Good evening, I'm managing to squeeze this in between homework and a late night slurpee run (and then I'm going to bed mom! haha). This week has probably been the toughest one here at Qwanoes, partially because I was sick for a good portion of it, and am still getting over it (all the more reason to get a slurpee, makes my throat feel SO much better)! But yeah, it was hard to be around people all day and be happy and talkative all the time when I felt like crap...I suppose it was still my decision to be around people but nevermind that. The first few days of the week, if I remember correctly, was an opportunity to do homework and hang out wiht the exception of the Camp Ministry course on Tuesday. Needless to say, more homework could have been done, but it all got done eventually.
Wednesday night I pulled a no-show at youth because I felt like crap, with the assumption that I'd go on Friday night, but that wasn't meant to be, I was still feeling super sick. So for ministry this week, an opportunity came up to lead most of the Sunday School (with the exception of crafts) for this morning. The three girls planned the lesson, and I was in charge of games for the morning. The games were supposed to involve teamwork, so I tried to incorporate that in the games, with the exception of duck duck goose which went surprisingly well. The games went on for about 20 minutes with the older kids, grade 2-5 I believe, and then another 20 minutes for the younger, the k-1 group I think. All in all, it went surprisingly well and the kids had a super fun time, not to mention us.
Another super awesome thing that happened today was that the kaleo students who attend Warmland got invited over to one families house for dinner, and they kindof want to adopt us for the year, provide a place where we can just hang out. So we went today, I plopped on the couch, Deb put a pillow under my head and a blanket over me and I chilled for the afternoon, then ate pizza! Very fun times. So that's kindof an update of where we're at for now...reading break is coming up! Looking forward to seeing you guys and bringing home a few people for you to meet!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Kaleo Ministry
Good morning!
This past week and weekend have been super hectic! Although we don't have class, there is tons of homework and such for us to do. On Wednesday we, 15 of us, went to S.A.L.T.S, which is the group we went sailing with, and helped "put the boat to bed" for the winter, taking down sails and scrubbing and cleaning. It was extremely good to see the crew again, they're awesome people. Then on Thursday, that same group of us went caving in the Horne Lake caves. It was definately a good experience, being in all sorts of tight spaces and figuring out how to get through tiny holes and such. I did shed some blood that day, fell and was saved from a tumble only by my butt, but generally we had a super fun day. After that, we hit the wave pool in Nanaimo for a good time of relaxing in the hot tub and fooling around in the pool.
Wednesday night was, again, our junior youth night, filled with a bunch of crazy kids, Some frustration for me comes during the small group times that we have. Generally we split up into guys and girls, and in the guys section we started out with 15 guys roughly, and ended up with about 3 at the end. It was frusterating, because the rest of them were just going crazy in the big room around us, and they generally have a mind of their own, just running wild. Meanwhile, of course, the girls group is still totally together, listening quietly, with the exception of the three that hid out in the bathroom. Continue to pray for this, that our guys would be willing to sit and listen to what we're trying to say.
This weekend was a blast, I was a counsellor for eight 8 and 9 year olds. It was the Qwanoes Juniors Retreat, and a bunch of us had signed up for the weekend to be counsellors. Although there was some rough spots, trying to get them to bed and such, we had an amazing time. The discussion times were not bad, but they definately wanted to have pillow fights more than they wanted to chat. We ended up having the sweetest pillow fight of my life one of the mornings, and they definately left happy. While it was challenging to have them running all over and, one guy especially, being clingy, it was very much worth it. It was extremely funny to see on Saturday morning, after everyone had been there less than 12 hours, they were all rushing for the pay phones to call their parents.
Anyways, there is work to be done and lots of it! So thankyou for prayers and support, I will see you in November! God bless.
This past week and weekend have been super hectic! Although we don't have class, there is tons of homework and such for us to do. On Wednesday we, 15 of us, went to S.A.L.T.S, which is the group we went sailing with, and helped "put the boat to bed" for the winter, taking down sails and scrubbing and cleaning. It was extremely good to see the crew again, they're awesome people. Then on Thursday, that same group of us went caving in the Horne Lake caves. It was definately a good experience, being in all sorts of tight spaces and figuring out how to get through tiny holes and such. I did shed some blood that day, fell and was saved from a tumble only by my butt, but generally we had a super fun day. After that, we hit the wave pool in Nanaimo for a good time of relaxing in the hot tub and fooling around in the pool.
Wednesday night was, again, our junior youth night, filled with a bunch of crazy kids, Some frustration for me comes during the small group times that we have. Generally we split up into guys and girls, and in the guys section we started out with 15 guys roughly, and ended up with about 3 at the end. It was frusterating, because the rest of them were just going crazy in the big room around us, and they generally have a mind of their own, just running wild. Meanwhile, of course, the girls group is still totally together, listening quietly, with the exception of the three that hid out in the bathroom. Continue to pray for this, that our guys would be willing to sit and listen to what we're trying to say.
This weekend was a blast, I was a counsellor for eight 8 and 9 year olds. It was the Qwanoes Juniors Retreat, and a bunch of us had signed up for the weekend to be counsellors. Although there was some rough spots, trying to get them to bed and such, we had an amazing time. The discussion times were not bad, but they definately wanted to have pillow fights more than they wanted to chat. We ended up having the sweetest pillow fight of my life one of the mornings, and they definately left happy. While it was challenging to have them running all over and, one guy especially, being clingy, it was very much worth it. It was extremely funny to see on Saturday morning, after everyone had been there less than 12 hours, they were all rushing for the pay phones to call their parents.
Anyways, there is work to be done and lots of it! So thankyou for prayers and support, I will see you in November! God bless.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Kaleo Ministry
Greetings from the pro surfer!
haha yes, we did get to go surfing this past week, Monday until Wednesday. It was super amazing, even with the storm that moved through on Tuesday that didn't let us surf. Altogether we only had a few hours of surfing time on the Monday (and yes, I did manage to stand up...once), but we had a great time camping and bonding, playing games on the beach and finally being able to sleep in!
This week in ministry was a busy one with Junior youth on Wednesday, and Senior youth on Friday. One of the things that our youth pastor, Steve, is trying to do is incorporate secular movies or tv shows that we can draw morals out from - it helps keep the kids interested and focussed for that time. For junior youth we watched an episode of the Simpsons and focussed on family for the discussion. It was amazing when Steve asked what a normal family looked like, how different their answers were than what I'm used to back home. Normally there isn't a father figure present, and there's chaos everywhere. That was definately an eye opener to what these kids have been through.
In the Senior youth, we watched a short scene from the newest version of Batman and focussed on how our actions show who we truly are. In the discussion group, only three or four of the group had ever heard of Camp Qwanoes, and practically none of them had been to church. The discussion went fairly well, I didn't lead it, I was pretty much watching and learning how to draw them in. Relationships are being built, I'm starting to remember some names, and I even saw a couple of them at church today!
Once again thanks for the prayers, and specifically if you could pray for me as I try to interact with them and make them curious about learning more. Also for the problem kids, that they would settle down and enjoy the nights. Thanks guys!
haha yes, we did get to go surfing this past week, Monday until Wednesday. It was super amazing, even with the storm that moved through on Tuesday that didn't let us surf. Altogether we only had a few hours of surfing time on the Monday (and yes, I did manage to stand up...once), but we had a great time camping and bonding, playing games on the beach and finally being able to sleep in!
This week in ministry was a busy one with Junior youth on Wednesday, and Senior youth on Friday. One of the things that our youth pastor, Steve, is trying to do is incorporate secular movies or tv shows that we can draw morals out from - it helps keep the kids interested and focussed for that time. For junior youth we watched an episode of the Simpsons and focussed on family for the discussion. It was amazing when Steve asked what a normal family looked like, how different their answers were than what I'm used to back home. Normally there isn't a father figure present, and there's chaos everywhere. That was definately an eye opener to what these kids have been through.
In the Senior youth, we watched a short scene from the newest version of Batman and focussed on how our actions show who we truly are. In the discussion group, only three or four of the group had ever heard of Camp Qwanoes, and practically none of them had been to church. The discussion went fairly well, I didn't lead it, I was pretty much watching and learning how to draw them in. Relationships are being built, I'm starting to remember some names, and I even saw a couple of them at church today!
Once again thanks for the prayers, and specifically if you could pray for me as I try to interact with them and make them curious about learning more. Also for the problem kids, that they would settle down and enjoy the nights. Thanks guys!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Kaleo Ministry
Hello again everyone.
It's been another busy week with classes starting up and such, but overall it's been a good week. Just quickly, the course went super well, with Friday being a couple hours of solitude with God, and then just before lunch we had a communion service on the dock which was awesome.
Youth on wednesday night wasn't too bad, we'd been scared off with stories of fighting and people getting kicked out, but it was good. The kids are extremely energetic and wild, but it's all good. One thing I'm seeing in myself that is pleasing is the leadership qualities that are coming out. Back home, leading a small group was challenging at times, and I had two older guys with me, but I was all alone on Wednesday, talking to unchurched kids, and it was a good time, they were fairly open to talking. That was encouraging. And we had been praying that there wouldn't be fights and rough housing and such, and there wasn't!
This past Friday/Saturday a few of us had the opportunity to visit the mainland to do some painting for an elderly foster parent. We stayed at my roomates house in Delta and painted for 5 hours on Saturday before catching the ferry back. It was an awesome experience, painting with the ohter 6 students, getting to know them, and even when we put paint on first instead of primer, we laughed at our mistake and corrected it. That was also encouraging, and especially since we hadn't had much sleep, it's amazing that we still got along great, aside from the paint fight in the picture haha.
Today at church I also helped out in Sunday school. The grades 1-5 were in a big room, had a talk, then me and our intern and another guy from kaleo helped out with the games. It was a good time getting to know them and the talk was on teamwork, so it was good to be encouraging, and hear the other encouragment going on around us. Afterwards came the usual "let's jump on the leaders and tackle them to the ground and dogpile on them" game. All in all, it's been a good week! and we head off to tofino to go surfing tomorrow, although apparently theres 35 foot waves rolling in and the weather might not be good. pray for safety and a fun time!
It's been another busy week with classes starting up and such, but overall it's been a good week. Just quickly, the course went super well, with Friday being a couple hours of solitude with God, and then just before lunch we had a communion service on the dock which was awesome.
Youth on wednesday night wasn't too bad, we'd been scared off with stories of fighting and people getting kicked out, but it was good. The kids are extremely energetic and wild, but it's all good. One thing I'm seeing in myself that is pleasing is the leadership qualities that are coming out. Back home, leading a small group was challenging at times, and I had two older guys with me, but I was all alone on Wednesday, talking to unchurched kids, and it was a good time, they were fairly open to talking. That was encouraging. And we had been praying that there wouldn't be fights and rough housing and such, and there wasn't!
This past Friday/Saturday a few of us had the opportunity to visit the mainland to do some painting for an elderly foster parent. We stayed at my roomates house in Delta and painted for 5 hours on Saturday before catching the ferry back. It was an awesome experience, painting with the ohter 6 students, getting to know them, and even when we put paint on first instead of primer, we laughed at our mistake and corrected it. That was also encouraging, and especially since we hadn't had much sleep, it's amazing that we still got along great, aside from the paint fight in the picture haha.
Today at church I also helped out in Sunday school. The grades 1-5 were in a big room, had a talk, then me and our intern and another guy from kaleo helped out with the games. It was a good time getting to know them and the talk was on teamwork, so it was good to be encouraging, and hear the other encouragment going on around us. Afterwards came the usual "let's jump on the leaders and tackle them to the ground and dogpile on them" game. All in all, it's been a good week! and we head off to tofino to go surfing tomorrow, although apparently theres 35 foot waves rolling in and the weather might not be good. pray for safety and a fun time!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Kaleo Ministry
Hello everyone! I'm writing after an exciting last week on a sailing trip, and right after our first day of Spiritual Formation class! First I'll just say that the sailing trip was amazing, we had an awesome time together, being confined together for as long as we were. We had the opportunity to go on night watches for one hour at a time with a partner, which really encouraged deep conversations and bonding time. Also, in the evenings we would have times of fun singing and worship opportunity, with times of sharing afterwards. The sharing time definately brought us all closer together, as we shared some of our fears for the year and we admonished one another in love to bring about more community. A great time all around, and amazing views!
Our first night of helping out with the youth group came around on Friday night. This is the first high school youth that Warmland has ever put on, so it was a bit of a gamble, as Friday nights are the official party nights. We got a lot of younger high school students, and we had a blast running around Crofton measuring various things in banana lengths. Our group got along well, ran into random peoples houses for things we needed, and had a great time. Aside from the pot-smoking older kids behind the community centre at the skate park, everything went along great. It was nice to actually get involved with them; it's evident that they are definately unchurched kids which makes it exciting for the rest of the year. An answered prayer was that there was actually a good number of kids there, I was scared that we would have a night with few kids. Also, we met some solid Christian teens on the Sundays we've been at Warmland, and they have always gone to a different churches youth, and they came out to ours, so it's nice to have some good examples there with us.
As for the class today, it went super well, the time just flew right by! It should be an exciting week coming up. Thanks for prayers again!
Love Scotty
Our first night of helping out with the youth group came around on Friday night. This is the first high school youth that Warmland has ever put on, so it was a bit of a gamble, as Friday nights are the official party nights. We got a lot of younger high school students, and we had a blast running around Crofton measuring various things in banana lengths. Our group got along well, ran into random peoples houses for things we needed, and had a great time. Aside from the pot-smoking older kids behind the community centre at the skate park, everything went along great. It was nice to actually get involved with them; it's evident that they are definately unchurched kids which makes it exciting for the rest of the year. An answered prayer was that there was actually a good number of kids there, I was scared that we would have a night with few kids. Also, we met some solid Christian teens on the Sundays we've been at Warmland, and they have always gone to a different churches youth, and they came out to ours, so it's nice to have some good examples there with us.
As for the class today, it went super well, the time just flew right by! It should be an exciting week coming up. Thanks for prayers again!
Love Scotty
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