It has been so long since I last posted and I am really sorry to those of you who keep up with my blog! I have been super busy with Kaleo ending and my summer starting here at camp. So, yes I did graduate Kaleo...it was a bitter sweet ending and I cried for days afterwards. I can't even begin to describe how much I miss my brothers and sisters. I didn't realize just how much I love them until they all left for home! But now I am back and I am starting a new season! I am the child care provider this summer at camp and I am pumped about that. I have already started babysitting and I love the kids so much. I can't wait until the actual summer when I can spend everyday with the kids. I am pretty busy right now, so I thought I would just do a quick update! I'm sorry that I won't be home at all until around September, but I really feel that this is where I need to be right now!

Randoms!

This past week has been pretty uneventful for the most part. We had class from Monday to Friday, 9:00 - 5:00 everyday. They were long long days! And on top of the classes we had two huge Theology papers to write! It was an interesting week of very little sleep for everyone! Our second prayer week started on Friday, so that was pretty exciting. I love the 24/7 prayer weeks because it forces me to slow down and a slow down is always necessary for me. I love just being in the prayer room and sitting in the presence of the Lord. I can sing my heart out or cry or just sit, and I love it! It's hard with the chaotic schedule that is Kaleo to find time to just sit with God, especially because it's nearing the end. I want to spend as much time as possible with everyone here. We only have a few weeks left here. It's sad, but I knew that it needed to end sometime. I don't want to dwell on that now though, we can talk about that when it is closer! But I do know what I am doing for the summer now! I applied to work here at camp as the child care giver and on Friday I got accepted! So, I start work April 30!! Other than those things, missions teams have been preparing to head away! India leaves tonight at 6...it's gonna be sad to see them go, especially because I don't start my mission trip until next Monday! But, I know that they will be back and it will be exciting when they return! And Amanda leaves today. She is moving in with her brother in the States, but she will be back for our final surfing trip and our graduation. I'm still gonna miss her a lot though. My prayers will be with all the missions teams heading out this week and next and with Amanda as she moves on. I ask that your prayers be with those people as well as with me and the Vancouver Team as we start our day camp soon and we still don't know what we are doing! Your prayers are appreciated!

Reading Break!

So, I realize that I haven't given you guys an update in a while, but that's because this past week I was in Saskatchewan! Last Thursday around 4 am, we all piled into the vans and headed for the ferry. That was just the beginning of our 27 hour bus ride to Briercrest. I slept the majority of the time spent on the bus and we watched movies and played some games. When we finally arrived at Briercrest, I was very overwhelmed. I had just spent 2 days shut up on a bus and then I was being flung into the craziness of what is YQ! To say the least, the weekend was soooo fun! Amanda Falk led worship, which was incredible! The speaker was really good as well, he could connect with all the high school students, and he was funny so it wasn't hard to pay attention. An illusionist was there, and he was SO good. I was so confused the whole time about how he did any of the things that he did! It was mind-boggling! The theme for the weekend was freedom, and I'm sure that it was great for some people. But it wasn't particularly for me. The main reason for me going, was to see Brianne and Peter, which I did! It was so incredible to visit with them where they live and just hang out with them! My Kaleo friends got a chance to meet some of my friends from home, and I loved that. Overall, the weekend was really good, and I had a lot of fun. I didn't get much sleep, but that was ok because I had the 27 hour bus ride back home to sleep. We got home Monday night and then there were still 2 days left of reading break! So, I just hung out here with a few other people, watched some movies, went on adventures. It was a sweet 2 days. Other than that, there has just been a lot of school work and boring stuff! haha...oh! I had my interview for Camp Qwanoes the other day. I don't know if I got the job yet, but I am really hoping so! But if I get the job then I start April 30th which means that I won't get to go home at all this summer. But we will see how things pan out! Here is a pic from YQ!

Gospels Week

What can I say about this past week except that it was stinking busy! We had class every day from 9-5:15...on a good day! Classes were sooo long, but they were so good. I think what made this week so hard was how much information was being thrown at us in such a short period of time. We wrote our exam today for Gospels and it wasn't too bad, but I do wish that I had more time to sit and think about everything that I have learned, but I'm already hard at work on Theology assignments. School seems to be ruling my life right now! But I don't mind because I am learning so much about God and how to relate to him and it's just incredible.
Team Vancouver was hard at work this past Saturday! Steve made an announcement at his church telling them that there were 5 students who were available for hire! And one lady approached him after the service and we cleaned her house from top to bottom on Saturday afternoon! We had so much fun doing it too! Who would have thought that housework would be so entertaining. We now have enough money to buy a BBQ and we are well on our way for buying the deep freeze as well. It is getting so exciting to think about how soon the missions trip is.
Youth group on Wednesday was interesting. All the boys were nuts! They kept fighting each other and beating each other up and it was really frustrating. I would try to stop one fight and another one would break out. It was so ridiculous. I came home and I honestly had to just go to bed because I was so emotionally drained. I can't even explain the chaos or the frustration that I felt when I got home.
On Saturday night we went curling with the Qwanoes staff and that was soooo fun! I had never been curling before so I was really excited about trying it. After the first game though, everyone I was playing with quit. The other team, my team, everyone! So, I was sitting on the rocks or balancing on the rocks with my arms when no one would push me and I would slide down the ice on the rocks. It was so much fun and I think I had more fun riding the rocks then actually curling! It was an experience that I will never forget!
The highlight of my week though had to be Tuesday night! I went and I saw the Watoto children's choir. Watoto is an organization in Uganda that helps kids who have lost their parents to AIDS or war. There are so many kids living there. The kids are put into homes with a new mother and new brothers and sisters and they get to go to school and have a life. It is incredible work that is happening in Uganda right now and I have such a heart for it all. I love them and I want to be their mom. I honestly have never seen such precious little children in my whole life!
I love those kids so much, and I want nothing more then to be with them! That's me with two of the boys from the choir! They were soo cute! and they loved having their picture taken!!!

A Week of Study and Fun!

As I sit here, I struggle with what I want to write about. This past week was a pretty straight forward week. The majority of my time was spent reading a rather large text book about the Gospels while reading the Gospels alongside it. When I wasn't reading, I was either at youth group or thinking about how I should be reading the textbook.

Youth group on Wednesday night was soooo sweet! We did a scavenger hunt around Crofton for things that were red. There were like 50 things on the list that we had to find. My group was made up of the 8 of the most rowdy boys at youth. So, we were running through town and raiding people's houses for red things. It was a lot of fun and I had some sweet conversations and I got to know the kids better too! I have had a strong desire to be more involved with my church lately as well. Last night, I helped out at their deeper service by watching the kids. I just played games with them for an hour and a half. I loved it!

On Saturday, Team Vancouver did a bottle drive to raise money for our missions trip. It was so much fun and we doubled the money that we already had. I really love our team because we have so much fun fundraising and having meetings! I have to admit that when I was first put on the Vancouver team I wasn't very happy, but the group and I have been making the most of it and I can't even imagine being on any other team!! Here is a photo after our bottle drive, having a meeting at WhiteSpot with milkshakes!!

Missions Fest!!

Well, we all just got home last night from a busy and very overwhelming weekend on the mainland! We left Thursday morning for Vancouver because we were going to go to Missions Fest. I have been to Missions Fest before and I was super exited about looking around at all the booths and talking to as many people as I could! It was really great because we slept in a church that wasn't too far from Missions Fest, but before we went to Missions Fest on Friday, we went to visit a Mosque and a Hindu Temple. To say the least, it was interesting. I learned a lot about the culture and religion, but I don't know how comfortable I am with it. I guess I'm not supposed to be comfortable with it because it's not what I believe and it's wrong, but there were some similarities that could be found between Muslim and Christianity. But there were HUGE and jarring differences between both Muslim and Hindu compared to Christianity. It was a good experience but I don't think that I would ever do it again. I liked learning about it, and I don't think that I will stop learning about other religions, I am just not comfortable sitting in their place of worship, knowing that they are wrong and so lost, and not being able to do anything or to tell them the truth about Jesus. It was an exhausting morning! Then that afternoon and all day Saturday, we were at Missions Fest. I went to many seminars and talked to many people and I am still not clear at all about where I want to go or what I want to do. And surprisingly, I didn't talk to any schools. I don't know what to think about that, and I don't regret my decision about not talking to them. I talked mostly with one lady who has a mission in Haiti, called God's Littlest Angels. It's a volunteer position nursing sick Haitian babies and children back to health. I think it would be absolutely incredible to nurse and save these children who can be used for God's Kingdom! I would love it sooo much, so I am definitely looking more into that. And I may have found a job for the summer, and I am super pumped about that. I could potentially be Child Care Supervisor from the end of April to the end of August. But we will have to see about that! There are many things that I need to just sit down with God with and talk it all out and listen to His voice. So, there's an update for you from me!!! Talk to you later!!

Relaxing Week Up Mt. Washington

So, last week we went up to Mt. Washington! That was a blast! We were there for the whole week and we stayed in the sweetest lodge ever! There were two sides and three hot tubs and we were right on the mountain so we could easily go back and forth from the mountain all day. I was learning how to snowboard the first two days that we were there, then on Wedneday we went snowhoeing and it was incredible! The view was absolutely gorgeous and we could see Mt. Albert Edward, the mountain that we climbed at the beginning of the year. Words can't even describe the beauty that was bestowed upon us that day! The next day, we went to get our rental snowboards and we were back out on the mountain snowboarding. My very first run of the day, I go to sit on the chair lift and I am with Downey. Keep in mind it is first thing in the morning and everything was covered in a thin layer of frost before you judge me. So I go to sit down and I feel right away that I am not completely on the seat and we start to get higher and I slip right out of the seat and fall about 10 ft. It was not one of the best experiences ever. Needless to say, I didn't go boarding again after that. But I did have a glorious time napping and hanging out in the hot tub! The whole trip was amazing regardless of the pain that was inflicted! And since we have been back here at school, it has been a mad rush to get papers done and getting ready for the class that we have tomorrow. Tomorrow we have our first Intro. to Christian Theology class....I am super pumped about it! Here are some pics from the best trip ever!!!

I'm Back!

I am finally back at school! I have been here for about a week and a half now, and I have been having soooo much fun! Getting here though was quite the adventure. I flew back with Jon, but our first flight was delayed a looonnngg time! By the time we caught our flight, we had already missed our transfer flight in Calgary. So Westjet, gave us both food and hotel vouchers. That was pretty sweet. So Jon and I finally arrived in Calgary and we got into our hotel room at 2 am and we were sooo exhausted that we just crashed! Then we had to catch an early flight the next morning. It was a fun adventure, but as soon as we got here we had class. We were late for class by a couple of hours, but it was totally ok. So, as soon as we got here we had classes for a week! The class was the Pentateuch and it was sooo sweet. I learned so much and I loved it a lot! And I am really excited about doing my final paper for it because I love it so much! The past week and a half have been super busy with classes just school work. But we do get a nice little break this week. We are heading out tomorrow morning for Mt. Washington. We are there for the whole week snowboarding! It is going to be so amazing and I am so excited about staying in the chalets! Oh, our Vancouver team has also been meeting! We have determined that our team is the best team and we are going to have the most fun for sure! I am so pumped about the mission trip to Vancouver. I honestly didn't think that I would be this excited about it, but the more we plan and the more we talk about it the more excited I get! And youth group was sooo good last Friday. We just played games and hung out with the kids and it was incredible! I love just connecting with the kids and hanging out once a week with them. I really enjoy it a lot! Anyways, I have to go to bed because we are leaving so early tomorrow and I need lots of sleep! haha...Bye!!!

It Snowed!

IT SNOWED SOOOOO MUCH!!! The snow just fell one day and it kept going for two days! It was the greatest snow ever too! We had snowball fights and made snowmen and forts and we attempted to make an igloo, but it turned into a giant snowball fight!!! The weather was so bad that we could hear trees falling down in the forest, so we weren't allowed to play over there, we could only play in the open field! It was such a bad storm though because the power went out! I hate it when the power goes out...I get so freaked out especially if it happens at night time and the emergency lights even went out. I was terrified, but when I came down the stairs Joel was playing the guitar and singing and that made me feel so much better! Even after dinner, I asked if he would keep playing and he did. So, we sat in the dark and sang songs together until finally the power came back on.

Anyways, last week we had class! Yuck, I know! It was Foundations for Church Ministry, and believe it or not I actually learned a lot that week. On Wednesday, we were to have taken a spiritual gift inventory already and be ready to discuss it in smaller groups. God has been showing me so much just through that little test that I have taken a million times before! And on Thursday night there was a festival of lights in Ladysmith, so Kaleo got to go on the float and sing Christmas carols! That was a lot of fun, but the best part was the fireworks!! They were so pretty! Overall the week was pretty sweet; I learned lots in class, it snowed, I played and sang and saw sweet fireworks! I am so blessed to be here experiencing all this and learning so much at the same time! God is sooooo good!

What a Week!

This past week was our 24/7 week of prayer. What an amazing experience! We started last Saturday morning and I was the first one to spend an hour in there. Kelsey joined me, and we just sat in silence. We had our Bibles and we were writing out a couple verses, but we were both nervous to be the first ones to put anything up on the walls. So, we just left our pages on the desk. Someone came to relief us, and I wanted to stay. There was something about that room that made me want to be in there all the time. Slowly, people became less hesitant to put posts on the wall and the next time I was in that room, the walls were covered. As the week went, the paint on the walls slowly disappeared behind everyone's prayer requests and praises. As I read more and more of the posts, I realized how many scared and broken people there are in this community. There were many people asking for prayer for themselves. They wanted to feel Christ close to them, they wanted to be healed, they feel broken, they are scared to let the rest of us in. It made me realize how little I actually know the people that I live with. I wish that some of the posts had names at the bottom so I could run to them and hug them and love them. But, my time spent in that room was very significant in my personal walk with God. I prayed over every single post in that room and every person that is in this program. As the week progressed it was great to see that prayers were being answered. This past week itself was an answer to prayer for me. The week before, I had been thinking a lot about how I am at Bible college, but I am not reading my Bible or spending time with God. My God-time had become something that I did for homework. I was really struggling with the lack of God-time in my life. Being able to have a place and a time designated for prayer and time with God really helped me with seeing the importance and the difference that it makes in my day. I am really needing to make a conscience effort to sit down and spend time with God. Because of the prayer week, I was unable to go to youth group on Wednesday or Friday because of the times that I had to pray. I really missed the kids and prayed for them the whole time that I was supposed to be with them. It was a really sweet experience! Also during this past week on Tuesday and Wednesday we broke into two groups. One group went to Victoria on Tuesday while the other group went to Oceanview (an old folks home) and then on Wednesday we switched. I went to Oceanview on Tuesday and I loved it! The ladies in that place are phenomenal! They tell stories over and over again, but it is so fun to just be with them. They like to do puzzles and play with the ball. I really enjoy spending time with the ladies and just loving them and I am hoping to go every Saturday to visit with them. And then on Wednesday, a small group of us went into Victoria to visit and talk with some homeless people. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified! I had asked Jon, the night before if he would go with me and I expressed my fear to him and he was so good about it! He totally comforted me about it and he said that I could hold his hand if I was ever really scared! And I came close to reaching for his hand when we were talking to these three homeless men who were drinking alcohol on the street. Walking around the streets really opened up my eyes to the kind of world that is really out there. I think the part that scared me the most was having to communicate with them. The world puts such a label on homeless people and I am so used to walking by quickly and avoiding eye contact, but this time I was forced to make eye contact and make conversation. It was a good experience and I enjoyed listening to their stories, but I don't know if I could do it again. I was so thankful to have Jon there with me and I wouldn't do it without him. The week was just a good week. I spent a lot of time with God in prayer and in His word and I put myself out into the world and became a servant. It was a very powerful week!

So, this past week was reading break! It was so much fun! A lot of people went home or went to other peoples homes. I was one of the few who decided to stay back though. It was interesting and kind of strange at the beginning to be here alone, but at the same time it was very refreshing. No one else was around and it was very relaxing! I wasn't at camp the whole time though. Catherine and I hopped on the ferry to Salt Spring Island on Wednesday and we spent the night at Ellie's house! It was so incredible to be in a house with a family! We did what any typical girls would do and we went shopping around town, watched movies, ate ice cream and sat in the hot tub until the wee hours of the morning. Reading break couldn't have come at a better time because we all have so many assignments to do, and we were all pretty stressed out so it was a sweet time to just relax!

Youth group this past week was so much fun! Friday night was one of the girls birthdays, so she brought an ice cream cake and we all celebrated with her. It was sweet to see a 16 year old girl want to celebrate her birthday at youth group with her leaders and not out on the town like most 16 year olds would do. We talked about persecution and that really challenged some of the girls in the group to really think about their faith. We talked a lot about whether or not we would talk about Jesus if we knew that we would be persecuted and some of the girls had to think hard and were still thinking hard when they left. It was a good time for Jahnaya and I to really share what we believe without even thinking twice about what others might think. I love all the girls so much in both the junior youth and senior youth. They are a group of such special girls, and I look forward to spending more time with them and helping them grow in their faith!

So, girls night was incredible!! We had so much fun shopping and blessing each other! We also had a blast ambushing the boys in paintball! It was a very relaxing two days and it was really good to connect with just the girls...although we did talk about the boys quite a bit! haha!!
Anyways, on Wednesday night I went to junior youth and had a blast as usual!! We played games and lately we have been going through the basics of who God is and last week we talked about forgiveness. One of the girls totally poured out her heart and shared with Ellie and I everything that has been happening at home, and it was kind of scary to know what she lives with everyday. It was eye opening for me, because I now realize that many of these kids come from very broken homes and youth group is a safe place for them to just be who they are. It put a whole new perspective on why I am there and who I need to be to these kids. I need to be a model of what a Christian is to these kids. Now that I understand that, it changes the attitude that I will have when I go to youth every week. These kids need me to be there more so then my homework needs me to look at it. And lately I have also come to the conclusion that God placed me in Warmland for a reason. I'm not gonna lie, I haven't exactly been excited or happy about going to church. I know that I need to change my attitude though. If I am going to make the most of my time here and be a blessing to my church, then I need to change my attitude! Pray for me!! Anyways, I will definitely keep you updated about my attitude and youth group!! Later!

hello everyone! so, I missed writing last week! stink!! I was definitely swamped with school work and it completely slipped my mind! Anyways, I am writing this week! Yeah!!! So, this weekend was th junior high retreat! Sooo much fun! I was an all-star again and I loved it again! I like being an all-star because I can connect with all the kids! We played the same games that we did with the juniors, but it was more interesting with the junior high kids. They are so much more intense and they try to cheat, so you really have to watch them! haha....Andrew and I were all-stars together all weekend and that was so much fun because Andrew is such a good guy. I find the weekends that I have to serve I connect so much more with the staff and other Kaleo students that I am working with. I like it so much! I was a belayer in the challenge course too and that gets really intense because the kids get so scared and you really have to work hard to convince some of them that they will be safe. It took a lot for me to believe that I would be safe when I did it, so it was really hard to help the campers through something that I was terrified to do! It was a really good experience though because after they had done it they were so glad that they did and I felt the same way after I had done it as well! It is so good to conquer a fear and then the feeling of accomplishment afterwards is so rewarding. Just seeing the campers so scared going up and then coming back down laughing and saying that they want to go again, is so rewarding. It just reminds me that the Lord is my strength and that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Retreats are always a good time to step back and do a reality check! I love it! Anyways, I better get going....all the girls are going away tomorrow night! so excited! Later!

Ok, I just had the BEST weekend ever! There was a retreat this weekend here at camp and I was scheduled to serve all weekend. The retreat was for kids aged 8-11, and it was incredible. And I was scheduled to be an All-Star. An All-Star gets to help run the games. So, I was games girl all weekend! At first I was really dreading the weekend. I had (still have) a load of homework that needed to be done and I really need to focus on my readings, but I knew that there was no way Iwould get any of it done. I'm not gonna lie I was stressing out. The person who did the scheduling for the weekend, didn't schedule me to work Friday night conveniently enough. Mainly because the youth pastor at my church was going to be short leaders and he needed me there. So I went to youth group and right after youth...at 10:30 pm...we had a game scheduled for the kids. I was exhausted and stressing out about my homework and I am playing games when I should be in bed. I was not excited about that at all. Friday night I was not very happy and I was very thankful when the time came for me to go to bed. On Saturday, we had to be up at the crack of dawn to have a staff meeting to see how the day would unfold. I was again exhausted and wanted to go back to bed. After breakfast, I knew that I needed to find some energy. I sat down and I prayed that God would give me the strength that I would need to be a fun energetic leader throughout the day. After that, we started the games! I had so much fun leading the games and playing the games. During one of the games though, a girl slipped on the wet grass and hit her head. She was covered in mud, her head was hurting and she was bawling. I tried to talk to her a little bit and calm her down, but she was so upset aboout her clothes being dirty because that was the only sweater that she had for the weekend. I told her that I could bring her up to her room and she could get changed and she could wear one of my sweaters for the day. But she was still crying about it, so I told her I would throw her clothes in the washing machine and I would have her sweater back to her before dinnertime. She stopped crying, and we were on our way to the laundry room! It was so great to make her feel better, and we had a good laugh about her slip too. To say the least, the rest of the day was fantastic! I had so much fun with all the kids! It was incredible to see the way that they just look up to you. It wasn't even a question, they had no idea who I was but yet they were totally comfortable with me. Even though I didn't get any homework done over the weekend, it was worth it to see those kids come and have a good time learning about Jesus.
I actually had so much fun this past weekend, it got me thinking about how exciting the summertime would be. Staying for the summer has definitely been a thought in my head a lot lately! But we will see what happens!

This past week I was busy at my church!! I went to junior youth on Wednesday night, senior youth on Friday night and I helped in Kid's Church on Sunday morning. Wednesday nights seem to be more of a place for these young kids to hang out and have fun. We like to play games with them and help them develop positive people skills. It is a rough bunch of kids and it is very draining to be with them. Before Wednesday nights I find prayer to be so important. The only way that I could possibly get through a Wednesday night is on the strength of the Lord. One of the girls at this youth group loves soccer! She loves to play, she loves to watch, she just loves everything about it! The youth pastor, StevieG, was invited to one of her games on Saturday morning and he thought it would be sweet if I went with him to see her play! So, I went and you should have seen her face light up! She stopped playing to wave to us multiple times! It was so good to be there. Her parents don't go to the games, so it was huge for her youth leaders to be there! It made me really happy to see her glowing like that.
Friday night was sooooo good! There was only a handful of girls that night, so small group discussion time was incredible! All the girls were talking and opening up. They all asked me to pray for them or for their family. StevieG was very happy with the end of the night because our discussions lasted for 45 minutes! They are usually done in about 15! He was really happy with how it all worked out! I was really happy about how the girls opened up. It was incredible to see how much they trusted me already. Both youth groups went very well and I left smiling because I know that I will see all those kids again this week.
On Sunday I helped with kid's church. At first I wasn't really feeling it. I was wishing that I was upstairs sitting with the youth that had come to church. As the morning started to pick up though, I was having a blast and all the little kids were hanging onto my hands, legs, arms....they were everywhere. Even after the service they wanted to be with me. It was so incredible, especially because it was my first Sunday with them. Being with the kids made me super happy and it reminded me of all the kids at home. I don't know if I will be able to stay away from those kids now!
The ministry that I have been involved in this past little while has been nothing but fun! I love all the kids that I have come into contact with. I can't imagine another place where I would rather be on Wednesdays and Fridays!

So, junior youth is on Wednesday nights and then senior youth is on Friday nights. Last week, Scott and I went to junior youth and it was very interesting. There were surprisingly, a lot of kids. They are all from broken homes and you could see the need for attention that every single one of them had. We played games at the beginning to get some of their energy out, and to put the energy to something productive and fun. From the moment one child was in the building, there was some form of physical contact. They were kicking each other and punching each other. It was so strange to see even the girls participating. It was full out fighting though. I broke up a fight between a group of boys, it was just something that I had never had to deal with before. While the games were being played there was still an enormous amount of violence. It blew my mind how violent they were. The kids were swearing at each other and the talk was about anger and how to control it, which was very appropriate. During the entire "talk" kids were yelling out, and yelling at each other. It was just very chaotic and draining. And it was the first time for trying small groups and it worked fairly well I thought. They broke up the girls and boys, so I had a small group of girls. They all had a lot of things that make them angry, and they all said at least one other person in the youth group that they hated. It was so intense. So, I talked to them about controlling that anger and releasing it in healthy ways. I really hope that when I go back on Wednesday night, some of the girls will be able to tell me how they controlled their anger. It would be really great if anyone who reads this, keeps all those kids in their prayers. It is going to be really stretching for me to deal with kids like that, because that is not something that I am used to. Anyway, that's all for now, but I will continue to write about my nights at junior and senior youth!

I am so excited to tell you about youth group! I had so much fun on Friday night! It was the first senior high youth group for the year and we played Banana O Rama. And each team gets two bananas and we all have a list of things in Crofton that we have to measure in banana lengths! It was very interesting because I was a leader for one of the groups with 2 others from Kaleo. So we were relying on the kids not to lead us astray in a strange town at night! We had a lot of fun and I really connected with one of the girls, Christina. The game was really good for our first night because it allowed us to get to know the kids in a fun and exciting way! I was really nervous about the night because we had just come home from a four day sailing trip. I was so tired and I was trying to get used to being back on land, which still hasn't happened yet! Because I was so tired, I really wasn't prepared to go to youth, but once I was there and connecting with the kids, I woke up and had a blast! Today at church, Christina was there! And that was super exciting because I really enjoyed talking with her. We were talking about school and how she was reading this book for class that she doesn't understand and it turns out that I had to read the book for school a few years ago. I told her that I would be more then willing to help her work through this book and so I gave her my number for her to call me anytime! There are still more girls in this youth group that I would love to connect with and there is still the junior youth that I will be helping with on Wednesdays. And something else that I have been thinking about lately is my involvement with children's ministry. This may come as a shock to those at home, but I don't think that I am going to get involved with the children's ministry this year. I really like the idea of focusing in on the youth ministry. I want to see those kids coming to church on Sunday mornings and I feel that if I invite them I can't be downstairs with the kids, I need to be with the youth. It's all been kind of strange how it's worked out, but I think for now, I need to be with the youth ministries. That's all for now and I will post again soon!

Hello Everyone! The first bit of ministry that I got to do here was working in the kitchen! Camp Qwanoes hosts guest groups a lot and this weekend Trinity Western University was here. I was in the kitchen around 3 in the afternoon to help prepare the meal and I didn't leave the kitchen until around 8:30 to help with serving and clean up. I don't think that I was really prepared for my ministry this weekend because I honestly didn't know what to expect. I was just going with it! Now that I have experienced kitchen life, I think next time I will get more sleep before going in because it is a busy place to be! I really enjoyed being in the kitchen and working with the people that serve my meals to me everyday. It was kind of strange being on the other side. Now I know what kind of prep it takes to feed so many people and I have a great deal of respect for the kitchen staff now that I know what takes place. I think the best part about serving in the kitchen was working with people that I haven't had a chance to connect with yet. I enjoyed talking to the different people about where they are from and how they ended up in B.C. I also learned how to make these sweet little pastries with cherry filling and some had lemon filling! They looked so good, but they are for breakfast on Sunday, so I have to wait to eat my creation! There was one lady in the kitchen who took me under her wing because she could clearly see that I was lost and had no idea what to do. She was a huge support for me because I literally did not have a clue about where to start. I really enjoyed my time in the kitchen helping prepare dinner. It was definitely worth all the effort to hear the Trinity students say that they really enjoyed the meal! I was happy to be able to make them happy!