This crazy thing called life...

Dear Kaleo Family,

Well, it’s been a while my friends. It has been a long while since I have spoken with many of you. I do wish to tell you all a little bit about my life lately.

I wasn’t as excited about summer this year as I usually am. I guess working full time, summer isn’t really a break like it is during the school year. But, I did get a little holiday time for a week at the end of July. And I flew across the country back to BC! It was wonderful to get away for a little while. I was met at the airport by Scotty T and I had the opportunity to spend an evening at Jenny and Craig’s. I spent the weekend on the island visiting camp and seeing many familiar faces! I spent a few days at Downey’s house and we just hung out! It was an incredible week to just relax and enjoy my surroundings. This trip came at a really good time too as I was going through a transition at work as well. The week before my trip was my last week working in the barn and the actual greenhouse. I have been promoted to sales! This means that I work in the office now. I have my own desk, computer, phone, etc. It is pretty sweet. I get to dress up to come to work even! It’s been kind of a strange adjustment, but I’m learning. I have never done anything like this before, but it’s exciting to be learning something new.

I am still living with my Grandma…and she is loving having me around. It has been working really well for me and I still get to see my dad at least once a week. Him and my brother make a point of coming over for dinner once a week and if I am not working I will usually see them on Saturday too. So, it’s not all bad.

I have also recently decided to become the coordinator for “The Edge”. “The Edge” is the grade 5/6 Sunday school class and I am now in charge! It basically means that I have keep everything organized, like the small groups, curriculums, and the team of leaders. It should be a really good learning experience and I am getting excited about it.

Life in general has been good. The summer is coming to close and life is picking up a little bit again. I am excited for this coming year because it will be a year of learning new things. I am excited to see what God has for me in all the new roles that I am taking on. I think that I am in a good place right now. Please continue to pray for me about direction in the future though. I’m not entirely convinced that working in this office is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I am trying my hardest to trust that God will reveal it all in time where He wants me, and so I wait. I am waiting on the Lord and while I wait I will do the best I can to serve and love in His name.

Be blessed my dear family and I pray for you all often!

Look forward to hearing from more of you!

Love always,

Trusting Jess!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

well top of the morning to the lot of you and let me tell you that this rash of recent updates/posts has been most encouraging and delightful.

now for one of my own. it's amazing to me the extent and wonder of God's faithfulness. As some of you know, I received, finally, a VISA to return to New York and continue working with Metro. All I have right now is the notification email, I still have to wait for the actual paperwork, and I need to have an interview with the kind folks at tne U.S. consulate in Vancouver. When I got the email, I didn't even know what to think. I had received an email from them before with a massive denial on it. so opening this one was a little tense. and when i saw 'approved' on that email...it was a shock. it made me excited. it made me nervous. i had to look at it for a few minutes, reading it over and over, just to see if this was actually for real. it's been a wild few days, where i've been doing a camp with my church, and hanging out with grade 6 boys throughout the week, and i've literally had no time to actually sit down and process this. but, again, the theme of faithfulness sticks out, and even in these eight months of being at home, waiting, wondering, and working, i've strayed many times, and the weak attempts that i put towards the Father are rewarded with...my visa. it's an awing thing. an awesome thing.

i thank you for praying, for lifting me up. please continue this as i go through with this interview (which i was told by metro that they would prepare me for it...sounds somewhat intimidating...) and as i carry on, adjusting to life in the big city, life in the ghettos of the big city, again. love you all. bless you.

scotty grace. (graceful scotty).

holler

yeah, ill echo jon in saying that it's a little strange to be writing on here not knowing where all of you are and what your doing. but knowing how much i enjoy reading your updates, i'll write one of my own in hopes that you'll return the favor (hint hint).

that said, it might not be the most articulate or comprehensive report. I guess I'm still unpacking the past several months too. I went to Briercrest last school year, as I think most people know already. It was a good year...really good. Our quad had a pretty awesome little communtiy, and I think God was gracious in using that in the larger communities of our dorm and the school. You who don't have life plans all lined up should consider B-crest.

This summer I tree planted in BC and AB with a company called Folklore. It was really hard work, and the worst season in like 11 years for quality of contract, but I toughed it out and I'm glad I did. It was a summer of relying on God for strength, and relying on my relationship with him to make the right choices (rather than the immediate positive influence of my peers). Challenging in a lot of ways, but rewarding to form some new friendships that afforded some excellent conversations and some really good times. I'm planning on being back at Briercrest tomorrow, and serving there in some new ways that I'm a little excited and a little intimidated by. Did I grow enough, am I adequate, will I have the right words and thoughts, will I be obedient when push comes to shove, that sort of thing. Trust. I'm doing a BA in Global Studies and TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language), and hoping to use that to go back to India and maybe other parts of Asia.

My heart these days has been for change in our North American churches. I think we need a shift from buildings and programs that are essentially centered around church people, and in terms of outreach are focused on bringing people into the church building and converting them, ticking another tally on our score card, and moving on. We're so numbers focused it drives ME crazy, and I love a good quantitative analysis! I feel like we need to spend a lot more time loving people and meeting their needs, and through those relationships built on trust and simple actions of love let GOD do the converting work. Let people know us by our love, and join us when God has drawn them to us because of our love. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to evangelism, but I think it needs to be evangelism focused on justice and mercy and feeding hungry people, clothing naked ones, supporting poor ones sacrificially, rather than Christianizing them and working so hard to convert them with church programs and expensive displays. It's like we're trying to seduce people by baiting them with an answer to their needs or with lots of flashing lights and expensive displays inside the confines of our church walls. We're of the world but not in it! (it's supposed to be the other way around). Our self sufficiency seems to have made us feel like it's our job to make new Christians and grow our own churches, and I don't think it is. That said, I need to start living an example of what I'm saying, and I'm not yet. It's hard. Good thing God is merciful.

haha. That's your sermon for the day. It's whats on my mind. I'm kind of developing a relationship with the Atlantic Baptist Convention (of which my church is a part) right now. I think it might be a little presumptuous at this juncture to claim I've been called to full time ministry, but there are a couple of doors opening in that direction, and I'm testing the water.

I love you all, and hope to read more about you soon (I also check this pretty regularly). Be blessed, and more importantly, go be a blessing.

yoo, brothers and sisters
wow it has been really long since i've spoken to a lot of you and i don't even mean on the blog but actually like talking to some of you. and so it's almost kind of weird to write to you, however i still do think about kaleo often and how amazing it would be to see you, and so because of that hope and the hope i have in what He is doing in your lives, that hope leads me to continue writing to you guys despite not really knowing what life is like.

so this summer i was back at camp and i think in my last update i mentioned my role which turned out to be the most incredible thing ever. my job was to journey along side the staff members of counsellors in an age category of about 12-13 years old. and then also i guess kind of administratively position kids in chalets (cabins) and hang out with them as well. it was such a blessing to be a part of some of the counsellors lives as they came into camp wretling and being caught up in a lot of worldly things and to be able to speak life and hope into hopeless situations was such an amazing opportunity. it was a summer of living in joy and a lot more freedom then the previous year and being able to be a part of God doing some amazing things and meeting people in some pretty rough situations.

and so the plan was to come home today and leave for school saturday, however do to my dreams of becoming some sort of hard core bmx biker, i decided to take up what is known at camp as the west short bike park. in this park there are a series of little jumps and big jumps and after conquering the little jumps i figured it only made sense to conqure the big jumps. so as i "dropped in" (using their bike terms) i got to the top of the jump and realized this was very stupid, however it was way too late and my bike kind of fell off into the gap between the take off and the landing and i kept going and eventually landed on the ground, fraturing my elbow and wrist. so like, pretty lame, and so was in a really sweet full arm cast for a week and heard some hopeful news a week later saying that surgery may not need to happen but then when i went in this morning to a more ... city like..professional hospital and not muskoka area, i was told that i do need surgery and i wont be able to be at school for 2 and maybe up to 5 weeks. and while this is crappy news in that i can't start living in the high school dorm till later and i will miss a bit of school which isn't good for a not so academic student, God has actually givem me lots of joy in it all. not being able to go to school will mean i can go back to camp this saturday and witness a bunch of really close friends getting baptized and then also spend a week at like our teen camp which i haven't been able to attend since before kaleo. and so ya, God continues to teach me his ways and his plans are different then mine and yet to also give me joy in it all, He's such a good Father.

so ya i would love to hear more updates and what life is like .
miss you all tons
"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.But you would have none of it. You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him
isaiah 30:15-18
love jon

south america

hey everybody :) so I am now living in lima, peru with a homestay family and 8 other girls from the US, Norway and Canada. I spent a couple weeks in Bogota, Colombia, and it was great to be able to see the people that I had met on the Kaleo missions trip and to feel still feel so connected to them and to see how they continue to reach so many people through their ministry.

Here in Lima I have just started studying at the university this past week and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster so far. It's definitely not what I'm used to. Sometimes the prof won't show up at all, sometimes the class will start a half hour late, and once my class was cancelled for the term but no one mentioned it. I guess if you could pray that I'd have patience and a lot of energy to pay attention to 3 hr classes in spanish. Two of my classes are related to kids, one is about children's literature and the other about teaching kids through games. I'm really excited about both of these, especially since I will get to work with the kids here in peru. please pray that God would guide me through these next 5 months here and that I would willingly go where he wants me and that I wouldn't be distracted by worldly things. I don't want my fears or insecurities to get in the way of God using me.

I love you all
~Kelsey

p.s. please write some more updates!! I check the blog every day and there isn't anything new :(