There And Back Again

There and back again.... well I’m home again and I’m typing this blog as I sit and watch the beautiful yet very different scenery of New Brunswick. I can’t say enough how odd it feels to be home. Everything is so familiar, yet I have left a very familiar place and beloved community. I can’t really say that the year felt as if it went by super fast. The feeling that has set in is an eternal one. I feel as if Kaléo just always was. In some degrees I think that is probably true. Kaléo has been a community that I have never experienced before; one that displayed what eternity is going to look something like. I have tasted what the Kingdom of the Heavens is like that Jesus speaks of in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is something I will not soon forget (because I will not let myself do so). And now I write to you to say thank you for making that happen.

The community that I have experienced would not have been the same without all of the many prayers that have been prayed. God has met us time and time again over this year, from chapel to the top of Mount Washington; he has not ceased to work in and through us this year. We have seen him change hearts in a place that he was not welcome (Olympics). We watched our fellow Kaléo’s become free of burdens and become soft-hearted to his call. We have seen homeless men laugh with joy and ask, “What is the Word?” Our eyes have been opened to revelations that great teachers and men of God have taught us. God has displayed his glory and we have sung praises to him on mountain tops. God has named us with new names and equipped us to go back into the world. The list could go on and on; God has worked mightily this year. So I thank you for praying, I thank you for the support you have given for all that has taken place would not have happened without it.

Now after this journey, I am back again. This time I am more prepared to meet the challenges that the world has set before me. I have been taken out of the green house where I have grown all year and been placed out in the garden to see if I will take root. The Lord willing, the growth that has happened this year will continue and I will see more fruit bear in my next few years. But I’m sure that you are curious as to what is next. Now that I have stepped out of this rock tumbler called Kaléo with a few less rough edges, what next? My plan is to continue schooling for one more year. I will finish an Associates Degree in Global Studies to continue my background for a life of global missions. After this I am not exactly sure where I will be heading but I shall take things one step at a time. I have some vague plans but you’ll have to ask about those, there isn’t enough room to talk about those here. Hopefully one more year at Briercrest will enhance my knowledge of the word of God and show me how to love him more.

Thank you again for all the support that you have given throughout the year. Hopefully I will be able to sit with many of you who read this blog to continue to share my experiences with you. In case I do not see you I would like to say, good day and thank you. This will be the last post for this blog because I have been there and back again. Good bye Kaléo I have loved thee and will miss thee dearly, until we unite in eternity once more, Adieu.

Nick VanSnick

nvansnick@gmail.com

After the Grad Ceremony, I won the Excellence in Christian Ministry Award

Up, Down, Up, Down, A Week of Many Experiences

I think, therefore I am.... Or not, as we learned in class this week. I must say that this week was one with many highs, lows, and good times. We had our final class, Christian Worldview, this past week as well as a few adventures throughout the week. And because I have nothing else witty to say for this little introduction I shall move onward to the meat of this blog, enjoy!
I had mixed feelings going into our final course this week. I was originally excited for the course before it began but then after doing the pre-course work I was disappointed. So I blindly went into this course not really sure what to expect. It turned out to be mostly a philosophy course which I wasn't half bad but some of the concepts we discussed in class were very abstract thought and was difficult to wrap my head around. We discussed modernism, post-modernism, and then how a Christian should see the world. It was intriguing to see historically how North America has come to think the way that it does. It was also really good to see how I have been shaped by our culture and what our culture values. I have seen many aspects of our North American value system that are flawed and as we learned in class that lead mainly to violence. So amongst the late nights doing assignments and the difficult concepts I did learn things through class and will hopefully learn more as time passes.
We also had an amazing Easter weekend, beginning it as Jesus did about two-millennium ago, with a traditional passover dinner. Our kind Kaleo leaders put together a traditional Jewish passover, complete with many of the traditions that are normally found at a passover dinner. It was a fun and culturally enriching (or at least as culturally enriching as you can get with 3o Caucasians doing a Jewish tradition). Some of the highlights were lamb, breaking bread(matzah), saying prayers in Hebrew, and taking communion together.
After a long week of class we enjoyed ourselves with a relaxing Friday evening at Jim's house where Tim, Bob, Jim, and I played Rook (a card game) till 10:30 at night because we each kept on trying to bring the winners score down so that it made it nearly impossible to win. Then on Saturday a large group of us went to the neighboring Salt Spring Island to go to the market and chill for the day. It was a chill day and I had some of the best Thai noodles that I've ever had in my life. (Mom, remind me to learn how to cook Thai food this summer while I'm home). So after some chill times at Salt Spring we came back to camp and watched The Passion. It was a good way to continue our Easter weekend.
Now today is Sunday and I am preparing for a sweet week praying, white water kayaking, and finishing my final two assignments. So in the spirit of prayer I would ask that you pray for me, I am looking for a summer job and am having trouble finding opportunities on the internet. I hope that all of you have a great week, I know that I will be making the best of mine as there are now only 12 days left of Kaleo and I'm doing my best to make the most of every minute.
Love ya,

Nick VanSnick

Flips, Boards, and Text Books. What More Do You Need?

Well Folks, I have a very exciting post for all of you today. This week felt like one giant weekend. We did some pretty adventurous things this week and also spent a lot of time indoors with homework. At the beginning of the week we had our Gospels exam which was not near as bad as I thought it was going to be. Then we went into Ditch the Genders Round 2 on Tuesday. I can testify for the guys that we had a pretty amazing time. We did a bit of an amazing race/Manly challenges time with a slip n' slide, stairs climb, running around in the woods, building a boat, and mountain boarding. We ended it all by doing what all men like to do - Eat Steak! After Steak we headed back to the lodge where we proceeded to bring all our mattresses down to the lounge and beat each other with them and then decide to do flips over couches onto them. It was a good time, then it got even better when we built a huge fort that we were able to sleep in. Then in the morning we went Rock Climbing at a climbing gym in Nanaimo. We had some pretty sic adventure times and bonding times with conversation in the fort before bed.

After DTG was over most people got right to work on their Camp Ministry papers that were due on Friday. We had to make sure to get as much work done as we could so that we wouldn't need to worry about it on Thursday when we went.....SNOWBOARDING!! We had some pretty sweet times on the hill on Thursday. I chilled with Mark and Jess in the morning then an assortment of others in the afternoon. I even managed to catch some air while boarding too. I hit the jump, landed, said, "Yes! I landed it," then fell over :P It was still a good time though, my roommates (Bob and James) and I even got our room picture at the top of the mountain (It's at the end). Then did a room bonding t-shirt run.

I have spent quite a bit of time doing homework over the weekend and have learned what it feels like to write a paper in a single day. (I've done that twice over the course of 4 days). Besides that I've worked in the kitchen, gone to church, and went downtown to hang out with homeless people this weekend. My head feels very full tonight as I write and I am looking forward to the next couple days surfing and relaxing. Mostly being able to think. I read a very challenging book for my Gospels paper that I finished today. It's called "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Two of the quotes from the book that I have been thinking about are, "Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ" and, "only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes." Two very challenging statements that make me wonder if perhaps I've focused too much on grace and not enough on what it actually means to follow Christ. Jesus did say that we should count the cost of following him before jumping on board (Luke 14:28-30, 9:57-58) and that price is to give up everything to follow him.

Anyway, those are my weary thoughts after a long day of paper writing. If you've got questions for me I'd love to hear them. I think my question for you would be, what questions should I be asking myself as the end of Kaleo (the beginning of the rest of my life) is drawing near? Please pray earnestly for us as we discover more and more what it means to leave this green house that we have been in for the past 7 months and go back into the world.

God Bless,
nICK vANsNICK

PS Bonus points for anyone who can tell me something special about the first picture :)

Myself, Bob, and James

James, Myself, and Bob

Myself and Jess. Wat Up Yo! (Kaitlyn in the background)

Matt just seems to get in all my epic shots :)

Olympic Recap....Or At Least Two Stories

Well first I want to apologize to everyone for the lack of blogs over the past little while. Sorry. While at the Olympics I did not put the blog in priority because of all the amazing things that were going on inside my own life and the lives of others. As for this week, I was just dumb and tried to do all my other assignments instead of blogging. So now I want to give you a little tour as to my perspective on our mission to the Olympics as well as some thoughts now that this trip is over.
So we arrive in Vancouver and one of our first stops is at the Accreditation Center which was at one of the ice rink venues. So we get in line like everyone else, then get our pictures taken, pick up the newly printed creds, and then finally go to the fitting room to get our uniform. I was the lucky one to start filling out forms first and so ended up in the waiting area first. As I walk in I immediately make eye contact with another guy who was just standing around waiting to be fitted. Thus ensued an internal battle of, 'go say hi' and 'but I'm not on shift yet'. While this battle within was being waged I found myself awkwardly saying hi, not really sure if I wanted to have a conversation, even though that's what I had come to do. After that initial speed bump things were off to the races and I started to learn more about this gentlemen who was a young looking guy in his thirties. We chatted and our conversation landed on me going to Bible School and him saying that he was a Christian too. I was very astonished at how open this man was to speak of the things of God and how joyful he was that he had Jesus in his heart. It gave me a little hope but also made me feel awkward because I really hadn't wanted to have a conversation in the first place. I marveled at the faith that this man had, he didn't say everything right or even with eloquence but at least he said something. I remember thinking, 'I've got to remember this story during this trip'. Unfortunately it wasn't until the trip that I remembered it. Looking back though, this first encounter was both stretching and encouraging for me to begin our mission with.
Now I just want to say that I won't have enough room to put up all the stories, I will probably tell one more and I'll post a link to the main blog at the bottom so you can also check that out. If you want to hear more I'd love to chat with you, I'll put my email at the bottom and we can arrange a phone call. Anyway, this next story is about another conversation that I had. I had relatively few conversations while at the Olympics and I partially believe that God was using the ones I did as a test. God then humored me and let me do more praying than conversing, which I didn't mind as I have seen my own awkwardness in conversation.
So while scanning tickets one afternoon, the crowd thinned out and I got to have a conversation with T. It began very surface level but then when she heard that I was part of 'the Bible School group' (we became known as a group quite quickly) she was intrigued and asked many questions about the program, as most people were. Then T asked me a very different question, "So what are you getting out of the program?" I was taken aback at first, I wasn't quite sure what to say and so said something about a spiritual side to things and then to find my direction in life as well. This then led into another interesting conversation that another girl ended up joining in as I explained a bit about my dream (see the post 'I Have A Dream....'). Then again T began firing questions at me in a very inquisitive manner. To be completely honest, I felt almost interrogated as she asked some very good questions. Some of which I found very difficult to answer, not because I didn't know the answer, but for some reason I just didn't want to mention God or Jesus in the conversation. I found an awkwardness in saying Jesus. I came away that evening very deep in thought on the whole thing, wondering if perhaps I am sugar-coating my conversations and beating around the bush. It also got me thinking about my dream more intensely again as I realize there are many things that I don't know about it yet. (If you're interested in more on that I'd be glad to share but for now I'm going a different route). It was interesting to see that throughout the rest of the trips I didn't have very many more deeper conversations where I was able to share lots of things. I ended up either not having the time or being able to listen to other people's lives. Very rarely after this conversation with T did I share much. It was an interesting way of God showing me where I still can grow and where I am strong. A way that I am glad he used because I thought that my interpersonal skills were better than they are. I am glad that God does not give us more than we can handle and sees where we struggle.
This mission trip was one that I have never experienced. And strangely enough, it doesn't feel over. This mission mainly focused around prayer and conversation and to be honest, I don't feel like I have done enough of either of those. I have also found myself at random points praying when I don't normally pray and trying to force myself to make conversation where I don't normally. This is what I think that I have learned, life is mission. Jesus didn't give us the great commission so that while we went on 'missions trips' we could follow it, Jesus gave us a commission for the way we are to live our lives. So that's what I want to leave you with, How are you living with a mission? Do you take the time outside of your 'prayer time' to pray? Are you attempting, no matter how awkwardly, to incorporate Jesus into your conversations?
Anyway, if any of this blog has any relevance to you, please write back. Especially if something doesn't make sense. I'd love to converse with you, not just talk at you. So now I shall say Alveedesang, Das vi danye, Good day!

Love Nick

http://kaleoseven.blogspot.com
nvansnick@gmail.com

Ski Jump Hill

Abby and Nicole

Jade and I with our Sculpture

Oh Baby It's Here!! Vancouver 2010 Here We Come! .........oh yeah Theology too.....

Well I have two major things I want to share with you this week, Theology and the Olympics. It's been a rather happening place around here over the past week with having our Theology course and trying to get as much homework done as possible before we leave for the Olympics. We don't want to have to worry as much about school work because some of our shifts are pretty crazy and may, or may not, allow for as much sleep time as we would like. If you want to check out what my schedule is like click the link over there on the right -> You know, right there with the little 'Check this out!' sign, yeah that one. That's one example, but anyway before we delve too far into Olympic material I have a frustration to vent and want to get your thoughts.

So our course this week was Theology which is the study of God. It's derived from the Greek word 'Theos' meaning God and 'Logos' meaning speech. So the idea is that we talk about God. Which got me pretty excited. This was the one course that I had gotten really excited for because Theology is what we think about, well, when we talk about God. I must say I was quite interested during our first part of our lectures when we talked about Theology being the bridge between Scripture and culture. I quite agreed with that. However from there my attention span went down hill until our very last topic of the week. It just seemed that many of the issues we talked about (Calvinism and Arminianism, Young Earth and Old Earth, etc.) were almost non-essential to a good foundation in Christianity. Which frustrated me a lot. These issues were hot topics and we even watched a two hour debate on Calvinism vs. Arminianism. The only thing that I had trouble with was connecting a lot of these issues to real life. It seemed that only scholars and academics care about certain issues. However we did cover some good material at the end of the course dealing with sin and the nature of humanity that was very interesting. Anyway, now that I have vented a little I'd love to know what your thoughts on Theology are. Perhaps you can give me some incite as to the relevance of certain issues or maybe some experience that you have had with the subject. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

And now back over to Jimmy with Sports...... ha ha, no, not funny, oh well, I thought it was. I'm really stoked right now about going to the Olympics it's hard to believe that there is only 14 hours and 56 minutes until we leave to head on our way at O'Dark Hundred (6:15) tomorrow morning. Everyone is either packing, doing laundry, or trying to get some last minute research done to be ready in time. Actually I need to go check my laundry, just wait a sec..........Alright we're all good, now I can pack. In the comments part of my last blog post I started talking about what our role will be at the Olympics. Our position that we have is called host and we could be doing a number of things from guiding people to their seats, assisting at security check points, or yelling at people to move..... I mean directing people with a megaphone as to the direction of certain venues. (I hope that it was evident that part of that last sentence was a joke). The largest part of the job is talking with people, being kindly to them, and assisting in anyway we can. This is such an amazing opportunity to just be YELLING Jesus at people without using our voices. However when we do speak we want to be ready to tell them why we are serving (1 Peter 3:15-16). I would ask that you pray for us everyday from now until February 28 as it will only be by the working of the Holy Spirit that this ministry trip will bear fruit; we ourselves cannot ordain conversations and actions that will touch someone in their heart. Please pray.

Well, I do need to try and get some work done myself. I'm a little behind seeing as I was supposed to post this yesterday (Sorry Kristie). I also still need to pack and make sure I have everything, which I can now do since my laundry is done. So for now I will say see ya later, but I'll try and blog while I'm at the Olympics to give you an update, I do have a few days off.
This is Nick VanSnick signing off.

Love ya,
Nick
14hours and 38minutes till departure :)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun.....Or Doing School Work

Well I don't think that I have yet had a week where I was 'living for the weekend' but I think that this past week came pretty close. With a ton of homework and class for two days the week seemed to fly by.
I think that Friday was definitely my favorite day. I was able to have a ton of fun both academically and not-so-academically. I was able to interview Scott Bayley the Executive Director here at Qwanoes about his position. This of course was for my camp ministry course that we are working through. It was a very interesting talk because of the wealth of knowledge Scott has about his position. From the exciting interview about something fun, camp, I went into a great Youth Night where all of the Youth in the Cowichan Valley area came to Qwanoes for the evening. We weren't sure how many to expect but it ended up being around 220 Youth not including leaders that came out. It was a night filled with energy! We sang, played a huge night game outside, and then our Kaleo intern, Justin Lenney, spoke on seeing God's glory. Quite a different night than usual but one that was a lot of fun.
Another reason I was looking forward to the weekend was so that I would be able to get a chunk of the pre-course work done for Theology this week. So in the midst of all this reading that we had to do we decided to go on a little adventure and bake pie at Jim's house. So off we tread to Jim's house but when we got there, no one came to the door to greet us. Upon this interesting dilemma Mark and I decided to look in the back door, and well it was unlocked. So we thought that we would vacate Jim's house for the afternoon to do some studying. We also left him little notes all around his house so that he would know we love him.
To top the week off it was good to be back on the streets of Duncan praying and talking with the homeless. I saw my good friend Hoppy last night and was able to catch up with him. A point of praise now, Hoppy has been a lifetime drinker and has for the past 4 months been clean. It was great to hear that and see that he was doing well.
I want to end on a good note about today, Theology is not scary. I was amazed that all through today how many topics I have already learned about and talked about in different settings. Theology is just the study of God, and that's what I've been doing for about the past 6 years. So I was greatly gladdened by that.

Please continue to pray for us at Kaleo as we prepare to go to the Olympics and especially please pray everyday between February 10-28 as we will be right in the action during these days, almost quite literally at all hours of the day.

Love ya,
Nick VanSnick

Shred the Gnar!

As we woke up Monday morning this is what we saw....
If you can't see what it is, that's because what we saw was nothing, literally. The power was out. This led to a lot of fun for room 212 (my room), we just happened to have a 50 million candle power flashlight and a generator powered stereo. So not only did we have light, we had some sick tunes. It was pretty good until we had to load into the vans in the dark, rainy, windy weather that dampened our spirits, it was already early enough as it was (5AM). It didn't take long for all of us to fall asleep once again and this time we were greeted a lot nicer.....
It was kind of like that feeling when you wake up Christmas morning to find that it snowed the night before, except this time we knew that playing in this snow was going to involve some serious shredding of the gnar.
I must say I was not fully excited to be going out in the snow to snowboard. Josh if you read this you may remember our last adventure at Poley Mountain, it did not end well to say the least. So this time around I was definitely not stoked to bump and bruise my body all over again this week but I sucked in a gust of fresh air, grabbed my helmet and wrist guards and set out to try my best at this sport.
Boy was I glad that our God is a God who conquers fear. My experience snowboarding was by far one of the most amazing experiences I have had all year. I was not only able to stand on my snowboard, I have learned the art of shredding the gnar! And what an experience it is to fly down a hill with the cool air blowing in your face as you watch this.....

















While snowboarding was an experience in itself to see the scenery that surrounded us was another experience in itself. You almost forgot that you came to the top of the mountain to snowboard down because you were so enraptured by the views there.
Though all of our fun this week wasn't just snowboarding. We also had the opportunity to go snowshoeing.....














.....We also got to build snow caves while on our snowshoe excursion. It was a really sweet time and if you are able to tell, we built ours 6 feet deep before we started the actual tunnel portion.
Yeah, this trip had some pretty rad times but also some really good serious times. Each evening we had chapel and some of the special chapels we did were naming chapels. However the naming we did was special, we prayed and identified names for each other that characterized a little of who we are and also fit something into who we could grow into. It was a really good bonding experience for us as a Kaleo team and if you're interested in knowing all the names check out the main blog at http://kaleoseven.blogspot.com but for just a taste, mine is Pilgrim, one who journeys.

I'm feeling a little blank right now, with all the assignments that are coming up and being due along with everything else that has been going on I haven't had a whole lot of time to think so I hope this is enough for you to see into my world for this week. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to go to the Olympics (2 weeks I think). For now I wish you all well and hope that each of you has your own opportunity to shred the gnar of your life.

Love ya,
Nick