Monday, March 21, 2022

Crabbing and French Beach (Week 20 & 21)

Welcome back to the blog! Another two weeks has gone by so its time for another Kaleo update! The students have been busy crabbing, camping, and doing homework. Lets take a look at exactly what's been happening:

Crabbing

 

After the last class week, the students had a few days of workshops, homework, chapels, and crabbing! Because Qwanoes is located on the ocean, we set the crab traps right off of the dock. For three days the students checked the traps, put the legal crabs in 'crab jail', and rebated the traps. Alongside crabbing, the students also got to go pawning this year too! Tristan, a Qwanoes staff member, kindly took the students out on his boat and set prawn traps each day as well. By the time Thursday rolled around we had a whole host of seafood! We cooked up eight crabs and about a hundred prawns that we had caught and had a little seafood feast on the beach! It was a simple activity, but lots of fun! 

 


The students also participated in two workshops as well. One was led by Krista Penner and the other by Tristan Klassen. Krista Penner taught us about crucial conversations (how to navigate sensitive topics while remaining loving and compassionate) and Tristan spoke on a rule of life (daily, weekly, and monthly spiritual practices that help us grow in our relationship to Jesus)! 

French Beach

The next week was our French Beach camping trip. The students had a couple days to finish off any remaining homework from Cal MacFarlane's class and then we were off to the west coast of Vancouver Island. Located just north of Sooke, French Beach is a gorgeous campground that overlooks miles of open ocean but still boasts a crisp view of the Washington mountains! 

 

 


The first day of our trip (Wednesday) we packed up the vehicles and drove out to the campsite where we ate lunch and set up our tents. The students then participated in a leadership challenge: creating some sort of structure out of the plethora of drift wood on the beach. They constructed a cabana, a "tree house", a ping pong table, a raft, and a shelter. There was obviously a winner and a loser, and one participant from the losing team was subject to taking a dip in the ocean (yes, its very cold)! After we had supper, there was time to hangout, have a devotional, and time for worship. It was a great first day. 

Thursday morning it rained so we took a little bit of a slower morning. We had breakfast, time to relax and hangout around the fire. In the afternoon the rain cleared off and we were able to go on a day hike to Mystic Beach. The hike was about 2km and the destination was gorgeous. Mystic beach boasts a waterfall that flows into the ocean, a rope swing and more beautiful scenery. It was a lot of fun getting to enjoy more of God's creation. Upon returning from the hike we ate supper, hung out, and had another devotional/worship time. It was so cool to see the students bond together in community and worship God together. These times were definitely some of the highlights from the trip! We also had banana boats for dessert!

On our final morning we had breakfast, packed up our tents and loaded the vehicles up with all of our stuff. The students then had time to spend one-on-one with God. They were able to reflect, pray, and enjoy his beautiful creation in silence and solitude. Following that, the students had one more leadership challenge: Bible Skits! We saw interpretations of Cain and Able, Jacob and Esau, David and Bathsheba, Samson and Delilah, Joseph and Potipher, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There were some really entertaining performances! For lunch we had smokies and then we headed back to Camp Qwanoes. 

This was a really fun trip. It was easy going and a lot of fun to hangout and bond with everyone. Also, praise God we didn't get soaked because it was supposed to rain a lot!

What's Next

Currently the students are in class learning about the Apostle Paul with Brian Westnedge. Following class they have their second half of the 'Camp and Youth Ministry' course with Sid Koop, a kayaking trip, and then it is almost Grad! Please keep praying for the perseverance of our students, for growth in community and towards Jesus even in the last couple weeks, and for discernment for our students who don't have plans for this summer/fall yet. 

Thanks for reading. Check back in later for continued Kaleo updates!


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