Long Time no blog... yeah I'm lame... WHAT?!?!

Heya Guys!

Yeah, I kinda lost my username for a while...
Woops.

So I'm sitting here at lunch at school in the library bored out of my mind and I thought I'd stop in.

Just a few prayer requests... if you guys wouldn't mind.

I have a voice exam in a week and a half and I def. don't feel ready and I think I am getting sick (Again... ) If you could pray for health and being able to prepare well that would be stellar.

I also need a good summer job, and I'm having troubles finding a high paying good summer job that will let me have two weeks off (Because of camp... I'm going as a camper and a Program Director... yeah I am.. ) Its a tad difficult, so if you could just pray that God would get me the right job.

Other than that... I graduate tomorrow! WOOOOT! I'm so ready to get out of this place and get on with my life and start Kaleo! IM SO STOKED!

and I'm slightly stoked on life too, cuz YC was stellar and I met Jason from Kaleo 3. And I have a pic of us that I will post when I get home. Its slightly embarrassing of me... soo uhh... well I guess I cant ask you to laugh cuz I look like a fool and... Yeah

Okay I'm done... thanks for tuning in and for your prayers!

<3 Love you all

your SiC (Sister in Christ)

Kendall

blythe's story!

hey kaleo;

well, after a drive up to camp qwanoes (i had never seen the place before, and it is gorgeous!) for an interview/tour with jim & amanda yesterday, i just found out that i have been accepted into kaleo 06/07! i am very excited for everything that god brings next year, and im also super excited to meet all you guys.

my name is blythe hutchcroft, im 18 yrs old, and im graduating from high school in about a month. i live in victoria BC. i looove music. my top 5 favourite bands are death cab for cutie, david bowie, taking back sunday, the rocket summer & tegan and sara. my favourite book & movie is high fidelity, although i love a lot of films (zoolander, garden state, heart&souls, ferris bueller's are all up there...) i play guitar, but not well. i taught myself, which wasn't too difficult since i have a musical background, but i've only been playing for 6 months. i played baseball for 10 yrs, soccer for 5 and rowed for the past 2. i'm super involved with a youth ministry called "young life." i love school and i love my friends, a lot. im into photography (i almost went to photo school before being lead here) and i'm a vegetarian. anyways, i'll stop here, before this starts sounding like the classifieds eh?

onto the more important stuff...i can't really pinpoint a specific time when i became christian. my whole life has been a gradual process of me meething god and him changing me.

i was born into an athiest family. my parents are very supportive with my decisions, but they don't usually understand. when i was 9 i went to camp columbia on thetis island (a little island off of vancouver island) and that was the first time i really thought about the fact that there could be more to this life. i went back to that camp every summer, for many years. because of camp columbia i believed in god in a technical sense, but i didnt really see how that was applicable to my life.

entering gr 8, i got involved with some typical teenage things: worrying about popularity, partying, boys, etc. the summer i was 15 i did this program called CLIC (alot like LIT or CIT) and those 2 weeks i really realized how amazing it was that jesus had died for me, and how i should really devote my whole life to him. i started going to a church that fall. but still, it was really hard for me to make the change at high school. i lived most of my high school life selfishly divided between my school life/friends and my church/camp life. unfortunately, the school life/friends took up more of my life. so all throughout high school i struggled in a balancing act, really. i awknowledged god with my beliefs, but denied him with my life, if that makes sense.

in the fall of 2004, i went through some rough stuff with my family, and with my pursuit as an athlete. i broke my arm and there was a pretty tragic death in the fam. that really sucked, to put it lightly, and i think that's when i really started to realize the importance of god because of how much he understands me, and how much he really is there for me. however, i continued to live a life far from him for a while. at some point in grade 11 i heard a speaker talk about "living life for temporary highs." i realized that's what i'd been doing. so, though it wasn't easy, i began to take small steps back towards god. the summer before gr 12 (so about a year ago) i finally changed my life around and made jesus the priority, and it's been so great! i got baptized this past january, and that was super rad! i can't wait to see where god takes me, and i guess kaleo will be one of many adventures with him!

so there you have my story. i'm sorry it was so long, congrats if you're still reading! anyways, i loved reading your guys' and i cant wait to meet all of you in september! i hope everyone has excellent and blessed summers before we all head up to qwanoes to start kaleo!

love;
blythe.

blythehutchcroft@hotmail.com

ps: i tried to figure out how to put a picture up here, but no luck. gimme a while to figure this out, then we'll see!

voted off the island

Well not really, but im kind of stuck in the same situation as tyler. Actually, due to finances i won't even to go back to briercrest this year, there seems to be no way out of taking a year off to replenish my bank account. note to all perspective college students: never ever take your credit card to school... haha, never ever take two credit cards to school, they'll only get you into trouble.
but looking ahead, me and jimbad already discussed looking into Kaleo 5, and he said it shouldn't be a big problem, which means i have 16 months to pay off some debts and get everything in order, so that shouldn't be a problem for next year.
Jimbad suggested i try to get to YQ07, so ill get the chance to meet some of you. Im way ahead of you, my youth group goes every year, and I've got friends at briercrest I wanna see too, so we'll defenitly be in touch. and of course through all the blogs, and msn conversations I've had with alot of you, it's not like we'll just close the book on each other. I wish you guys all the best as you prepare over the summer, and my prayers will be with you throughout the year. And tyler, you gotta let me know what youre plans are when you finalize them, haha maybe we can be the first 2 to get out names in for kaleo 5, haha.

blessings on all of you
your brother in his name,

-rob

Kaleo Info Package Coming!

Hey Kaleo! This afternoon my wife Sarah and I finished up the Kaleo Info Package, and it will go in the mail tomorrow! Please let me know when you receive it. I will also post it on the Blog soon so if you lose anything or mess up a form you can download it here.

Starting tomorrow, I am taking a break for about three weeks. But I will still check my email (and the Blog) so if you have a question it is okay to ask. Just to update you, we have accepted 21 students so far (8 guys, 13 girls, average age 17.71 as of now) and I have several applications in process (including more guys!). So we are nearly there. What an amazing community God is pulling together! Can't wait to see you here!

China!!!

Well, it's been a while since I've said hello and I thought I'd jump in and share a bit of where I've been. I took my week off from camp and went to visit a friend of mine in China...ya if you can believe it, China. I'm still having trouble believing that I went; looking at the pictures makes me think it was all a dream, so crazy! We saw so much of China in one week it's hard to believe I'm still walking...my mom was so happy when I returned and announced that this was not a place that I would jump at a chance to return to. I appreciated the opportunity God gave and I am so happy that I got to see everything and especially to visit my friend, but man was it difficult! So dark...

Anywho...this place has been crazy as we gear up for the summer...so much to accomplish to get this place ready for the summer. We just finished a family retreat this last weekend that was an amazing picture of this new staff team coming together to work and serve the families. Honestly in the past I haven't found that I connected very well with the families, but this past weekend was phenomenal, and God truly opened my eyes to the amazing impact that this place has on parents as well as their kids. It was fantastic to be a part of seeing these people re-connect with their families and interact with each other on new levels. It's going to be so awesome to have you guys here this coming year and have you get to taste and be a part of what camp can do for people.

I can't believe that Kaleo is just around the corner! You guys will all be here in no time...wow...so exciting! It's been such a blast reading about you guys and hearing your stories on this blog--so awesome!

Pray for a protection

Hey Everyone

So my life has been a little crazy with a friend of mine from my youth group. God brought my attention to her when she was feeling really depressed and scared. I found out she had been cutting and taken pills to easy the pain of life. It was not a cry for attention it's was more a release that the devil had given her the knowledge of. So I talked to my youth leader and she already knew about it but didn't realize that it was happen again. So we prayed about it and over the course of about two months she stopped cutting for about 7 weeks and only took pills when needed. Then her boy friend broke up with her and sent her on a down ward slope in life. It ended yesterday for her. I received and email saying she had decided to give up and take her own life. Well I couldn't let that happen after God and been using me to help her out so... I emailed my youth leader who talked to the social worker at the school who called her parents who took her to the hospital to make sure she was alright. She was although mad at me at first was later glad that she was alive and so was everyone else. She know needs pray that people will understand what she went through and that God will bring positive people in to her life.
Thanks for the support can't wait to meet and pray and fellowship with you all

The end may be closer...

Well everyone it may be the end before it has begun. Kaleo has been a dream of mine since i first heard of it. this year i have been excepted,, but it may just not work out for me. this is the biggest thing i want in my life right now and i want ot to happen. but financially i dont think it can happen. Im trying all that i can but im just not sure. i hope this is not the end. i hope that i will see you all this september. so if y'all could pray for me that would be awsome cause i really want to do this. but if its not what im supposed to do right now i will be back again trying next year

X3

Here I am sitting at home on the computer just counting the days till I get to leave my little town to head out for the year of my life. I'm pumped to meet all of you on that day in September when we will unite into a super team of unstoppable coolness. Rocking some waves, schooning some schooners, scaling some rock faces and of course playing the most ultimate of all Ultimate Frizbees. But until that day comes I'll be working at Muskoka Woods Sports Resort, spending time hanging out with my most favourite of ppl. Kids. Sailing, wakeboarding, slaloming, archerizing and everything in between... I guess I'm pretty pumped for that too. But really I'm most pumped to spend a year focussed on God, bring glory to Him in everything I do from all the incredible fun stuff to the essays or whatever other things we'll be doing in class. I mean at last a year, probably for the first time in all of our lives where school isn't going to be a distraction from God, but instead a chance to learn more and grow closer to Him. It doesn't get much better than that. And to top it off it's on Vancouver Island, how sweet it is.
On another note, as you all probably know X3 is coming out fairly soon and my friends and I are all going to dress up as different mutants. I'm going as Arcangel. And this is where our discrepency arose, which you may be able to help us on. If ArcAngel were to fight the Green Lantern from the Justice League, who do you think would win?

So Who's Da Vinci Anyway?

I gotta jump in here. For the past few months I have been pestering everyone who will listen that a movie is coming which will either rock the North American church or present an amazing opportunity to reach the Western world. It all started when my wife and I were in New Zealand chatting with a young couple over ostrich burgers and ginger beer, and they asked what we do in Canada which brought up the question, what do you think of The Da Vinci Code? Heard of the book but never read it, I answered, which bothered me so I bought a copy in New Zealand and read it on the trip home.

It's a novel, a thriller like "National Treasure," in which the author Dan Brown takes the main character and his beautiful female counterpart (does this smell like money yet?) from clue to clue toward an elusive goal. The treasure? The Holy Grail. Unlike Indiana Jones or Monty Python, this Holy Grail is not the cup Jesus used during the Last Supper, but a person. In this novel, the Holy Grail is a holy blood-line - the product of a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene - a secret suppressed by the church but preserved through the centuries by a secret society. Grossed out yet? Oh, it gets way worse, which may be enough for you to decide not to read the book, let alone watch the movie. Somehow, though Jesus remains very much just a man, his union with Mary Magdalene makes her a goddess, worshipped in very obscene and blasphemous ways by this same secret society, the Priory of Sion. The books ends with the main character having arrived at the place where apparently the proof of this secret is stored, but he is too overwhelmed to retrieve it and leaves it where it is.

The preface of the book claims that the existence of the Priory of Sion is a "Fact" (big letters). Well, it's not. Discovery Channel has shown a couple good documentaries (and a few dumb ones) that totally debunk the book, from secular sources (try to find "Da Vinci Declassified" or "The Real Da Vinci Code" on their listings). You can also check out sites like Focus On The Family among others. The book is entirely fabricated from bits and pieces of myth and dubious history, strung together in a rather poorly written and illogical trail. It is highly unlikely that Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of The Last Supper depicts Mary Magdalene sitting at Jesus' right hand (actually, Leonardo had a tendency toward painting effeminate young men for his own reasons), and when did Leonardo Da Vinci become an expert in biblical history anyway?

But hey, it's just a novel, right? Trouble is, it's like taking a crate full of cockroaches and emptying them on your living room floor. The average person could never check out all the supposed "facts" that The Da Vinci Code presents, just like you could never chase down all those cockroaches. Plus, people will believe - because they want to - that this whole Christian thing was just a hoax all along, whether you can prove it otherwise or not. One day Dan Brown will greatly regret writing this book. I just hope that this happens within his lifetime.

long time no see

Hey my Kaleo fam, how's it going? I was hangin with some people from Kaleo 3 today and I realized I haven't posted in awhile. Hi to the people I haven't met yet. the reason i'm posting is I was wondering what your guys view of the Davinci code is. i haven't read the book, and i mostly just have non-christian friends up here. has anyone read it?? any opinions. i know its fiction but i've heard it messes with a lot of truths. anyway i'd love to talk to you guys about this or other stuff, add me janjan008 at hotmail.com. under four months! i can feel the mountain air now....

Stopping Fields hat trick

Haha, Josh if you were even thinking of posting three in a row, take this! Although stopping josh's streak was my main purpose of this post, i have other things on my mind as well. My friends and I our having our second bible study later today which will be much fun. I was also thinking that this i my third post and I havent given my email out to you folk. it is i_am_not_you_ at hotmail dot com (yes...it is lame) i also recomend you add this character smarterchild@hotmail.com he will make you angry, make you laugh, and waste your life. add him and you will soon see how

Champ Bob

So I won the battle of the bands...and im exhausted but relieved. I started out Doing my hula air band which was awesome. I had a sea shell bra on...it was hot...ill show you all sometime. Then my friends little brother was doing a band but his drummer couldnt be there so i played drums for Sadie Hawkins dance. But halfway through his drummer showed up ...so we switched between verse and chorus...it was INTENSE and the lead singer didnt see the other drummer get back and was freaking out when i ran past him hahaha. then I sang and played bass for "The town that you live in", a song by Sherwood (good pop rock) then finished singing Aerials by System of a down...which has a REALLY high vocal part by i managed it. so ya funstuff...i got a massive cheque thing too! ya..so...thats it

Gramps

So my Grampa passed away on friday night. Ya he had a rough day but the hour before he died he actually had some peace. But ya its been hard on the whole family and my school work this week has gone down the tubes. So if you guys could pray for my family and that I get back to highschool working mode cuz nothing happening. thanks.





also totally unrelated my schools battle of the bands is this friday and im singing for two bands so root for me:P there is also a airband competition for part of it and my friend bekah and I are doing a hawaian hula version of somewehere over the rainbow...ill get pics up soon dont worry

Hey there

Hey everyone.

Well i just got the call from Jim yesterday...ok i lied....i had to call him...but more importantly i was just excepted into Kaleo for this coming year and i don't think i could be more excited. So here is me in a nut shell.....

I love music. I'm a sucker for any music that has screaming in it. I like other types but the whole "hardcore" genre is by far my fav. I like film and television too. Although i only watch about maybe 2 hours of T.v per week, i hope to one day be invloved in the television or film industry. I like peanut butter and cheese sandwiches and i pretty much wear the same pair of pants every day. I like to run the sound board at my church on sunday mornings and i do play a little bit of guitar but not enough to call my self a real "player"..if you will..... I am by no stretch of th immagination a morning person and i have been called a little bit of a "neat freak" from time to time. I like to read Nicholas Sparks novels i have read "a walk to remember" "the notebook" and i am about half way done reading "the wedding". NOw i do realize you only get one chance to make a first impression...and i might have just screwed up my one and only chance with that last comment....but i'm trying to be honest here....work with me. Oh ya...i am currently 18 years old...but by the time september rolls around i will be 19....my b-day is august 6th...I am usaully willing to trying anything once, except for Indian food. I don't like the smell. I don't know what else to say about me, i just wrote things as they came to me.

If you would like to add me to your msn i would be really happy: nicholasjordanadams at hotmail dot com

but ya i'm really exicted to meet everyone and i really know God's got some sweet things instore for this year....we just need to remeber to be open and receptive to him...

But ya..add me to you msn and we can chat.

See you guys in about 4 months!!!!!

Peace.

It's insane!

heya everybody, just a cool update in the life of your future best friend steve(except for josh, who is current best friend) all of my amazing non-christian buddy's just made their own bible study/talk about jesus/religion time! yah they did. So all of you just pray it goes well, and we have good discussions and such :)

Update from Keerstin

hey everyone!
This is me letting yall know how the jr. youth retreat went. So Thursday Jeff and i got together and worked on my talk and made it alot shorter than i thought it would be, but i didn't minnd at all:) Friday us sponsors got to the camp at around 6 and the kids at 7:00 ish. As the us sponsors we were talking about the weekend and Jeff brought up me speaking it was really cool cuz all my fear and nervousness of speaking went away. So when it came time for me to talk..i kinda just read it off the paper. After i was done talking lots of the kids came up to me saying that they really liked my talk so that was really encouraging. We also did a devotional based on my talk in the evening. It was kinda cool. The whole weekend went so smoothly, relationships with us and the kids grew stronger and new ones were made. Yesterday before supper we had such an awsome praise and worship session. Everyone was on their feet and dancing and prasing God it was just...wow! Ya i don't know how to explain it. It was great. After supper we continued with praise and worship and Curt, our P&W leader said that in between songs anyone could just grab a mike and share whatever.... so I did. It was soo cool cuz God just totally gave me the words to say. I wrote a poem the other day, and I knew God wanted me to share it. So i did. Later on that night, one of the girls came up to me, she looked so sad. She thanked me for sharing my poem and said that it made her really think about her life and her family situation, which is pretty hard right now. I got to talk with her for a long time and after we prayed together I looked at her and she just smiled and gave me a hug. She seemed so calm. It's amazing how just talking about something can make someone feel so much better. I have grown to love these kids I see only once a week and sometimes even less than that. I see them as my little sisters and brothers, when they cry, I cry, when they laugh, I can't help but join in. I could go on forever about all that happened, and how much I love these kids, but this blog is getting rather long. Thankyou for all your prayers and advice!
God Bless!!!
Keerst

A little bit about me

Hey

I got accepted to Kaleo a while ago. So I thought that it was about time to post something on the blog. My name is Sarah-Lynn, I am 18 years old, and im in grade 12. I enjoy being outdoors and love playing sports. I really like watching hockey GO CANUCKS GO! I also play the guitar a little bit. In november I moved from Chilliwack to Cranbrook it has taken a while to get used to but it is going pretty good. I can't wait to meet you all in September.

Sarah-Lynn

God is awesome

Hey Everyone

So I haven't posted anything in awhile, because life has been busy. Basically I have been working all day most of the time. I also just got back from visiting my (now) girl friend and going to her prom in Alabama which was super fun. I want to brag a bit about her but I won't yet. LOL all I will say is her name is Nikki, and I am sure God put us together for some reason unknown to me. I also just got back from a fundraising dinner for Youth For Christ in my city and surrounding area. For those that are new or don't know I have been volunteering at the drop in center for kids 8 to 12. It has been rewarding and tonight it was great to hear about all the other programs that are going on and how God is blessing the ministry here. I am sadden that I must leave it but excited to be in Kaleo so that God can teach me. Again I can't wait to meet all of you.

Your brother in Christ
Kyle

hey i figured it out

Hey all,,

I finally figured this thing out called a bloog. its kinda cool i guess. Well i have no idea what to write about so heres abit about me. well my names Tyler Cassidy and i come from a place called Maple Ridge bc. im in grade 12 and i am just about to graduate. i love to snowboard, as well as anything that involves outside. im a pretty regular guy who just likes to hang out. i dont know what else to write and its dinner so peace out

ok, these are me.

unpublished

hey tyler...your blog = not pulbished...its still a draft! so you have to go back and go PUBLISH instead of SAVE

this title has absolutely nothing to do with the following post.

hey guys, my name is alayna. i have 3 cats. and also 3 pairs of old navy flip flops. that's pretty much all you need to know...except not.
so i live in regina in good ol' saskatchewan and am in grade 12. i like to think i'm also allergic to wheat...or my cats, i haven't decided which i like more.
so basically, here's my story. i went to a catholic church when i was really young, but when my parents divorced, we just never went back to church again. plus, the church was full of old people (one perk was that the guy who sat behind my family always had gum or candy to offer!) and just wasn't what i needed. so there i was, pretty much being confused about everything in existance, when my best friend rachael invited me to her youth group. basically i had the best time ever, and wanted to go back again. soon i started going regularly, and eventually started going to church on sunday, and to rachael's care group on wednesdays. i finally gave my life up to christ before one of the youth retreats in october 2 years ago, and then last spring i was baptized. man, it's so crazy how god works. i didn't even know what i was missing, then along comes god and BAM! he totally opened my eyes. it's amazing to look back and see the changes that happened since i became a christian. so fab!
oh man, i can't wait to get to quanoes to chill wit' you homies in da crib (holla!). yeah, i'm a nerd. but seriously, i'm a tornado of excitement, just non-destructive. like more of a light breeze of excitement.
yeah, i'll stop now
kbye

High time i said something

Well, I'm Steve. You may have heard from Josh that I'm an above average spoons player (spooner???) I've been accepted into kaleo for quite some time now, I just haven't posted anything yet, I wanted to build suspense. I'm from Victoria BC. and ive been to camp for many years, and the past two summers as staff. I'm stoked to see all of you guys, it'll be an awesome year. my next post will include a pic hopefully, but for now I'll keep you guessing...