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!