Here we go again..

Reunions. Depending on the person, the word can generate different feelings or sentiments that can be either positively memorable or completely terrifying. In the case of seeing my fellow "Kaleoers" again it was amazingly positive! It brought me great joy to see all of their smiling faces again and just catch up to date on their lives once more and hear their stories over the break.

We started off our week with our Theology of Mission course, with Tim Stabell as our professor. The week flew by, and I appreciated Tim's way of approaching the subject and his knowledge concerning mission, as well as hearing all about his own stories from his personal experiences of being a missionary in the Congo. Several times each class Tim would tell us about a different country in the world and provide us with little tid-bits of info concerning the tensions and hardships that they are currently going through. We would then take time as a class, or in small groups to pray for these nations and bring these concerns before God. I really enjoyed learning about these countries and it really opened my eyes to hear about what else is going on in our world.

Youth group started up in Lake Cow again this past Friday. We had a massive turn out, around 17 kids or so, which is pretty huge for our youth. The night went really really well, and I had a lot of fun seeing our kids again and hearing bits and pieces on what they had done over the break. A couple new faces as well, which was encouraging to see that some of them are already starting to bring out friends in this new year. The sugar-popcorn near the end of the night, may not have been the best idea, the kids devoured the entire bowl within minutes and were soon bouncing off the walls...

Over all though, great night. I am excited to see how God will be working through us as leaders and in the lives of our LC youth over the rest of this year!

As I write this, Malayne has finally fallen asleep-I have no idea how... considering Jesse and I are still rummaging about our room trying to pack everything for our Mt Washington trip tomorrow. Yes, I, Jayme Adams will be embracing the slopes and trying my utmost to not injure or break anything as I attempt some boarding action as well as some skiing thrown in as well over these next five days. Goodness! FIVE days...My fellow friends here found it shocking that I was not a decent skier/boarder considering the mountain is right by my hometown. I admit, I have some serious butterflies fluttering in my stomach as I think about the week ahead. But I will be joined by some other "mountain-noobs," and that is somewhat comforting to know that I will not be alone in this new endeavor...:)

Alright, I really need to throw my gear in my bag and try to get at least a couple hours of shut eye before we have to be up and away by 5:00am. Prayer for safety up the mountain would be greatly appreciated as well as for our Kaleo group as we will be partaking in some evening discussions and bonding times up the mountain. Pray that we would continue to be open with each other, and that everyone will be able to share what's been on their hearts and be honest and real with one another. Oh, and health wise as well! As some of us are still getting over colds and nasty coughs that have continued to plague us through the winter break.

Much love,

Jay

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.