The First Days of The Kaléo Program

Wow time has flown by!! A mere two weeks ago these students were all trickling in, not knowing what to think about this huge change in their lives. Now they are becoming friends and growing closer together. 

The first few days consisted of the students getting used to their new home and learning the ins and outs of this program. During orientation, the students got to meet the pastors of local churches where they will be serving this year! There is a lot of excitement and anticipation for this amazing opportunity to serve God and His people.  

After orientation week, the students got to experience their first out trip - a three day backpacking trip to summit of Mt. Albert-Edwards! The trip totaled a 2100 metre elevation change and 35 plus kilometres walk. Many of the students had the chance to experience a tough physical challenge and to grow closer to God. It was absolutely incredible to see all these young adults building one another up and helping each other out along the way. God is working in awe-some ways among the group, calling them higher and higher. Each one is responding to the call and striving to be a better son or daughter of God. 

                                                                                                     (Photo Credit: Kyle Bauman)

                                                                                                   (Photo Credit: Geoff Delorme)

Not too long after arriving back at camp, the first class began. Although they knew that they were going to be challenged and stretched in "Introduction to Spiritual Theology", the students were excited to dive into the material! Here are the words of one of the students, Carlene, about her first class experience.  

"This week our course was “Intro to Spiritual Theology” taught by Rev. Dr. Cal MacFarlane. It was a whirlwind of information to learn within five days, but Cal had a way of breaking it down and making it easy to understand. The material covered required us to be quite introspective, which made this course more personally and spiritually challenging and not as much academically demanding - although we did memorize fifty verses!

We primarily focused on learning the foundational realities of God’s love for us, and who we truly are in that love. Throughout the week, these realities were backed up with practices of spiritual disciplines to press into the truths, as well as questions we could ask to gauge our consistency to these practices. In addition to daily personal exercises, we participated in a 24 hour fast in solitude and silence around the camp, and were able to experience waiting on the Lord for a longer, more concentrated period of time. “Intro to Spiritual Theology” was more than just a fantastic course to kick off the academic portion of the Kaléo program, but a great way to focus our minds and hearts for the year ahead!"                                                                                  
                                                                - Carlene Bandy

                                                                          (Photo Credit: Kyle Bauman)

As the students take to the sea this next week, please be praying for safety. We are all ecstatic for the upcoming adventure and cannot wait to see how God shapes and molds these Kingdom Builders in the coming weeks. 

                                           God bless. 

                                              - Isaiah Moffatt (Kaléo Program Intern)