Move Your Feet to the Olympics

In two days we will leave Qwanoes early in the morning, head over to the mainland on the ferry, pick up our accreditation and uniforms, and go to the Dress Rehearsal of the Opening Ceremonies. (+ Bria!)
Meaning.... the Olympics are almoooooooost HERE!
So if you don't know, the majority of us Kaleos are working at the 2010 Olympics (and the rest are going to Mexico). We applied through the Youth Participation Program and will be working in the area of Event Services. Basically we will be doing jobs such as ticketing and ushering, etc.
How is this a missions trip you may ask? Well let me tell you.
The Olympics are a great opportunity because instead of going out to the world, they are all coming to us. With the world on our doorstep, we will be encountering people of all kinds of different backgrounds. Now this ministry will be strongly driven by prayer, because apparently it is banned/illegal to openly preach the gospel or anything to do with 'religiousy things'. However, we can show Christ in the way we act, the way we serve, and also if anyone asks us why we do what we do. It's crazy to think that it was even before Kaleo started that we applied to do this. All leading up to this part of the journey. Here we go.

So this week we had Theology class, as I had mentioned before. Almost every topic we talked about went back to the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate. I learned quite a bit though! Jim Paulson was also pretty hilarious. (Read his quotes here--> http://kaleoseven.blogspot.com/2010/02/he-said-what.html)

Last Thursday I also shared my testimony in chapel. It felt really good to get it off my chest and everyone's response to it was so encouraging to me. I love each and every person here so much!

So Friday rolls around and we realized that we needed to plan a dance routine because we were the kickoff group for So You Think You Can Dance? -- Youth Group @ New Life Style. After some scrambling and attempts we ended up going with only a little bit planned. We arrived in dance garb, practiced a little, and danced our faces off; the kids loved it. The song is now stuck in my head-- Move Your Feet by Junior Senior. Since this was only for Jr. High, a few of us ended up having to hurry outside to find our stations for the Sr. High Mission Impossible game (urban style).
I`m not sure whether to place this part in the fun or not-so-fun category.
I sat alone on a fence overlooking this street:

With a glowstick to show the kids where I was:

With marker, in hand, to mark the kids' papers:

I really didn`t get to chat with the kids because they were all very intense playing the game and ran away as soon as I marked their papers. (At least they enjoyed playing). Despite that, I got to people-watch (in a non-creepy way), fiddle with my camera, and hum as I rocked on the fence. I probably freaked out the whole neighbourhood. Fun stuff. Ok, I did have fun. When we got back to the church, it sounded like the Jr. High had a great time dancing and they made us do an encore of our dance. Even some of the kids joined us on stage when we pulled them up. So much fun.


At the end of the week we had a 48-hour prayer time for our missions trips. I always enjoy the times in the prayer room and I`m glad we will continue to do this throughout our trip.

And last but not least, Sunday was church and the young-adults group. Loved it, as always. This time after homeless ministry we had a Superbowl party at Shane's house which turned into 'Katie and I watching Mamma Mia with his daughter time'.

I will end this here.
So main thing, pray for our mission at the Olympics and that God would shine through us.

See you later, alligator!

-Genuine Jade

P.S. We played Ultimate Frisbee this week. Dressed like this in Feb. Whoohoo!

Kidnapped! (I can feel the Chronos passing, tick tick tick)

So tonight as I was writing out my blog post, I was suddenly taken hostage, tied up, blindfolded, and thrown in a van.
Honestly.
I am 100.5% serious.
Now I assure you, it was my roomies doing the kidnapping and Marissa driving the van. So you're probably wondering to yourself, "But Jade, it's not your birthday" and "why would they do such a thing?!". Well to answer that, they wanted to surprise me with some extra-special quality time and I always wanted to experience one of those special kidnappings (shhh, don't let them know that though, haha!). At the time, I realized that I could probably take on both Abby and Caroline in a fight (it's questionable). However, deciding that it was for my own good, I gave up fighting and sat in the van blindfolded plus pillowcased over the head and hands tied. Feeling the familiar twists and turns, I knew we were headed to Duncan. Whoo! Long story short--after some fun times together and good talking, it turned into such a wonderful evening. Gotta love Kaleo.

The rest of today (as in the beginning of today) was filled with INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY with Jim Paulson. It's in capitals because I imagine it being said with a big, booming voice (don't ask, I don't really know either). So far, it's been good; challenging, but pretty easy to understand.

Coincidently when I reflect on each day to write this blog, it reminds me of the sermon on Sunday (Another nice segue). Pastor Mark spoke on the topic of time. One of the things that stuck out was how he emphasized that each and every day was a gift. Now I had heard this before, but the way he explained everything put it into much better perspective. Basically, most people would go through the week thinking, Sunday is church; oh no, not Mondays; well today is garbage day; can't wait till the end of the week, etc. repeat repeat again again again, hey it's Sunday again. However, each day is unlike any other. Each day is special; it's a gift from God, but we chain ourselves to schedules; to time. It's challenging not to prejudge the day before it happens. I will try to CARPE DIEM!

For lunch on Sunday, we went again to one of our favorite places, the Unrau's! After rushing to camp after a lovely meal and chat/games, we rushed back to Duncan for our Young Adults/homeless ministry. Every time I go, I feel the oppression and darkness that has come on the people we talk to, but at the same time I sense a hope there too. My hope is that their hope will be found in God; not relationships, not alcohol, and not drugs (you get the idea). Continue to pray for them as they conquer the everyday struggles and destructive habits that they fall into.

Friday was an amazing day (again with the weekday naming). It was the Cowichan Valley Youth Worship Night at Qwanoes! Right here on home turf, meaning our youth came to us (pretty cool, eh?). I slapped some bass on the worship team and got to carry a massive water gun and look very menacing for the night game. Our very own JLen was ze speaker and overall the kids had a lot of fun. So many kids came; I would say it turned out to be a success! It was nice meeting youth from other youth groups too. (I became a mass-producer of origami to a group of little girls from Warmland, haha).
To sum it all up, it was another great week.
Pray for Kaleo as we prepare in all ways for our missions trips!

-Genuine Jade


(Unlike Garfield, I don't mind Monday air so much. It's just rainy)