Hello again everybody! This past week was another special
one in the Kaleo program as we were able to spend Monday to Friday sailing with
the S.A.L.T.S. Program around the gulf islands in the Pacific Ocean. Now that we are
all recovered from the constant swaying motion that plagued us for days, we
figured it was time for another blog post to tell you all about it.
We boarded the Pacific Grace on Monday morning and headed
out The Grace is a 138 foot long Gaff Schooner that we were lucky to board. We
met our crew – Skipper, Matt, Nicki, GA and Kailey, and headed out sailing for
our first day. The conditions were perfect! Our first day was spent learning our
tasks and adjusting to life on the boat.
On Tuesday we were able to do even more! With the weather
conditions yet again incredible, we pulled into an island after a bit of sailing
and proceeded to board the dorys to the shore (which was an adventure in and of
itself!) We then spent the afternoon climbing the mountain to get a great view
of the ocean and the other gulf islands. While it was a bit of a tough hike for
some, the views at the end made it all worth it!
On Wednesday,
we were treated to a few things. Firstly, we pulled into another island and were
able to head to shore and explore the tidal pools. We met quite a few friends in
the water there and also spent a good time slack-lining. We then did a leadership
exercise that involved us blindfolded and not talking for near to an hour. We learned
many things about ourselves and group communication during this exercise, and
many of you might be surprised that some of our students can go an entire hour
without talking! We also spent a good deal of time having fun on the ship itself,
many students climbed the shrouds to the top of the boat and enjoyed some great
views!
Thursday was our quieter day on board. We didn’t do any
out-trips but were able to spend a good day practicing our ship duties, tying
turkshead knots, and getting some reading/homework done. The day concluded in
the Oak Bay harbour where we learned that the shrouds on the boats are good for
jumping off of and that the Pacific Ocean is not too cold in October for a good
swim!
Friday saw our last day on board as we returned home to camp.
We spent the morning picking up some good speed near the Victoria harbour as we
reached nearly nine knots in a big ship. It was a lot of fun to use the sails
and the wind to reach such a speed. We then said our goodbyes, and slept all the
way home on the bus ride.
We were so grateful for the time we spent on the Pacific
Grace. It not only was a good time, it taught us many lessons that we needed to learn.
From the Skipper’s leadership talks, our times of testimony, being stretched in
physical tasks on the boat, or various other bonding times we had It was an
incredible time of learning about ourselves and learning how to work as a team.
We’ve since returned back closer as a group and grateful for all that we did.
Many students have since said that they wish they could have spent more time on
the boat, which was an intense, albeit wonderful, journey for all of us.
This week the students are in their second class of the year
as Sid Koop joins us from Lethbridge to teach Youth and Camp Ministry. Please be
in prayer as this is an incredibly good and practical course that will last
over the course of the year.
Last night we were able to celebrate thanksgiving together
with a big turkey dinner uniting both the camp staff and the students. For those
of you who have loved ones over here, know how grateful I am that you’ve allowed
your loved ones to join us this year. When I thought about what I was thankful
for, the usual things came up, but I realized how thankful I was for each one
of these students. The way they’ve come into the program with an expectancy for
God to work and how they’ve been such a blessing to all around here.
I’m already excited to talk about next week, but I hope that
I’ve been able to capture how amazing our time so far in the program has been!
Derek
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