Week of Prayer and Sr High Retreat

Last week we entered into our Week of Prayer

Another annual tradition that we hold here at the Kaléo Program is our Week of Prayer.  This is a chance for our students to slow down and take the opportunity to spend time with God in a different way than they might usually experience.  For the week, Qwanoes dedicates a room in Pacific Woods lodge specifically for prayer.  At the beginning of the week, students sign up for hour-long blocks throughout the Week of Prayer.  The idea is that for the entire week, there will always be someone engaging in conversation with God.

The prayer room itself is also meant to be a place of creativity and inspiration.  At the beginning of the week, the room is a blank canvas left with paper, sticky notes, window markers and tape.  Students are encouraged to use what ever they feel necessary to express how God is working through their lives and prayer.  By the end of the week we were excited to see how beautifully decorated the room was, expressing the unique creativity of our students.

We have heard a lot of great feedback from students about their time in the prayer room.  Although there are many great stories to share, here are a few examples from our students…

“It seemed that whenever I saw a prayer request posted on the wall, someone had always responded to it right away.  It was neat to see the support system here.”

-Colson Schulz

“I entered the week with expectations of God breaking me down.  That didn’t happen.  Instead through the silence God taught me a sense of fear and reverence of him.”

-Shinwon Yoon

“I was surprised to see the amount of progress through only a day in the prayer room.  There were so many prayer requests.  To see the anonymous struggles and pain of other students showed a whole different side of our community.  But it was equally amazing to see the love and response to those prayer requests too.”

-Rebekah Sheppard

We ended the week with Sr High Retreat

Last weekend camp was flooded again with another wave of campers, but this time they were older.  Campers aged 15-18 came to camp to enjoy our annual Fall Jr High Retreat.  Though only a couple of our students were serving as counsellors, many of them were serving in other areas such as programming, maintenance, worship, kitchen and dishes.  We were so impressed to see our students jump into the retreat with such excitement and enthusiasm!

Please be in prayer

This week our students are back in the classroom studying the Old Testament with Prof. Don Taylor.  Please be in prayer for them as they are in class this week, that they will be able to retain and focus on everything that they are learning.  Please also be in prayer for the staff team as they enter into their own week of prayer starting November 22.  Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers for our students and program!

In Him,

Dustin Smith

Kaléo Program Intern, Camp Qwanoes