Thursday, January 30, 2014

A Week at Mount Washington - Experiencing the Mountains



Hey everyone,I hope you enjoyed our last post about our adventures out at sea. Now I want to share with you the great time we had for the rest the week up on Mount Washington! 



Immediately following our fishing adventures we packed back up in the 15 passenger vans and headed up the mountain which was only 45 minutes away from where we were fishing. The snow on the drive up did not look promising, but sure enough when we rounded the last corner and the ski hill came into view, the lifts were running!


Our chalet!


During our week we got to stay in a beautiful log cabin chalet. It had two sides, with two hot tubs, bedrooms and living areas both. Our first night we took it easy playing lots of boardgames, sharing stories from Christmas break. and worshiping together late into the evening.

Playing a dice game that was a big hit during our trip!



Our first day on the hill was spent tubing, it was such a blast being able to go down in lots of different groups and spending time with everyone. Our hope was that by tubing for one day the next day more runs would be open as the groomer had more time to clean things up. We didn't know if this would happen for sure, but we were definitely hoping for it.





We went down in some pretty large groups

Come wednesday we had our first full day of skiing! The sun was out and shining and more runs had been opened just like we had hoped for. We picked up our rentals early on and hit the slopes. There was an opportunity for lessons for all levels of experience. Some people tried skiing and took a skiing lesson the first day, and the next day they tried snowboarding and took another lesson. It was a great opportunity to learn from the instructors and also other students in the group who were willing to share their experience. 



Although the conditions were not the best it felt a lot like spring skiing. The sun was out and many of us were peeling off layers in the early morning. The view from the hill was spectacular, we would ride the chairlift up to the very top of the mountain and look down seeing a carpet of clouds covering what was the rest of Vancouver Island and the mainland off to the east. 


During the week the leadership team brought morning and evening devotionals based off our Finish Line statement. Our Finish Line statement is a collection of areas this years students hope to grow in by the end of our year together. Every student had input and it captures what the vision is for our year. We are always trying to connect our experiences and what we are learning to how it makes a difference in our lives now, and more importantly going to the future. This statement captures this very well because it not only represents areas of current character growth, but also captures the vision of continuing to grow as leaders in Christ wherever and whatever future circumstances have in store.

Our finish line statement is: Stirred to be a life-long community: rooted in Christ, authentic, and actively loving. Spurring each other on towards growth in: Perspective, Intimacy, Devotion, Confidence, and Courage in all of life.


From our chalet we could see the peak of Albert Edward. the mountain we climbed at the beginning of our year!
Crazy how high and far away it seems, yet that is the mountain we climbed one step at a time. It
was a powerful image for how far we have come to this point.  





Our time on the hill provided great opportunities for relationships to continue to grow, through quick chats on the chairlift, or our evenings spent together. It was great to just hangout with each other. 



Our time on Mount Washington was such a blessing, God brought us snow to ski and board, beautiful sunny weather, time together in community, and new experiences for everyone. We skied three days in total making the most of every hour! 

I hope you enjoyed hearing about our adventures on the mountain, look out next week for an update from our time in Vancouver at Missions Fest, and what the students thought about the most recent course Perspectives in Missions with Tim Stabell. Thanks again for reading, please consider sharing this blog and the program website kaléo.ca to any young adults you think might be interested in doing the Kaleo Program next year! Your help spreading the word is greatly appreciated. Also please keep us in your prayers as missions trips are now just two weeks away! 

Until next time, 

Levi





Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Kaléo Program Goes Fishing - Catching Fish on the Open Ocean


We are back! Its been an adventurous couple weeks and there is finally a moment to fill you in with our latest stories. These past two weeks we went fishing, spent a week shredding the slopes of Mt. Washington, wrote 2 papers, finished 2 books, and spent 4 days in Vancouver at Missions Fest! We just got back from Vancouver on sunday and the students dove right into the course on Missions. There is a lot I could write, but first I would like to share one of our adventures from our week of skiing. I will be sharing more from skiing later this week, but for now lets talk about fishing.



Coming up to our highly anticipated week on the slopes the weather was not looking good. Mt. Washington was having a record low for snowfall this time of year, and the lifts were not even opened yet. We wanted to make sure the week was still a blast with lots of opportunities to hang out and try new things, there was snow in the schedule but no one knew for sure if that meant the lifts would be running. We had several contingency plans and we still ended up implementing the first one, deep sea charter fishing off the coast of Vancouver Island! 



On the monday of our Mt. Washington week we headed up to Comox to test our luck in the waters. Our group was split into two different groups of four, and each of these groups of four went out with different guides (For this reason I only have a limited amount of pictures from two of the boats).








Nic reeling in our next catch. Note the cable system pictured bottom right, it could take the lines down
 hundreds of feet with great accuracy. 
We had a blast! This was a first for pretty much everyone including the Kaleo Program and a majority of our group got to reel in fish. Unfortunately none of them fell into the category we could keep to cook, but we still caught tons nonetheless. There was varied reactions from people on holding the caught fish, some more humorous than others. 










Thanks for reading this week. I hope to post more stories from our week of skiing in the next couple days, in the meantime keep praying for us as we prepare for Missions Trips that are fast approaching.

Until next time,

Levi


Thursday, January 9, 2014

Kicked off the new year! - Back to the books


Everyone is back at camp and we are now rolling into the second season of the Kaléo Program! Travel back for most as a little hectic with delayed flights and snow covered train tracks but we are thankful everyone is here and safe. 

Many of the students made comments about the warm weather here on the island, as most just came back from way colder places out east. The 5 degree temperatures have been welcomed by many. Unfortunately the warmer weather on the island and lack of precipitation has meant we are still in need of a good dump of snow to make our next adventure a success. Please keep us in your prayers and maybe pray for a little snow too, that would be very appreciate. 

Back in class with Josh Stigall!


For now though the students with renewed vigour got right into their first class of the semester Pauline Epistles! The class started on monday and they will be finishing their last lecture tomorrow. Josh Stigall came out to teach the course and has been actively getting the students involved in leading discussions and guiding their peers through what they have learned. They broke off into groups, each group tackling different issues and learning about the context of the letter they were studying. Their effort has been great creatively making each presentation unique and interesting. 

To kick off the new year I thought it would be fun to hear some voices from students and what they have to say about last semester, this semester and their time at home with their family!



What is something that you really missed about the program when you were gone?
When I went home for the Christmas break, I had a great time connecting with family and friends again. It was a nice break from the school work aspect as well. However, as much fun as I had at home, it is good to be back because I missed so many things about the program. I missed having roommates because no one was there to make me get up on time for breakfast. I missed having a genuine three meals a day. I missed the community and how much I have loved hanging out with all the fabulous people here. But most of all I missed the intentionality the program offers of developing relationships with each other, but most importantly with God.
- Heather Wilson



What is something that you are looking forward to in the second semester and why?
I am really looking forward to serving in the mission trip! I am so thankful for the opportunity to put to practice what I have been learning in class. I am excited to see Gods mights hand at work  in and through our lives. I pray that God would enable us to reflect his grace to the people we will encounter.
Jon Loper



What was your favourite part of the first season?
The whole first semester was amazing. I was able to enjoy meeting a whole bunch of new friends, go on fun adventurous trips, serve in a camp setting, and learn so much about the bible. All of these combined made the whole experience my favourite part of the first season. I am very excited for it to continue as I grow in God more and more each day.
Sarah Richards



What did you appreciate about being home with your family after the first time being gone for a semester of School?
I already appreciated my family a lot before I left, but being gone made my appreciation even greater. My little sister is what I gained a lot more appreciation for. She is the only child left at home out of six and sometimes I feel bad that she has to be alone a lot with my parents working. Now there are so many times where I wish I could be back home to keep her company. I appreciated my parents cooking and realized it actually takes a while to prepare a meal, right after a long day at work, and it always tastes so good. I appreciate the amounts of love they have for me and hugs from my mom a lot more. I knew I was not going to be home for long and that time was going to fly by, so I tried to take advantage of the time I had with them and the conversations we had. I really appreciate my family and how loving they are towards me and how much fun we all have together.
Sharon Van Egmond


Thanks for reading this weeks blogpost! We are very appreciative of all of your support as we move into this new season of exciting growth. Please keep us in your prayers for safety as we move into the adventures that next week have in store.

Until next time,

Levi