4th day

Hey everyone, my name’s Derek DaSilva, and I’m a senior at Malden High school. This talk that I volunteered for is what we call the Fourth Day. It’s a funny thing to call a talk, fourth day… what it means is that we’re here for three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This fourth day is the time after the retreat, and it’s not just one day. I really hope that you guys take what you learned on this retreat and let it into your lives. I volunteered for this talk because on my first retreat it was the fourth day talk that really made all the difference for me. Way back before I came to IC, I was a member of a parish in Cambridge. It was a beautifully designed church, but the CCD there didn’t have much to offer an inquisitive young mind. I was there for 7 years. Think of it. Seven years of people force feeding you information. It was not a fun time. At some point my parents realized that it wasn’t worth dealing with the people at the parish, but they still wanted my sister and I to be in some form of religious education. IC turned out to be the answer.

I still remember my reaction when I heard about GOF, it went something like this: ARE YOU SERIOUS???!!!!1 When I finally went to my first GOF session, I couldn’t believe the difference. Scott and the team were welcoming and they encouraged questions. That was something very new to me. So Time passed but I still wasn’t feeling the whole religion thing. Then it came time for the retreat, I didn’t want to go at first, but my parents forced me. I doubt I need to tell you guys what happened on that retreat since we haven’t changed the schedule since. I can tell you thought, the witness talks were my favorite part. The fact that the people giving the talks were so willing to open up and tell the candidates about their own experiences really impressed me. But even more impressive was the faith they all had. Each person worshipped in a different way but it was all for Jesus. At the end of the retreat I wanted to stay active in IC. But I wasn’t sure just what I could do. That’s why the fourth day talk was so important to me. From the talk I gathered that I should bring the retreat to the other people I knew. That’s nother thing that sounds really strange. Bringing a retreat to other people; well I figured that I learned a lot over my retreat weekend, I learned a lot about Jesus and where I stand in my faith. And I wanted to share that with other people. The best way I could do that was work with the youth ministry and with you guys. I think my favorite thing I do other then the retreats is playing with the 5pm youth ensemble at the youth mass. It’s so much fun to be a part of a group made up of such talented people. But you don’t need to be a musician to bring the retreat to others. There is another retreat we go on during the year. That retreat is our Vermont retreat, where we visit the dumanes, at the Melo’s retreat center. Dave and Terri are amazing people. They work at this amazing youth center and it’s also their home. They literally open up their home to all of us and welcome us. Sadly their home burned down last February, but it’s been rebuilt and they moved in the week before Christmas. The next Vermont retreat is coming up in the spring and personally, I’ve been counting the days until then. The retreat itself is for peerleaders. After going on it you can help work on the confirmation retreats and as a peerleader at GOF. Then there’s this funny thing called the W, it’s our weekly highschool youthgroup. We meet at seven o clock on Wednesday nights eat some marvelous cookies that Scott’s mom bakes, play some games, and just chill out. So come on by one of these weeks and check it out, believe me it’s a lot of fun. There’s plenty of stuff to do, heck there’s more then plenty, just talk to any of the leaders if you want to know more.