Kaleo Ministry- how should we say goodbye?

most of the group at Cathedral Grove
Jer and I running into the waves
Jon Mir Jen and I at the blow hole
coming back from missions trip, we stopped at the 'famous' Gnome
Ben and I last day at church!!
Some of the youth at Ladysmith!
Sonya Dorian and I.
Ben and I being crazy on the way to church!
Church buddies + friends FOREVER!

Hello devoted readers of Fish’s Experiences! As you may or may not have heard, this will be my last blog post for the complete kaleo year. Yes, 8 months of reading this exciting blog has come and gone (time does fly).  So I would like to take this opportunity to enthuse you one last time as you read about my week. Please take note though, that this blog may start up in the near future, that is, if I find myself longing to express my thoughts on Blogger once again.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who read my blog, and took an interest in what I was doing in B.C. Also to thank everyone for their prayers, God did amazing things for me this year!

 So this week was pretty eventful considering we just finished a week of classes last week.

On Monday, it was Jesse’s birthday, so at 2 a.m. I decided to put a birthday sign in her room that took up the large mirror in the bathroom. From there I went to bed, but at 9 we were on our way to Ucluelet for a surfing trip. It was a really enjoyable ride, I had a lot of good conversations with Jim Badke, Phil, Jayme and Kylie. On the ride up, we stopped at coombs, Cathedral grove, this awesome rocky area beside a fast pace river rapids, and at the lighthouse in Ucluelet. Surprisingly, I enjoyed many of the stops on my own, enjoying the sunlight and laying down on the rocks to feel the warmth.

Funny story:

So when we got to Cathedral grove, we went on a walk and were just playing all over the marked trails, and climbing trees. Then we got to a little river and a sweet pebble island so people were enjoying Frisbee, splashing each other and being little monkeys (if that makes any sense). So while I am just enjoying chilling, I take notice of a fare amount of coins in the little river. Low and behold, I go for a swim. (I bet my parents are not at all surprised by this!) hahhaha. So, I originally intended to go up to my legs and try and grab coins with my toes, but I was just not tall enough so I went all the way up to my face! I WAS PRACTICALLY SWIMMING in the snow fed river. Just imagine this, I lost my breath because I was so cold! I could not feel my body once I was in there for 2 mins. Yet, tough Deborah and Jenna keep searching for money and in total I made a profit of 4 bucks! Not bad at all (I think)! Plus I had to prove that I was buffer than Tom that only made like 25 cents. After that I shivered my way to the vans, where I found new clothes to put on, I wore 5 layers (2 fleece jackets) and I was still cold for an hour…IT WAS THAT COLD:D

Funny story #2: So while we were driving, I decided to play a game. I was sitting in shotgun (seat right of the driver), and we were the first van of kaleo students out of 3 vans in total. I rolled down the window (which is the only window besides the drivers that can be rolled down) and stick my arm out the window signaling to Jeremiah (who was also in shot gun of the other van behind us) to play rock paper scissors. We played best out of three two times…unfortunately he won both times. Then we preceded to play gun, shield, reload. Which is like rock paper scissors but different. It was pretty funny to see both of us understand each other when we couldn’t hear each other. I now know that games can be held between different cars.

By the end of the day chapel came around, and we had 4 people from Jezreal (a band that was playing in Kaleo at Friday) hang out with us. To introduce ourselves I came up with the genius idea of going around the circle and saying your name and what your favourite sound is. You can just imagine all the possible sounds and preceding laughter that happened that night!

 Tuesday

-I woke up early to go with a small group of kaleo students to see the blowhole. (It is in the picture above with the water spraying. It was a sweet hike out to it, and then really enjoyable to hear the deep thundering role of the waves crashing against the rocks and shooting into the air. After that we had brunch all together and went surfing! Jeremiah and I spent most of the surf day together as buddies, and enjoyed laughing at each other as we got totaled by the waves. I am proud to say though that I made it up twice for two runs in!!!!

Later that night I practiced three piece harmony with Jesse and Kristy. And then things just went crazy with dancing, oreo wars, grapefruit plotting, and gas. I’m sure there is no way for me to properly explain the events of that night, but it was fun.

 Wednesday

Cleaned the church that we were staying in, went to Tofino and while others shopped and bought ice cream I slept:P On the drive back I slept, had some more good convos with Jim and Jake Jesse and Daniel this time, and eventually Alivia busted out Mad Libs in our van. I decided to give Alivia nouns, adjectives and verbs that resembled something to do with Asia, and once the story was all put together it was a hoot!

Thursday

This day was such a blast; I went white water kayaking with 7 other kaleo students. I enjoyed jumping in my duckie (the kayak), playing pirates (throwing people out of their kayaks), screaming over every big rapid, not falling out once on the big rapids (I kept my balance!!!). Jumping off of rocks into rapids that sucked you under and spit you back out, and so much more.

Funny story: So at the end of our 3 hour kayak trip, we decide to take a group picture. And again, Deborah gets a great idea of pushing Phil into the water, however the rapids quickly take him away, and the kayaking leaders freak to get him back to shore. All in all it was pretty hilarious once he was back on dry land, but until that happened I was so worried that I lost Phil haha.

The rest of the night we had a worship session, had a surprise birthday for Jordan our life leader, and I took out some of my energy by wrestling in the hallway lol.

Friday

Jayme shared here testimony, and then we had lunch with the Jezreal band I talked about above. HW HW HW à Easter egg hunt put on by our life leaders. I found the big bunny (but gave it away anyways). After that I got to help the kaleo band play 3 songs for opening up the concert that Jezreal was putting on. Originally I wasn’t in the band, but then the piano player had to go to youth, and so I stepped in and played for Kaleo band without even practicing. It was a lot of fun, and I really wanted to do it. (This Jezreal band, was a year end thing that Kaleo put on for all the youth groups we have been involved in…the band came and played while we got to worship God with our youth groups all together).

After the concert, and a bit of upset kids that I had to help out during the concert, I went for a van ride into wendy’s and got a twisted frosty…probably the first frosty since being back in Canada. IT WAS GOOD!

 So just another note: God blessed me this night, because as some of the girls were having a hard time when they could relate to a situation that the band told about, I got to take them into the hallway and pray for them, hug them, and just really show them that I care for them and love them. Thankfully, after a little while to comfort the girls, I got most of them all dancing again and just enjoying the band and music that was there. Yes, we need to realize what has gone on in our pasts, but we need to rejoice that God has set us free from our sins or sins that have involved us.

Saturday

All day I was writing an essay and finding research. On occasion I would take a break and begin to pack for a short while.

Supper was kind of funny, because I go in the kitchen to put my dishes in the dish pit, and Tom asks me what I am doing. I say nothing, and BAM he sprays me with a ton of water! I got soaked. I tried to get him back, but embarrassingly I failed both times, and am to ashamed to tell you how much I failed!

Later that night for a break tom taught me some guitar chords. Then I finished up my paper and went to bed.

Sunday (today)

So today was Ben and My last day at Ladysmith Baptist together. A sad moment, for I am really going to miss my church buddy! SO MUCH! God couldn’t have put me with a more perfect church partner. So yah we had a very great Easter Sunday service, which followed by many pictures of the youth and church that we were working in for the last 8 months. After that I came back to work on my paper. Nothing much else has gone on today.

 So that’s been my week…and this coming week we are going to Mt. Washington till Wednesday (Monday skiing, and Tuesday bonding with kaleo). After that we are just spending the rest of the days finishing our last paper, spending time together, and graduating!

Thank you for all your prayers for my youth group, for my church, and for me.

I’d just like to ask for a few more prayer requests.

-that graduation would go smoothly, and that goodbyes would be emotional yet relieving.

-that I have a great time with my parents in Nanaimo, and that I help my parents get a lot done.

-that my move to Toronto will go well, and that I will quickly feel connected with the community there.

-finally that I will figure out what to do with my life…and where I should go to school.

 

Have a great week, and as usual

KEEP SMILING!

God BLESS!

 

Deborah

 

-fish!!!-

Kaleo Ministry -two more weeks...

so i don't know quite where I left off last week but I think it was something like Friday  i didn't blog for...so here I go!

Friday March 27th

-ran to Crofton beach

from 11:00 am till 5:30 we were  talking about each groups missions trip in a circle. What experiences we all did have! wow oh wow! Blessing by God.

-youth group we made t-shirts with paint (mine said "take a moment to... (smile (on the back)). We had some fun goofing off, dancing, and having paper airplane competitions. After youth I treated Natasha the youth leader to DQ, and Ben I and Natasha just had some chill time together talking about life.

28th

-ran with Malayne...hw

-Leila my roommate got re-baptized that was really encouraging. 

-had a great day of hw, and enjoying some convos.

29th

Ben and I lead Sunday school together because the Sunday school leader was sick. We had a lot of fun, making crafts, memorizing a bible verse, and reading the bible story. Ben and I work pretty well off of each other so it was a lot of fun leading! I love those little hyper kids.

-played some soccer and volleyball.

30th

First class with Cal our teacher, he knew me right away because he is friends with my Dad and Uncle...thus I HAVE TO IMPRESS! hahah

-listened to a sermon from Youth Quake again after class by myself.

-played indoor hockey against the staff which brought up my mood!

31st

-ran with mir to the beach again and saw the most beautiful sunrise!!!

-girls all had lice from missions trips (we discovered it this day...only 3 girls were free of it..and even boys got some eggs!)

-4-10:30 washing hair, picking lice, helping each other (boys were shaving their heads)

April 1st (my bday:D)

2:00 am i pranked the girls hallway with Jesse...put toilet paper all over the hallway...and in my girls room i wrapped their bed posts and chairs with so much toilet paper...it was really fun!

-parents made my birthday by surprising me with cupcakes, flowers and balloons...and they are all the way in Taiwan so that was so cool for them to organize that for me...if they didn't do that it would have been a regular every day!

THANKS MUM AND DAD I LOVE YOU!

2nd

worked out with Malayne after class.

had a great chapel service and had a great study session with Ben tom and Paul for our exam the next day.

3rd

got no sleep because i had to finish 3 papers for cal's class. so i made it an all nighter! (thankfully Ben gave me a caffeine pill and i stood up in class all day just so i wouldn't fall asleep!

-exam was hard but i hope i passed it..played some volleyball after to celebrate being done classes!

-youth was so good this week...we got to enjoy a sunny evening playing all sorts of field games and later playing on the most amazing play ground! so good! i love seeing kids imaginations and just in general getting outside to play. I had a lot of good conversations with kids, especially one girl who calls me her sister and is having a rough time because she has to change foster care parents and she likes where she is. so please pray for her!

4th

-down today because i found out last night mark was in the hospital, so tom andJake prayed for me and mark right away...that was a blessing!

-had dinner with Janet and Oliver with Ben and I ...plus two of their kids (and one of the kids is married so she was there too)...it was a great time of talking and eating and just learning more about my community in my church.

-ben and i walked/biked home telling stories and kept talking till 10:30 at night

-had a few more good convos and then went to bed.

5th.

-Church i was in Sunday school again. great time like usual.

-after that our drivers that take us to church each Sunday (Ian and Delia) took us out to Rickie's 

so that was so sweet.

-after that I played some piano and then some volleyball

and after dinner I cleaned up my room, blogging, writing some cards and yah that's basically my day.

Praise items.

-I want to thank God for the experiences he has given me in kaleo

-for the kids i have been able to meet and embrace.

-that my brother is out of the hospital and doing better.

Prayer requests

-for the girl in my youth group that is changing foster homes

-for Natasha and a few issues she is experiencing at work

-for our church Ladysmith

-for two more papers to do and so little motivation

-for some disappointments I am struggling with. 

-and finally for friday night..we are having each of the churches youth groups that kaleo has been involved in all year long come to camp and have a time of worship all together and enjoy a worship band with us. I pray its a rocking time for these kids.

much love!

and keep smiling

Deborah

Fish

(this is my second last week!! grad is on the 19th!)

Kaleo Ministry- last but not least Copper Island!

Kylie and I with the tiger prawn we are about to eat!
 yah... didnt know what to do for this picture:D
the wood shop for the two days of stripping logs! good outside workplace!
the old heritage house us girls slept in! who knows what else sleeps in there too!

the boat ride over there! (i was sick that day:( )
the beautiful islands and mountains and everything was all around us on the boat ride!

Epic Mission - Part Cà off to Copper Island!

Day fourteen [march 21, 2009]

 

-funny story: so it’s the morning before we jump on the boat, and guess who happens to walk into the church at 7:30 in the morning. An optometrist and his crew setting up for the monthly practice, where people get their eye checks, buy glasses, contacts etc. I happened to need my eye check before I turned 19 which is in a few days because my health insurance will only cover it until I am 19. So I say to them…can I ask a crazy question, explain to them about my health insurance and ask if they have an free spots for me to jump in and get an eye check up! Well guess what! Of course they do because they are an hour early because they thought their would be a snow storm trying to come out here, and bam I got a very important eye check that I needed RIGHT IN THE CHURCH WE WERE STAYING AT! What are the chances?! GOD IS GOOD!

-boat ride to copper island and hour and a bit…it was a bit bumpy (to be expected) but the scenery was just amazing!

-were so cold, and the camp buildings were freezing too because no one was there so that was a bit horrible I am not going to lie.

-had a tour around the camp on copper island after lunch, after that I went straight to bed until supper because I was yet again sick! (the other three went out with Aaron on the boat and went crab fishing).

-supper was a good time of stories and such…had a devo at the end.

-it was pretty sweet falling asleep, because it was so dark that I couldn’t see my hand right in front of my face! Haven’t had that experience in awhile! The house we were sleeping in was a bit old and sketch filled with spiders and mice, but thankfully they didn’t visit us.

 

Day fifteen

 

-Woke up and had breakfast with Kylie. Malayne kept sleeping (she didn’t sleep much that night), and Aaron and Aaron were out fishing. –would have liked to have gone fishing but I was still sick.

-Met Bob Jerry and Rod , the people we were going to work with on the camp. Bob was a wood worker, Jerry and Rod were electricians (wiring the new worship center for the camp). These three guys were a lot of fun. They were all 40-60’s and I had a blast sitting around the table eating and joking with them, talking about God with them, about scripture, and working with them. It was an awesome time.

-Aaron Kylie and I went with Aaron to prawn and crab fish. PRAWNS ARE SO FREAKY AND SHARP! But it was a lot of fun and a lot of screaming. I ate a prawn straight out of the ocean!

-got back from that and scraped barnacles off of a boat.

-helped Bob with his boat engine.

-played some basketball with Malayne and Aaron.

-Talked to Jerry about China.

-Had a huge dinner (fajitas, crab and prawns. I ended up eating a spoonful of prawn eggs which was kinda gross!!!)

-had a meeting about what we were going to do for the next two days, and then had a talk about faith without works and such. It was so amazing to hear these men bringing firm theological thoughts to the table, and just watching the conversation was amazing. I really appreciated what I saw, heard, and just had so much to take in…it felt like these men were mentoring us! (I have a few good notes from them in my journal!)

 

Day sixteen

 

-Kylie and I helped Bob cut wowod logs with the wood mizer (band saw). Taking huge strips and putting them into different piles, staking the bad pieces, sweeping the sawdust, shoveling the sawdust and just working hardJ I even got to run the massive machine for a bit!

-at lunch a prank was pulled on me, where Aaron the leader threw a moth into the bathroom, I FREAKED out and ran out of that bathroom (thankgoodness I was washing my hands and done all that I needed to do in there!).

-Aaron found me the last Dr. Pepper on the island and gave that to me just so I wouldn’t prank him  back, the funny thing was he was thinking about it forever after he did  the prank to me and was worried I would get him back even worse!

- worked until 6, had amazing stew and stories to fill the evening.

-Rod scared us as we were heading to our house to go to bed. It was pretty funny.

-funny moment…I was throwing food into the ocean from the food buckets. As I was doing so and cleaning them out with some ocean water, I didn’t realize a wave was coming into shore, and the wave went over top of my rubber boots and got my socks and legs all wet…it was pretty funny …I couldn’t stop laughing at my stupidity!

 

Day Seventeen

 

-cleaned up the bathrooms after breakfast.

-Helped Bob with the same cutting of wood logs until lunch (by the way Malayne was working at cleaning the Kitchen with our leader Aaron, and Aaron D. for one day was helping with electrical, and the other day he got sickL ).

-After lunch we got to use the edging machine, and I was privileged to have the buff bicep job. I would take the planks that were freshly cut off the machine and stack them on a wall not to far away…however the size of some of the planks were pretty huge and heavy! I loved working like that! It was awesome! Kylie took the junk pieces of wood from the edger and made a massive pile of wood to be burnt.

-it was nice to know that Bob said that Kylie and I were the best women to ever work with him and that he doesn’t just say that to be nice..so that was quite the compliment!

-after the work day I took some pics of camp, and then went on a adventure with Malayne…where we explored camp, climbing up rocks, rivers, hills, over beaches, swinging on rope swings, and seeing massive uplifted roots and trees.

-Dinner was a blast yet again, with jokes this time (I even told a few), chilling by the fire, and even the guys had a good chuckle at making me jump with fright.

-De-brief with Aaron about the week on Ucluelet and Copper Island.

 

Day eighteen

-had our last meal with Bob, Rod and Jerry. Said our goodbyes, took pics, cleaned up some of the camp one last time, and had a bumpy yet beautiful sunny boat ride back to Ucluelet.

-Met Jim, and went to Tofino to have lunch and then went surfing! It was cold but awesome!

-Got a sweet toque at a thrift store for 2 dollars.

-lots of laughs on the drive home.

-met the New York team back at camp.

-unpacked and fell asleep.

 

The whole trip was amazing. Thank you God for all the experiences for the past 18 days! Thank you for all the people we met!

 

Thank you everyone for your prayers. I am finally up to date on my blogs! Tomorrow we are spending the day hearing everyone’s stories from their trips, and then back to my youth group that night!

 

Class with Cal starts Monday. Mum and Dad know who he is which is pretty cool! Seems like lots of my profs know someone in my family! Please pray that I get all my reading done for class, and that class goes well.

 

Also could you pray for the last three weeks of kaleo, that they run smoothly, drama free, and just are full with the love and focus of Christ!

 

Thanks

 

Love as always, and keep smiling!

 

Deborah!

 

-FISH-

Kaleo Ministry- Ucluelet and the rain!

two of the girls among others (but Suzie and Randi-lee were the only girls that showed up on Friday)
the Friday group!!!
Little Johnny and me...it was pretty funny because he was too small to understand the concept of telephone...so I put him on my "team" lol even though it was an individual person game.
the waves and rocky shore of Ucluelet!! MALAYNE AND I OWN THOSE ROCKS!
the largest tree in cathedral grove! its the one that im in front of!

Epic Mission - Part Bà off to Ucluelet!

Day eight [march 16, 2009]

-Stopped at Coombs (goats on the roof store). Grandpa I used most of the 10 dollars you gave me to buy a loaf of cheese bread, and a Jamaican pop.

-Stopped at Cathedral grove to take some pics with the trees.

-got every type of precipitation on our drive out to Ucluelet (rain, hail, snow, slush, super thick snow etc!).

-unpacked at a church that we were staying at for the week.

-went to the lighthouse to try and find some whales (which I didn’t all weekL tear!).

-went for a walk down the main street in this little town and took some pictures in the puddles.

 

Day nine

-set up the room we were working at on the reserve. (the day camp from 10am to 2pm.)

-had four kids the first day, we played tons of indoor games, sand songs, had a bible study, craft, lunch, and more games (this is how the week went from Monday to Friday).

-Searched for some more games for the week, and had dinner at Aaron’s and Julies house (the leaders that invited us to help out with their spring break day camp).

- this night we decided to watch Hotel Rwanda…a very moving yet frustrating movie!

 

Day ten

-today we had 11 kids…it was so much fun playing with them, laughing with them, and just showing them that we cared. They were amazing! All of them were my favorites, I couldn’t say any specifically suck out to me, because I loved them all so much!

-after the spring break event, malayne and I went for a run, and had a good old conversation by the lighthouse.

-Had another dinner at Julies and Aarons, where we ate crab the first nations way. It was pretty intenseJ but funny none the less. We ended the night playing a good game of dictionary where my team won!:) Malayne Kylie and I VS. Aaron D., Aaron and Julie.

- we had to move to a B and B for a few days because someone was using the church, but that was fine by me for a better sleep then on the floor.

 

Day Eleven

-another usual day with the kids, had a blast with them like usual! Such a treat meeting all of them! I brought out a game today that they all loved, balloon tag, where every kid gets two balloons tied around their leg, and when they are let loose everyone has to try and pop everyone else’s balloons, and the last person standing with a balloon around his or her ankle is the winner. They loved that one!

-we cleaned up one of the halls well after our camp just for some service to do for the community.

-good talks with the epic missions team.

-cooked our own dinners

 

Day Twelve

-we were in a different hall then normal, because the big hall was  being used, and when I saw the small room that we had to use I almost died of laughter, but I made the small room work, and we had fun playing singing doing crafts and eating. It worked out really well, God blessed us again, and as usual I was flexible to think of new games and use different games (like we played dictionary and the kids really liked that one too). It was really funny there was one small kid named Johnny, and when I gave him a word or two that he had to draw, each time that I told him something he would always draw his dog…and be in his own world. It was so cute!!! SO CUTE!

-went for a run on the wild pacific trail with our missions team!

-took Aaron and Julie out for dinner at Delacodos…good time of fellowship.

 

Day Thirteen

-Last day of the spring break even with the kids. Thought up of different games with prizes that were candy gummy worms. It was so great that throughout the week, kids were getting stories about God and creation, and then the last two days were about Jesus and his life and death. I pray that a seed is really planted for God to work on these kids. They are all so special! It was pretty sad saying goodbye to the kids, I want to still work with them! Max made me a necklace and gave me some pictures, suzie painted a clay figure for me, randi-lee and Waylon and I had some pretty funny moments. There’s so much to remember…I MISS THEM!

-  another dinner at Aarons and Julies house..had a great time with laughs, fellowship, prayer, playing with their cat (that was as cool as a Dog), and playing with baby Allison.

-packed for our trip to copper island.

Kaleo Ministry- Vancouver is here!

playing in the park before Jr. Youth Group
the team going downtown for a night out
"SAY YES" playing in the park
me waving out the window to everyone  as we leave for vancouver

Epic Mission - Part Aà off to Vancouver!

So I am writing to you after the whole experience of my B.C. mission’s trip. I want to sum it all up into a beautifully written paper or so, but honestly it seems near impossible. I will have to explain my trip, day by day, otherwise I will fall into complete confusion…and even then I am sorry to say that I will be leaving out things that I can’t sum up with words. Hopefully you all enjoy my little rant. Thank you for your constant prayers, and hope you all have a wonderful week.

Day One [march 8^th 2009]

-Went to church, came back to say our goodbyes to everyone, and then bam off to Vancouver (by taking a ferry of course –which I happened to drool while sleeping the whole ride there-just a little fun fact I thought you all would be delighted to hear).

-We were then picked up by Jenny (the fonder of Inner Hope (with Carla)), and headed from that to a cheap pizza place.

-Went to the New Beginnings church, and after the evening service we got to meet some of the teens and got to chill with them for a bit before driving to the Inner Hope house and settling in for the day

-had a few interesting cross culture experiences, so I learned quickly what to do and not do around first nations kids.

-met all the teens staying in the inner hope house, got to hang out with them before heading off to bed.

Day Two  

-Painted the entrance of the house we were staying all morning (we painted the house all week…and sometimes each other).

-  Had our first experience at UGM (Union Gospel Mission), we had to give a 20-30 min chapel, before the men and a few ladies could get their lunch. I played the piano, then Jenny gave a short sermon, then we played a questionnaire game with them to see how well they were listening to the passage. If they were the first one to give an answer they got a prize. It got pretty competitive pretty fast:D I longed to help these people so quickly, just learn their stories and show them that I care and because I care someone even more important cares. My heart really hurt for this old lady with no teeth, and a man that was labeled as a “per-ma-drunk”. I don’t know why, but each person made me think of my family, and how I wouldn’t want them on the streets, and how I felt almost responsible for them, like they were my family. One educated man from the homeless feeding, came up to our car as we were leaving, and gave an angry spiel as to why everyone is in their position that they are in. I just wish I could have done more. I know I just have to pray pray pray!

-had a guided tour of Vancouver. 

 Day Three

-Kylie and I went to a ladies house instead of painting this morning. This lady was out at school finishing her high school diploma, and her son was at pre-k, and daughter at grandmas. The situation was so sad, because as this family was out at their individual locations, Kylie and I spend 10 until 12:30 cleaning her house. Unfortunately, it was so bad that we couldn’t clean anything BUT the kitchen, and even then we missed cleaning out some drawers and such. I can’t paint a picture in your head, and it would take me a full page to explain this experience, but it was disgusting. I have never seen a worse conditioned house…there was even a mouse! I just felt so bad that they had to come home to this, and that this was making the kids sick lately. They had no time to clean, and even what we did would probably be ruined in a week or two. I am just sad that it is only clean for them for that short time. Garbage, food, everything was all over the floor, the house even smelt as bad as the dump that we went to with all the collected garbage that same day. It was eye opening.

-Went to our first day of the after school program called “Say Yes”. I had a great time, but the kids knew way too much, their childhood was robbed from them. It broke my heart, the things I heard or saw…it was painful to see such disrespect to their two leaders that had this program running. The program was 3 hours long, playing games, helping with homework, having supper, watching a Christian short movie or hearing some sort of story, and making a craft if they were up for it.

-Gage (one of the guys staying at the house we were at for the week) and I played some basketball that night, and just joked around with everyone after playing some good old garage band.

 Day Four

-Cleaned the Garage of the house. (I cleaned the tool section:D)

-had a nap after lunch because I wasn’t feeling good…I was sick all this day.

-Another Day at “Say Yes” had some kids run after our car as we were leaving at the end of the day, so we were already bonding with them.

-Took the sky train with Toni and Nygel (two sweet people we met through the inner hope house) to gas town, and other places, racing around the town being goofy and taking pictures!

 Day Five

-Painted

-Organized a Craft Box

-Played more Basketball

-Say Yes

-Went to Stanley park for some more hanging time with Nygel.

 Day Six

-Painted (had some pretty good convo’s with Nygel about Christianity and such, which was so sweet!)

-we weren’t prepared for UGM, so we were all pretty stressed out driving out there. Thankfully we prayed and God blessed us. We played one song to start, and then I ended up talking to the audience for basically the whole time but it was good! I was talking to them about 5 ways that God uses problems. I wanted them to participate in the discussion, but they were pretty quiet…they laughed at some of my funny comments though, and I seemed to have their attention! Aaron finished up the talk with a visual about how God needs to cover everything in our lives, and then we sang some more songs, and finished up. We were a bit early, so the crowd asked for more songs. After that we stood outside the doors of the kitchen and watched them as they left. Loads of people smiled, thanked us, and wanted us to come back again. One guy came up to me and said I should be a comedian! Lol that was pretty cool. I love all their smiles. Two guys ended up talking to us for a bit…Fernando from Peru, and Kenny from Trinidad. As Kenny was talking, he was pointing the whole conversation to me, and it was really cool because even though he had a strong accent I could understand everything from having to sharpen my ear over seas. After talking to us for 30 mins, he wanted my notes for what I spoke on, because he said he really related to it and wanted to read it over again with the verses that were included.

There were so many people that day that just touched my heart, they are all engraved in my mind.

-came back to the home and painted.

-Malayne, Aaron and I went to Jr. High Youth (Kylie was sick), and went on a picture scavenger hunt.

-finished the night de-briefing our experiences with Carla at McDonalds.

 

Day Seven

-went back on the ferries to Vancouver Island. Spent night at home, made banners for Ucluelet and prepared for our upcoming trip.

 

So yup that’s the Vancouver Trip, and there were still plenty of experiences that I didn’t talk about. I loved it so much; it was amazing…the good and the bad. Seeing how God is at work. Seeing all sorts of different situations…East Hastings street etc etc.

There is just so much work to be done, but I take comfort in knowing that God is in control. 

Kaleo Ministry- off to be a light within Vancouver and Vancouver Island!

This is the bus we took to Youth Quake in S.K. --GOOD TIMES!
6:40 in the morning we are at Calgary's old winter Olympic grounds.
Me stopping half way down the hill to take some pictures of Mt. Washington
Kylie, Josh and Phil Karklins on Mt. Washington (one of our school snow days!)
check out the view! and this is half way down!!!!

Hello yet again! can you believe it is march, 2009 seems to be flying by! Am I the only one who thinks this??!! I'd also like to take this time to say that it is snowing like CRAZY! and sticking, and thick and white and SO PEACEFUL! wow out west is getting some weird on and off weather!

So I would just like to apologize that I did not take any pictures in Sask! I know I feel horrible, but there is nothing I could do about it, we were driving on the bus straight through Sask...and once I got to Caronport, I had so much to do that by the time I did have a minute to think it was already night time. I guess I will just have to go through there again on a road trip! anyone wanna go on a road trip with me?!?!:D

So this week we had Gospels class! I learned more than I ever dreamed of learning...and if you want to talk about the gospels anytime soon I'd be more than willing! Here are a few passages that I really enjoyed reading. Luke 14:8-11, Matthew 6:25-34, John 13:10. There is so much knowledge in the Bible, I honestly feel overwhelmed, but in a good way!

This week besides classes, and tons of work, I haven't been up to a whole lot.

I've had a few wrestling matches, had a few meetings about our missions trip, studied a bunch for my gospels exam, played football with Kylie, got a sweet shirt and scarf from the salvation army for 3 bucks in total! what a steal of a deal for a college student:D, played drums with some of the kaleo guys on guitars and bass, practiced some piano. stuff like that.

two funny things this week that i'll tell yah about.

1) I randomly went round this week to different peoples computers. When they left to have a break, or left to get some food, I would jump on their word document, and write a random story about anything (plants, animals, cutlery) and put a twist on the story and leave before they caught me. Lol so once they got back to their computer to start working, SURPRISE STORY TIME! It was a pretty grandiose moment!

2) So my church buddy Ben and I kinda have a funny history. We have both been caught saying mushy things to each other when we did not intend it to come out like that. So since then, all the kaleo people have a joke that we should be dating! HAHAHAHHAAH oh man what I get myself into! Anyways just so you guys get the point, here are a few examples of things I have said to Ben "you complete my heart"..."I love you" and he has said stuff like "I wouldn't have it any other way"...you get the idea. Ironically, these moments have happened when you don't even realize what your saying ..for example I said I love you to Benny boy when I was hanging up the phone, I didn't even think about it lol. So anyways long story short, Ben and I want have some serious studying for gospels, so we decide to study together and test each other. On the outside of the door I put a sign (so people wouldn't come in and out disturbing us)...Ben and Deb's study date ...SHHH WE ARE WORKING!! well of course I wasn't thinking, and the next time I go out to get some popcorn and have a break from memorizing, i see on the door "Deb's and Ben's HOT DATE!" lol it was quite comical!

Good old times!

Youth Group was pretty good this week, we went to Naniamo to hang out with another youth group. We played some games, won some chocolate, and played a massive game of 4 on the couch! Let's just say I am a pro at that game, for future reference YOU WANT ME ON YOUR TEAM! Not meaning to brag or anything;D It was super cute, I hadn't been at youth for 2 weeks, and as soon as our car pulls into the church, everyone runs and hugs me and tells me how awesome my hair looks and where they want me to sit on the car ride over. lol it was pretty cute. I am going to miss those kids, by the end of the night they asked me how much more of kaleo I had left. When they found out it was a month and a bit, they were all pretty upset and said i had to give each of them something to remember them by. OH MAN ...I'm gonna have to dig through my stuff!/ write a lot of letters! The best thing was, I told them where I was going for my missions trip, and a few of them said they would pray for me every day! sigh ...I could use all the prayers I could get!

So I am writing this blog to you early because I leave for Vancouver (for my missions trip) Sunday right after church. There are four of us going, and with no leader (we are leading ourselves). Kylie, Malayne, Aaron and I are going first to help the ministry of Inner Hope in Vancouver, and then we are coming back to the island to do missions work up at Ucluelet, and Copper Island. Pray for E.P.I.C Mission (that's what we call ourselves- it stands for energetically praying in community--pretty cool eh? we made it up ourselves).  

Please pray that God really guides our work on Vancouver and Vancouver Island, that we will be full with servant hearts, that God's light will shine in the dark areas of the inner city, that God will give us words when talking about our faith.

Also, could I ask you to pray for.

-Youth at my church, that they will be spiritually fed.

-for protection for all the missions trips.

-for health.

-for wisdom and also a calm heart.

-for a friend in Taiwan who is hurting, and does not know why he has to be nice when he receives nothing in return.

Answer to prayer-

-God gave me a calm heart for all the work that had to be done (I wasn't consumed in stress for once).

I hope you all have a good two weeks!

I will probably not be blogging again until when I get back from both missions trips. I return on the 26th of march, but will return to Qwanoes for a day from Vancouver on the 16th or 17th.

Keep smiling!

Love as always,

-Fish-

Debb!