LAST Kaleo blog

This is my last blog of Kaleo!!!

I really cannot believe how fast this month has been. Time is flying and I just realized that a week from right now I will be in Ontario 3,000 miles away from beautiful B.C. It is very sad but days like today I am just so thankful that I was able to come live out here for 8 whole months. This week was another 24/7 prayer week which was amazing. What an amazing way to finish off the year by spending a week to pray and thank God for everything He has done and to ask him for strength for going home. This week I spent quite a bit of time working on the last papers and school assignments.

On Wednesday we went white water kayaking which ended up being fun but I was really scared to go. I realized that when I was seven I saw a documentary on a white water kayaking trip that went very wrong and I remember being traumatized by watching it thinking I will never do something like that where I could fall into cold water. Well I faced my fear and realized it wasn’t too bad and it actually ended up being really fun. It was on a beautiful river and the water was cold but because we were constantly moving our hands paddling I wasn’t that cold. It was a great experience and I am very glad that I went with it and didn’t skip out. I think that is a huge thing that I have learned this year. There are so many things that I don’t feel like doing, or I think I wouldn’t be able to do it, but then once I just do it, I am ALWAYS glad that I did and when I don’t I regret it.

So Wednesday night we had our last youth night. It was very sad. Youth went well though. During our debrief Stevie was talking about how he has seen certain kids change and become more respectful and more interested in God. It is so encouraging to hear that because sometimes I feel like there is no hope for these Crofton kids, but then when I look at the big picture I realize that God is working at Warmland and that the kids are changing. Over the three years that Warmland has been there, kids have changed. Praise God that there is hope for them. I will continue to pray at home for the kids and especially girls that I have gotten to know they will be close to my heart.

Friday night Claire and I hosted a gr. 6 six girls Warmland sleepover at Kevin and Mel’s house. We weren’t expecting too many to come and because it was such short notice only 2 of the girls ended up coming. It was so great though. It was one of the girls birthday so Claire and I got little prizes and we made cupcakes and decorated them. The night was just really fun and we had a good talk with them about boys, about life, family, lots of things. One of the girls ended up telling us some of her story and we all prayed. It was really cool because at youth group the girls are always so hyper and full of energy that they never want to go deep, they just want to have fun. So it was really amazing to have a deep talk with them while still having such a fun night. The pictures at the bottom are of the sleepover.

Saturday Marissa me and took some of the girls for a hike up a mountain outside of Duncan. It was so incredible. It was a beautiful day and there was a cool cross on the top of the mountain. This past week I have just loved being outside. Whether it was kayaking, hiking the mountain, biking to Chemainus, walking along the ocean, all of those things I was able to do this week and I am so thankful for times like that. Like I said, God has truly blessed me to have been able to live in this province on this island for the year.

Today was my last Sunday at Warmland. We all went with Stevie and to Sunday school to hang out with the youth one last time. It was sad and we gave them lots of hugs goodbye and took pictures. I will be praying for Warmland and thanking God for that church and continuing to pray for more growth.

Thank you for praying for me at Kaleo all year. I appreciate it so much and God has truly taught me so much about Love, hope, life and Himself. I am so excited to go home and spread the love that God has given me to give to others.
Have a great week, and God bless you!

HOLY WEEK

Happy Easter!!! The Lord has risen! (He has risen indeed; ill pretend to hear you say that)

This week was very busy and I cannot believe that in now less than two weeks time I will be at home in Ontario! That is becoming more and more sad to me. ahhh But I am enjoying these last few weeks so much and I am so excited for what is left. So this week we had Christian World view class which was.......interesting. I liked our professor but the class was not that interesting to me. Some of it was, but some of philosophical issues were a little over my head. Nevertheless it was still important topics to be covered.

So, this week we actually got to attend youth and it was so great to be back and see all the kids again. The five of us Kaleo students planned out our whole youth for that night. We planned beginning games, a skit and lesson, a snack, and then followed by one last game. I think the kids really enjoyed the night and know they had fun. I am praying and hoping that what we said will really stick with them and that God will continue to work in that youth group.

On Thursday night we had a Passover dinner which was SO fun. I had never done anything like it and I loved it. It was very cultural and everyone was excited and into it. It gave me more of an understanding of Jewish culture and how Jesus used to live. It was great and I would love to have another Passover dinner next year.

Good Friday was a stormy day, which I thought was appropriate. We had Chapel and then our Christian World view exam. Saturday night we watched the Passion of Jesus Christ and had I seen that movie before but this time it affected me so much more deeply. After everything we have been learning this year watching that movie made me realize that it all comes down to that deep unconditional love and the message of the cross.

Today I helped out with the kids in Jr. Church and I was actually able to tell them a little of the Easter story. Most of them just wanted to tell me about how many Easter egg hunts they had already had, which was very sad but it was still good for them to see how excited I was about Jesus rising from the grave and how that is more important than chocolate.

Overall this has been a great week, Easter is my favourite holiday, simply because it means so much to me and I am reminded of what an AWSOME God we serve. Thank you so much for praying for us, please pray that everything that God wants to happen for Kaleo in these last two weeks will happen according to his will.

God Bless

Surf trip week #2

Hello everyone,

Wow, I had another amazing week. It is getting harder and harder to leave this place! It’s funny because at Christian time I really was ready to go home and have a break, but now it is sinking in that exactly three weeks from today I will be at home in Ontario! That is so sad! I feel like it’s not enough time. I have enjoyed it so much. This past week was amazing and busy. We went surfing to Tofino again from Tuesday to Thursday. The surf trip was so much fun and it was so cool to see how everyone has become so much closer and better friends since our last surf trip in October. Wednesday was so beautiful the actual day of surfing. The beach was gorgeous and I was so thankful because I was able to stay in the ocean for so long surfing and playing in the waves without being cold. Seeing God’s creation was so amazing and I am always going to remember the beaches and cool spots we have visited. On Friday I shared my testimony with the group during chapel which was really hard because some of it was very personal, but it ended up being amazing. Everyone was so encouraging and so many people poured out prayers and love towards me. I think during that moment when everyone was praying was the moment I have been the most thankful for this community that I have been privileged to live in for the past 7 months. Because of the surf trip we missed youth again, but I had this whole weekend to serve at camp. It was the juniors retreat and starting Friday night till Sunday afternoon I have been working. I helped in Club Coco making drinks, helped with the challenge course, and helped Stevie G with all the games. I really enjoyed working at Club Coco because it was a good opportunity for kids to come and talk with us and a good opportunity to get to know the kids. Also playing the games some of the kids would want to stay with you and just talk to you at the station that we were placed. I enjoyed working this weekend because even though it was tiring and I have a whole book review to write now, I enjoyed getting to know the kids that came here and being to help make their weekend better. Thanks for all you prayers, this week was great and I am excited for this upcoming week. It’s our last class! Hopefully it goes well and I can enjoy every moment of it.

God Bless

FUN week

Hello friends,

This week was so much fun. The leaders planned an awesome girls night. We had a fun time together in Duncan and then all did an aerobics class together. Tuesday night we spent the night at the guesthouse and it we had a good talk and a lot of fun together. I think being away from the guys was good because it reminded all of us how much all the girls get along and love each other. Wednesday I had QFX (which is where we work with a full time staff member for a couple of hours) with Michael Down. He is a staffing directors assistant and we helped him put together staff packages. It was a lot of sorting paper but it ended up being kind of fun. Wednesday night we did not have youth AGAIN due to their spring break. I am finding myself actually missing youth but I have been able to talk to some of the girls during church and facebook. It is good to keep up with them. Thursday was an amazing day. We left camp really early and headed up to the mountain for some snowboarding. It was a perfect sunny day and the snow conditions were good. It reminded me how thankful I was to be in a place where I could enjoy God’s glorious creation.

On Friday, we all worked on our camp ministry papers and handed them in. Saturday some girls and I went on an adventure to Duncan. We biked all the way into town and almost all the way back, but then Justin came to pick us up. It was tiring but such a good workout and definitely a good memory. Saturday night we had a campfire and it was fun. Sunday church was good. It was my turn to stay up in the service and the service was on preparation for Easter. After church, we headed up to Ladysmith to watch the baptism service. Today I just worked on my gospels essay and got it all finished. Tomorrow we leave for surfing. I am really excited. These last four weeks are very sad to think that it is almost over but I really want to make the most of it and learn all that God wants me to.

Thank you for praying for all of us Kaleos, we really appreciate it!

God bless!

A week of lessons, good lessons

Hello everyone

This week we had 35 hours of class. The class was very intense but one of my favourite classes. Wes Olmstead was a fantastic professor and I learned so much through him. God really spoke to me this week about what it really means to be a disciple of his. I have made plans for next year to attend Brock University and I have a house with some friends but none of them are really Christians. I was a little worried about things and how things might turn out next year, but this class really grounded my faith and my belief that I want to live my life for God and not for myself. I want to step into that dark world and be a light and a disciple of Christ to all around me. So overall this week of class was so full but so beneficial.

On Saturday some of us went into Victoria and that was so much fun. It was a beautiful day and we walked around spent some time in Chapters and I had the best ice cream I had tasted in a while. Sunday morning we had church and Tim and I went up in front of the whole church to talk about our Olympics ministry trip. It was kindof on the spot but I think it went well and it was good to be in front of the church talking about God and even for myself remembering all the amazing stuff that He did. Today we had our gospels exam which went fairly well but it always feels good to be done an exam.

This week we are going snowboarding again and we have a girl’s night thing planned. I am excited. It is also going to be my first time back at youth I haven’t been for a while because of the ministry trip so please that it goes well and that they will be interested in what we have to say. Thank you again and again for praying I love seeing how God changes lives and attitudes while being out here. Have a great week God Bless.

I love the sunny weather

Greetings,

So this week was fabulous. It was very relaxing and three days were absolutely beautiful. So Tuesday and Wednesday were both days focused on my theology paper. I was in the library pretty much the whole day and Wednesday at 5:30 when I handed in my paper, it was a great feeling. The fun started. Wednesday night I did not make it to youth because I was scheduled to be in a gospels meeting with my group. Thursday a group of us drove 2 hours south and went to Mystic beach. It was so beautiful. It was a perfect day out and the beach was gorgeous. There were huge rocks to climb, waterfalls, a cave, and beautiful sand. The day was just overall so much fun and I was sitting on one of the huge rocks looking at the sun and across at the U.S.A and thinking to myself that this is one of the most beautiful places in the entire world and I am blessed enough to be here.

Friday was another beautiful day and I slept in, and then read in the sun most of the afternoon. Saturday Jade, Rivera, and I took an adventure to Salt Spring Island. It was a beautiful day and taking the ferry across the ocean was so much fun. Salt Spring Island was so cute and it felt like I was somewhere far away.

Sunday I helped out with the kids downstairs. I am actually really beginning to like getting to know the Jr. Church kids. I always thought that I would just get to know the youth kids and that would be my ministry. But lately I have been working downstairs a lot and getting to know the little kids. Most of them are very hyper but they are cute. I think that because they have gotten to know me better they listen to me and look up to me more. Today was the first day of gospels and it was very intense but so good. We are learning things that are actually very important to know. I am excited for the rest of this course.
Thank you for your prayers, God bless and have a great week.

Hello everyone,

The above picture is the whole sliding center team.
Well we are home sweet home. Last night was the best sleep I had in 17 nights. It feels good to be back here at camp but I already miss the Olympics! This afternoon we had a debriefing about both the Mexico and the Olympic trip and it was all amazing. It was so cool to see how God works all across the continent.

So this last week at the Olympics I actually only worked three shifts. I had four days off. My days off were great, very relaxing and I was able to get some homework done. My last shifts were great. I had good spots and I met really interesting people. I met a police officer who was a Christian. It was so encouraging to me. He was the only Christian I had met up to that point. It was encouraging because I was beginning to get slightly depressed about how Godless this world was and how it seemed that nobody really cared anymore about anything. So I met him and we talked about my school and his work and how he is making a difference in his work place. It gave me hope because so many think that they cannot work in certain environments because it would be too hard. Well I think that he was a perfect example of someone who lives for God and makes a difference in their workplace.

My last shift was my favourite one. Our whole group was placed in great positions. I got to work at the Olympic family lounge and meet see and pray for all the “important” people. It was pretty cool actually. Then I got moved up to this platform where all the medalist bobsledders walked by to talk to the press. After everything was over they let the volunteers walk on the track and Rivera and I slid down it. It was so much fun. It was so sad to leave but encouraging to know that we can go out into the world and be missionaries wherever we go.

I believe that this trip was so important for all of us because you can go to another country and culture and love them and try to tell them about Jesus, but being able to live for Jesus and tell people of all ages who are your co-workers about your faith takes courage. It was great that God gave us all courage and this gives me hope for when we all go back home. This ministry trip was truly amazing and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it. To have worked with my fellow Kaleos and see God work through them.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. We all learned so much about the power of prayer on this trip. We learned to be devoted to prayer and to know how to answer to people. God is our refuge and our strength and he was so present with us on this trip. This week is reading break and lots of homework has to be done and handed in. So hopefully we can all get it done well maybe having some sort of fun. Thank you again for your prayers, God bless, and have a great week.

WSC!!!!!!!!

Hello from Whistler Sliding Center WSC!!!!
Wow what to say. This week has been so amazing. I feel so blessed to have been and to be a part of the Vancouver 2010 games. This whole time I have been working at the sliding center and have gotten to watch the men and women’s luge, doubles luge, men’s skeleton, and two men bobsleigh. Tomorrow the women’s bobsleigh starts and then four men begins. That will be exciting. I have enjoyed watching all the events and it was very exciting when a Canadian won the gold medal for luge. Katie and I were saying good bye to people as they were coming off the gondola and we were so excited and jumped up and down and high fived people as they got off the gondola and cheered for Canada. The next thing we knew a TV camera was filming us being so excited. It was a great night.
On to more important things, God has really taught me a lot through working at the sliding center. I am usually very shy and I like to stick with people I know and prefer not to talk to strangers. This trip has changed my opinion on that. I love talking to all sorts of different people and hearing about where they are from. God is teaching me to love the people I meet and strive to be comfortable to be away from the Kaleo people. Please continue to pray for us, God is really working and I know it is due to your prayers.
God Bless and have a great week

WSC!!!!!!!!

Hello from Whistler Sliding Center WSC!!!!
Wow what to say. This week has been so amazing. I feel so blessed to have been and to be a part of the Vancouver 2010 games. This whole time I have been working at the sliding center and have gotten to watch the men and women’s luge, doubles luge, men’s skeleton, and two men bobsleigh. Tomorrow the women’s bobsleigh starts and then four men begins. That will be exciting. I have enjoyed watching all the events and it was very exciting when a Canadian won the gold medal for luge. Katie and I were saying good bye to people as they were coming off the gondola and we were so excited and jumped up and down and high fived people as they got off the gondola and cheered for Canada. The next thing we knew a TV camera was filming us being so excited. It was a great night.
On to more important things, God has really taught me a lot through working at the sliding center. I am usually very shy and I like to stick with people I know and prefer not to talk to strangers. This trip has changed my opinion on that. I love talking to all sorts of different people and hearing about where they are from. God is teaching me to love the people I meet and strive to be comfortable to be away from the Kaleo people. Please continue to pray for us, God is really working and I know it is due to your prayers.
God Bless and have a great week

WSC!!!!!!!!

Hello from Whistler Sliding Center WSC!!!!
Wow what to say. This week has been so amazing. I feel so blessed to have been and to be a part of the Vancouver 2010 games. This whole time I have been working at the sliding center and have gotten to watch the men and women’s luge, doubles luge, men’s skeleton, and two men bobsleigh. Tomorrow the women’s bobsleigh starts and then four men begins. That will be exciting. I have enjoyed watching all the events and it was very exciting when a Canadian won the gold medal for luge. Katie and I were saying good bye to people as they were coming off the gondola and we were so excited and jumped up and down and high fived people as they got off the gondola and cheered for Canada. The next thing we knew a TV camera was filming us being so excited. It was a great night.
On to more important things, God has really taught me a lot through working at the sliding center. I am usually very shy and I like to stick with people I know and prefer not to talk to strangers. This trip has changed my opinion on that. I love talking to all sorts of different people and hearing about where they are from. God is teaching me to love the people I meet and strive to be comfortable to be away from the Kaleo people. Please continue to pray for us, God is really working and I know it is due to your prayers.
God Bless and have a great week

WSC!!!!!!!!

Hello from Whistler Sliding Center WSC!!!!
Wow what to say. This week has been so amazing. I feel so blessed to have been and to be a part of the Vancouver 2010 games. This whole time I have been working at the sliding center and have gotten to watch the men and women’s luge, doubles luge, men’s skeleton, and two men bobsleigh. Tomorrow the women’s bobsleigh starts and then four men begins. That will be exciting. I have enjoyed watching all the events and it was very exciting when a Canadian won the gold medal for luge. Katie and I were saying good bye to people as they were coming off the gondola and we were so excited and jumped up and down and high fived people as they got off the gondola and cheered for Canada. The next thing we knew a TV camera was filming us being so excited. It was a great night.
On to more important things, God has really taught me a lot through working at the sliding center. I am usually very shy and I like to stick with people I know and prefer not to talk to strangers. This trip has changed my opinion on that. I love talking to all sorts of different people and hearing about where they are from. God is teaching me to love the people I meet and strive to be comfortable to be away from the Kaleo people. Please continue to pray for us, God is really working and I know it is due to your prayers.
God Bless and have a great week

OLYMPICS BABY!!!!!!

Hey everyone!

Wow hi from the sliding center in the 2010 Olympic Games. This has been the most amazing week! So much has happened. I don’t know where to start. Everything has been amazing form the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony, to watching the luge athletes fly down the course at speeds of over 140 km, to talking and meeting hundreds of people from different places, to getting closer with my sliding center team. God has blessed us so tremendously. I am enjoying every minute of this experience. My shifts are long and I come back the church very tired so that is why this will just be a quick update but when I get back I will fill you in on all the details. Just please keep praying for strength for everyone on our team and everyone on the Mexico team. I am learning so much here and I love how amazing the experience is. I hope you all have a good week and look for me on TV at the luge or bobsledding!

God Bless,

Olympics here we come!

Hello everyone,
How was everyone’s week? Mine was pretty good. So this week we had theology class. Jim Paulson and his wife Anne came out from Caronport to teach us. The class was overall really interesting and I learned a lot. We had some heated discussions but I think Jim handled all of our questions very well. I learned more about predestination which I was very interested in.

On Wednesday night I had youth. Youth was ok. Stevie talked about mission’s trips and some of us went up and talked about where we were going and what we were going to be doing. A couple thought that the Olympics sounded fun but most didn’t care. After we did not break up into small groups, but instead we played a long game. I stayed back with some of the girls who weren’t that into the game and we walked around and had a really good talk. One girl was new who had never come and I think she liked it and it was good to be able to talk to her. I have enjoyed getting to know the Pastor’s daughter. She has come now for the second week in a row and for some reason I really see myself in her. Just the way she is and interacts with people it reminded me of when I was that age. So we get along pretty well. After the game and after most of the kids had left one for the girls came up to me and was like let’s go talk. So we sat down and just talked for a long time. She told me a lot about her life and I just listened. Youth is frustrating because I don’t see anything happening with God and kids coming to want to know God, but we are making relationships and planting seeds.

On Friday the 48 hour prayer session started and it was really nice to be in the prayer room again. I love the atmosphere and it reminded me just how important our upcoming trips are and how much prayer we need.

Sunday during church we were able to go up in front of our whole church and let them know about our ministry trips and Stevie prayed for us. We are getting really excited about our trips and I know that everyone would really appreciate your prayers every day. I will keep you posted about how the trips are going.

Have a great week and God Bless,

January can be enjoyable

Greetings,
Febuary 1, 2010

This week went by really fast for me. I cannot believe that January is over! I feel like I am missing something because all of my life January has been spent in frigid cold weather with piles of snow around me. This was probably one of the best January’s I have ever had. So this week we had two days of Jim’s class Camp Ministry. Monday night we had a great worship night and I am so happy that we have been keeping up with Monday night worship.
So Wednesday night at youth was ok. Honestly I look back from the first week until now and I am thankful. I am thankful that I have been able to get to know these girls. I feel like I know them so much better and that they know me and we can have conversations about them They are still all in grade 6 so it is hard to get deep with them when they always have a ton of candy before youth and they just want to have fun. But God has been showing me that this could be the only spot where they hear about it, they may not listen and we really don’t have anything to do with that, but we do have privilege of teaching them about things and sharing our excitement and our faith. Anyways, so youth was good, the girls had a hard time focusing in discussion group (what else is new) but we played a fun game that was team building after which I really think they enjoyed.
Friday night Camp Quawnoes held a huge youth event for all the surrounding youth groups. I was on greeting everyone which was really fun and then I helped out with the field game, Jess and I got to sit in the van in the middle of the forest and hand out gold, and then after I met up with my youth kids and showed the girls my room and where I stay. It was a fun night and I think all the kids had fun.
Sunday morning at church I was downstairs helping with the Jr. Church. I am definitely getting to know the kids down there better too. It is easier because all they want is to just play with you but I do enjoy spending time with kids. They are cute and fro the most part they are pretty well behaved. I do however think that the lessons are fairly weak and that the actual original bible stories should be told to them. After church the sun was shining so brightly and beautifully outside that again I could not believe it was January.
For the past three Sunday nights I have been attending Coble Hill’s youth serve “The Bridge”. I have really been blessed to be able to go to it. I enjoy the worship and especially the teaching. Since Warmland is focused on lighter sermons due to new Christians it is great for me to get spiritually fed at this church. So that has been great.
This week we have theology class and so far its pretty good. The Olympics are coming up soon which I am so excited about. Please pray for us. We have a huge mission field and I really don’t want to miss out on any opportunity to share my faith. Thank you for all your prayers God is working here at Kaleo.
God Bless,

Experiencing God's Glory

One of the many views from the top

Hello people,

January 25, 2010

So this week was absolutely amazing. On Monday morning we left for Mt Washington in a windy rainy storm. I woke up two hours later to see a huge mountain and everything covered in snow. The first day was a lot of fun. We took it easy and by the end of the day everything had cleared up beautiful so we could Mt Albert Edward which was the mountain we climbed in September. It was such a beautiful sight. On Wednesday we switched things up and I got to go snowshoeing for a day and tubing that night. Thursday and Friday were both my favourite days. They both had just beautiful conditions and I went up to the top of the mountain for the first time on Thursday and just kept going up because it was so beautiful. The week was so great. The food was delicious and the lodge that we stayed in perfect. Every night we had chapel. The Chapel’s were really special this week and God was really present in that room with us every night. A lot great things happened and I feel like we all grew a lot closer together during this trip. On Monday night we had an encouraging night, Tuesday and Wednesday night we named each other according to what God was telling us and Thursday night we had a confession night. It is hard to explain the depth of the chapels over a blog but God was present and I think what He wanted to happen happened. It was amazing to see God’s glory this whole week through his creation but to also see his glory through the way he works in people. This week because of the trip we missed youth group so that was too bad but I think we will make up for it because this week we have youth on Wednesday and then a big youth event that we are helping out with here at camp on Friday. This Sunday in church it was my turn to stay up and listen to the service. It was our church’s 3rd anniversary. It was encouraging to hear how far they have come and what God has been doing in that church. It is a very different style of church than what I am used to but overall people are coming to God and that is all that matters. I am very blessed to be in a church that needs people to teach them how to grow. Thank you for praying for the youth kids. I really believe that God wants big things to happen for Warmland.

A good week

Hello Hello Hello, January 17, 2010
So this week was very relaxed and a lot of fun. Tuesday and Thursday we had Jim’s class Camp Ministry. I absolutely loved his class. First of all, it is a lot of group work which really appeals to me because I work well with other people and I really like interacting with other people. Secondly, I am just really interested in this topic because I have been attending overnight bible camp every year since I was seven. I love camp and I love learning about God’s ministry through camp. Thirdly, it is not an overall challenging course and since we have a lot of homework to do it was nice not to feel stressed about school. So this week at youth was ok. Better than the first week back. I really feel that I am definitely close with the girls especially the girls in my small group. In my small group all the girls were very rowdy and it was very hard to get their attention (like usual). They all want to take pictures with their phones and they all just want tell stories that really don’t have anything to do with anything. But this week that was the case but something came up where they all listened for a change. The topic of other religions came up somehow and I was able to tell them the difference between Christianity and all the other religions. That sparked an interest and they all listened about the idea of the relationship instead of religion and that everything has been done for us instead of working our way to heaven. Anyhow, I felt encouraged after the discussion and it was cool to see some of them being interested for a change. So the rest of the week was good, this weekend I worked on an assignment that was due about a really great book. Tale of Three kings, it was excellent and if you have the chance you should read it. Today was church and since the leaders were not there we had to walk!! But it was ok, I was just thankful it wasn’t raining. Church was ok. Matt and I helped out downstairs with the Jr. Church kids. They were overall pretty cute. Sometimes it is frustrating the program that they go through. When I was that age I was learning about bible stories such as Moses, Noah, Esther, Joshua, etc. There are no bible stories just sort of a verse that is read and then the rest is games and snack. I am not sure if it is my place to say anything to them about it so please pray for me for that. Thanks so much for reading this and supporting me. I really love it here and God continues to show me so much about Him.
Have a great week!

Back in the land where it rains :)

above: my whole family on our Christmas walk

January 11, 2010

Hello again!!!

Wow it has been a while since I last wrote. So much has happened. I hope that you all had great Christmas’s with your families. Finishing up Kaleo at the Christmas season was busy but so much fun. We had a great Christmas morning together. It was sad to see everyone go but I was also excited to go home. It was great to be home with my mom and the first Wednesday I was home my parents, my sister Amy, and I went to pick up my other sister Amanda from the airport...it was so great to see both of them! Seeing my friends was good too, it was different because we have all changed but it was great to talk about memories. Christmas was a nice break; however it was very busy though. All of the Ontario people went o Emma’s house for a reunion which was so fun. It was encouraging to know that I have such great friends a short drive away and I hoping that we can keep up forever. The next day I showed Matthew Newtown who is from BC around Toronto with Matt Myles and James. It was a lot of fun and we didn’t get lost. Towards the end of the break I had to get my wisdom teeth out. That was not fun but they are almost healed now so praise God. Overall I had a great Christmas with my family. I got back to Kaleo and had a very friendly greeting. It was good to be back. This week we had a class on missions. Missions have always interested me. It was really interesting and sad to learn about what is going on in other countries. After every break we started with prayer for another country. It opened my awareness to just how much we should be praying for our world how much missionaries need our prayer. On Wednesday night I had my first youth back at Warmland. It was interesting to be back. It was good to see everyone. All the kids were eager to talk about Christmas. It was still frustrating because they do not really listen but after youth Stevie G gave us a talk about how they listen so much better compared to when youth first started 3 years ago. So I guess comparing it to that, it was encouraging to hear how God is working in some lives and even if we do not see it seeds are being planted. So I am going to keep praying and loving them. This weekend I did not go to Warmland because we were in Vancouver for Missions Fest. It was really good and it was great timing because we had just learned all about missions. I think there was one main message that God wanted to get across to me this whole weekend. As you know, I am a spender, I love shopping. I love buying gifts, I love getting gifts, and I just always seem to buy something wherever I go. Anyways, through this weekend I have made a commitment to God to not spend money on anything that is not fro Kingdom purposes. Through watching movies about poverty in other countries to hearing about organizations that need money for rescuing young girls from being used as sex slaves, I realized that there is so many better things that I can be putting my money towards. Anytime I feel the urge to buy something I will not buy it, or use that money to send to organizations that really need. I am so selfish and I have everything I need. God really convicted me of it and I feel incredibly guilty but, because of God’s mercy I am forgiven and I can start new this year. I had a great week back and I am excited for what God has in store for this whole semester.

Thank you for praying.
God Bless