Wow! My oh my, isn't that a long title. Translated, it means "Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society in the USA," but it sounds so much more awesome when you say it in Vietnamese because of all the T's you get to pronounce.

Ok, right to the point. PTTNTT is a non-profit organization under the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, whose goals are:

To educate youths in both social and spiritual life and help them become better people and responsible Christians.

To organize and guide all youths and help them become more aware of their Christian identity and their role in the Church's mission to spread the Good News through apostolate services.

You gotta admit, that's a big mission statement! I am very honored and proud to say I am part of it, {or else I'd have no motivation whatsoever to create this page in the first place ;) }. The entire organization is divided into 8 major sections across the United States. The Bay Area belongs to the Western region. One of the branches in this region, also the one I participate in, is called Thomas Thien, named after a young Vietnamese martyr. {For those of you who haven't already noticed, the "TMT" on the link to this page is our special abbreviation}. We are one of three other branches in the Santa Clara County.

Each branch is divided into subgroups based on age. The first age group is from 7-10, the second is from 11-13, and the third is from 14-17, each signified by the colors green, blue, and yellow, respectively. Oh, but we can't have a large group full of kids without supervision, can we? that's where the big folks in red and pink comes in. Each of the three groups are supervised by a number of our extremely friendly and totally self-sacrificing (thanks, guys and gals! You're doing a great job.) leaders. New to the organization, and to our group, is the group called "Eucharistic Knights". They wear brown scarfs and serve the Eucharist by extending the organization's influence to society.

So what exactly happens? Well, first and foremost, the organization provides a loving environment for our young disciples of Chirst to learn about our Mentor and Big Brother Himself, Jesus, His way of life and His teachings. Not to be forgotten, as well, is the adventurous excitement of transmitting and receiving Morse code and semaphores, deciphering decoded messages, tying a variety of knots, among other "cool stuff".