A Week Like No Other

               

The priest at the parish appreciated us so much
he took us to see Monastery Ruins!! Visiting Monastery Ruins
is probably my main love language ;)

              Well the Irish Road Team is up in Donegal. We just had a visit with our supervisors which included some very interesting team building games involving survival, fake broken legs, and Irish hills. ANYWAY….

                This last week was very different. We were brought into some parishes in some of the rural areas of Ireland where the priests thought their parishes needed revitalization. After all we are the National Evangelization Teams, so we evangelize! It ended up being a 1^st Week of Advent Parish Mission. Yay! So, we arrived at the town and learned our schedule: 6 school visits and 5 parish mission nights in 5 days!! Easy time, right? Well the first twist was that 5 of the 6 school visits would be at Primary Schools. For those of you who don’t know, Primary School is the equivalent of Elementary School in the United States. Further twist: some of the schools were so small that there was only one class for every student aged 4 to 12. How do we evangelize to such a diverse group of maturity levels at one time? The next twist was one we’d have no idea about until we actually arrived about the missions each night, but we had no idea who was going to show up. What age would our crowd be, especially with talks aimed generally for 13-year-olds? We ended up have a crowd of almost entirely older churchgoers, so it was an adjustment to make sure our program was age appropriate.

                Now the mission went very well! Fiona, one of the team leaders, enjoys doing Evangelization with younger students and is really good at it! She was able to take the lead most of the time at primary schools and make the visits successful. We taught the kids games, introduced songs, and just showed them who we are. Sometimes the best witness we can give is just showing that there are people out there who love Jesus. Then each night of the parish mission went well. People showed up, which is of course the first challenge, and there was good feedback after each night. When the parish offered tea afterwards, most everybody stayed and talked with us. Different aspects of the mission were received well, and the contact priest said that he saw life in the parishes for the first time in a while. I think he had a hard time watching us go when the week was over, and the feeling was completely mutual.

                All of this is good… and amazing. We loved our time there even though it was challenging and different. However, that segued well into the visit with our supervisors. During the week, we started having a lot of the typical questions of what are we doing? We’re youth ministers… we’re not equipped for this. Why are we doing this? Why are we here?

                That was the main theme of this visit. We were challenged to look at our motivation for being here. Our motivation for getting up one more morning and say prayer, and then to go to that new host home and change beds for the third time in the week. The thing I never did grasp until I actually joined NET is that Missionaries are human. It sounds silly, but think about it: often we think about people who have given their all to Jesus and think they must have superhuman power to do it. I can assure you we do: His name is the Holy Spirit. But since it’s the exact same Holy Spirit every other Catholic has it’s not as though we’re extraordinary human beings. So in that sense we have all the struggles any of you think you’d have during the year. We even have struggles that none of us anticipated. Yet we are called to get up in the morning to do ministry.

                So why? We went back to the basics to try to discover why each of us individually is here. A lot of us concluded that no matter what we do, we can’t run from God forever. He wants each and every one of us here on team. No exceptions. I know I have experienced that personally. I thought about NET for two years, but it never left my heart. I think Jesus was going to bug me in the most loving way possible until I gave in and did it. Thankfully, I do want to be here. I love it. I tend to be very mission oriented, and my mind goes in line with the Newman quote at the bottom of the page. We all have our mission. We may not know it in this life, but we’ll find out in the next. I really believe my mission has to do with conversions of youth. With helping to bring teens to Jesus, perhaps especially here in Europe. I’m not sure exactly how, but I guess that’s partially where faith comes in for the moment. Either way, I’ll know when I get to the next life. Let’s just hope that I’ve fulfilled it, and lived life to the full, when it comes.

NETTERS from 3 different teams in unity. This life is hard,

but if this isn't living life to the full I don't know what is.

United Arab Emirates - Sharing the Faith

              

Hello everybody! Here's a quick little picture of when we went to the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi! The scarf is mine, but the rest is a little outfit they gave us girls to cover us.

             And just like that our time in the Middle East is over. My team and I just returned to Ireland a few days ago, and we’re happy. Like we like being back here and some of us even missed the rain and cold. Still, leaving for me was a very heart-wrenching experience. We had the chance to meet so many amazing, inspiring, and generous people. We were all inspired by the communities who have been persecuted Catholics for generations. We were spoiled by many of our contact people… like one lady even took us out to the Dubai Mall and the Aquarium!!!! The generosity we’ve experienced in general has been absolutely astonishing, but we saw it in a whole new way in the Middle East. Then of course, it was incredible hosting a retreat for 800 teens and showing them what Mercy and Love mean! Based on the number that flocked to confession, I know they were impacted in an amazing way. And we even had social media there in the form of Evangesoul! Look them up… they’re great!!!!!

                Yet we faced many logistical challenges just being in a Muslim country. There’s the obvious one of not being allowed to talk about the faith outside church compounds, and so needing to host TUFF at a church. The thing is, I think we could have filled a larger facility if it was legal to do that. Furthermore, which I only realized this after talking with family, friends, and the team yesterday, but we had a lot of days off. Why? Well the weekend in the UAE is Friday and Saturday. So obviously, we could work with catechism classes and have a crowd. Or we could have a retreat and expect people to show up. Other than that, we were working on the church grounds on week days and nights, which did work. We had great turnouts at night. However, in Ireland most of our ministry is based in Catholic schools. For obvious reasons, there are not as many Catholic schools in the UAE. And even if there was a Catholic school to go to, even if a school could hold a mini-retreat for the day, they had to have an alternate activity for non-Christian students. As in there would be government troubles if they did not.

                What a completely different perspective from the United States! While we’re not supposed to have too many religious functions at public schools, most states let us have them. Then schools of any religious affiliation are allowed to have events that are specific to their own faith without being forced to go through hoops.

                I imagine most people reading this blog live in a country where they can speak out about Jesus. We’re allowed to talk about him on the street. So, why don’t we? It can be scary. Like sometimes I’m afraid to do that. We’re afraid of offending somebody. The thing is, I just came from a country where we could not openly grace ourselves before meals in public. Jesus is the best thing we can possibly talk to people about, and we should be doing that! We have the freedom; we have the liberty. We need to do it with gentleness, probably more in context of describing a reason for our joy than just narrating the events of the gospel, but we need to do it!

                How can we start? Let’s just start saying grace before meals in public. Like when you go out for lunch, pause and say a prayer. Make a Sign of the Cross, especially if you’re Catholic. It’s very small and very simple, but it’s something I’m so thankful to be able to do again.

               Again, thank you for reading!!!! If you haven't yet, I invite you to follow the NET Ireland Road Team Facebook page. We're a bit better at updating that than I am at updating this blog. However, don't forget to follow this blog! You do that by scrolling all the way down and typing your email in the provided box. As well, if you haven't partnered with me yet, consider that too! It is through the generosity of everybody that all of this is possible!!!!!

That One Time in Muscat

                Sorry for the delay in posting. I know I left the last post in a suspenseful note, so hopefully everybody made it over to the Facebook page to see what’s up! However, now it’s time for an explanation:

                TUFF stands for Teens United For Faith. It’s a 2-day Catholic Conference that’s put on in the Vicariate of Southern Arabia. Yes, you read correctly: Southern Arabia. I’m in the Middle East! I bet you didn’t think we’d be putting on retreats around the world, did you? It certainly didn’t cross my mind until I found out I was on the road team. It's something I've been excited about since I found out it was a reality, but I've been holding it back to announce specially right now!!

                Anyway, our first TUFF took place in Muscat, Oman. It’s safe for us to be here, but we’re not supposed to identify ourselves as missionaries. Evangelizing to a Muslim here is actually a felony. Disclaimer: we’re not. We’re putting on retreats for people who are already Catholic because that’s what the New Evangelization is. The New Evangelization is when we step back and realize that sometimes we Catholic need someone to tell us about Christ. So knowing that, I’ll continue.

                We had a few days before our first retreat to prep and then it was time to go! I’ll tell you, it was incredible just to seen the hundreds of teens come in and start taking their seats. So far I think our biggest retreat has been 120, and there were at least 350 here. I placed myself at the door and pretty much just started saying hi to them as they all came in. It’s a pretty simple job, but it was a good place for me to be. We started with our opening songs, which I love and were cool but the teens were pretty quiet. The day continued and we had several talks, dramas, testimonies, and just fun things. I finally got to give my talk over Pope Francis, and it’s so incredible to give it to over 300 teens! Even better, they were opening up more throughout the day. I distinctly remember being backstage waiting for a drama and seeing teens dance to the music onstage. That is something I have not seen since back in high school. It made me so happy, partially for nostalgia and partially because you could see the teens responding. It was all for Jesus!

                That was the first day. The second day was a little hectic with some scheduling stuff, but the teens didn’t notice anything was up. They simply enjoyed the day, and let everything coming their way sink in. I’ve had conversations with some of them that I do not think I would have had in any part of the world. The faith is already alive here, I’m just hoping in some small way we’re able to make it more personal. I think that did happen. At the end of the retreat, teens from each of the parishes involved came up and spoke about what happened to them. A few teens during the course of the retreat talked about an internal change, and how they felt a relief that was new. Then others had a whole new perspective of what retreats would be. One young man in particular said that he was expecting it to be a boring weekend and that they’d be sitting around doing nothing most of the time. Just with my own experiences, I find it very sad that anybody would think a retreat would be sitting around and having a classroom-like atmosphere. For me, and this is what I learned in high school, retreats are a time where you get a little closer to Jesus. It's almost like a little extra charge to get through life.

                That’s one of the things that changed my own life as a teen. The first time I ever went to a Catholic retreat, I was not looking forward to it. I thought it was going to be dumb. But the second I walked through the doors and heard the praise and worship music, I knew I was in for something good. Now, I feel privileged to be a part of a team and community that does that for others. We are able to do so much, but we’re doing it all for the love of Christ!

                We still have a lot of ministry to do, so keep praying for me and hopefully I’ll be able to update soon!!!!!

St. Edmund's College, Ware

Guess where the events of this post take place?

          

Hey y’all! So I decided to have a whole post over the school we just finished in London just because it was absolutely incredible.

                So we all pulled up to the school, and I think I speak for my whole team when I say that our jaws dropped. It’s such a nice school… just the grounds and buildings and everything were so beautiful that we were all impressed. Our contact person, Paula, came out and greeted us and we had a whole building for our retreats! Based on other retreats we’d done with just small rooms, it’s nice when we can go outside and separate a few groups. It helps with the noise level.

                The day continued and we had our next important segment: lunch. The food at that school was SO GOOD! Each day a few students took us down to the dining hall to where we would be eating. We had mac-n-cheese, roast, curry, and sausages among other foods and all of it was SO GOOD! Like so many of us just talked to the students about their food. They probably thought it was a bit odd, but that’s ok.

                One of the coolest things about the school itself was, well, the school itself. It was founded in the 16^th century when it was illegal to be Catholic in England. So they went to France and founded the school as a seminary for priests to go to and to be formed in a place that would be safe. Yet when it was done, they would go back to this hostile environment, and many of them were killed upon arrival. Then entrance of the school has the names of 30 plus priests who were martyred, and many are now Blesseds and Saints in the Church!! Then the school returned to England when things had cooled down, but France started its anti-Catholic revolution. As a missionary, it’s really cool to see how many people have come through this school with a zeal for the mission even though it was pretty much a death sentence. Like at St. Edmund’s in France and the British Seminary in Rome, graduating priests would sing funeral hymns during graduation because they knew going back home could certainly mean death. Yet they did it anyway. That courage inspires me, and I know still inspires the school today. They proudly wear this Catholic heritage, from relics in the chapel to images of martyrs on the stained glass windows on the chapel.

Half of the alumni martyrs at this school... at least the beatified/canonized ones

                It’s very interesting to see the students at a strongly rooted Catholic school in the midst of secular England. The entire team was impressed with the Catholic atmosphere of the school; many of us have attended Catholic schools that have not really remained true to their Catholic identity. Yet St. Edmund’s has… they even had an explanation for why Catholics don’t eat meat on Friday on their wall! Then the students were incredible. Whenever I started small group in prayer, all of them did the sign of the cross immediately even though I know many were not Catholic. They also were very good at taking initiative and opening small group in prayer when I asked them to. Every single small group that week was great, and honestly more than I was expecting. Please continue to, pray for them and for everything they have experienced just to grow!

                St. Edmund’s puts on NET retreats for the students from their first year to the year before the last, so five different grade levels got retreats. Sometimes we can think about how these teens are getting the same retreat each year, which yes there’s definitely similar elements to each retreat. We have similar dramas and games. But I think it’s like lighting a candle. Sometimes it’ll take a few tries to actually ignite the candle, but it’s worth it each and every time we try.

                Again, thank y’all for reading! As always, continue to pray for me and the teens we’re impacting! If you haven’t done so already, partner with me! Everything I do is made possible by generosity of people all over the world. I have the link posted at the bottom of this page, so go down there and join me this year! Next post will be about a series of retreats we’re doing in a very different area than any we’ve experienced so far. Let’s just say it’s been… TUFF……… For more details look on the NET Ireland Road Team Facebook page.

The small figures right above the tabernacle

Spiritual Warfare on the Road

               Well I can say I didn’t think I’d be writing this post so soon in… BUT….

                So on the NET Irish Road Team spiritual warfare comes in many ways. Sometimes it comes in us feeling down. Sometimes it comes in a difficult retreat. But this week, it has come in quite a few van troubles. So when we were driving from Cavan to Kerry, the clutch in our van decided to break and we were stranded right outside of Athlone for a short amount of time. At first we just stopped and our Team Leaders (who are amazing) got out, talked, and tried to get the van to work. We all prayed our rosaries, prayed over the van, splashed the van with holy water, but nothing. Thankfully, one of the NET Board Members was close by and he helped us get our van serviced. We still had to leave 3 team members back while the other 7 drove on to Kenmare for the next retreat.

Us unloading our van. We looked great on the side of the road.

               A little shaken from both hunger and the idea of leaving a portion of our team behind, 7 of us packed backpacks with basic stuff we needed for the next day and piled into our little black galaxy, which for those of us who do not know what brand that is it’s almost like a mini-van, and began the rest of our 3 hour drive.

                But wait… there’s more….

                We made it to Limerick where we were able to have a delicious KFC Dinner (Lucy’s favorite), but as we kept driving the check engine light came on. We were instructed whenever it came on to just pull over and stop the vehicle, reset, and then keep driving. We did that, but the engine light came on maybe fifteen minutes later. So we pulled over again. And again. Eventually it decided not to reset and the check engine light was consistently on. We were all a bit on edge and wondering if God even wanted us at this retreat.

                Rest assured he did.

                It was a very difficult retreat, but Jesus was working wonders. Some students said that their lives were changed. Overall, we all felt that we had a very effective prayer ministry. Which is very interesting because I felt about the opposite of the rest of my team. For me it was a very difficult retreat and I was not sure it made a difference, and that is hard to deal with when we’re all so tired and traveled all night to reach a destination.

                The thing I learned from that experience is that Satan does not want us to be here. He does not want us to put on these retreats, and if we have to fine but he wants each one to discourage us. He wants to bring us down. He wants to bring us down because what we’re doing is so incredibly important. We are bringing youth to Christ. Every single soul we are able to show Jesus to at the retreats is important, even if it is one singular soul. In the case of this team, spiritual warfare might look from anything as simple to car troubles to even individual team members feeling anxious about something. I can assure you that all of the above have happened.

                Again, thanks for reading. I think the honeymoon stage of our journey is over, so please keep all of us in your prayers!!

We all had a night out in Kenmare. PS: This is my team y'all!

              PS: I'm just going to have another quick update because I wrote this post about 2 weeks ago and it's just now getting published. Missionary life!! But thus far we've been traveling for two and a half weeks and have done retreats almost every week day. It's been incredible just to see the lives touched and it's only the beginning! Please continue to pray for us, and I'll write more about this in the future.

Good day everybody!

Sorry it’s been so long since posting… training has been crazy and there hasn’t been wifi. AHHH!!!

Just kidding.

It’s actually been a really good sacrifice. You’re able to invest a little more in training and focus on growing as a team. Which when these are the people you’ll be living with for a year, it’s really important.

There’s definitely been certain struggles, but there are a few important things I’ve learned from each aspect of training. I’ll start with music training:

I arrived in Ireland a week early with the other musicians to do training, and it was partially overwhelming and partially humbling. I did not come in with as much music experience as other people, but I was looking forward to learning. Then we got there, put our instruments in the other room, and went to the first session.

“We ask you to not touch your instruments today.”

…

…

What?

That made me extremely nervous. I had come to music training for… you know… music training. I really wanted to improve in my instrument. But that happened to be the most important day we had. It was the day when we discovered that the music, even though we want to be good and to improve, is not about us. It’s about praising God and helping the teens reach that same goal. That point was emphasized even more when we had about an hour and a half of prayer and a half hour Mass each day before we even started training. It’s going to be a constant challenge this year, but in the end it’s what this year is all about.
Then we went to initial training where I met everybody who could potentially be teammates this year. With NET we call it brotherhood and sisterhood, which just emphasizes the special relationship we can each create. I found that I loved each and every person, and was really looking forward to teams. The interesting thing was, I was really hoping for a local team, where I would be at one parish and just minister to that community. But there were just a few things I noticed where the road team seemed more appealing. I kept thinking… what if I get put on a not local team? I felt very called to Ireland… so in the end the Scotland Road team was the only one I was not wanting.
Team announcements came very unexpectedly.

It was just a whirlwind of emotions. They called the Irish Road team first per usual. It is the biggest team NET Ireland sends out. They called up several people I had grown close to, and I was thinking that it would be a cool team to be on. Then they called up… ME! I was in legitimate shock. I was not expecting it… and there is one other Courtney serving with NET Ireland this year so I was wondering if I heard the last name right. But I did, and I am officially a member of the Irish Road Team. I look forward to many incredible adventures. The good news is I will be able to see so many places and encounter so many souls who need Jesus. The bad news for blog followers is that I might not be able to post once a week. But I will try!
I cannot thank everybody who has partnered with me enough. I know all of the training and extras with training, like going to the Shrine of Knock and to Galway, are only possible because of y’all. Again, thank you, your work so far has been tremendous and I can’t wait to see how it will impact the teens! If you have not financially partnered with me yet, I invite you to go to the link at the bottom. It’ll take you to the NET USA link, where all of my donations go through. But if you’re from Europe, go to the NET Ireland page to donate.

Again, it has been an amazing experience and it’s only been training! So all things in His Glory, and peace out! <3

 

 

5 Things I've Learned About Fundraising

            As of this second, I will be in Ireland in 3 days! It’s so surreal, and hard to believe that I am about to embark on this journey.

But the NET experience began the second I begun fundraising, which is why I got the blog up and running early. So here are the top 10 things I learned about fundraising:

5.  Persistence Pays: In this instance I mean it literally. There have been people who have expressed interest in partnering with me but it took a few reminders before they donated. It’s not that they don’t care or anything like that, but life goes by fast. Someone has even thanked me for reminders.

4. Time Flies: This ties in with the last point, but I am talking about my personal perspective. My biggest mistake fundraising was that I did nothing during the month of June. Why? Well, I got busy, blinked, and June was over. If you ever start prepping for anything important, don’t just wait until it’s time to go! Before you know it, it will be time.

3.  Who do you know? I do not like living in a world where everything is based on who you know, but seriously: who do you know? Who have you encountered? Do they have an interest in your mission? Ask! The worst that will happen is they won’t respond, and you’re no worse off than before. I wrote a post on this already, but I’m honestly amazed and honored that some people joined my mission this year.

2. It’s Not About the Money. Which sounds really funny to say when I’m writing a blog about fundraising… but it’s not about asking people to throw money at you and run with it. This year with NET I’m going to do something amazing. It’s something that not everybody gets to do, but through the fundraising more people get to be involved. This is why we call it a “partnership.” NET gives updates, and I’m updating personally on my blog, so hopefully everybody learns a little something about the NET experience. Even more importantly, through the fundraising I’m able to ask people for prayers. So many people, even some who don’t know me, are going to be praying for me and the teens next year.

1. God is Generous. And he works through generous people. I knew even before applying to NET that fundraising was going to be a challenge. They actually ask about our fears on different aspects of life on NET, and I went ahead and gave fundraising the maximum score I possible. Now, I am only a few hundred dollars short of my goal. So many people have donated generously to this cause, but I know God is the root of all of it.

Thank you to everybody who has joined me in my mission thus far! If you have not joined financially, I have a link at the bottom. If you have or have not, set a time to pray for me! Request a Mass for me!

My next update will come from Ireland, so God willing I’ll have safe and easy travels!

The Never-ending Adventure

                And I officially only have 17 days until I leave the country for almost a whole year! But my journey does not begin in 17 days... it has been going for years. Many of you know who I am and how I got here, but some of you don’t. Some of you have stumbled across this blog randomly. Some of you heard about me through friends, but perhaps we have never met. Welcome to my blog, and here is my story:

                I have lived in Dallas for fifteen years now, and I have loved it. I am Texan through and through and will miss the Lone Star State when I leave. When we moved here I was homeschooled, but soon entered a private Middle School. My parents wanted me to have a good education, but the primary reason they paid thousands of dollars a year was for me to develop my faith. Unfortunately this did not happen. Whether it was that several aspects of the faith were taught incorrectly or whether there was not a Catholic atmosphere, I would say my faith was much weaker when I left. I had absolutely no interest in Christ, but I knew what I wanted my high school image to be. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be a basketball star. My first week of high school was great.

                And then came the retreat.

                At the beginning of each school year, my home parish of St. Ann’s in Coppell hosts a retreat for the high schoolers. One of our parishioners owns a camp and generously lets High School Ministry use the facilities. My mother, who has been religious since her own conversion when I was four, wanted me to go. As a fourteen-year-old I did not have a choice, but I did not want to go.

                Thank God I did.

                I was certainly not a saint afterward, but it was the first time I thought that maybe church was something worth going to. I finally had a reliable group of friends who made me want to be better. Nothing changed in my life, but I had a good enough reason to go to youth group and that’s where seeds planted. Seeds that only needed to grow.

                The next year I was getting ready for Confirmation and I heard of a retreat called Franciscan LEAD, which stands for Leadership, Evangelization, and Discipleship. This was the first time I was really ready to change my life. Perhaps this could do it? The first few days were great, but Thursday night was life changing. We prayed over each other for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that was the first time I have ever felt the love of God.

                God is love. If you have any Christian background, you have heard that. At that point I had eight years of Catholic education and two years of Catholic Youth Ministry under my belt; I knew that statement. Yet for a good three years I did not believe it. For the rest of my life I did not understand it. If you don’t understand love in your heart, not just your mind, it is impossible to grasp. Yet that night, that Thursday night, I felt the love of God.

                I have not been the same since then. My parents have acknowledged it, and I can trace every major decision I have made in the past seven years back to that night. Decisions like this recent one to join NET in Ireland this next year. It has been made with after lots of prayer and time, but really a desire placed by God to do something.

                Thank you for reading, and continue to pray for me as I prepare to leave in a week and a half.

                I’M GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!

T Minus 2 Months

Well there's only 2 months to go and I just got my second Partnership report. I'm halfway to my goal!!!!!!! As always, thank you to everybody who has joined me thus far. To those of you who have not, I put the link at the bottom of the page so check it out. But it is so incredibly exciting to watch this becoming even more and more of a reality. This time last year I was in Central America, and while I thought about NET a few times I did not think it would actually happen. Even half a year ago I had very little certainty other than a voice in the back of my mind telling me I would go. Now I am two months out and cannot wait to meet both the people I will be serving and the people I will be serving with.

Now I am a big reader. Even before I found out that I would be accepted into NET I found a few Irish books that I just had to get my hands on. One of these is a book on the older Celtic Saints and missionaries. It's pretty cool learning a little about all the people who have helped shape Ireland to what is is today, but even more interesting is the number of missionaries they sent out in the first millennium. There was a whole chapter dedicated to the multiple abbots and sisters who traveled to mainland Europe and built monasteries. Ireland had so much influence on the Christianity of Western Europe, which in turn influenced Christianity in the Americas and other places in the world.

Now it is my turn.

I am a reverse missionary. These places have been Catholic for some time, but as Pope Saint John Paul II continuously said they need a New Evangelization. Now the people who have given so much need something in return. I am by no means the first and I know I will not be the last. But just like God worked great things through the missionaries who left the island, He will work great things through me and the other missionaries who return.

Rewarding Faithfulness

I just got my first Partnership Report! Thank you to everybody who has partnered with me thus far... I look forward to sharing this year with you!

This is a very appropriate post to follow the previous one about a Leap of Faith. One of my big leaps during this time has been asking semi-famous people to partner with me. For privacy reasons I will not say exactly who, but I have sent emails and partnership letters to people who are moderately well known in the Catholic world. I do have some sort of connections to these people, but some of them I have not even met. But you know what? They have joined me this year!

My point is you never know what will be the result of an idea that seems completely crazy. Especially when God is at the center of it. Think of everybody who has founded a new religious order. Then there are other visionaries like St. Joan of Arc, who had an absolutely crazy idea to lead the French military. Yet it worked. So many who have founded religious orders are now canonized Saints. France is its own nation. All of this because somebody listened to God, took a leap of faith, and he rewarded it.

I know this was a short post, but thank you for reading! Be brave and do whatever it is God is asking of you! And as always, if you have not partnered with me yet, go to https://mission.netusa.org/giving/ministry-partnership-development and put "Courtney Holbrook with NET Ireland" in the "I'd like to join the mission of" section. God bless! <3

Leap of Faith

Remember that scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? The one we that we wished was ACTUALLY the last crusade for this Harrison Ford character? Anyway, there is one striking scene where Indy comes to the edge of a cliff in his search for the Holy Grail. The notebook, which has been his guide, tells him to take a leap of faith.

Now we know what happens... but just imagine for a second that you're this great adventurer. You come up to this ledge and there's no way to jump across. Going back means certain death. But you have words to reassure that you can get across. They are just words, but you can't help but trust the source. So you take a step, praying that it will not lead to doom.

That is missionary work in a nutshell. From the beginning raising money to live off of to the very last retreat, it is all one big leap of faith. All I can do is hope that God will take care of me every step. He's trying to reassure me, but it will be impossible to see until I go out and raise the funds essential to my year of ministry.

And you know what, fundraising involves a certain amount of faith on the part of the givers as well. You want your money to be put to good use. Perhaps funds are really tight and it seems that even parting with a few dollars could be impossible. If that is the case with you: do you trust what God will do with it? Do you trust He will take care of you? It's a challenge. But it's worth it.

As always, go to https://mission.netusa.org/giving/ministry-partnership-development , and say that you "Want to join the mission of" "Courtney Holbrook with NET Ireland". For those of you who have already supported, thank you!!! You are now a part of this incredible work next year.

The F Word in Catholicism 

Fundraising.

                What a scary word for us sometimes. I have organized a fundraiser, fundraised for a healthcare project in Guatemala, am currently fundraising for NET, and am attending a fundraiser this weekend and this word still terrifies me. I am probably the worst at receiving anything, so the very idea of actually going out and asking for money makes my stomach do somersaults. There is always a fear of a negative perception. Even worse: indifference. Next year I will be with NET Ministries traveling around Ireland and putting on retreats for high school youth. Many of these young people have never really encountered Christ, so I have an incredible mission for next year. I know it, God knows it, but sometimes it takes a little while for people for realize.

                I began to realize this mission was important when I was in Europe myself a few years ago. Most churches served more as tourist traps than places to encounter God. I remember going to Sunday masses and there being so few people. As a committed Catholic… especially as one who is looking very seriously into religious life, this made me very sad. I wanted to do something. I wanted to any and every talent I have to make a difference. I felt drawn to Ireland, the Catholic country that only has ten to twenty percent Mass attendance with those under thirty. I felt drawn to go and spread the Good News to the people of this beautiful country.  Now that I am done with my college degree, I have the time to do this.

                But that brings up an interesting point though… as Catholics we are all called to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). God has given us a time, talents, and treasure that help us do this. As individuals we rarely have all three at once. Thankfully we are not trying to change the world as by ourselves… we are trying to change it as a Church. If there is a member who has the time and talent, there is an entire world of treasure to back them up. In this way every single one of us has the opportunity to change the world.

                Yes, I will be the one going to Ireland next year, but you will be with me. Through prayers and donations you will be joining me in this important work of Evangelization. That is why I wanted to start this blog, so that you can stay up to date with this mission and see the people who your treasure is directly impacting.

                For me this journey begins now with raising money for the program. NET has emphasized that the most important part of fundraising is getting the word out there and letting people know that a) this is a need and b) this is an opportunity. I will be doing several things between now and August to do just that, and I wanted to share! What works… what does not work… you’ll know it all! Then maybe sometime if you have an amazing opportunity like this one, you can have an idea of where to start.

                Thank you for reading, and I’ll update as I have more fundraising stories! If you have not done so yet and wish to join me in this incredible mission, go to https://mission.netusa.org/giving/ministry-partnership-development and put “Courtney Holbrook with NET Ireland” under the “I’d like to join the mission of” section. To find out more about what I’ll be doing go to http://www.netministries.ie/ . Help me encourage young people and embrace the life of the Church!