NET Financial Status round 2

Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances, and Colleagues,  
    So I know I mentioned this before and I don't want to be an annoyance but I have been asked to share this on my Blog again. I have exceeded my minimum goal of $6,000 by about $1500 and even though that is great and I am not forced to raise more I am being called to turn over every and any stone to help support this great ministry I have been apart of for the whole year!
   The National Evangelisation Teams (NET) of Ireland is a Catholic national non-profit youth ministry. Each year around 20 young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 devote one year of their lives to become missionaries, spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to over 7,000 secondary students across Ireland.
​   As a non-profit organisation, NET relies on the generosity of individuals, businesses, organisations, foundations, and parishes to run its program. Approximately one third of NET’s revenue comes from individuals who give annually, one third from the sponsors of the current year’s NET team members and the remaining one third from program fees charged to parishes and schools who use NET’s services.
​   Each team member also assists with fundraising by working with NET in raising money. This sponsorship goes directly towards helping to cover the training, healthcare, and monthly stipend costs for each team member.

​   But the thing is since Ireland is so new and Youth ministry is such a new concept they do not have enough big sponsors to make up that last third of needed money. But NET Ireland still feels that we are doing God's work and that he will work it out. I heard once that if its God's will it will be God's bill.
   Although that does not mean we can sit back and leave it all in his hands. NET Ireland has been doing everything they can to grow those sponsors and build those networks that they can rely on. But one of the things they are also doing is encouraging us to reach our maximum. As NETters we are giving up a year of our life to do this great ministry and we ask all of our friends and families to support us with not only prayers but in a financial way too. So yes I have reached my minimum of $6000 US dollars, but I am going to do my best to raise more and support this ministry I am doing.  So I ask you to pray and donate in any way you can, it will be much appreciated and even if that is saying a simple prayer daily for NET or to pledge 5 dollars every month to NET. I thank you all for reading this and hope that you will take time to discern what you are personally called to  I will attach a pledge card to this blog that has an address for NET in the States. If you feel called fill out the pledge card put my name on it somewhere and mail it to them and the money will be transferred to NET Ireland. Thank you so much and I will be praying for you all especially this Lent.

                      God Bless,

Benjamin Record

St. Paddy's day in Ireland and other adventures

                So March is here and I have had the pleasure to experience St. Paddy’s day in Ireland! We have been enjoying a super nice spell of weather. For literally the last 4 weeks we have had sunshine almost every day and decent temperature, there has been cold days but in general very nice. So to start the first week of the month we woke up after a nice sleep in, went to Sunday mass and did our normal shopping, cleaning, and what not that we do every Sunday. That evening we took some youth to see the relics of St. John Bosco in Tullamore.  We had quite a bit of fun and a nice time just being with our youth. To finish the evening Marie, Becca, and I played “Beans”, as we call it or Bohnanza, while Tim and Amy had phone time. Then we watched an episode of Dexter and went to bed. On Monday I slept in till like 11 and did pretty much nothing because it was day off. Becca and Marie spent the entire day looking up hostels for their traveling around Italy after NET, and Amy finished her Résumé for job applications. Over all it was a nice day off and we got well rested for our crazy busy week that was ahead of us.

                Tuesday we did our normal routine of breakfast, PP, mass, Meeting with Fr. Seamus / service time. Then we had lunch and team prayer which was then followed an afternoon of preparing the music for both youth mass and the Youth Rally on Friday. After all of that we had the luxury of going to some ones house for dinner. It was a very good dinner cooked for us by a lady whose parents were Irish but moved to the States and then she met an Irish Boy and moved back to Ireland after getting married. She has a very strong Bronx accent and fed us American sized portions. It was a very nice treat to share American memories with her and just be treated. We came back after dinner and did a youth mass music practice and then had our normal internet time before going to bed.  Wednesday after our normal routine had our confirmation retreat prep and rally prep time till lunch. Following that we had some Team Prayer, and some school prep then Team Break. This week was very busy so Tim and Amy felt it was necessary to have mandatory break time. It was really nice we just watched an episode of Chuck and then while dinner was being made we watched the first part of Pirates of the Caribbean.  After dinner we had music practice for our Youth Rally, followed by hood time. Over all it was a busy day but we had fun. The funny thing is one of our youth named Adam plays guitar and we realized we will see him 5 of the 7 days that week because of the music practices and such.

                Thursday we had drama practice in the morning , and then did a school session in one of the primary schools. But there was something different about this school session; we only had 3 of us go to it. We are starting something new where only 3 people go to the school sessions while the other two go to tea with someone. This helps us divide and conquer, and make maximum use of our time. So that went well except Amy and I didn’t get to have Tea with any one because no one was home. But that after noon we had some last minute DJ prep and Rally prep before dinner. For this week’s DJ night I lead a new game called Silent Football and we basically played it all night. The youth had so much fun it was such a nice chill night with our youth.  The next morning we woke up ready to accomplish all that was meant to happen. We were supposed to have two school sessions, and a Youth Rally. We did our first school visit just before lunch but were not able to do the second because they didn’t have time for us. But that was good it gave us more time to finish any last minute stuff for the rally. The Rally was meant to be like a half retreat, with hopefully a lot of people from other towns joining us. That didn’t happen sadly, because it was such short notice we only had 16 youth show up. We were sad but it ended up being a really good time with our youth and we had the gift of the ARI team helping us out.

                After the Rally the ARI team stayed with us and spent all of Saturday with us which was sooo much fun. Our little house was so crowded but that made it more fun for people like me who love people being around, and it was warm from all the extra body heat. We took them to the ruins of Fore Abby, which was fun because we basically climbed up the walls and just messed around for the afternoon. Anna on the ARI team was lifted up into a few windows and even hopped down into a room that was locked by a gate. We felt so mischievous but it was well worth it. I really love hanging out with the ARI team they are such a fun and crazy team. Plus the guy I roomed with back at the beginning of training, Josh, is on that team. After our crazy afternoon we had them over for dinner, and sent them on their way back to Cavan. To wrap up our long week we had a long team meeting and then went to bed. All in all it was a great week but we for sure had ministry coming out of our ears by the end of it. The last two weeks have been rather similar; we have been busy but really good overall. This week is the Parish Mission and that has been a huge blessing for the renewal of the Parish and just a nice time for us to hear good talks and even have a Eucharistic healing service. The team that is putting on the Retreats are from the St. Patricks Community here in Ireland that was started by John Pridmore who is a world renowned speaker who spent his earlier years as a gangster in London. We sadly dont have John here at our parish but its been really good to hear all the different talks done by his team and most of all get a renewal in my own faith. I hope this lent has been a good one and want you all to know that you are in my prayers and  I look forward to coming home and telling you even more stories of my time in Ireland!

Down to 2

                Hey guys, So what is new in the Village you ask? Well not much, life has been very good and most of all we are keeping busy! We are all leading nights and growing in confidence and ability, it is so awesome to see all of us grow from where we started in August. I know there will be more challenges and more growth, but it is good to stop and see where we already have been growing. This week was busy and every day pretty much had some kind of ministry, and we love it even if at the end of each day we are tired we know we have earned sleep. Sunday was pretty chill we went to mass and went shopping and did some cleaning like normal but to end the day we had our first Awake (junior youth group) night since being back and only 3 youth showed up so we had to throw out the plans we had for the night and just play games and have some fun. That evening after some phone calls Becca, Tim and I watched Taken and thoroughly enjoyed the action packed movie that it is. Monday was a good day off we had a great time just relaxing and taking time to do what we personally want to. I have started a weekly tradition to make chocolate chip cookies on day off which goes over very well for the team. That evening we had some very interesting prank calls from the Newbridge Team and it was a lot of fun; the pranks consisted around them asking me really random questions, i.e. “Do you wear Capri trousers?” After the questions stopped and a lot of good laughs we watched Chuck and finally finished season 3!!! We only have two seasons left, what will we do with our Mondays once we are done?!

Tuesday started our week off like normal with, breakfast, mass, Team leader meeting with Fr. Seamus, and the rest of us just doing team service time. Then after Tim’s supe call we had lunch and a team meeting along with final prep for this week’s youth nights. After all of that we had dinner and jam session. We really didn’t do much at jam session just chilled and hung out with the youth, and one of our youth brought his bass guitar which made Becca and my day. After jam session we had internet time for three of us and went to bed.  Wednesday was a good day with morning hood time and an afternoon of team service time. Then we had dinner and our Encountering Jesus night for Clonmellon Youth group led by me. Which was a lot of fun and we truly saw them enter in to the night, it was cool to see they had grown just since last time we were with them. After that Tim and Amy had their internet time and we all went to bed.

Thursday was a lot like last Thursday with our 6^th class retreat, and youth group that evening. The Retreat went so well, and it was awesome just to see the difference between the 5^th and 6^th class, that one year brings such a different change. They truly entered into the time of prayer ministry, and we even had a good number of guys cry after the one and one prayer. That afternoon we had a good TP and great dinner then began our youth night on the Holy Spirit. We had a small number of youth which at first seemed bad but I think it was good because we were truly able to go deeper and share more with them. To wrap up the night Becca and I did the Sketch “Vaseline”. This sketch is hilarious and got all the youth laughing and even the rest of the team after they had seen it a bunch of times. The next day we had a nice sleep in, breakfast, PP, TP, and a really good team meeting. Then we ate some lunch and prepared to leave for our Ovoca Manor Retreat. The Retreat was on the Essential Jesus, and run by Scripture Union, which is a non-denominational Christian organization that focuses on using scripture to grow closer to God. Before going to the retreat we stopped in the beautiful National Park called Glendalough State Park. It was gorgeous and full of “mountains”, for Ireland they were mountains but for North America they were big hills. The park had a lot of trees and even an old monastic city that was in ruins. We spent the afternoon hiking and enjoying God’s creation.

At the retreat we were all split into small groups, and spent the weekend having talks and small group sessions focused on the bible and different scripture readings. It was a little weird at first being the only Catholics at the retreat and the youngest, but we in the end had a great time and were truly able to get a lot out of the weekend. We did our best to explain what we are doing in Ireland and what NET is, and be a good example of Catholics and members of NET. There were some awesome praise and worship sessions, and a beautiful walk around the groups of the camp. Overall the Retreat was what we all needed to get filled up and rejuvenated for the next few weeks.  This was a great week and left me feeling glad to be a Catholic and also really at peace, this week was busy but we did a lot and I truly believe that we are doing exactly what God wants for us, and it is such a cool feeling knowing that what you are doing is first of all good and second of all God’s will. The thing we must remember is weeks like this where we come to the end and see we gave a lot but know it was good, and remember that not all weeks will be fun and or easy but that it is all worth it.

Since this week we have been busy like normal with youth groups, and a youth mass. We even got to celebrate Becca’s Birthday by going to County Mayo which happens to be Becca’s favorite county. We surprised her by taking her to Ashford Castle which is now a 5 star hotel. She thought that Ashford Castle was in County Wicklow so it was a surprise for her when we arrived at it in County Mayo. We also saw an old monastery and a Marian Shrine. To finish the day off we went to a Carmelite Monastry in Knock Co. Mayo, Becca loves the Carmelite nuns so it was really cool to sit and talk and share some laughs with them before the drive back to our home. Over it was a great birthday, and now its only me and Marie that are still in our teens on the team.

I hope this finds you all doing well and in good spirits, I am enjoying life but I do really miss my family and friends back home. I can’t believe that there is really only 3 months left of my time here in Ireland, it has just flown by. With all of that said I am so excited for my travels after NET, I got all my hostels booked now so I am all set. I will be spending 4 days in Rome, 2 days in Paris, 2 days in Venice, and 4 days in Barcelona it is going to be a blast!!!! Don’t worry I will take lots of pictures for you all! With that I leave you all with these words….   “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”

― G.K. Chesterton

NET Ireland Financial Status

Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances, and Colleagues,  
     Ok, so here is some info about NET Ireland and how they support themselves. NET Ireland is a non-profit organization that does youth ministry in schools and parishes all around Ireland. NET's main way of supporting them selves is in thirds. One third comes from the NETter's fundraising, each member of NET is asked to raise a minimum of $6000 US or Canadian dollars, or 4500 euros. They encourage us to exceed this goal if we can. Next one third comes from the cost of retreats and parishes that have a local team. The last third comes from big donors and sponsors. In the States, Canada, and Australia there is a good amount of companies and people who sponsor NET directly in larger amounts of money. But the thing is since Ireland is so new and Youth ministry is such a new concept they do not have enough big sponsors to make up that last third of needed money. But NET Ireland still feels that we are doing God's work and that he will work it out. I heard once that if its God's will it will be God's bill.
     Although that does not mean we can sit back and leave it all in his hands. NET Ireland has been doing everything they can to grow those sponsors and build those networks that they can rely on. But one of the things they are also doing is encouraging us to reach our maximum. As NETters we are giving up a year of our life to do this great ministry and we ask all of our friends and families to support us with not only prayers but in a financial way too. So yes I have reached my minimum of $6000 US dollars, but I am going to do my best to raise more and support this ministry I am doing. We are beginning Lent today and there is three things we are called to do during this season; one to pray and devote more time to our personal relationship with Jesus, second we are called to fast and sacrifice things in our daily life to help us remember the sacrifice Jesus endured for us on the Cross. Last we are called to alms-giving, we are called to support the ministries of the church and NET is one of those ministries. So I ask you to pray and donate in any way you can, it will be much appreciated and even if that is saying a simple prayer daily for NET or to pledge 5 dollars every month to NET. I thank you all for reading this and hope that you will take time to discern what you are personally called to this Lenten season. I will attach a pledge card to this blog that has an address for NET in the States. If you feel called fill out the pledge card put my name on it somewhere and mail it to them and the money will be transferred to NET Ireland. Thank you so much and I will be praying for you all especially this Lent.

                      God Bless,

Benjamin Record

Surviving the Irish Winter

D – E – L – V – I – N! Whatcha Talkin’ Bout Man?! That’s Delvin! What? That’s Delvin! YEAH!

That right there is the beautiful song our Supervisor Mark wrote for us all the way back at training, it is like our spirit song that we sing to get pumped up or end a meeting! Who says we aren’t awesome! Well it’s just another week gone by, already the beginning of the 3^rd week, and we are going strong. We started the week with a sleep in to follow up our jam packed Team day on Saturday that was brought to us by Marie and I. We went to mass at 11am and came home did some lunch, and began our weekly cleaning and shopping. Sundays are pretty consistent; mass, cleaning, shopping, some sort of practice whether it be Drama or Skit and dinner followed by phone time and then the evening off leading into Day Off. The only abnormal thing that happened this week was an adventure that Becca and I went on. We were craving chocolate or munchies of some sort. So finally deciding to go get something at 10pm we left to go to the local corner store. We passed the person who just closed up on our way there so we quickly made the decision to go to the local chipper, Burger Boss. After a short wait we returned with a bag of Chips, French fries, and bottle of Fanta. Once back we, Tim, Marie, Becca, and I, watched Shutter Island and enjoyed a nice late evening together. Then came Day Off, and as those go it was pretty normal, except for I got a haircut by Jean O’Neill, who is the mom of some of our youth. We watched some Chuck that evening and then went to bed to begin yet another week of ministry.

Tuesday’s are most consistently the same out of all the days each week. We have breakfast, mass, team service time, Tim and Amy do a meeting with Fr. Seamus, and then Tim has his Supe call. Then we have lunch followed by something that changes every week. This week Tim and Amy went to Athboy for a meeting while the rest of us stayed home and had more service time. Then team prayer, dinner, and Jam session. For a Tuesday it was really good, but nothing super spectacular, just a normal day in the life of a Parish NET Team. Wednesday was a good day we had a meeting about DJ and good team prayer. It was followed up by lunch, and then Tim and Amy left to get our tire fixed. We had some drama practice and learned a new anointed drama (that is a drama done to a song with no spoken words) that we will be recording in the next few weeks.  That evening we ate a delish dinner and had a really good Hood time. Tim and I played a game of Risk and watched Inside Man. Thursday we began School visits again, which was actually really cool, to be back with these kids after not being there for quite a while. That afternoon we had some final team service time which included Tim and Amy doing scheduling for the next week, and Becca freaking out for that nights Youth Group. Becca did such an amazing job that night and is really a pro youth night leader. The night was on God the Father, and I honestly think the youth learned a lot about their personal relationship with that member of the Trinity.

Friday we went to the other 2 schools and did sessions with them, and the school that is normally a bit rambunctious was actually really well behaved. That afternoon after a Team meeting, and dinner, we went to Athboy for a Christian Unity prayer service. It was really cool and we actually did the Dare You To Move Drama which the rest of the people really liked. The evening was very chill, but very eye opening to how terribly people are treated around the world. Saturday we slept in, had a pleasantly long breakfast followed up by personal prayer (PP) and Team Prayer (TP). Then after lunch we began Becca’s Team Time!!!! We basically went on adventure, with the only two requirements being to have fun, and find some kind of ruins. Both were accomplished by the end of the 4 hours. After driving around enjoying the scenery, we found some random ruins off in some field so we walked to them and took pictures and Tim and I tried climbing up a stair case in one of the towers. Then it began to rain so we headed back home, which was awesome because then Becca showed us her picture slideshow of her family, and friends. It was a really chill relaxing afternoon.  After some dinner cooked by the girls, we has a brainstorming session about anything youth nights in the next month to see if we needed help with ideas. Finally before hitting the hay to end the week we had internet time to catch back up with all the rest of the world. Over all this week was really really good, we did a good amount and are continuing to grow as a team. The next week we had our first retreat for 5^th graders, and went down to Cork and saw Blarney Castle. We all kissed the Blarney Stone, so we are all gifted with the gift of eloquence so watch out J We had a great week busy but good. We are now enjoying a day off.  So anyway I cannot wait to look back at these blogs and see what I have done this year, it is flying by, so the quote of the day, “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” Walter Hagen

Take care my dear friends and random people who are reading my blog J

Your Friend on the Green Isle

P.S. The weather has been so crazy from being like a hurricane to sunny and nice I guess this is the Irish Winters

Benjamin Record

Guess Who's Back!

Guess Who’s Back? I am! Well back to Ireland anyway. My travels back to this little green isle were fine no hiccups, just got on my planes and flew across the big pond. Upon arriving I waited 4 hours in the airport for some other NETters to ride the bus up to Letterkenney Co. Donegal with, it was actually so worth the wait. We all just talked about our breaks and the random adventures we had. That night we stayed with the Foy’s, Tony Foy is the director of NET Ireland. He willingly hosted all of us NETters a total of 24 of us stayed at his house! It was a full house we will say that. The next 5 days were spent at a capuchin Franciscan Friary called Ards Friary in the northern part of Donegal. I can honestly say it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and it was just an awesome time of training, and being with everyone again. The talks were challenging but what we all needed and lots of fun was had by all especially the last day. From an intense game of Flicker (like Ultimate Frisbee with a Rugby ball) on the beach, to jumping in the Atlantic Ocean, to some new games and dramas that teams had come up with, to finally dumping water out our room windows down onto the girls below us. The boys were on the 3^rd floor while the girls were on the 2^nd floor, we started by just talking out our windows and then we got the idea to dump water on them. We got “in trouble” by the staff but really they thought it was hilarious. It will be one of the nights I remember for a very long time. The next day we spent a good hour giving affirmations to each other in a big circle it was so nice but then… we were sent off once again.

We left January Training on the 7^th of January to begin our trek back to the wee little Village that we call home for the year. It was so hard to leave everybody but we can’t be a NET team of 26 NETters just would be impossible to find host homes J. But even if it was hard to say good bye we were prepared to take on this second half of our NET year. The drive took us about 3 and a half hours I would say if we hadn’t gotten lost a few times trying to find a McDonald’s to eat at. At one point we found ourselves lost and turning around in a residential area of this random town in the North of Ireland, but we did not get frustrated we instead turned it into determination! We found the McDonald’s and ate a nice late lunch. Arriving back in the Village around 5ish we made some pasta, and spent the whole evening watching Chuck and just relaxing with each other. The next morning in an attempt to get back into some kind of routine we ate breakfast at 7:30 which consisted of coffee and tea without milk, porridge without milk, and I simply ate nothing. We then had personal prayer and went to mass. It was really nice to get back to our church and even if Ireland isn’t our true home we do feel very welcome in this small village.

We then came back and Tim and Amy had their weekly meeting with Father Seamus and then after some scheduling and unpacking we ate lunch and then did our weekly house cleaning and grocery shopping, which was very good because our house literally had nothing in it. That evening we did some team prayer, ate dinner, and headed over to the O’Neill’s to catch back up with them and see how their Christmas was. The O’Neill’s are so great to us and make us feel right at home, they will forever be our little Irish family. The next day we did the normal morning but after mass we were presented with a new way to plan our Youth Nights. Tim and Amy thought it would be more efficient and good for us all to start planning the nights by ourselves so we could get more done in less time. We all agreed it was a great idea and then spent the morning deciding who would do which night. After some lunch and team prayer, Tim and Amy went to a meeting with a lady who works at a nearby school to see if we could do some religion classes there. During this time the rest of us worked on any things that we needed to get done and then when they got back had a fun time of skit practice.  It was a great day that ended by some hood time that was really nice to just relax and catch up with each other.

Thursday morning was spent by going to mass and some more team service time which was awesome because all of us had stuff we could be working on. That afternoon we had team prayer and some discussion about our Team Life Charter which was really good, and left us having a better idea of how we wanted to live out this second half of the year. After that and a good walk we did the final preparations for our first youth group back. The night was really good; it was so nice to see the youth and to just hear about how their Christmas was. Friday morning was so nice for Marie, Becca, and I since we had a sleep in, while Tim and Amy went to get a car inspection done so we could keep our car licensed. The day went on and was a very good, we spent some time practicing music, having a team meeting, and also had an hour of internet to see how everything was back home. That evening we ate dinner and spent the evening sharing pictures of our families and lives back home, it was really good to see each other sharing their stories. On Saturday we had a nice sleep in and a morning of prayer, but following that we went into Mullingar and watched Les Miserables. It was sooo good probably one of the best musicals I had ever seen. We came back after the movie to a dinner honoring by the girls and diads. It was a great week we truly had a nice time getting back into the life of a local team. 

The next week was a lot like the first week, getting back in the normal routine and just doing ministry prep for the crazy month of February. Wednesday night Tim and I played Risk for hood time and I whooped him, and we also watched Shooter which is a great movie p.s. On Thursday for our youth group we had a town wide scavenger hunt that was super fun, we had them do videos, pictures, and find certain things. To finish the week off, Marie and I planned a full team day for us all.  We started the day off by going to Trim Castle, where all of the castle scenes were filmed for Braveheart, it was gorgeous, we even got a tour of the keep. Next we went to Slane, where Hill of Slane is at, which is where St. Patrick in the 5^th Century lit the Pascal fire to combat the High Kings of Ireland, who had told him he could not celebrate his Easter vigil. On top of the Hill is an old Franciscan Friary built in the 16^th Century that is in ruins but fairly intact, and there was no one to stop us from climbing on the ruins J. Next we headed down to Dublin for a Pro-life Vigil. Abortion is the closest it has ever been to getting legalized in Ireland, so the Pro-life movement have been fighting extra hard, and this vigil ended up being the biggest Irish Pro-life rally ever, with 30,000 + people attending. We were so happy to get the chance to go to it and share in the history being made. All of the NET Teams, and Staff were present, it was so cool, a lot of us ended up being on camera too! To finish the night we went to dinner with the Newbridge NET Team and NET Staff at Pizza Hut, then drove back to our little home in the Village. Life has been really good since being back, there have been challenges but they are only bringing me more growth and developing me into a better man. Again if you guys have questions or feel I left stuff out please let me know. Also write me letters! My address is 

15 Cois Caislean

Athboy Rd

Delvin

Co. Westmeath

Ireland 

Well from Ireland with love!

Benjamin Record