Yeah, I'm here too...

So I'm not sure why but I was hesitant to speak up. Maybe some feelings that I should let people that were there the whole year speak up, but upon realizing that I was thinking stupid thoughts that are not true, here I am in my room letting my brothers and sisters know the grace and glory of God in my life.
So to recap: after the end of Kaleo I came home and slept and loved it. I kinda fell of the whole Jesus thing for a bit though. Being used to the protection and direction that you have while you're in Kaleo, coming out I had dropped a lot of my defenses the the usual struggles that home brings. So I kinda hit the bottom of the barrel and cried out to God because I'm a bit of a failure and he was there! (not that I should be surprised...) So I got back on the horse and kept going, still dragging my feet a bit but moving along.
The Lord really took me back to my foundations which was frustrating for a person who has been a Christian for like 15 years. I felt like I should be so strong in what I know and God was sitting me down and going through all the Sunday school pictures again and making me rebuild from scratch. But it's been SO good! A chance to start again and see what kind of legs I'm going to stand on if I'm truly going to stand for him, no matter what.
So the summer has been a lot of me with stars in my eyes of getting a sweet, high paying job to pay off my loans and get the heck out of here! I'm very excited and anxious about Japan to start serving and being in it and going all out in the name of Christ. Well God has again put me in my place. I worked in a concrete yard for like 3 weeks which was awesome because a really good friend of mine got me the job and we started doing the accountability thing and it was solid and really put me back on my feet. Anyways, long story short: I'm a tiny boy and was lifting blocks of concrete that weigh 2/3 my bodyweight and would eventually be the death of me. So all my visions of being a big, burly, high-paid mountain of a man were quickly disuaded from my mind (I'm pretty sure He had a smile on his face at that point) and so I'm in the process of getting a job at WestJet as a flight attendant which will be RAD! (I have a scary group interview in Montreal on the 7th if you'd pray, I'd be safer) I love people and really need to be working in that because that is what I lacked in my other jobs. I will DEFINITELY be coming to see you if I get this job!! So here's praying and letting God have my future!
OH! Okay, one more thing and then I'll be done: okay, I went to this relationship talk a couple weeks back which was radical in itself but little did I know that the speaker has the gift of prophetic prayer and prayed over all of us! Anyhow, his prayers for me were as follows: !!!
I will not be found in one place. He said he saw me as a bag blowing in the wind. He said I will be like the disciple that talked to the eunuch (Phillip - Acts8) and then the Holy Spirit picked him up and put him the next place he needed him. He said like Jesus walked the hot, dusty streets so will I. He said I will leave many people I love all over the world and will have to deal with that. He said I have a scary willingness to do anything which has almost "taken me over the cliff a couple times".
So, I think I may go a little further than Japan... we'll see! I'm SUPER amped though.
Anyways, I love you guys and I can't wait to come see some of you in August and the rest of you expect to see me on your doorstep asking to sleep on your floor or something!

The greatest of love,
'brother' Mark

God pulls through in a BIG! way...

It's been quite a while since I have posted anything on here... and a LOT has happened since then.

First of all, my summer is going really well. I am having a blast at camp, and things are running really smoothly. We have just been having a great time, and are seeing our biggest summer ever! So that's pretty sweet.

Ok so besides the summer, my plans for after camp have changed probably 1000 times! But now I am happy to say that I am finally at peace about what God wants me to do in September.

- So first of all, after things with the African Children's Choir didn't work out, I really didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't feel like I would be making a good decision to go back to school again (mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to take - and therefore would probably be wasting money). I have always thought I would be in full time ministry as a career, but at this point I don't really know what that looks like.
- I began to think back to some of the stuff that we talked about in Kaleo. Not all people are meant to be in full time ministry, but all people are called to ministry. I began to think that perhaps I should pursue a career and then use that as a ministry tool (working in a secular setting). The only real passion that I had, as far as careers go, was photography. So I started making plans to take a 10 month diploma course in photography and start building my career. I was going to live at home for 1 year to save up some money, and then move to Winnipeg to go to school.

- This is where it gets cool....

- So really, I didn't feel at total peace about this decision (although I was REALLY excited about the idea and wanted to keep pursuing it). I kept going with this plan because I was excited about it, and really it seemed like my only clear option at the time.
-So up until last week this was the plan...

- About 3 or 4 weeks ago, out of the blue I got an email back from African Children's Choir (after a long time of no contact with them), saying that I was accepted to go on a 2 week missions trip to Africa. I read over the information and it didn't really fit into my plans, and it was going to cost a lot of money. So I didn't really give it much thought.
- Later on that week I was talking to my Aunt about this possibility, and she mentioned a ministry that one of her friends had done in South Africa, (Working at an orphanage). This really sparked my interest, and so I checked it out on the internet...

- After reading over the information I felt overwhelmed, by the sense that this is what I was supposed to do. I fought it in my head, trying to convince myself that it was going to be to much to get ready in to little time, and that I probably wouldn't even get accepted anyway.

- After some more prayer, I downloaded the App. and filled it out, and faxed it (not thinking that I would actually get accepted)

- Two days later, I checked my E-mail... and wouldn't you know it... God changed my plans Hugely!!!

- So in September... I will be moving to South Africa, for 12 months to work with The Love of Christ Mission, who is two families who started an orphanage for newborns and toddlers, who otherwise would not have much hope of surviving.

- I am really excited about this, but also super nervous!! I was really stressing about what I was going to do in the fall, and all the options that presented themselves (even the ones that I pursued) didn't seem right. But as I said before, God pulled through in a BIG way!

well, howdie doodie k5

alrighty kaleo 5... wow, where to start really.
i am currently one of 3 programmers at my camp, working with my buddy james and another awesome girl from my grade and church. I am super happy to be in my possition, working with an amazing team.
ok, i just found and read my last post (june 11, more than month has passed), thanks for all your comments, haha, i it seems like my ranting is remembered. and they are all getting used to it here at camp as well.

But yeah, we're gearing up for week 4 here, our first week involving intermediates, and so we've got a sweet schedule of evening activity including a beach luau, night games, game shows and the works!
Its an amazing summer so far, and included are some photos of the stuff we've been working on. one is our camp awesome mobile, the vehicle we rip around on bringing stuff to where we need it, with a sound system and pa speakers (well, thats the goal, right now its in the shop not getting fuel like it should, so you could pray for that, cuz its gona be amazing when it runs) But yeah, james and i got to work on that a lot, and it was super fun, even just how God kept putting the right ppl with the right equipment in our path. For example, we bought the green automotive paint with out knowing how we would apply it, but as we were waiting at the store for it to be made, james met a guy from his church who owned a wood finishing shop who had all the paint spraying equipment, and he asked us what we were doing and then told us to stop by to paint our car, so we got a profesh job done.

And that kind of stuff has just been happening all the way along!

We also named our camp the theme name "camp awesome" for this summer, and thats been super fun! OH, we even call our snack MUNGOWAWA!!!! and the kids LOVE it!!!

THe best part of my summer though, has been hearing from the Guy in charge of all the programs here at my camp, how this summer his dreams for the camp are happening. He is so happy with the job we're doing, and has been wanting this to happen for 3 years. It feels so good to be part of making someones dream come true!
Ive been making lots of videos for the our programming as well, and am loving that.

OK, enough about what i've been doing. Lately, like, in the past week i've been thinking alot more about my past year. well, our past year. struggling to relize that i really was in bc for the year, at such a sweet program and that i really got to know so many awesome ppl from across canada. i have been thinking of kaleo and also of new life so much. i really wana take a trip back...i know it cant happen for a while, but it will happen.
so just know this,
i love you all, and cant wait to see everyone again!!

enjoy the pics, its our car, our C.A. banner, the almost end of our road trip home in melfort, and my programming team.

Revolutionary Steve

Shhhhhebang!

Hi fam. Just thought I'd give you a little update.

Thank you so so much for all your prayer pertaining to the 29th. It is an excellent feeling to move into something knowing who is with me in Spirit and knowing that I'm drenched in God's Favor.

The sermon. I have posted it on my blog http://thelordissohotrightnow.blogspot.com so that I don't take up tons of room on this page. And... my life will never be the same. This issue is something I'm going to often end up talking about a looooad hahah. If you guys read anything decent about it please let me know.

I'm realizing more and more how important it is that I deliver my words with strength. I have met two of the women in lesbianism in the last few days who were at the sermon and they've both hugged me, I question whether one of them was just being patronizing. We read read 2 Timothy 1:5-14(?) in church yesterday though and... the Spirit is sooo soo good. In it... I can't BE patronized.

I ended up speaking more to the other congregants though, which was amazing. Some cried to me about gay relaties an others came to me with excitement for how my openness will lead to more transparency throughout the church.

I still find myself saying sometimes "Whoa... this thing is for real. Jesus lives... He makes BIG things happen."

I love you all.

Pulled like Sticky Tac

Hey!!!
Quick prayer request. During Kaleo my director had asked me to consider program directing, I had kindly said no thank you saying I wanted to be in the cabin counseling, which is true but it was because I felt terified at the thought of program directing, when I got camp this summer I was put onto a leadership team of 3 of us who ultimately make the final decision on all policies which is pretty huge and has been stretching and such a growing experience already, but just so good. We were having a leadership meeting one of the first days of staff meeting and this week coming up we needed one more sr male counselor and had one extra female counselor and I found myself volunteering to program direct so that the guy who was going to program direct could counsel, and now i'm terrified! If you could please pray God gives me hmm energy, wisdom with decisions that God will be glorified, so it feels pretty wild I'm really taking this plunge! How are you all doing?? I haven't been around for a bit but not a whole lot of new posts to read! Love you guys! Truly the time I spend with my camp staff I genuinely miss our K5!

Camp...

So the first week of camp ended yesterday and I didn't get a chance to write on how it was. Basically my week was amazing! I loved my guys and I miss them so much! My Junior counselor was awesome, we just clicked like that from the beginning! Yeah at the beginning of the week my guys didn't really get into everything, most of them just sat off to the side and didn't want to participate but by the end of the week in Q-town they were all dancing in the aisles and jumping up and down and doing actions and stuff! Also, on the last night they totally opened up to us and man it was sweet. Man, I miss them. So yeah, last week was awesome. Now for this week, PLEASE pray for me because I am counseling alone, with Juniors (8-11)... I'm sure it will be a great week but it's just scary being alone with them.
Yeah, that was the summer so far.
See ya
Josh

HEYYY

heya people, sorry about the length of absence from yours truly, but camp life is pretty busy and there's not a lot of time to write off. advance crew was sweet and met tons of new people, and the first week of camp was pretty sweet! Junior high #1...my boys were great, pretty much super behaved and really really cool. The main point of this is to let you know a little bit about prayer for me, so here we go. It was frusterating through the week to be doing devotions and to be talking to these kids in discussion, and to not really hear any response of anything really. Like even if they said they rejected it I would've been happy that somebody said something. I also talked to one of the head counsellors and it became super evident that i was tryng to do everything on my own. If God had allowed kids to tell me that they had made decisions then maybe it would have seemed like it was all me. I don't want God to work despite what I'm doing, I want to be with him all the way. I need to stop stressing over devo's and let the Spirit MOVE. It's good that I've realized this t he first week. Just pray that I would be able to accept it and have a SWEET and spirit-filled week with Juniors this week.

On a secondary note...I got my package for new york yesterday!!! that's it...i'm headin off, flights are booked. I'm PUMPED!!!

stay in touch people....
scotty