Last one...

So this is my last post before Christmas, and wow how the time has flown by. We have been up to a few things recently, we went out looking for a Christmas tree, bungee jumping and tree challenge course going. As I write this, I am going to be back in Ontario in 2 days. Crazy, and hard to believe. Ministry wise, youth has been going fairly well, although the church is really struggling I feel. This past week we had a real different sermon, one that was filled with things that I did not agree with. It would take awhile to explain, and even then you really had to be there to understand, but it just felt so wrong to me and the other two students that go there. I am really praying for this church right now, as they are struggling with alot of issues. Youth group is going quite well however. The kids are really cool and consistent in coming out. I like the smaller group idea, it really allows you to connect to the kids. Its going to be so different to leave this community and go back into the environments we all were in before we came. This has been the longest I have ever been away from home, and so I don't know what to expect when I go back. I really look forward to coming back however. So looking forward to snow. It just doesn't seem like it is close to Christmas in a way. As well, out here we have missed out on all the consumerism bombardment that most of us experience leading up to Christmas, which has been really refreshing I would say. Please pray for safety as we all fly back, and that there would be no complications with that, and as well for my church, St. Johns Anglican. See you soon,

Ryan.

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I don't know if this is weird, but I have another thought relating to nature and me. But first I will update you on what has been going on around here. youth group was pretty good last week. we went to a local christmas event, a tree light-up and some fireworks. there wasa few kids that came, and we saw more of them at the event. then we headed back to pack some care bags for the homeless outreach we are planning to do in the future. Camp life has been slow as of late, there really isn't alot going on around here, so I don't really know what to write. Anyways I will share something that I saw while out on our guys night at a beach a little ways away. We hiked in, and camped right on the beach. The weather had been really foggy, and it still was when night began. We all decided to walk to a waterfall not far from the campsite, just down the beach a ways. By now there was thick fog everywhere. As I walked down the beach, even with my headlamp, I could not see very far ahead of me at all, and the part I could see was bare sand and rocks. It felt as though I could have been on another planet. I looked behind me, the very same thing. It was an eerie feeling, and I felt uncertain as to where I was almost. I had to take the journey back to the campsite one bit at a time, and I ended up going a different way than I had planned. I thought about it on the walk back home, and I found that the situation related well to where I am in my life right now. My future is pretty uncertain right now, and I am searching for a way, but cannot seem to see very far. I am praying the fog lifts, but I think I am realizing it might take some time, and that I should take this journey I am on one step at a time, and not try to see what is at the end yet. Anyways, those are my thoughts about now, and I can't wait to see you guys at Christmas break.

Ryan

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Hey everybody. This last week has been really great. It was our 24/7 week of prayer here, and it was a great week, wow. I went in, not knowing what to expect. What would I do? Would I be able to keep praying for the whole hour? I found all the answers to these questions my first time in. At first I was looking around at everything, the pictures of everyone that were all around on the walls. The hour flew past, and I found myself surprised when the next person walked in. Over the next days, I really looked forward to being in the prayer room. I worked through and gave to God alot of things that had been bothering me, and had some really great talks with others. You were allowed to pray with one other person for some of them, and the conversations that came out of them were really encouraging. It is exciting, I had never thought of myself as being able to pray like that before, and I learned alot throughout the week. I am going to try to do this more often, spend some alone time with God. Youth group has been pretty good so far. Friday we had a guys/girls night. The guys stayed at the church and played some video games, ate some snacks, and had some conversations. I am looking forward to what is going to happen there. We are in the midst of a class right now, Foundations For Church Ministry. It has been good so far, and this is our last class before the Christmas break. I am looking forward to coming home for awhile, and seeing all of you again. I hope there's alot of snow!

Ryan

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So today is monday, the first day of our 24/7 week of prayer here at Kaleo. Each student has signed up for an hour each day to be praying, for a week. It should be a really good experience, I have not prayed like this before. I am kind of looking forward to it, but at the same time i do not know what to expect. Pray that it would be a good week for all of us, and that we would be able to focus and meet with God in our times of prayer. We had youth group on friday, I went for the first time in awhile it felt like. We did a really fun experience to do with teaching the kids about the body of Christ. We split into guys and girls teams. Each team had to make their own batch of cookies, but the twist was each person had a different role. Roles were: eyes, hands, feet and encourager. The eyes could see everything and tell instructions to the other parts, but could only use eyes and mouth. The hands were blindfolded and could only use their hands and could not talk. The feet could not talk as well, were blindfolded, and had to carry the hands everywhere according to the instructions of the eyes. I was the feet for the boys team, and it was pretty fun and interesting. The kids really enjoyed it, laughing when the hands messed something up, and it was a cool way of teaching this lesson. If you could all be specifically praying for me as I have decisions that will need to be made in the future about where I am going after Kaleo that would be great. This has been on my mind lately, and that would be really great. Thanks

Ryan

Reading Break

So here at Kaleo, it is reading break. It has been good to sleep in! This past weekend I was working here at camp, with the junior high retreat. I did a number of things, mostly helping out the events coordinator with the games. It was a good weekend, and I got to talk to quite a few kids too, which was pretty cool. We are beginning another period of lots of work to do, and it's catching up to me once again. I am sorry about not writing this sooner, but I haven't really thought of much to write. I haven't been to church in awhile, as working on the weekend took up my time. Its a weird sort of time right now. Tonight we are going to the Warren Miller ski movie in Victoria, which should be fun. All of today I am going to be finishing a group project for Jims camp ministry class. I had better get back at it, so I will write some more possibly later.

A light

A full course, all the work, done. What a relief. Hermeneutics turned out a lot better than I had thought earlier in the week. I learned quite a lot, and am trying to apply it to my Bible reading. Never again will I look at the Bible the same way as I do now, and that change is definitely a positive one. Half the Kaleo group went caving/swimming on monday, while the others were in Victoria talking to homeless and helping them out. Then today we switched it up, and each group did the thing they did not do the day before. On monday I went caving. It was a really cool experience for sure. At first I was a bit worried about being a bit claustrophobic, but after a few minutes of being in the caves, it wore off. At one point we all stopped in a kind of open area, and we all turned off our headlamps. What darkness! I could not see my hand touching my nose, let alone anything around. I felt so isolated for this brief moment, and it was a really almost scary feeling. This was true darkness, and I thought "This is what it is like to be blind. Imagine if I was in here by myself, and my headlamp went out!" Reflecting on this experience now, I can realize that this situation can be related to people who are not following God, and are trying so hard to find their way. If I really was in there by myself, and if my light had burned out, there is no way I would ever be able to get myself back to the entrance of the caves. As well, I would end up injuring myself trying to get back out. This is what so many people are experiencing, and they need a light. We are called to be this light to them, to guide them to Jesus. Matthew 5:14-15 says "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." This, along with visiting the homeless in Victoria has really challenged me to reach out to those in need of the light.

update

So the last week has been an interesting one. This weekend I helped out at a junior retreat ( ages 9-11) in the dishes area of the kitchen. This of course interfered with my original plans to go on the retreat with our St. Johns youth group, but it turned out alright. I finished alot of my work that was due, and got a bit of a breather before hermeneutics started yesterday. I think this class is going to be a bit harder, and I am having a hard time focusing. Hermeneutics is basically the theory of interpreting the Bible, digging deep and studying texts in depth and we are studying alot of passages in way more depth than I ever thought was possible or have done before. We still have work to do, and I am still going to have to work a bit harder to finish everything. We are split into groups studying a few different books of the Bible. Our group is studying 1st John, and so I have been reading it over and over, and getting quite a bit out of it. Prayer for focus during class would be great, as it is not the most entertaining class I have ever had. I have said it before, but I have made it so anyone can comment, I would love to hear from you guys. Thanks for the comments that have already been posted, they are a real encouragement.

Ryan

mondays...

So its another Monday. Things are busy around here, as I am sure you read earlier. Anyways, it has also been a good time of connecting. Recently we had our guys night out, in which all the guys went to Jim Badke, our Kaleo leaders house. We barbeque'd steaks and made potatoes and such, it was really good. Really a great night of connecting with the guys. Our youth group for St. Johns is going for a retreat this coming weekend at a cottage. I am really hoping for a good time of connecting with the kids, and that it would be a good escape for them as well as fun. The retreat is going to be at Hornby Island, about 4 hours away from here. I have been focusing alot lately, and had a good reading session today, so that was good. A bit down, alot to go. Fun. We are going on wednesday to split up into 2 groups. 1 group will help out the sailing crew we went with to winterize their ships while the others are caving, then we will switch. I am struggling with what to write, there hasn't been anything else really going on(at least that I can think of now) and I apologize if it seems like I am not writing much.

help!

some trees in the forest here at camp

Recently has not been super great for me. We got a bunch of assignments all in a short amount of time, and its wearing on me. I feel like I have so much to do I don't even want to start, but the reality is I do have to do it. I couldn't find my sheets and books I need and that say what I am supposed to do. This does not help the situation, and I just felt so sunk. I kind of ignored all this work for a bit(not the best idea I've ever had), but recently found all my things, so I have to really get going. Maybe if you guys wouldn't mind you could pray that I have focus, get everything done on time, that I would do everything well that would be great. I appreciate all your prayers, thank you so much!

more again...sailing

The view of the coast from the ship

The bow of the ship! The Pacific Grace

more photos

Mount Albert-Edward, getting closer..


The final climb, the summit is up there

Heyo

Mount Albert Edward from the parking lot where we started. peak right above the bunch of snow.





The view from the top of Mount Albert-Edward



Hey, so it's thanksgiving monday, and its been a pretty good week. Our surf trip went really well, and was a ton of fun. I have a newfound respect for surfers and their sport, it really is a lot of fun, and not as easy as I expected either! We have gotten a lot of assignments recently, as Jim's class has started up and we have things to finish for Marv's spiritual formation class as well as prepare for our next class. Many of the students have gone back home for the weekend, so it's been a bit different around here. Tonight we are having a big thanksgiving dinner for all the students and staff here at camp and I am definately looking forward to that. It is very different not being home for this holiday, and I miss all you guys back home. I hope you all have a great thanksgiving.

Busy

This week has been a busy one for me. We had some assignments and readings to do, so I really had to focus and get work done. Youth group was pretty cool this week. We did a photo scavenger hunt, and one of the photos you had to take was of your group helping to carry groceries. This one took us the longest to do... nobody wanted any help, and we got a few rude rejections as well. People are so suspicious! Anyways, it was still fun, and it gave us the chance to get to know the kids better. Our church had a farewell to their old pastor this sunday, and it was neat to see how different he was than the one that is in place now. They are in the midst of a search for another pastor to lead the congregation, and it would be great if you could pray for that. The church is St. Johns in Duncan. We are going surfing in Tofino, which is about 3 hours away, so that should be fun and also pretty interesting. My camera cord is on the way here as i write this, so I will have some photos up soon. My blog is looking pretty bland/boring right now, so that will be great. I'll be back on Thursday.

Starting up

So we all returned safely from our S.A.L.T.S. trip, and it was really amazing. The crew was really inspiring, and such an encouragement to me. Our group was divided into different watches, that are responsible for the ship in shifts. My watch leader was a guy named Antony, and he was a real interesting and awesome guy. He has lived in many different parts of the world, as well as traveling it on the sailboat. We all had responsibility to do a night watch at some point, which was really good. Night watch is done with one other person, and you are responsible for one hour of the night. You are making sure the anchor is still keeping us in one spot and we are not dragging basically. It was so quiet up there, the water really smooth, and mountains around. It was a cool experience, and I got to talk and get to know one of the other students a bit better. We started our new class today with Marv Penner. I am definately going to have to get used to being in school again. It will be a good class though. I made it so anyone can write comments on my posts, so feel free if you have something you want to say. Thats all for this week I guess. I am really seeing God work in our group, and its really exciting, and I thank you for your prayers.

Ryan

Welcome

10 days? Really? But so much has happened already! This about sums up what I was feeling when I sat down to reflect on the first bit of Kaleo, and to write this post. The first few days were full of orientation type things, many introductions, and questions. We all have gotten along so well, and I am really thankful for that. What a great group of people. As a part of our ministry here, we each chose with the help of the Kaleo student leaders a church to partner with in one of the local communities. I arrived at the decision of St. Johns Anglican in Duncan after some help and prayer. As I had never before been to a Anglican church service, the first one was quite an experience for me. It was very traditional, with readings and a very specific way of doing things. It was a good experience, and the people were very welcoming and friendly. I am looking forward to the relationships that will be built at church, both with the youth and the congregation. A few days ago, we came back from our 3 day hiking trip up Mount Albert- Edward. Unfortunately, on the last night I came down with some sort of sickness, and was still not feeling all too great in the morning. With a 10 km hike ahead, and me not being able to keep down any food, I was a bit skeptical about whether or not I was going to make it. My group that I was traveling with was amazing. After I felt like I could not go on, they took my pack from me and carried it so that I could keep going. Some people stayed back with me, encouraging me the whole way. With God's help, the great friends he provided, and some water, I made it back, feeling quite a bit better as well. Time and time again in my life, God has proven that nothing is impossible for him, and he is showing me how to trust in him more. Monday we are heading out on the sea, going sailing with S.A.L.T.S. and it should be a great experience and adventure. Just yesterday, I had a relapse of sorts with my sickness although it was something a bit different, and a few staff and students seem to have caught something as well, so if you could be praying we would all be well for our trip that would be great. I'll be updating this blog weekly on Mondays, so you guys know when to be checking. I'll try and get some photos up too, if I can figure out how to get my memory card thing to work.

Ryan