***Don’t want to read it? Watch it here ***

It never ceases to amaze me what people will complain about in this world. It seems almost as if our default setting is to whine (or as the English say, “Whinge”) about every little thing that bothers us. I don’t like whining, in fact I can barely stand it so I apologize if what I am about to say comes across like whining at first, this is not my intention at all.

In my short life I have gone through a lot of trials and tribulations. I was bullied horribly my entire childhood, my family had a lot of issues, I lost some people very close to me at a young age and I had a terrible time making or keeping friends, in fact there are times in my past where I must admit I had no friends of my own age. I retreated into myself for half of my school years and was basically mute for parts of high school (hard as that might be to believe), only speaking if I was spoken to and then only if directly. I started to do things all by myself like watch trains go by or feed some ducks or read large non-fiction books or study and draw maps or learn comedy routines from the past. The more people were mean to me, the more I spent time by myself, the more I spent time by myself, the weirder they thought I was and the more they made fun of me. The only place I liked that had people in it was church. In church I felt whole, because I knew Jesus would be my friend and I knew that he had both done everything for me and would do anything for me. Despite my troubles, I wanted to be a good person for my friend Jesus.

Skip forward to my adulthood and my main “complaint” is my health. I am not yet 25 years old and I have endured so many maladies and illnesses that it baffles anyone that hears the story. Before my 25th birthday I will have fought through a dozen cancer scares, had pancreatitis, liver failure, viral infections in my organs, scoliosis, epilepsy,  asthma, anaphylactic shock from allergies and a heart attack. I have endured 17 biopsies, 10 minor surgeries, 1 major surgery, bone marrow tests, colonoscopies, scope tests and had to have broken bones reset on numerous occasions. I have suffered. I’m sorry to complain.

About a year and a half ago I was in the hospital, crying my eyes out and truly sick of suffering. I’d endured so much and felt that I’d gotten so little out of life. It was also at this time that my girlfriend broke up with me after a little over a year of being together. I was so upset with where my life was that I told a friend that God was punishing me for what I had done… she asked me what I had done and I had no response, because I couldn’t figure it out either. She told me I was a good person and I responded “Yeah? And what has being a good person ever gotten me? Nothing!” Well, that’s what I thought anyway.

After coming back to university after Christmas 2010, I made a decision that changed my life forever. Despite the fact that I thought God was punishing me I had still been going to church every Sunday. Other than Sunday though, I was not praying or reading scripture. I thought I’d give God the bare minimum of what I had to. Seemingly randomly though, I woke up one January morning and went to daily mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral. I don’t know what it was about that particular mass but while I was in the church something washed over me and I felt called to pray. It was that day that I decided to change my class schedule at University so that I could attend daily mass every day during the semester. I decided to give my troubles to God instead of blaming him for them.

With this decision came a new life. My outlook on where my life was at and where it was going were changed forever. I began to look upon my trials not as punishments but as episodes in my life that had helped me stretch and see the world and Jesus in a different way. Suddenly I became aware that the things I had done as a child that everyone made fun of me for were now integral parts of my personality that people like. The true friends that I have made from Catholic events and CCO activities like my quirks, my hobbies and my personality and do not see my traits as weird things that make me unlovable but as unique things that make me stand out. I had to thank God for putting me through that suffering if it means that people will love the person I became as a result of it. As for my health, I can look back on my dozens of moments of weakness and see strength, stretching and spiritual growth. Much as I have truly had a hard time, it made me a better person and a better Christian because it taught me to walk with Jesus instead of by myself. Lastly, I thank God for my illness some days because it made my past girlfriend realize that she did not love me, which made her break up with me, something that I didn’t have the self-esteem to do even though I knew in my heart that she was not the one for me and did not treat me right. Because of that I was single and knew that I could only be with someone who loved me how I am and who I am. Did I mention I’m engaged to my best friend in the whole world, the most beautiful woman I know and the love of my life? In 99 days we are getting married.

There has been a big change in me over the last year and a half. I am not really better health-wise but my spirit soars and though I have suffered and am suffering I am truly happier and emotionally healthier than I have ever been in my entire life. I spend my days, sick or healthy, thanking God for creating me how I am and giving me the life that I have and the perspective I have on it. I made the choice to give my troubles to God and out of sadness and pain came blessings, blessings and more blessings.

I grew up Catholic in a catholic home. Things started to change when I was in grade 12 when I became one of the guys. We all would live a life style that praised men for being strong, good with woman and nice but very stuck up. Being a teenager is tough. I noticed that it’s terrible to be seen as different from everyone else. Being unique and religious would not help you out socially. Although you could have found me at church on Sunday, my faith had become a cultural event I went to with my parents and not part of my faith in God. When I was nine and my Grandfather died I would often lay awake at night struggling with death and often thought that there must be something more. I’ve been playing hockey since I was 5 and just this year decided to hang up my skates, and my dreams of getting to the NHL.
In the summer of 2009 after my graduation, some friends from high school, that I hadn’t spoken to for a while asked me to come out to a Cornerstone event. (Impact Saskatoon- Impact is a Summer Mission that aims at renewing the catholic faith in specific cities in Canada.) It was the last one of the summer and I thought it would be cool to see them again because they were really good upbeat and positive people. At the Cornerstone I felt welcomed and found it easy to talk to some of the people I met.
That summer I was working out to get stronger to be in better shape for hockey tryouts. When I didn’t make the team I had planned on making I was angry. I become very negative, and I really didn’t even want to go to school. The classes I wanted were full and I was very indecisive, I didn’t know what to do with my life, I hated school and I hated the coaches that told me I was cut. So I decided to work for that year. I made a lot of money but I wasted it mostly on temporal things like food and drinks. Over that year I had time to reflect on how empty I was, no ambitions, no love and no drive. I just didn’t care.
Some of my friends lived in Regina, so over the Christmas break I was planning on going to visit them. But my mom had told me that I was going to RiseUp in Winnipeg with my brother Stephane and some friends. RiseUp is a National Christian Conference that takes place once a year over new years. I was unsure about going to the conference and I was annoyed that my mom signed me up. But, I thought hey it’s a trip to Winnipeg, I’m of age there and I am good at meeting new people. When I got to RiseUp I felt awkward kind of like the new kid in school. After I found one of my buddies, the conference wasn’t so bad.
At the conference there was a night of Eucharistic adoration. During adoration Father Marc Goring invited people to offer their live to God for the first time, I didn’t feel ready, but as I sat in that pew I felt God speaking to me; calling me closer to him. It was something undeniable. That night I didn’t decide to give my life to God but I did decide to believe in Him and belief was something that I was struggling with. That was the first step. After that moment I felt more open then I have ever felt before. I took what was being said as truth rather than just hearing words that some old guy was saying.
After RiseUp I fell back into the same routine with work and it was as if I ignored what had happened. I wanted to change, if I were to look into the future I wanted to see a better person. So that August I decided to take a class in sociology. I also started reading and looking for answers to help myself. I played hockey that fall and made the team after the first try-out. I decided to go to RiseUp Montréal because I experienced growth and met some great friends in Winnipeg. In Montréal, Impact was promoted and I decided to think about it, but didn’t really want to go. After several conversations with some people I became more open to the idea and on the plan ride home, I chose to go. After the first couple weeks of IMPACT in Ottawa I was already burnt out. I was over analyzing things, trying to do everything by myself and barely sleeping. I had a talk with a staff member and he explained to me what it truly was like to be in a Christ centered relationship. I knew I had to make the choice, so I chose to have Christ at the center of my life.
What happened after that is best described as when you are at school and you are not focusing and you are not learning anything, compared to actually focusing, fully immersing yourself and learning what you are doing. That is what I did, I put Christ at the center and changed my focus to learn, laugh and cry on Mission. On Impact I grew so much and found so much joy in everything I did: a phone call, at work or with my roommates all of it. Now after mission I have a need to tell people about it. I want them to experience awesome and amazing things through God’s grace.
I get excited and I love share about Gods love and grace! So I decided to participate in another CCO Mission project that is happening this summer and this time it is in Uganda. I am excited to see people’s conversions and to share and talk about the joy and happiness that I have.

(Always hard to find a pic of Michael without him being with his Girlfriend Jennea)

“And what you heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well.”  Growing up this was a scripture passage that I never understood the importance of.  St. Paul is sharing with Timothy to share the gospel with others who can then share it with even more people.  I was raised in a very strong Catholic family and my parents have always been extremely involved in our faith.  We went to mass every Sunday, prayed before meals and participated in parish events.

Through friends my parents found out about some weekend retreats that I attended during my upper years of elementary school and all four years of high school. However, I was attending these retreats with the mindset that I wanted to know about God.  The Baltimore Catechism says that our purpose in this life is to know, love, and serve God.  Not know about Him, but know Him.

I was missing the thing that makes Christ real: a relationship.  I had all this knowledge about God, yet for me it was like going to school.  I would take what I learned and apply it to the subject area, but when I wasn’t around Church or at retreats I wouldn’t think about Him.  I wasn’t convicted of what I was learning, nor was it making an impact on me.  When I went to Eucharistic Adoration I would get a glimpse of who He really is, but after about two days those feelings would run dry and I was back into the routine of my normal life.

In my first year of university I was continuing to go through the motions of spiritual life.  When appropriate, I would praise God, but at parties I wouldn’t give Christ any thought.  I didn’t have the discipline nor did I understand the importance of having Christ in every area of my life.

This changed for me when I went to the annual Rise Up conference put on by Catholic Christian Outreach.  At this conference, we were given an analogy.  Let’s say the Riders are in the grey cup versus the Calgary Stampeders.  There would be so much hoopla about this and the atmosphere would be intense.  But what if, after all the buildup and weeks of anticipation, the players walked onto the field just stood in the huddle for a few minutes and left.  It would be the worst.  And that is what a lot of us do in our spiritual life.  There’s all this buildup and anticipation at retreats and when we receive the sacraments, but when we’re faced with a game situation and we’re challenged to do something, there’s usually no follow through even when we have the training.  Through some prayer and talking to others I decided to apply for the CCO summer mission project Impact in Calgary.

During this mission, I was challenged in so many ways.  I learned the importance of prayer, accountability, and fortitude.  After coming home though, I went through post-mission withdrawal, and seemed to be on a detour in my journey of faith.  I decided the best thing to get me out of that would be to go on to Impact Ottawa, which I did.  This year the theme of mission was “Come Encounter the Heart of the Father.”  It was and is a call to come encounter God’s love and know him personally.  In Calgary, I felt that I grew a lot in my own faith and in other ways, while in Ottawa I felt I grew in boldness of faith, and seeking others out and being intentional with them.  Coming home again, I again fell into a sort of faith slump.  Through prayer and discipleship, I have come to understand that faith is a lot like exercise (some sort of Kin joke).  I realized that in order to grow in faith and prayer, just as with fitness, it is essential to put in a consistent effort.  While I want to be able to say, “I’ve had a profound experience and my life will never be the same,” and be holy for the rest of my life, praying once a week, much like going to the gym once a week, won’t allow us to grow to our full potential.  This change in attitude, from holiness being a one-time life-changing event to being a process and struggle that will happen for the rest of my life, is a hard one because it means more effort is required, but it has allowed me to go from saying, “I’ve done a mission so I’m holy enough,” to, “I want to grow even more, to continue loving Christ as much as I can.”

I come from a family with no religious background. However, in grade 11 at the age of 17 I decided to become Catholic with the support of my family. As soon as I graduated from High School, a friend convinced me to join NET Ministries of Canada. I had gone on a NET retreat in the past and really enjoyed it, so I decided to apply and was accepted. Although I was a new Catholic, I soon found that I loved  putting on retreats. I loved sharing my faith so much that I decided to do a second year with NET Canada where I served on an expansion team in Ireland.

During the time I served on NET Ireland two of my teammates talked a lot about this organization called Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) and how they were involved back home. When I moved to Vancouver to attend University I started to attend CCO events. My campus didn’t have CCO on it, but I went to their Christmas conference called RiseUp in Calgary. I loved it so much that I applied for a CCO summer Mission project in 2008 Recontrez Jesus. It was a difficult mission, but I still loved sharing my faith. I was encouraged after the mission to lead a Faith Study with CCO at UBC in their inaugural year, even though I was not on that campus yet. In my third year I transferred to UBC and became very involved with CCO on campus.

A major turning point came at RiseUp Winnipeg 2009, where I was asked to be the Co-MC. I was in front of 450 students all week and was viewed by many as a staff member. I was in meetings with them, praying with them and seeking the Lords will with them.  During the conference I witnessed the lives of the students change, they opened their hearts to Christ and shared their experiences with me. This increased my desire to share Christ with others and I really felt a tug on my heart to join CCO staff.

After Winnipeg, I applied for CCO’s Mission trip to Uganda and I had let my call to staff dwindle significantly. Before this Mission I had recently become engaged and I was viewing this Mission as my last hurrah.  My plan for my life after the Mission was to head off to teachers college, get married and settle down in Vancouver.

In Uganda, while I was leading students through studies I was teaching them how to be missionary in their life. It was through that teaching that my very own missionary heart was set on fire. I realized that all that mattered to me was that Jesus would be proclaimed and that is what brings me joy.  I realized that being engaged to my fiancé would not allow me to be free in doing that.  She was a devout Catholic, but our hearts and mission in life did not align. I came home from the Uganda mission and had to make the most difficult decision of my life.

I realized the path that I was on was not going to bring me the most joy and I knew that my heart was going to be restless because of it. I knew proclaiming Christ would bring me freedom and fulfillment.  Therefore, I ended my engagement and the entire relationship. Soon after I realized I needed to fulfill my hearts greatest desire and so I applied to Staff .

I never would have thought at the age of 17 as a newly converted Catholic that I would be a full-time missionary. I have had to make some very hard choices in my life for this call. But, my life has been an amazing journey. Being on Staff is the right decision for me and it brings me so much joy. I would not have my life any other way.

(Picture with my Impact Calgary Faith Study leader Mallory White)

“ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.” Matthew 13: 45-46

When sitting down to write my testimony, this verse immediately came to mind. To me, the pearl of greatest value is a life spent with Jesus. The Catholic Church is rich in history, in love, in truth, in life, in community, in hope, in peace and in charity. Things that are not offered in such richness anywhere else. On my journey, I have been blessed enough to discover and realize the value of this pearl and be invited to sell everything I own and poccess it.

Although I was baptized Catholic, neither my parents or my siblings have a personal relationship with Jesus. Because of this, I remember when I first started to choose the Church for myself. I specifically remember being in junior high, and asking my mother if we were going to church that Satuday evening or the following Sunday morning. Being in a frustruated mood, she said no. In a possibly dramatic teenage state, I remember telling them that I would walk there myself. It was cold, I was desperate and I was stubborn. I ran for five minutes until I was saved!!! A family friend was also on their way to church. Again, being a normal 13 year old, I was ashamed to be almost in tears, running, and running to mass of all places. I hid, but instead, he backed up his truck to see if I was okay and wanted a ride. This was really God picking me up. And slowly taking away my shame of being his follower. I believe this was the first time I attended mass alone. Though this is a very small part of my life story, there came a point where I had to be accountable to Jesus myself, to choose him and His way of life. I had to overcome any shame or timidness to do this for myself. But because of this challenges, I became stronger in my faith.

God was at work in this preteen heart. He had laid the seeds trough a Protestant bible camp during the summers. I witnessed worship around a campfire, the coolest and most faith filled counslers and awesome games. But my personal faith journey came to flourish through a good friend I had throughout junior high, Maria Fox. Her and her family are on fire for Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. They still inspire me to this day. Pretty much, I wanted what Maria and he family had. I started attending her youth group and jammed out at Face to Face retreats.

Since these humble preteen beginings, I feel so blessed to have become more educated and mature in my faith and so be called to a different lifestyle. Though I feel like many people mention a time in their life where the succumed to the “party lifestyle.” God had a different plan for me. During highschool, we relyed on each other’s faith to get us through. We were accountable to each other.

A time of trial was went I travelled to France for three months to live with a host family. It was a totally secular environment. Although the large churches are cold and almost empty, the remnants of these large catherdrals are a testiment to the strong faith their french ancestors possesed.

Later in highschool, myself and a few others started a prayer group. This was a little out of my comfort zone and we were wondering if people would actually attend. Great things happened with this group. We met weekly with students and sometimes even teachers to pray about anything on our hearts.

Then last year, I got the chance to attend World Youth Day in Madrid. Awesome. If I ever had any doubt that I was part of a small few Catholic youths around ther world, these thoughts dissipated being surrounded by millions. (in the scorching heat…) Some of the highlights were having adoration with the Sisters of Charity, waiting in anticipation for hours for Stations of the Cross with Pope Benidict and having a heart to heart with a friend while eating gelato on cathedral steps and watching the sun go down.

This brings me to where I am now. I am starting my first year of university in the Urban Planning program. I feel that the Catholic Church has such a stonghold over the City of Saskatoon. And I am so blessed to be surrounded by such great influences. I am still striving to have Jesus at the center of my life. However, I have the support of my roommates and the Sisters at The Discernment House, in the STM worshipping community where I sing in the choir and serve as an RCIA sponsor and lastly in CCO where I both take and lead faith studies and get to attend so many rockin events. I am in this for life, Jesus has stamped my heart. And I can hardly wait for what he has planned for me.

I had a plan for the summer of 2011. I was going to work as an interpreter in a provincial park; I’d teach kids about pond creatures, chat with happy campers and get a sick tan. I definitely didn’t think I’d be back in my hometown. However, after one day at my job with the park that I spent in my bed recovering from the flu, I packed up and moved back home. When people asked me why I hadn’t stuck out the park job, even for a few days, I’d tell them that I just knew I had to come home. And so I spent the summer in my hometown, where I swore I wouldn’t be. I was consoled by the fact that I would be able to see my family everyday again and I did end up landing a really great job working with kids, but I was still kind of bummed. Now, as I look back though, I can see that I was actually scared to be back. In the 8 months that I had been away at university I had grown immensely as a person. The last time I had lived at home I hadn’t even been Catholic, and now I was not only Catholic, but passionate about my faith. I didn’t know how to make the transition from the person I had been when I had last lived there to the person I had become during my first year of university. However as time went by, I was affirmed time and time again that I was where I was suppose to be. I had endless opportunities to grow in my faith and learn to love the community I had grown up in and I also figured out my new role within it.

Another great thing about being home was that my job was really flexible, where as the park one wouldn’t have been. This flexibility gave me the opportunity to apply to be a counsellor at a weeklong camp held during the end of August. Again, when people asked me why I was applying to work at this camp and giving up a week of pay and sacrificing study time for the online final exams I had, I said I just was; I knew I had to.

Once at the camp, I quickly grew aware of the passion for Christ in the other counsellors and campers. I spent much of the first days just observing and taking everything in. Then, on the third day my summer truly came to its pinnacle. The day started off when I gave my testimony and that experience really made me realize how amazing God was, and how much He had blessed me, not just throughout summer, but throughout my whole life. Then that evening a partner and I were doing prayer ministry. During this time I felt the Holy Spirit working within me, and moving throughout the whole room. During a lull my partner asked me if I wanted to be prayed with and I said yes. While she was praying, what she was saying was going straight to my heart, and I experienced Jesus in an incredibly personal way. I knew that He was with me, that He always had been with me.  That simple message completely changed me. After prayer ministry we ended the evening with Adoration and I sat before the Eucharist and conversed with Jesus like never before.  During that time I knew that I had to trust in Him. I came to understand that everything that had happened during summer lead me to this amazing encounter. I realized that Jesus would lead me amazing places in life if I truly put all my trust in Him, and so that night I did.

Since then there have definitely been times when I’ve started to take that trust back from Him, but then I look back on summer, and remember how Jesus lead me and I remember that God has an amazing plan for me, a plan that is infinitely better than any plan I could come up with on my own and all I have to do is trust in Him.

There is a great event happening once a month where young people come together to have an intimate encounter with the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration & Confession.  The event is called the Summit and it is put on by Catholic Christian Outreach.  We are a university student group on campus and we exist to give young people a deeper experience of the faith.

The Summit is an event that allows you to take time out of your busy schedule and spend it with the Lord.  Many young people have experienced God in a deeper way through it – you are invited to come and have that experience too.  It’s also a great way to know some other Catholic young people in Saskatoon.  Hope to see you there. THIS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE!!

The Summit will happen at St. Augustines Parish 602 Boychuck Dr.

Wondering more about what exactly the Summit is? See the video here.

The next Summit, is March 2nd

Some choices are easy, some choices are hard, and some choices we don’t really know how to make. In the summer of 2008 I went to World Youth Day Australia with CCO. This was an easy choice. I thought it was going to be a fun pilgrimage to the land down under: I’d pet a kangaroo, go surfing, and see the Pope. I didn’t realize it was a mission project, and I had no idea that I would be sharing the Gospel. Choosing to be a part of the mission suddenly got harder. Before flying overseas, we stopped in Vancouver for a few days of training as a mission team. We were in a session learning how to use the Ultimate Relationship booklet and how to teach its simple message to others. This was not the first time I had seen it. Every time someone showed it to me, I’d say, somewhat reluctantly, “Yep, thanks, I’ve seen this before. I know all this, but I guess you can show me again.” I had heard the four points: I had heard that I was created to be in a relationship with God; I had heard that I had broken my relationship through sin and separated myself from God; I had heard that Jesus came to restore my broken relationship through his passion, death, and resurrection; and lastly I had heard that I could choose to repent from my sins and accept Christ’s sacrifice. I had heard all these truths on multiple occasions, but I still didn’t know how to have the personal relationship with Jesus that I so badly desired.

Growing up, I listened to countless testimonies of people who were living with Jesus at the centre of their lives, but I didn’t know how they did it. It frustrated me because it seemed so easy for them and I couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t until that training session in Vancouver that my heart finally opened up to the simple message of that little booklet. I sat in the session, and – once again – I heard the four points of the gospel message. But this time, when I heard the last point, I really heard it, with my heart, and I knew that all I had to do was choose to accept Jesus into my life. It was the infamous light bulb moment when, click!, I finally realized that all I had to do was say yes to Jesus and actively ask him to be at the centre of my life. It was that simple.

I want to challenge you to really consider the choice that is before you – the choice to invite Jesus into your heart. Maybe you feel like you have heard all of this before, but sometimes we need to hear a message multiple times before it makes sense. That’s what it took for me to understand how to have a personal relationship with Christ, and making that choice changed my life! If you’ve already chosen Jesus, I challenge you to recommit yourself to him. He will always accept another invitation! Turning away from sin and choosing Christ brings us eternal salvation. Will you decide to let Jesus into your life? The choice is up to you.

Going to Mass as a kid and a teenager, I definitely did not always think that the Eucharist was literally Jesus. I didn’t think it was a symbol, but I didn’t realize that the Eucharistic wasn’t someTHING, but someONE. It was a bit like my relationship with God. I knew that God existed, and that he made me, and I might have even known that God loved me, but I didn’t think he was important in my life.  And while I went to Mass with my family when I was a kid, and even altar served, my first step toward knowing more about God came when I went to different youth events at my church. It was good to be accepted and cared for, and I went on a few Catholic retreats as a result.

Then I was invited to a Catholic Youth Conference in the US called Steubenville, and I decided, pretty casually, that I’d go. I didn’t think much of it at the time. One of the big events at the conference was time of Eucharistic Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I had gone to Adoration before, when I was preparing to get confirmed, but it wasn’t a big deal to me. At least, it wasn’t as big a deal to me as some of the other people at the conference, who were really excited for Adoration for reasons I couldn’t figure out.

The conference was different from anything I had experienced before. It was mostly outside, in big tents on the grounds of a beautiful Marian shrine in Massachusetts. There were a number of talks given by lots of young, faithful, and excited people. Before Adoration began, there was a talk about Christ’s love for us, and how He showed it to us on the cross. It spoke to me in a very clear way, and  it prepared me to encounter Jesus.I had been to Adoration before this, but nothing had changed or happened. I mostly just sat there, and knelt at times too. This time, in a big tent with 3,000 other people, it was different, but not just in a size way. As the priest was processing through the tent, I looked at the monstrance, and thought about Jesus’ sacrifice and love. While I was looking and praying, I had a deep sense of God’s personal love for me, specifically. I compare it to a radio with a dial on it, when you’re looking for a station. You hear a lot of static, but if you come across a radio station, music can come out so clearly, and suddenly. Before, I hadn’t heard anything clearly, but when I opened my heart up to Christ, I suddenly got a deep sense of His love, and it was amazing. I still remember it, over 7 years later. After I left the tent, I remember walking around the grounds of the shrine at night and just being so overjoyed by Jesus’ love for me, something I hadn’t experience in that way before.

God’s True Presence in the Eucharist changed who I was, through my encounter with Him. I stayed involved in the Church throughout high school and university. God even took me from Nova Scotia to Saskatoon! When I look back on my life, I am able to confidently say that the evening that I knelt in front of Jesus present in the Eucharist, my life changed direction, steering me closer to God, and closer to the life he wanted for me.

In my first year of university, if you asked where I would be after I finished my degree, I would have probably said “traveling the world” or something witty like “saving the world.” I’ve always had a heart for the world hence why I studied International Studies, I just never knew that my little heart for the world would have translated to me being a missionary.

It all started in my first year of university. I came to understand and accept Jesus Christ as my personal saviour during CCO’s national Christmas conference called Rise Up. From there on, my missionary heart grew as I knew that others had to experience our Father’s love for us as I did at my point of conversion.

A year and a half later I signed up for one of CCO’s summer missions called Impact where 60 students from across the country become missionaries and live in community, growing in their Christian life. It was there where I first felt a desire to become a CCO staff members. However, I chose to be stubborn and ignored this call.

Unfortunately, months after the Impact mission was over, I started struggling with my faith. I was having a hard time understanding why I had to be on fire for Christ as oppose to just living a mediocre faith life and going to Church every Sunday. I continued this way for a while until I ended up in another mission in Uganda.

The mission in Uganda consisted of six experienced students and two staff members. We went to Uganda to train students on how to be missionaries. As I was teaching them on the concept that holiness and mission are two sides of the same coin, I came to realize that I needed to grow in both and that living a lukewarm faith was not enough for me. I needed to live in the fullness of Christ, through growing in holiness and mission. As a result, my desire to join staff was rekindled once again. Since I was entering my last year, I decided to discern this call more seriously. I used CCO’s application process as my discernment process and here I am on staff for CCO.

In the beginning of my university career, I would have said I would be traveling the world or saving the world after I finished my degree. In a way that’s not entirely false; proclaiming Christ is just my way of saving the world.