Greetings from the road!

We, Retreat Team 1, have felt so blessed in the past few weeks of ministry! By the time you read this, we will have made the tour of the Prairies and will be making our way back to Ottawa for Christmas break and bringing the snow wherever we go! The past month has been filled with various forms of ministry and some different from what we’re used to. 

During the month of November, rather than doing a lot of retreats, we had the opportunity to visit classrooms and do mini-retreats with the students. It was a little different from what we were used to, but we embraced this change and wholeheartedly accepted this challenge. During one of the classroom visits, a group of students expressed that, after listening to John Paul’s testimony, they had realized that they had never actually given Jesus a chance and that they really wanted to grow in their relationship with God. They went on to share that they knew it wouldn’t be easy but that they were ready to grow deeper in their faith and remove things in their lives that were keeping them from getting closer to God. We don’t always get to witness the Holy Spirit moving or the fruits of the mission because we have such a short amount of time with these youth, but when we do, it’s so moving and such a blessing. Praise God!!

As a team, we have been trying to grow together in unity and also grow together in Christ. Over the past few weeks, we have done activities like hiking in the Alberta mountains, visiting the World’s Largest Dinosaur in Drumheller, going bowling as a team, and zip lining early in the morning. We spend a lot of time together in ministry, but it’s nice to spend time together outside of retreats so that we can wind down and grow as a team. As we begin a new liturgical season this advent, we have been reflecting on these words from the prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God” (Is. 40:3). This calling to deviate from “life as usual” has motivated us to make the paths in our hearts straighter and to prepare the way for the greatest gift God has to offer us: His son for our redemption. As the year comes to an end and as we prepare to go into our winter break, it is crucial, now more than ever, to remember what this season is about, or rather who it is about. 

Happy Advent and God Bless,

Retreat Team 1 (Chris, Grace, Ange, Anthony, John Paul, Kirk, Mikaila, Serena)