Good times with friends

I'm Home!!!! It is such a nice break. It's good to see family and friends again. My flight went well and I made it home safe. Two days ago I spent the day christmas shopping with my sister, then we went over to a friends house that night.

Yesterday I found out that one of my friends from camp was going to be baptized. Me and three of my other friends from camp drove down to Port Perry to see here get baptized at the night service at her church. We met up with some more friends and it turned out to be a sweet reunion. It was so good to see them. They are such a amazing group of people who I have leant so much from in the past.

I haven't had a chance to write about my time before leaving Kaleo so let's back track a bit. Before leaving we had a pretty fun week at Kaleo. On the weekend everyone went to a conference in Vancouver except just a small group of us. The camp was pretty empty but we made the best of it. We went to Victoria one day to drop Kaitlyn off at the airport and after that we just hung out for the day in the city. We When shopping at mec and we sat in chapters and just enjoyed the time away from camp. That same weekend we went to the Badke's house and made crapes with Danny. We slept over at there house then made french toast in the morning. Well we were over at there house we got to hang out with Roscoe lot's. He's a pretty sweet dog.

Just before leaving for Ontario we had to hand in our paper about women in the church. This paper was hard for me to write. I found it hard to know what I thought about the topic and researching was also difficult. It took me a long time to finish. I ended up staying up all night to finish but now it is done and I don't have to worry about it anymore.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone from Kaleo again after Christmas.

Christmas is Coming

So...

This week we had foundation of Church Ministry. I really liked that class. I liked the discussions we had in class. We had our exam today and I think I did well.

It has been flooding lots on the island this week. we have not been effected by it but it has effected Duncan lots. This week a bunch of us went over there and helped them make sandbags to stop the flooding. I went into town on another day as well but not to sandbag. I originally was not going to go because I was working on homework but then Tim and Bob took my computer and book and would not give them back until I said I would go. So I just decided to go and work on my homework in the coffee shop. I didn't get a whole lot done but it was nice to get away from camp for a bit.

I didn't get to go to youth group or church this weekend because i had to work in the kitchen. I didn't mind the kitchen but I was disappointed that I missed lunch with my church crew. They all went to our pastors house for lunch.

The end half of this week most people from Kaleo are going to a conference thing but there is also a bunch of us staying behind as well. I am going to be staying behind. I think it was a good idea not to go because I have some papers due right after. I am also really excited to hang out with people who are staying back.

I am starting to get even more excited for Christmas. I am looking forward to a nice break and a chance to see everyone again.

Kaleo in Prayer

Hey Everyone,

This past week was 24/7 prayer week. We all took shifts praying in a room we devoted to prayer. For the whole week there was always someone in the room. We were able to write prayers, pain in our lives, verses or anything we wanted on paper that were put up on the walls. As the week went by the walls got more and more covered in paper. The room became a place were people could come with complete honesty. I loved being able to interact with the things written on the walls knowing they were from my classmates. This was an amazing week to see the power in prayer. I loved the honesty that came from this week.

This week was also a week of stress for me. We had a paper to write on the Old Testament that was due on friday. My paper was on Job. This paper was not too bad. We had enough time to get it done. My stress came this weekend When I had 2 books to read and writing on both of them all due Sunday at 5:30. I had not had much time to start these earlier because of the Old Testament paper took up lots of my attention. I already felt crammed and on top of that I had youth group and church to go to. After church we went to peoples house for lunch as usual and did not get back till after 3. I had so much to do and not enough time. I ended up only finishing one of the two assignments but I am going to finish the second with not to much marks lost for being late.

I defiantly find weekends hard sometimes. I am always ready and in need of a break and a time to relax but it usually does not end up like that for me. Weeks always seem rushed and stressful.

I am really excited for Christmas break. I think it will be good to see everyone from home again. I am really missing that. I hope that going home will make it more clear to me what I am learning and how I am changing. Sometimes we do not see that until we step back.

A Week of Prayer

This past week we had Old Testament Literature. It was my favorite class so far. It was cool to see the roots of what we believe. Knowing about the Old Testament makes the New Testament make a lot more sense. For example, learning about the sacrifices in the Old Testament allowed me to understand why Jesus had to come and die on the cross. I learnt the most new information in this class. Unfortunately doing this class I was feeling sick. I was really tired through class the first couple of days then I started feeling better. After a day or so I started feeling sick again. I went to the doctor and by that time I did not feel too bad. He told me it was just a cold which I guess is a good thing.

Youth group was so good. I was not feeling great that week and it ended up being a movie night with the youth. I liked having a low key friday night. Church was great too. I love the Sunday services. The message always seems to be so relevant to me. Mark, our pastor always seems to talk about things that had been on my mind just that same week. I don't really know how to explain it but it's cool. I think God speaks to me by repeating things to me.

I really am enjoying spending time with the people here. We had a night this past week were a few of us girls just sat in our room and just relaxed. It was good to get away from homework and just hang out with them. We had the opportunity to pray together and is was an amazing time of growing as a community. It is sweet to live with a bunch of girls who are so passionate about prayer and who just love God sooo much. One thing that has amazed me this week is the power of prayer. It is 24/7 prayer which means for this whole week we are taking shifts so there is always someone praying. I have seen God answer prayers already. Every time we come to God with a need He keeps provides. I guess I'm just becoming more aware of Gods faithfulness and mercy as He provides.

I Almost Died!!!

Hey Everyone,

We went surfing this past week from monday to wednesday. This trip has been my favorite so far. We went through so many beautiful places before getting to the beach and it was amazing to see how much power there is in nature. Before going surfing we went to some rapids for lunch. I loved climbing all over the rocks and soaking in the scenery. I watched as some other students pushed a giant log down the rapids. Watching that log get destroyed by the water made us all realize how thankful we are to be on land haha. Later that day We went wave watching. We stood out on the waters edge on huge rocks and watched as the waves crashed and shot way up it the air. Later, we got to spend some time in Tofino in the coffee shop and other small stores around town. The next day is when the surfing began. We spent the majority of our time putting on our wet-suits (not really but it was difficult). We started walking towards the water with our surfboards and of course like any cool surfer would do I tried holding my surfboard under my one arm as I walked. Little did I know that the surfboards were actually pretty heavy and my arm was not quite long enough to reach around to the bottom of the board. The important thing was I got to the beach (with a little less grace then I anticipated but thats ok). Surfing was lots of fun. I'm not to good at it but even just playing in the waves was really fun. We went again the next day as well. At night we slept in a church near by. It was lots of fun there hanging out with everyone, eating and worshiping together. This trip was so fun and I got to know people even better. I had an amazing time but I had a lot of homework to catch up on when I got back. It was pretty stressful the rest of the week but I got it all done in time with 1 minute and 2 seconds to spare. Oh and just to clear any confusion the title of this blog has no truth to it but was used just to get your attention! Thanks for your prayers!

Yet another week at Kaleo

This week we had Hermeneutics. Before the class we had to read through 'Reading the Good Book'. This book was very dry and I didn't get to much out of it. The class was better than the book but I wish I could of gotten more out of it. We had lot's of homework for this course so I was pretty tired by friday.

After class ended I had to work for the weekend. There was a retreat here and I was a counselor with Bria (my roommate) to 6 young girls. I thought it was going to be a horrible weekend because I had so much homework and I was extremely tired but it ended up being lots of fun. My girls were great. They made the weekend so fun. We went swimming with them in Nanimo. The pool was so fun! There was so much fun water stuff around and the kids loved it.

Tonight was really fun. Right after dinner we went in the hot tub. It was nice to relax after a long week. Later on a couple of us had marker fights downstairs. After that we went outside in the rain and slid in the mud. Later Jordan Wilcox and three of his friends came up to visit. They are coming surfing with us tomorrow. Well I'm excited for this next week. I'll keep you posted.

Change of Plans

Hey Everyone!

So this week has not gone completely as planned but it ended up being a great time. We were supposed to go surfing but because of some bad weather we went caving instead. I loved caving. It was so fun climbing around the rocks and squished into small openings in the caves. We had some amazing worship inside the cave.

Later on that week we had a girls night. It was also pretty short notice but like caving it was lots of fun. We were all pretty tired that week so they made our girls night was pretty relaxed. Kristie and Marissa planned it for us. We went to the old folks home and sang with them. Then we went to Chermainus. Chermainus is a small cute town close to Kaleo. There was a really cute coffee shop that we went to. We walked around town for a while. Kristie made us dinner at her house and it was a sweet bonding time for us girls.

Another change of plans this week was the visitors we had. We had bed bugs in most of the girls rooms. Bed bugs are very intense bugs that do not die easy. We had to wash all our clothes in town and move every thing to different rooms so they can spray the rooms to get rid of them. After this process some people still had bugs. We are still recovering and trying to get things back to normal.

I am still trying to finish all my homework before it piles up on me. We started Hermeneutics today. I didn't really enjoy the book we had to read but I am hoping I will enjoy the class. Our prof. is a great teacher so I think I will learn a lot.

Community

Hello!

I think that the theme of this past week has been community. God has put a desire in my heart to love people on a new level. On the SALTS trip we were in very close quarters and it was a great opportunity for us as a group to get to know each other and to lift each other up. I had soooooo much fun on that trip. I got to climb up to the top of the mass and swing from ropes and all that fun stuff that put me completely in my element. The sunsets were stunning and the weather was beautiful. God has also put the people on the streets of Duncan on my heart. I am a part of New Life Church which has a group of people who get together on Sunday evenings and hang out with the Homeless in Duncan. About 9 of us from Kaleo decided to join them thin past Sunday. We got there and noticed that there was no one from New Life that week. In stead of turning around and going home we decided to stay. We split up into two groups. I was with 3 other people and we spent the whole time with 3 homeless people talking about Duncan and their own lives and what they thought of this Jesus guy. We had the opportunity to pray with them after our conversation. They were very thankful. I would love if you could pray for Bob, Brenda and Hubert (the three homeless people we talked with) and for there hearts, as well as the city of Duncan. There is lots of issues between the whites and the natives in that city. I would love to see God work in these 3 because they could have an incredible influence on Duncan. Thanks for your prayers!

Week 3 of Kaleo!

Hey Everyone!

So it is week 3. Time has gone pretty fast. We just finish our first class with Marv Penner. Marv taught us about spiritual formation. I absolutely loved his class. Marv has a lot of wisdom and gave as lots of opportunity to put what we were learning into practice. During the last class Marv gave us the opportunity to have 2 hours with God in solitude. This was a unique experience and it allowed me to really focus on God. It was not easy but I leant a lot.

Tomorrow we are going tall shipping. I am really excited for this trip. We are going to be able to climb up different parts of the ship that are really high above the water. I am really excited to get to know everyone better on this trip.

I am a part of Victory Baptist Church. I am helping out with the youth group with a focus on the grade 7 girls. I am really enjoying the youth so far. I am looking forward to pouring into these girls throughout the year. They are a great group. Victory Baptist is very welcoming and they make a special effort to feed us lunch every Sunday.

Well I'm going to go pack now! I'll keep you posted!

Hey friends!

We are almost done our second week of Kaleo! Last week we climbed Mt. Albert Edward in Strathcona Park. It was a good test of endurance and was a lot of fun. The view from the top was amazing. I am really excited to get to know everyone here on a deeper level. We started our church ministry. All the Kaleo students are put into churches in the area. I am involved in the youth group at New Life Church in Duncan with some other students from Kaleo. I am going to be focused specifically on a small group of girls in grade seven during the youth ministry. I have enjoyed the sunday services. The music is great and the paster has great messages that I find very applicable to my life. New Life has made us feel welcome by providing lunches after church by members of the church. I am excited to see what this year will look like at New Life. I will keep you posted on what I am learning and all my adventures! See ya!