The night we were announced the members of our retreat team, the first thing we did together was worship God through music. As we sang “Oceans,” a beautiful image of an underground natural well filled with crystalline water came into one of the missionaries’ minds. As human beings, we have the natural desire for wonder and adventure. Although discovering a natural well would be fascinating, the call of God was to jump into the adventure of reaching something difficult to find but much more beautiful and precious: the hearts of the youth. The underground natural well symbolized the youth’s heart; an unknown and mysterious place that we could only walk through with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Our start on the road was filled with nervousness and fear of the unexpected, but also with excitement and readiness to express the love of God to the youth. We started our ministry in Ottawa and we have been traveling around the east coast encountering hundreds of youth. It’s been such a fun experience and has profoundly strengthened our faith. Walking through the deep waters of the hearts of the youth is not an easy task due to many reasons but God has given us the necessary graces to not drown in discouragement. Every retreat is different, and every youth is unique and special. God knows the level of patience and the graces each of them needs to take that leap of faith. On each retreat, we have seen this miracle happening, even if it seems too small to human understanding, it is the beginning of a new life gifted by God.

In one of our retreats, we had a youth who when asked “What do you think God thinks of you?” he answered, “I’m just a random kid to God.” After the talks and the moment dedicated to prayer, his answer changed to “I don’t think anymore that I’m a random kid to God.” We’ve also had many youth committing to God by the end of the retreat and willing to pray more and grow in relationship with Jesus Christ. It is incredible what God can do in a few hours and an open heart.

The Holy Spirit has certainly done wonders in our hearts, filling them with courage, pure joy and fervent faith through the gift of serving others in this mission. He has been our guide and our answer through this journey of faith and trust. As missionaries, we agree that this is one of the best times of our lives and there is no other place we would like to be at. The unity and support as brothers and sisters have also been a total blessing to our team. There is not a day that passes where we don’t laugh together at random jokes or adventures and we trust in relying and lifting each other up. We still have a long way to go, and many young hearts to reach and we know that the rest of the missionary year will be amazingly fruitful. After all, it is the Holy Spirit acting through us.

In Christ, 

Team 2