A Light in the Darkness

 

Crazy how the week seems to fly by and suddenly we're back to Monday again! That's basically how I can sum up what's been happening lately...it's been a whirlwind of adventures, studying and trying to catch up on sleep.  Last week we had both monday and tuesday off! Well kinda, there wasn't anything scheduled for those days but they were filled with frantically finishing papers and group projects so it came as a relief when wednesday came and we headed off to a little town called Ladysmith where we had an amazing time caving!!

    It definitely was an adventure, especially climbing up a small waterfall and praying that we wouldn't fall down any steep slopes. God really taught me several different things through this particular out-trip, for one thing I never really thought that I would ever go caving and here I found myself doing something that was out of my comfort zone. I have to admit, I don't really like caves. Why you ask? Precisely because they're dark and unknown and I don't like the dark and unknown at all. So it was an interesting time when our leader Andrew instructed us to turn off our headlamps all at once and I was engulfed in darkness. I could blink and I couldn't tell the difference, I could move my hand in front of my face and all I saw was black. My eyes eventually started to hurt because they couldn't adjust to the blackness. It was with this awareness that Andrew began speaking to us about how we are supposed to be a light of the world to those walking in darkness, and now with us having experienced the utter blackness we can understand how it's difficult to make way through life without having a light to guide. This is my call, to be a guiding light on the hill that gives glory to God my Father, so that all may see my good works and know that He is the one who guides me.
   As we walked around, we kept asking Andrew how far we've gone into the cave considering we had been on the move for about 45 minutes. It wasn't until we had reached the entrance of the cave did we understand that we had walked in one giant loop! As we thought about what we had traversed through, we realized that there had really been no need to climb up the waterfall or tentatively make our way along slippery slopes with Andrew telling us where to place our feet for the most sure route, because the easier path was just feet away. But this is what Andrew's point was, God leads us to places not because He wants us to take the easier way, but because He wants us to show us that He is there with His love and peace and that He will guide us through even when we're trekking through the dangerous valleys and we feel alone. God has never told us that we won't escape pain or suffering just because we call ourselves Christians, but He has promised us that through that pain and suffering He will never forsake us.

Before heading in!

   So that was definitely a fun time, particularly once we knew our way around the cave. We roamed free and got to really experience the cave in all its wonder. We followed the waterfall all the way until we could no longer climb upwards and got to have a little shower (certainly know we could use one!).

The crew getting a little wet

This past thursday we headed back out to Ladysmith for their annual Ladysmith Lightup! The town of Ladysmith will light the whole town and they have a parade of the local businesses, clubs, churches and schools which roll through town on various floats. It was really quite fantastic with all the participants (we weren't really expecting all that much) and how many people showed up to watch, which apparently added up to 25,000 people!

Just one of the many lighted "floats"

A snapshot of the wonders

It was actually really fun, specifically at the end when we followed the very last float...which surprisingly was not a santa one, but rather the Nativity Scene which was really awesome and the whole crowd gathered around the city hall and sang "Joy to the World" (A personal favourite carol!). After they lit the giant tree and then proceeded to have one of the most spectacular fireworks show I've seen, it was quite amazing!

And to top off the night, our whole entire group decided, so that we wouldn't lose anyone, to walk 15 minutes back to the vans holding hands...it received some strange looks but I think that it really made my night because of how much fun we made it. 

Finally, we've come full circle to Monday where I've begun another class: Gospels. Everything I had heard from other sources had lead me to believe that our teacher Wes Olmstead was terrifying...and after spending all day, from 8:30 to 5:30, with him I have to say that I am the most eager I have ever been for class, and I would have absolutely no problem with having more classes with him. He really knows his stuff, teaches it so well and is quite personable. The only thing that I'm worried about is his marking...he apparently has this reputation for being a tough marker, but I'm not really convinced that he's unfair, rather it's because he knows his stuff that he can mark in the way that he does. So be praying that I can take full advantage of having such a privilege of him teaching me and that I can absorb everything that he is teaching and store the words that I'm studying in my Bible in my heart. 

And the countdown begins...15 more days and I'm on my way back to the mainland for christmas break!!

Meet the Cast and See the Set

So I thought I'd let you know who's been here at camp, I want you to meet those who I spend every single day with!! It's quite exciting and every single person is amazing in there own way!

So first, I'd like to introduce you to my roommates:

Nancy, Makayla, Lindsey and me!

They are amazing people, they encourage me to push myself and kind of break out of my mould. It's so awesome to be able to laugh about almost anything and the very next second to be asking the hard questions and really testing each other, trying to ground each other in our faith. These girls are the ones that I spend the most time with and I'm so grateful and thankful for them.

Next for all the ladies:

Looking lovely for the Thanksgiving Dinner!

These are equally phenomenal people. They are all so beautiful and caring and different! They each bring a different gift to our group that helps to make living on a girls floor not only better than bearable, but uplifting and so much fun!!
 So in the picture on the very left in the pink shirt is Alisha, the taller girl right behind her is Erin, and right next to Erin is Tessa (Not sure if you can see the dreads, but she's the one with dreads), Stacey is the shorter blonde in the black dress in the front and beside her with the redder hair is Hannah. The tallest blonde in the back is Kathleen. Nancy is front and center with Lindsey tucked away right beside her. Nicole is the one in the blue shirt and floral skirt. Bec, our female intern (she lives right across the hall, and is awesome!) is a quarter cut off by Nicole, with Erin Karklins, our Assistant Kaleo leader in the Hollister Sweater and Makayla is right behind her in the very back. There's me (who I hope that you know!) and then there's Toni!! These are all the Kaleo ladies that I have gotten to know very well and love very much!

Now for the Guys:

So there are 9 guys in the program, and the picture does show 8 (just in case you were wondering if I couldn't count), I actually couldn't find any picture with all of the guys, so this one will have to suffice. From left to right, there's Matthew, Michael, Mitch, Tanner, Keith, Graedon, Cody, Jon. Trevor is the one who isn't pictured.
These guys are really awesome brothers, they often bring the comedy relief and the necessary characteristics to keep us level headed and still on our toes. They're all really intelligent and fun to hang out with and I would have to say that life here at Camp Qwanoes would actually be quite boring without them because they love to prank and get into all kinds of mischief - and it most of the times ends up becoming a group joke, but there is the occasional time where it gets taken too far (thankfully it hasn't been that often!). Just like the girls, they are all different in their personalities and it's been such an amazing time getting to know each of them and their unique gifts.

Now for my room!! (Don't worry, it was semi-clean when I took the pictures!)
The Tour:
We'll start at our door (Exciting, I know!):

That white paper on the bottom is one of
the many quote walls throughout the building

Then we move into the bathroom area (Even more enthralling!):

The toilet and shower are in the reflection of the mirror
(not actually, I just didn't want to take a thousand pictures)

Keep moving until we head into the actual sleeping quarters (Where it gets a little more exciting...)

This is actually what my room looked like
2 weeks ago...

This is what it looks like right now

This is the inside of it! (with a little of Nancy)

Then my bed area (duh, duh, duh...it's actually clean!!!)

There's actual books open on my desk = Studious!

Then you get the awesome view from my seat at my desk. (You don't really get to see the actual ocean in the picture, but it's there)

I wanted to wait to do this particular post because I wanted to wait until I had gotten to know the people here better. I love being here at Camp Qwanoes, it's been a remarkable time these past three months studying, adventuring, laughing, playing, crying, and going crazy! I haven't regretted one single thing about being here and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me for the rest of this month and the new year...He's been patient with me while I've been solidifying my biblical foundations and building upwards from there. I've learned so much about His grace and I've been reorienting my identity to be the one that He loves, It's been hard, but it's rewarding to say the least.

I hope to be doing another video sometime soon, so stay tuned!!

Thank you all so much for coming alongside me through all this, if there's anything you would like to know more about, please let me know!

Love, Marissa

something a little different

Firstly I apologize for taking so long in between posts, but I'll make sure that I get as much information in as I can in this next week.

   So this time I thought that I'd do something different as opposed to writing everything down. It's a short little video, but I promise that more will come soon, I just am running out of time on my study break (and I'm in the library) so I can't really do an extended amount in this video. 

Also, during our last class we did this creative project on the Old Testament. It's on our school blog so here's the link if you want to check it out: Old Testament Creative Project