Sunday, October 25, 2015

Retreat Season Begins and Love Crofton

Hello again, and greetings from Camp Qwanoes!

As the leaves begin to change colour and the air becomes colder, camp has begun to shift into a new season of ministry.  For the next few weeks we will be entering into a series of retreats run by Camp Qwanoes, similar to our summer program for campers.

Campers are back!

After spending a few weeks at camp in a rather quiet and peaceful environment, it quickly changed last night as junior campers aged 7-11 flooded into the property with excitement for the 2015 Fall Juniors Retreat!  This is also an exciting event for our students as they have the opportunity to put to practice what they have been learning so far in the Kaléo Program.

Students have taken on various roles throughout the retreat, but most of them have been serving as councillors for the campers.  Each cabin holds about 6-8 campers, most with one counselor, some with two.  For some, this is a brand new experience and are enjoying taking on the role of leading discussions, participating in games, and enjoying meals with the kids.


This week we served Crofton through several types of service projects.

Love Crofton is an annual event of Camp Qwanoes in partnership with Warmland Community Church in Crofton.  After advertising and preparing last week, we received many calls for service around our community.  Students took the opportunity to show Gods love through many tasks such as mowing lawns, raking leaves, washing windows, and many other kinds of yard work.

We were proud to see our students caring for their new community with such joy and excitement!  Though some jobs proved to be more work than others, our students learned a lot about our community and, in some cases, had the opportunity to pray for those who needed prayer and support in Crofton.

As leaders, this was also a very exciting event for us as we were able to step back and let the students take the lead.  Though this was a Camp Qwanoes event, our students were the ones who organized and carried out the tasks for Love Crofton.  We were thrilled to see how much they have been growing so far in the Kaléo Program.






Students have also been hard at work for class next week.

In preparation for Gospels class next week, students have been studying diligently to prepare for their upcoming course.  Wes Olmstead, Dean of Academics at Briercrest, has a passion for teaching on the New Testament and we are excited to have him join us next week.  

Please be in prayer for our students as this will be one of their heavier courses this year and that they will be able to retain all of the information that they will learn.  Also be in prayer for the people and families of Crofton who were served this week and that God’s love would resonate in their lives.

In Him,
Dustin Smith
Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving! What An Amazing Week!

Wow, what a beautiful couple of weeks that God has been blessing us with here on the west coast of Canada!  


Although we have had a few days of rain, the sun has been out quite frequently as we entered into the fall season.  This has allowed us to enjoy God’s beautiful creation here at camp, as well as other places on the island.  

Aside from the beautiful weather, our students have also been working very hard in their studies.  

Last week, we were privileged to have Sid Koop come and join us and teach us about camp and youth ministry.  Sid has a long standing relationship with Qwanoes being involved in areas such as staff training, speaking at camps, and other Qwanoes-related events.  

We were very glad to have him here at Qwanoes to teach our students about working and serving in youth and camp ministries.  We even had an end of the week Nerf-Gun war after students decided to ambush Sid at the end of the class!

We also had our annual Thanksgiving dinner celebration this last weekend. 

It was great to have staff and their families join us for a delicious turkey dinner while taking the time to thank God for this year and how he has blessed us.  

Also a very big thank you to Coleen and her kitchen staff for taking the time to prepare such an amazing and delicious dinner for us to enjoy!



Our adventure this week took us Wild Play Element Parks, not to far from camp just outside of Nanaimo.  

Wild Play is an arial adventure challenge course filled with zip lines and rope challenges situated high above the ground in the trees.  

Students took advantage of various different features of the course that challenged their fears and excited their taste for adventure!  At the end of the day, the staff even decided to give one of our students, Kenzie Schroeder, a free bungie jump as it happened to be her nineteenth birthday!  

We were very proud to watch as Kenzie bravely dove off the bridge for her first ever bungie jump!  We would like to thank Wild Play and their staff for a great day and for giving Kenzie a birthday that she will never forget!





This week was also the beginning of preparations for Love Crofton.  

This is an event in which Camp Qwanoes and Warmland Community Church team together to bless the community of Crofton and show God’s love through acts of community service.  

This week, Students took to the neighbourhoods and personally delivered flyers to hundreds of houses throughout the community promoting this free service.  

Next week, students will have the opportunity to bless people and their homes with services such as raking leaves, trimming hedges, mowing lawns, cleaning gutters, changing oil, and many more.  Our hopes for this event are that the people of Crofton will have the chance to experience God’s love through serving them and bringing the presence of the local church to their homes.  

This is also an opportunity for the community of Crofton to become familiar with Camp Qwanoes and the ministry that we love to do.  Please join us is prayer for next week as we prepare to serve them and that God would begin to prepare the hearts of those who need God in our community.

Please also be in prayer as our students are working diligently to prepare for their upcoming class on the Gospels.  

They are spending many hours reading and writing and we love to see that God is already teaching them so much, even in preparation for class.  

Thank you again for supporting and loving them through your thoughts and prayers!

In Him,
Dustin Smith, Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Academics Begin And Sailing In The Gulf Islands • Kaléo Program

This past week, the Kaléo Program ventured out into one of British Columbia’s most beautiful areas—the Gulf Islands.  

After an intense first week of classes, we decided to switch gears and head out on our next adventure aboard the Pacific Grace, one of two Tall Ships that are a part of the Sail and Life Training Society (S.A.L.T.S.).  

After loading our luggage, we left the Victoria harbour and said goodbye to sleeping on dry land for five days.


After only a few hours into the trip, we were blessed to encounter several orca whales swimming past our ship and even a family of seven orcas surfacing, slapping their tails, and jumping!  

Although there were lots of different wildlife creatures to be seen throughout the Gulf Islands, this was easily one of our favourite moments to be had during our trip.




Our job aboard this ship was similar to that of any other Tall Ship sailors of their day.  We were the crew!  

Jobs varied such as scrubbing the deck and polishing brass early in the morning, washing dishes in the galley, keeping watch while sailing, staying up late for anchor watch, hoisting the main sails, and even steering and navigating the ship itself!  

This was a truly amazing experience as we got to see how ships functioned long before motorized vessels came into play.  

While our ship was still motorized so that we could reach our destination in low wind,  we were still able to exploit the inner workings of how Tall Ships function.

Though our jobs and duties aboard the ship were a large part of the experience, it didn't go without having a little bit of fun in between.  Students could be found either climbing to the top of the mast, or hanging off the front of the boat in the “whiskers” net.  

We also spent a couple afternoons paddling ashore in the ships Dory’s (no, not the loveable Disney character), which could be best described as one of the tippiest paddle boats ever invented.  

These small jam-packed boats were our chariots to some of the most beautiful beaches and hikes that this wonderful province has to offer.








Amongst all the different activities of the S.A.L.T.S. Program, we also closed every day with a time of worship, prayer, and sharing.  

This gave each leader and student the opportunity to share the parts of their testimony that tells of how God called them into His discipleship.  We continued to individually pray for each other and thank God for his provision and guidance towards fellow students.



After a long, but adventurous five day voyage, the Pacific Grace had to begin making its way back to the Victoria Harbour to bring the Kaléo program back home.  

But, of course, there was still one last adventure in store—the ships rope swing!  Though it was a cold brisk morning, that didn't stop our students from taking the challenge of swinging off the boat into the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean.  

We then ate, drew the anchor, and headed back to Victoria.




On behalf of Camp Qwanoes’ Kaléo Program, we would like to thank S.A.L.T.S. and its crew Tony (Skipper), Beth, Sam, Elske, and David for once again giving us another memorable experience aboard the Pacific Grace.  

For more information, you can visit their website at www.salts.ca



You can also be in prayer for our students as they enter into their second class this week! 

We are pleased to welcome Sid Koop to Qwanoes as he will be teaching on Camp and Youth Ministry.  

Sid has had a long standing relationship with Qwanoes and we are very blessed to have him join our program this week.  

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers.  Our students have been evidently growing in their faith so far in the Kaléo Program and we are excited to see what God has panned for them in the weeks to follow!

In Him,

Dustin Smith
Kaléo Program Intern
Camp Qwanoes