Faith Revived

We started out this week with the first half of our camp ministry course. It was a great way to prepare and focus for the weekend to come. Unfortunately I found the test really hard and now find myself wondering if I should really be serving here at camp as a counselor. However by the end of the week I'm pretty sure all the knowledge I had attained from Monday and Tuesday had fled from my brain and I began to doubt that I could do this weekend counseling a cabin full of 9-11 years old. Friday came around and the kids eventually came flooding into Pacific Woods Lodge. There was excitement all around but I was just nervous and tiered. I found out I was counseling by myself which was a new challenge for me and I wasn't sure if I could make it through the weekend. It was Friday night the first night and I was with my cabin of kids sitting at Q-town which is in club coco just for retreats and I was hit with peace and joy. I was excited to see what would be the stories that come out of this retreat. I looked at these girls that God had placed in my life and wondered how I could effect their lives. I had an amazing group of kids, they all got along well together and our favourite activity to do as a cabin was to play grounders in the dark in our room. We had so much fun even though we didn't get good sleeps because of one particular girl who snored as loud as my dad and some of the girls slept in the bathroom to escape the noise. Also I don't particularly like swimming but this weekend I knew I had to because I was counselling by myself and I knew that the swimming pool would be a golden opportunity to have conversation and fun with campers. I was blown away at the results of hanging out and playing in the pool with the kids. I had two girls in my cabin who seemed like they weren't having much fun and didn't smile and at the pool I would see them and sneak up on them and they would crack a smile and the next day when they left on the bus one of the girls actually started to cry. I have never had a camper cry because they don't want to leave. It made me wonder why she didn't want to go home I guess I will have to find out another time but it broke my heart to see her like that and it brought me joy to know she had a good time at camp. It was such a good weekend and I was so blessed by it. I feel like I needed that weekend so God could revive my faith so that I would be so aware of Him and reminded of His work and power.

Taste of Tofino

Hey everybody! So this past week in the adventures of Kaleo we travelled to the land of surf and sand, up north to TOFINO! We were so blessed to once again have the best possible weather. It was sunny and the waves were so big. I've never surfed in waves that big. Cold Water Classic was going on while we were surfing so we got the opertunity to watch surfers from all around the world shred those waves and they made it look so easy! Surfing was so much fun we had such an awsome time of sharing and fellowship. Micheal was the first brave solider of the group to share his story. I love hearing others share about their life and pour out thier hearts. Its amazing to see where the Lord has worked in peoples lives where He is taking them. Also Amanda Rubert came with us on our trip which was such a blessing and she also shared her story which was cool to hear as well.
This last weekend was the womens retreat and although many of the Kaleo's served, I did not becasue I am super over whelmed with too many text books and bible readings that have to be read and I feel like I am drowning in a sea of never ending homework. Don't get me wrong homework is good but I am really slow and bad at reading so it makes it hard when all your homework is reading :( Today was our first class of Camp Ministry with Syd Koop and Scott and Julie Bailey. Our homework is to do more reading. I guess thats something I am learning to love. Well I already love reading but its just a pain becasue I feel like we don't have enough free time to read and when we sit in our rooms and read all the time the boys get mad at us for not hanging out and being anti social. I am trying to be really good at school but I'm so far out of practice I feel like I am the worst at it. This weekend coming up I am excited to anounce that I will be serving the whole weekend counseling junior kids and rumor has it that some of my campers are coming back that I had in the summer! So now that I have updated you on my life it's time to get to that endless stack of reading material.

Ajusting to still ground...

Last week we set sail around the gulf islands on the beautiful Pacific Grace. We were so fortunate to have the most amazing weather for the first three days and it didnt even rain until the last day we were there (and even then it just sprinkled only a little). It was such a cool trip, I loved it! On tuesday morning we took out the dorys and rowed oursleves in to shore on I think it was Saturna Island but I'm not sure. It was georgous! We went for a little hike up to this cool look out thing and droooled over the beauty that God had created. The vast amount of ocean with the little bits of land poking through the surface, endless blue sky and warm sunshine. Pure beauty lives in His creation and its such a blessing to explore. Also on the last evening on the Pacific Grace some of the peeps went off the rope swing on the ship, it seemed like fun but I was catching up on some much needed rest. I wasnt able to get restful sleeps but dont worry I'm catching up this weekend. We also had an oppertunity to get our junior sailing certificate while abord the ship. Unfortunatly I didnt pass but I learnt so much about sailing and it was an awsome way to bond our Kaleo group together through team work and not being able to get away from one another for a solid 5 days. However I'm still getting ajusted to the solid ground and we got home friday evening :s
An update on my last post, Road Tour was such a blast I got to hang out with 4 of my campers from the summer and I was stoked to find out the 2 of them are going to be join the youth group at the church that hosted road tour God is so good!
This weekend its TURKEY TIME! Wich also means a weekend full of friends and family not to mention a good time to catch up on mountains of reading and homework. AND then its surfs up, the team is off to Tofino!

Well, there it was our first week of classes done. It was Spiritual Formations with Cal, not gonna lie I enjoyed the class so much, you would sit down in class and expecting to hear some lecture but it was more like you had sat down at church and you were listening to a sermon and he was talking slow enough for everyone to get down on paper what he was saying. However I bombed the memory verses I don't think I was made to memorize, it's just not my gift. I'm learning to embrace that what we want to be good at isn't always what we are good at.
Tonight we are hitting up road tour in Parksville to hang out with the kids that came to camp this summer. I am really excited about it and to see what campers of mine actually show up or not. Its really such a cool oppertunity to hang out with past campers and get them connected to a youth group. I really miss all my girls. I was so blessed to have such amazing group of gals in my cabins throught the whole summer. I am also super excited to work during retreats to see if they come back so I can hang out with them again and catch up on thier lives. Its amazing what some of these children go through everyday and camp is a way for them to get their minds off their lives at home.
Next week we are heading out to Victoria to leave the harbour on a TALL SHIP! Sweet eh? Yeah I know. I'm stoked not only to be living on a boat cruising the big blue for a week but to see our Kaleo group continue to bond. Oh the life of a Kaleo student!