The Last Days...

Alright so this last week has truly rushed by. In truth it's hard to believe that our entire first semester will be completely over in just a couple of days! Where did the last three months go?! My time here at Kaleo, flew by, mainly because we were constantly, and I mean basically always on the go. I don't think it would be possible to attempt a summary of my time here so far at Kaleo, but I will say that it has been an amazingly awesome experience so far, one that has had a huge impact on my life and has challenged and stretched me in more ways than I ever knew I could be. When I look back at these last few months, it's hard to believe everything that we've all accomplished and done together as a Kaleo family. God has really opened my eyes and has taught me so much already, and I know that there is still so much more that I have yet to learn for this next semester.

Last Monday and Tuesday the guys and gals split up once again and had their own separate nights out with each other. Us ladies spent "A Day in the life of Jen"-as was the title of our day out. We started off with a hike up a mountain, and at the top we munched down chocolate bars and had a Coke. We then went to the Duncan pool where we spent time relaxing in the hot tubs and playing in the pool. Coffee at the Moon followed our pool party and then we headed back to Jim Bad's house where his wife, Sarah, and one of the Qwanoes kitchen staff gals, Jenna, were there to greet us and had a delicious dinner prepared for us upon our arrival. After supper we had some girl bonding time and sharing once again, and then finished up with some songs and a movie before bed time.

Us gals at the top of the mountain

I also got to experience for the first time true Christmas tree hunting on Wednesday. We all journeyed up to the Tree Farm, and spent time checking out all the trees, and eventually we all settled on one and snatched it up and brought it back to our home here in the Pacific Woods Lodge. Later that night we spent time making decorations and ornaments for our lovely tree and finished off the day with The Muppets Christmas movie.

Malayne, me and Amelia hiding in the trees

On Saturday we had our first Kaleo talent show. It was a night full of laughs and fun times. Some of us who weren't even signed up somehow became involved by the sneaky ways of the director and organizers of the show who created their own little plays that were SO funny and got everyone acting out different parts to the script they narrated themselves.
Because of the lack of snow on Mt. Washington, our ski/board trip was postponed and we took off to Nanaimo to spend the day at the Wild Play Park. A lucky few of us got their names drawn to go bunji jumping and a chance to ride the King Swing (unfortunately i was not among them..:( ) But i did get to do the Tree-Go, and it was wicked awesome! I had the beautiful-daring Kylie Ankenmann behind me on the course and the charming-audacious Philip Karklins in front of me. I don't think I could have accomplished the course without the two of them-they were constantly encouraging and cheering me on, and were such a blast to hang in the tree tops with:)

Kylie, Phil and I getting ready to start stage 2 of the course

Kylie and I after finishing the Tree-Go course

Tonight we had the Christmas banquet here at Qwanoes. Everyone got all dressed up and were treated to an amazing turkey dinner and other delish dishes as well. This Thursday we will be celebrating our Kaleo Christmas and our Secret-Santa gifts will be exchanged.

Room 311: Jesse, Malayne and I at the Christmas banquet

So many events so little time, and I still have a couple papers left to write. Woe is me, Jayme Procrastinator Adams... At least I am not the only one in this stressful boat of paper writing, our whole class is basically at the same spot as me, with the exception of a few keeners...:)
Alas I should get back to my homework...
I can't believe I will be home in just a few days!! I'm excited to see you all and catch up on everything that's been going, and what i've missed these last few months.
Prayer for strength to push through these last few days of intense paper writing, as well as for safe travels home for everyone here at Kaleo would be rad:)
Much Love!
Jayme

Hey Everyone..

Alrighty so we finished off our final week of classes this semester. Foundations of Church Ministry with Dr. David Lee. I really enjoyed this week of class and it was something I looked forward to going to everyday. Dave's passion for church ministry was super cool to see and hear about, as well as his immense knowledge and experience with the Church. We touched on a lot of different topics such as understanding the church and its purpose, discipleship, cultural and social changes, our own spiritual gifts and discerning our call in the church. Dave kept us on our toes with morning quizzes and a final exam at the end of the week based on our notes and pre-readings. On the last day of class we entered the room only to find that Dave's wife had knit each of us our own unique mini-stocking with our names on them, filled with chocolate and candy. She said that while she knitted she was praying for each of us here at Kaleo, it was really encouraging and SO thoughtful!!

On Thursday, some of us headed down to Ladysmith to see the Light-up show that was going on in the evening. It was a pretty sweet parade and the lights were wicked awesome. There was a huge turn out of people and the night ended on a BAM-with a pretty rad fireworks show to finish things off. I have to admit, I got pretty excited to see some lightly colored fluff falling from the sky, it brought tears to my eyes even...but then i realized that it was in truth, not snow, but instead ash from the fireworks and it truly did make my eyes water!! haha 

This weekend I was invited to play with some friends of mine in a volleyball tournament that UVic was organizing down in Victoria. It was great seeing some familiar faces and being able to play some intense volleyball on an actual court with some sweet rallies and plays. I don't think I've played in a gym since back in high school, so it was great getting back into the game:)

So there are less than two weeks left of Kaleo before the break... we've got some fun events planned and a trip to Mt. Washington thrown in the mix as well. It won't be all fun and lazing about tho, as we still have a couple papers for our Church Mins course to finish up and our end of semester paper for our Field Ed class...

Phil, me, and Ryan enjoying the show...

The PPPParade... (Photo by Leila Rogers)

Fireworks!! (Photo by Philip Karklins)

Where did November go?!?

So our 24/7 week of prayer finished up yesterday. And I'm pretty bummed about that. It was an unbelievable week. Each hour in that room was a different experience for me. Every time I walked into that room, there was always something new-drawings and pictures up on the wall, verses and written thoughts and prayers, it kept changing throughout the week, and it was super neat to see how God had inspired and spoken to all of us during our time with Him. It was amazing to see how fast the hour went by every time. It would feel like you had just gotten in there, and then the next person would be coming in. I felt disappointed sometimes when I would hear that knock at the door, and come to the realization that my hour had passed. God showed me a lot about the power of prayer throughout the week. 

Our chapels during the day, were some of the best ones we've had so far this year at Kaleo. The stories that were shared by some, were so impacting and powerful, they brought me to tears on more than one occasion. I really felt the presence of God working and moving in the lives of the students here. A lot of walls came down and people were able to be real and raw with one another and just completely surrender everything to Him. On Monday night, we had a super neat chapel that took us up Maple Mountain (here at Qwanoes), we put on our hiking boots and strapped on our head lamps and hiked up the mountain to the top where we built a fire and all joined together in prayer and worship and had Communion together as well. 

Because of the prayer week, we didn't have too much else going on, other than busily working away on papers and other homework that had due dates speedily approaching. This week we had our final Camp Ministry course paper due, as well as all the pre-course readings work for our Church Ministry course that started today. Our female intern, Jen Lee, is the daughter of our professor, Dr. David Lee, for that course. It's only been one day of class so far, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the week, and the new things that will be learnt and touched upon in his class. He's already brought up some interesting topics and challenging questions. The discussions are brewing...

Well that's all thats been happening with me this week. I hope you all are well:) I'm looking forward to coming home to the Valley for three weeks this next month and seeing you all once again. Thank you for your prayers and support! (My nasty cough is no more, and for that I am truly grateful) Continue to pray for strength and that God will continue to use me to reach out to the kids in my Lake Cow youth group.

24/7

Reading break has come and gone. After this weekend of intense-paper-writing, I concluded that I maybe should have done a bit more reading and writing than relaxing and taking a break...But my final hermeneutics paper is done and finished as of yesterday, and I had a pretty wicked awesome reading break as well. There were only a few of us that remained here at camp for the break, so good times were had. Jen even made a visit down :) SO great to see her smiling face!

This past weekend was the Senior High Retreat here at Qwanoes. I had only a part time weekend of ministry-so on Saturday I worked in the kitchen in the morning, and then in the afternoon I did activities in the challenge course. Later Saturday evening, us Kaleo gals went over to Jim Bad's house to have a girls-night with his wife Sarah. We had some amazing chocolate fondu-Sooo good! And then they all watched Pride and Prejudice. I had to skip out on the movie unfortunately, and head back early with a couple other procrastinators to finish our papers:( Not long after getting back though, I had a surprise visit from my little sister Maddy and Ma and Pa. It had been awhile since I had talked to them all-and seen, so it was pretty sweet catching up and showing Mads around a bit.

This week is our 24/7 week of prayer. We all previously signed up for an hour every day this week to spend time in Room 204 praying. The room has been set up with papers and markers and sticky-tac for us to put things up on the walls. There are blown up pictures of each of the leaders and Kaleo students  on the walls as well-with papers underneath for everyone to write on. Prayer for all of us as we begin this week with God would be awesome-just that we would open our hearts and be stretched, and be willing to also listen to what God has to say to us as well. Today was the first full day of it, and already I'm pumped to see how the rest of the week will go. I know this week will be one that will be forever engraved in my memories.

To my dismay, i've seem to come down with a rather harsh bellow-of-a-cough. It's plagued me for over a week now, and even after downing the buckleys, it remains...

Prayer for my health would be sweet as well, as there is less than a month remaining in this semester!!!

November November

This was a pretty chill week. On Tuesday we went to the Horne Lake caves to do some caving. I'd never been before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. There were some pretty intense tight spots and we had to slide around on our bellies and grip onto what we could without slipping off. I was really thankful for my helmet- I had lost count to how many times I smacked my head into something jutting out. It was super encouraging to have the support and helping hands and words from my group, there were definite times when I thought I would have to set up camp and stay in the cave, cause I had reached a spot that I couldn't move out of, but they kept me going and wouldn't give up on me:). I had some falls and slips that shook me up a bit and shaved down my nails so that they were once again super short, but over all I had a pretty good time, and would definitely do it again.

This week we were also busy with finishing up our Camp Ministry course with Jim Bad. We have our last class this Friday-where we will be presenting our group projects concerning an area of camp that we are improving. So our group has been busy creating a video that we'll be showing during the presentation and just finalizing the details. It's a pretty humorous video, and we taped a lot of it outside in the rain. We just have some last minute editing to finish up this week and we should be set for Friday.

On Friday the Junior High retreat started. This was another one of the full weekend that i was required to work for my camp ministry, so I was assigned to work in Club Coco-making shakes and smoothies, etc, some belaying in the Challenge Course, and I was also part of the All Star Games crew and had a little dish-pit time as well. It was a pretty sweet weekend:) I really enjoyed being part of the games crew. We played this one night game called QSI and us from the crew were selected to be different witnesses and had to hide out around the Qwanoes campus and wait for the campers to find us. My job was to give out the blood samples, so the kids would first have to find me, then go back to the main agent at headquarters-get a syringe, then find me again to give them their blood sample-aka-red kool aid:). Two of my youth kids from my home town were able to make it to the retreat-it was really cool to see them once again:)

This week is reading break and a lot of the guys and gals have gone back to their homes until Friday. There are only a few of us remaining here, but we are still having a wicked awesome time. Tonight we had dins at BP and hung out in town. I have to make sure to buckle down and do some actual reading for my Church ministry course coming up in a couple weeks and work on my final Hermeneutics paper that is due this weekend, as well as the projects for Jim's camp ministry. Should be some fun-filled days:)

Thanks for checkin' in!

Love Jayme

Hermeneutics, Halloween, and the streets of Victoria...

So this past week from Monday to Friday we had our Hermeneutics course with Merrill Dyck. After finishing some of the pre course work before class began on Monday, I was a little hesitant as to how this week would turn out. But Merrill's class actually taught me a lot and gave me a new perspective on really reading the Bible for all it's worth. He covered a lot of material in those five days, about hermeneutics and the challenges that coincide  with the that. We went over everything from Bible translations and different kinds of communication in Scripture, as well interpreting and increasing our understanding when we use exegesis. During the week we were split into four groups depending on which Bible book we were committed to that week. During the week we had to practice in our groups a way we could teach-explain-illustrate the Book for the presentations that would take place on the last day of class. On Friday morning it was super neat to see the creativity and thought that went into each of these presentations. I think that whenever we hear or read James, 1st John, or 1st and 2nd Peter again, that we will recall and think back to the groups and their messages from that day. 

There were mixed opinions about the class over all by my fellow students, but I really enjoyed hermeneutics this week and because of the class, I don't think I will ever be able to read the Bible the same way as before.

At youth group on Friday, we headed out to Lake Cow right after supper to help set up for our Halloween-Super-Hero-night extravaganza. Sherri and Michelle had some pretty rad games and activities planned. We really had no clue as to how many of the kids would actually show up considering it was Friday night right before the weekend and there were a fair number of  school parties going on as well. But it was sweet to see some of the guys and gals still make it out. It was a small turn out, but we still had a blast hanging out and it gave us a chance to connect more with the ones that came out since it was a smaller group.

On Monday we hit the streets of Victoria with backpacks full of socks, toques, jackets, an extra lunch and a few other items. We split into smaller groups and spent the day walking around Victoria, talking and spending some time with the homeless that were living on the streets. This was quite the new experience for me. I was pretty nervous and felt unprepared in what to say and even how to respond when questions were answered. We spent most of the morning walking around and were able to talk and hear some stories from some of the people we encountered that day. 

One of the guys we met, his name was Ronnie, shared a lot about his past with our group. He talked about growing up with his parents being pretty hardcore drug users and how they later became Christians, but couldn't give up their addictions, and then how they later passed away. He tried to explain how he didn't understand why God would take them away from him, and left him to live in a world like this when he was so young, and how God could let his parents die even though they were Christians. He was struggling with a lot, and he kept apologizing to us about burdening us with his story.

When we first approached him and gave him one of the hoodies we had. He was totally thrilled and super excited about how well it fit and how stylish he looked in it. It was such a cool feeling to see him all stoked on receiving just this sweater from us. He was SO grateful. After we had given it to him though, he was in a rush and had to get back to his buddy who was watching his stuff, but then he would start talking about his past, and then after a while remember again that he really had to leave, but then once again open up and start talking again. Until finally he realized he really must go, cause he had been gone way too long, and he was panicked that his buddy would have left all his belongings somewhere, so he ran off and then hollered back a huge thank you for the sweater once more. 

I really hope that our Kaleo group can make more trips like this down to Victoria. I feel like that morning just flew by, and that it really wasn't long enough. Although i'm still pretty new and still feel somewhat inexperienced, I would like to go out and try it again, and hopefully meet up and talk with more of the people there in the future.

Fireside, SALTS, and JJJJuniors Retreat...

Hey Everyone...

Alright So every few weeks or so, us Kaleo students are randomly divided up and matched up with certain staff here at Qwanoes for an evening of fun, snacks, and 'get-to-know-you-time. The nights are called "firesides"-but actually do not include any fire whatsoever...

This past week we went over to the A-Frame-home of Jenna, Bec, and Cindy. We had chocolate fondu and were forced to share embarrassing stories or things people didn't know about us whenever we dropped anything into the fondu-pot. One of the Kaleo guys had the urge to get dressed up and so the theme of "work-out" was selected. Goodtimes were had:)

On Thursday, half of us went down to Victoria and met up with SALTS again to help them winterize the ships. We were assigned various tasks such as taking down the sails, cutting ropes, cleaning, lifting out the dories and folding up the sails and checking for tears and holes. It was great to lend a hand and see everyone from SALTS once again.

Then on Friday through Sunday I had the opportunity to counsel for the Juniors Retreat here at Qwanoes. Ever since I was a camper, I've always wanted to someday switch it up and try out counseling and experience what it's like to have that huge influence and impact on kids lives, that was so beneficial and helpful for me growing up. I had six lovely girls-all age 9 in my cabin with my co-counselor Cecilia. Wow, they were such amazing girls!! It totally felt like God hand picked them all and placed them there with me for a reason. I was super excited and nervous all at the same time on Friday night as my campers were arriving. But it was so sweet when I felt an immediate connection to them all. I don't think the retreat would have been the same if one of them were missing. 

Two days was way too short though. I wish I would have had a full week with them. But man alive, do they ever pack-in the activities during those two days! We were constantly moving from event to event and by the end of the day my campers were just dead, with little energy left over for me as well. On Saturday the kids had a couple hours of free time to try out all the challenge course activities, etc. and I was assigned to belay for the Elevator ropes course. I enjoyed talking with the boys and girls about how they were liking camp and just being there to hear about all their random stories as I harnessed them up. My campers would always come running back to us to tell us the things they accomplished and what they had the chance to do. One of my girls even went and bought me and Cecelia snacks with her tuck money-SO sweet of her! 

On Sunday we played a huge hide and go-seek game with the campers searching for all the counsellors through out the camp grounds. I went and hid way out in the forest and got caught in a mud swamp-which ended my further bush-wacking travels early. I had some close calls to being found, but wasn't actually caught until the end of the game. During my time sitting in the shrubs and mud I was able to reflect on my time with my campers over the last couple of days and take some time to pray for them all. It was great to have some other Kaleoers on staff with me this past weekend as well. The encouragement and support of their friendship and random high-fives were super rad and appreciated. It was definitely an awesome weekend though. I made some pretty close friendships with the girls in my cabin and it was hard saying goodbye on Sunday when they all departed. One of the mothers even gave me a big hug and thanked me when she came to pick up her daughter, it surprised me cause i wasn't expecting it, but it was super encouraging to know how grateful and appreciative some parents are for the people and the time that we invest in their child's lives. God is definitely starting to stretch my heart and passion for working with kids.

Hopefully these pics work out...

October fun...

Hey there!

Alright, man alive another week gone by way WAY too fast. The week started off with Thanksgiving Monday. Everyone who was away-visiting back home, made it back for our fabulous feast later that evening. We all got some what dressed up and enjoyed a night of fun, fine dining and thanksgiving. 

Later that week we departed for our girls and guys nights out. All of us ladies packed into the vans on Thursday afternoon and headed off for Nanaimo. We had dinner at a lovely Indian restaurant right by the ocean. Some of the girls weren't too into the whole Indian dins, but it was delicious! :) We then headed to Parksville and spent the night in the beautiful beach house of the VanderLee's. It was a really good bonding time for us girls. We laughed a lot, played

 games, sang, ate too much, had some 'interesting' discussions and some solid sharing times as well. After a filling brunch the next morning we spent some time on the beach, walking along the ocean, and then headed back to Nanaimo for some shopping. We all had a sweet time. 

I love all the ladies here, and I don't think Kaleo would be the same if any one of them were missing!!

Youth group this week was awesome. We had a huge turnout and a lot of new faces. It's encouraging to see that the kids are feeling more comfortable and that they want their friends to come see what it's all about as well. After a few talks with some of the youth last week as well as this week, I found a lot of them are struggling to fit in at school and are dealing with the difficulty of trying to do what's right and not giving into peer pressure. The lesson that Michelle did that night, I think really hit home with a lot of the kids. Hearing about her own difficulties growing up and choosing the right path and the hardships that she experienced, left the youth kids with some good questions and a sense of hope and encouragement for what they themselves are going through. 

Some things that I would appreciate prayer for right now is for one of the Kaleo guys here-who is also part of our Lake Cow crew. Jonathan has been gone this whole last week back home to Alberta. His Grandpa, who he's quite close with and who's had a huge role in Jon's life, has recently passed away. Prayer for his family and for Jon-and that we as a group here would be able to talk and listen and just be there for him when he returns later this week.

Also, stress-wise for me...I'm getting a little overwhelmed with the work load that has been piling up from our courses. This weekend i'll be working at the Juniors Retreat, and then next week we will be starting our Hermeneutics course. So just prayer for me that I will remain focussed and not get too stressed out, and that i'll stay healthy-as there is a bit of a sick-bug roaming about...

Thanks for taking the time to check in!!

"Let's Go Surfing now.. Everybody's Surfing now..."

Another week gone by incredibly fast!! We left early Tuesday morning and headed off for Tofino to do some surfing. We made a quick stop in Nanaimo for those of us who wanted to vote. And then we also stopped in Coombs for some delish sweets and a few of us gals got some funky floor mats. Before reaching our campsite in Tofino, we made some beach stops and watched the massive waves crash in and out on the rocks. They were up to 20 feet high that day. SO crazy!!Setting up tents and getting unpacked didn't take too long, so we had the skim boards out and a soccer game set up pretty soon after arrival. We were blessed with some pretty sweet weather-it was supposed to be super rainy and wet during out days there, but the weather held out and we had no huge rain-stormy spells-except for one unexpected hail storm out of the blue...haha. 

The next day we were out surfing until supper time. Me and my friend Amelia were water-buddies and were both pretty new to the sport. All of us were decked out in some wicked awesome-full-body wet suits-head cap included. In some ways we looked like a massive speed skating team...haha They worked really well though, I never felt the icy water, except for my face-which got splashed pretty much every 10 seconds..:) I got up a few times on my board, but it was always followed by an amazingly ungraceful bail...

Overall the trip was a blast, moonlit beach walks, ultimate beach frisbee, camp fire stories and sharing and good times all around.

Friday we started our Camp Ministry course with our Kaleo leader Jim Badke as our prof. We all had to form our own groups before the class started to do the pre-reading with and discuss the given questions, etc. We then had to come up with a team name and theme song. Our group's name was the "mustache-smurfs". And we made up a pretty rad song to go with it...

This coming week we'll have a couple more classes with Jim. And then it should be a pretty chill week event-wise. Us Kaleo girls have our night/day dates out this week so that should be fun. We have no idea what we are going to be doing yet, it's somewhat of a surprise... Other than that my week will be full of me reading and writing papers:S Sounds like loads of fun hey?! There are SO many distractions here at Qwanoes it's sometimes hard to say no, and just buckle down and do some work.:S

We had our second night of youth group out at Lake Cow this past Friday as well. There were a few less in numbers compared to the kickoff the Friday before, but i was super psyched to see some of the older gals, that were so indecisive about coming back, there!! It was another fun night of games and solid hang time with the youth. Two Kaleo students, Sherri and Michelle, from the program last year are in charge and running the youth group this year. Sherri lead the lesson this week, but we'll be taking turns in the weeks to come and helping our in the bible-studies. 

I hope everyone's thanksgivings were wonderful. Ill try to do another blog post about what i did this past weekend while i was back here at Qwanoes during the long weekend.

Here are some pics from the surf trip:)

Rainy Days, Courses, Kickoffs...

Hey ya!

Another week gone by SO fast...

This week we started our first course, Spiritual Formation, with Marv Penner. It was a super challenging week with Marv, he stretched our understanding of what it means to be spiritual and covered everything from Lectio Divina to the difference in ways that boys and girls think. He touched on some important topics such as: solitude and retreat, scripture memory, fasting, journaling, meditation, confession, personal barriers, and prayer.

During the week Marv had us go out and find our own place of solitude here at Qwanoes, and on the very last day of class we all went out and spent the whole morning as a spiritual getaway with us and God. Awesome experience! 

I really appreciated Marv's honesty and how real and open he was about his own life experiences and current happenings in his own walk of faith. It was disappointing that we only were able to spend one week with him. 

Truly the class isn't officially over, as now we all have papers and reports to finish off...:S

These last few weeks i've been attending the Lake Cowichan Baptist Church. There are four of us in total from our Kaleo group that make the awesome 45 min drive from Crofton out to Lake Cow every Sunday morning. The drive out is beautiful though, and we were given a lovely little red truck to commute in, so we all have great chats and the drive goes by fairly fast. LCB was quite the new experience at first. It's way more traditional than i'm used to back home-in that we sing mainly from the hymn book, assisted entirely by the organ player and occasionally a piano player as well. The church congregation is mainly made up of seniors, (surprisingly we had only 15-20 people in total, our first time there!) but has been growing in numbers over the last couple weeks. Our second Sunday there, we had our first youth attend. We invited her to sit in our pew after finding out that she had never gone before. After that service, we invited her to come back next Sunday and told her that we were super psyched to see her again. We weren't quite sure if she would try it again, but it was super cool to see her smiling face that next Sunday! It's our hope that we can start to bring more of the youth and teens out on Sunday mornings. We have a few musically talented members from our group, so we are planning on doing a couple Sundays a month-leading worship,etc. So maybe this will also spark an interest with them as well...

This past Friday, we had our big kick off for the Lack Cow youth kids. We had a pretty sweet turn out with about 16 or so kids there. We had home made pizzas and snacks and played some rad games-including a scavenger hunt around the church where the teams were all tied together at the wrists. I tried to talk to a lot of the kids that night and get to know them a bit more, some were more open to convo than others. A lot of these kids come from difficult and hurting backgrounds. They really need some huge love right now and just an ear to hear them out. Much prayer for these kids would be greatly appreciated!! As well as for us leaders as we work along side them and build up solid relationships with them. Because the youth group ranges from grades 7 all the way to 12, it's really hard for the older ones to fit in and not feel like the 'oldies' of the group. Some of them already weren't too keen on making a second appearance in the weeks to come. I told them how pumped I was to seeing them come back though, so we'll see if they happen try it out again. I'll be keeping you updated on what's going on in the youth group and try to get some pics up as well.

Thanks out to everyone who's been praying for me! My ankle is doing AMAZINGLY better now, so I'm super thankful about that! This next week we start our Camp Ministry course with Jim Bad as the prof. I'm not sure yet if i'll be making it home for Thanksgiving weekend, but if I do, hopefully i'll be able to touch base with most of you and catch up a bit:)

Miss you all!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

S.A.L.T.S!!!

Ahoy, me Hearties!!

Well we departed to Victoria early last Monday morning and boarded our new beautiful house on the sea-the "Pacific Grace". Having done no prior sailing before SALTS (Sailing and Life Training Society), I was extremely excited to have a week where I could try out the sailors life and experience everything that goes along with it. We were all divided into three separate watches: Forward, Port, and Starboard watch. I was in Forward watch-aka-team: "Flippin' Rad," and we had the pleasure of having Antony Dickinson as our watch leader.

His stories and the discussions our group had were some of the highlights of my week. It was neat to hear about the amazing places he's been and the way God has been using him and working in his life. 

The weather throughout the week started off great. The wind was excellent on Monday, but then seemed to die out as the week went on. It got a little cloudy and rainy mid-week, and some harsh fog on Friday that later turned into sunshine and blue skies before we docked back in Victoria. During the day, we would have short sailing lessons and the three watches would rotate shifts. I got to do everything from manning the helm to climbing the fore mast. Using the head was a whole other experience...haha I even got to climb out into the whiskers at the bow of the boat. It was a thrilling experience to be raised out over the water and just being able to relax and take in the beauty of God's creation, knowing that He is in complete control of the winds and the waters.

Throughout the week we were chosen to do an hour of night watch duty and were randomly partnered up with members from our watch. Both of mine were during mid-morning from 2-3am. I had sweet partners for both of my night watches and it was nice getting some time to get to know them both better. Funny enough, due to the legal way of spelling my name "Jamie," I was partnered up in the only co-ed night watch the first night:)

Every night after sunset the crew would teach us a game before songs and mug up. I don't think I've ever laughed so much in five consecutive days as i did on that boat. The gam

es just kept getting better every night we were there. After the songs each night, Jim Bad (our Kaleo leader), would challenge us with different questions. One night we had to think up different names for each other, ones that we saw would challenge that person and that they would later mature into. It was super neat to see how some people had the same idea for certain names. Or how they were related and connected in their meanings. We had some sweet worship and song times in the evenings on the boat as well. We had a variety of instruments including guitars, a violin, a kazoo, and even the Skipper whipped out his penny whistle every now and then. Before we left for the trip I was starting to get a pretty bad cold. So i packed tons of meds to keep my nose-runnings to a min. Once aboard the Grace though, my cold never got any worse, and actually went completely away, so no meds were needed. It was such an answer to prayer!

All in all, my week of sailing was wicked awesome. So many memories were made and our Kaleo group just keeps getting tighter and tighter. This trip will always remain a highlight when I think back on this year. Some things that I would love prayer for right now are for healing for my right ankle-it's still recovering from when I rolled it in volleyball a couple weeks ago,-climbing the ratlines to the top of the fore mast didn't help in the healing process whatsoever (even though the view from up there was SO worth it!!). Also, that i would be well rested as I have had numerous late nights and busy days (and one all nighter:S) and I'm starting to feel the effects. I will be updating again in the next day or two about the start of classes this week and what's coming up next week as well.

Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

Mt Albert Edward!!

After a late night packing session, the teams were drawn from a hat and leaders were assigned to the groups. Team Awesome included the lovely Kristie Voth (who is also our Kaleo Life Leader), my new found 'twin'-Amelia the industrious, Brandon a charmer of sorts, Jordana the fearless, and Benjamin the courageous...Team Awesome was a fantasic group of six. We had many memorabe moments, bonding disussions, snort fests, and delishish sweat swaps. Amelia provided the motivation by constantly supplying Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." The whole mountain experience was amazing. Just being completely surrounded in His creation brought such a peace and and a constant sense of awe. It was neat to see all of our five groups working together and encouraging and supporting everyone during the trip. Once reaching the top, hearts were moved and eyes watered. It was an incredible feeling to have all us from Kaleo and the leaders in a circle at the peak of Albert Edward joining together in prayer. One major blessing during the trip was my right ankle, which i had previously rolled while playing volleyball two days before we left for the trip. The entire hike, i never felt any pain or was hindered by it in any way! SO thankful!! Thrity-four km's later we arrived back at our vans, tired, wonderfully smelly, and a satisfying sense of accomplishment. The following are a few more pics from the trip...

intros oh lovely intros...

Hey everyone!!
I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get back to you all and send out an update. It was a rather rushed last few days of packing, moving rooms, and goodbyes before i headed out to Kaleo. I arrived here on the 10th of September over flowing with excitement and a fair bit of nervousness. I've been here over a week now and as i look back on the past few days i can't believe everything that's happened so far.

Right off the start we were thrown into wild introduction games and orientations that took up a fair bit of time in those first couple days. The first night, we were lead to the field to play the game: "pudding horse." This lovely game consisted of nylon leggings filled with chocolate pudding and full head whipping momentum-with the nylons fit snugly over our faces. The aim was to try to get your own pudding on everyone else while avoiding being smacked from others. And as if this wasn't enough chaos already, our Kaleo leaders pranced around as fairies and threw flour on our puddin' plastered bodies.


In the picture above are my two wonderful roomies: Malayne and Jesse. I know it looks like we got the worst of it, but really you should see the other guys...
These ladies are amazing gals and i feel truly blessed to be living in Forest-side with them:) I will post more about them as the days go on though.