Judy

Recently I've discovered a renewed appreciation for Judy. Judy is the name that we've given my parent's minivan that was so generously lent to me for the year. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I was beginning to take her for granted. Her usefulness is displayed every week in a very tangible way, which makes it difficult to ignore the blessing that she is. However, today I was thinking a little more about her than normal. Judy brings me to church every Sunday as well as a whole van full of Capernwray students that I pick up on the way. Judy takes a bunch of us on Slurpee and Wendy's runs on a weekly basis. (Ok, so maybe a biweekly basis.) Judy allows us to make Walmart runs to pick up birthday cakes so we can have midnight birthday parties for people. Judy enables people to hurry up and mail that letter really quick before the post office closes! Judy takes us on adventures to Victoria, Nanaimo, Salt Spring Island and many other fantastic places. Today I was leaving for church and I saw a couple people walking down the road towards camp. I was able to pick them up and bring them back to camp quick so they wouldn't have to walk in the rain. This actually happened twice today and is the reason for my renewed appreciation for Judy. She's been good to us. Could we have gotten by without Judy? For sure. But by no means would this year have been the same without her. So, thank you Mom and Dad for letting me bring Judy. All of us thank you.

I mentioned that Judy gave us the means to venture over to Salt Spring Island. This week we've been on reading break which means that a lot of people have either gone home or t0 Youth Quake (a youth conference at Briercrest). However, there are about ten or twelve of us that chose to stay here for the break. So yesterday those of us still here decided to take the ferry over to Salt Spring Island, which is just across the water from camp. It was such a good day of hikes and picnics and frisbee and random drives through beautiful places. Part of the goal was to find and drive up Mount Maxwell because apparently it's a worthy effort. We never actually found Mount Maxwell, but we saw a lot of cool things and places along the way. We even saw yaks. I would live on that island in a second.

There is good news in regards to India. Jim was having trouble getting visas for Ben and I (the two Americans). It wasn't that our applications were being rejected but rather it was a back and forth game of where to even send them to begin with. Anyway, in the end we received our visas. This is very good news. Also, that same day I heard word from my church at home that they will be able to support me around 1/3 of the cost of the trip. That is huge. I'm still needing to raise a fair bit and I only have a couple weeks to do it. But God has been faithful thus far and I don't doubt that He will provide.

I also mentioned before that this is reading break. However, it involves more reading than break. We have a couple major assignments due at the end of the week as well as a load of pre-course work for our Gospels class coming up. So, that is what I will be doing for the next three days. Starting now.

Goodbye.

Room Dates And Updates

Yesterday was, of course, Valentines Day. So, it was appropriate that myself and my roommates went on a room date with one of the girls rooms. The first stop was Value Village in Nanaimo. (Value Village is kind of like Salvation Army.) We were on a mission for bowling shirts, and after some minimal compromising we left satisfied. Next, in our new attire, we went to Fast Eddies for burgers and milkshakes. Quality. We ended the night with a game of five pin bowling. The funny thing was that two of the girls have casts on their wrists from snowboarding injuries, and one guy has a cast on his ankle from a piggy-back ride gone wrong. So the rest of us decided to bowl left handed to compensate. All-in-all, it was a solid night. Also, while we were away on our date, one of the girls (Shannon) got engaged back at camp. That was awesome news.

The other day Dan and I met with the rest of our church's worship team to learn some new songs from each other. It was kind of a strange and mildly productive evening. Granted, it was cool to pay some attention, as a group, to the worship ministry outside of the Sunday morning routine. There is enough talent, equipment, and space in this church to have a full band every Sunday. But there is no one making the effort to make that happen. Whenever I lead I make sure to utilize the available resources to show them the possibilities. Yet it fails to catch on. It's not that I think a full band is necessary in order for the church to function properly. I just see a lot of gifted people simply showing up because it's Sunday. These people need to be motivated to get involved and stayed involved. I don't think it is my place to be the one to do that. Even though sometimes I do.

India training is coming along. We hiked up the same trail today with the waterfall. It never fails to be beautiful. We leave for India in just over three weeks. I don't even know what to think about that. I know a lot of people, including myself, are still trying to raise all of the money. Fund raising is a rather daunting task, but it's cool to see how God is providing. It's encouraging. Yesterday we went to the little blue clinic in Duncan to get all the shots we needed for India. My previous immunization records was this foreign looking list of jumbled letters. I had to go online to try and translate it in order to figure out what shots I still needed. Hopefully it was a reliable website. Too late now, the juices are already in my blood.

Time to read.

Goodbye.

Time

Every now and then, in preparation for India, we hike up one of the nearby mountains. It's not a very large mountain; it can be conquered in under an hour easily. However, we took a different route yesterday that brought us to a bridge (downed tree) that overlooked an amazing, little waterfall. It was in the midst of big trees, mossy rocks and a ground covering of ferns. It's difficult to convey the scene. Paul, my roommate, snapped a couple pictures, but it was getting dark and the pictures don't quite tell the whole story. Even with the best of pictures, I wouldn't be able to show you how beautiful this place is. Not a day goes by where I'm not stopped in my tracks by another beautiful spectacle. I get a sinking feeling when I think how I only have two more months here.

The reality of that two month time frame has really been slapping me in the face lately. At church today someone made a joke poking fun at me, and I realized that those relationships are just now getting to the point where we can do that kind of thing. It's taken a ridiculous amount of time to get to this point. There are some people and groups where that kind of relationship can be achieved in the first five minutes - yet there are others, like at church, that take months. This church is a hard one to crack, and as soon as I'm beginning to feel integrated it's almost time to leave. There's a part of me that is really down about this, but I think it would be foolish to get down and out. I need to get in and get busy. I just wish I knew what to do.

I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks. I think it's going to be significantly slower placed than the 'rush' that has become the norm. Granted, we have a whole heap of homework and major assignments that need to be finished, but that's not so bad. The point is, we don't have any major trips or classes taking place. You know you're too busy when thought of homework becomes exciting - merely for the pleasure of being in one spot for an extended period of time. Although, knowing me, the joy of being still will wear off in about two days and I'll be itching to do something else. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

We have a fairly significant test tomorrow for Old Testament Lit. that I need to study for. I think I need a nap first.

Goodbye.

An Evening Between Headphones

It's been way too long since I've just sat with headphones and cranked music. (I am currently sitting with headphones and cranking music.) I used to spend a lot more time with music. Listening to it, playing it, writing it. Since I've been here, music has taken a back seat ride. I think there are a lot of reasons for that. One, my ipod died. Two, my old computer went crazy on me and it made it difficult to listen to music. Three, my entire itunes library disappeared from existence early last semester, also making it very difficult to listen to music. Four, I felt a need to spend time with people and not be consumed by distractions. I think God did me a favor by creating those obstacles this year. It would be rather regrettable to be a part of this kind of community and waste it between a pair of headphones. Of course, music is not completely removed from me. I am doing a fair bit of worship leading. But for some reason there is a difference in musics between worship and music that I enjoy. That sounds harsh, as if I don't enjoy worship music, which is not true. Leading worship and singing songs to worship God is beautiful and something that I never want to undermine or relinquish. It's wonderful and necessary. Some might find it appropriate to attempt to combine worship and the music that I enjoy. Maybe those two could meet in some beautiful harmony. Maybe. That might be great. I haven't really given that a whole lot of attention. Right now I just miss they way music used to fit in my life before this year. Having said that, I in no way regret the distance I have had from it for this time.

This past weekend we all went over to Vancouver for a thing called Missions Fest. It's an annual event that has numerous seminars all related in some way to missions. Also there were loads of booths from all kinds of mission organizations, colleges, and other ministry groups. It was encouraging to talk with people who are devoted to serving God in such a wide variety of ways. There were quite a few people from Kaleo that were impacted in a pretty cool ways through this trip. It brought focus and direction to many people as well as opened doors to a whole slew of ministries to potentially be involved with. If I'm honest though, I didn't have any immediate/significant things happen to me personally - outside of a honest joy I found for other people who were being impacted. I was really happy to see that.

Recently I've been thinking about going to Briercrest to finish my degree. (Briercrest is the college that Kaleo is associated with.) Prior to the past couple weeks, the idea of going to Briercrest never even entered my mind in a remotely probable way. It's a small, Christian college in nowhere Saskatchewan. There is nothing attractive about this school, and suddenly I can't get it out of my head. I really enjoy traveling to new places, but this is honestly one of the last places I would choose to go. Granted, I've been living in one of the most beautiful places in North America for the better part of a year. So, maybe I need a little Saskatchewan to balance things out. Of course, nothing is for sure. This is simply where I'm headed unless God redirects.

Today there was a mouse in the lodge. We managed to corner him and eventually capture him under a metal container. Then somehow we managed to transfer him to a larger container where we could watch him run. Eventually the tree hugging BC people made us let him go. Just kidding... no I'm not. This took up at least twenty minutes of the day.

This week has been franticly busy with class, group projects, homework, and everyday life. However, tonight is one of those nights that I decided I can ignore the rush. So I should really get back to that. It's turning out to be a beautiful evening between headphones.

Goodbye.