Hello! My name is Aurelie Bonenfant. I am 20 years old and live in Ottawa, ON. I have just completed my post secondary education this past December at Fleming College and will be receiving my Diploma in Conservation Biology. My passion lies with helping to protect and save the environment as well as the wildlife within it. I love the outdoors, music, exercising, traveling, and spending quality time with friends and family.
The time I spent in college was when I really started discovering who God was and developing the relationship I have with him. I was born into the Catholic faith and always grew up going to church, but I never really connected with it until I was about 17-18 yrs old. CCO was a huge part of this, teaching me (through the faith studies) more about my faith and helping me to grow in my understanding and friendship with Jesus. Which is what brought me here! The idea of going on mission with CCO was proposed to me by a friend/leader and although I was scared, I felt the strong desire to say yes in my heart. I am beyond excited to begin this journey and I sincerely appreciate any donations given to my page to support this cause. Thank you so much! 🙂
Why do I want to be on Mission?
When I started the journey of saying yes to Jesus and growing in my faith the last few years, the wish to eventually (at some point in my life) travel somewhere and spread the gospel to others or teach kids about Jesus was a newfound dream in my heart. It always felt far away like it would be when I was older and much stronger or ‘advanced’ in my faith. When I was asked last semester if I was interested in going on a mission with CCO, I felt like the opportunity was too soon and I wanted this but later in my life. But, as I was saying I’d think about it, I didn’t know in my heart that I had already said yes. I knew this would be an amazing opportunity that I couldn’t turn down if it was the next step God wanted me to take. So, after some prayer and speaking to loved ones I began feeling very excited, trusting in His timing for me and asking myself, “If not now, when?” before even giving my yes. So then here we are! This is something I am still scared for but I know that God will bring amazing things out of this mission and I am excited to see the growth and experience events that I will never forget.
