Besides the normal retreat ministry that Reach teams do, our team this year is running two youth groups. Our first youth group is in Grandview, WA, and it is a continuation of the youth group started there last year by the Reach team. The second group we have started up is in Sunnyside, Washington.

We have been ministering in Grandview since the beginning of this Reach year, and it has gone really well. We have about ten to fifteen youth who come, but in January we have an event in Grandview that will hopefully draw in more youth from the community. We have had a great time getting to know the youth, and we really enjoy hanging out with them and ministering to them.

Every Wednesday in Grandview, we go over to the high school during lunch time and we have pizza with the students. We have a decent turnout most of the time. While eating, we carry on discussions about different topics. We’ve talked about things like doing service for the church,  saints,  and what it would be like to die for one’s faith. It is really cool to hear everyone’s opinions and beliefs on the different subjects.

Our group in Sunnyside is only about two months old (we started in the beginning of November). We have been at the religious education class twice, where we did games, praise and worship, talks, dramas, testimonies, and small groups. Those have been really fun, and there were sixty to eighty youth each time. From there we have asked the youth to come to our youth group, which has had from ten to twenty youth depending on which day. Once again, we really enjoy getting to know the youth, and we look forward to ministering to them for the rest of this year.

Our youth group ministry has been a huge blessing in our lives this year. We have met so many wonderful people, and we are learning as much, if not more, from the youth as they are from us. We thank all of those in the Sunnyside and Grandview communities who have been so generous in making us feel welcome, and for those who have been helping us in our ministry there. And the youth in our youth groups- thank you so much for coming and for striving to go deeper into the faith… you are an inspiration to us.

God bless you and have a Merry Christmas!

This is the St. Dominic team posting our first official blog… it’s about time! We can start from the beginning by introducing ourselves. The Dominic team consists of Joan Spring, from St. Cloud, Minnesota, Jordan Tracy from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Tyson Chavez from Boulder, Colorado.

We have been keeping ourselves fairly busy this year so far. Our first retreat was in Portland, Oregon. It was a Catholic school retreat for 6th graders. We focused on prayer and personal relationship with Christ, and were able to finish off the retreat with Mass. The kids seemed to be receptive, and we really enjoyed them.

We did a youth night for the Lifeteen group at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Yakima. Once again, it was focused on prayer, and we had some praise and worship and a drama. We had a blast, even though we were there only a couple hours, but it was fun to hang out with the youth when it was finished.

Our third retreat was a weekend retreat for junior high youth in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. The retreat was up in the mountains at Shoshone Base Camp. It was a great place to truly enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. The retreatants were wonderful and very open to everything we did with them, from praise and worship to talks on Creation, the Fall, Jesus, and Choices… and especially open to an epic night game of capture the flag! It was pretty cold up there, but on Saturday it was sunny and nice enough outside to play a game of soccor and ultimate frisbee. Otherwise, we kept our warm clothes close to us! We truly enjoyed all the time that we shared with the youth, and it was a great first weekend retreat for us.

Since then we have had a retreat for youth in Naches, Washington after Mass for a few hours. We had about fifteen youth of various ages, the oldest being a junior in high school, and the youngest probably in second grade. We had fun playing with them, but we also discussed prayer with them. The coolest thing from that retreat was that while Joan was giving a talk, people started asking faith questions, both related and unrelated to the talk. It was neat because had some really good questions about their faith, and Joan, our theology major, was able to give them the answers they were looking for.

Our most recent retreat was in Wenatchee, Washington. The Benedict team was able to come with us to help out at this junior high retreat. We traveled up on a Friday evening and were able to relax and enjoy our wonderful host families. Then Saturday morning we started the retreat for the junior high youth. We had a really good time with them. We had talks, personal testimonies, a drama, praise and worship, and, of course, games. We also had opportunities for small groups with the youth. They had some really good questions and discussions. Some small groups talked about Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Creation vs. Evolution, and the Trinity. And then when given the opportunity for personal prayer time, many of the retreatants jumped at the opportunity. It was a great retreat, and although we had a little vehicle issue on the way home, we had a good time.

Besides retreats, we have also been keeping ourselves pretty busy with youth groups, but we will talk about that in our next blog… so watch our page, because we will be updating, and we will also be posting pictures very soon!

God bless you and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

The St. Dominic Team

stdominic@reachym.com

Thanks!

Small Group in Tacoma, Washington

God Bless you all!

Martha Lopez here with a few updates from the St. Benedict Team.  To tell you all the latest, I might have mentioned in the previous blog about the retreat we were about to have in Tacoma, Washington.  Well, about that trip, the retreat up there was, Fantastic, It was a Confirmation Retreat and we had about 45 youth attending.  We made our way over Saturday morning and started off the retreat with Mass at St. Patrick’s parish. And yes, Four leaf clovers were definitely present at this church. Soon we went into dinner and than got Started for the rest of the night.   Personalities ranged from outgoing, to quiet and observant, to really funny, or just plain energetic. energy levels were everywhere. The Team did Ice Breakers, Testimonies, praise and worship, and at the end of the night the kids got the opportunity to do some Q&A with their youth leader, it was interesting for us (St. Benedict Team) to hear the Questions the youth of our day had, and it definitely helped to know where they stood with their faith.  That next day we went straight into content, Confirmation Talk, Prayer talks, small groups, P&W, and just listening to God.    All in all, the retreat was a blast to put on, of course challenging, but definitely a Blast.

Now to the present, Our team has been at the center now chillin with some serious REACH villains……….ST. Dom and the ST. Iggy Team.  We have been around the Community here in Yakima, Washington having dinner with Families as teams and hanging around the Center Waiting and Prepping for the upcoming Retreats and recruiting that will be going on. Recently The Teams just went to a free Thirsting Concert (Catholic Band)  in the Tri-Cities Washington and got to meet and take pictures with them, which was very bomb diggity of them, yea……i just said bomb diggity. but anywho, here are a few pictures of the St. Ben Team in canada and Dry Falls on our way to Canada………………and last but not least, the REACH team with The Thirsting

Since our last post the St Ignatius Reach team had the privilege of being able to help with the Yakima Diocesan Youth Convention featuring Tim Staples. We had the chance to help lead some games for about 150 high school youth for a weekend, and hear some incredible talks given by speakers such as Tim Staples. Not only that but we also got to meet him after the conference was over and take a picture with him.  While we were there we also got to see former Reach team members turned seminarians, Fred Lopez and Peter Berger and had the privilege of spending some time with them once the conference was over.

After the weekend we spent a day back in Cowiche getting ready for Tuesday and our drive down to Red Bluff, CA. We were able to stop on the way to and from California for a night with former Reach team member Colleen Poynter.  When we got to Red Bluff we spent some great time with the family of former Reach team member Jake Wilson, but most importantly had an amazing time with the youth on retreat. We had a retreat of about 40 high school ninth and tenth graders, and had a great day with all of them.

We are now back in Cowiche spending time with the other two Reach teams, St. Dominic and St. Benedict. We have had an enjoyable time spending time in the community here and would like to thank you all for your continued blessing and support.

God Bless,

The St Ignatius Reach Team

P.S. If you have a facebook join the St. Ignatius fan page, it’s just St. Ignatius Reach Team

After training was over our team got the chance to go to Coeur d’Alene, ID and participate in a college retreat and even got to see former Reach member Nick Schram.  After returning our team joined the St Dominic team and Alaina and got to spend some time at the fair recreating training moments in a classroom, the boys even got the chance to play house in the children’s kitchen. The next day our team had a men’s and women’s session for the day and while the boys were chopping wood Theresa and Michelle spent some time with Jake’s sister Jill and baked massive amounts of cookies, and surprised the boys with them once they returned back to the center.

We are now getting ready to head off to help in leading the Yakima Diocesan Youth Conference featuring Tim Staples. We thank you for all your prayers and support and look forward to having some more adventures.

God Bless,

St. Ignatius

This here is martha from the St. Benedict Reach team. Finally we have been able to put up some posts!!! woot woot!!! anywho, The Year has started and man did it start of well. Our team started the year with a weekend retreat in Prince George B.C., Canada We Stayed with a Former REACH Team member Mark Raine and his Family. We left for Canada on Wednesday the 30th of September and made the road trip up, Going through the boarder was a great adventure. We decided that a chinese fire drill was maybe not a good idea, and so due to our very wise decision, we made it through safely and unharmed. Though we did have to get out of the vehicle and such, but, still, we made it through. We stayed that night in Penticton B.C. With another former REACH Team memver, Karl Trautmans Family, THANK YOU!!! than the next day we had a long long long drive to Prince George. We had an amazing meal waiting for the Team and we thoroughly enjoyed it. THANKYOU SO MUCH!!!! Friday night we started the Retreat, The Team was very excited for this retreat seeing as it was the first Retreat we were going to be doing this year, we had planned this retreat together and so we were all very excited to get it started, the kids came in one at a time, and when the time came the team started the retreat. We started with P&W and than went into the famous REACH games and than went into the content, The Retreat started of Amazing g, and the atmosphere was set for the rest of the weekend. We had Small Groups, Reconciliation, interactive activities, Thanks to God, the retreatants, Papa John (contact person, youth minister, Bomb German accent, and awesome Maker of Pastries!!), and to the Team for well, you know, being a great team and supporting one another with the talks given and the activities lead. YAY!!! BO Team Bennay!!! We Than left Prince George on monday morning and made the long trek to Everett, Washington and stayed with Reach Alumni Kaycee Ross and the Redenbaugh fam, which by the way is a Family that really is plain inspirational and very caring and God loving… LOVE THEM!!!, and Now we are home, inHumble little Cowiche Washington, Team Benecit….My team, is now Preparing for our next retreat tomorrow in Tacoma, Talks maybe some dramas…..Exciting!!! Please pray for us and the Retreatants!

lots of Love!

GB

The Bennys

THE RUSHMORE EFFECT

but yea

moving on, literally, we than went to Rapid city, Had a Blast, Host homes amazing, Retreats=amazing, and um retreats= amazing.  We had about 4 retreats in that time and they were Catholic school retreats and the really really cool thing about that is that they all ended in Mass, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

then we went to Mt. Rushmore and crazy horse and Wind Cave……..bomb DIGGITY!!!!!

It was only days after, that we then ventured into beautiful….not kidding…. Illinoi.  We did  retreats in Stockton, Dixon, Elgin,  Byron, Fulton, We did two confirmation retreats at the last two places, and they went i  have to say really well and of course like always, we had really great host families……oh host families, how i love thee.  Anywho, in Elgin we had a youth gruop night, things where intense and sooooo good!!! loved it.  In Dixon we had a Catholic school Day retreat and a youth group like retreat, and in Stockton we had a two day retreat for all the youth that wanted to come, And one thing i coan say my good young friends is that….Illinoi was the BOMB….no lie…..im not aloud too, HA.  we than ventured back to Montana stopping in Souix falls to stay with Crystal (REACH Alumni) and than in rapid city (ANNIKA) and then to IDAHO FALLS!!! it was a surprise for Jordans mom and we basically just chilled, hung out with Father CALEB and had ashes and lent, oh Lenty lent how amazing thou art.  So i had this like epiphany moment about lent…..it can be mistaken with, dare i say it. duh, yes i would….Lint….. yes, lint……now dont fret my friends, lent is not lint and lint is most definitly not lent so please dont mistake the two.  Just thought i would make it clear for those who dont know. ok, moving on.

we than left Idaho falls for Glasgow, Montana for about a week, on Saturday there was a Retreat for k-5, it went swell, especially because there where little young lings and they where great…….i wasn’t there i was sick (by the way this is martha speaking) But admit it, for a sec you thought i was….admit it, ok you dont have to…i guess. The next day on sunday we Had a retreat for all seniors, whech went really well and it was sooo cool because they received palancas from all their loved folk people group things….yea, it was touching. we ended in mass and than had a 6-11th grade retreat and it was a blast. Hasd some of the senior folk stay for that and it was just cool. And once again, Thank you Host Homes! they watched for us the sickly, because you see, there was this cold and flu epedemic that swept throught the young (us) Reach team….actually it was just the cold and stuff, nothing epic. We had Enchiladas one night…and that made me happy because as you might not have known, the midwest has a loack of mexican food, they do not know what they are missing……….

NOW WE ARE IN BOISE!!!

why? well i will tell you why because of I C Y C !!! Mark Hart, Judy Mcdonald, The Ike Ndolo Band, and…….Mathew Kelly….WOOT WOOT!

enough said

you can only imagine

so do it

please

well you dont have to

its was bomb

now…….back to montana

Karl and Mark being Karl and Mark… GOOFS.

Me being smiley, and Karl Jumping of things again.

That Random sign was in the middle of the barren desert, with postings to places all over the world.

Fairly cool….Amazingly random.

Yep….That’s the Grand Canyon.  Oh how b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l.

We like to play pranks on our boys…  the cookies have toothpaste, and there are gummy worms( but the thing is they are not all real).

Hello all! So some of you might have been wondering….but yes, we are alive. And, contrary to popular belief, our sanity is mostly intact. Since we’ve been back from Christmas break we’ve had quite a few adventures. (as is evident by the pictures above….which don’t even begin to scratch the surface) So grab some snacks and settle in, cause this one’s gonna be a long one…..

We started off our road trip with a lovely drive down through Cali to Palm Springs, and then over to Grants NM. Grants was pretty much awesome, including our host home and the youth.  We had elementary retreats for a week, Kids our such a blessing they have so much faith.  Even though they are so small.  YOPu wanna know whats funny?  I will tell you… It’s funny how when you ask kids a question they go off non tantrums,  (My mom has two pink shoes… My grandma died… I had a fish his name was poccomo… While we were there however, our suburban broke down, stranding 2 of our number in Albuquerque. But our host parents stepped right into action and helped get them back home. The ‘burben however, needed a new engine. So we were looking at being stuck for a week without a way to get to our next destination. (quite a cliffie huh? whatever shall the Reach team do next?) Luckily Deacon Tim got the diocese of Gallup to loan us two vehicles  until we could get the Green Machine fixed. We are forever grateful for that.  God never stops providing.

With those cars we drove to Roswell for our next retreat. Again, we had host homes that were so amazing that they’re beyond description. The Shuberts overheard us girls talking about pranking the boys, and when we came back from our retreat they had made cookies and had put super hot pepper flakes in some for our boys. Ten year old Gracie proceded to offer them very enthusiastically to the guys. Troy began begging for milk. =P

Our retreat at the camp near Roswell was great, and very memorable. Toni’s small group took out some canoes on the “river”…..and then 4 of them had to be pulled out of the freezing cold water. But it made for a great story Sunday morning at Mass. While we were in Roswell we decided to visit Carlsbad Caverns, and the parish lent us their bus (which was actually a giant yellow airtport shuttle) so we would only have to take one vehicle. We all got our own row of seats. It was awesome.

After Roswell we went to Albuquerque to stay with Ciera’s family and the youth minister of her parish….and to pick up El caca de Verde, which had a new engine. That night as us girls drove to our host home the Burb stalled for the first time, but it started pretty soon after we pulled off the road and we got back without anymore problems.   My brain is fried now, so to be continued…

God bless,

Happiness is a choice you make every day when you wake in the morning.  So in all you do say praise God.  That is what I challenge you to do this week.  If your Car gets stolen say Praise the Lord!  Give thanks to God!