trust.

So this week has been an interesting one...

I actually couldn't remember for a while what we did but then my lovely roommate Jordana reminded me that we had a class on Monday and Tuesday! We did a class called Camp Ministry. It was really interesting to learn about the Sex and Culture part of this course. It breaks my heart to see how prevalent pornography is in our culture and how young kids are getting exposed to it. Can you believe that the average age of first exposure to pornography is 11 years old? The enemy has done quite a number on this generation by making this kind of garbage so easily accessible to young minds. It's heart wrenching! We not only learned the facts about this, but also what implication this has for our ministry at camp. If this is what kids these days are being exposed to, then what does that mean for how we counter that at camp? I really enjoyed this part of the class because I believe that kids need a good dose of Truth right now in a world where they are being spoon-fed lies by everyone and everything around them.

Then Wednesday was caving. However, I stayed back at camp to get some much-needed rest and homework time in. This was such a good day for relaxing and actually getting some work done. The rest of the week was then filled in with random stuff like a "how to write a paper" session and meetings about the retreats that are coming up.

This weekend was Juniors Retreat, and man, it was wonderful! I loved seeing kids here again. Yes, we see kids here as guest groups and such, but seeing kids here for camp just lifted my spirits so unbelievably. I had lost sight of camp and why we do what we do, but this weekend just reminded me how fantastic camp is. The kids got so into everything, especially since they were 9-11 years old. I wasn't counselling this weekend but rather was on program staff and worship band AKA an All-Star and on Quixotic, respectively. I loved being in the role I was in because I still got to connect with kids but wasn't responsible for a cabin of youngsters at all times. It was especially cool because even though I didn't have my own cabin, a group of girls adopted me almost as another counselor and they were such a cool bunch!

This week has also been about God asking me to trust Him with my relationships here at Kaleo. I tend to hold tightly to my friendships and sometimes find my worth in them, but this week, God has been telling me in different ways that I need to stop searching for my worth in those friendships, but rather to find my worth in Him. This is not easy, let me tell you, but I know that God will continue to work on my heart until He is my only source of acceptance and worth. It will be so good. Please pray for this.

This week starts Old Testament Literature which should be interesting. I was reading the textbook for the course and it talked about not understanding ourselves fully if we don't know our history and how it is the same for Christianity. We can't understand our faith fully if we don't know the history behind it and how God made everything work together to lead up to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ. I'm excited to learn more about this part of the Bible that I generally try to avoid aside from the Psalms and maybe a little of Isaiah (and other random parts). Please pray, as always, for the ability to stay focussed and engaged in the class as this is difficult for me sometimes.

Something really huge to pray for is the possibility of starting a youth group at my church here on the island. The chairman of the board has stepped up to be our youth sponsor, so please pray that we could get something off the ground for the teens of Lake Cowichan.

Drowning in His Grace,
Holly

finally, a break.

Hello hello!

Well, I'm back from surfing and what an adventure it was! We drove about 4 hours up the island to a surf town called Tofino and set up camp, then hit the town. There really wasn't much to the town and it was very overpriced, but I can finally say that I've been to this town that I've been hearing about for so long.

The surfing itself was a challenge for me. For those who don't know, I've got a pretty big fear of water which I've not yet been able to overcome. This has resulted in me not learning to swim, despite many attempts to do so because I simply cannot put my head underwater. So surfing in the ocean was a big step for me. Very soon after I got in the water with my surfboard, I went underwater and it scared me to no end. But this time was different. This time, I refused to let my fear stop me from trying something new, and so I kept going. I managed to stay in the water for another hour and a half. It was great! I got to ride some waves in on my stomach on the surfboard and just be able to say that I did it! I remember being in the water and just asking God to take the fear away. He didn't. But He was with me through it all and gave me the strength to get through it and have some fun. So so good.

We camped about 50 yards from a beach at a really nice campsite and just enjoyed some more bonding time. We shared some awesome chapel time around the campfire which was just amazing. We are starting to share our stories during chapel and so I am excited to see what happens in chapel in the coming days and weeks.

At the moment, I am swamped with homework but I am somehow always able to find something else to do. It's not very effective! So please pray for some focus from the distractions surrounding me.

We are done with major outtrips for the semester as the weather won't be that great for much longer which is why this post's title is "finally, a break." Finally, an extended period of time here at camp!

I have to head to bed, but please comment so I can know what to share with you!

unbelievable.

It's crazy how quickly this place has become home. I came home from, well, home today and being in this community again just made me so happy. I have come to love these people as my family. It is so good.

I'm excited to start doing chapels again. I can't wait.

home again.

My, oh my, what a crazy couple of weeks it's been!

In the week after I posted my first blog, I had my first class, Spiritual Formation. What an amazing class! I have never enjoyed class so much or wanted the next day's class to come so much. I learned a lot about God and how much He loves us and how we are designed to be in relationship with Him and through that become our true selves, the people who we were truly created to be, not the shadow of our true selves this world encourages us to be.

One of our assignments was to memorize two passages of scripture a day for four days, down to the punctuation. What a toll this took on our group. You would often find any of the Kaleos talking about memorizing the verses or trying to memorize the verses, often with some friends, often to no avail. =) But we got it done and I am really glad we did it. The passages we memorized are: Matthew 5:3-12, Mark 12:28-31, John 16:12-15, Ephesians 3:14-21, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 5:16-26, Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 2:1-11, and 1 Peter 4:7. Some of these I already had memorized and so it was just a matter of reviewing for punctuation, but I also got to learn a lot of new passages that I know are going to be useful. The Word of God never comes back empty.

I also spent from noon on the Thursday of that week to 7:30 am on the next day in solitude, silence, and fasting. What a time to spend with God, just focussing on Him and what He wanted to tell me. I was worried about this time because in previous solitude times I found myself getting frustrated at the lack of results I was seeing, so I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but I was to be greatly surprised. I started off the time by going straight to bed because I knew my body needed the rest and I wouldn't be able to focus if I didn't. After I woke up, I went downstairs, made myself some tea and just read my Bible. Never have I spent so long in the Word without getting bored or antsy. Somehow, the Holy Spirit worked in me to extend my patience and satisfy my hunger because I wasn't really hungry either. God really revealed some things in my life that need to change and also worked in a miraculous way that made it so clear that He was present in my time with Him. God showed up in such a crazy way that day. I am still in awe of it.

Cal Macfarlane is a wonderful professor who made class interesting and was so funny making it easy to be in class. I'm really glad that was the first class we had. It made it easy to be in class for 6 hours a day and get used to this format of school.

Then last Monday, we left camp for 5 days to go on a sailing trip with S.A.L.T.S. This is a wonderful organization that takes people sailing around the Island and the surrounding islands. The crew trains you in sailing and all the work on the boat is done by the group that comes. The stuff like cooking and more difficult, need-to-be-a-certified-sailor stuff was done by the S.A.L.T.S crew though. The food was so good!! My favourite part, however, of the entire trip was the evenings spent together. We'd have dinner then a little bit of chill time before we all went up on the deck to play some sort of crazy game. After that, we would go down to the "hold" (where the guys slept/dining room area) and sung songs, then Jim would have some way for us to encourage each other or admonish each other, and I believe that our group grew through it. We were asked to verbalize our hopes for each other this year and how we see Jesus in each other, and other sweet things that helped us grow closer as a group and helped us grow in our relationships with Christ. Wonderful, wonderful nights. A part that wasn't so great was night watch. Throughout the night, someone always had to be watching the boat, so in groups of two we went up and did watch for an hour. I fell asleep twice and was only able to stay up for the entire hour once... oops! I also got to steer the ship!! I steered it out of the harbour in Victoria which was really cool. I know now which side is port and which side is starboard, yet for the life of me I can't figure left and right. Weird...  This was a great experience and I am now a certified Junior Sailor!

A sunset while we ate smokies on the boat. What a masterpiece  handpainted by the Master Himself.

The boat we spent a week on, the Pacific Grace.

Yes, I can use life saving equipment.

The Kaleo 8s and the S.A.L.T.S crew at the end of the trip.

This coming week we're headed off to Tofino to hit the waves! It'll be so cool experiencing Tofino and maybe trying something I've never done before. Also, I'm so stoked to see how our community grows through this trip as well.

As always, I need prayers! Please pray for safety on this trip while we're travelling and while we're in Tofino. God is a God of protection so I know we can trust Him because He has always come through for us and praise the Lord, no one has been seriously injured yet.

Also, please pray for my spiritual growth. Please pray that I will continue to grow in the Lord and that it would be radical growth. I don't want to remain static, but rather be dynamic. Too, please pray that God would continue to reveal to me things that need to change in my life and that I would be able to make those changes.

Always, please pray for my church. We still have a lack of youth coming, so please pray that God would do something crazy and unexpected and totally revive the youth of this hurting town. The people of Cowichan Lake Baptist Church are so wonderful, so please pray for blessings for them for the way they've totally welcomed us with open arms.

Blessings!