We are SPIRITUS!

I just wanted to give a small biography of who the new members of the Spiritus are so you can all know who is writing to you this year!!!  Here they are:

Erin Schuessler

Erin Schuessler is back in town for a new adventure with the SPIRITUS team, this time, as the Coordinator.  Along with my new role, I am also beginning classes at the Augustine Institute in Denver, Colorado.  I am studying for a Master's degree in Evangelization and Catechesis.

Mark Rose

Hi! I'm Mark Rose and I am from Hudson, WI, which is on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. I received a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from UW-Madison, and am back for my second year. I'm ready to serve the Lord and experience the Holy Spirit moving in a powerful way to His young ones.

Kelly Weber

I'm Kelly Weber and I hail from Grand Rapids, Michigan, affectionaly known as G-Rap. Before joining Spiritus I spent four amazing years at the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a degree in Theology. I am excited to be a part of SPIRITUS and to see what God has in store for me here in Wisconsin!

Jonathan Tousignant

Hi! I'm Jonathan Tousignant from Pewaukee, WI. I graduated from Creighton University with a BA in Photo-Journalism. I am on fire in my faith and love working with the youth, with music, outdoor activities, auto-mechanics, and photography. I look forward to carrying out this great mission of Christ!

Trisha Flasch

I'm Trisha Flasch and I grew up in Mayville, WI. I graduated with my BA in Philosophy from UW Stevens Point and Master's in Religious Studies from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. I struggled with feeling proud of my faith when I was a kid so I am incredibly excited to learn, gro, and help our youth be proud of God.

Aaron Lang

Hi, I'm Aaron Lang. I enjoy playing volleyball, basketball, and basically anything outside that's active. I grew up in the Appleton area and have been graced by God to be given the opportunity to work with the SPIRITUS team. I am excited to start my path towards serving Christ.

Alexandria Lewis

My name is Alexandria Lewis, or Alex. I am from Sheridan, Indiana, and graduated from Franciscan University in Steubenville with a degree in English/Drama. After graduation I served for Lourdes Volunteers helping arrange pilgrimages to Lourdes. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

Jared Cunio

Hi, I'm Jared Cunio. I joined SPIRITUS after graduating from the University of South Florida. I grew up in Titusville, Florida, about 15  minutes from the Kennedy Space Center. I am very excited about being part of SPIRITUS, and I am looking forward to seeing how God will help me grow this year.

Karissa Tousignant

My name is Karissa Tousignant from Pewaukee, WI. I graduated in Music Theory from UW-Waukesha with my Associate of Arts and Sciences. I love singing and playing Guitar and Clarinet. I worked with the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary to run summer camps for youth. I love God, my faith and I can not wait to share God with the youth.

Daniel Bayer

My name is Daniel Bayer from Middleton, WI. I graduated from Madison College with an associates degree in Liberal Arts. I recently returned from Spain where I attended World Youth Day. I hope to carry my enthusiasm from that experience to inspire the students on retreats.

I hope you can all share in our experience throughout the year and God bless you all.

Mark Rose

Grateful

As I knelt for morning prayer with my Spiritus team members in the chapel, I could sum up my feelings in one word: grateful. For each of my team members, for the sunshine spilling in through the stain glass windows, and for Jesus’ presence with us. Each day here has brought so many blessings and unlooked for gifts.

It is so true that when you give, more comes back to you. Serving as a member of the Spiritus team has brought new meaning to Mark 6:8-9 for me. “He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.^”

As a disciple in 2011 getting a staff through airport security might be a stretch. And ok, I might have been wearing about ten layers of clothing when I flew to Wisconsin because I couldn’t fit it all in my suitcase, so I stretched the “two tunics” part.

But I am blessed with the opportunity during this time in my life to live out the call to spread the gospel. Living as a Spiritus member, I have the perfect chance to experience the generosity of others. The warm bed I sleep in, the food I eat, and the homey facilities I live in are all gifts. From farm-fresh eggs to Brewers’ tickets, each day I am delighted by how generous the people around me are because I said “yes” to God’s call to serve the Catholic youth of Wisconsin.

So I wanted to say an extra-special thank you to everyone who makes Spiritus possible, to my team members who also set aside their plans to evangelize for nine months together, and to God for calling me here. I am so excited to keep giving and trusting in God to provide for the journey.

Alex

Blessed Again

Throughout this last week we, as Spiritus, have had the opportunity to lead 2 middle school retreats, a freshman retreat, a senior retreat, and a confirmation retreat. Although this week has been incredibly busy and although we have been cramming to prepare all our sessions I can not be anything but thankful for every moment I have been gifted with this week.

When I decided to join the Spiritus team I was not really sure what I was getting myself into but now after only 4 weeks I can not imagine being anywhere else. The young people that we have been blessed enough to encounter have already shown me how lucky I am to be able to do this ministry. So far we have been able to really connect with the young people and intimately share our experiences. I feel touched by how open and willing to explore with us the young people have been so far.

Each week I have the pleasure of looking forward to working with young people who are open and looking to understand their faith. I have the opportunity to share with young people what they have to gain by turning their hearts toward God.

Trisha

Spirit-Filled Week!

It has been one incredible week!

We kicked things off last Tuesday with an early-morning visit to Green Bay, where we attended morning Mass celebrated by Bishop Ricken. He gave us a special commissioning at the end of Mass and had time to pose for a picture with the team and share some of his wisdom (and fantastic stories about his life) with us. Then we ate some delicious breakfast and headed over to our next important destination for the day: Lambeau Field! That's right, I (and the other out-of-state team members) have now officially experienced the Lambeau Field tour!

The next day we experienced some intense prayer of a more charismatic variety, as we invited some of our friends to come and pray over us, asking the Holy Spirit to bless us in new and exciting ways to better equip us to handle the task ahead.

All of this, of course, helped us prepare for our first retreat: a Shine Retreat with 5th graders on Friday. The retreat was an awesome experience. The 5th graders are so open to Christ's love!

On Saturday, we were able to relax a bit and enjoy some team bonding time by attending a Brewers game. The Brewers lost by one run, but it was still an enjoyable evening, and as an added bonus we paid a quick visit to Jonathan and Karissa's house on the way.

Sunday was our first Faith on Fire, with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. It was a little intimidating to be in front of so many people, but the Holy Spirit was with us and they really got pumped up for Jesus! It was an awesome sight to see the kids all on their feet and rushing to the front to join our worship leaders on the stage during praise and worship!

Today the men went back up to Green Bay to attend a Project Andrew dinner. It was great to see Bishop Ricken and Fr. Schuster again, and also to meet Bishop Morneau and the other priests at the event.

I'm afraid that this is only a very brief summary of the amazing things going on at SPIRITUS, but we have our first Challenge Retreat for high school seniors tomorrow, and I need to get my rest!

-Jared

Gearing Up for Retreats!

Happy Labor Day!

I can hardly believe we're already into our third week at Mount Tabor! When I got on the plane in Orlando, Florida on August 21, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't realize that training would be so busy, or that the Holy Spirit would start pouring out such incredible blessings so quickly!

I'm loving Wisconsin, even though it's a bit of a change from what I'm used to. The weather cooled off a little bit this weekend, and it's a good reminder that I have my first real winter ahead of me. I'm pretty excited about this! (Snowball fights! Sledding! Hot Chocolate!)

Since arriving, the team has been pretty busy, as Mark already mentioned. But it's all for the greater glory of God! We've been training hard so that, when retreats start in less than a week, we will be fully prepared for the Holy Spirit to use us to ignite faith in Catholic youth!

Even though we have been working hard, it's been a great experience so far! I already mentioned that the Holy Spirit has been pouring out incredible blessings; the best of these has been the opportunity to participate daily in the communal prayer of the Church! From today's Morning Prayer: "One day within Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere." (Psalm 84:10a). As a member of SPIRITUS, I get to spend every day in God's courts!

-Jared

Spiritus is BACK!

We're baaaaaaack!!!! Spiritus is back in action again, and we're all excited to kick off this New Year! The team has been training really hard to prepare themselves for an intense, epic adventure.

The team moved in on August 21st and we started the 1st week at Whispering Pines in Shawano, WI for our opening team retreat. This was filled with many different training opportunities which include: forms of prayer, aspects of the Catholic faith, community life, and discipleship. This week has been dedicated to learning about some of the Confirmation retreat sessions. The team has been doing a wonderful job preparing these sessions and practicing them. Most importantly, we have had plenty of time getting to know each other by: meeting one-on-one, having spontaneous van trips, participating in a ropes course, team bonding games (spoons, euchre, egyptian ratscrew, bananas...etc.), and so much more! This year is off to a terrific start, and I know this year is going to be great, filled with many stories and blessings we hope to share with you.

Now, each person is going to share with you all a little bit about themselves and how excited they are to start Spiritus...stay tuned!

Thank you all for your continuous prayers and I hope you remain connected to the Spiritus Journey!

-Mark