The First Day

Hey all,

Thanks for being patient in waiting for the next official blog update to be published. Things have been busy in light of the missionary endeavor we know as Love Begins Here, as Core Team members are being recruited, registration materials are officially published, and more.

Before we get to the big announcement and reflection on our theme for the LBH2011, there is a prayer request to note. Lindsay, along with support and help from the good people over at our Diocesan Offices, have submitted the FIRST Love Begins Here grant proposal to the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities. With the help of this grant, LBH would be able to grow in many new and exciting ways. Please pray for the meeting of the board which will decide on whether or not our grant gets funded, which will be happening on May 14th.

The First Day

This summer, we are going to explore what it means to live like every day is the first day of the rest of our lives. Living life knowing that we have been made a new creation through the Incarnation, continually restored through the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession means that our lives can be full of hope.

When we have been filled with hope, we will then be able to share it with our neighbors. And, that is the mission of love begins here.

The theme for this summer comes from a song by Catholic Musical Rockstar Matt Maher in his song Hold Us Together. Some of the lyrics from this song have not only helped in creating the theme for this summer, but they have also been able to provide hope and light in the midst of the toughest kind of news that has been delivered to the LBH family this past month.

Many of you have been united in prayer with the us as we have prayed for Madi, who was diagnosed with leukemia this past summer during her week on LBH. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer and support for this amazing young woman. A few weeks ago, Madi and her family learned that her body stopped responding to the treatments and she has not gone into remission.

As her mom wrote on her blog while delivering the news, "What I want for my girl, as does she, is for all who come in contact with her to CELEBRATE HER. Her life now. Live with her in this moment. Please do not grieve with her. She doesn't want to waste another second in tears. Just be present. Just enjoy. Do not ask her or us, how much time we have. We only know that we have NOW. Do not dwell in a place of sorrow with her."

And, by the grace of God and love of family and friends, they are doing just that. During a visit of some LBH friends with Madi, we saw her full of smiles, funny stories and hope of the life to come with Our Lord. She is living like today is the first day, an opportunity to be alive, love and change the lives of those around us. As Matt sings in our theme song...

This is the first, day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, s'gonna be alright

Love, will, hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

And I'll, be, my brothers keeper
So the whole world will know
That we're not alone

Madi, your LBH family loves you very much, and we are all continuing to offer up prayers for you every day.

Madi (left) with her favorite car group members, Slade, Jeff and Gina. Circa LBH2009.

Thanks for staying up with the latest greatest from the Love Begins Here world. Look forward to more regular updates as the summer draws near!


Peace,
Lindsay

Promo Video #1 2011 & More

For those keeping track at home, we are 129 days and 16 hours away from kicking off our first LBH Mission Trip of the summer.

Where will we be kicking off exactly? Well, that's yet to be determined, but we should know in the coming weeks, and you will be some of the first to know.

We here at Love Begins Here do have some great news to share with you... our second location for the middle two weeks of LBH is ST. JOSEPH in BARABOO! The good people in that parish and Father Bakke are quite excited to have us for the week, and we are excited to see what good work can begin in that community. Look out Baraboo, love is about to begin from July 5 - 15.

Before we get to showing you our first PROMO VIDEO of the summer, the last exciting piece of information is that on Friday we will be rolling out our complete registration packages. We will officially start accepting parish rosters and individual registrations on Friday, February 18th.

With all of those great updates out of the way, please enjoy watching this inspiration flick.

LBH2011 Schedule

Hello LBH Friends,


Praise the Lord! It's a beautiful weekend here in the Madison Diocese and not only because we have found ourselves blanketed in a nice covering of fresh snow. This past Friday evening two men were ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ for the Madison Diocese. Congratulations to Fr. John Putzer and Fr. Chad Droessler! The LBH Family is certainly going to continue praying for you and your priestly vocations.


On that joyful note, we're also very delighted to announce the schedule for Love Begins Here 2011. Keep checking back here to see where these are going to be living... For now, we're thrilled to announce that our final two weeks are going to be taking place at St. James in Madison, WI home to 2-Year CT Member Gina Pignotti, Joe Tiller (LBH Superfan), and many LBH2010 Alum. It's going to be a great few weeks. 

High School 1: June 19 - 24
High School 2: June 26 - 31

Middle School 1: July 5 - 8
High School 3: July 10 - 15

St. James - Madison, WI

Middle School 2: July 19 - 22
High School 4: July 24 - 29

If you haven't taken time lately to join our facebook group, now's the time. Feel free to check out www.facebook.com/lovebeginshere! If you are already a fan, please help us in spreading the word about the good things happening on LBH by suggesting that your friends also "like" us.

We pray that your Advent is continuing on well; enjoy the start to this third week.

Peace,

Lindsay

LBH 2010 Evaluation Highlights

Happy Advent, LBH Blog Readers! We here at LBH hope and pray that this season is preparing your hearts to more fully receive our Infant Lord into your hearts in a few short weeks.

It's been a busy fall for the Core Team, as we have returned to the routine of the school year - which for most of us means devoting our time to the youth of the Madison Diocese in the classroom, at youth group, or even on the wrestling mats. However, this does not mean that LBH is far from our minds or our hearts, as often recall the fond memories of this past summer and pray in thanksgiving for the Holy Spirit touching and changing so many hearts - including our own.

This afternoon, I (Lindsay) had a chance to take a look again at ALL of the evaluations from this past summer. Once again, I was blown away by the work accomplished and good things to be said about LBH. I thought I would throw a few highlights out there for you to look at...

• I have learned that beginning love here is not only about loving others, but also about loving yourself. - Danielle, Waunakee

• The Daily Mass was EPIC. - Jimmy, McFarland

• Love Begins Here means this is where you find your Love. - Andy, Darlington

• LBH means to me that any time I am questioning my faith, I know I can come here or think about this and be reassured. - Haley, Cross Plains

• I expected to like parts of the week and not like parts, but I loved every second of it. - Luke, Cross Plains

• Love Begins Here means a ton to me. It means that we have to be that example of love to others in this hard, cruel world. We, in Christ, must show others his love through our actions. This I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I will do little things for the dignity and value of others. - Khauten, Madison

• I have opened my eyes to see how love can help give others hope in our generation. - Dominick, Beloit

Big THANKS to the Catholic Herald!

Hey blog readers,

I, along with the rest of the Core Team, hope that you all have had a great week of continuing to begin love in your own homes. It's been a good transition week for all of us, and we're still up for the challenge of loving our family members and friends in our "normal" lives.

We got some great press this past week about LBH in the Catholic Herald, and we wanted to share it with all of you. Thank you to Kat Wagner for visiting us in the Mission Field last week and hearing about LBH2010.

Feel free to stop by the Catholic Herald website to read the story:

http://www.madisoncatholicherald.org/news/around-diocese/1548-lbh.html

With that, enjoy this summer weekend. The Core Team will be reunited to process the summer, and we will certainly be lifting up prayers for all of the participants of this summer and our supporters!

Peace,

Lindsay

All Things New

Hello faithful blog readers,

We're sorry that we've kept you so long without an update. We promise that a lengthier entry will be coming your way later today or tomorrow with a bunch of good details about this week, but for now, a few highlights...
- We were blessed to spend Tuesday evening with a generous parishioner who let us see the Madison area from new heights.
- The HS has been working overtime - Mohawks, weather and so much more.
- So much love has begun in this community and other places in the Madison Diocese. "Love begins when painting buildings," as one participant says.

Thank you for your support and prayers. Please keep them coming as we wrap up this final week.

Peace,
Lindsay

Extreme Church Makeover

The 4th Week of Love Begins Here is off to quite the fantastic start, and we're really happy that you have stopped by to hear about it. While you're reading about the latest and greatest in the LBH world, feel free for up a few prayers for us.

There have been some definite themes emerging in the midst of our work this week - mainly those of Church remodeling and renovation or extreme competition. Let's get you caught up to speed.

On Sunday evening, much to the surprise of the Core Team, there seemed to be a secret competition among all of the families dropping off young people to be the first to arrive; in fact, this was taken so seriously that the majority of our participants had shown up 5 minutes before 5pm. With all of that eagerness, we quickly transitioned into getting to know one another in the kitchen, making dinner and playing silly games for quite some time. The following is the second place team (minus me) in the name game ball game.


Though competition was stiff, if paled in comparison to the train wreck we experienced next. After enjoying a delightful dinner of stir fry, we were on to more games and prayer, as we explored the darkness in our lives and gave them over to Jesus.

On Monday morning, we woke up bright and early to head over for 6:30 Mass at St. Maria Goretti in Madison. Not only was it wonderful to have the chance to get spiritually filled up for the day, but we also has the chance to go to Mass said by Fr. David Caranno, one of the two priests ordained this past month for the Madison Diocese. As an LBH-alum from last summer, it was great to catch up and have the pleasure of benefitting from his priestly ministry.

Anyways, after a quick breakfast, some lunch packing and getting on the road, we were ready to more formal begin LOVE in the greater-Madison area. One of our groups headed down to Ridgeway to give some help to St. Bridget in the form of beginning the task of cleaning and repainting the entire Church. Quite the task, but this fine crew was up to starting this task.


You can see a portion of the task that laid ahead of us behind them. It was amazing to see what fan be done by a small crew like that in one day.

The other half of the group stayed back in Verona, where we set to work painting, cleaning, repairing, and more around St. Andrew's. Again, we blew ourselves away with how much good can be done in the course of a day where people are giving all of their efforts over to Jesus. It probably didn't hurt that a pair of Jean shorts were thrown into the mix.


The above picture was taken while doing some work cleaning in the cemetery next door. Many analogies were brainstormed while literally clinging to the Cross.

After this hard day of work, we met up for dimmer, swimming and showers at a nearby state park. We encountered many new opportunities for competition, including scavenging for dive sticks or holding the first ever LBH dive and dance competition, which provided for many great laughs.


Upon returning home, we held one intensely fun BIRTH PARTY, because we're all alive.


We chatted about the tragedy of abortion, what it means to CHOOSE LIFE, and learned a lot about human development in the womb.

With such a busy day, we hardly had the energy to keep our eyes open as we brushed our teeth and crawled into bed, after praying Night Prayer together.

With that, blog readers, we're going to have to sign off for today. Tune in tomorrow for more good news from the Mission Field.

- Your LBH Correspondant, Lindsay

Location:E Harriet St,Verona,United States