Greetings from the road!!

We, Retreat Team 1, have finally made it up to the north! Not only have we been through all the western provinces, but we also got to go up into the territories. We started off the month in Calgary doing some ministry in french. We ran some retreats in french as well as a few classroom presentations. It was a little out of the comfort zone of most of the team because most of the team is anglophone, but it was quite interesting to work outside of our linguistic comfort zone. After that, we said goodbye to Alberta and Calgary and we made our way to the Whitehorse Diocese which spans from the Yukon to the north of British Columbia. We started off in Telegraph Creek in Northern BC, which is famous for the road that gets there, and then we were off to Whitehorse and Dawson Creek. During this stretch of time, we travelled a lot and saw some of the most beautiful sights yet. Lots of mountains and just as much wildlife. Over the course of March, we got to minister to approximately 800 youth. 

Outside of ministry, we’ve had some good times together as a team. In the small community of Telegraph Creek, we got to walk around the town with our host family and they told us all about the community’s history. At the end of one of our retreats there, we also had a large campfire where we played some campfire songs and roasted some sausages and hot dogs with all the youth. About half our team also rode a skidoo for the first time ever. The time we spent in Telegraph Creek was delightful! When we were in Whitehorse, we got to visit the Yukon Wildlife reserve and we saw a lot of animals there. We also had a huge supper with all of our host families and the priests of Whitehorse and we were lucky enough to have lunch with the bishop. The Catholic community in Whitehorse was so welcoming and we felt so at home there.

At one of the retreats we did in Whitehorse, during the first small group, I asked one of the youth how they would describe their relationship with God from a thumbs up to thumbs down scale. One of the girls said that her relationship with God was either way at the top or way at the bottom: when she faced tough moments, she would pray and turn to God, but every other time, He wasn’t part of her life at all. During the last small group after prayer ministry, after I had the chance to pray with all the members of my small group , I asked them if they could tell me one thing they learned or retained from the retreat. When she answered, she said that during the prayer time, even after I had finished praying with her, she felt a hand on her head and she felt more peace than she had in a long time. She said that she realized how important having a relationship with God was after the retreat. I gave her a prayer card with a prayer of commitment to Christ and explained to her what the prayer meant and she said she was very happy to receive it. 

During this month, there was a bible verse that really stood out to me: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24). Especially the part about denying oneself. As missionaries, we have our own ideas of how we want a retreat to go or what direction we want our ministry to go in. And that’s good and great, but sometimes, that doesn’t necessarily align with the direction that God has in mind for our ministry and for our retreats. That verse is a calling to let go of our preconceived ideas and expectations and deny ourselves so that we make room for God’s will. It’s calling us to trust Him and to go where He inspires. Especially as we go through the season of lent, I think this is a verse that will inspire us to go where God is leading us and to follow Him with our own crosses on our backs. 

God Bless,

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