Remember This Girl

I visited Anna today. Due to some simple poor choices in a desperate moment, she is in the hospital emergency room, awaiting a bed. She doesn't want to be there, greatly regrets the reasons she is there, and feels very, very alone. Her parents are there, as always, calm and supportive and available. Nevertheless, today her most dreaded word is how she feels: abandoned. She does not want to blame her friends - it is a transitional time of year, and she knows how awkward and helpless her situation makes them feel - but in the few weeks when she was actually doing fairly well, one by one they disappeared into their own worlds.

I am one of them: a trip south; a final week of camp seeking out new students; I have my excuses. But I haven't been there lately for Anna, not in person and not even virtually. Today I happened to be in Victoria when I found out where she was, so I dropped in and talked and listened and prayed. And she gave me a message for all of us: "Right now, I don't need you as my counselor, but I need you as my friend."

After I left, I got a text from Anna, ending with "PLEASE pray for me!" And another asking me to write this blog. She has damaged her liver too many times, the doctor says; may need a transplant, and may not be eligible for one.

So I ask you to pray for Anna, maybe find a way to send your love this week - in short, please remember Anna. In her heart of hearts, she wants life. She had "Free" tattooed over her scars. Please join her in the cry of her heart.

In Philippians 4, where Paul tells us to "in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God," the word petition refers to our heart-felt response to a deep and specific need. Can we please collectively reach deep into Anna's heart and join her petition to God: for Freedom.

Hey y'all! Bryan here.

First off I want to say congratulations to Anna on her engagement. I'm very happy for you. Any date set for the wedding?

So I think it's been quite some time since I've posted, so I will keep this concise. So much has happened and then at the same time seems like nothing has changed in almost a year.

Well if I remember correctly last time I posted I was in the middle of a pretty bad depression. So after some close calls I finally decided to go to my family doctor to get help. As I had expected he gave me antidepressants. The difference those made were HUGE. Best way to describe the burden being lifted was it felt like colours got brighter and life made more sense. Mostly because there was hope now. I continued those antidepressants all the way until, I think it was March.

Then I met Amanda. I wont say how we met but I fell for here head over heels. We dated for sometime and it was the happiest I have ever been in my life, even my parents noticed the difference in my disposition. During my time with Amanda I moved out of my parents place and into a single room suite owned by one my brothers friends. To say I love my place would be an understatement. At the same time I met Amanda I also quit my job and started working for my brother as foreman for his irrigation company, which has been really good for me.

But alas, all things must come to an end (or so I'm told). A few weeks ago I broke it off with Amanda feeling used and unhappy with the relationship. Thinking back on it it definitely was the right choice and I do not regret my decision, but wow it hurt to do the deed.

So that's about how my life has been in a nutshell lately. I'm sure there are things that I missed or just left out but that's the gist of it. Now I am working about 50+ hours a week, working weekends, with no goal in mind and living life the best I can with what time I have.

Thanks everyone for your support and prayers, they are much appreciated.

Love and miss you all!!!

- Bryan Converse

soon to be a mrs. WAHHH

Hello my dear friends.
Some of you have been nagging me for this for quite some time (*cough* holly). I've finally gotten around to it. As most of you know I got engaged on June 6th. So wild. I was pseudo expecting it cause I'm a huge spy and I knew he had asked my Dad two weeks before. I didn't expect him to propose until August though cause we're so broke and he's been really sick and things. But sure enough on the thursday I came down to hamilton and we decided to go on a date. We went to my favourite bakery, its a portuguese bakery and they have the best sandwiches I've ever eaten in my whole life. Like I LOVE these sandwichs and the whole day at work I was talking about how stoked I was to go eat one... So we had sandwiches and then we went to my favourite coffee shop for peanut butter cookies and mint hot chocolate (yum yum). It was like 9 at the point and prime lighting, getting dark but the nice glowy sun. Anyway I was tired so I asked if we could go home and watch friends or something. We started heading back to the car and on the way we had to walk by this big church called Christ's Church Cathedral. That church was the first place we ever met 2 years ago. He was dating someone else and I liked his friend...  So he pulled me into the courtyard and me being SUPER lame said "is this a shortcut to the car?" even though there were candles everywhere... Sometimes I'm so dumb. Like SO dumb. Anyway he got down on one knee in front of this rock sculpture thing thats a fountain in the summer. This is the dialogue as I remember it:

Col - Do you know why we're here?
Me - Uh no
Col- 2 years ago I saw you here for the first time.... BLAH BLAH BLAH... Will you marry me?
Me - ???

I literally don't know if I said yes or I love you or anything. But now I'm wearing a ring and we're engaged.

After that a bunch of our friends popped out of the bushes. 2 were taking photos and they all hugged us and it was super excited. Colin had reserved a table at the first restaurant we ever went to with a bottle of champagne and my favourite appetizers. It was literally the best.

This is my new and improved hand!

This is the proposal

This is us in michigan a couple weeks ago

So life has been crazy since then. My mom has become a little intense. But I'm sure it'll get better. Colin has been pretty sick. The year after highschool he went to africa and got Malaria and when he came home and got C Diff. He lost a TON of weight and has been sick on and off since. He's been missing a lot of work and its been pretty discouraging. Please pray that we figure out whats wrong with him a little more and that the intensity with my mom tones down.



I love you ALL

- Anna

ANNA SOON-TO-BE HAYES...

we want to know the details!!! please share them!!

Dios le bendiga hermanos!

So what has happened in the life of Lynnea.... (I apologize for not being active on this for awhile)
I guess I will start with where I am at. I am still at good ol' B-crest and on the dance team, Refined Undignified. It has had its difficulties but I still love dancing. This semester has been really hard for me, but as hard as it has been, it has been good. In one of my classes about Exodus we talked about God testing the Israelites. The first time he tested them he didn't get angry with them when they failed, but it rather revealed the Israelites weaknesses. That's me, I am being shown my weaknesses, and they are not in lack, haha.
I was supposed to be doing my internship for 6 months starting this summer but things just weren't working out, and it was crunch time so I have decided to do another full year at Briercrest and do my internship next year. With not doing my internship – which I was dead set on doing – I have learned to give up control to the Lord. One of my biggest lessons I have been learning is to trust the Lord, in all things. So I have no idea what I am doing this summer, but that is totally okay. I have no idea what the Lord has in store for next year – because I decided not to do RU again – but I did apply for an RA for the high school dorm here. There are some great candidates for the position so I have no idea if I will get it but again, it is in the Lord's hands.
Another area I have been learning to trust God in, is the area of relationships. One of my close guy friends on RU and I have had an interesting past, and didn't end on the best note at the end of last year. Then, beginning of this year he decided to start pursuing me, which was pretty exciting for me – not initially though, because I had a disliking for him because of some stuff that went down the previous year, haha. One of the RU rules though is that you can't date team members so we were waiting for April to start dating. We were pretty positive that it would happen, and gave very little room to say that things could change if it was in God's will. Things can change so rapidly though. In January I would say we were in that 'honeymoon' stage but then all of the sudden he started acting different. It turns out he didn't like me anymore and that went on for a month. Then at MissionFest with our team, I decided I couldn't do it anymore. Every day was a battle for me, and most of the time he didn't even talk to me anymore. So I called it off. The last month has been brutal, I don't think I have ever gone through so much pain. It is really hard because we were really close friends before any of this began, and now I have lost a very dear friend and I really do miss him. We then had our 'closure' talk two nights ago. It is hard facing the reality that it is over and in time I will come to the full realization of it.  I know that comes with time though. To be honest, I am hurt, really hurt for that matter, but I don't hate him. I really don't know the full reason for him not liking me anymore but I stopped wondering about it awhile ago because all that will do is create bitterness – and create division on our dance team. I still want the best for him, and I hope he finds a great girl who compliments him well and who will be able to do kingdom work together. It is a process, but I am trying to unconditionally love him even if he may not return that. So please be praying for me in all of this, as many of you have probably been in similar situations know, it is not easy. So yet I still remain in single land, which I am starting to like more and more, again. :)
In other news, I am going to Mexico for three weeks! My dance team was invited to do dance ministry in the area of Progreso, Mexico – near Cancun. I am so excited for the people, food, culture, and ministry opportunities. What might be real fun though is that I get to spend three straight weeks with the guy mentioned above... wahoo! (Take that last sentence as sarcasm, haha). It will be tough but again, it will be a growing and refining experience. In all seriousness though, I am really excited for Mexico because as you guys may know, I love cultures, people and languages.
I want to hear from more of you! I am glad to hear about those who have posted. Praying for you guys and I love you guys so much.
Lynnea

Lil Message

Hey everyone who reads this!
Two years ago we all went on different trips and faced hard times but through it all we were able to spread God's love throughout the world. My hope is that you remember these trips and the things God taught you on them. Through these trips we used what we learned from kaleo, although hard at times, to accomplish some pretty incredible things. Although I loved kaleo and maybe didn't use it to its fullest potential, I still have doubts about doing it, but there are things that always remind me of why it was an important step. I thankyou for the memories and truly hope you are all doing well. As much as I would love to hear an update from you all, I know its hard to keep in touch, but i'm always open to getting a life update! Either through facebook or on here or a letter. haha. that may be stretching it. Anywho, all I really wanted to get out of this short post was that I'm just remember the mission trips we served on and just remembering some of the fun we had. God is good.

Update on Nate

Hey, just got an update from Nate Lofgren's mom:

Nathan asked me to keep you up-to-date so that you can share with the Kaleo blog whats happening with his recovery.

Nathan has been at teen challenge now just over a week. We were not able to have any contact with him until today - he was allowed to call me briefly.

He said that he is loving the program and really feeling God moving in his heart. He is learning more about forgiveness and how to listen for God. He sounded so at peace. It was a great confirmation for us that He is where he should be.

Thank you for your prayers.

So, let's keep praying for Nate! Such an important time for him!

Hey guys! Logan here, I figure we should do this Skype thing soon before we forget about it, so let's do Saturday at 6 B.C. time 7 Alberta, 8 Sask, 10 Ontario? Unless there are any outstanding objections/you guys want earlier. I'm easy whenever, just chose a random time that I thought we might all be free. hope to see you guys soon!

It's about time!!

Hey Fam!!

Sooo I don't think I have ever posted on here... Or if I did it was a longggg time ago. So I think it's time for an update! I was looking threw our Kaleo yearbook this morning and something hit me really hard. It was God telling me it was time to let my family know whats been going on in my life. As you all know I haven't been good at keeping in contact with all of you and I am greatly sorry for that. Truth is after Kaleo when I got back home I went right back to my old friends and therefore my old lifestyle. When I went out to Kaleo I was honestly doing it mostly for my parents. Throughout the program I learned more about God and his love for me but I still didn't let him take control over my whole life. I wasn't in the right place at that time and therefore didn't use Kaleo to its full potential. I believe that's one of the main reasons I went back to my old friends and was able to fall so easily. I continued to live at home until about four months ago when I got an apartment with an old friend. This is where my life took a turn for the worst. I started getting involved with a very bad crowd and started experimenting with very hard drugs. In a sense I just gave up on myself and said this is the life im meant to live. I literally sat in my apartment everyday for almost three months with my roommate doing drugs and drinking and thinking that, that was the best life for me. I knew God was real the whole time but felt like it was too late to come back. I thank God for my parents and their faith in him. Even though I gave up on myself my parents never gave up on me. They continued to pray everyday that God would work in my life. Well I can tell you now he has and like never before!! About three weeks ago now I woke up one morning and decided I just didn't wanna get high that morning. Well I can say that was definitely God and the power of prayer! I went out to my living room where I have been spending the last two months of my life and I just woke up. I saw all these things on my table that I once told myself I would never do. God definitely woke me up that day and told me there is a way better life I am meant to live. I went home the next week to my parents such a broken child and told them everything. I cant say how thankful I am for them and their grace to me. They welcomed me back home and said its time to start over. I am now two weeks to this day sober and I can't even explain to you how good I feel. God has already moved in my life soooo much in these last two weeks. I applied for the teen challenge program here in London and am heading out there near the end of January! So please pray for me as I am both excited and scared for the journey ahead. I thank God everyday now for my life and for my family. He is amazing and full of sooo much grace. This high I have now on Jesus is better than any high I have EVER experienced. This change in me now is soo different than ever before. My parents let me go and experience what I needed to, to reliaze that wasn't the life for me. I have come home now to God and my family and fully ready to do God's work from here on out! I have fully given every part of my life back to God and have FINALLY let him take full control of my life. AMEN!!! ahhhhhh i still can't get over this amazing feeling I have rushing threw my body. God is sooo good and I hope this is an encouragement to all of you! I love you all and hope you are doing well! I deleted facebook to get away from my old friends so this is the communication I have for now but I would love to get back in contact with all of you! :) Stay strong my brothers and sisters for God is good all the time!!
Much love
Nate

MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!

Hey guys! I hope every one is doing very very well :) I am getting excited for Christmas myself, and all the fun stress of school work to be done for a lil bit!! I was wondering who all might be up for a big group skype over Christmas? I was thinking sometime after Christmas, like from the 27th onward, or even in Janurary at some point. All I know is that it has been much too long since I've seen most of your loverly faces, and I would like to have the experience once again. If we can get a general feel for when will work for people, then I will go around to everyone's facebook pages and let 'em know too! Hope to hear from you guys!

Many Much Blessings :)

Loges Magoges