By B.C. Manion
She isn’t sure where her path in life will take her, but Erica Boehm, a young woman from Wesley Chapel, will be spending the next year of her life working as a missionary.
Boehm will soon travel to St. Paul, Minn., to spend five weeks in preparation for her role in Net Ministries.
Net Ministries is an international Catholic youth ministry that provides training in youth evangelization and leads more than 1,000 retreats annually.
The organization’s acronym stands for National Evangelization Teams. The organization began in 1981, as an outreach from a retreat program of the St. Paul Catholic Youth Center, in St. Paul, Minn.
The center’s first team traveled around Minnesota, conducting youth retreats.
Since then, the program has evolved to include teams in the United States and other countries that fan out to lead retreats, do community service work and share the gospel.
After completing five weeks of intense training, Boehm will join one of the teams. She is one of 120 young men and women selected to take part in the ministry program this year.
She said she’s not sure what her assignment will be. She could join a team that travels around the country. Boehm may be assigned to work at a specific parish. Or, she could be assigned to work out of the headquarters in St. Paul.
“Wherever I end up, that’s where God wants me,” Boehm said.
Although she grew up Catholic, Boehm said her true spiritual awakening didn’t occur until she was in high school and she began helping with her youth group at St. Mark the Evangelist Church in New Tampa.
Attending a four-day conference in Atlanta was a turning point in her life.
“It was just so beautiful. Since then, every day is a new experience,” Boehm said.
Each missionary must raise $4,200 to support his or her work, said Boehm, who is raising her money by giving talks, through word of mouth and by sending out letters asking people to support her financially and through prayer.
She also will seek financial support from those attending masses at her church during the weekend of Aug. 20-21. She’ll be talking about her upcoming work during each of the weekend’s masses.
Boehm has belonged to the church for six years and has been active as a peer minister in the youth group.
Boehm is excited about spending the better part of a year in her life sharing her faith with others.
She isn’t sure where her faith journey will take her, but she knows she wants to continue working in youth ministry.
“I wait for God to direct me where I’m going. This year, it’s going to be a lot of discerning,” Boehm said.
To find out more about NET Ministries, follow the organization on Twitter or Facebook, call (651) 450-6833 or visit www.netusa.org
To find out more about Boehm’s upcoming ministry you can contact her at .
Seeking missionary support
What: Erica Boehm will be discussing her upcoming ministry and seeking financial support for it.
Where: St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, 9724 Cross Creek Boulevard, in New Tampa.
When: During the 5 p.m. mass on Saturday, Aug. 20 and during the 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. masses on Sunday, Aug. 21.
