God is good...

Hello! Hello!! Hello!!! Hello!!!!

Where to begin? Well...life is good, God is good, things are just good! The past few years have been a little rocky, but I survived because that's what I do!

I still reside with my grandmother and my disabled aunt...which has been so hard, but so good. They are both getting older and sicker. We just bought my aunt a wheelchair as her body is slowly deteriorating, and my grandma seems to be getting smaller and weaker everyday. It's a lot of work taking care of someone who cannot care for themselves for 50+ years. And my grandmother would rather die than put her in a home. So, we get it done.

I quit my job at the greenhouse! I was so scared of putting my two weeks notice in after being there for so long, but it needed to be done. I prayed so hard that God would soften my bosses' hearts over this matter and not give me too hard of a time about it. God is so good and I was able to leave with no questions asked. I needed to quit because it just got to the point where thinking about that place made me want to cry. It was so emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually draining. They just have such narrow-minded doctrines and would quite often try to push and force their beliefs onto me. It would usually end in tears on my part because my heart would just break for them and there was never any discussion about it. It was them telling me that what I believe is wrong and they would tell me why. When I tried to have a conversation about it, they ended up attacking me...they didn't want to discuss, they wanted to fight. Because we would often hit heads on such matters, I was treated very poorly in comparison to employees who belong to their church. I was there for almost three years, so I think I gave it a fair shot. I would still be there though, if it was not for a dear friend and her husband. They are both members of my small group and September (yes, that's her name) and I are virtually inseperable and Nick just adores me! Anyways, they both knew how unhappy I was and just how "stuck" I felt, so Nick decided that he "needed" a temp for the summer. He created a job, presented it to his boss and told his boss that he had a person in mind that would be perfect and here I am, working as Nick's tax assistant. And it's ok if you guys laugh...I can't do math to save my life...I just make charts and send emails. I'm more of a personal assistant/his entertainment than anything else. We have a lot of fun here at the office!

Also, I'm going back to school in the fall! It has been a long time in the works; I just wanted to be sure about what I want to do for the rest of my life...so, here I go, back to school for the first time since Kaleo. It will be new, it will be different, but I have no doubt that it will good. There have just been so many times where I feel like I can't do it, or something goes wrong, but God is watching over and taking care of me. Anyways, I will be taking Early Childhood Education with the hope of opening my own daycare somewhere in this big, wide world! I just have such a huge desire to love little children and instil the love of Christ into their lives. I feel that a lot of children are forced to grow up too soon...I want to give them a safe place to be kids and learn that there is Someone far greater than anybody on this earth that looks out for them and cares for them.

Well, I think this has been a fairly detailed update. I will be at Camp Qwanoes from August 14-20 if anyone is kicking around the island and wants to stop in. Jenny and I will be there together for that week and I am so excited!

Dan and Katie...I'm sorry that I will miss your special day, but know that you are in my prayers as you embark on your new life together!

Now, everyone else...let's keep each other updated! No matter how detailed or brief, it would be absolutely delightful to know where you're all at.

Much love,

Trusting Jess*

Kurtis & Jon are planting

Hey you lot! its Kurtis.
I got back from a winter of traveling in Europe at the end of April (I love Europe). Went to my brothers college grad, signed the licence for his elopement (don't ask). After which I headed to BC to put in another season of tree planting.
Many great things have come from my third excursion to the bush. Being reunited with old planting comrades as well as mates from the regular world that have made the trek out to pound in some trees. The most notable one being Jon Lafave. Having not seen him since the kaleo breakup it has been wonderful to catch up with him and go through the testing experience of planting together. Pray for safety from injury, mental breakdowns and particularly less bugs and better weather. My lifestyle is about to change greatly next month. God has called me to shelve my travel plans and be a family man. I'll be moving to Caronport with my family to support my mother and sister while me Dad spends long periods away from home doing long haul trucking. I'm terrified of what may become of it. Its all in Gods hands. Love you all




yoooo. this is now jon. sitting in kurts car. because well its raining. actually it just stopped which is rare because it has rained a lot here in alberta the last little while.
in april i graduated with all those other beautiful brothers in caronport and then took a quick road trip out west and got to prince george where we began planting at the beginning of may. kurt is a third year vet but im just a little rookie so this crazy job called tree planting has been quite the experience. its been amazing though and while difficult, our Father is teaching me some really amazing lessons. one of the hardest lessons but really good ones has been being in a place that is so driven to make money and excel and yet having circumstances at times that don't allow for it. i found myself so angry at times as i would be planting, whether at my partner or the people paying me what i thought was a ridiculous price per tree. and pretty early on into the season i believe God challenged me asking if i trusted him. if i trusted him to provide for me. that if i was to work hard and do my best, did i trust him with the rest. if all the money i made was taken away from me at the end of this season, would i trust him. would i focus on my numbers and money more then the people around me? and so these have been things i've wrestled with since starting, but it's been good. i know he is doing a work in my heart in making eternal things much more important and challenging areas that i hold to high. its good.
after tree planting which should be over at the end of the month, ill head home to just hang out before moving downtown in toronto where i'll start a 9 month internship at a church working with youth and the marginalized in toronto. the church is called Toronto Alliance and its incredible. its right downtown and gathers together in this really small upper room. it all happened pretty fast but when i was there a few times over the christmas break it was incredible, it's lively in there. im going to be moving into a house with some good friends and friends that are really passionate about similar things and are ultimately really wanting to follow Jesus in every aspect of life, im really excited.

hope you like the beard, it sucks when i drool as i sleep and i wake up with a wet beard to the right side of my lip.

i love you all lots.
a psalm that ive been reading a lot since being in the bush is psalm 16. despite crazy days and not ideal situations, in his presence, there really is fullness of joy. read it.
peeeeacce

p.s. one night in prince george over the break kurt and i went with his cousin to a worship night put on by ihop and it was incredible. such a blessing to be with this brother and to pray together,
its a cool thing to be a part and yet to come together with Jesus as the center, dang its good.

Chilling on the Island

Scotty, I am amazed at the direction your life has taken these past years - who woulda thunk it during those first days of Kaleo when we were trying to pry a few words from you! We love reading anything that still shows up on this blog, and hope it will continue! Rather than write the same thing on every Kaleo Blog, may I direct you to the K8 Blog (not because I love them more - you are all my favorite year of Kaleo!) where I wrote an update on us. We love running into you, hearing from you, and hopefully we will visit with many of you on our cross-Canada trip later this summer. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of this adventure!