Surfing (Week 7)

It's crazy, the first semester is already half over. Time is really flying here at Kaleo and there's been so much happening this last week. Let's take a look back at all we've been doing. 

Surfing

On Tuesday morning we embarked on our third out trip of the year: surfing in Tofino! We had an easy start to the trip leaving Camp Qwanoes around 11am and slowly made our way out west. We stopped at Cathedral Grove and went on a short walk through the forest to look at all of the HUGE trees. Korey also led the students in a short devotional here. Then we stopped in Port Alberni for a bathroom break, to grab coffee and snacks! Finally we made one more short stop for construction before we arrived in Ucluelet where we were staying. Before we arrived at the church (which was our sleeping accommodations for the trip) we made a stop at a very cool light house with a beautiful view of the ocean and Randy led another short devotional. Then we arrived at the church. That evening was spent eating supper, playing lots of games, listening to Korey's chapel, and lots of bonding between the students. It was a great start to the trip and we headed to bed that night with anticipation rising for the activities of the next day!

We got up early Wednesday morning to eat breakfast and pack for the day. Then we headed over to a beach where the students were given time to reflect on the chapel from the night before and enjoy God's creation. After the reflection time we made our way over to the beach where we were going to go surfing! Because the swell was so big we went to Mackenzie beach which is a little bit more protected. Upon arrival we quickly changed into our wet suits and met our instructors for the next two days. After a lesson and a warmup on the beach it was finally time to do it.... we were surfing! For many of the students it was their first time surfing but even still, everyone did great. Almost everyone was able to start catching waves that first day and lots of our students were able to stand up! Our session that day came to an end leaving the students with more anticipation for surfing the next day! 

After surfing we headed into Tofino where we had lunch, played some ultimate frisbee, and did some shopping in Tofino. Thankfully we had quite favourable weather the whole trip, especially in comparison to what the forecast was showing (an absolute deluge!!). As evening approached we headed back to the church in Ucluelet where we retired for the night. We had supper, hangout, and watched Surf's Up with ice cream sundaes! Korey's family also joined us on this trip so there was A LOT of time spent hanging out with his daughters. That night we headed to bed looking forward to our final day of the trip.

Thursday morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and cleaned up the church before heading over to the beach. This time we were surfing at Chesterman Beach because the swell size was more favourable for beginner surfers. We quickly changed into our wetsuits, did another warmup with our instructors, and headed into the ocean to shred some waves. The second day of surfing was so much fun. We had a little bit longer to surf and everyone was improving so much! Lots of students caught many waves and it was great bonding for our class to be in the ocean all together having fun! After we finished our surfing session we changed and headed over to Tacofino where we gorged ourselves on massive burritos! It was a great way to wrap up our trip. We made one more stop at a beach as we waited for construction to open up and then we were on our way home. After a quick pitstop in Port Alberni we drove all the way back to camp where we arrived extremely tired but fulfilled by a great trip of surfing, bonding, and beautiful creation!

Harvest Party

After the surf trip the students had time off to work on homework, a group project for their upcoming class, Love Crofton prep, and to rest and relax. The next scheduled event was the Harvest Party on Sunday night.

To say that the students dressed up is a huge understatement. We had appearances from Peter Pan, the Beach Boys, a group of hippies, some fairies, and even Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. The costumes were spectacular but the nights events were even more fun. To start off the night we had a pumpkin carving/come-up-with-a-skit-to-go-with-it contest. There were some great pumpkins that were carved and some great acting that happened and after a final vote a winner was decided. Following that contest eight of the guys who were dressed up as the Beach Boys performed "Surfin' USA" on stage and it was incredible. There was countless hours of practice put into the performance and if you closed your eyes it almost sounded like the real thing! Next we moved into a lip syncing battle where the students battled it out with crazy dance moves, choreography and high energy. We truly witnessed greatness as some of the teams went all out in their performances. Again, the winner was decided by popular vote as we crowned another champion. The final competition of the night was the costume competition where we handed out awards for scariest, best dressed, and best group costumes. The winners truly looked great! The final event of the night was a movie where we watched "Halloween Town" and ate the remainder of the snacks we had. It was a great night and a great way to wrap up October!

What's Next

This week the students are running the Love Crofton event here in town. They are also continuing to prepare for the Old Testament film for their next class and they are doing other homework as well. 

Prayer Requests

• Thank God for a great surfing trip where we had no injuries or major plan changes. 
• That the work the students are doing for the community this week wouldn't go unnoticed and that God would be stirring the hearts of the people we are serving.
• Continued bonding as a community and growth spiritually for all the students!

Thanks for reading this weeks blog. Check back in next week for our next update!

Prayer and Leadership Week (Week 6)

Welcome back to the blog! This last week the students were in their prayer and leadership week here at camp. It ran from Tuesday until Friday morning and it was filled with longer chapels, leadership workshops, and non-stop prayer (literally)! 

The chapels were run by Korey (Kaleo Leader) and Tristan (Associate Qwanoes Director) and were mostly focused on hearing from God and biblical ways to enter into his presence. The students were challenged with different practices and given the opportunity to immediately put them into action. 

Alongside the chapels the students had three different workshops with Ben Laird, Krista Penner, and Korey. Ben's workshop focused on practical ways to lead like Jesus. He explored how Jesus' leadership was driven by humility, it was people centred, servant minded, kingdom oriented, and restorative in nature. He compared the leadership qualities of the world to the type of leaders that Jesus calls us to be and how different they are. 

On Wednesday, Korey led his worksop down at the dock. He had the students participate in an exercise that illustrated how life can be extremely draining and how essential it is to incorporate things that 'fill your bucket'. It was a hands on workshop that saw students competing in a relay race to fill a five gallon pail the fastest. Students were so dedicated to winning that they carried water in their mouths and in rain jackets and it was hilarious to watch! Korey challenged the students to commit themselves to certain things that are 'fills' in order to stay spiritually and emotionally healthy. 

Krista's workshop dove deep into personal insecurities with the students. She explored how pride is directly linked to insecurities and when we start thinking too much about ourselves we are discrediting the work that God has done in our lives. This workshop challenged the students a lot as Krista shared her own insecurities which exposed different things in the students lives. It was very real and relevant and the students had an opportunity to ask Krista more questions over lunch.

Throughout the entire week the students were also praying almost 24 hours of the day. We had a guys and girls prayer room set up that the students used and on Tuesday the students signed up for three or four one-hour prayer blocks throughout the week. These blocks were spaced out all hours of the day and the only times students weren't in the prayer rooms were during meals, chapels and workshops. It was really cool to see how the students dove into the presence of God and put into practice everything they had been learning. 

On Thursday evening we had small groups with the girls and guys together and had a fun evening of charades, Pictionary, and mini-sticks (hockey), while still learning together and praying as a group. 

The week was finished off on Sunday night with a student led dance. It was a great way for the community to bond and have fun together after an information heavy and mentally exhausting week. 

This week we are embarking on our surf trip to Tofino and next week we have our Love Crofton event. We could really use prayer for protection on this trip, health for our students, continued bonding and growth as a community, and that the students would dive into what they learned this last week and continue to grow closer to God and what He has for them this year. 

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for our next Kaleo adventure!

SALTS (Week 5)

Welcome back to the blog! Yes, it's only been one week since the last blog, but what a week it has been! Let's take a look back at all the adventures that went down in the last eight days:

Thanksgiving Dinner

On Monday evening the staff and students gathered in the dining hall and enjoyed a banquet together. We shared things we were thankful for, lots of laughter and great food. It was a great way to connect as a camp community and thank God for all he has given us and done for us. 

Note: This year due to COVID-19 and our large class size we had to split the class in half for the sailing trip, so SALTS 1 was from Tuesday until Friday and SALTS 2 was from Friday until Monday.

SALTS 1

On Tuesday morning, half of the class started their sailing trip. We met the crew in Victoria, got rapid tested for COVID, and departed on the boat. Almost immediately after leaving Victoria we were experiencing what we had been looking forward to for weeks now: the wind in our faces, raising sails as a team, being propelled through the ocean without an engine, enjoying a pod of porpoises that were breaching beside the boat, and some of us throwing up lunch because of a lack of open ocean experience! It was a crazy first few hours and we were all very tired by the day's end. Before we officially called it a night, we gathered as a group for songs, worship, chai tea lattes and testimonies. It was a really great bonding experience hearing the students open up about their lives, sharing how God has worked, different struggles and trials they have faced, and how they ended up here at Kaleo. Day 1, although not quite over, was a big success. 

The thing about living on a boat is that it can never go unattended. So throughout the whole trip there are always people on watch. This means that throughout the night there are two people who get up and watch the boat for an hour before switching with the next group. Although it was always a struggle to drag yourself out of bed, this time led to great conversations and more individual bonding within the group. 

Wednesday was a great day. It was filled with beautiful weather, man over board drills, climbing the masts of the boat, knot tying, following and watching a pod of humpback whales, and going on a day hike. The students had a great time launching and rowing dories (small boats) to get to the beach because the feeling that you were going to flip is pretty constant even though it is basically impossible. That evening was again filled with songs, worship, an off-brand version of charades, hot chocolate, cookies and more testimonies. Day 2, awesome experience.

Thursday was a little bit of a cooler day but because it was pretty windy in the morning we were able to sail immediately after lifting the anchor. We raised all of the sails and tacked into the wind and out of the bay that we had anchored in and we sailed north through the gulf islands. This was definitely a more chilled out day spent sailing all afternoon, hanging out, doing more climbing and simply enjoying the experience. We anchored beside Galliano Island before supper as we prepared for our last night on board. Again this evening was spent in worship, playing a modified hide and seek game, London fogs, caramel popcorn, and finished sharing testimonies. It was an awesome last night. Day 3, chill vibes.

Finally on Friday we lifted our anchor and headed back to camp where we would end our portion of the trip. While we were en route the crew split us into teams and we cleaned the boat, packed up our stuff and got ready to dock at camp. It was a bittersweet trek as we were ending our time on board the Pacific Grace but we were definitely excited to shower, put on fresh clothes, and catch up on sleep! By the end of the trip it was extremely obvious how the group had grown together, been stretched out of their comfort zone, and had a ton of fun. Overall the trip went really well.

(Not) SALTS 2

The original plan was to have the second group switch with the first group at the Qwanoes dock. Like the first group, they had to get rapid tested and test negative for COVID before getting on the boat. Unfortunately, one of the students tested positive and due to various circumstances and policies we were unable to proceed with the second sailing. So instead of spending three days on a boat we came up with a new plan in order to connect and grow together as a group, experience new things together, and have fun together. 

Our first planned event happened on Saturday. We headed up to the Nanaimo pool and spent two hours swimming, sliding, diving, flipping, and relaxing together. As soon as we were done swimming we drove back to Duncan where a reservation at Boston Pizza was waiting for us. We ate together, chatted and began to share testimonies when supper was finished. And then we were off to our next event which was bowling! There were some intense rivalries, competition, and talent(?) that was on display at the bowling alley. Some of us are definitely more gifted at this activity than others but we definitely all had a good time. To finish the night we grabbed hot chocolate from Tim Hortons and shared more testimonies back at camp. It was definitely a long, exhausting day but it was still a lot of fun! 

Sunday was spent going to church, hanging out at camp and in the evening we had a games night with both SALTS groups. This was a great connection point for all students and it was fun to see certain peoples' competitive sides come out over games like Clue, Monopoly, Secret Hitler, and Dutch Blitz. We enjoyed more hot chocolate and great company. It was a very relaxing day and a nice time to hangout as a group. 

The last day of our "trip" was Monday. In trying to do something similar to SALTS we decided to take the group whale watching in Victoria. So we boarded the boat in the Victoria harbour and took off into the open ocean in hopes of seeing some marine wildlife. It was a perfect day for whale watching; it was sunny, relatively warm, and not too windy. About half an hour into the trip we saw our first whale. It was only a brief couple seconds but we think it was a humpback. Although we didn't get a great look at it the anticipation was building as we wondered what we would see next. It only took a few more minutes before we crossed paths with a pod of orcas! For the next hour we followed them, watching them breach and blow and getting to enjoy how beautiful these mammals really are. For lots of our students this was the first time they had ever seen killer whales in person. It was definitely the highlight of the mini trip. After whale watching we headed over to Dallas Rd. beach where we played spike ball, football, had time hangout, enjoy the view and ate KFC for supper! To finish off our time together apart from the first group we headed back to camp and finished sharing testimonies. During these times we got to hear about each others lives and pray for each other as well. 

Looking back on the week it is obvious how God drew our students close together through the fun times and the hard times. He was working through testimonies, his creation, stretching students comfort zones, and even through the disappointment of not being able to go on the second sailing. We know that God has a plan for us and that his will is higher than our own even when we can't see it. 

What's Next

Currently the students are in their leadership and prayer week where they are learning all about hearing from God, the importance of spending time with Him and in His word, and obviously Christ-like leadership. Next week we will be embarking on a trip to Tofino where we will be surfing for a few days. 

Prayer Requests

• For the student who is in isolation with COVID. Thankfully she is physically feeling great, but pray that she wouldn't grow lonely and that she will use this time to grow closer to God.
• For the students that didn't get to go on SALTS, that this wouldn't be something that divides our community but instead that they can learn to be content in all circumstances.
• That God would be speaking to the students this week as they are diving into prayer and hearing from Him.
• Continued wisdom and guidance for the leaders as we prepare for the upcoming trip, for safety and that God's will would be done. 

Thanks for reading this weeks update! Check in again soon to stay updated on all of the Kaleo adventures!