Don's Blog

What are you doing for Lent?

2/14/2023

Hi!
I invite you to join me in making a real change during Lent. Most of the time, we give up chocolate or alcohol, maybe add some extra prayers. But Lent is an invitation to make real change, to repent - turn away - from that which does us harm. We find ourselves wondering, how do we do that?
When Paul is writing to the Romans, he makes the startling claim that you can be transformed, "by the renewing of your mind..." By aligning our thinking with the profound truths and realities of the Kingdom of God, we can literally and profoundly change our lives. Looking at Paul's advice to "take captive every thought," to "think on these things," to "have the same mind...", etc., I will help participants learn to recognize the lies that they unconsciously believe, and see how to begin replacing them with truth.
This an important spiritual battle. For those who are struggling with temptation, or addiction, to heal from past abuse, or other such issues, this is the Lent for you! Instead of giving up chocolate, let's give up negative thinking, shame, and fear, and embrace the freedom Jesus has won for us.
Sundays
3:00 at St Philip, Auburn
6:00 Village Inn, Auburn
Wednesdays
6:15 St. Rose of Lima Room, Holy Family Church Hall, Lewiston

And on the Evangelize Me Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTKTU9Jv31d9gNvkuHGEuDg ht

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It is finished.

6/9/2022

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It is Finished.With these words, Jesus declared that he had accomplished the Father's plan to bring salvation to all of creation, and especially his human creation, made in his image, his children, through the sacrificial gift of himself on the cross.
Several months ago this scripture came to me in a time of prayer. I received it as a word of encouragement that the cruxifixction experience I had been going through was somehow going to come to an end. As many of you, know the last couple of years have been just plain awful and I was ready to move on to the resurrection life and power. Alas, there was a bit more to endure. I am both happy and heartbroken to share the news that our beautiful home in Monmouth sold. God provided us a wonderful buyer, and a good price. We endured the incredible stress of packing and storing or getting rid of everything we own and saying goodbye. Right before the closing a friend came to help and as soon as she got out of the car, I saw that her T-shirt had, "It is finished" on it. Naturally she had no idea that the Lord had given me that verse as an encouragement months before, so she was pretty surprised when I started crying. That is just one of the many little ways the Lord has sustained and encouraged us in these last few months.
And so, the first phase of our grand plan of disentangling us from everything that hinders us from being available to the Lord for full time ministry is complete. We are living in a camper in our daughter's backyard. It has only been a week so we are still getting settled. We are going to take a few weeks to rest and to catch up with friends and family while we pray for direction and provision. Our hearts are full and we are looking forward to writing and teaching as the Lord leads. Our plan is to buy or build a small home or camp in a quiet corner somewhere, but we will see what the Lord has in mind and what he provides as we follow Him down this path.
We want to thank so many of you who have reached out to us with words of encouragement, prayers and support for Evangelize Me. We are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Hopefully we will be seeing many of you soon, one way or another.
You are in ours hearts and prayers.Don and Hollis

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Finally, an update...

2/1/2022

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Way past time for an update

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and greetings for all the other holy days, birthdays, etc. for the last few months! Sorry to be out of touch for so long but it has been a difficult season and couldn’t be helped. The past two years have been, in many ways, the most difficult we have ever experienced, and also, in practically every aspect of our lives. It has been a time of sharing in Christ’s suffering and death, and so we expect we shall have a new share in his resurrected life, as well. We know, trust, and believe that “God uses all things for good…” and we look forward to the fruit born of this time. We hope there has been a stripping away of flesh, ego, and worldliness, and a renewing of our missionary passion that began our journey with Jesus 40 years ago

The conclusion we have come to, is that all we want to do is be in relationship with the people we love and to make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit to be able encourage and teach his people in these crazy days. God’s people need encouragement in order to be the light we are called to be in this ever darkening world. We believe that God has gifted us to do that in some small way and are excited to see what he has in store for us.

The tricky part of being free to follow the Spirit is disentangling ourselves from this world as much as we are able to. To facilitate that, we have decided to put our house on the market this spring. Beyond that, we’re not sure where we are going or what our lives will look like. Our goal is to live as simply and inexpensively as possible, and be freed up to do more of what is important to us. We are trusting the Lord to find us a place that will meet our needs in this regard. We’ll see. Exciting and scary at the same time, but we know that He will take care of us.

So, I will try to keep you all posted as things move along. Know that Hollis and I are greatly looking forward to seeing each of you and getting to spend time with you again.
Praying for you,
Don and Hollis

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Here's what we are working on...

1/2/2021

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Happy New Year?

1/1/2021

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Hello Everyone! And Happy New Year!
So have you made some new year's resolutions or have you given up on those things because they never seem to work? I hope you haven't, because we are called to change, to convert, to become better human beings, to become living saints. Granted, a date on a calendar doesn't mean something is going to magically different, but I do want to invite you to make a change in this new year. As you all know, and as you have all experienced, this past year has been incredibly trying. But, we have a promise from our Father that He uses ALL THINGS for our good, even 2020, even covid, even depression, even marital strife, and financial difficulties.. ALL THINGS.
These last few months have been incredibly challenging for Hollis and I. Huge changes in our careers, finances, marriage and understanding of ourselves. It has been challenging on every level, our relationship with God, each other, and our understanding of ourselves and calling. And then...covid came along like frosting on the cake of 2020. Once again, I cannot thank you enough for all the prayers, messages, love, support and finances that have flooded our way these last two weeks. Even with no income for over three weeks, all our December bills are paid and January's mortgage is paid. And, no one in the family came down with covid in spite of having been exposed through me and Hollis' symptoms were minimal. Thank you. From what I have read and been told, low energy levels, shortness of breath and coughing will continue for 4 to 6 weeks.
I am happy to announce that I have launched a podcast. Everything I do on the podcast will be on the YouTube channel so hopefully this will just expand the number of people we can connect with. The first episode has to do with the times we live and preparing for the times ahead ( you'll notice I experience some shortness of breath, especially during the intro to the podcast...thank you covid!). Please feel free to share.
Love you all. I pray that the Lord blesses you with a greater awareness of his presences with you every moment of every day. Don
Podcast: Podcast on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0iaxd2bEfIVBwsMJlu9WEA

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The Call to “Tent Making”

8/29/2020

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Paul, the apostle, that great evangelizer, spent a good deal of his time - making tents. The use of tents was extensive in those days, and tent making was an important trade. Without modern sewing machines, the work was labor intensive, with every cut and stitch being done by hand. I don’t recall ever seeing any great works of art showcasing St. Paul the Tentmaker. Hopefully there are some out there, because this was an important part of Paul’s approach to life and ministry that we are sometimes called to follow.

In the first few verses of Acts chapter 18, we find the story of Paul coming to Corinth during his second missionary journey:
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers.
St. Paul in this instance is shedding light on what it means to live as a missionary disciple. His top priority is to preach the Gospel; that is the whole reason he is in Corinth. He engages in this trade while there in order to pay his bills, and in his words, “to proclaim God's good news to them free of charge” (2 Corinthians 11:7). And in a letter to the Thessalonians he writes, “You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:9). He did not see his work to pay his bills as the goal but the means to accomplish his goal, which was to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ. This priority placement is significant. It is very easy for us to become mainly focused on our careers and income to such a degree that we have no time or energy left for evangelization, even if we were inclined to do it.

Paul’s tent making work in Corinth continued for some time, until his friends and fellow missionaries, Silas and Timothy, arrived from Macedonia with a financial gift from the church in Philippi. After this, Paul was able to devote more time to ministry because of this gift of financial support (2 Corinthians 11:9 and Philippians 4:15).
This “tent-making” model is an example for all of us, helping us to consider how we see our own lives and work. We are first and foremost “ambassadors for Christ,” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Our time, treasure and talents are to be used to bring the message of hope to this world which is in such desperate need, more so now than ever. Our jobs and careers are meant to be a means to that end.

With the support and encouragement of the board of Evangelize Me, this model is the one that I have chosen to follow. Our plan is to provide classes, small group leader training and support, and to create opportunities for evangelization and discipleship to parishes. Our desire is to do so at no cost to the parishes. In light of this, we believe God has provided us with a means of paying our bills through carpentry work with my son’s business, “The Red Bearded Builder,” and through our little perennial nursery, Our Funny Farm. We are incredibly thankful for His provision! Our ultimate goal is to be able to increase time spent in ministry, and gradually reduce the number of days doing carpentry. Hollis will be focusing on developing the garden business, and joining me as able.

We are very thankful for our friends and benefactors who have been faithfully supporting Evangelize Me even during this uncertain time. Because of this support, Evangelize Me is able to contribute to our health insurance costs, making this transition possible. We are truly very grateful.
We humbly ask that if any of you are able to contribute any amount on a monthly basis, you would consider it. We would be deeply grateful. In this way, you will, as Paul declares to the Philippians, be “partners with me in grace.” (Philippians 1:7). Thank you for your prayerful consideration.
http://www.evangelizeme.org/donate.html

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Big changes...

6/26/2020

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Dear friends and supporters,

I am writing to inform you that June 30 will be my last day of employment at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Auburn. It was a difficult decision to come to but with the pandemic, uncertain parish finances, and declining numbers of parishioners and families in our programs, it was painfully obvious that something needed to change. I am thankful for my time there as I have befriended so many wonderful, love-filled people. So, after being employed by religious institutions, both protestant and Catholic, my entire adult life, I am embarking a whole new adventure.

As many of you know, I started Evangelize Me! because I wanted to be able to devote more time to evangelization and disciple making. That was just a little over a year ago. Since then I have presented and worked with eight parishes in Maine and Massachusetts. In fact, my Lenten schedule was full and I had to turn down other invitations. My goal for this past year was to get to the point where I could dedicate more time to Evangelize Me and reduce my hours at the parish. God has a funny way of answering our prayers sometimes!

This is all happening very fast and I am not sure what it all means yet. Fortunately, our nursery business did well this spring and I can work with my son, Isaiah, in his contracting business to pay the bills. I believe the Spirit is calling me to be a full time missionary with Evangelize Me. Please pray for Hollis and me. These last few months have been difficult as I know it has been for many of you. I am open to the Lord’s leading, but feel a bit like Abraham, being called to go into the unknown, a “place that I will show you.”

I look forward to the fall, somehow we will figure out ways to gather for classes and prayer. I know that as difficult as this season has been for both individuals and parishes, God is doing a good and powerful work in his people. As he promises to work all things for good, so with this, He will accomplish his redemptive plan for us and His Church. He does His best work "in the dark night of the soul."

I will keep you posted with plans and changes!

Don

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What is God doing?

4/3/2020

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Hello everyone,

How are you surviving in this unprecedented time? I pray you are staying healthy! I just wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts with you. First of all, I wanted to remind us all that we were "born for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14), or as St. Joan of Arc said it, "I am not afraid because God is with me. I was born for this!" This pandemic is not a surprise to God, he is not scared or anxious, indeed, he is orchestrating every detail to accomplish something good out of all this evil. Which brings me to the second thing I wanted to remind us all about; The Catechism states that God will not allow an evil that he cannot bring a greater good out of (CCC 311); he will somehow use this world-wide pestilence for the ultimate good of humanity. Even in this, he would have us trust his plan and his purpose. I pray you will be able to soon see the good he is doing in your lives through this.

I was in a meeting this week where someone asked what God was doing in the midst of this great trial. I know what the Father is doing. It is the same thing he is always and constantly doing, he is searching for you! He knows this period of global strife will reach parts of your heart that he could never reach in any other way. Calling you to healing at the very roots of any shame and fear that still holds you in bondage.

Funny thing about God, He is doing that in my life too. Exposing my insecurities, my deepest motivations, and my heart felt (and believed) lies that keep me from actually knowing and trusting in his love. Even funnier…that is what he is doing with every person on the planet, in every life, every individual, in every time and culture and calamity, in the deepest, most cosmic, passionate, intimate, and personal way. Calling and drawing each person, using a global pandemic, no doubt caused ultimately of sin and human selfishness, but using it nevertheless, for truth and beauty and goodness.

And so in the midst of this ordeal, the question we really need to ask is not, “What is God doing?” But “What is God doing in you, through this?” This is an opportunity, when the people of the entire planet are faced with their own mortality, their own frailness and helplessness to introduce them to Love, Himself.

Let us join in prayer for each other that we are able to find God's peace and healing now and for the world, that there will be a new openness to faith as a result of this situation.

God bless you all!

Don

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Do you want a healthier marriage?

2/12/2020

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God’s Plan for Healthier Relationships
We were created by Love and for love! Relationships are the most satisfying, meaningful, fulfilling things we have in life but we all know that they can also be the most difficult and painful things in our life as well. In this six part series we will explore God’s desire for relationships and the opportunity they provide for us to change and grow into more healthy, balanced human beings. We will explore boundaries, communication, conflict resolution and more in very practical lessons so that our families can become closer to God’s intention for them.

Sundays During Lent in Auburn

2:00 PM at St. Philip
6:00 PM at the Village Inn

To register for any of these Abundant Life Classes please email Donald.smith@portlanddiocese.org
Or call
207-872-8096

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Spend Time with Jesus this Lent!

2/12/2020

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In Lewiston

Come Experience
The Real Presence of Jesus!

The Adoration Chapel at Holy Cross Church is a beautiful, peaceful place to encounter God’s love in a special way. This Lent we are inviting you on a Lenten adventure - come and spend time focusing on our God’s passionate, personal love for YOU! Even if you have never experienced adoration before, make a Lenten commitment, and come visit each week during Lent. Those participating will gather as a group before Lent begins to start the journey off together. We will be receiving a set of meditations - one for each week of Lent - each focusing on some aspect of God’s love for us as individuals. At the end of Lent, we will come together again and share with each other how the Lord met us in our times of adoration!

Kick Off Gathering 1:00 PM, Sunday, February 23 at the Adoration Chapel with a meeting at the church hall afterward

Wrap Up Sharing Time 10:00 AM, Saturday, April 18 at the Adoration Chapel with a meeting at the church hall afterward

Presenter: Don Smith
To Register, please call:
Peg Bissonette at 207-577-2439 or Doris Belanger 207-577-1005

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What are you doing for Lent?

It is finished.

Finally, an update...

Here's what we are working on...

Happy New Year?

The Call to “Tent Making”

Big changes...

What is God doing?

Do you want a healthier marriage?

Spend Time with Jesus this Lent!

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