The Voyage of the Pacific Grace

I'M ON A BOAT!! Those were the shouts as we finally set foot on our SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society) adventure. And what an incredible adventure it was. From islands to strong winds to AMAZING food there was never once a moment where we slowed down. Indeed it is hard to slow down when you are stuck in a 100ft by 10ft box with 35 other people for 5 days. One of my favorite parts of the trip was on when we decided that we would take an hour of quiet time where we weren't allowed to make noise. I was blessed to be able to go up the shrouds at this time. For anyone not familiar with shrouds they are the tall climbing things that take you all the way to the top of the mast, they look something like this:
From the top of the mast it was such a splendid day, the water was calm and very little wind was blowing. It was the perfect conditions for a little contemplation. It was when I had to think about why we rush so much. Why can't we just slow down and enjoy all that God has given, I mean look at His Beauty:
That was what this trip really was, just slowing down. For one week we had no agenda, no where to go, we just sailed.
Though one of my favorite adventures was when we went ashore for the first time about Tuesday ish. It really made me feel like we were adventurers like in the Chronicles of Narnia. Exploring new islands while sailing on a ship. Not to mention that the island looked like it was straight out of a movie:

Jade, Abby, Ben (Left to Right)

This trip has really had all the aspects that I think sum up Kaleo, spiritual formation, community, and adventure. This has definitely been one of my highlights and now I am looking forward to even more adventures with my friends whom I am growing to love even more.

Looking to the future quickly, our surf trip that was planned for this week has been canceled due to pending stormy weather. Please pray that it will be able to be rescheduled. Also there is a lot of homework that everyone is trying to do, we have a book to read and summarize by Sunday, as well as two pre-course assignments due. Also there are a few papers that are due at the end of the month for our Spiritual Formation course. That's not to mention the two other courses that come in November that pretty much nobody has looked at the pre-course work for yet. Please pray that we have good insights and are able to schedule our time wisely.


Thank you guys so much. Love you lots,
Nick VanSnick
"If only there was time to linger..." - Tim Everett



At top of the mast