Week 11: Love Crofton

This past week, the Kaleo program had the opportunity to love Crofton. Each morning they had a team meeting, hopped in the vans, and headed off into town for the day.

For three days, the students went from house to house meeting their neighbours and serving in whatever ways possible. There are so many welcoming and hospitable people in the community. Many students became friends with those they worked for, had meals together, or even homemade snacks.

There was a whole lot of raking as you can see. Thankfully, the sun was shining and they were able to clean up a lot of yards. But that's not the only job they did...

Some walked dogs...

others cleaned out ponds... (Jenna really enjoyed this one)

And others did some miscellaneous work.

Some students even chopped up wood for the day. These pictures don't do justice to the amount they chopped.

Afterwards, we all met up in the guest house around the fireplace to debrief about Love Crofton. Many shared about the experience of what it means to serve and the impact not only did it have on the community, but the impact it had on them too. 

Every chapel, we stand together and say The Jesus Creed. This is where it became more than just words. "To love your neighbour as yourself" became practical in a new way and challenged many to keep on serving in the community. 

We finished off the week with serving the men's retreat. Again, students participated in leading challenge course activities, dishes, and events.

To add to all the fun of this week, Janelle (Our Kaleo program assistant leader) and her husband Levi announced that they are pregnant with their first child. And just when you thought that was exciting, Korey (our Kaleo program leader) and his wife Kassi also announced that they are pregnant with their second child.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

- Continued unity within the group.

- Prayer for determination in finishing off well as students are heading into their last class before the semester ends.

- One of our students Abby Mcquarrie has run into numerous problems trying to pay for her second semester at Kaleo. She and all of us here at Kaleo are praying for finances to come in. If you would like to support her, you are welcome to donate towards her tuition  at https://www.briercrest.ca/give/

To keep up to date with the Kaleo class, you can follow us on Instagram @kaleoprogram. Feel free to comment on our blog posts or send us a direct message on Instagram if you're wondering more about what our program is about.

Week 10: Old Testament

This past week, the Kaleo students had their Old Testament class with Don Taylor. It was packed with lots of stories, history, lessons, and a wack load of filming.

When the sun was shining, the students got to go outside for a short hike and experience a little bit of class outside.

They worked together over the last two and a half weeks to make an Old Testament video to go along with this class. The students chose "obedience" as the focus of the video with "The Office" as their creative theme. 

Whether or not you've seen The Office, it was easy to catch what the typical office humour is like. Who knew the Old Testament and The Office could be pulled off together?

(Noah's Ark... a smaller version)

(Moses after walking up the mountain)

(Abraham walking his son up to be a sacrifice)

During this process, the students learned how to lead in many different ways. Whether that was through leading as directors, actors, behind the scenes, or by the way they listened and followed. There were many memories and laughs made along the way. 

(Jacob trying to explain how he "didn't kill Esau")

(Jochebed giving birth to Moses)

(The Israelites worshipping the golden calf)

Along with the fun of filming, the students had to learn how to work together well and communicate under a time crunch. It was a challenging but rewarding process. 

(King Darius happy that Daniel survived the lion's den)

(Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego putting on some aloe after NOT getting burned in the furnace)

(The whale that ate, and then spat up Jonah)

On Friday, the video was presented to all of the staff and students at Camp Qwanoes. All their hard work had come to an end, and it was time to sit back with some popcorn and Koolaid and enjoy the film.

We also had a small campfire down by the beach this weekend in between studying for the Old Testament Exam.

Lastly, to end it all off, this Monday the students finished off their class by completing their Old Testament exam. 

If you want to check out their hard work, there are three short episodes. You can find them at these links:

OT Film- episode 1: Genesis

OT Film- episode 2: Exodus

OT Film- episode 3: Other

Continue to pray for:

- Unity within the group

- That the students would be able to be a witness to the community as they are serving the Crofton community this week.

- To find a healthy balance between schoolwork, community, and sleep.

Week 9: Prayer and Leadership

With no classes and no trips this week, students focused on prayer and leadership. Each one signed up for two separate hours of prayer in the prayer room.

They creatively wrote down they're prayers and thoughts all over the room. By the end of the week, the empty room turned into a beautiful space where you could visually see the prayers between the students and God.

"Coming into the prayer week I really wasn't sure what I was going to be praying about. Very quickly, I realized that I had too much to pray for and not enough time! During our prayer week, we were also busy filming for our Old Testament group project... so, to be able to sit in silence for a couple of hours and just be with God was so incredible. Through that time of prayer, God showed me that I need to step into a different leadership role that I had never been in before. The growth I experienced from that week was so valuable to me and I will never forget it."- Riley Gaskell

On Tuesday Krista Penner came by and hosted an in-depth leadership workshop on living and leading in the present. On Wednesday there was another leadership workshop looking at the life of King Saul. Our last leadership workshop was down by the beach where the students learned about self-leadership through a crabbing experience and metaphor.

After four days of individual prayer, all the students met in Club Coco for chapel time. Korey led us in corporate prayer starting off with a prayer of repetition, reading through Psalm 23:

 "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along right paths

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk

through the valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and staff,

they comfort me.

you prepare a table for me

in the presence of my enemies.

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

surely your goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever."

We were also lead by three of our students in a time of worship.

Then, students and leaders gathered in groups to pray for our nation, the camp, and the people in our lives.

To end off the week, students helped lead and serve for the sr. high retreat from challenge course, to dishes, to counselling, to everything in between.

Things to pray for...

- In the midst of tiredness and class, that students would be able to let God still challenge and push them, continuing to have times of silence and solitude.
- That the students would be able to find a healthy balance between work, friends, and sleep.
- That the students would be bold in the way they lead outside of the camp; at churches, youth groups, community. 

Week 7 & 8: Theology and Caving

Students settled in for another week of class, Christian Theology, with Merrell Dyck. Learning about the many different theological views on Christianity it quickly became apparent to the students that the world of theology was much bigger than they initially thought.

For the class, students were split into debate teams to prepare for the big theological debate at the end of the class week. After breaking into groups the teams were assigned stances on their theological topic that they were to defend.

During the week students learned lots about different theological ideas, and with their debate projects underway they were forced to wrestle with where they personally stood on the debate topics.

After the week of thought-provoking classwork, the students transitioned into a retreat weekend. Qwanoes' jr's retreat began right after class ended where students served in a variety of capacities from counseling, running activities, and working in the kitchen.

The weekend was the first exposure, for many of the students to see how a Qwanoes kids camp runs.

 

After the weekend ended students had a few days to get some homework done before we headed out on our caving adventure.

We headed to Horn Lake Caves early Tuesday morning arriving at the provincial park, meeting our guides, breaking off into groups and making our way into the caves.

Our guides taught us lots about the abundance of caves on Vancouver Island, what classifies a cave, and the types of rock that make the majority of caves in the area.

After a few hours of cave exploration, we loaded up the vans and went to an iconic Vancouver Island stop, Goats on the Roof. We spent some time exploring the area before we headed back to camp before dinner.

We had a busy rest of the week with our Assistant Kaléo Program Leader giving us a 2 part session on the Enneagram. Which is a type of personality evaluation that helps people understand a little more about themselves and the way they respond to things around them.

We had a few spare hours one afternoon to go check out some Sea Lions in Cowichan Bay, Another one of Vancouver Island's staple things to see.

After a few more days of homework, students were again involved in another Qwanoes retreat for the weekend.

Please Continue to Pray:

- For the students to press into community with each other.
- For students to continue to excel in their academics.
- For the Students to continue to have soft hearts for what God wants to teach them in the coming months.