Chapter 25:I Love Low-Tide, Lighthouses, Cheese, Carbs, and Whales. Did I Mention I Like Lemongrass?

Oh dear, oh dear, how do I tell you or even process what has been going on in the last two weeks, I will for the most part just skim the surface of what happened, and maybe try to give some highlights. I think this will be helpful for me, to give me time to think over some of the things that have happened.

So my two weeks of my missions trip were very separate from each other. One week was spent mostly in inner-city East Van, while the second half was spent on Tzartus Island in isolation at Copper Island Camp. I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed my missions trip, and I know it is where I was meant to be. It was in a way a 'practical' missions trip. It made me realize the things I can do in my everyday life, and even though I will be probably living in Saskatchewan and won't be able to particularly participate in the exact ministries I did, I know there is a lot of similar things available where I live.

So as I said I spent my first week in East Van. We stayed at a church called New Beginnings with no shower (and you know what that means? no showers... for a week, haha). We worked through a ministry called Inner Hope Youth Ministries which is run by two wonderful ladies named Carla and Jenny. We also worked with Union Gospel Mission (UGM) a lot, worked with New Beginnings, and some of us worked with Vancouver Urban Ministries (VUM). We did things like run 20 min. chapels, do after-school programs, help with youth group, a lot of painting and even worked in a thrift store! Something also we did that I really enjoyed is we gave two kids room makeovers from a program run by Inner Hope. They were both girls, and I got to do the one for a girl named, Rebel. I really enjoyed just being able to bless her, and if I do say so myself, the end result of the room makeover looked pretty sharp. This week was probably one of the most challenging weeks I have ever had, which at some points really sucked but I am glad that I was able to experience it.

On sunday, after doing a UGM chapel service we got a tour of some of Eastside Vancouver, mostly focused on E Hastings Street. I was prepared when we got this tour to see poverty and hopelessness, but to be honest when I saw it I realized I wasn't. I couldn't keep a hardened heart and just brush off what I saw. The one thing that really struck me of how obvious it was. Countless homeless people filled the streets along with drug dealers and prostitutes. I always thought that these type of things would be hidden, done in alleyways or behind closed doors, but it wasn't. As I walked the streets my heart was completely broken, I just wanted to cry. During this tour though I did see hope too. It wasn't that people were trying to reach out to these people. We visited many shelters, drop-in centers, and soup kitchens. It just is overwhelming with even all of these places of how prominent this depravation is.

On Wednesday I had hit a wall. I was drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. The people we worked with and just the schedule had taken everything out of me. I was a complete grouch for most of the day, and probably the most angry/miserable I had been in over a year or more. I felt bad for my team, but at least my grouchiness resulted in some very amusing stories. It is funny to laugh at now, but then... not so funny. Apparently at one point I looked like I could of killed someone, not by any outbursts though. When I am grouchy or angry I am usually just silent and "brooding" giving a mean glance once in awhile. Just thought you might be interested to know just in case you encounter this dark side of me, haha.

So the next week we went to Copper Island Camp which is located on Tzartus Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island. This week I absolutely loved, I don't think there was anything I didn't enjoy about it. With no cellphone service, no computers, a beautiful view, a generator for electricity and not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, it was simple living, and I loved it. For a major part of the week we did manual labor from chopping wood to moving timber to arranging nails to chopping wood to then stacking wood to racking the ground for rocks to shoveling to chopping wood and then stacking wood, did I mention we chopped and stacked a lot of wood? It was a lot of physical labor but it was really refreshing compared to the week before.
On wednesday they gave us the day off to 'learn', and boy did I ever! I learned about a dead log which is dangerous to boaters so if someone spots one you are supposed to stick in a bright orange stake into the part that is visible. We also checked and set up crab and prawn traps which were really cool. We also went into Bamfield, a cute little village that is either accessed by water or a logging road. Lastly, on wednesday we hiked up a small mountain to visit an abandoned 'copper' mine. This week we also hate a full crab (it was messy!), legit clam chowder soup (with prawn eggs in them), and we even saw whales! The Orcas made my week complete, they weren't that close but it was still so awesome.

I found that during this week that I realized how much God provides from the orcas to the sunny days to my strength. I thought I would be exhausted this week and would have a really sore back from lifting heavy things since I have sciolosis. I was never tired throughout the whole week and my back was barely sore, it was truly a God send. This week I had also decided to be completely relient on God for my strength, and it is incredible to see the results of that! Also, I don't think we would have gotten merely as much done as we did if it was rainy the whole time, but God blessed us with good weather till friday.

Lastly, something I would like to share of this week is on the last day me and a guy named Nolan, whose family is from the reserve in Ukie, got to talk a little bit while wood-stacking together. It wasn't anything crazy but he told me about his culture, his clan, and even his 'Indian name', which I forget... even though I think he told me several times. It was really cool to learn about his culture since I didn't know too much about it other than the resident schools.

So that barely scratches the surface but it was truly an incredible experience. I have most of my photos on facebook if you would like to look at them. I didn't take many pictures when we were working because we were too busy, and I didn't take pictures of us doing stuff in East Van because I wanted to be sensitive to the people we were working with. They aren't circus animals or something, I feel they deserve respect so that is basically the reason of the lack of pictures for that part.

I really loved my team, even if it was mostly composed of girls. At first I was leery of this because I am not a fan of big groups of girls but it was completely fine! I loved all the girls on the trip (and the guys too), we were for the most part not dramatic, even though we did bicker a lot like a family in a joking way. At least we did it with love! Also, I have found I hadn't bonded a lot with the girls in Kaleo, but this trip gave me a chance to know a few of these girls really well, and I love them to bits.

I have found that when I talk about my missions trip with the other teams it has been hard to relate since I didn't really get the cross-cultural experience like they did. This has been a downer for me since I love travelling afar and seeing new places. I do realize though that this was the trip I was meant to be on and all of us were doing God's work, which was what was important, not foreign places, languages, or even souvenirs.

Chapter 24: Mission Impossible

Okay then, I will tell you of the wonderful and spectacular missions trip I am about to embark on for the next two weeks. Our first week will be spent in Vancouver helping out with a few organizations and only able to name one (Inner Hope Youth Ministries). During this time we will help out with an after-school program, do a room makeover, help out with a LifeSkills program banquet, do two 20 min. church services and some more smaller things. The second week we will be going to Copper Island which is located off the west coast of Vancouver Island. For the first part of the week we will be doing things like manual work and cook prep. for a retreat that will take place from thursday to saturday. We will then help out at this same retreat. The camp is a ministry towards aboriginal peoples, so I am pretty excited about that. Please be praying for us, and also for the people we meet. Be praying that God would use us through our weakness. Also that we could reach out to these people, and have some impact on their lives through Christ. It would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, I also ask you pray for my Kaleo sisters and brothers in India and Argentina. India will soon be beginning their trek their the Himalayas, and I am uncertain of Argentina's schedule at this point. Please be praying that for India that they could be a light to the people they meet, and have an impact on their lives, also that they would be strengthened to make it through the large hike ahead of them. Also, praise and thanks should be given to God. They stopped in Japan on their way to India and left three hours before the tsunami hit, and now are safely in India. For Argentina, be praying that they would learn lots but also that they would be great teachers to the people they are interacting with and help build firmer foundations for Youth for Christ. Also, that they would impact the children (and third culture children) they will be with. Please be praying for both teams that this mission trip would impact them but also they would have influence with the people they meet. Finally, be praying for their safety through travelling for both teams (and even ours).

God bless!

Chapter 23: Emmanuel, God with Us

Well, where to start.... this week has been crazy, emotional, challenging and definitely hard. As a result, this may be a long post. This week was Gospel with Wes Olmstead and Justin Lenny, a past Kaleo and an intern last year here, came also. The missions trips loom over our heads. Tomorrow the Argentina team leaves and then it is a chain effect after that India and then my team, Vancouver.

Gospels was incredible, and I learned that I am more of a Biblical Studies kind of gal, which isn't a bad thing, and actually, doesn't surprise me. I do wish I was able to do the Gospels over a semester so I could soak in all the rich content and go into more detail but alas, we were not able. Through this course, like any course this year, I learned a lot. It radically shaped my view of Christianity too. It was getting to the root of my beliefs, the words of Jesus without being hindered by church tradition and ideas. It was definitely radical and challenging what Jesus said. Dietrich Boenhoeffer, a German pastor, theologian and pastor once said, "Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” He was exactly saying that discipleship and Christ come hand in hand, which also means our salvation. I am not saying that we have to earn our salvation, we can never earn it. I am saying that true faith gives fruit to obedience and discipleship. I have known that the life of a follower of Christ was hard, but this course definitely personally applied it to me. The challenge to take up my cross daily and deny myself is a hard one. To take up my cross means surrender of my life, giving over the right to rule over my own life to Christ, but also making myself willing to be open to persecution, hardship, and even, shame (Matt. 16:24-28). I also really loved all of themes that were present within each gospel, and how the authors worked with those themes throughout their book. I was so exciting for me (yes, I am a geek) to see the fine details and how it creates the bigger picture.

So Gospels in itself was challenging to my own personal spiritual walk, but there were other things that make this a hard week. One was that I stayed up till 1 and then woke up at 6 to finish a paper-never going to try doing that again. More importantly though, is that another Kaleo member has left us. I think many of us knew that him leaving was looming in the air for awhile already, but to hear the news is always the worst. It was hard news for our community, I feel bad that it came right in the middle of Gospels though for Wes and Justin. I personally am so sad to see this person leave, and to be honest, I have a sense of guilt. I feel like when he needed us the most, I pushed him away or tried to stay out of his way. That was so wrong of me, especially because I do love him. Once again, I became too wrapped up in my own world and avoiding myself being hurt that I neglected him. I was definitely not acting like a sister in Christ that I am meant to be.

I have realized that this Kaleo year has definitely been a hard one, especially for our community. I feel bad that we have made it a very rough year for Jim. I see the whole theme of a "year of grace" definitely shining through. It needs to be a year of grace because all of us seem to repeatedly screw up royally or hold a bitterness, I myself, have done both.

On a happier note, my room and my room brothers went on our first date on friday! They planned it and didn't tell us anything except to bring stuff to make letters. So in the pouring rain they led us (eventually) to the Badke's house. Once there Danny (Jim's son) had made delicious cupcakes and we had a tea party! So cute, gotta love the room brothers! We then made cards for our male and female interns. I really enjoyed it, and it was refreshing.

I think finally our community has come together, it is like we were all waiting for something magic to happen for us to become the Kaleo community, but it was all the time within us. Monday, we did something very 'unique'. For chapel, we (as in the Kaleo girls) each had one of the Kaleo boys who we then encouraged. I was so blessed to have Mike, I just love that guy, plus he didn't make it awkward for the second part. You may ask what the second part is well I will tell you: we washed their feet. Plain and simple. It was based on Jesus washing his disciples feet, and act of us serving our Kaleo brothers. To be honest, in many ways I didn't want to do it because I thought washing someone's feet would be plain awkward, but Mike was really good about it. That evening many of us went to New Life Community church because they were showing a documentary on sex trafficking within Canada. So informative. I suggest you watch it, you can find it at www.hopeforthesold.com and then click on resources. On Tuesday, we had a short dance party in Club Coco and the next night we had a Bible study.

As per usual it seems these days, I have hit a rough patch. I just feel like for the most part, unrecognized, especially when professors come and I know that my shyness is holding me back. That is my own fault, but I like to hold self-pity parties for myself it seems. I think it may be that I am at this point seeking human recognition more than God's, I'll need to work on that I guess. It is so weird that here I am still for the most part quiet even though I know these people so well. I was on the Sr. SRC in my hometown and I spoke in front of large crowds that I didn't intimately know, and it didn't bother me at all, I was a leader in my hometown (I may be wrong though, so don't hold me to it, haha), but I just don't know what happened here.

So that is all I can think of, if you still want to donate to my mission trips (hint, hint, nudge, nudge) you still can but probably mailing it wouldn't really work anymore, you would probably have to phone.

Anyways, I will try to post before I am off for my missions trip. Please be praying for myself and my team but also for the other teams. I hope you have a lovely week filled with God revealing himself to you.