Hi there...

Well, I am 18 years old and I guess I am the first official Torontonian in the bunch :) Yes, I am from Toronto, Ontario, and I have lived here all my life. The furthest I've ever been out west has been Regina, Sask. My sister lived there, and that's how I heard about Kaleo. SO I've never been to BC before and I absolutely cannot wait to go!!

I'm doing an internship this year with the youth ministry at my church, and taking courses to receive a certificate in Christian Mission in the mean time.

I would describe myself as a pretty artsy person. I'm really into theater; acting, directing, reading plays, you name it. I developed a passion for it at the arts high school I attended, where I studied it for four years. I don't quite know how to describe my taste in music, but I like watching lots of movies. I loooooovvvvvve to travel! I'd like to go pretty much everywhere or do something crazy like the Amazing Race one day :P I like to eat Thai food, drink tea, and smile and laugh every chance I get.

I'm exited for all that God is going to do in and through us next year! Can't wait to meet you all,

Julie

>('_' )> <('_' )< >('_' )> >('_' )> <('_' )< >('_' )> >('_' )> <('_' )< >('_' )>

I guess I'm one of the oldest so far... My names Nate, I'll be turning 21 in August. I'm from Vancouver,BC. Some of you know me already from camp.

My interests are: Music (Anything from Metal, Alternative Rock, Industrial, Trance Dupstep to Classical, Pretty much anything besides Country) Working out Swimming (Did competitive swimming since 9), Got into Running since four years ago(I train with a half marathon clinic), recently got into Tango/Salsa dancing which i hope to continue. I'm a HUGE fan of movies - seen more movies than i want to admit. My other hobbies include Video / Graphics Editing (AAE, Adobe CS3, Vegas Pro, etc) taking naps, traveling, taking naps, music, taking more naps.

I'm a bit of an intravert.

I was born into a Christian Family and went to a Christian school called Pacific Academy. One of the experiences that stood in my faith was my outreach trip to Jamaica. We volunteered at an orphanage called "City Of Refuge" in Kingston, Jamaica. It was touching to see that the orphans while having absolutely NOTHING were so happy with Gods blessing.

Although I've been a Christian all my life a humbling experience was in CIT 2009 when Jim taught us the truth meaning of being a follower of Christ which is not just "having a relationship with Christ" but leaving and following in his word. Besides all the fun stuff we'll be doing, i hope this year would be a rewarding experience and a step closer in my walk with God.

I got mike sitting next to me as I'm writing this. He says "Konnichiwa" Can't wait for Kaleo to Start!

KALEO

Alright, I've put off writing one of these for long enough so here it goes.

My name is Stephen Wanhella, I live in Ladner, British Columbia, and I'm 17 turning 18 a month after Kaleo starts ;) I'm finally graduating this year as well so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm definitely a bit of a musical person so expect hearing a lot of guitar during Kaleo as well as a lot of Christian metal being blasted :)

I'm kind of a camp veteran, and that's how I came to learn about Kaleo; it's always kind of been an attractive idea, but I tried to forget about ever hearing about it once I found out how much it costs haha. So earlier this year, I found out a couple people I know had already applied for it, and I got the idea back that it might be a good thing to be doing for me too - mainly because I don't know what direction I'm heading for in life and I'm down for a life changing year :P I still wasn't sure about it at that point so I started praying quite a bit about it, and the idea I got from that was "yes". The cool thing about when I was praying about it was when I asked how I could ever pay for it, the answer I heard every time was just "trust me".

Anyways, I'll be applying for another summer at Qwanoes pretty quick so hopefully I'll see some of you there :)

Looking forward to a great year,

Steve

Hey hey hey!

Hellooo. My name is Mary and I am from the little town of Duncan, BC. I graduated last year and I wasn't sure what I was going to do after high school so I just put going back to school on the back burner and I focused on leaning new things from my parents like how to smoke some salmon (something every cowichan girl should know :P ) and how to change a flat tire, quilting, knitting, cooking and I recently learnd how to get a perm and I am thankful that it turned out better than I thought it would. I love doing crafts and hiking to the top of the beutiful mountains that surrond my town, SO beautiful. Anyways this year has been amazing! I used to not talk to my parents, not becasue they were mean and I hated them but because ever since my "awkward teenage phase" I just didn't talk to them. So this year I have grown quite a bit closer to my family and I love it.

At the beggining of the year I kept on runing into Jim Badke and and he would always tell me to sign up for Kaleo and I would always respond with an excuse. Until one day... I didnt have one, I had run out of excuses so I took it as a sign from God that I should probly just see what happens if I apply. My parents aren't Christian and they just aren't religious at all so they didnt really understand why I wanted to do this and were complaining about the price but being the awsome and supportive parents they are let me go. It was quite the process for me to get accepted but God deffinatly was working his little miracles and somehow he made it happen and I AM SO EXCITED to meet all of you and go one this journey with you! :)

Hello?

Hey everyone I finally decided I should make a post haha...
I had a strong feeling that God called me to Kaleo after looking at other options, I applied and was accepted about a month ago, and I'm really excited to be going there.
I am from Coaldale Alberta where I grew up. I just turned 18 last week and the first legal thing I did was get a costco card! so im pretty pumped about that right now. I am just about finished school with only physics left, then I plan on working through the summer. I like doing pretty much anything outdoors but I spend most of my time biking, and longboarding, backpacking, and snowboarding in the winter. I am really stoked for this year and all that God has in store being at Kaleo, I also am looking forward to meeting you all, so if you want to talk or ask me questions that would be sweet!

-Dryden

Hi! I'm Holly and...

...i'm stoked to be posting on this blog because it means that I got into Kaléo!!

I'm Holly and I am 17, turning 18 this year! I am currently in grade 12 and I can't wait to be done with it. I love to laugh, sing, read, dance... all kinds of fun stuff! I also love people in general so I can't wait to meet all of you!

I'm not going to post my testimony cause I'll save that for Kaléo, but I do want to tell you how I came to be posting on this blog. So the last time I posted on a Jim blog to introduce myself was in March of 2008 when I applied for CIT at Qwanoes. I ended up doing both CIT and LIT which were amazing, but before and even more so after LIT, I felt like I really wanted to do Kaléo but I wasn't sure if it was God's will for me. I struggled with that a lot because I really wanted to do it. Another factor was that my mom wasn't stoked on the idea of Bible school. In fact, she was completely against it. My mom loves the Lord but didn't want me to go to Bible school; she wanted me to go straight to university. I promised her a year of university and then I get to do what I want. That was the agreement.

Fast forward approximately 3 months and I really felt led to apply for Kaléo, but that wasn't a part of the agreement. I went to my mom and told her how I was feeling and she said it was okay. Not only that, but she was behind me 100%. That was a complete 180 and my signal that I needed to apply. So I did my application. And then did it again. And then again once more. But it finally all went through and here I am!

I'm so excited to go on this journey with all of you and even more excited to see how God changes us and works through us! It's going to be a great year!

If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask! I ask a lot of questions, so I don't mind them. =)

saturday morning

Hi everyone! I just received my acceptance to the program in phone-call form on Thursday night. I honestly was not sure if I was going to get in and it's needless to say I was incredibly relieved to hear from Jim. Despite the fact that my financial situation is looking fairly uncertain, I have no doubt in my mind that this is what I want to do. I can't imagine putting my money anywhere else. I have been looking forward to doing Kaleo ever since I was fifteen, when my Young Life leader got back from having completed it. I have never felt so called to anything in all my life.

In a nutshell, my name is Bret (in the female sense), I am seventeen, and I live in Victoria, BC. I spend most of my time listening to or playing music, painting, reading, and writing. I am nervous to leave my home, my family, my friends and my activities behind next year; I am most definitely an anxious person when it comes to change. But I know that this is what God wants for me and I am so looking forward to being in a place where I can seek greater knowledge about Him, alongside others who love Him too.

Can't wait to meet you all.

Hey Kaleo 8!

Hi, I got my letter today so I decided I should try out this blog.
My name is Lynnea Elsasser and I hail from a small town in Saskatchewan. I am pretty stoked for this coming up year after hearing so much from previous Kaleo students, like Jahnaya Cey, and Daneille Dirk. I just turned 18, and I am of the female gender. Hm... I live on a farm, but probably not the typical farm girl. That is really all I can think of. Can't wait to hear from everyone! Oh! I am definitely into painting and photography right now, and trying to learn to play acoustic guitar but I am musically challenged to no end.

Introduce yourselves Kaleo 8!

We'll I think I just happen to come across this first but since I'm so excited for Kaleo, why not start it now. I really hope this goes where I hope it's going otherwise I'm going weird out some people majorly.

Let me tell you a little bit about me hmmmm. This is Michael Bayus.

I live in Port Moody (next to vancouver so the main land right off the island) BC

I'm 18 (will be 19 by kaleo) I did the CIT program at Qwanoes (I met Nathan Kwon there and we are sill friends at school; he is also in Kaleo 8) and hope to do the LIT this summer (2009 was my first summer there)

I spent the first 17 years of my life as an athiest than god came (as he does) and kaboom! here I am (born again is no one got the pun).

I used to spend far too much (all) my time playing video games but since God I'm trying to do other things; for instance I'm learning music and via my bass guitar (I'm only six months in people <_<).>__<.

We need like a list of questions or something becuase I can't think of anything else. I

Welcome to Kaleo!

For now, this Blog is an opportunity to introduce yourself to the growing community that will become known as Kaleo Eight. It is yours to post your stories, your dreams, pics, videos, prayer requests, rants and news. Later, it will become a place to tell people back home what is happening at Kaleo, and after that, a way to stay in touch with the Kaleo community long term.

True, there is such a thing as Facebook, and you may think that the blog thing is for old people who think other people actually read what they write.

But this one gets read. Not only will you find yourself going back to it often, but Kaleo students from the past seven years are also looking over your shoulder, and at the moment gasping that there is such a thing as Kaleo Eight. That's you, by the way. This blog will be a great way for you to talk to all of us at once, like you will regularly once we all come together on Vancouver Island.

So get on here! Tell us about you, and use the "Comments" link to respond to what other K8's write. You will be glad you did, and so will we. See you here soon!