So finally its the end to a busy first term with Sion! and we all did it!! now as a team we have three missions under our belt and are exhausted and ready for the Christmas break!
November had us quite busy really, one week we were in Richard Challoner Catholic boys school on mission in New Malden,which went very well! We all had a lot of fun on the team as at this stage we all had our head around mission as it was our second one! So it was great we learnt lots and grew more as a team! It was one day at the end of mission we were just about to load into the van to be dropped to our host families homes,and we were wrecked and had had a long day of everything,but still ringing in my mind was what had happened in Prayer 4 U (prayer ministry).Earlier on when a student and i were praying with other students.Something had touched me in that time and i felt so privileged to be able to pray with these students and to encourage them! Anyway it was a really blessed time and even though we were wrecked it just struck me this is what it is all about even though the work we do might seem pointless there is still the Holy Spirit working below the surface,and it was then that i clicked that i began to understand why my parents had dedicated so many years of their life to full time ministry because we never know what effect we will have anywhere we go we just have to give it our best shot and pray for guidance that we are doing what is right in that situation! so yeah i Love being a missionary!
Following mission and our rest days Drew Fava joined us in the The Ark(the formation house) for a few days of teaching on Charisms! The whole time through the teaching i was just thinking this is just great and just trying to soak as much of the information in as i can! its in these times and situations i am so grateful i have taken this year out to learn more about my faith!
Alice Hall then joined us to share with us some teaching on Catholic Apologetics which again was awesome to hear and understand more,and to come to an understanding of where the Church came from and its history is really quite phenomenal! every time i hear about it i just want to know more!
And then we were on mission again! not as far,this time we were in Birmingham in John Henry Newman Catholic College. It was great to be so close to home and the school and students were awesome!What particualry struck was the dedication of the teachers in the school and their commitment to each one of the students it was inspiring for me and challenged me to see do i do my best on mission?
Following mission most of us on the team went to Before the Throne a conference run by a group called Network here in the UK.It was a great weekend of teaching,worship and catching up with friends.Then immediately we all headed down to S.E.N.T for our annual community retreat where we were lucky to be joined by members of our sister Community in Ireland called Ceili Community.Fr Hugh Sinclair led us on a silent retreat yes i said “Silent” retreat,It was very different as i hadn’t been on one before but it was great experience!
Then i got special permission to leave a few days earlier so i could surprise my sister for her 21st birthday which was very exciting and got to join in the festivities!Now to some time off and getting ready for the new year!
Thanks for all your prayers!
Joseph
November had us quite busy really, one week we were in Richard Challoner Catholic boys school on mission in New Malden,which went very well! We all had a lot of fun on the team as at this stage we all had our head around mission as it was our second one! So it was great we learnt lots and grew more as a team! It was one day at the end of mission we were just about to load into the van to be dropped to our host families homes,and we were wrecked and had had a long day of everything,but still ringing in my mind was what had happened in Prayer 4 U (prayer ministry).Earlier on when a student and i were praying with other students.Something had touched me in that time and i felt so privileged to be able to pray with these students and to encourage them! Anyway it was a really blessed time and even though we were wrecked it just struck me this is what it is all about even though the work we do might seem pointless there is still the Holy Spirit working below the surface,and it was then that i clicked that i began to understand why my parents had dedicated so many years of their life to full time ministry because we never know what effect we will have anywhere we go we just have to give it our best shot and pray for guidance that we are doing what is right in that situation! so yeah i Love being a missionary!
Following mission and our rest days Drew Fava joined us in the The Ark(the formation house) for a few days of teaching on Charisms! The whole time through the teaching i was just thinking this is just great and just trying to soak as much of the information in as i can! its in these times and situations i am so grateful i have taken this year out to learn more about my faith!
Alice Hall then joined us to share with us some teaching on Catholic Apologetics which again was awesome to hear and understand more,and to come to an understanding of where the Church came from and its history is really quite phenomenal! every time i hear about it i just want to know more!
And then we were on mission again! not as far,this time we were in Birmingham in John Henry Newman Catholic College. It was great to be so close to home and the school and students were awesome!What particualry struck was the dedication of the teachers in the school and their commitment to each one of the students it was inspiring for me and challenged me to see do i do my best on mission?
Following mission most of us on the team went to Before the Throne a conference run by a group called Network here in the UK.It was a great weekend of teaching,worship and catching up with friends.Then immediately we all headed down to S.E.N.T for our annual community retreat where we were lucky to be joined by members of our sister Community in Ireland called Ceili Community.Fr Hugh Sinclair led us on a silent retreat yes i said “Silent” retreat,It was very different as i hadn’t been on one before but it was great experience!
Then i got special permission to leave a few days earlier so i could surprise my sister for her 21st birthday which was very exciting and got to join in the festivities!Now to some time off and getting ready for the new year!
Thanks for all your prayers!
Joseph