Heeeeeeeeeeello everyone!
(Angele here)
Let me just start by saying how excited I am to have the honor of writing this week's blog since it has been such an amazing week!
Monday evening we went through our super long list of contacts (60) to personally invite everyone to attend our first lesson of Discovery, which  started this past Thursday.  We only got about 11 people who confirmed that they would be attending, and a lot of maybe's so we weren't really sure how many people to expect.  When Thursday evening rolled around we set up three tables with eight chairs at each of them, thinking that there would be enough room.  We were wrong.  God is amazing that way, he outdoes our expectations!  We ended up having 33 faith study participants.

The studies were huge since there are only thee of us.  Discovery is usually led in a small group setting, with no more than 5 participants.  My study had 14 women.  It was amazing!  You would think that it would be complete chaos, but surprisingly it wasn't.  Yes, it was loud, and somewhat difficult to hear everyone speak, but it worked.  It was very successful, and I really think that everyone enjoyed the study.  I guess when you're learning about God's love it's hard for the study to be anything other than a success!

Lesson 1 is one of my favorite lessons.  We look up bible passages that support how God's love is personal, proven, merciful and offered.  We hear all of the time that God loves us.  As a kid growing up, I know I always knew that God loved me, but I also knew that He loved everyone else too...He's God right?  Isn't that His job?  But Discovery goes deeper than that.  We know that God loves us, yes, but do we really know what that means for our lives? God's love is much deeper and more personal then of often think it is.  We learned in Discovery that God has a plan for our lives! "for surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm.  Plans to give you a future with hope" - Jeremiah 29:11.  We also learned that God's love is unconditional and that nothing can separate us from this amazing love!

Think about it.  Right now, at this very moment, where is God?  I bet you looked up.  He's up in the sky, right?  Well, no!  He's right beside you!  He wants to be your best friend, because He loves you!  Say hi to him right now, I bet He'd like that :)

Another exciting thing that happened this week was a NET (National Evangelization Team) retreat at St. Jude parish.  Some of the kids from Sacred Heart school in Espanola and St. Mary's school in Massey attended this retreat, and Marc-André got to sit in and hang out with the kids!  This is such a great opportunity for the kids to learn about God and to strengthen their faith!  Hopefully it was like a building block for our youth group which is starting in July!

Saturday was a very crazy day.  I woke up at 6:30 am to the smell of pancakes and eggs cooking and thought why in the world are Marc-André and Mary cooking so early, then I remembered it was my birthday!  Those two are such absolutely wonderful people.   So we had some breakfast and then it was off to work for me, and off to the BBQ for Mary, Marc, and my parents.

We put on a BBQ fundraiser at Giant Tiger to get the word out about Revive: Espanola and to raise some funds.  Mr. Lalande, the owner of Giant Tiger, is such a generous man.  Not only did he donate all of the food, supplies, and space, but he spent all afternoon barbecuing!  Marcia Campbell was also incredibly helpful in waving down cars off of the highway with her BBQ sign!  She was so awesome at it!  And my mom and dad also helped us out by cooking, taking money, handing out pop, etc.  It was a huge success and I really feel like if Espanola didn't know about Revive before, they sure do now!

Mr. Lalande, Vince Sweeney, Nicole Sweeney, Marc-André Veselovsky, Angèle Sweeney and Marcia Campbell

(missing Mary-she was at work)

Sunday was also a really great day.  Marc-André sang the Psalm at the early mass, and needless to say people were blown away.  Fr. Ed even commented saying "after school, Marc André should change his mind.  Don't go to Hollywood, come back to Espanola".  It was awesome.  We also started announcing our adult retreat which is will be June 20-23 at Anishinabe Spiritual Centre.  We're very excited because Michael Dopp from Mission of the Redeemer Ministries will be coming to Espanola!  Please call 705-869-6340 if you're interested in attending this retreat!

Sunday night we also went out to a friend's camp/cottage, so it was really nice to be able to relax and introduce Mary and Marc to some friends!

Overall it was a really amazing week.  I also feel extremely blessed for all of the amazing people in my life.  For my parents for all of their help, for Marcia Campbell for being like the pseudo 4th member of our team, and for Mr. Lalande for his incredible generosity!  Mary and Marc are also amazing.  I couldn't imagine a better team to live, work and do mission with!

Until next time!

God Bless

Angele Sweeney