My family... here is the speech from our grad, thought you would be blessed by having it written out... I love you all SO much, I am praying for you constantly...
I remember eight months ago, the day we began this crazy adventure called Kaleo. We began the year with a lot of the same fears and uncertainties, whether it was living with complete strangers, developing new friendships, being vulnerable with each other, anticipating how our comfort zones were going to be stretched, the wariness of wondering if anyone else was going through the same emotions as you… I remember that first night, sitting in a circle in the lounge, introducing ourselves by way of sharing our most embarrassing stories… a lot of ice was definitely broken that night.
Our trip to Strathcona Park was the first big challenge that we faced together, and even though it was tough for many of us to make it to the top, we got there! Needless to say, though, it convinced both Katie and Catherine that they probably wouldn’t enjoy India very much.
The SALTS trip was incredible… the 26 of us living together in Pacific Woods were squeezed into even smaller quarters for four days: the 111’ Pacific Swift. I will forever remember nights of singing in the hold, playing Pictionary on the boat deck, drinking hot chocolate and sharing with each others our fears and hopes for the year and beyond. And of course, who could forget our visit from Rico, bunk inspector extraordinaire… or LaserShow 2000?
Spiritual Formation with Marv Penner started off our year academically in October. I remember feeling like it was a really heavy course load… I would be proved wrong by the time second semester rolled around, but regardless, I think I was entitled to my naivety. We were all so blessed by the time of solitude at the end of the week, and by Marv’s wisdom and insight in general.
Right after Spiritual Formation finished, we took off for our first Surf Trip in Tofino, which marked the start of Capstone’s music becoming our anthems for the year. We only ended up being able to surf for a couple of hours because of the huge 30 foot waves that were forecasted, but we had the chance to see these waves firsthand on the second day of the trip, getting soaked and staring in awe at the water being smashed and pounded against the rocky beach, and whispering to God in the words of the Capstone song, “
when I fall/and need something stable/you are my rock...”We learned all about Camp Ministry during the weeks to follow. We also spent two days either caving or helping out the SALTS crew winterize their ships… Kev tested out the density of the ship deck using an interesting handstand technique and falling on his head, which provided another opportunity for Jim to display his quick wit…
The week after that, we went on a night hike up Maple Mountain and listened as Jim told us his cougar stories… and I don’t know about you guys, but for the rest of the year I listened extra carefully for sounds of crying babies in the bushes… just in case…
That same week, we started Hermeneutics with Merrill Dyck, developing our ability to really dive into our study of Scripture. I remember specifically when he answered a question about righteousness, explaining the truth of how it is given to us by God and is through faith… and how all we have to do is accept it and strive to grow in it… to live out what we already are. There is deep, deep truth in that, and I think its fair to say that we all came away from the class changed, with the desire to grow in own knowledge and understanding of the Bible, allowing it to shape us and conform us into the likeness of Christ.
After Hermeneutics was over, as we were celebrating Catherine’s birthday on Halloween, us girls spontaneously decided to surprise the guys by dressing up like them… although I’m not sure how much of a surprise it was, since we had to specifically ask each guy to put together a typical outfit that they wore often… I think they caught on pretty quickly… We weren’t as sneaky as we would liked to have been, but I think we had more fun in preparing and practicing our imitations of the guys than actually showing up to the dining hall and showing it off!
The next week was our girls’ and guys’ nights out. The boys headed off to Mystic Beach for a manly camping trip, and the girls went down to Victoria for some shopping and a sleepover at Amber Fee’s place. To continue with the theme of the girls outwitting the boys, however, we ended up sending another surprise their way. This is not to say that we had any idea about it beforehand, so it was just as much a surprise for us as for them. I have two words for you: paintball ambush.
In the middle of November we had our first 24/7 Prayer Week, in which we each signed up for one or more hours each day to pray. God revealed many things to each of us during that week; I will never forget walking into that room once the week was over, reading over the prayers and notes to God written on pieces of paper posted all over the walls… you could not be in that room without feeling like you were in the presence of God.
It was also during that week that we went to downtown Victoria to hand out sleeping bags, clothes, and food to the homeless. We also had the opportunity to spend some time with the Alzheimer’s patients at Oceanview Seniors Home. Both of these ministry experiences affected each of us significantly, whether it was feeling conviction for the way we treat the poor with ignorance and judgment, or the way our generation has so little respect for the elderly. I learned that week, in a concrete way, how love is truly all that people are searching for… it is universal.
The following week, we had our last class of first semester: Foundations in Church Ministry with David Lee. It was really significant to be able to understand Christ’s calling for the church, and within that, how to address and respond to issues that will inevitably arise in such communities of people. David’s perspective as a pastor was really valuable and helpful as we figured out where we stood on certain issues that affect the church.
That same week was the Ladysmith Light-up, a holiday event in which the entire town of Ladysmith is lit up with Christmas lights. One of our adopted churches had organized a float for the parade, and so the majority of us got to ride on it, singing Christmas carols and freezing ourselves! Even so, it was a fun night, and it really got us into the Christmas spirit.
The next week, we went on a Christmas tree hunt and spent the evening decorating the tree and the cush with popcorn strings, paper chains, and fake snow to prepare for Christmas. The boys of 210 outdid all of that, though, with decorating their room… We’re talking spray snow on the windows, Christmas lights, paper snowflakes, and they even set up a little village of ceramic houses on their window seat.
Also during that week we went up to Mount Washington for a day of skiing and snowboarding. Several of us were beginner snowboarders, and so after a long day of falling again and again on the hard snow, we were feeling pretty discouraged… not to mention sore and bruised! We also had our Christmas banquet and talent show that week, which were a lot of fun… complete with renditions of “Sheri, Did You Know?” courtesy of Kevin and Andrew, and Joel with “Hey There Delilah,” the song he wrote himself.
The night before our Kaleo Christmas morning, we had another girls and guys evening. The girls hung out at Amanda’s, and the guys went out for coffee… and ended up surprising us with a balcony serenade of Christmas carols and gave us each roses and chocolate. We were really confused about why Arlan was curled up in a ball on the ground in front of the group, and Matt was kneeling beside him… and later we found out that they were re-enacting the nativity scene; Arlan was the baby Jesus and Matt was the virgin Mary…
The next morning the leaders woke us up with cups of hot chocolate and we all made our way into the cush for Kaleo Christmas morning. We each opened up gifts that we had been given by our Secret Santas, and were so incredibly blessed…some more by the Starbucks gift cards that they were given…but mainly just by being with each other and celebrating the birth of Christ together. Two days later marked the beginning of Christmas break, and we all headed our separate ways for three weeks.
When we all came back in January, we jumped right back into the crazy schedule of Kaleo. We started off the new year with a new addition, but not the infant kind… in fact, he was more like a grandpa. Mark fit in to the community right away, and I know we all felt instant connections with him… Two days after we arrived, we started Pentateuch classes with Don Taylor. It was an intense and challenging week of studying biblical history and the Old Testament Law, with a lot of memorization, but the course was really valuable. I should hope so anyway, because Caronport was police-less for a week because of us… and Tracy’s goodies weren’t too bad either.
After Pentateuch was finished, we headed off for our week-long Mt. Washington ski and snowboard trip. It’s a rough life, living up on that mountain… The chalet, our temporary home on the ski hill, was so cozy and welcoming… except the staircase, which Catherine quickly found out. Minutes after arriving, she slipped and twisted her ankle and was couch-ridden for the majority of the trip. She was such a trooper. This was also the week when Arlan almost died by digging himself into a snowcave… apparently the Word isn’t the only thing he digs deep into…
Even with all the fun we had, the week was memorable for another, more significant reason… Each of us knows how affected we were by Alex’s story… I can’t name all the things that went on in each of our hearts that night, but what I do know is that it was a time of refocusing and searching ourselves, much like Alex did when that man posed the question to her while she was at Capernwray in Austria, a few months before Stacey died. “Is Jesus enough?” he asked. Is Jesus enough for us, even if everything that we value is taken away from us… family, friends, possessions? Really, although it came later, this was the defining moment of Kaleo 5.… It convicted all of us deeply, particularly of the things that each of us as individuals use as substitutions for Jesus, to avoid the pain of severing our attachment to this world. Alex’s story pushed us to the point of asking ourselves…“Is Jesus enough?”… and deeply desiring to be able to humbly answer “Yes.”
The week after our Mt Washington trip, we started our weekly classes on Christian Theology with Lech Bekesza. This class was undoubtedly challenging for all of us, but the challenges did not go without their rewards. A few days after that first class, we headed off again, this time to Missions Fest in Vancouver, where many of us were met with missions opportunities and realizations about where God may be calling us to.
The following week, we had our second day trip up to Mt. Washington, and then the week after that we had the Gospels course with Wes Olmstead. I remember Jim saying at the beginning of the week how much of a treat we were in for, because
“What could be better than spending an entire week studying the life of Jesus?” We were each, without a doubt, forced to come face-to-face with the person of Jesus and wrestle with the revolutionary words and message he proclaimed throughout the dusty streets of Palestine. What a blessing and challenge that week was.
And then, there was winter camping. Several people didn’t go on this trip (including me), but judging from stories, everyone had a good time sleeping in the snow. At least Arlan didn’t disappear again…
Andrew was one of the guys who stayed back from the trip and spent most of the time planning for the amazing Valentine’s Day party that the boys of room 210 threw for the girls! They had chocolate covered strawberries, cheesecake, and even wrote personalized poems for each of us… but little did we know, they were actually pampering us to distract us as the rest of the boys executed a complex plan to prank our rooms. We’re talking red juice crystals in our shower heads, sour cream in our conditioner, and they even hid anchovies all around one of the rooms… Apparently, these boys really love us…
After our second reading break, during which the majority of us went to YouthQuake at Briercrest in Saskatchewan, we started intense preparation for our missions trips. India began running to train for hiking, Colombia started studying Spanish, Vancouver worked hard at fundraising, and New York watched movies to become familiarized with inner city life, and learned how to make balloon animals. J Our focus on missions was continued with our Theology of Mission course with Tim Stabell at the beginning of March. At the end of that week, we had our second 24/7 Week of Prayer, which was again focused on our missions trips.
Team India was the first to leave three days after we finished classes with Tim, followed consecutively by Colombia, Cowichan/Vancouver, and then New York. The three weeks that followed were incredible. We each have our own stories about how God displayed His faithfulness, power and grace to us in tangible ways… He provided so many opportunities for us to use the things we had been learning, and He also taught us many, many new things. We each came away from our trips with a deeper understanding of the significant difference that Short Term Missions can make when it is done in the right way. India, Colombia, New York, Cowichan and Vancouver… these places, these trips, these people whom we came alongside to serve and pray for… they changed us… and we will never be the same.. But that is a whole other speech.
Arriving back from our missions trips meant only three more weeks of being together as Kaleo 5. The first week was filled with our last course of the year, Studies in Christian Worldview with Cal MacFarlane. Cal’s insight and perspective were so helpful to us as we tried to sort out everything we were exposed to on our trips… and we were continually brought back to the concept of Jesus being everything, even in the midst of the confused and lost world we live in; He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life… He is
truly enough.
When that class was finished, we frantically tried to recover from a head-lice outbreak as a result of our trips, and catch up with all the work we had to finish… There’s nothing like bonding as someone picks bugs out of your hair, let me tell you… but truly, I think it was a miracle that we all survived that week without having mental breakdowns! Once classes were finished for the year, we slowly were pushed to accept the fact that our year of Kaleo was coming to a close. We were blessed to have been able to go cold-water surfing again, as well as spending a couple more days at the chalet on Mt. Washington to reconnect with each other. And now, here we are, at our graduation ceremony.
Does it feel surreal? Did you ever think this day would actually come? Have you even had time to think and reflect on things? Is your heart hurting?
It is going to take a while to process all that I’ve learned this year, but what I know right now is that ever since that night at Mt Washington when Alex shared her story, I have been praying that Christ would bring me to the place where I could say “You are enough, regardless of my circumstances, regardless of my pain, regardless of my dreams, regardless of my hopes… Jesus, You are enough…”
Many years ago, a man wrote these words to a small group of Christians in Phillipi, crying out to God with the same desire:
“Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:7-11)
I remember reading this passage while I was in India, as my teammates all around me were getting sick with all sorts of crazy diseases, and I knew it was quite possible that I could as well… and all I could say was “I want to know Christ…no matter what it takes… no matter what I must endure…” I know I have not even come close to being as devoted to the Lord as I desire to… but this year, being with you amazing people who I have fallen in love with, my family, learning from you and struggling with you and growing with you, I feel like I am one step closer. And I have you and Jesus to thank for that.
Even though Kaleo is over, the truth is that Kaleo will never end. We will never cease to be Kaleo 5... But that is not what we should hold on to. My hope is that we will be able to walk away from this year with bigger hearts, bolder faith, and best friends in each other… but that we would not forget that it is Jesus who satisfies. The prayer of my heart is that all of us continue to walk in the truth of Jesus, constantly seeking to know Him in the way Paul talks about wanting to know Him… and as we walk, no matter where on this globe each of us end up, I pray that we will always declare, together, with the same song of praise to God, that He is enough…
My prayer for all of us is, in the words of Paul in Ephesians 3...
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge [to know what is too incredible to know, that's what I call a bold prayer], that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
