Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Come to Me, all you who are weary

What an absolutely amazing year in ministry!! My fellow youth minister John Paul in the school division and I visited a good friend down in Lethbridge who is a chaplain down in a catholic high school there. What a great day of affirmation on our ministry, and some new insight and inspiration from this man who has worked with young people for quite some time, and obviously called to do this by God. What a gift he was to us today!

As the school year comes to an end, I look forward to my Jesus time-to fuel my energy with prayer and reflection, and with that, spend time with my main vocation-my husband!! Poor guy doesn't always see me. I thank God everyday for him, who is right on baord with me in my ministry because afterall, we met as team members doing youth ministry programs at Our Lady of Victory Camp!

I am so excited for what is to come next year! I ask all of you who are reading this to conitnue to pray for the youth, and that my program will continue to grow and strengthen in Christ Jesus. But!! We must never forget our teachers and staff as well in the catholic schools. Please pray for them too!

So with the summer here, does that mean I'm done ministering? Abosolutely not! haha! I will be attending the Family Life Conference with Our Lady of Victory Camp Team, my husband and a few young adults from Red DEer to lead music in the 12-14 tent, and then we head out to Our Lady of Vicotry Camp on the sunday! I can't wait to see the transformations in the students that will be attending camp this summer. It's beautiful to see the teens change from sunday to friday!

So-I bid you all farewell until I"m back from camp!! Have a blessed rest of your June!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Wow!! I'm so sorry everyone for not writing for awhile. It's definately been an adventure the last few weeks!

So, tonight was the last adoration before summer at my home parish in Innisfail at Our Lady of Peace. It was so nice to take time out to just spend time with Jesus, and talk to him. I couldn't thank God enough for all the youth of the schools and the parishes. They are so amazing and can offer us so much. They're just waiting for someone to ask them.

I also couldn't help but think how I can improve things for next year in my ministry. You know, like, am I doing too much? am I doing the wrong things?, should I being doing this, should I be doing that? Man! I'm a control freak! I sat in front of the blessed sacrament and I thought, "Jesus, help me not to the things I want to do, but things YOU want me to do." Sometimes I feel like I need to conquer the world. It really is very hard for me to say no, or to take on too much.

Anyways, this last weekend was beautiful. The gifts of the youth were alive and well!! The Localpalooza unplugged show to fundraise for students to go to Our Lady of Victory Camp was a huge success! Many students from Notre Dame performed. I'm so incredibly proud! Once that was finished, the youth team, along with Rocky's youth team, and the Team from Our Lady of Victory Camp dressed up in formal attire, and went to Mass at Sacred Heart, and then enjoyed a Dance in the hall. It was an awesome way to end off the year! Their true beauty came out that night. They all looked smashingly beautiful as young men and women of God.

Remember that these students are not the future of the church, but that they ARE the church, and they are ready and willing to participate more than we think. They just need to know that we care for them, and love them. I was blown away by a girl that is wanting to take the youth ministry course with me this summer. These students have changed my life!

Even though they have their drama, their excuses to try and skip class, their negative moments, and bad mood swings, they all have something very important and significant in common.
THEY ALL HAVE JESUS IN THEM!!
And once we try to look for Jesus in them, we see a side of them that is goes beyond the norm of a regular teenager.
I will truely miss the Grade 12's that will be leaving at the end of this month. And I pray that they will be successful in all that they do. Perhaps they will join the young adult ministry that is forming? haha! One can only hope, but either way, these are the faces that will lead their peers to Jesus!!