Chili

Over the past few weeks Fall has slowly been creeping in. The leaves have been changing and are now beginning to carpet the grounds. The air is becoming crisp and pumpkins are showing up everywhere. However, today is the first day that it has genuinely smelled like fall. I found myself exceptionally appreciative of this as I was walking to lunch today where I was greeted by the matchless aroma of chili. A more appropriate meal does not exist for such a day as this. I was pleased.

Today was the beginning of our course in hermeneutics. I'm not entirely sure what to say about this class yet. If I had to offer my thoughts strictly on the pre-course material then I would not have pleasant thoughts. So I think I'll wait until we're a bit further along with this class before I say anything else.

I have a fairly important decision to make this week. Part of the Kaleo program requires that we choose to attend one of four possible mission trips. Of the four trips there are two in my mind that have risen to the surface. One is to New York where we would work in troubled neighborhoods in Brooklyn. There is a group of Christians that run a Sunday school program for over 20,000 families every week and personally visit and care for each family every week as well. I can't even fathom how this works but it sounds incredible. The other trip is to the Garwhal in northern India. Apparently this one of the darkest and most oppressed areas in India and almost entirely without Christian presence. Blatant evangelism is not exactly an option in this area because of the threats of Hindu extremists. Because of this, much of our evangelism will be in how we interact with each other and with the people we meet along the way. Another aspect of the trip will be prayer which is a thread that will run through all that we do. I have to turn in my decision by the end of the week so I would greatly appreciate your prayers on the matter.

I started typing this post much earlier in the day but somehow after all the distractions of the evening I'm just now finishing it here after 11. I think I will go to bed now. For the past few days I've been fighting some kind of cold that just seems to only worsen. I hope tomorrow will bring relief. That is all.

The Salmon Run

As I reflect on this past week there seems to be one topic that comes to mind more than any other. Homework. It had its oppressive grip on each one of us every second of every day. People were spread out near and far in any and every nook of this facility trying to find a quiet moment to get work done. Some people (myself included) go as far as to hide in storage and laundry rooms just to get something accomplished. However, in all reality it's not that bad. It is a lot to do and it's not always exciting but it's solid material. I'm certainly not complaining.

A few days ago the guys and the girls were spilt up for a small, one night trip. The girls went to some house on a beach somewhere and went shopping and ate Indian food and so forth. The guys all went to Jim's house (our Kaleo leader) and cooked a rather large steak dinner for ourselves. It was the first time we've ever been split up by gender for an evening. I think it was good for all of us to get away and have solid fellowship and conversation as men and women. I hope we can do this again.

Yesterday Isaac and I drove into Victoria for a computer bag that he needed to buy. Isaac is a full time staff member here at camp and also a good friend of mine. On our way back to camp we stopped to watch the "salmon run." Ever year around this time the salmon all swim back up stream to lay their eggs and die. By the time they reach their destination they're pretty beat up and sickly. It was pretty intense, really. I'm glad I had the opportunity to see this.

Today was a good day. Church was exceptionally encouraging this morning. At first I couldn't quite figure out exactly why it was so good but then I got it. It was good fellowship. I think this church is starting to feel more like my own. Not my own like my church at home, but my own like where I belong. There are a handful of Capernwray students that I normally pick up and drop off at the ferry every Sunday so they can go to church with us. Capernwray is a program somewhat similar to Kaleo except they have groups all over the world including one in the area. Anyway, before taking them back to the ferry we went a few places around town and had lunch together at Tim Hortons. We also swung by camp so they could see our home and get a little better idea for what Kaleo is all about. It was a really enjoyable afternoon.

This week is most likely going to look a lot like last week. There is much homework to do and not a lot of time to do it. Sometimes I feel a little like one of those beat up salmon trying desperately to get ahead. Except there are no eggs involved. Hopefully I won't die. Oh yes, I think we're going spelunking one of the days this week. I'm sure there will be more to come on that. Next time.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada

On the outside, Canadian Thanksgiving is much like Thanksgiving in the states. Family and friends gather together. There is an elaborate meal with a plethora of foods (including the traditional turkey and pumpkin pie). Except the only thing is I'm not sure what they are celebrating. I was just thankful to get a meal outside of camp.

I say outside of camp because I did, in fact, go away for the weekend. A couple friends of mine from home (Shawn and Danielle Kelley) came up to Danielle's parent's house on the mainland for Thanksgiving and I was able to join them. Today they came back to the island with me for a couple of days. It's nice to be with people from home again.

It would be a terrible thing to not take a moment now to mention the epic fun that was our surfing trip. It turns out I'm not the best surfer on the west coast. But I certainly don't feel that I'm the worst either. I slowly mastered the art of catching the waves with the occasional accomplishment of getting up on my board. The bottom line here is that surfing is great fun.

Sadly enough, surfing and Thanksgiving were short lived episodes. The amount of homework I have to do in the next couple weeks is more than I can even convey by memory at this time. Which is why I must now end this post and continue in my academic endeavors.

Computers, Worship and Beautiful Places

I try to keep my complaints to a minimum whenever I find myself writing for any kind of audience. It seems to be less than tasteful to offer such an attitude. However, I would like to grumble for a moment about a problem I've been having with my computer. The only way I can keep it alive is to keep it plugged in at all times. So if I unplug it for even a moment it dies. Obviously, there has been much speculation from the computer geeks in my life as to what the problem may be. But until I find the time to get it fixed, this is my struggle. I say all of this because just moments ago I was nearly finished typing some material when my outstretched foot happened upon my computer's power cord. With the slightest of nudges I managed to kill my computer erasing all that I had written. This is not an uncommon occurrence as of lately and it hardly prompts my desire to write at this time.

None-the-less,

This past week we (Kaleo) did something completely out of the ordinary. We went to school. That is correct, after three weeks of fun and adventure we've finally decided to settle down for a bit. Our first class was titled Spiritual Formation. It mainly addressed the various spiritual disciplines that many of us as life long believers have heard time and time again. Examples would include prayer, fasting, meditation, scripture memorization, etc. However, the exciting thing about all of this was that we were taught how to actually use these disciplines effectively. Our professor, Marv Penner, was able to convey this information with an incredible amount of sincerity. His honesty as a teacher enabled many of us to be impacted on a far deeper level than we ever would have thought possible.

Church has been on my mind a lot lately. Not the church in general but my specific church that I attend. Lately Daniel and I have been able to help with the worship. Basically, I've simply been playing along on guitar and Daniel the same on some form of drum. We hope to be able to incorporate more planning and practice in the process but it's becoming more difficult than expected. However, this past Sunday the lady that normally leads offered Daniel and I the opportunity to lead once or twice a month. So this could be a much simpler and more effective method of incorporating new ideas and better structure. Time will tell.

The monday night worship time, which I've just decided needs a proper title, has been going well. The monday before last was a more conventional time of song. We asked people to bring their instruments, whatever they may be, and any music they could muster. We had guitars, a violin, a djembe, a cajon, and I think even a flute at one point. The music went on for quite a while. It was good. // Tonight was much different. We basically just drew pictures. It seems fairly elementary and for a group of college students it was difficult for some people to do. However, people responded really well to it. It was refreshing.

The other day I was walking outside between buildings when I suddenly realized the beauty of the place where I live. Don't get me wrong, I've known of it's beauty all along. But for some reason in that brief moment of commute it became exceptionally evident. I am blessed.

Speaking of beautiful places, we're leaving for Tofino tomorrow to go surfing. Tofino is on the western coast of the island and apparently is a beautiful place. Supposedly there's going to be over twenty foot waves tomorrow. We obviously won't be surfing in those conditions because we would die. But we're excited to be able to see such a spectacle because it's not all that common of an occurrence. We'll be there for a few days and the waves are supposed to calm down quite a bit so we should still get some decent time in the water.

As for now, I must pack.