Last night we stayed over at the hotel but only ate breakfast and left for the airport in the morning. But before we packed up and got ready to leave we ended our trip with Saturday's official ending of NCYC 2009. It was a pretty great day though my mind put a sort of closing edge to the day whereas Friday was more spiritual and moving. Fortunately it was a great end to the trip filled with fun and enabled us to wrap up what we'd learned and prepare for what awaited us at home.
We started off the day on a good note with a nice and hot breakfast (which we didn't think we would have because the bus was leaving earlier than the time the hotel said hot breakfast would be out). Then we headed off to the overwhelming Sprint Center for our morning program.
The Program started when Righteous B and others invited people to come nearer to the stage and they sang and rapped their own versions of a few popular songs. I liked this start to the day because the loudness of everything certainly woke me up and it started the day with something fun and exciting. After Righteous B was done with his songs, a few teens gave witness talks to everyone which I thought was pretty awesome.. although some of the people that went on my 9th grade retreat and gave witness talks that were better, one of the one's given in the Sprint Center was pretty amazing. It was given by a junior who had gone through chemotherapy as a 7 year old for a brain tumor but miraculously survived. His talk has taught me to keep going and always to have faith in God. To live through God and let him take the reigns of my life. It really inspired me to build my faith and made me think "If a 7 year old kid could trust in God and overcome such a large obstacle through God's miracle then I really should give myself up to the Holy Spirit and let God write my life instead of me desperately hanging on to my own stolen pen."
After morning program I went to 2 workshops: the first one where we asked a bishop questions (which was pretty cool to see what he had to say about our faith and what someone of such faith thinks of some of the big issues pressing on us today.) and the second: what to do with faith when high school is over (which wasn't as helpful as I expected but still encouraged me to think of what kind of life i want to have in the future).
We also all went to a comedy show which consisted of: juggling, a priest doing magic tricks, stories of a family making a cake for the family of a person they thought was dead but really was alive, a hilarious stand up comedian, and a performance from Popple accompanied by Rangeley, Joe, and Connor as back up dancers :). It was so much fun to just let loose and have a good time with everyone there.
Then we went out to an amazing dinner with St. John's from Hopkinton (which the 3 girls i roomed with are from). It was a great ending dinner and sent me home with many fun and lasting memories.
The last thing we did was go to mass. It was amazing.. Although my mind kind of wandered a little during some parts, the total effect of that many people, that many kids and that many priests, coming together and all sharing the body of Christ was sooo empowering. And hearing all 20,000 individual voices become one when singing and responding was incredible. It was an astonishing experience that I wouldn't have missed for the world.
So tonight i sit here a changed person. Different than when i left for Kansas City. I've learned so much in the past couple of days that it was impossible not to come home as the same person. I've now seen the unity of the church and I've seen how big we all really are. Before I never really considered how huge the Catholic world is. I was even ashamed when I had a church thing that would rule over a social event because people would talk down the church and i would feel outnumbered compared to those who don't believe and aren't as strong in their faith. But now having learned that I'm not alone in my struggles to keep my faith going and that there are 20,000 kids who were willing to give up their weekend just like me to get the opportunity to grow with God. I now write this blog in a new chapter of my life in which I stand up for my faith and do anything to strengthen it and keep the fire burning. I also have realized the power of the Catholic people. I've seen what can happen when people get together and work together. and have seen that together we can move mountains and make a difference in the world.
So with the end of my old chapters of life, i head into the new ones with my head held high, ready to embrace the struggles and obstacles that will get in my way and ready to stick together to change the world. I hope I can inspire all of you here to learn and realize all that I've learned and to help you all see what I've seen and that we can make a difference even if it is only a small one.
I'd like to thank everyone who made this trip possible. Everyone at NCYC for the amazing experiences and new knowledge, Kate, the group from Hopkinton, Connor, Joe, Rangeley, Kevin, and especially Dan O. for providing me with one of the most amazing experiences i could have asked for. thank you soooooooooo much. I can't even express how much this has meant to me.
Thanks for reading :) (sorry it was so long)
God Bless! <3
Sunday, November 22, 2009
the alpha, the omega, the beginning and the end...
so yesterday was the end of NCYC. it started out with the opening session. then i went to a workshop called Super Saint's. where the man named Robert Feduccia talked about different saint's and how they lived their lives. in particular he talked about St. Augustine and his mother St. Monica. he said that his mother has like St. Monica in which she was always the one taking him to church and be all holy. he told us that St. Monica said quote " If we were who we are, then we can set the world on fire". which if we gather as a whole, not as individuals, but as wholes then we can change the world. then after that me, rangeley, and connor went to a seminar called taking faith to college. there we learned about balance, of time for both school work and for the working of our faith.
then after that came a moment only some could dream of doing. the 3 of us danced on stage with Popple!! connor was in a blow up costume of a deer, i was in a blow up costume of a bull, and rangeley had a furry hat/face mask. we danced like there was no tomorrow. poor connor, his suit had not inflated right so it started to deflate on him. but mine was good. we had a ball dancing even if it was for like 5 minutes.
then as a group st johns of Chelmsford and of Hopkintin at dinner at Bull Dogs. eating dinner like a family. talking, laughing, praying, having a great time like any family would do at dinner. then came the finally to such a great few days. and no other way to close this amazing experience then with the mass. in the nose bleed seats of the Sprint Center seeing the entire arena pray and sing and worship as a whole was the greatest thing i have ever seen!
then the bitter sweet end to NCYC. bad because it was finally over and it felt like it had just started. but good because now we can take what we have learned in the past 4 days and pass it on to the youth of our parish, the church of today.
just a moment to thank kate for everything that she has done these past few days, making sure we are up and ready to get on the bus, making us laugh, being there to talk to, and giving me and connor and chelsea and rangeley and kevin the opportunity to come to this NCYC.
well now that I'm home there is only one thing left to do..sleep in my own bed and try to get more then 5 hours of sleep.
-peace
then after that came a moment only some could dream of doing. the 3 of us danced on stage with Popple!! connor was in a blow up costume of a deer, i was in a blow up costume of a bull, and rangeley had a furry hat/face mask. we danced like there was no tomorrow. poor connor, his suit had not inflated right so it started to deflate on him. but mine was good. we had a ball dancing even if it was for like 5 minutes.
then as a group st johns of Chelmsford and of Hopkintin at dinner at Bull Dogs. eating dinner like a family. talking, laughing, praying, having a great time like any family would do at dinner. then came the finally to such a great few days. and no other way to close this amazing experience then with the mass. in the nose bleed seats of the Sprint Center seeing the entire arena pray and sing and worship as a whole was the greatest thing i have ever seen!
then the bitter sweet end to NCYC. bad because it was finally over and it felt like it had just started. but good because now we can take what we have learned in the past 4 days and pass it on to the youth of our parish, the church of today.
just a moment to thank kate for everything that she has done these past few days, making sure we are up and ready to get on the bus, making us laugh, being there to talk to, and giving me and connor and chelsea and rangeley and kevin the opportunity to come to this NCYC.
well now that I'm home there is only one thing left to do..sleep in my own bed and try to get more then 5 hours of sleep.
-peace
Saturday (last day of conference)
the last day of NCYC was bitter sweet. It was full with a great morning program and a great mass to close the weekend. The event that I would like to talk about is mass. When we go to weekly mass st our own parishes we often forget that being catholic means more than belonging to a church. It means you belong to THE church. Basically seeing a mass with a crowd that filled an arena, enough Priests alone to fill ST Johns back home, and several Bishops accompanied by a Cardinal made me realize something. That the church is big, in fact its massive. This got me thinking. What if everyone in this stadium brings back things from this conference and shares it with, lets say five, people back home. That's 125000 lives that could be changed! so the closing mass gave set me on a mission. As i was singing, feeling the vibrations caused by a sea of catholics praying with one voice, I knew. I need to take in all this energy so i can go home ready to share it with ones who weren't able to experience NCYC. I heard talks, met at a Bishop round table, made great bonds, and had my view of the Church totally changed. And I'm taking it all home with me. I thank god for giving me the opportunity to go on this trip and deeply thank Kate, Kevin, Chelsea, Joe, and Connor for, well, being Awesome. NCYC has been a blessing. And I hope that i can bless others with even just a little of the blessings god has bestowed on me. Thanks for reading, may gods peace be with you!
-Rangeley
-Rangeley
Reflections from the Youth Minister! (sorry it's a little long!)
I know, I know!! I have yet to post. To be honest with you all it's come between getting sleep (the limited 4-5 hours a night I've been getting) or taking an hour or so to blog each night. Sorry - sleep has won - but not tonight! I just finished a processing session with the kids about the whole conference and boy do I have a lot on my mind!
First, WOW WOW WOW!! These teens are absolutely INCREDIBLE! It has been a dream of mine since I experienced my first NCYC in November of 2007 in Columbus, OH to take a group of teens! And this dream has come true and WAAAYYY surpassed all my hopes for it! I have had a VERY humbling last 4 days. Very humbling. I was walking back from the morning general session this morning with Connor and Chelsea and I asked them what their favorite thing was so far about NCYC. They rattled off Matt Maher, to adoration, to doing "the wave" at the Sprint center (which I can't help but call - the Spirit Center!), to the Eucharistic Procession, to just being with 23,000 other Catholic Teens just like them. I loved my walk this morning with them - I loved listening to them rattle awesome things off and hear them laugh about everything that's happened. My heart was smiling listening to them talk. Then Chelsea turned the table onto me. "What's been your favorite thing Kate?" Hmmmmm... I wasn't expecting that! (Usually I ask, they answer!) I took a little bit to think. I agreed with all they said! Matt Maher was INCREDIBLE, adoration at XLT was awesome, Mike Patin was an incredible speaker, the Popple concert at KC Live was amazing... but as cheesy as it sounds... my favorite has been experiencing this whole experience along side 5 of the most incredible teens! It's been awesome to be right there in the moment with them while at the same time being able to sit back and watch. It makes me wish that I could have worn a secret hidden camera all weekend so that I could show you all what I get the privilege to be a witness too and to be a party of.
So a quick recap - Wednesday was travel day - and a long one at that. After a little "lost wallet" panic - we were off to Kansas City via Detroit! I've flown numerous times being responsible for teens and i've got to say - this has been the easiest! Once we arrived in Kansas City and after waiting about an hour for our bus to pick us up we settled into the Drury Inn! A late night Denny's stop was in order as we were very hungry! Thursday brought a later morning (for the kids - I still had to get up for an adult meeting!) We loaded the buses (all of Region 1 is staying at the hotel - so it's 2 coach buses and a 12 passenger van that take us to and from the conference each day.) Once at the Convention Center it was off to see POPPLE at the Popple booth first! Dan and Kyle are good friends and have come to know many of our teens - including 4 out of the 5 with us! We hung out with them a little, the we wandered the Reign Forrest - it was FREE gift time! :) We sat and ate lunch together and wandered some more. Then we grabbed dinner, courtesy of Kathy Stebbins and the Office of New Evangelization in Boston (thanks Kathy!) Then we went to the Opening General Session in the Ballroom. It was a great night! I got to stand and watch them all dance and sing and laugh and smile and meet new people and be the crazy goofy kids that I know them to be! It brought tears to my eyes... (which isn't too difficult these days!) Then we loaded the buses and came back to the hotel. We headed to Denny's again for desserts - which took forever and a day... so we made a pact that we wouldn't head back to Denny's again! HAHA! Friday morning came very quickly! It was our first morning at the Sprint Center and that was a site for everyone!! Over 20,000 teens in 1 building praying and singing together is a HUGE site in itself! (I promise - I'll post the pics very soon!) Then off to workshops we went! I headed to "The Bible - the #1 Best Seller" with Rangeley. Mark Hart was the presenter and he's known as "the Bible Geek." I've heard him a few times before and he is dynamic! He has a way to bring the Bible alive!! We all met up afterwards to each lunch and then we went all together to XLT (Lifeteen's version of LIFT!) Matt Maher was doing the music and Paul George was the speaker. All around an AMAZING experience! Then we all went to Hall B for Mike Patin's session on Athletes and Faith. Mike is yet another dynamic speaker and a good friend of Jim Flanagan's. Popple also was the warm up band for Mike! A good time had by all! Then we went down into KC Lights for dinner... after wandering in and out of restaurants for about a 1/2 hour we finally found a restaurant that had less than a 30 minute wait. Johnny's Tavern it was and boy it was yummy!! :) Then off to the general session for the evening! Jason and Crystalina Evertt were the keynotes and they were amazing to say the least! I honestly wondered how our kids were going to like them cause they've all heard them before since Jason comes to our parish every other year! But they all LOVED them! Then back to the hotel (this time I was armed with Oreo's, EL Fudgekins, and chips ahoy so no Denny's for us!) The kids have been great (as you've been reading) about blogging! They are really thinking about it and taking it to heart! (Although I never fathomed how long it would take them to blog each night!)
And onto Saturday. Last morning general session - where they all learned "The Catholic Dance!" Ask them when you see them! They'll show you it!! :) Then they went off to their workshops - most went to Bishop Round Tables - Joe went to a session on Super Hero's - our Catholic Saints! What did I go to? Well, I spent the morning meeting with Catholic Heart Workcamp higher-ups, and wandering the Reign Forrest to find just the right gift for each teen. I also helped out at the Popple booth - cause man are they popular and very very busy!! (yeah popple!!) The kids met me when they were done for lunch. After lunch they all went off to their last workshops on Discernment themes. I had yet to find the PERFECT gift so I stayed at the Popple booth and planned to wander some more. But Dan Harms (of popple) "misplaced" his Ukulele so his Girlfriend, Meghan, and I went on a little wild goose chase to find it! And find it we did (well Kyle did!) - in their booth of all places! Go figure! haha! I did finally figure out what to get them all... it went over pretty well tonight too if I do say so myself! Ask them what they got when you see them next! Kyle asked me if Joe, Range, and Connor would be willing to dress up and dance around the stage while they performed at the Comedy Club this afternoon. So I sent the boys a text and very quickly had a unanimous response of YES! So they came and met up with me and Popple to figure out what they were doing! We met up with Chelsea and Kevin along with Jim's crew for the Comedy Club! Which, yes, was very comedic! The boys did what they do best - be silly and goofy and danced behind Popple! Definitely a high light for me - as for them too I believe! We made reservations at a restaurant for dinner tonight with Jim's crew at a place called "Bull Dog." It was good and we laughed a lot!! Then off to the closing general session and Mass. We had nose bleed seats - but we had a great view! Mass was of course - incredible! A few hundred priests, deacons and Bishops and 20,000+ teens all praying and worshiping together - can we say CHILLS?
All in all it's been an incredible 4 days. Emotional, humbling, Christ Centered, prayerful, and fun! These are 5 leaders. 5 Cream of the Crop. 5 faith filled, Christ loving, CATHOLIC Teens. 5 teens who are going to change the world. 5 teens who touch my life. 5 teens who bring tears to my eyes when I look into their eyes - because their eyes twinkle with God's love. I can see into their hearts - hearts that are on FIRE for Our Lord. Hearts that want to do good, hearts that want to grow in relationship with Christ, hearts that want to make a difference, hearts that love, hearts that break, hearts that are soooo very large, hearts that are carefully wrapped and loved and held by Our Father. 5 teens who have left imprints on my heart that will never ever go away. 5 teens who I firmly believe represent their peers. 5 teens that will come back to St. John's renewed, alive and ready to lead their peers. 5 teens who ARE the Church - not of tomorrow - but of TODAY. 5 teens who represent and remind me daily why I do what I do. I received the most backwards compliment tonight from one of them during our processing of the conference. They were talking about how it has been an awesome 4 days.. but that they felt like something was missing. That they were still craving/looking for something. An analogy was used. It was said that it's like they are in AP Calc, but this weekend they were taking Pre-Algebra Classes. They were looking for the AP classes - or the upper level college courses. I layed there on the floor diverting my eyes to hide the tears that were quickly forming, I said a prayer of thanksgiving. That was the BEST compliment I could ever have gotten. I've done my job. I've done exactly what i had set out to do - grow teens closer to Christ. Lead teens into personal relationships with Christ. Not just be fun and games and a prayer here or there... but authentic prayer, depth of our faith, getting dirty in our faith, getting in deep waters with Christ. If they leave with anything from this week - I know in my heart they are leaving knowing that they are on the right path; that they are leaps and bounds ahead of their peers; that Christ is their friend - and that they have 5 other people who have experienced the exact same weekend as they did and are trying to live the life that Christ is calling them to live. That they have a Youth Minister who loves them, cares deeply about them, believes in them, prayers for them, and regardless where I am - close by or far away - a youth minister they can call a friend - a youth minister who is always there for them - a youth minister whose life is better because they are in it.
To Jenn, Tom, Andrea, Dan, Joan, Joe, Julie, Keith and Terrie: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for raising such AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, INSPIRING, FUNNY, LOVING, CARING, AUTHENTIC teenagers. It is because of YOU that they have the foundations that they have to build upon. It is because of you and your love and your support and encouragement that they are growing into being the most amazing young men and women. It is through you that they experience God's love first hand day in and day out. Because of you - my life is better.
To Chelsea, Connor, Joe, Kevin, and Rangeley: THANK YOU for this NCYC. Thank you for being the incredible teens you are. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for saying "Yes" to the call to lead. Thank you for trusting me to take you on this faith journey. Thank you for touching my heart day in and day out. Thank you for showing me God's love. Thank you for being the Face of Christ, the hands of Christ, the feet of Christ and having a servants heart. I love you guys!
Thanks to everyone who's been following our journey and praying for us! Know we've been praying for you all every single day - lots of times a day! You've been lifted up in prayers of thanksgiving this whole time!!
Pictures and more reflection posts to come..... Time for bed... 6:15 comes in about 4 hours! See you all once we're home! God love you all!
First, WOW WOW WOW!! These teens are absolutely INCREDIBLE! It has been a dream of mine since I experienced my first NCYC in November of 2007 in Columbus, OH to take a group of teens! And this dream has come true and WAAAYYY surpassed all my hopes for it! I have had a VERY humbling last 4 days. Very humbling. I was walking back from the morning general session this morning with Connor and Chelsea and I asked them what their favorite thing was so far about NCYC. They rattled off Matt Maher, to adoration, to doing "the wave" at the Sprint center (which I can't help but call - the Spirit Center!), to the Eucharistic Procession, to just being with 23,000 other Catholic Teens just like them. I loved my walk this morning with them - I loved listening to them rattle awesome things off and hear them laugh about everything that's happened. My heart was smiling listening to them talk. Then Chelsea turned the table onto me. "What's been your favorite thing Kate?" Hmmmmm... I wasn't expecting that! (Usually I ask, they answer!) I took a little bit to think. I agreed with all they said! Matt Maher was INCREDIBLE, adoration at XLT was awesome, Mike Patin was an incredible speaker, the Popple concert at KC Live was amazing... but as cheesy as it sounds... my favorite has been experiencing this whole experience along side 5 of the most incredible teens! It's been awesome to be right there in the moment with them while at the same time being able to sit back and watch. It makes me wish that I could have worn a secret hidden camera all weekend so that I could show you all what I get the privilege to be a witness too and to be a party of.
So a quick recap - Wednesday was travel day - and a long one at that. After a little "lost wallet" panic - we were off to Kansas City via Detroit! I've flown numerous times being responsible for teens and i've got to say - this has been the easiest! Once we arrived in Kansas City and after waiting about an hour for our bus to pick us up we settled into the Drury Inn! A late night Denny's stop was in order as we were very hungry! Thursday brought a later morning (for the kids - I still had to get up for an adult meeting!) We loaded the buses (all of Region 1 is staying at the hotel - so it's 2 coach buses and a 12 passenger van that take us to and from the conference each day.) Once at the Convention Center it was off to see POPPLE at the Popple booth first! Dan and Kyle are good friends and have come to know many of our teens - including 4 out of the 5 with us! We hung out with them a little, the we wandered the Reign Forrest - it was FREE gift time! :) We sat and ate lunch together and wandered some more. Then we grabbed dinner, courtesy of Kathy Stebbins and the Office of New Evangelization in Boston (thanks Kathy!) Then we went to the Opening General Session in the Ballroom. It was a great night! I got to stand and watch them all dance and sing and laugh and smile and meet new people and be the crazy goofy kids that I know them to be! It brought tears to my eyes... (which isn't too difficult these days!) Then we loaded the buses and came back to the hotel. We headed to Denny's again for desserts - which took forever and a day... so we made a pact that we wouldn't head back to Denny's again! HAHA! Friday morning came very quickly! It was our first morning at the Sprint Center and that was a site for everyone!! Over 20,000 teens in 1 building praying and singing together is a HUGE site in itself! (I promise - I'll post the pics very soon!) Then off to workshops we went! I headed to "The Bible - the #1 Best Seller" with Rangeley. Mark Hart was the presenter and he's known as "the Bible Geek." I've heard him a few times before and he is dynamic! He has a way to bring the Bible alive!! We all met up afterwards to each lunch and then we went all together to XLT (Lifeteen's version of LIFT!) Matt Maher was doing the music and Paul George was the speaker. All around an AMAZING experience! Then we all went to Hall B for Mike Patin's session on Athletes and Faith. Mike is yet another dynamic speaker and a good friend of Jim Flanagan's. Popple also was the warm up band for Mike! A good time had by all! Then we went down into KC Lights for dinner... after wandering in and out of restaurants for about a 1/2 hour we finally found a restaurant that had less than a 30 minute wait. Johnny's Tavern it was and boy it was yummy!! :) Then off to the general session for the evening! Jason and Crystalina Evertt were the keynotes and they were amazing to say the least! I honestly wondered how our kids were going to like them cause they've all heard them before since Jason comes to our parish every other year! But they all LOVED them! Then back to the hotel (this time I was armed with Oreo's, EL Fudgekins, and chips ahoy so no Denny's for us!) The kids have been great (as you've been reading) about blogging! They are really thinking about it and taking it to heart! (Although I never fathomed how long it would take them to blog each night!)
And onto Saturday. Last morning general session - where they all learned "The Catholic Dance!" Ask them when you see them! They'll show you it!! :) Then they went off to their workshops - most went to Bishop Round Tables - Joe went to a session on Super Hero's - our Catholic Saints! What did I go to? Well, I spent the morning meeting with Catholic Heart Workcamp higher-ups, and wandering the Reign Forrest to find just the right gift for each teen. I also helped out at the Popple booth - cause man are they popular and very very busy!! (yeah popple!!) The kids met me when they were done for lunch. After lunch they all went off to their last workshops on Discernment themes. I had yet to find the PERFECT gift so I stayed at the Popple booth and planned to wander some more. But Dan Harms (of popple) "misplaced" his Ukulele so his Girlfriend, Meghan, and I went on a little wild goose chase to find it! And find it we did (well Kyle did!) - in their booth of all places! Go figure! haha! I did finally figure out what to get them all... it went over pretty well tonight too if I do say so myself! Ask them what they got when you see them next! Kyle asked me if Joe, Range, and Connor would be willing to dress up and dance around the stage while they performed at the Comedy Club this afternoon. So I sent the boys a text and very quickly had a unanimous response of YES! So they came and met up with me and Popple to figure out what they were doing! We met up with Chelsea and Kevin along with Jim's crew for the Comedy Club! Which, yes, was very comedic! The boys did what they do best - be silly and goofy and danced behind Popple! Definitely a high light for me - as for them too I believe! We made reservations at a restaurant for dinner tonight with Jim's crew at a place called "Bull Dog." It was good and we laughed a lot!! Then off to the closing general session and Mass. We had nose bleed seats - but we had a great view! Mass was of course - incredible! A few hundred priests, deacons and Bishops and 20,000+ teens all praying and worshiping together - can we say CHILLS?
All in all it's been an incredible 4 days. Emotional, humbling, Christ Centered, prayerful, and fun! These are 5 leaders. 5 Cream of the Crop. 5 faith filled, Christ loving, CATHOLIC Teens. 5 teens who are going to change the world. 5 teens who touch my life. 5 teens who bring tears to my eyes when I look into their eyes - because their eyes twinkle with God's love. I can see into their hearts - hearts that are on FIRE for Our Lord. Hearts that want to do good, hearts that want to grow in relationship with Christ, hearts that want to make a difference, hearts that love, hearts that break, hearts that are soooo very large, hearts that are carefully wrapped and loved and held by Our Father. 5 teens who have left imprints on my heart that will never ever go away. 5 teens who I firmly believe represent their peers. 5 teens that will come back to St. John's renewed, alive and ready to lead their peers. 5 teens who ARE the Church - not of tomorrow - but of TODAY. 5 teens who represent and remind me daily why I do what I do. I received the most backwards compliment tonight from one of them during our processing of the conference. They were talking about how it has been an awesome 4 days.. but that they felt like something was missing. That they were still craving/looking for something. An analogy was used. It was said that it's like they are in AP Calc, but this weekend they were taking Pre-Algebra Classes. They were looking for the AP classes - or the upper level college courses. I layed there on the floor diverting my eyes to hide the tears that were quickly forming, I said a prayer of thanksgiving. That was the BEST compliment I could ever have gotten. I've done my job. I've done exactly what i had set out to do - grow teens closer to Christ. Lead teens into personal relationships with Christ. Not just be fun and games and a prayer here or there... but authentic prayer, depth of our faith, getting dirty in our faith, getting in deep waters with Christ. If they leave with anything from this week - I know in my heart they are leaving knowing that they are on the right path; that they are leaps and bounds ahead of their peers; that Christ is their friend - and that they have 5 other people who have experienced the exact same weekend as they did and are trying to live the life that Christ is calling them to live. That they have a Youth Minister who loves them, cares deeply about them, believes in them, prayers for them, and regardless where I am - close by or far away - a youth minister they can call a friend - a youth minister who is always there for them - a youth minister whose life is better because they are in it.
To Jenn, Tom, Andrea, Dan, Joan, Joe, Julie, Keith and Terrie: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for raising such AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, INSPIRING, FUNNY, LOVING, CARING, AUTHENTIC teenagers. It is because of YOU that they have the foundations that they have to build upon. It is because of you and your love and your support and encouragement that they are growing into being the most amazing young men and women. It is through you that they experience God's love first hand day in and day out. Because of you - my life is better.
To Chelsea, Connor, Joe, Kevin, and Rangeley: THANK YOU for this NCYC. Thank you for being the incredible teens you are. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for saying "Yes" to the call to lead. Thank you for trusting me to take you on this faith journey. Thank you for touching my heart day in and day out. Thank you for showing me God's love. Thank you for being the Face of Christ, the hands of Christ, the feet of Christ and having a servants heart. I love you guys!
Thanks to everyone who's been following our journey and praying for us! Know we've been praying for you all every single day - lots of times a day! You've been lifted up in prayers of thanksgiving this whole time!!
Pictures and more reflection posts to come..... Time for bed... 6:15 comes in about 4 hours! See you all once we're home! God love you all!
My Final Day
So today was our final day here. Looking back on this day, it was more of a really fun day than anything else. With yesterday probably being my spiritual high point, I used today to wrap up and process in my mind fully what happened to me over this weekend.
Today I had a few cool experiencs. Well today it started off great today because there was breakfast even when we thought there wasn't going to be. First, I went to a roundtable with a Bishop, Bishop Johnston. It was really cool hearing about how a man so devout to his faith struggles in his own faith. He told us that even the Pope goes to confession, something that makes sense but something i never really thought about.
After that i planned to go to a seminar on taking my faith to collegee life and moving on after high school. We were there for half of the seminar when me, Range, and Joe got a great great text from Kate. The text asked if we would want to dress up in animal costumes and dance on the stage during a Popple set...there was no hesitation in our minds.
With over 3,000 people in the audience, Joe (in a blow up bull costume), Rangeley (in a kitten headress/hat thingy), and me (in a blow up deer costume) went up and ran/bounced/danced around on stage behind Popple during their renditions of the Cotton Eye Joe and The Lion King theme song. It was so much fun and a good time i will never forget.
Dinner was great and then we went to general session. Nothing major happened at general session other than the awesome mass. Seeins so many Bishops, Priests, Seminarians, and Deacons all residing over that mass while over 20,000 people went to the same mass at the smae time was amazong. There is no better ending than that. Mass was the kiln to the clay that was molded throughout the weekend. The mass solidified our ties and solidified all we did while we were here.
I've learned a lot, and we as Catholics need to continue learning. The sad things that someone in our group was asked "are there even catholics in MA?". That shows that we need to keep growing strong as a group and make the mark on this world that we can. There is a new evangelization in the works, we are all gears, we are all instruments in the movement, and we need to work together for this movement to work. God is in all that we are, the good and the bad. God is in our hopes, dreams, wants, fears, loves. God pushes out every tear we cry, while at the same time he pulls the strings that lift our mouths into smiles. When you wake up in the morning, God brightens up the world with the sun, then helps you ease into sleep with the moon. We were made in his image, and we all have that joy hidden in us somewhere that God is waiting to pull out of us. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.
Thank you all for reading these blogs. Thank you to all who made this possible, you've truly changed lives. Love you all!
Love you and God Bless,
Connor Wilkins
Today I had a few cool experiencs. Well today it started off great today because there was breakfast even when we thought there wasn't going to be. First, I went to a roundtable with a Bishop, Bishop Johnston. It was really cool hearing about how a man so devout to his faith struggles in his own faith. He told us that even the Pope goes to confession, something that makes sense but something i never really thought about.
After that i planned to go to a seminar on taking my faith to collegee life and moving on after high school. We were there for half of the seminar when me, Range, and Joe got a great great text from Kate. The text asked if we would want to dress up in animal costumes and dance on the stage during a Popple set...there was no hesitation in our minds.
With over 3,000 people in the audience, Joe (in a blow up bull costume), Rangeley (in a kitten headress/hat thingy), and me (in a blow up deer costume) went up and ran/bounced/danced around on stage behind Popple during their renditions of the Cotton Eye Joe and The Lion King theme song. It was so much fun and a good time i will never forget.
Dinner was great and then we went to general session. Nothing major happened at general session other than the awesome mass. Seeins so many Bishops, Priests, Seminarians, and Deacons all residing over that mass while over 20,000 people went to the same mass at the smae time was amazong. There is no better ending than that. Mass was the kiln to the clay that was molded throughout the weekend. The mass solidified our ties and solidified all we did while we were here.
I've learned a lot, and we as Catholics need to continue learning. The sad things that someone in our group was asked "are there even catholics in MA?". That shows that we need to keep growing strong as a group and make the mark on this world that we can. There is a new evangelization in the works, we are all gears, we are all instruments in the movement, and we need to work together for this movement to work. God is in all that we are, the good and the bad. God is in our hopes, dreams, wants, fears, loves. God pushes out every tear we cry, while at the same time he pulls the strings that lift our mouths into smiles. When you wake up in the morning, God brightens up the world with the sun, then helps you ease into sleep with the moon. We were made in his image, and we all have that joy hidden in us somewhere that God is waiting to pull out of us. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.
Thank you all for reading these blogs. Thank you to all who made this possible, you've truly changed lives. Love you all!
Love you and God Bless,
Connor Wilkins
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Pray Learn Unity Serve
today was an early morning but it was so worth every last second of it!! we started with opening program which lead into an adoration procession from the Sprint Center back into the convention center. every person marched some in song, some in prayer, some in good spirits, but all in reverence to Jesus. getting towards the convention center and looking behind seeing all the people of the young church was spectacular. i have never seen some many people march for the same purpose. its like taking all the people in Time Square and telling the them to march. its an once in a life time thing to see.
then the workshops started. i went to one call bishop's round table. which is were a bishop comes and talks to a group of youth. in the one i went to i had an Arch-Bishop from Omaha, Nebraska. sadly i forget his name but he was a newly Arch-Bishop and he answered some of the questions that the different kids had. like questions about what is it like being a bishop, is it easy to be a bishop, what qualities nominated for the new position.
next the group and i went to XLT. which is like Lift. which is where a band plays and there is a speaker and adoration to wrap up and some more music played for a bit. the band was Matt Maher. who is an amazing musician.
then the last workshop of the day was done by a man named Mike Patin. it was about faith and sports. how the two are and can be connected. every catholic and athlete can add or to their faith or to theirs efforts to the game. add or P.L.U.S. which stands for Pray, get some sort of quiet time to focus, positive visualisation on what is going to happen, on the game at hand or in our faith. Learn, always learning to improve our poor performance and always learning in our faith. Unity, community, coming together as one as a team and as a church. Serve, serving ourselves to become better athletes and better catholics.
the closing was amazing. at one point a performer was singing a slowish song and asked for everyone to take out their cell phones and wave them around. the sight of 2,000 plus cell phones in the Sprint Center was breathe taking. the lighter's of the 21st century. and to add to the fun the MC had us do the wave in slow motion. which surprisingly was really cool.
cant wait for tomorrow. looking forward to new experiences and finding out more knowledge of my faith.
-peace and love...good night
then the workshops started. i went to one call bishop's round table. which is were a bishop comes and talks to a group of youth. in the one i went to i had an Arch-Bishop from Omaha, Nebraska. sadly i forget his name but he was a newly Arch-Bishop and he answered some of the questions that the different kids had. like questions about what is it like being a bishop, is it easy to be a bishop, what qualities nominated for the new position.
next the group and i went to XLT. which is like Lift. which is where a band plays and there is a speaker and adoration to wrap up and some more music played for a bit. the band was Matt Maher. who is an amazing musician.
then the last workshop of the day was done by a man named Mike Patin. it was about faith and sports. how the two are and can be connected. every catholic and athlete can add or to their faith or to theirs efforts to the game. add or P.L.U.S. which stands for Pray, get some sort of quiet time to focus, positive visualisation on what is going to happen, on the game at hand or in our faith. Learn, always learning to improve our poor performance and always learning in our faith. Unity, community, coming together as one as a team and as a church. Serve, serving ourselves to become better athletes and better catholics.
the closing was amazing. at one point a performer was singing a slowish song and asked for everyone to take out their cell phones and wave them around. the sight of 2,000 plus cell phones in the Sprint Center was breathe taking. the lighter's of the 21st century. and to add to the fun the MC had us do the wave in slow motion. which surprisingly was really cool.
cant wait for tomorrow. looking forward to new experiences and finding out more knowledge of my faith.
-peace and love...good night
fantastic friday
okay, for those of you following, sorry about last nights post. We lost Internet connection halfway through my typing and the entire post was lost. And by the time we realized it was way to late to rewrite it all. so for that, i'm sorry
I'm having a great time here in Kansas city. the sheer scope of this event surprises and amazes me over and over again. as you've read or will read in the other guy's posts we had a busy, busy day. Opening ceremony in the sprint center, procession, workshops, xlt, popple, and Matt Maher. whew, that's a choc full day of deliciousness!
Although I enjoyed everything today, the thing that really hit me the most was the procession form morning ceremony in the Sprint Center to the Convention center. Being a part of the crowd as we took the streets behind the monstrance. Bam! it hit me. just like our faith is one. The father son and holy spirit. Us youth are one. One voice to show the world that Christ is present working in all of us. Trust me, the goosebumps I kept getting while I walked weren't because I was cold. It was as if I could feel the energy of the crowd running through me.
Another part of the day that moved me was hearing a talk given by the Everett's. Jason, and Crystalina Everett are two great speakers who spread the word about cherishing chastity and pure love. I've heard Jason talk before in middle school and in our confirmation program tonight was a great refresher for me. The message that stuck with me is that I should treat every girl how I would want any guy to treat my future bride. I'll admit it I pray for my future wife, wherever she is every so often. Its kind of a mind blowing concept thinking about what your future spouse may be doing right now. Where she might be. Who she might know. Pretty cool. Mostly tonight gave me a chance to mentally re-state where I stand on love. I believe in pure love. And my prayer tonight is for the purity and chastity of those on this pilgrimage, and for my future spouse, who ever, where ever, that she is living her life in Christ.
Tomorrow will come soon, so I''m off to get some rest. Can't wait for sunrise. We are off bright and early tomorrow. whoo! praise Jesus!
Peace,
Rangeley
I'm having a great time here in Kansas city. the sheer scope of this event surprises and amazes me over and over again. as you've read or will read in the other guy's posts we had a busy, busy day. Opening ceremony in the sprint center, procession, workshops, xlt, popple, and Matt Maher. whew, that's a choc full day of deliciousness!
Although I enjoyed everything today, the thing that really hit me the most was the procession form morning ceremony in the Sprint Center to the Convention center. Being a part of the crowd as we took the streets behind the monstrance. Bam! it hit me. just like our faith is one. The father son and holy spirit. Us youth are one. One voice to show the world that Christ is present working in all of us. Trust me, the goosebumps I kept getting while I walked weren't because I was cold. It was as if I could feel the energy of the crowd running through me.
Another part of the day that moved me was hearing a talk given by the Everett's. Jason, and Crystalina Everett are two great speakers who spread the word about cherishing chastity and pure love. I've heard Jason talk before in middle school and in our confirmation program tonight was a great refresher for me. The message that stuck with me is that I should treat every girl how I would want any guy to treat my future bride. I'll admit it I pray for my future wife, wherever she is every so often. Its kind of a mind blowing concept thinking about what your future spouse may be doing right now. Where she might be. Who she might know. Pretty cool. Mostly tonight gave me a chance to mentally re-state where I stand on love. I believe in pure love. And my prayer tonight is for the purity and chastity of those on this pilgrimage, and for my future spouse, who ever, where ever, that she is living her life in Christ.
Tomorrow will come soon, so I''m off to get some rest. Can't wait for sunrise. We are off bright and early tomorrow. whoo! praise Jesus!
Peace,
Rangeley
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