Ladysmith Light-Up

Just thought that I would post some images from our trip last night to the Ladysmith Light-up. I think that everyone really enjoyed the quick yet amazing stroll to downtown Ladysmith to experience the holiday festivities.

Kaleo/Qwanoes 24/7 Week of Prayer

Some pictures of the prayer room after the week was complete.

Woooooooooo!!!!

Ya Riders!!!!!! Grey Cup Victory!!!!!

before and after

So, clearly i look a lil bit different now. here's how it went down. Jon Lafave was a saying he would be done his reading and paper for church min that day (being yesterday). no one belived him, so i challenged him on it. we decided he had to have read all the readings "well" and have a "ready to hand in" paper by 12:00 midnight or we'd shave his head. if he did it, i'd shave mine. so, to make a long story short, by 10:00 he had it printed off. so even though everyone was in on distracting him, including following him and playing music, showing him videos and asking him questions. or having ellie fake distress over the phone while we erased his work, or even trying to tie him up...he managed to get it done.

so i had to shave my head. and thats the story.

WOW! This is about the only word that I can think of that could sum up my experience doing this ministry! My time spent visiting with the homeless people of Victoria was an eye opener at the least. Society has taught me to think less of homeless people because it was obviously their own fault for ending up the way they have. Hearing this and never being exposed to people like this has caused me to not even think of them as real people.
Going into this ministry I was quite apprehensive towards engaging with homeless people and had some terrible pre-conceptions toward them. After the very first person that we talked to I lost all of those ideas almost instantly! I am so pleased to discover that even after all the things that we did for them - they have done far more for me than they probably realize. I have learned that homeless people are probably the most friendly people you could ever meet... why? because all they have is time and they are generous enough to share it! I noticed to that as we were talking with the people, others would just hurry by and pay no attention to what was going on. What a true witness to the hurried lives that we lead. I mentioned to the others that I was serving with how interesting it is that if you stopped and talked to just a regular person on the street - your conversation with them (if it happened at all) would last about 5 seconds, however with a homeless person you could talk all day. These are real people that want to be loved! It's just so unfortunate that it has taken me this long to come to this realization.
I am so thankful to God that he gave us this opportunity to have an experience like this. And I can honestly say that I can't wait to do it again!! There are so many stories that I could share but it would take me all day to write them! Let me just say that these people are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I was deeply impacted by them!!

Love them like Jesus!

Hey y'all!
So today I had the incredible experience of going down to Victoria and handing out clothes (mostly socks) and food to the homeless people! What a stinkin' blessing!! I can't believe how friendly those people are, they have the biggest hearts. I found it hard to walk down the streets and figure out who was homeless and who wasn’t but half way through the day we realized that everyone likes candy canes, so we used those as icebreakers! We just walked up and down the streets handing out these things and having meaningless conversations... At first it was really accward, we weren’t really sure how to ask people of they wanted things, but once we stopped being chickens and actually trusted God we were blessed. There were some people that broke my heart and others that warmed my heart more than anyone ever could. I was offered drugs for the first time ever and witnessed a drug deal. It was pretty nuts, but we were able to give these people candy canes and talk to them about there jobs... I wish you guys could have seen this one guy face light up when I asked him if he liked cooking, biggest smile ever!! There was this other man and his name was Kenny Kim.... He was this late 40's - early 50's Asian man and he was stinkin hilarious. He asked us if we were angels and when we said yes he asked, of the devil or of God... Of course we answered God!! He was so blessed!! We gave him some lunch and socks, and then he gave us a huge present... First he told us about how lonely homeless people are and that all they want is hugs... He told us that they can get food and clothes but hugs, they don’t get... So I got to give him a hug!!! Then he played his guitar for us, he played 2 Christmas carols and then a song that he wrote... He was a 'rocker' so we couldn’t help but laugh with him as he played, but this man was singing about how Jesus loved him so much and how he didn’t care that people called him a lazy bum, or any of the other names that homeless people get called all that he cared about was the name of Jesus. This man was playing his guitar and dancing and singing about the amazing love of Jesus Christ on the streets of Victoria! It was such a blessing... He then told us that we were his angels, he didn’t have lunch today and he was actually bagging (which was unusual) for money, then we came and gave him food! He was definitely our angel today!! I have such a hope that I will share eternity with him.
That was just one highlight of my day in Victoria… These people are real people and society has told us that they are scum and don’t deserve anything. I challenge you next time you see a homeless person acknowledge them, if you can’t give them money at least give them a smile and how are you. We can’t just ignore these hurting people, we are called to love them, please give them a chance! Mathew 25:35- 37
~Sheri

I Miss All'yall

I think the title says it all.

Maybe I should add a 'SOOO MUCH!!!!' after it...

It's so weird being home right now knowing Kaleo is still having fun doing your own thing while I'm sitting on my couch. Thats probably what hurts the most, knowing I missed a full week of fun, stories, adventures, experiences that I'll never be able to reclaim. I arrived back in Winnipeg at midnight on Thursday. My cousin was there to pick me up because the rest of my family was at my Grandpa's bedside because he wasn't expected to survive the night. He did survive that day, but passed away the next night.

There are two types of funerals. There are bittersweet funerals and then there are just plain bitter ones. My cousins' funeral almost 3 years ago was bitter. Getting taken before your family has enjoyed you enough sucks. Yeah I know they went to heaven, but it still flat out sucked. Living a long life devoted to your King, and being completely ready to die, leaves your family with a bittersweet funeral. My Grandpa was ready to go. He'd more than fulfilled his calling in life, and after taking care of my Alzheimer-stricken grandma for as long as he physically could, he let go. God caught him the other day. And carried him to eternity.

The funeral is on Thursday, which is later than I had expected. I won't be back until Friday which leaves 4 more days of waiting somewhat impatiently to get back to you guys. Till then I'm going to be busy busy busy. I've been working for three days now getting together a slideshow for the funeral. There have been hours and hours of collecting and editing old and new photos, and the stress is piling on. Add to that 3 assignments that are due 2 days after I return to BC.

Two weeks away is so long. Keep sending me wall posts, emails, whatever, cause they totally brighten my otherwise melancholy days. And it's 24/7 prayer week so you guys are able to pray for me and my family all the time!!! See you all soon!

-Joel

Questioning Christian Tolerance

Today I was sitting with the Kaleo students for lunch and hearing their stories about what happened at their respective churches this morning. Kevin began to talk about how the Anglican churches in the area were going to meet up for an Advent celebration, the only question was, where?

Some of the church leaders were suggesting that they go to a art exhibit “Doorsways to Spirit”. A decision that never sat well with Kevin’s pastor. And rightly so, because this art exhibit was about how all doors, like: Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, New Age, Goddess, etc all lead to the same end. They decided that, there was the place that they would meet together as churches in the area to “fellowship” with each other.


In the following week after this meeting with the Anglican churches, Kevin’s pastor began to research what this art exhibit was all about, since he did not have the greater knowledge of it. Upon further examination he realized how controversial and ironic a place this is for a Christian gathering.

Here is were some who read this blog will get uneasy and rightly so, because tolerance is becoming part of the post-modern mindset. The pastor of Kevin’s church wrote a letter to the surrounding Anglican churches stating the issues that he had about the subject of the art show. Questioning why would Anglican churches, who at their core, believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, gather at such a place and support it.

In a contrary statement the artist says, “…regardless of which door or doors you choose to ‘go through,’ the center is the same for all. It’s not as important which door as much as recognizing that there is more than one door.”

This statement as a whole is completely contradictory to what the Christian doctrines state in the Bible. In the letter the pastor writes paraphrasing John 16:4, “…He is not simply a way, but the way to a relationship with God”(“He” meaning Jesus). Describing as well how we are to love one another, not be tolerant of one another. A biblical principle, taught by Jesus.

“Tolerance is the easy virtue of people who do not believe in anything” - G. K. Chesterton

Throughout reading the letter I began to realize more and more of how we as a post-modern culture are sacrificing truth for tolerance, or turning truth into tolerance. The Bible to some is considered hate literature. Is the Bible controversial? Yes. Is it hate filled? No. The very basis of the Christian faith is love through what Jesus Christ did for us. What did he do for us? He sacrificed himself and took on our sins as humankind so that we can come to the Father.

If we are turning truth into tolerance, that is a mutation within our minds and a testament to the sin of man. Truth is not tolerance but love. You are not truthful to a person you do not love, but you are truthful to those you love. As a somewhat self proclaimed post-modernist, I feel this is where I have slipped up. Confusing what tolerance was and sacrificing the beauty of truth in conjunction through Jesus' love.

Thank you to Kevin’s pastor for questioning tolerance and speaking truth.

Reading Break @ Qwanoes?

As most of you went away for your breaks and spent some great "fam" time, there were a select few that decided to stay behind and "work".

Well, the other night we decided to head over to Chemanius for their last preview night of Miracle on 34th Street.

It was such a blast! Growing up I was never really introduced or never really showed any interest in this type of art. But I really enjoyed it! The Santa Claus was so believable, and the play was very well done. Just ask Melissa, Aimee, Andrew or Dave.

Not only did we go to a play on Wednesday night, but we also had a Christmas party (of sorts) on Monday night. Complete with eggnog, candy canes, yummy chocolates and other snacks. For some reason the gang really wanted to make a movie about Andrew having a crush on Tara?? The video's on my computer...for later release :)

a sweet quote from reading break...

Craig (Scott's bro) - "you know what a tie is like? A tie is like kissin your sister. Think about it."

Jon - "I have a sister, I know what thats like...(trails off)"

Please insert title here.

Joel - good work with the new banner!

Well we have almost made it to the end of first semester, hard to believe. I was just talking to Jessica today about how it seems like forever ago that a bunch of us met waiting for the vans at the airport. But still it seems like these past 2 months have just zoomed by. We have grown so close, but I still feel like we still have so much more to learn about one another. Sometimes I sit and think, "Wow - look how far we have come." But then I get excited and think about how much more of a journey we are going to share with each other. Anyway, my whole point to all of this rambling is this - "We should cherish the time we have to grow together and not spend to much time thinking about how far the year has already progressed - but how much of the year we have left to be with each other." This is the time that we should (and are) growing deeper in our relationships with one another and growing closer as a community.

I think about this all as I am sitting in my room and a majority of the people have gone for reading break. As most of us are not together at this time, think about what you miss most about the Kaleo community and then when you get back - make sure you make the most of it the for rest of the year.

Have a great break, see you all in a few days (Me, Arls, Jess, Aimee, and Catherine will be protecting (maybe) your stuff from the operating thieves* until you get back)

- Andrew


* The thieves from the Wanda Fuca have moved their operations to Qwanoes.

Guys Night

So what did this beautiful beach look like? Here it is, in all it's masculine glory!

And that was just the sunset! I'm sure there are WAY more pictures of, maybe us eating steaks off a stick?