The best weekend of life!!!!!:-)

 

This past week at the CSE we were busy preparing for the 15-17 retreat that was happening on Friday 17^th to the 20^th.  We have this tradition at the CSE where we celebrate peoples half birthdays, so this week we celebrated Mariette’s. It was super fun!!!! We were able to learn about the sacrament of marriage at Emmaus Prayer meeting and get a little break from our work.

 So now I’m going to get to the part that fits with the title of my blog. Friday hit and wow! I was nervous but happy at the same time! It was not just the Outreach members putting on this retreat, God sent us five others and they were Fr.John, Janelle, Logan, André and Joe. We also had four amazing cooks!!!!!   Love and miss you guys. Thanks for the help; praying for all of you.  As some of the thirty-seven young people started to show up, I was like WOW! All my energy seemed to slip away but somehow I was able to be me and full of energy to the point where I thought maybe some of the young people will think I’m crazy, or in French: je suis fou.  Joe, Logan and I had the BEST room of life “Justin and the Care Bear Knights!” During spirit night we had a chance to pray over the young people. I felt so blessed to be able to pray over them. It brought me to tears. I love and miss them all, praying always. Before my talk on Monday, I prayed that I wouldn’t cry, but God gave me the gift of tears while I was sharing. He works in cool ways and I’m really glad I cried because the young people were touched by my story. As I sit here, it’s tough knowing that they just left yesterday. It was a good day to leave in fact because someone got stuck in the snow today and we had to shovel snow for a good hour! So this was the best WEEKEND of life. God Bless you and I’m praying for everyone!!!!! :)

-J.J. Bullion-

 

Outreach: Northern Manitoba

Team with Fr. Rheal

It has been very busy around the CSE for the last while and this weekend was going to kick it all off.  We went up to Northern MB with Fr. Rheal Forest.  What started as a fast paced day slowed down to a crawl when we got to the St. Boniface Pastoral Center and found out we were leaving later.  Which turned out to be 1:30pm instead of 10:00am, we were starting to run on Northern time.

 Everything up North seemed to be looser, but things still got done. For example, we went in to a school in Little Grand Rapids and apparently they didn’t know we were coming. We asked them if we could do presentations in the classes, they made one phone call and then gave us the go ahead. I’m not sure about your view on the school system around here, but in the schools I am from you would get chased out with a pitchfork if you tried to bring religion within 20 ft of the school, but they were very open to us. There was also a time where Fr. Rheal needed some weight for the back of his truck for the drive to Bloodvein or Devils Lake as Nic fondly called it. So Fr. Rheal, Chad (One of the native kids who served mass with Fr. Rheal) and I went out to cut down some trees. Yep, you heard me right. We drove down the road until we saw a tree that Father deemed fit, then we cut it down, chopped it up and threw it in the back of this truck. It was a heck of a lot of fun, although I’m not too sure how legal it is.

crossing the lake

Many more fun times like this, coupled along with our mishap crossing the lake and the absurdly rough snow covered winter roads, made for a very interesting fast paced trip. It went by too fast! There was always wood to be split, meals to be cooked and other various physical work to be done. I found this rather refreshing from the norm of writing talks and prep work for retreats, but I’m not sure how much I can say for my other teammates in this department. Over all it was an awesome experience and I’m evermore looking forward to our next trip to northern Sask. for three and a half weeks.

 God Bless and thank you for all your prayers, 

Berens River

 Levi Sterzer

Camps, northern missions and half-birthdays oh my!

Élaine enjoying her DNC (DOmestic Needs Coordinator) at her half-birthday.

As a start to a busy week we celebrated Elaine, our lovely DNC’s birthday!  It was really nice to get away from the work of planning retreats and just spend time together as a team.  We also celebrated Levi and JJ’s half birthdays and so we had cake almost every day.  Yum!

This weekend we just finished putting on the 8-12 English winter camp.  It was a lot of fun and the children were awesome!

Tomorrow we are leaving to go to Northern Manitoba with Fr. Réal Forest.  It’s certainly going to be an adventure and I’m really looking forward to it.

Thank you for all your prayers, it is greatly appreciated.  It is really encouraging to know that we are not alone in this and that we have a big support system right beside us.  Thanks again.

 

God bless,

 

Mariette

Winter camps!

After our first lovely weekend winter camp we returned to preparing for the 8-12 English camp. In the midst of all of the preparations, we were blessed by the visit of Archbishop James Wiesgerber. He spent a splendid day of sharing with us. He shared with us about his experience, followed by us telling him about ourselves.

This past weekend, we went to the Trappist monastery in Holland, MB. We spent the better part of the weekend on a silent retreat with the exception of meal times where we were able to talk to one another. It was a weekend well spent full of bonding, prayer and getting closer to God. We were lucky enough to have one of the monks speak to us about his life as a monk, and what the Trappist Monks are all about.

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers! We keep you all in ours as well.

Nicolas Brais- Catholic Outreach Team Leader

It’s Good To Be Back!

After a good Christmas Holiday of two and a half weeks, we have all made our way back to the CSE!  Being away for that length of time it was a little difficult to get back into the routine of things!

This past week we got to make our first visit to the Manitoba Youth Centre in the city!  It was a great experience for all of us and we truly enjoyed ministering to the 34 who

Prayer during Winter Camps

were there for our evening presentation!  They were very attentive and respectful, and they really enjoyed the skit we presented!  The rest of our week was filled with preparations for the 8-12 French winter camp held this past weekend.  The camp went very well!  The children were awesome and the counselors did a great job in leading them for the weekend!  The children had a lot of fun singing, playing games, doing crafts, as well as learning more about their faith!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers!  You are all in our prayers here at the CSE as well!
Stephanie Sundell - Catholic Outreach Team Leader

Our journey to northern Saskatchewan

We left the CSE on the 28^th of November for two and a half weeks of outreach ministry.

We were faced with many opportunities to grow and to bring Jesus to others.

We spent most of our time giving sessions in schools as well as evening retreats in several communities.  We also had the opportunity to put on a weekend retreat in Dillon.

The 2011-2012 Catholic Outreach Team

We really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet so many different people and to learn more about their cultures.

One big adventure for all of us was when we got to go on the local radio for around an hour to explain about the Outreach Team, say our testimonies and sing songs.

We are very thankful for the generosity of all those who invited us into their homes and communities and to all those who kept us in their prayers while we were up North and a most sincere thanks to Kurt and Anita for coming with us and for all their hard work and support, we love you!

Over all it was an awesome experience that made us grow in self-knowledge and grow closer to our team.

Thank you all once again and have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Catholic Outreach Team

Stephanie Sundell, Nic Brais, Mariette Hutlet, Levi Sterzer, and the best and most experienced of all, J.J Bullion