Youth Ministry!

One aspect of SPIRITUS this year that I don’t think we have mentioned on the blog yet is youth ministry. We are lucky enough to be able to be a part of the youth ministry program at a local parish here in Menasha, St. Patrick’s. Doing youth ministry at a parish is quite a bit different than the retreat environment that SPIRITUS is used to. With youth ministry, we get to plan events for the youth and instead of just seeing students once on retreat, we get to see the same students over and over again which enables us to build relationships with them. We visit them at faith formation classes, have a drop in for middle schoolers on Fridays after school and other events throughout the weeks. There are three of us on SPIRITUS (Jared, Kate and myself) that make up the youth ministry team and we work together to create fun events for the youth.

This past Friday was one of these fun events. We took about twenty five middle school and high schoolers to Nordic Mountain to go snow tubing. It was a BLAST!! At Nordic, they have a snow tubing hill which has about five different lanes to go down each with numerous miniature hills. The students, as well as us team members, took turns riding down the hill hoping to catch major speed and make it farther down than everyone else. We tried to think of all the sweet ways that we could ride down the hill which included spinning, head first, or trains of people. One time, it was a girls vs. boys train race and, I don’t want to brag or anything, but the girls totally beat the boys! After riding down the hill many, many times we headed over to the pro shop where we enjoyed hot dogs, chips and soda. It was a wonderful experience to do something fun with the students away from the busy routine of life here in Menasha. It was also exciting for the five of us on the team that went because most of us either hadn’t been tubing since we were kids or had never been tubing at all! It was a perfect way to spend my Friday night, spending time with some of the amazing Catholic 

youth from our area!

Here's a picture from the top of the hill!

God Can Turn Messes into Messages

THIS. THIS. THIS is so true. I finally believe it, its the fifth month of working with the youth and SPIRITUS. As I gave my testimony this afternoon in front of 90+ juniors at SS Edward & Isidore, Flintville. As I shared a part of my life with them, it took me back to those struggling days, as I spoke those words out loud, and how God works in marvelous ways. He uses our deepest wounds and makes them into beautiful messages of hope, life and joy. Even though I've been doing this for five months its still hard to share that story but it also gives me strength, peace and courage, because I know He is right there with me, and the Holy Spirit is guiding me through it all. My hope is that it sheds some light, some hope, ‘don’t give up He is not finish with you yet’ to the youth. Happy Sunday, have a blessed week!! God Bless.

Sister Bay

So this weekend, our team was split. We had 4 retreats over a 2-3 day period. Kind of crazy! I spent Saturday with Jared, Julie, and Robbie at Winnconne and then we traveled 2 hours up North to Door County to a town called Sister Bay.

I have to say, we have such an amazing opportunity on SPIRITUS to travel around to some awesome places. Sister Bay is literally a place I would love to live for the rest of my life.  This area is right at the tip of the peninsula of Wisconsin (as seen in the image below), surrounded by the beauty of Lake Michigan on either side of it.

As soon as we drove into this quaint town, I knew there was something special about it.  You could definitely tell it was a tourist town. Although the streets were completely abandoned, I could imagine all the cars lined-up on the main stretch to catch a fireworks display for the the 4th of July weekend. I could almost hear the faint laughter of children as they ran down to the bay to dive into the Great Lake.  But in the dead of winter, everything was quiet. Even the nearby gas station was closed and it was 7pm on a Saturday!

The "Pin-Point" is where some of our team got to visit this past weekend. 

We spent the night at the house right next to the church. And in the morning, we made our way to Stella Maris Parish to reach out to the Confirmation candidates. On our way over, I looked off into the distance and I saw the start of Lake Michigan, which took my breath away--we had gotten in the night before and it was too dark to see the vast lake.  I was standing on a little hill which elevated my sight even more and I thoroughly appreciated this.

Being out in nature, seeing the beauty clearly and delicately designed by God touches my heart so greatly. I was able to appreciate this even more after spending the whole day with such an awesome group of students.  The connection we made with that parish and the youth of that parish made me feel as if I were a true native of Sister Bay, and we only spent maybe 14 hours there altogether!

I think I left a bit of my heart in Sister Bay, with the Confirmation candidates at Stella Maris Parish. I hope God continues to pour out his blessings upon you all. Thank you for sharing the beauty of your town with me! My heart is truly grateful!!

Spiritus Changes Lives

Spiritus in my life has been a huge blessing and time and time again I see God working through it. It has changed my life and lighted a fire in my heart to want to strive for holiness in a new way. Through Spiritual Direction, Formation and the different aspects of prayer, I have learned that there is so much more to serving Christ then just giving my yes to the ministry. Spiritus has impacted who I am as a person and brought me deeper into that relationship with Christ. It has helped me realizes that in giving I receive more then I could every give. I thank the Lord every day for bring me to Spiritus. 

Along with changing my life, I have seen how Spiritus changes other peoples lives through the retreats, Bible Study, and all the times we minister to students. It is a huge blessing, to me and to the students. On one of the retreats I went to, we had small group sharing and after the small group, I thanked one of the students for sharing in small group and we ended up spending part of the retreat just talking. At the end of our discussion we prayed together. In the simple words of thank you, this student was inspired to ask questions and seek the Lord. Every soul is a gift from God and every person is seeking God. Through Spiritus many will find the Lord. 

Praise the Lord! 

How Spiritus has affected Aaron and others in the new 2013 year of awesomeness

For me personally, Spiritus has helped better form me as a disciple of Christ.  It has given me the oppourtunity to grow in spirituality, prayer life, and live in a community striving for holiness.  It has also given me the chance to serve others and love, which I feel our whole Christian faith is based. Through our formation sessions I have gained knowledge about the faith that I can implement and share with others throughout my life as well.  Basically the ministry of Spiritus has given me an opportunity to live a life as a disciple of Christ sharing my life and gifts with others, which is really what life is all about.

Over the past year and a half on the team, I have continually seen continual growth in my teammates, in students on retreats and through our bible studies.  It has amazing to see how students want to grow deeper in their faith and how God can open up doors for them.  Spiritus is such a great way for students to encounter God in a completely different and cool way.  It’s awesome to see how Spiritus has changed so many lives in such a short time.

For the year 2013...St. Paul...Pray for us!

Aaron