Mt. Washington

Hey,
So this past week was pretty much amazing. For our 2nd week back we went back up to Mount Washington (near the place where we did our hiking trip at the beginning of the year). We stayed at a lodge and for some odd reason they call them chalet's even though I'm sure any Albertan and Saskatchewanian would call it a lodge or cabin where you stay and a Chalet as being the place where everyone goes to eat if you don't have one....hm... But nonetheless we were so blessed to have the accommodations that we did. During the 5 days of being there we spent 4 days out on the hill snowboarding and then for 1 day we were able to go on a snowshoeing adventure (my favorite day). We had some unfortunate events though with our days of snowboarding as on the 1st day we had 1 broken arm in addition to Tom who had a broken leg from the week before. Then on the 3rd day of snowboarding we had another girl break her arm and on our last injury was on the last day of snowboarding one of the guys sliced his finger on his board after landing a jump. Aside from these injuries our time was still amazing. In the evenings we would all go back to the lodge, it was more like a condo as we had 3 sort of sections which also equalled to 3 hot tubs. So the girls got one condo and the guys another and the leaders another yet. So we would have dinner and play board games or Catch Phrase which was the big hit and then every night we would finish off with a Chapel. During our Chapels at Mount Washington for the first couple of days we discussed our names that we were given the 2nd week of Kaleo. On our S.A.L.T.S. trip we went around and we named everyone and so we took time to re-evaluate everyone's name and some we decided to rename and for others we just affirmed the name and the ways we saw them grow into it. It was really cool to see how some people had been struggling with their name. A few of the students had been having a tough time with their name and we were able to hear from them how their struggle with it had helped them in their time at Kaleo which was very encouraging and interesting to hear. Now I don't believe I shared what my name was as at the time I didn't think much of it but the name I was given was Quixotic. I know what you're thinking, "what in the world does that mean?" well Quixotic means exceedingly idealistic according to the dictionary and it was given to me as meaning more of "one who dreams of idealistic things", someone who dreams big and goes for it and people will follow were the words that were originally used for it. Now this name has been quite confusing as you probably have noticed. I still don't fully understand what it means for me and part of me doubts that I would ever be able to fit that mold. I do desire so much to have a vision or dream of something and to pour myself into that but at the same time right now I don't have that one dream. I know that I usually block out such dreams as unrealistic and I feel as though I'm rather "conservative" and always doubt when it comes to new plans or ideas so I guess I can see how that could be a hopeful name. Unlike the others its more of one of those names that are wished upon me rather than something they have seen me grow into or have seen progress in. So as you can see I am still a bit confused, but I think that it was good for me to think more about it and be challenged in that area and to keep that in the back of my head for when dreams or ideas do pop into my head. On the other nights of Chapel we also discussed what our dreams for the future were and it was really sweet to hear the other students talk about their plans and to see some students struggle with what they felt called to do and what they wanted to do. It was very interesting to say the least! We finished our trip on Friday and got back and unfortunately we were not able to make it to youth as it was insanely foggy and we were late getting back. So for the rest of the weekend we just had piles of homework for our Theology of Christian Doctrine class which starts on Monday. On Sunday we were able to make it to church though and it was my first time playing piano there. It went well considering I only knew 2 of the songs and was unable to make practice yet they wanted me up there anyways, but I was thankful that there was another piano player who played beside me to help. But it was good and I'm excited and nervous for next week where I'll be playing piano by myself and with a organist which will be a new experience for me. Looking at the song list I only know 1 of the 8 so if you could pray that God would be with me as I practice that would be great!! As for other events, this next week we will be starting our Theology course, its sort of like the Camp Ministry course as instead of having the proff come down for a whole week, he'll just be in and out teaching for a day here and there during the semester as he is a pastor at one of our local churches in Cobble Hill. So that will be exciting, and we also have our 24/4 week of prayer, we couldn't find a time where we could have a straight 7 day time stretch (yes this semester is crazy busy!!) so we are having a 4 day stretch and later on another 3 day stretch. So that is also something to look forward to. As far as prayer requests, if you could pray for those who were injured during our trip to Mt. Washington, one of the girls who broke her arm is on our India team as well as Tom who broke his leg, and so if you could especially pray for them for a quick recovery that would be great. We are gearing up for India, working out almost every other day so they have been involved and doing whatever they can but just pray that even though they are unable to prepare as planned that when we do go to India that this wouldn't be a big hinderance in their time. If you could also pray for us students and the prayer room, that it would be a meaningful time with no distraction that would also be great. Well thats about all the news I have for this week, thanks for reading!