Last Week of 1st Semester

This week was very difficult. I decided to leave and take a break for the last couple of days here. I was angry and upset about feeling excluded from the group. I had felt like that for a good portion of Kaleo. I think I tried to work past that, and just battled through the adversity. Well, by the end of this week I felt like a bottle that was filled up with pressure and ready to explode. I felt really wronged by a lot of the people in Kaleo for leaving me out. I came back after a day of leaving, God really was doing some cool stuff through putting people in my path when I left.

After I came back to camp I talked in a Chapel about what was bothering me. A lot of people were expecting that it seemed. During the chapel I heard a lot of what people had to say to me. It felt good to know the truth, but I was still really hurt by it. Then later I talked to one of my leaders about forgiveness, and how I probably needed to forgive people. After that I thought about a lot of things, and I feel that I am able to feel a lot more at peace about these things they are not perfect, but I realize that I cannot expect any situation to be perfect..

I had another great day of running sunday school this week. Before I was wondering if I would go the regular route of teaching sunday school, which would be one month straight of teaching then a month off. After speaking to some of my interns I decided to just teach every Sunday, with no breaks. The advantage of doing this, is that I am really getting to know the kids on a family level. My childrens pastor told me we (sunday school teachers) are the second most influential role in the children's life, next to their parents. I have been taking the responsibility seriously, I am real with the kids as much as I can, and I discipline them so that they will gain as much as possible out of their class. This week was fun, we heard a sermon and then we just played after.

For our lunch after church this week, we went to our senior pastor's (Greg Summers) house. After we had a nice lunch with them we went and did a church service for the elderly at a retirement house in Duncan. That was very nice, I met many very nice old ladies there. And one old man. 

Blog #10

This week was one of the best weeks of my children's ministry so far. I really feel like the prayers of everyone is affecting my Sunday School group positively. Previously there has always been some disciplinary issues in my classes. It is knows that I have one of the most rambunctious groups in the church. I had to lay down some disciplinary rules at the beginning of the class so that the kids would not interrupt during the large group leaders sermon.  Amazingly, the kids all respected the ground rules and rarely spoke during the sermon. 

What I am learning about children is that they actually like discipline. They do not mind being told what to do. After church this weekend, me and Phil went to our children's pastors house for the grey cup game. That was a great time, we really got to know Jason on a deeper level. Meeting his family was cool, and it turns out I teach a few of his kids. I did not even know that they were his kids! I will just ask for prayers for my ministry and for my Grandma, who broke her leg this week, and just had surgery..

God Bless, Brandon.

Senior High Retreat

My main ministry this week was counseling the senior high retreat. Going into it I was unsure how it was going to go. I had never counseled before.. So I was definitely doing some prayer before things got started. My campers got to Qwanoes on Friday night.. I had four guys ranging from fourteen to sixteen.. Basically, a lot of them came to camp with questions about God, and just wanting someone to talk to. We did a lot of activities throughout the days, from games to music concerts etc.. My favorite times were just having conversations with them. At the end of the retreat they said I was a great counselor to them. Honestly though, I felt blessed by their personalities and was just learning from them.. I am trying to see if God wants me to pursue this further, right now I am wondering if I should work at camp this Summer, but am really unsure..

 I guess the best thing I offered to the boys throughout the week, from what they told me, was love. One of the guys, Daniel, kept on encouraging me. He was saying that I had the ability to love people even when Im not trying to.. That was pretty awesome. I am praying and working on my confidence in this area. I always feel like I need to work harder at loving people. But people tell me consistently that I have a very warm and loving presence..  

Blog #8

This past week was my last week of my Tuesday Night Connect Groups, until mid January. I was a bit sad about that, although I see most of the kids at church on Sunday. The group will begin in January as well. I really like having dinner, and eating with new people all the time. It makes the big community church easier to get to know, because Sunday morning conversations are usually so short and they are in a full, loud room. 

My Sunday School teaching was actually a real blessing this week. We taught them on making the right decisions for God. It was the same deal as usual, but I am feeling like I am becoming increasingly effective in my ministry with them. The real blessing at the end was when I had a conversation with the other leaders there. They encouraged me so much, telling me I had gotten a lot better at teaching the kids. This Sunday School experience has been my first time working with kids on such a constant basis. So, please pray for me that I will continue to increase in those abilities. Other than that, we had dinner with the African Pastors that are visiting my church. That was a really fun time..

Please pray for me that I will get my work done early for school. It is one thing that I feel if I can get that done, I will be more effective in my ministries.

Blog #7

So this week, I did my weekly ministry on Tuesday night with the connect groups. It was a fun time, and I am really starting to feel close with the children there. It has been a cool thing to see them on a weekly basis. There is a little girl there who I feel like needs to be prayed for. I think she has some sort of a learning disability, she is incredibly sweet and fun.  

I feel like I am developing a desire to serve, hoping for less reward for myself when I serve, and praying more that I am making an impact when I have these chances to serve. I enjoy getting to know theses kids on a weekly basis and being someone who is there, just to love them. So, this weekend I was studying the whole time, then on Sunday morning I was so tired when I had to serve. But somehow I felt energetic and pumped up to be doing Sunday school, I guess I was just feel triumphant. I have been working dilligently on overcoming some sin I need to get out of my life (And, I appreciate prayer for my heart staying clear of immorality and lust.) So our childrens pastor was gone, leaving me to manage my whole big group on my own. This was a bit of a problem at first, as the children were getting rowdy. But I managed to get them all focused with some cool activities. For my Sunday School Ministry, if my prayer team wouldn't mind praying for a few of the kids there that make problems sometimes. I am making progress with them, but I feel that prayer would make the situation even more inspirational!

Blog #6

My ministries for New Life went very well this week. I actually had my first teaching session for Promise Land on Sunday. As well chilling with the kids during my regular Tuesday night connect group. On Tuesday we had the dinner with all the families and then me and Jason (children's pastor) got together with all the kids downstairs while the adults talked about life and God. I really feel it's a blessing to be a part of this ministry. And honestly all I do is love the kids the best that I can. It is not too difficult. We have this giant rubber-band ball going. So one of the activities was making rubber-band chains and adding to the ball. After the parents are done they come down to pick up their kids. So that is part of the ministry, talking to the parents and letting them know that I am trustworthy to be with their kids.

Promise Land went very well too. I don't have too much experience directing a group of kids and keeping their attention. So first we did our regular sign language worship service, which is always hilarious. After that the kids all got together and learnt a lesson from Lorne, the leader. After that the kids prayed a "salvation prayer". Of course just the kids who wanted to. I had to be very stern with the kids who didn't want to pay attention, to make sure they wouldn't start distracting other kids. I feel like in order to be more effective in this ministry I can do some more pre class reading on the material we are covering and the lesson course. 

Again, I appreciate all of your prayer towards my church ministries, as well as my everyday ministry with people I come in contact with.

Here is a verse that I love from 2 Peter.. 

Shalom

3:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.[a]

 11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

Blog #5

This week has been a growing experience. I am learning quickly how to manage my time properly. I have realized that the college life has been taking its toll on me, as I have been trying to adjust to this drastically different lifestyle. The truth is that I have been planning and living my own life at my own pace ever since I was 16. Ever since I got into the modeling industry I entered a self pace school, pretty much a mix between homeschool and conventional school. In contrast to life at Kaleo many parts of my life are already planned for me, and it tends to be quite stressful for me. I have to adjust to it. The main thing I think I need to work on is my time and energy management. Knowing when to reserve my energy for myself and my own needs, and when to give it out to other people. I find I tend to try to do to much sometimes, and end out burnt out by the end of the day.

I did teach Sunday school this week. We started off with Sign Language Worship which was a tad bit embarrassing as I had to dance around doing sign language with the kids. Then we watched a movie. I had the chance to meet many new kids there, and I had a lot of fun.

After church we went to our main pastors house, Mark Buchanan. I had a great time talking with him and his family. He gave me a lot of cool points on areas of ministry where I have questions. We made plans to have a more personal meeting later on so I can speak to him about my writing and ministry interests. 

Prayer team can you please pray for our classmate John, who just lost his Grandpa. He was very close to him and I know he is hurting right now. Thats all till next week!

Blog #4

I am at a bit of a spiritual low right now.. I am fighting to stay positive. I feel like I am holding back tears all the time,  last night I found out that my Gramma has a tumor in her head. Immediately when I found out I didn't have much of a reaction to it. And I am not too worried intellectually because I know how much my Gramma loves God and no matter what she will be with God in heaven whenever her life ends. But spiritually this is taking its toll on me. It doesn't really matter how much the intellect gets in the way.I feel a little bit angry at life right now. I know I need to stay positive for her sake and just pray faithfully so that is what I am going to do for the rest of the night.

My ministry for this week was buying lunch for a homeless guy that I met in church a week before Kaleo started. His name was Tim and I just saw him the other night with a cut up face and everything. I asked if I could do anything for him and he said yes so we went to get some food, then we prayed and I give him some of Gods word.

Prayer team can you pray for my Gramma and Tim, 

God Bless, Brandon.

Blog #3

I love God, call me a Jesus freak but that is the only thing I can start my blog with! He is just so good to us, his greatness is just becoming more and more evident in my life. My soul longs for him, yet at the same time my soul is longing for all the people in the world that don't know him. I want to go tell them, I want to go love on them. People would have such hope in some places of the world if I could just go tell them. People that would rather die right now because of how bad their life is.

Today while I was in church I was feeling a little bit frustrated because the New Life Pastors don't really do much preaching. They do a lot of talking about people in the community, which I think is great. I just find myself at times frustrated at the lack of inspiration I feel there. Today was good for the first 90% of the service, nothing too special though.

Then they played this video, a really crazy video. It starred this one African woman. First she started off talking about God and how great he is. She was very passionate when she spoke, which made it a bit different than your average "God is Good" messages. Then the video progressed into showing how bad the world is in places like Africa and Kenya, and South America. I felt this burning desire to go to these people and minster to them. Everything inside of me was screaming "I WANT TO BE A MISSIONARY!!" And I still feel this desire. Im just giving it some time to settle down to make sure it isn't some fad in my life. 

After church we went to an event going on in Duncan called "The Walk of the Nations" We walked a kilometer with about 500 people in honor of the 1st nations of Duncan. It was really fun. There were random groups of drummers and singers along the way, then at the end there was a meeting where our pastor was speaking.

My youth ministry has been going well. I went to a Tuesday night connect group this week. We had dinner with a bunch of people from the church then after I hung out with the kids and had a pretty good time. This morning I had my Sunday School teaching. It was unfortunate that the power went out in Crofton the night before because I had some preparations that I wasn't able to make. But it worked out fine because another man was doing it with me. Next time I believe I will be teaching a class all by myself, I am excited for this!  After Church we go to a family's house every Sunday unless something else is going on like today. I have really been enjoying spending time with the families at New Life! They are such a great family of people and I am so grateful to be in it! 

God Bless

Bible verse of the week:

Philippians 2

Imitating Christ's Humility

 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.

(Photos:Top- Walk of the Nations Logo , Bottom- Orphanage in Tijuana,Mexico. Inspired by my new desire for mission work. )

Blog #2

 We started our first day of class today. It's called Spiritual Formation. Our Professor's name is Marv Penner. I enjoyed listening to him today and I am actually quite tired after soaking in everything today.  Could you all pray for him and his wife, as they are both battling illness right now. Pray also for them, that God may gift them in their ability to transform all of us Kaleo students. 

I am starting my ministry with the children at New Life Church tomorrow. I feel like God has been working a few adjustments in me to prepare for this ministry. One thing that has been sticking out to me is my need to unconditionally love other people. And that unconditional love means that there is nothing nice or mean, smart or dumb, loving or cold that they could do to to me that would change my love for them. I ask you all to pray for my ability to love others unconditionally. I also would like everyone to pray for these children (They are Going to be Grade 3's) that I have the opportunity to serve. I pray that I could make a positive impact on them, in Jesus name.

After church this Sunday, a really beautiful family, the Jansen's, invited all the Kaleo students over for lunch. I had a genuine great time being with this family. I was so thankful to them for inviting us into their home and loving us. This week all of us Kaleoites were on a five day sailing trip from Monday to Friday. I felt blessed to be on a boat with such great Godly people. The sense of community and love while onboard was intense. I am praying for all of you, Love Brandon.

BLOG #1

Hello my beloved, the only thing I can start this off with is LIFE IS GOOD.. Sure it can be difficult and confusing, sometimes more often than not. But the beautiful thing is that we have this great God who loves us more than we can even comprehend. And I am learning more and more that if we rely on him when things get tough- We come out of the issue more joyful and wise than when we went into it. The thing I believe we humans want more than anything in life is love. 

Right before I got into writing this blog my favorite cat in the world that lives on the Qwanoes campus came up to me, took a cat nap on me and was just purring. It was a moment where I felt like I needed love and this cat came up to me and we loved each other for a moment. Then I realized- if that cat can make me feel so filled up with love. How much more should I be basking in my father in heavens love, who can love me more than anyone. And also how much more should I be loving the people around me.

I have been praying to God for more joy in my life since I arrived at camp, and he has been giving it to me everyday. God calls us to always be joyful. If we aren't enjoying life than we aren't joyful.  JOY and ENJOY mean the same thing. Although that is obvious, sometimes I forget that and I stop enjoying life. I tend to assume that just because I am saved by God's grace that I MUST CONSEQUENTLY be joyful. It's not true, though. Sometimes you have to work for your joy, overcome obstacles, pray for it. Also, test yourself and make sure that what you are searching for to make yourself joyful is actually good for you. I know in the past I have done all the wrong things to make myself, temporarily joyful, that have been horrible for me. Even now I find myself going after things like Winning in sports, or trying to be the best at something to make myself happy, and it never works.

I have chosen the children's ministry at my church. I have not had the chance to work in the ministry yet, and I probably wont until next week. I felt led to minister to the children, even though my first instincts were telling me to go for the youth. There was a strong need for workers in the children's ministry. I am very excited for my opportunity coming up because I am going to be teaching the kids about the bible. I think it is going to be good training for further ministry roles in my life. Please keep me in your prayers, I will do the same for all my friends and family.

Brandon