Whirlwind Update

​Hello! It has been a long time since this blog has been active, but now that some transitions have been made, you will be hearing from me (Tessa) these next couple months.
Wow, what a year it has been so far! 8 months ago, 5 missionaries from the states of California, Washington, Texas, Illinois, and Nebraska arrived in Bremerton, WA to begin a year of service for Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church. By now, if you are reading this, you have probably checked out the page “Meet the Missionaries” and have learned a little bit about each of us. July and August were months to get acclimated to the area and soak up the sun before the clouds started rolling in to continually hover over Western Washington in the fall and winter! Each of us got to choose which ministry we wanted to be in charge of for the school year. Christian chose to lead the middle school youth group “Sparks”; Ruby chose to lead the high school youth group “Ignite”; and Melanie chose to lead the young adult program “Roots”. Last month, I finished leading the Confirmation program, and Patrick’s role was uniquely his as Hospitality Manager/Parish Special Operations.
In January, Patrick left us to serve with NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries. Along with Patrick leaving us, Sr. Maria Caeli (the former missionary program director) transitioned to full-time teaching at the parish elementary school. In her place is Gabby Herndon, a vibrant former Star missionary, who is making strides in revamping the missionary program.
In late-January, all 4 of us missionaries helped out at the annual confirmation retreat at a camp in the area. We had about 30 youth attending the retreat, not including a handful of peer leaders and small group leaders. All of us had been praying for good weather for the retreat, and that whole week the sun had been shining! It didn’t start to rain until the last retreatants had left the camp! At the retreat, there was a youth who was in the process of converting to Catholicism, and he was able to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time! The Confirmation ceremony was the first time he received Communion!
We celebrated the Confirmation Ceremony on February 20, with Archbishop Etienne presiding. It was a beautiful Mass with packed pews! All the missionaries were present at the ceremony, with one of us sponsoring one of the confirmation candidates.
I will keep you posted as the semester continues, but until then, God bless!
-Tessa
“Then Jesus approached and said to them, ‘All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.’”-Matthew 28:18-20