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!