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!!!-
