weekend in the beautiful town of St. Peter's (as seen in the Tim Horton's commercial in the Olympics!!). We had an opportunity to tour around the area a little bit, and let me tell you, it is just as beautiful as a story book! We ran an Encounter Evening on Sunday night, and again, our time there was blessed. We really felt God working through all of the youth that came, and it was so beautiful to see many of them take advantage of reconciliation! They also really participated in the night, singing the songs and engaging in small groups. It was a great night!

St. Peter's was our last stop in Nova Scotia. We were very sad to leave but consoled by the fact that we would spend the next two nights in Anne's land of Prince Edward Island!! PEI is my very favourite place in the whole world, and I was SO excited to visit! I have to admit that on the drive over the magnificent bridge, tears of joy were very present in my eyes! We attented a Chrism Mass at St. Dunstan's Basillica in Charlottetown, where we were very suprised to bump into a former NETter, Katrina O'Brien! We had a great night visiting with her and it was such a blessing to see her! The next day we had a team day. In the morning, the ladies toured Charlottetown and, in true "Anne" fashion, drank some delightful raspberry cordial, while the men toured the Cavendish beach. We all met up later in the day at the home of my kindred spirit, Anne of Green Gables! It was great to tour Green Gables and see the famous "puffed sleeves!" I am a huge fan of Anne's, and for many of us girls the visit to Green Gables was a childhood dream come true! The next morning we bid farwell to the rolling hills of PEI and landed in Perth-Andover, NB. Tonight will be our last night in the Maritimes, and we have enjoyed every minute of our time here!

Tomorrow we are journeying accross Quebec and landing in Ottawa for the Easter weekend!

I hope you all have a very blessed Easter weekend!

God Bless!

Riane

Québec, nous re-voici!!!

Bonjour à tous!

Ici Marise Poirier qui vous écris de Terrebonne, Québec. L'équipe a passé une semaine chargée d'événements très enrichissants durant la semaine qui vient de passer.

Dimanche dernier, nous sommes arrivés à Pickering, Ontario, ou nous avons animé des retraites du lundi au jeudi pour les jeunes candidats au Sacrement de la Confirmation. Personnellement, j'ai vraiment senti que l'Esprit Saint était présent durant nos retraites. Ce qui m'a vraiment frappée cette dernière semaine était le désir sincère des jeunes d'approfondir leur relation avec Dieu. Durant nos retraites, on commence souvent la journée avec une saynète, un jeu et les petits groupes. Durant les petits groupes, les jeunes ont la chance de partager leurs opinions et de poser des questions au sujet de la foi. Mes petits groupes de la semaine dernière étaient incroyables! Dans mon petit groupe de lundi, l'une des filles a partagé: « Aujourd'hui, c'était la première fois que je parlais à Jésus avec mon cœur. Je veux prier comme cela plus souvent. » Le temps de prière était particulièrement profond pour plusieurs filles dans mon petit groupe. Durant la retraite de jeudi, les filles de mon petit groupe étaient vraiment intéressées à apprendre comment prier le chapelet. Alors elles ont chacune reçu un chapelet et je leur ai expliqué comment le prier. Contrairement à ce que la société nous fait croire des jeunes d’aujourd’hui, je vois constamment des jeunes qui désirent ouvrir leur cœur à Dieu!

Après nos quatre retraites à Pickering, l’équipe s'est rendue à Montréal, Québec. Samedi, nous avons animé pour le diocèse de Montréal une rencontre pour la Journée mondiale de la jeunesse diocésaine. C’était vraiment merveilleux d’être avec un groupe d’environ 100 jeunes catholiques passionnés par leur foi - au Québec! Nous avons animé la musique, une saynète, une présentation sur le thème de Jésus, un témoignage et des vidéos pour annoncer la prochaine Journée mondiale de la jeunesse. On n’entend pas souvent parler de la foi catholique des jeunes au Québec. Mais je vous assure qu'elle est encore très vivante chez les jeunes! La présence d'une centaine de jeunes était un témoignage en soi!

Maintenant l’équipe se trouve à Terrebonne, Québec, pour la Semaine sainte. Nous passons la semaine à faire des présentations dans les cours d’éthique et culture religieuse, à animer des retraites pour les jeunes des paroisses et à préparer nos cœurs pour le sacrifice de Jésus sur la croix et la gloire de sa Résurrection! En plus, l'équipe a eu la chance aujourd'hui de visiter l'Oratoire Saint Joseph à Montréal. Pour moi, visiter l'Oratoire m'a vraiment fait réaliser la grandeur de Dieu. L'histoire du Frère André et la manière dont l'Oratoire Saint Joseph a pu être construit par la Providence me fait réfléchir sur l'importance de mettre toute notre confiance en Dieu. C'est incroyable de voir la grandeur de l'Oratoire et de réaliser encore plus la grandeur de Dieu! C'est avec grande joie que j'ai appris que le Frère André sera canonisé le 17 octobre 2010 par le Pape Benoît XVI!

Merci pour votre soutien et vos prières! C'est uniquement à travers la prière que nous pouvons persévérer!

Union de prières!

Marise Poirier
Équipe 3

It's not about me

There have been so many times this year when I have depended on myself rather than God for evangelization, when I have measured my success as a Youth Minister by how many teens become involved or how great a Lifenight turns out.

This weekend, I was feeling dejected about the small number of teens who attended the Lifenight.

I kept asking myself what I was doing wrong, why they weren't coming and what more I could do to bring them to Christ.

Caught up in these thoughts of self pity and hopelessness, God revealed a part of His heart to me through the cross.
What I heard and saw was this;
Who am I to feel sorrow from rejection, when Jesus Christ, hanging upon the cross, suffered so much more rejection than I? Even still as He looks upon His children, despite His immense love and passion for them, they still turn away, and His heart breaks for each soul who does not know Him. I have only given my time for one year to serve Him, whereas He gave His life for those who still do not follow Him. What is my sacrifice in comparison to His? How can I rely on myself to bring others to Him, when He is the one working through me?
A CORE member confirmed this revelation as she led us in praise and worship after the Lifenight. God's words through her reaffirmed my call to be completely abandoned to Him, letting Him work through me, and that if only one soul was brought closer to Him through our ministry, I had accomplished all that He wanted of me.

CREATING THE CHURCH OF TOMORROW

A prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprisethat is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,which is a way of saying that the kingdom
always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promises.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,and there is a sense of liberation,in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers,
not master builders;
ministers not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

As we reflect upon Christ's passionate love for us this Holy Week, may we be reminded of His desire to bring His fullness of life to each of our lives and the lives of those we encounter

God bless,
Hannah Bouwman
Team 4

Crunch Time!!! It's Great!

Hello! It’s Shayla from Team Five-Alive. You know last week in my blog, when I said it was crunch time? Well, this week was definitely crazy! Lets see…on Sunday we had our lifenight called ‘Give it Away Now’. On Tuesday we had Glass Alabaster and Real Men. Wednesday and Thursday we had all day Retreats. Thursday night we also had edge. Then coming up, we have an Edge Retreat and Crew sleepover Saturday to Sunday.

Sunday’s Lifenight was a blast. It was the one that we were collecting all the clothes for. The whole night was on the things that get in our way of our relation ship with God. There are many things that we can take out of our life to help us focus more on Him. With the clothing we had an activity where we weighed all the clothing. To our surprise, the total weight was around 1,100 pounds!!! All of this clothing that the whole community helped us acquire will go to the St. Vincent De Paul charity in Ottawa. Now that’s a lot of clothing!

Tuesday was the Real Men and Glass Alabaster. These are groups for the young men and women where they learn about purity and chastity, and how to be men and women of God. From what I heard from the men, it went really well for them (they didn’t release any information on what went on during their night). So, to be just like them, I’ll just say that women had a blast in Glass Alabaster. They were both socials, so we just had fun filled nights.

Wednesday and Thursday were the confirmation retreats. They were both really good groups of young teens. Both with their own forms of energy, and all super excited to be at the retreat. With some age groups it’s hard to tell what they would like and what they wouldn’t like. They were grade 7’s, during that time in their life where they’re either ‘too cool’ or full of energy and don’t’ care what others think. Lets just say both groups surprised me. I thought there were going ot be a lot of ‘too cool’ teens, but the game of Pull Up at the beginning of both retreats proved me wrong. Yes, there were a few who didn’t want to participate, but for the majority, they were flying across that circle doing their dance moves. Some of them I thought were never going to get out because they were having such a blast. Another part of the retreat that I absolutely loved were my small groups. Because of the weird boy to girl ratio in Perth and Smiths Falls, I ended up having not one, but two boys small groups. Was that ever quite the experience. I’ll just say that they’re more unpredictable than girls. Girls tend to be talkative with each other or talkative with you. I had no idea what to expect with boys. The first group I had was extremely energized, and they liked talking about their injuries, but they were so energized that I had to bribe them with chocolate to keep calm. They were really good though during prayer ministry. I was really proud of them. My second group was quite the opposite. They were extremely calm, and talkative, but it was a talkative where each person took a turn talking and listening to each other. They were so efficient at answering all the questions I had for them that it got to the point that I didn’t know what to do with our extra small group time…so I rewarded them with playing cards. That was fun. Once again, I was also blown away by their reverence during prayer ministry. The retreats went so well that I wish we could do more (picture to the left is Rebecca being prayed over before her Confirmation talk).

So, that was our busy week so far. It’s not over though because we have a retreat from Saturday to Sunday. From what I’ve seen the Edgers look extremely excited.

Well, until next week. God Bless you all!

Shayla Doucette
Team 5

Talent Show & a Secret Birthday Party