The students are currently wrapping up their second last course of the year! In this past week they have enjoyed learning all about Paul and his letters through the guidance of Brian Westnedge, M.A., in their Pauline Epistles class. 

"Learning about Paul and the 1st century context from which he wrote has shown me even more deep and real aspects of my faith in the 21st century" - Josh Blanchette

Also on the Thursday before, we ripped up to Victoria to spend a morning sea kayaking! We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day to enjoy a nice two hour journey up and down the Victoria Harbour. 

Up Next and How You Can Be Praying

Next week we will be camping on Juan De Fuca straight at French Beach. Pray that we would have good weather and safe travels. Pray that beach camping would be a special time together for the students as this is the second last out-trip. Also continue to pray for the students in their studies as they are still finishing up assignments from previous classes. Pray that in this, God would give them a spirit of perseverance and discipline. 

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

In the past week and a half the students alongside with preparations for their Pauline Epistles class have had a few mini adventures including: Cabbing, Rock Climbing and Curling. Starting on the Monday before last we dropped our Crab traps into the water to see what we would catch.

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

Over the next three days three teams of students checked the traps throughout the day and took care of the crabs that we had caught. By the end of the three days we had caught a ton of Crabs with enough Crabs to eat for all the students and staff who wanted some. We cooked up the crabs right on the beach and enjoyed the riches of fresh west coast crab. 

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

(Photo by Mark Jobst) 

'It was kinda sad that we could still identify which crabs we had named and such after they had been cooked... but they tasted great.' 'What the Crab' - Teagan and Julia

 (Photo by Mark Jobst)

On the Friday we want to the Romper Room in Nanaimo for some Rock climbing and bouldering. 

Even though Rock climbing is one of our shorter adventures it was a super fun activity which pushed us to our limits, and helped a lot of us reveal some muscles that we never really use in our day to day. 

On Tuesday we had the great privilege of going to Duncan where we learned the basics of curling and by the end of the morning were broken off into teams and played a couple of matches.

Up Next and How You Can Be Praying

Up next the students are Kayaking this thursday and are going into their Pauline Epistles Class with Brian Westnedge next week. You can be praying the students that they would have the perseverance to finish off all their work to the best of their abilities, and that they would be blessed as they continue to serve in each of their respective church ministries. 

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

In the Past Weeks the students have returned from missions trips and went into their Interdisciplinary studies class with Grant Poettcker, Ph.D. Interdisciplinary studies was a heavy class in understanding the ideas and philosophies that have shaped the our world view, however many of the students found it quite beneficial to be forced to think in new ways about their way of how the view the world around them. 

"Interdisciplinary studies was one of our most difficult classes, however Grant was so gracious and intentional in the way he taught that it made a lot of these hard concepts and philosophies very engaging" - Bennet Schulz 

Mexico

(Photo by Joel Cross)

The Mexico missions trip was based out of town called El Papolote which is where a bible school and Church is located, associated with Northern Lights Ministries (the organization which we were partnering with). Our main ministry was building adding the floor to the second story of what is going to be a two story classroom. 

(Photo by Kaitlyn Willems)

This ministry opportunity which was supposed to take up to seven days to accomplish ended up only taking about 4 days for us to accomplish so we also got the opportunity to drywall the ceiling of a Church in Benito Garcia which is Just down the road from El Papolote. 

(Photo by Joel Cross)

Along with the building project we also put some other ministry events including an evening youth event where we had a fire and hot dogs and played soccer and a message was given by one of the local Pastors. We also put on two children's events with crafts and games and valentines day event where made cake and just had people from the community in. 

(Photo by Kaitlyn Willems)

Another impactful ministry opportunity we had was to bring a bag beans water and rice to those who lived in the garbage dump. It was a pretty incredible experience to see the reality of what some of the people there in Mexico were living in. 

(Photo by Joel Cross)

While in Mexico we also had a couple of opportunities to take in some of the beautiful landscape including hiking a volcano and Chilling at the beach. 

Vancouver

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

Our first stop on the Vancouver missions trip was to New Beginnings church. Right from the get go we were involved in helping out with the ‘Say Yes’ Program, which is an after school-tutoring program, aimed at helping at risk youth succeed in school, and to bring them into a Church community. During our stay the students also helped deep clean the church, redo the floors, paint furniture and help with the general upkeep that sometimes gets forgotten in the busy ministry of the church. The students also had the opportunity to share community meals and get to know a lot of the member of the congregation. They also lead worship and helping in children’s church on Sundays. 

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

“It was incredible to be with the staff at new beginnings, and see how deeply passionate they were about their ministry. Seeing that only made me want to invest in them, do something for them. That’s why I loved cleaning the church, it felt like something practical I could do to serve them” - Tyler  Weatherly

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

Then we traveled to Potters Place Mission, located right on the heart of East Hastings.  Potters place is a Mission that holds Church services twice a day each with a meal afterword. The students helped by preparing the meals, leading worship and some of them even got the opportunity to bring a messages. After the service we would all share a meal together and get the opportunity to get to know the people of East Hastings. We were also involved in street ministries such as giving out sandwiches or flowers on Valentine ’s Day. 

 (Photo by Mark Jobst)

Finally we went to Union Gospel Mission. Here we had a tour of their facility and heard the story of one of the alumni of their drug and alcohol recovery program Dave. After that we shared a meal with their other staff and volunteers, then we split off into groups to volunteer in various different areas. Some worked in the kitchen, others in the Cornerstone ministry and a few girls went and worked in the women’s sanctuary program. 

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

Overall the students experienced just a small taste of the many ministries that are committed to working on the Downtown East Side day in and day out. Each of them came back with a changed heart, as they slowly realized that perhaps the real mission field was the work God did on their own hearts.  

- Vancouver write up by Kalie Brown

(Photo by Joel Cross)

This past week we were in Vancouver to take in Missions fest, the largest missions conference in North America. We arrived in Vancouver on Thursday and and took some time to take in the city, including going tandem biking around Stanley Park, and parking in West Van to tour around. On Friday we went touring around Granville Island as well Gas Town, and got to Missions fest for the first general session that evening. Saturday we spent all day at Canada place taking in seminars, a general session, and a youth rally in the evening which included great worship music put on by Chapel band and speaking from Jarrod McKenna.

(Photo by Joel Cross) 

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

"It was awesome to see the people called from all over the world and the diversity in their missions"
- Caleb Gabor

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

Currently the students are in their Perspectives in Missions class taught by Gord Nickerson. This is a great lead up for the students heading into their Missions trips the following week. They are learning all kinds of important things including how to engage well in another culture and what it means to live a life of missions. 

"This class is great lead up to going into our missions trips next week. Even just thinking through the  effectiveness and role of short term missions and how to do it well by coming along side those who are already there rather than just providing aid."
- Jeremy Tiede 

 (Photo by Joel Cross)

(Photo by Joel Cross)

Up Next and How You Can Be Praying

You can be praying for our students as they are looking forward to heading out on their missions trips in the next week. There is a team of ten with six students heading to Mexico on Wednesday and a team of sixteen with fourteen students heading to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside on Thursday. You can be praying that God would be preparing both their hearts and minds both amongst each other and with the class they are currently in. You can be praying that these trips would impact students in a special way and be a great encouragement to the ministries they are coming alongside. 

How do you best embrace the 8 months of the Kaléo Program? Adventure, Ministry, Community, Leadership, and Academics this is what you are participating in. How do I give you anything except encouragement to do well in such a high intensity program? First you should know that you all are doing great! I’ve been reading your blogs, heard some stories, and heard it from your profs out here in Sask. Trust me I’m one of your biggest fans. Kaléo is the purest form of day punching, so keep it up. 

I think that one of the best things you can do throughout the program is understand that the schedule is intense! You may not have as much time as you like to do your work, but do not get stressed out. I worked with a carpenter before I did the program and he said he runs on a “stress free program.” This was something that I took with me to Qwanoes, but as hard and annoying as it was at some points, I kept saying it. Do your work, but do not let the distractions stress you out. Some of the best memories I have are from when we had a paper due and everyone was experiencing the same struggle as you in the writing process. Moments like that are when High School Musical comes to life for you realize “We’re all in this together.” Embrace the struggle of how busy you are, with the people around you. Embrace those moments and don’t get stressed. You could even use the motto found in the 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King, and just say “Hakuna Matata.”

Give God the time of day. Remember to allow God to work in your life. You are an individual, so do not compare the way that God is working in your life with how He is working in someone else’s life. Seek personal growth. I think that one of the best ways you can seek personal growth is going hard in all five components of the program. I believe that if you put effort into the community component first, then you will begin to see the people around you in a different way – a way that goes beyond friendship and enters into seeing others as fellow members of the family of God.

Seek to be joyful, patient, and loving with the people around you even when it is hard and you are busy (because remember Hakuna Matata!). Something to think about – you should never be too busy to love, too busy to be joyful, or too busy to be patient, especially if it’s going to affect the relationships in front of you.

Stay away from negativity; nothing will drag you away from growth as an individual and a community faster than being negative about your circumstances. Embrace the life of others as difficult as it is and (in the least cliché way possible) love them. John 15:12 & 13 says,

“Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Jesus laid his life down on the cross for us, his friends! This makes me think of the hymn that says, “An old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.” This is where Jesus showed his great love, on the cross which was the emblem of shame by giving his life. The song later sings, “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross.” Cherish the love of Jesus that was seen on that cross. Love is seen on the cross, love is a rugged commitment. So if you hear any of this, hear that you should be RUGGEDLY COMMITTED to each other because there will be no greater thing that builds community than being ruggedly for one another.

You all rock! Honestly if you want to chat I would love to get to know you, and hear about your year. Just ask Shane for my number, I’m never too busy!

(photo by Julia Hood)

This Past Week we were with the Students at Mt. Washington enjoying some time hitting the slopes. We spent the week at lodge right by the bottom of the lodge, close enough to ski into. We were blessed with some great skiing conditions during  our time at Mt. Washington. During our time there we received over three feet of snow and Had the privilege of skiing some amazing powder.

(Photo by Mark Jobst)

(Photo by Joel Cross)

Even with such a great trip one of the most amazing things was the community that happened over this week. In the evenings during our chapel time we had space for each of the students to be encouraged by a couple of their peers. It was amazing to see how this 'activity' turned into just a habit of our community and all throughout the lodge in the evenings one could see all kinds of these little conversations happening of the students building one another up and telling them what they brought to our community. 

Up Next and How You Can Be Praying

This Week the Students are at Missions Fest in Vancouver as well as looking towards their Missions Class with Gord Nickerson. You can pray for the students as they are in Vancouver that they would enjoy their time there touring the city and that they would be able to take away some good things from Missions fest. Also that they would Learn lots from their upcoming class and that they would feel prepared going into their Missions trips. 

The students are back after a well deserved Christmas break and they have already dived into their next class. This past week the students were taking Introduction to Christian Theology taught by Meril Dyck, MA.

"It was cool to enter into some well debated and possibly even polarizing topics, and allowing ourselves to simply search for truth, all while knowing that two godly people can disagree and that's okay" -Michael Mcrea

One of the highlights of the class was a debate all the students took part in. There were two different debate topics. The first was "Are Riches a Hindrance to True Spirituality?" and the second was "While Life in Heaven is eternal, is punishment in Hell?"

The students were randomly divided into groups to debate either for, or against each of the statements above. So, whether or not the students agreed, with what they were arguing for, they had look intently at the evidence for the side of the argument. It was really interesting to see the students argue for one side and then later talk to them about their actual opinion. Regardless the debates were very well done by both sides of each argument, which was pretty cool to see.

Up Next and How You Can Be Praying

Coming up next week we will be out at Mt. Washington enjoying a few days of Skiing and a day of Snowshoeing. While this time is very filled with adventure, it is also a great community time as we get to spend five days in a lodge on the mountain and there is plenty of community building time. So you can pray for safety as we travel and ski, and that God would use this time for this community to build into one another and grow in our love for Christ.