Last Post

Well well well. Kaleo is finally coming to a close. Needless to say I have mixed feelings about this along with everyone else. It has been an incredible year and I have gotten so close with everyone here.

We had an awesome retreat at mount washington this week just to hangout and spend time with one another. I had an incredible time here. We also did an awesome solo time like we did at the beginning of the year for spiritual formation. I had an unbelievable time with this. Me and K-cey hiked partway up the mountain and did our solo time up there. I found it really difficult to focus at first and that my mind would wander about every 20 minutes. Once i bucked down and focused and remembered to pray every time I got distracted i got really into it. I prayed for a long time about my friends and going home and then just layed in the sun and read the bible until I was done. On the walk back down we got to slide on our bums, (it was really fun).

I feel excited and nervous to be going home. I am really pumped to see my friends and tell them all the sweet stuff that I have learned this year but I am also nervous about falling into old habits. I know I will have to be intentional if I am going to stay strong this summer. I have certainly taken a huge step in coming here to kaleo and I think that I am just about ready to get back into the world.

This is my last post now anyways. hope you enjoyed reading about all my kaleo adventures.

Lots O' Love, from John

April 5, 2010

HE IS RISEN!!!

This week we had our very last class, Christian worldview. I heard that a number of people did not enjoy it but I thought that it was a great class. I really liked the discussions that went on and a lot of questions that I have had about various things were answered. I really liked the proffesor too, Cal MacFarlane. I thought the besides being a hilarious guy he was a really good prof. I did not agree completely with all of his positions but I actually liked this because it forced me to thing and to shake up come ideas that I was probably getting too comfortable with.

We had an awesome passover meal with our kaleo fam after class as well. We had all the traditional foods to eat and followed the ceremony as best we could. We are on contract though so we couldnt have real wine. It was a really fun experience and some dashing young gents even went so far as to wear some traditional clothing (cough* james/john).

The most intense event of this week was when we watch The Passion of the Christ. I had watched this movie a long time ago but it never really meant that much to me back then. I found this time though that I was really deeply moved by it and I could tell that everyone else was as well. It was a powerful experience after everything we learned this year about our Lord and Savior.

HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

March 27, 2010

This week was a really sweet time. We went on our second surf trip this week to Tofino. I had a really great time again just like last time. For sure these trips have been one of my favorite parts of kaleo. We got to do all the same stops that we did last time. One at that incredible forrest path with the massive trees. One at coombs with the goats on the roof (except the goats were not out this time). And one at the rapids spot where we ate lunch. I love this trip because it shows how big and incredible Gods creation is and how small insignificant we are in this huge world.

The surfing itself was really fun too. I didnt actaully do any surfing though just like last time. I tried to get up for about an hour and then just ditched my board and went to play in the huge waves. The waves are so huge and incredible there it just doesnt get old.

We had some really good chapels this trip too. Both nights there were some people from the community that came to hang out with us and see what we were doing. One of them was a youth group and we had the opportunity to pray for the kids in it. One of them me and matthew and jeremy got to pray for and it was a great time listening to his plans for his missions trip coming up.

This was an incredible week.

March 21, 2010

This week was really relaxing for me. After the intenseness of Gospels it was awesome to have a nice break. The only work that I really did all week was on my camp ministy paper. I thought this would be much more boring than it turned out to be. I actaully had a lot of fun interviewing Justin and writing on his position of CEO director.
The main event of the week for me was definantly the second Ditch The Girls night. I had an awesome time just hanging out with the guys. We had a big relay race kind of thing around the camp and then got to go to Jims and make our own steaks (always a nice break from camp food). We then came back to the PWL and made a massive fort in the lounge and played a big game of sardines in the pitch black. We had a really good talk as guys that night, encouraging and admonishing and helping each other to overcome things we noticed we were struggling with.
The next morning we all went to this indoor rock climping place and had a ton of fun monkeying around. Overall it was a really sweet event. I found that I had time to talk and have fun with people that I dont normally spend that much time with.

March 15, 2010

This week we had class pretty much the entire week. We got to take gospels with Wes Olmstead which was a very intense/hard but fun experience. This class taught me a lot of things. It was a ton of information and your brain hurt by the end of every day but I learned a ton of stuff that I would never have even thought of before. I really learned what it means to be a disciple of Jesus this week. I had always had a few preconcieved ideas about this but through the careful study of the gospels this week I found out what God actaully wants for me in this area.

I found myself thinking a lot about my friends back home and the way that Jesus wants me to stand out to them. Being a disciple means taking up your cross every day and standing apart from the rest of the world even if this means being looked down on by friends or even family.

I have been thinking about my friends back home more and more and I think that I am ready to minister to them the way I should always have been doing. I am praying a lot that God will give me the words to say to them and the courage to say it. I understand now Jims analogy of kaleo being a diving board to get you ready to jump into the world and be a light.