Up YD Stories Q & A Team Life

YOUNG DISCIPLES - Share their stories


Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

Below you'll find a collection of stories from past Young Disciples team members who wish to share some of the tremendous blessings they received as part of the team.

 

Sacred Space

Zeal for Confession

God Bless the little Children

God provides

Community Witness Sharing Jesus with Mom & Dad

Sacred Space
by Sam Hetler, Team 2009

You can really tell a thing by its fruits! I knew that Young Disciples seemed like a well-founded inspired program from the brochure and even by training and putting the camps on, but I was able to see the fruits it put forth from the previous year! We were in Ellendale and it was the team’s last host home dinner and what a way to end with the Lord showing me a sneak peek of the good this program is doing. IT was after supper that my student and his brothers took me upstairs to show off his room. There in his room, he had a sacred space!! (prayer corner) It was such a beautiful space of pictures and the Bible plus other books and also statues. At first I had thought that it was his mom’s idea to set it up because she just has a profound love for God. The boy (as his mother mentioned) had picked it up from the Young Disciples camp last year! This opened my eyes to how much this can really touch kids! I really wish I had experienced this much sooner than my last camp. So please tell next years Disciples how much it can (and has) affect people. What a beautiful opportunity that we all had to be a part of such a thing that has brought this fourth grade boy to his knees in such a sacred space!

Top of Page

Download Team Member Application (900KB zip file)

Zeal for Confession
by Tamara Kussler, Team 2006

One thing about the kids that really surprised me this week was their zeal for Confession. I do not think more than one or two went to Confession every month, but when I said that we were going to go all of the kids were excited and kept on asking, “when’s Confession, when’s Confession?” That is why it was a little hard when on the first day of Reconciliation Father only got through about four of the fourteen kids needing to go. They were pretty disappointed but luckily everyone who really wanted to go got to by the end of camp.
I had two boys in the class who especially wanted to go to Reconciliation. They said they had a Mortal Sin (which surprised me but you never know) and they did not get to go until the last day of camp. They were very reverent during Mass and when it came time for Communion they would just refrain. When it finally came time for them they were very excited and had no fear. It is really inspiring to see the kids with no sense of dread or fear, going into Confession. A lot of adults have forgotten that it is the Sacrament of Reconciliation, not sin, and so we should be looking forward to it.
 

God Bless the little Children
by Thomaz Fernandez 2007

In my class there was a young boy who was baptized but from all that I could gather he had not received any religious education. His parents didn’t go to church and didn’t teach him about Jesus too much. He paid close attention in class and had many questions. He also volunteered to give answers to my questions, unfortunately but also expectably the wrong ones… One of the evenings we went out to dinner in his town. He was there, showed us around and played pool with me (he actually beat me.) On Friday, at the end of the camp he came to say good bye, told me how he enjoyed the camp and gave me a hug. Saturday morning, as I sipped my breakfast coffee, the priest came to see me and said he had spoken to the boy. The boy had asked Father if he could go to Mass on Sunday! He also told Father that he wanted to become Catholic… I pray that Mother Mary takes this little soul under her protection…

Top of Page

Download Team Member Application (900KB zip file)

Community Witness
by Donnie Schenck, Team 2007 & 2008

“Preach the Gospel at all time, and if necessary use words.” During our short stay in one particular small North Dakota town, when we weren’t going to have supper with one of the families of the parish, we went to one of the cafes. During those times. God continued to manifest His faith, hope and love to us through the members of the community that we encountered. One time, an elderly man shared with us how much hope it gave him to see young people with hearts aflame, eager to share the Gospel.
 

God provides
by Matt Johnson 2007

This week I knew that the Holy Spirit was working because of the response of this faith community.  Especially with the elderly who attended Mass with us every day.  Before Mass, we had Mass preparations, this includes training altar servers, lectors and greeters.  It also includes a tour of the church, exploring different parts of the church that are unfamiliar to children and even some Catholic adults.  The tour is a fun game to get the kids interested about the church and many holy objects within.  The elderly people saw us working with the children a half hour before Mass.  Everyday attendees complimented or thanked both the children and us Young Disciples for being so respectful and reverent.  The best part was how easy it was to guide these children.  The Holy Spirit was moving through the actions of these children before, during, and after Mass to touch the hearts of the faithful who came to worship with us.  Today a lady not only confirmed this but also gave a very generous and much needed financial donation to help sustain us.  I know I will be using that money to help purchase a plane ticket home at the end.  I didn’t know where the money was going to come from, but the Lord always provides!

Top of Page

Download Team Member Application (900KB zip file)

Sharing Jesus with Mom & Dad
by Nicholas Fonte 2007 

In class one of my students raised his hand to answer a question.  When he was giving his answer he mentioned in passing that he invited his mom and dad to pray “PAL” with him. PAL  stands for Pray, Ask & Listen.  I stopped him and asked him to elaborate.  He said that he sat his mom and dad down, explained what PAL was to them and asked them to pray with him.  He guided the prayer time, and although he was slightly disappointed that his younger brother feel asleep, he was beaming that he was sharing Jesus with others.  He wants to evangelize!

Top of Page

Download Team Member Application (900KB zip file)


Diocese of Fargo
5201 Bishops Blvd., Suite A
Fargo, ND 58104-7605
Phone: 701-356-7900
Contact us

© 2002-2010 by the Diocese of Fargo. The Catholic Diocese of Fargo takes full responsibility for the content of this Web site. Although sincere efforts have been made to offer links only to other Web sites whose content is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Diocese of Fargo is not responsible for the content of other Web sites accessible via links from this Web site. Web site last modified: March 4, 2010.

Get Acrobat Reader

Click the icon to the left for  your free Adobe Reader download.
This free download will enable you to view pdf files found throughout our Web site.