Newbee-er

Hey everyone! I'm Joel. So far it looks like I'm the newest one now. I am SO PUMPED! I never thought that God would lead me down this path. I knew I wanted to do a one-year program right after high school, but up until a month or two ago I would never have guessed it would be Kaleo. I just got back from a spring break in Fernie and came home to a bunch of emails, letters and messages telling me I was actually going! I haven't stopped trembling with excitement yet. It's just so EXCITING knowing that you are doing what God wants you to. There is such a peace and joy knowing you are acting within God's will! A little 'bout me: I love to bike. BC is like the mecca of biking so I'm excited about that. I also love to drum. My family doesn't love it though. Especially at night. Right now I work at Canadian Tire putting bikes together. It is the best job that I could ever have hoped for. I get to work beside my best friend, listen to music, test out bikes... It's amazing! A little 'bout where I'm coming from: I became a Christian at some early age like 3 or 4. At that point it didn't really mean that much to me. It wasn't who I was or what I was living for. I followed the "rules" of Christianity because they were rules, not out of love for my Saviour. Summer 2005. I came into CIT camp at Red Rock Bible Camp not knowing where I was. I went because camp always gave me that spiritual high that felt really good. I left with a desire to know God more. It shook me up just enough to get me started on my journey from a bored, mediocre Christian, to one that strives for more. January 2006. The theme for our youth retreat was "shaken up" or something catchy like that. It challenged me to let God into all the areas of my life. At that point in my life God was in the "God" slice of my pie. He wasn't in any of the others. I needed to let God rule my life and let Him run free to do what he wants in every area of my life. It is so incredible the change that can occur when you let God do what he wants. When I look back to early on in my Christian walk, its like I wasn't even a Christian. The difference was like night and day. Life and death. Life in the fullness of all that God has planned for you. Death when you shove God to the backburner of your life. I have grown more in the past year and a half than I have in the rest of my life. The difference is amazing. This is a verse that God showed me from Isaiah 42:14

"I've been quiet long enough.
I've held back, biting my tongue.
But now I'm letting loose, letting go"

Excuse the paraphrase. Thats God showing me that I've hidden my faith long enough. I've kept still and not acted for long enough. It's time that I let loose. Let go of my life and let it fall into the hands of the one who created me. In the words of Joel Houston: "I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned." God has promised me already that this next year will be amazing. I'll stand with my will cast aside and the will of God in sight. I'm so excited to meet you guys and even more excited to meet God on HIS terms, not mine.

Newbee

Hey. Guess I'm the newest one on here. I'm from Saskatchewan and I can't wait for Kaleo! It's such a "God Thing" that I even found it, honestly there's no other way to describe it, I was within days of going to Briercrest in Caronport. I can't wait to meet everyone! To describe myself I would say that I love sports! I play volleyball, badminton, hockey track and field. I play piano in a few worship bands and I love music. Some of you have mentioned being from small towns, but I'm seriously from a small town of 1000. I've worked at Luseland Bible Camp as a counselor the past 9 summers and it's been awesome! (some of those summers i was a camper, i'm only 18 lol) I have a little sister, and I'll miss her so much next year! I'm graduating this year and I'm really excited for that too! I have an awesome church family I'm going to miss hugely. I love to laugh and have fun! Can'twait to meet all of you!

Baptism

Hey guys, it's been a long time since i've posted anything, thought i'd just give a bit of an update and ask for some prayer. um so yeah i finally decided like a month ago that i was going to get baptized!!!! i'd been scared out of my mind to take this step for a looong time, so i finally got it out of the way. this coming sunday night i have to share my testimony with the elders in our church, and then the baptism is happening on Easter Sunday!!! anyways, the prayer concern is that i absolutely hate speaking in public, and just imagining a packed church on easter sunday has me shaking in my boots. hope everythings well with all of you!

Life....

Hey Everybody! So I wanted to give an update on what I'm up to. Life has been so crazy lately, these past weeks have flown by so much that believe it or not I've hardly had time to still be excited for Kaleo! Imagine that, goooosh=) But don't worry, every time I come on the blog I get so stoked, especially with new posts! Ok, so last week I was on a family holiday, which was totally amazing, such a sweet relaxing time with the fam. Now this Saturday I leave for Venezuela. I think I may have put this before...but I'm going with the kaleo/qwanoes team to Venezuela, we'll be working with the Youth For Christ workers down there, showing them how we do camp ministry by using a variety of programs to build relationships. We'll be teaching a core group of Venezuelan leaders our planned retreat, all of the how to's and whys and then they will run a three day retreat for 80-90 camp leaders while we support them and participate. So it's going to be intense, I'm so nervous yet so excited!! And on top of that, when I get back from Venezuela, I'll be starting at my church as middle school youth assistant, we're looking at like 10 hours a week for the rest of the spring until I go to camp!!! Crraaaazzzzyyy. Right now I'm going crazy trying to get everything together for going to Venezuela, and figuring out everything last min. Prayer for our team would be so awesome, for unity, and for God's help as we work with people that speak mainly Spanish, for all of us to step waaaay out of our comfort zone and really get to know/interact with everyone there! Thanks guys! And just think, in a couple months we'll all be at kaleo! Man I can't wait, it's going to be so awesome.

Steve Saying Hello

Hey Everyone!
First, my name is Steve Klassen. I’m from Winkler Manitoba; I’m 18 and I graduated last year (2006). I’m super pumped about Kaleo, that’s for sure. Actually my sister went to the first Kaleo and since then there has been Winkler representation every year, so I'm glad to uphold that for this, the 5th year!
Before I talk about me, I’d like to say that I've been reading this blog for a while now as I considered applying, and it’s been great reading as each new person comes on, sharing about themselves. I was always excited when another person posted.

About me though... I’ve lived in or just outside of Winkler ("city" of 9000-ish) all my life. I now live with my Parents, and my bro-13, gr 8. My sister is 22 and getting married this summer (to a fellow K1er). I have worked at Winkler Bible Camp since I was going into gr. 10, counseling, and this past year leading the wall climbing skill. I’m a runner, I have loved track forever. And recently I’ve started getting into snowboarding, so, let me know if there's any boarders out there! This year I am working in a middle school as an educational (teachers) assistant and also part time at a Boston Pizza as a host/server, and I LOVE both jobs! I’m also helping out as a sr. youth sponsor in a youth group.

But enough about that, I grew up in a great Christian home, church, Sunday school, club, youth. Its always been kinda "what I do" as it can easily become in Winkler ("Christian community") but once I started working at camp it became more real, I took it more seriously and looked at ways to live out my faith more boldly. God totally blessed me like crazy with my friends group, a bunch of super fun people who were mostly on fire for God too! Forever though, personal devotions have been a struggle. I’m not great at finding routine, and this involves many ups and downs and times of little spiritual nourishment. Summers were always high points for me. Currently I’m still plugging along trying to make those morning/evening "God" times happen, knowing that they make a serious difference in my day.

But that’s all for now, fire me some comments if you've got any questions and I look forward to reading more posts and getting to know you all!

-steve

Material and Spiritual!

Hey guys!!
Hows everyone doing these days???? Anything exciting going on? My best friend and I went and played in the rain today!!! It was such a blast I felt like a little kid again!! If you guys haven't done it for a while I highly suggest it!
So anyways that's not the point of this blog.
I am so excited about Kaleo (6 months tomorrow!!!) and I have been thinking about all the stuff that I have to get, how I am going to afford it, and all the stuff I would like to get and how I am going to afford them. I have been driving my mom crazy talking about it all the time!! But God has been convicting me to get ready spiritually for kaleo!! I am so focused on everything else and have realized that I am not too sure how to prepare for Kaleo spiritually. What do you guys think??? Its going to be sooo much fun but also a lot of work and there are going to be some crazy stuff that is going to go on. So how do we start to prepare for it???
I can't wait to meet you guys!!
~*~ SHERI~*~

All-Kaleo 24/7 Week of Prayer!

Kaleo Four would like to invite you to join them in a 24/7 Week of Prayer!

Sunday, March 11, 4:00 PM to Sunday, March 18, 4:00 PM

Click Here for 24/7 Prayer Chart

The Kaleo Four students will of course occupy the prayer room here 24 hours a day, but you too can sign up for a one-hour spots on the prayer schedule by simply placing a comment on this post to tell us the time(s) you will pray (please use Pacific Standard Time). We will update the schedule as we hear from you.

The focus of prayer will be Kaleo Four's missions trips:

• Himalayas - Trekking, praying and encouraging the few scattered believers in tiny remote villages.
  
• Vancouver - Serving alongside New Beginnings Church and Union Gospel Mission to bring hope and help to the homeless and poor in East Van.
  
• Venezuela - Training and encouraging YFC camp leaders in the ministry of camping.
  
• New York - Working alongside Metro Ministries to bring Jesus to 20,000 families in the Bronx.

Please pray for soul preparation and a sensitivity to the various cultures the teams are entering. Pray for open doors. Pray that final details (passports, visas, travel, etc.) will come together well.

If you have requests you would like us to pray for, please email them to me.

Thanks so much for joining us in prayer!