Kaléo Program Graduation and Look Back Video

Foundations in Worldview - Interdisciplinary studies

Today we are hearing from Abby about her experience in the last course they took.

What did you enjoy about this class?
I really enjoyed getting to dive into a topical that I knew nothing about, literally nothing. It was different from all the other classes that we have taken over the last several months which definitely made it more of a challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed having Grant Poettcker as our professor for the week; he was always willing to answer the questions that we had in the clearest way that he could.

It was interesting to discuss something that is continually effecting the world whether we really notice it or not. Modernity and postmodernity should be to some extent understood by most people. Overall, it was a class that stretched me, causing me to think about some things that I had never really thought of before.

How did it challenge you?

Honestly, the whole class was a challenge for me. It was not easy to get through material that I had no background information on. The pre-course work that I have done and the post-course that I am still working on continues to confuse me while also allowing me to grow through the confusion and desire to understand what modernity and postmodernity are and how they effect us.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us this week Abby!

Until next time, 

Camping at French Beach - Tenting By the Ocean

Today I am sharing some photos from an awesome camping trip we went on just over a week ago. We camped at an amazing beach spot on the west coast of the island called French Beach. The goal was to spend some quality time together while focusing in on what it takes to finish the year well.

Playing a blindfolded leadership game down at the beach

The beach out front where we were camping

One of the leadership games we played was each camping group needed to build a structure on the beach, what they ended up making was a lot of fun.

We also went on an awesome hike to a place called Mystic Beach, it was so beautiful.

We cooked one of our dinners right down within stones throw of the water. So many good memories were made. 

Thanks for checking in on some of our adventures! On Thursday check in to see pictures from their latest class.

Harvest from the Sea - Crabbing with Kaleo

Drawing the Grabs from the sea off the Qwaneos dock

As a fun activity to do in the spring, last Saturday we brought the whole crew down to the dock to catch and eat some crabs!

It doesn't get any fresher than straight out of the ocean and right into a cooking pot. We had been gathering crabs for several days, and then cooked them all on the same day. 

Andrew's wife Jenn and his girls came to enjoy the fun.

It was a blast to hang out and catch some good food together. Some had a hard time opening the crabs and didn't want much to do with eating them while others dove right in and got their hands dirty right away.

Thanks for checking out one of our afternoon adventures. The students are currently in their second last class of the year. We have a blog post coming on Thursday about the camping trip that we just returned from as well. Good stuff is coming!

Thanks for checking out this weeks post,

Levi Allen

Missions Trips - Voices of the Students

Vancouver Team // Shared by Abby

From February 11–25 all the students got to go to either Mexico or Vancouver for our mission trip. It was our choice where we got to go and it was interesting to see where each student chose to go. I happened to choose Vancouver, and when we were in Vancouver we stayed at two different locations; New Beginnings and Potter’s Place. New Beginnings is a church in the downtown area with an outreach to First Nations families. 

Our time at New Beginnings was the bookend to our trip. 

While we were there we spent most of our evenings helping run children and youth programs at the church. This included pick up and drops offs seeing as most families do not have vehicles, food preparation and serving, and of course teaching and playing with the kids. During the days we got to do other projects such as moving, cleaning, and construction. 

The Vancouver team performing a drama during the church service

For the middle part of our trip we were at Potter’s Place, a soup kitchen/church right on East Hastings, which tries to reach the homeless who are living on East Hastings or in the surrounding area. Our days at Potter’s were very different. In the morning and the evening we were given the opportunity to run their services, which include worship, a message and a meal. During the days we got to go on many different prayer walks going through the community praying for the different people we saw on the street. Both of which were incredible opportunities. 

It was really hard walking through the downtown seeing the people who are completely broken and especially when many of them don’t feel that they have any hope. Many of the people, of East Hastings especially, don’t care what other people have to say; they are so dependent on drugs or alcohol that they don’t really care about much else. While walking down the streets, back alleys, and through the parks there were many people who were clearly ashamed but still doing everything in public because they are so dependent. I saw many people shooting up on the streets while we were walking by. 

It is unbelievable how obvious the influence of drugs is on those streets, especially East Hastings. Millions of dollars every month exchange hands on East Hastings because of drug deals. It was extremely hard to talk to many of those people and know that we were unable to do anything but pray for them, and give them something to eat and drink. However, no matter what anyone has said in the past, or what anyone says in the future, many people on East Hastings are completely open to the idea of being prayed for, and most of them want to get off the streets. 

Although my trip is over I know that every person I talked to, everything that I did and everything I saw happened for a reason. I know that God can make a change no matter what. Prayer is a huge thing that is needed on those streets and is something that I was able to be a part of during to trip. I don’t know if I have ever prayed that much in my life and I think that it is actually a really sad fact. While being in downtown Vancouver there were many moments when all we could do was pray. 

We wouldn’t have the words, the actions or the strength to do anything else so we would pray. We prayed for countless people and in moments that were scary we would often offer prayer as a way to escape from the situation. I learned that I need to be way more dependent on prayer and spend a lot more time doing so. 

I am continuing to hope and pray that God would continue to work in and through me. Even though my trip is done God’s plan is not done. I want to continue to serve Him in whatever way I can regardless of how difficult or frightening a situation may seem. I know that God is always in control and I am so grateful for that, and I hope that you are too. 

Mexico Team // Shared by Amy

It’s almost been two weeks since returning from El Papaloté, Mexico, and I have enough stories to last a lifetime. I’d love to share a few of them with you, in hopes to glorify God and encourage you.

 
While partnering with Northern Light Ministries in Mexico, I had the opportunity to partake in three different types of ministry: work projects, outreach, and community care. Work projects filled up most of our time, and were a highlight for me as we were able to work with the Mexican Bible students, learning Spanish and building friendships. As a team, we laid a cement pad for a Pastor’s house, dug a (huge) hole for a septic tank, stained stairs, repaired sidewalks and prepped for a ramp. Needless to say we were satisfied and exhausted every night.          

Outreach included working on behalf of NLM’s church to reach into the communities through children, youth and adult events. These events are especially exciting to me as I say God work in incredible ways. One highlight would be our children’s event in a neighbouring village where I met an entire family whose children were quite sick, and situation quite poor. I was able to cook them hotdogs (a meal the youngest didn’t even know what it was) and days later return with bags of rice and beans for them. What a blessing it was to then see them at church, hearing His Word and meeting all sorts of wonderful people. Our last type of ministry was community care: a trip to the nursery and a trip to the dump. Both situations pulled on my heartstrings and neither situations left me with much hope. At the nursery, we played with children who receive little attention and no toys all day long. To simply pick them up and hold them brought a huge smile to their face. The dump is home for many individuals who have no where else to turn and are just looking for their next meal. We gave them bags of rice and beans, as well as clean water and hotdogs. We prayed for them, and continue praying for them.

     Mexico offered a new perspective on life which I had never seen and many things were difficult. Being an individual who loves words, the language barrier was one of these difficulties. When I met families like the one at the children’s event, I would have loved to be able to communicate with them the hope and love Jesus offers. To have so much to tell them and literally no words, proved to be one of my unexpected difficulties.

     God did some amazing things around me in El Papalote. One of which was playing with the children who came to church. There were three girls and two boys who I was able to play with one of our very firsts nights there. Later we jokingly called them my gang because they stuck so close to me. I could barely wrap my tongue around their names and they were so loyal: where I went, they followed. It made me think of the Bible verse which calls us to have the “faith of a child.” God was really revealing to me how important and what a blessing it is to have such faith.


Thanks for stopping by and checking out this weeks blog post brought to you by our students!

We are Back and Safe! Missions Trip Blog Post Coming Soon

It has been a while since I have last posted, and I must say things are going really fantastic! The students currently are deep in study preparing for the exam of their latest class. Weather here on our island paradise has been fantastic as well, spring is definitely here and we are enjoying it immensely. 

The missions trips both went fantastic and we are back at home safe after sharing many stories together. The blog has been silent as I gather the students responses but a full blog post with plenty of pictures will be coming this thursday!

Vancouver Missions Team

Mexico Missions Team

Stop by on Thursday to check out a full post on our two trips!