A word from last year's community award winner.

Here is word from last year's community award winner, Riley McCrea. Riley excelled at being intentional with conversations and challenging people among the community. Riley was always willing to challenge others, ask them what they are learning, and pray for them. Here's Riley:

Hey Kaléo 2014/2015!

I am so excited for you guys to be here and being a part of this program! This program has many aspects that will help you to grow in your faith and one of those is the community in which you will be living.

You guys will be doing life together for 8 months and will be challenged by each other and grow with each other.  There are a few things that I believe will help you guys to get to know each other faster, deeper, and quicker.  Firstly, be real and follow after God first. Let your guards down and be vulnerable, it will happen eventually but when it happens is up to you.  Secondly, it takes courage and initiative.  Everyone wants to be a part of a community, and a community centred around Christ is the best kind of community.  However, if nobody has the courage to start going deep and challenging one another during the year, it will not happen.  If nobody takes the initiative to start to try to learn about all these other people in the program, it will not happen.  Take initiative and be the first to get to know one another and care for one another truly loving them in Christ.  
              Thirdly, be a part of this community here at Qwanoes.  Plan to be with the people that you are living with here and now.  Be here for the people that need you now, finish things that need to be finished before entering the program, tie up all loose ends before you make the journey out here.  Whether that loose end is: apologizing to someone in high school that you didn’t get along with, or maybe you are in a disagreement with someone at home; make things right before you come out here.  It may be difficult and humbling but it will be good, not easy, but good.  You never know God’s plan, it can end up being very different than your own. Tie up loose ends because you don’t know when you’ll have the opportunity to tie them later. I cannot stress this enough, finish and tie up things at home so that you can be present here with the people here, not always skyping people back home every chance you get.  I avoided doing this before I came out here last year for the Kaléo Program and the person that i didn’t apologize to, or make things right with, haunted me all year long, and now i’m here for another whole year; did i plan that to happen? No, but God has a plan and we don’t always know it.  
            Fourthly, be prepared to get to know people, expect to get to know people and strive to live life along side them through the good and the difficult.  There is only one you, only you can affect people the way that you do, so make your impact on people count for the greater good of the kingdom of God instead of your own self.

Thanks for reading this guys, hope this gets you excited for the upcoming year and getting to know a lot of other people.