Kaleo Ministry

Wow, I leave for Vancouver in just under an hour. We will be staying in a church over night, and tomorrow we are flying to Tokyo for one night before finishing our journey to New Delhi. Once in New Delhi 13 other students and 2 leaders will meet up with my good friend Nicki Parker, and we will begin our journey north into the foothills of the Himalayas.
It is frightening for me to be a representative. I am a very inadequate person to be representing a place like Canada, a school like Kaleo, or a person like Christ. This fear had made me queasy up until last night, when I realized that myself and my fellow students are in very good hands. The Lord has gone before us, preparing good works for us. He has been preparing the people we are going to meet and preparing us to meet them.
I am never going to feel prepared, but I do know in my heart that I have nothing to worry about except clothing myself in Christ.
Please remember to pray for our team. Pray that stress does not get the best of us, and that we are made into worthy ambassadors.
Thank you for your prayers!

Kaleo Ministry

This week a few students went up to Qwanoes' junk pile and moved scrap metal into a large bin. We continue to work out very often in preparation for our trek in India.

I found out that I have $50 dollars more than my tuition cost in the bank.

Levi (my pastor's son) had a birthday party which the Cobble Hill Kaleos went to. It was very fun.

My grades are terrible, but I am learning lots.

I still do not know what I am doing next September.

I could use prayer for focus, willpower, comfort, and support for India.

Thank you for reading, I will try to post some sweet stories or pictures next time!

Kaleo Ministry

Kaleo is back in session, and oh how wonderful it is!

Over the break God spoke to me through the scripture of Ephesians. Jim warned us that going back home from Kaleo could sometimes be like a battle, so I dove into the Word and tried to put on some armor. The salvation that Christ bought us has been on my mind. I have kept the Bible nearby and ready. The good news directed my steps. The truth held me up. I struggled to embody righteousness. Ephesians was my anthem and war cry. 

I say all of this not because my home-life is hard, or my family is treacherous, that would be to lie! My family and friends are wonderful people who build me up daily. But being in my old haunts, seeing the expectation of others for me to either be the same, or some creature altogether holier than when they last saw me, was a struggle. I needed God's full armor to keep my heart well protected for his use. 

Needless to say, God kept me. I loved being home. I already miss all of you!

All of my mates and I here at Qwanoes are jumping straight into the grindstone. We have already completed one course (except for all the homework!), and we are about to go snowboarding on Mt Washington for five days. We will be staying in a luxury chalet on the mountain. It has three hot-tubs! It will be just like home ;)

After that, we are starting our theology course, taught by my pastor. I would appreciate prayers, as I am sure that if I write a poor paper I will never live it down. 

Being back at Cobble Hill Church is just amazing. It felt like a family reunion. Especially with Nicki Parker there (who, for those who don't know, is an angel sent by God to bring me to Cobble Hill, who also will be co-leading my trip to India with a few other saints). 

God has been teaching me patience for a long time (or, has been trying to; I am a poor student). Recently he has reminded me to follow his leading even if conventional wisdom would point to different decisions. Praise him for his steadfastness in counsel! 

Because they sometimes forget to read this, tell my Mom and Grandma I love them dearly, whoever sees them first!

-Lovingly,

JH

Kaleo Ministry

So this is the last week of Kaleo until the new year! I am excited to come back and see everyone, but I sure am going to miss all of my class-mates.
In our field education class we are learning about the ministry of reconciliation from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. These verses talk about how God has reconciled himself to us, and what that means we should be doing. It has sort of provided me with a 'mission statement' for everything I do. The Bridge (youth worship night at Cobble Hill) has been going very well. We recently had a Christmas service, where we sang classics like "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel, which is probably my new favorite. The youth group there is really tight, and its good to be a part of that.
The other day we went to 'The Bungy Zone" and a bunch of us jumped off a bridge. I opted for the less terrifying option of climbing through a ropes course 80 feet up in some trees. I was on the course for a few hours swinging between spindly pines. It was good times. Afterward I got to watch my less inhibited friends plunging 150 feet into a river, and then bouncing back up as if they were on the end of a flyfishers rod.
The community here at Kaleo is growing all the time, partly due to all of our shared experiences, but moreso because of our intentional opening up to one another. We all do our best not to badmouth people behind their backs, but instead discuss issues with one another. And sometimes, like recently, when this doesnt happen, we respond to it by throwing it out there. This morning in a large group we discussed how we havent always been accepting of everyone here, which was becoming a heartbreaking problem. And now we can make a concerted effort to remedy the problem. I think we are all closer because of this 'mass honesty' and I hope to be 'massively honest' back at home too. I guess I have learned that we have to let people in on our pet peeves otherwise there wont be any healing - just bitterness.
Soon I will be home and able to tell you all about whats been going on!
Love you lots

Kaleo Ministry

The 24/7 week of prayer just ended. For almost the entire week I remained silent (with the exception of conversing with and singing to God). The week went pretty well. There were a lot of situations when I wanted to talk but shouldn't, and didn't.
In the prayer room I normally drew pictures of my prayers or knelt by the window meditating on God. The walls were covered with prayers written on multi-colored sheets of paper and pictures of all the Kaleo students and staff. I occasionally walked around the room and prayed for all the students, one at a time, but the majority of my prayers were for the people in India we would meet and the students and leaders heading up the trip.
The students at Cobble Hill baptist lead a service last week. In the morning I stammered out my testimony at the pulpit. It wasn't the best telling, but some people told me it went well and they probably have a better perspective on it! In the evening we arranged the chairs in a circle and had a camp-fire style service that worked pretty well. The whole service seemed more inviting and relaxed than it usually does.
This week, Lech was back from Poland, so we had the pleasure of hearing from him in the morning service. In the evening service, the students and youth at the church lead an all-hymn service which was really cool. I sang! Someone tell my gramma, I was in a five-person choir.
Other than that, school work has been fine. I hand in a lot of assignments late- but it doesn't bother me too much. I am thinking that when we come back after Christmas we will all know eachother well enough that we don't have to stay until 2am chatting, and instead we can stay up until 2am getting work done. Maybe pray for that, it will probably take a miracle.
I miss all you guys back home!
Lots of love,
Shalom.

Kaleo Ministry

Woops! Looks like I missed a week. That's what reading break does to you. I was buried in books the whole time.
Well honestly, not the whole time. I was camping for a couple days in the Carmanah Valley. I went with Tom and Aaron and a few people from Cobble Hill. I think that was the wettest camping trip I have ever been on. Also one of the most fun. I suppose when I am hanging out with people from Cobble Hill it counts as ministry, but its more like hanging out with family. We are encouraged to write about whether we were prepared for our ministry experiences, and I have to say -- I dont think I was. I was not at all prepared to gain more family! Friends, for sure, mentors, maybe, but family? What an amazing blessing.
Work at Qwanoes is really fun too. Tom and I cleaned out some treehouses. They were pretty gross what with the mats covered in rain water and spiders. Also there are hanging bridges which were extremely slippery and holey. Tom fell in one of the holes twice.
So far I seem to be the biggest trouble maker at Kaleo. Its not something im proud of but I dont want to provide a lopsided view of myself through this blog! First trouble was jumping off the dock at nighttime, into the ocean. The phosphorescence is beautiful but apparently thats no excuse for endangering the insurance prices of the camp. So that was kindof a bummer.
I also got in trouble for riding big pans from the kitchen down stairways. So yeah, remember to pray for God to discipline me because I need it.
In other news, I made it onto the India Team! I am not really surprised, but I am really thankful. A lot of people were told that they could not go because only ten can go. So also give praise to the Big Guy for that!
Love you all!

ps This is my only correspondence during my vow of silence. Remember to come visit me everyone!

Kaleo Ministry

Wowee what a week!
A huge assignment was due on Sunday, which I have to hand in late. Luckily my brother has helped me get started because I got totally muddled! The assignment was on the Book of Proverbs and what it says about the Heart.
Before that though, we finished Hermeneutics class with some presentations. Our group was up until 4:30 or so ironing out the wrinkles of the presentation. It went fairly well though. We had a jeopardy game where all the clues were trivia from the book of James.
As far as Cobble Hill goes, everything is happening smoothly. I am nervous about giving my testimony but I am sure it will be a good experience. If anyone who reads this can think of a time in my life where they saw a lot of outward change please let me know! I know where there was a lot of inward change but I am curious to see if those times match up with times of outward change. As for the youth, I love all those kids! I feel like I have a bunch of younger siblings.
As for life among the students here at Kaleo, I find new reasons to love these people every day. A bunch of us recently bough hammocks so last night we tied them up in our room and hung out. Here is a picture of them in the morning
We coated the floor in mattresses so that the other guys could lay around on the floor, and also so that if we fell out we would land on something soft.
And this picture is a little overdue,
credit to Philip Karklins, master sports-photographer.
Write me emails! I miss all of you!