Lots to Learn

Wow. Kaleo is here in full force, and has been since D-Group Leader training the day we arrived. Last summer I grew more in Christ than I ever could have imagined, and coming into this summer I expected that same sort of rapid growth. Instead, I got something I didn't expect - even more growth, even faster.

I'm learning so much that it's hard to keep up sometimes but here's some of the highlights...

• FAITH: I so desire to be a woman who puts full trust in God, his provision, and his power. I want to believe God for bigger things than I could even dream of, and trust that God will meet my physical and emotional needs. (Hebrews 11)
• I've also been learning a ton about what it means to be a sacrificial, loving leader. I love these girls so very much, and I love learning from them. It's been cool to grow with them and be challenged by them and learn what it looks like to lead out.
• Fellowship has been incredible this summer. My good friend Erin and I have been making a point to get together each week to chat through everything going on in our lives, and it's been such an incredible bonding experience. I love her and her heart, and it's such a privilege to be partnering with her in ministry. She's a gem.
• Prayer prayer prayer. It's incredible, and God's really been showing me that without prayer, everything I do, everything I aspire to, everything I'm learning is in vain. Without prayer things don't stick in my heart, lives don't change, and I grow prideful. I've loved getting to pray more and seeing God be faithful to that.

Just a snapshot of what I've been learning! Stay tuned for details on some fun happenings :)

KALEO2011 IS HERE!

Hey friends!
So I left for Kaleo last Thursday and got here last Friday! We had 4 packed days of leader training and fun times getting to know one another. This past Tuesday all of the Kaleo participants got here and we've been having a blast ever since!

Our group has picked up right where we left off at school and we're having as much fun together as we ever have. I'm loving living with these girls and getting to know them better. Here we are at our large group meeting last night:

Here's me with Lisa, Julia, and Lacy last night!



We're having some great times getting the room organized, shopping for living needs, playing pranks, and learning from one another. Can't wait to jump right in to all of the content at Kaleo with them!

Julia started work yesterday as housekeeping at the Marriott, Lisa starts work today at McDonalds, and Lacy and I went in to Publix yesterday for paperwork. Lacy will be in the Bakery and I'll be working in the Deli. We're pumped.

Tonight we have a group social event where each group shows up to the beach as a certain theme and the winner gets a Kaleo trophy... we intend on winning... and I can't wait to show you pictures!

Over and out,

Kelsey

My DGroup!!!

Hey Friends!

Exciting news - I just found out the girls who I will be leading in my DGroup this summer!

These girls are... *drumroll please*

Lisa, Lacy, and Julia!!! All three are freshmen in my sorority who I've had the intense pleasure of getting to know this year through leading them in their Freshman Connection bible study! We've had a great time, and I've loved seeing them grow this year. I can't wait to see how God continues to grow them this summer!

Some pics... :)

Lacy and Julia!!

Lisa and Julia :)

Lacy and Lisa <3

As you can see, our group is made up of some classy, fun, laidback, energetic, and enthusiastic girls. We'll have a blasty blast.



Here's a pic of the girls in my team for the summer!

Left to right: Lauren, Me, Kara, Kirsten, Meghan, Kayla, Kolbi

Kirsten is our team leader and will be leading us leaders through the summer and helping us grow closer to Christ and become better leaders. We have a wide variety of personalities, so it's been fun to get everyone's different viewpoints. Kara and Jen (not pictured) are our staff girls that are on our team, and I'm so excited to learn from them both!

A shot of some of the girls from my Freshman Connection bible study this year at a Valentine's Day Banquet!

• Julia, Lisa, and Lacy will be going to Kaleo this summer
• Michelle, Abby, and Amanda are also attending Kaleo but are in Brittney and Betsy's (both in my sorority) group
• Ali is going to Germany this summer to see a close friend.
• Allison and Carrie are going home this summer.
• Megan is going home to Boston and being a camp counselor.
• Erin was my co-leader and will also be leading a DGroup at Kaleo!

As you can tell, there are a lot of girls going a lot of different places - pray that wherever they are, wherever they go, they grow closer to and have an impact for Christ!

SUMMER 2011!!!

Hey all! Guess what?!
I have the immense privilege of attending Kaleo AGAIN this coming summer and I'm extremely excited about it. In fact, this year I will be leading a D-Group!

Why? Why did I decide to go back?
Matthew 9:37 - "Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'"

The reality of the matter is that the harvest is just as plentiful now as it was this time last year, and the workers, sad as it is, are just as few. I'm committed to being trained as a worker and Kaleo is the best way I know of how to do that. Also, I refuse to leave K-State or my sorority without the assurance that another woman is ready and trained to carry on the work of laboring in the harvest and making disciples.

Snapshot of what Kaleo really is...

My responsibilities as a DGroup Leader...

• Living with and leading 3 women (most likely from my sorority) for 9 weeks at Kaleo
• Leading weekly bible study of 2 Corinthians
• Leading weekly book study of The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
• Meeting one-on-one with each girl in my group weekly
• Participating in DGroup Leader trainings each Nonday
• Working about 30 hours a week at Publix
• Attending trainings, large group meetings, beach evangelism, etc with my group
• Having a great time in the midst of that!

Needless to say, it's going to be a busy and crazy summer, but I'm confident that God will work a wonder that only He can through this summer at Kaleo.

God says that he can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine when we come to Him in prayer. As I approach the summer I realize that prayer will make or break my group's experience, so I beg you to pray with me.

Some prayer requests:

• That I would finish strong academically and in ministry on campus
• That God would reveal to me now areas that I need to improve in as a leader and as His follower
• That God would provide for me financially
• That God would prepare the hearts of the girls in my DGroup for a summer of growth. Pray that they would become women of F.A.I.T.H. (faithful, available, initiative takers, teachable and have a heart for God and others)

Thank you all!

Love you,
Kelsey

Time sure flies when your heart is convicted...

Guys! I'm so sorry for this ridiculously belated post! Like the title alludes to... time sure flies when you're learning a lot and feeling convicted.

To avoid flooding you with every little detail of the past month... I'm just going to do things in a topical format.

Job:
I'm still at Alvin's Island and still enjoying it. My hours got cut a little bit since sales are so down because of the oil, but I'm still getting about 30 hours a week and there's only a week of work left - crazy!

Relationships conference:
In June we had a weekend devoted to just talking about relationships and what it looks like to engage in them in a godly way. We talked a lot about contentment in our singleness, guarding our hearts, and knowing when you're ready to start dating and even pursuing marriage. I learned a ton and was really able to strengthen some of my convictions on the topic. That weekend my D-Group talked about what we learned and watched Fireproof, which is a phenomenal movie about relationships. Watch it if you haven't already.

Missions conference:
Last weekend all 150 of us at Gulf Shores roadtripped over to the Kaleo in Destin, FL along with the Panama City Kaleo-ites for the Missions Conference. Todd Ahrend spoke about the biblical basis for missions, the need for laborers, and what it could look like for us to go to the missions field after college. In talking about the biblical basis for missions, Todd said something that really got me thinking and made missions more real to me. "God's heart from the world is apparent from Genesis to the maps in the back of the Bible." It's so true. The whole Bible is about God's people, how they strayed from him, and the process of redeeming those people all over the world. Why shouldn't we want to take part in spreading the gospel to people who've never heard it and glorifying God and fulfilling his vision for the world???
He also asked each of us to give 10 years to missions after we graduate. Initialky I was taken aback and really didn't know what to think of that... I thought he was being a little extreme, but then he said something so elementary, yet so convicting, that it's been on my mind all week. "I don't know if you all know this, but you're going to spend the next 10 years doing SOMETHING." It's really just a matter of what I want that something to be and being careful not to value my own ambitions over obedience to God and the great commission.
Africa has been a continent that's been laid heavy on my heart since high school, since before I was even a believer, and now it's been on my heart for different reasons. The tribal people of Africa and the women in the middle east have definitely been on my heart this summer and the missions conference definitely gave me different perspective about it.

What I've been learning:
1) I feel like my theme verse for the summer has been 1 Corinthians 9:27:
"No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
I've just been learning a lot about the importance of discipline in every aspect of my life, not just spiritually, but especially spiritually. I think I've come to recognize that if I'm disciplined in one area of my life then I will be in all of them. It's been really hard, but it's something that I know is important enough to struggle with and to pursue.
2) Recognizing that anything bad I face is nothing compared to what Jesus faced. Sometimes at work I get frustrated with being blamed for things I didn't do or getting in trouble for not doing something I was never told to do, etc. Then it dawned on me... Jesus faced much worse than I ever will for things that he never did either. He didn't sin, I do. He didn't deserve death, I do. Yet he got blamed and put to death for a crime he didn't commit. I should be rejoicing in the fact that I have a relationship with God at all, not moping about something insignificant like work.
3) The importance of prayer has really been laid on my heart lately. I've grown more disciplined and consistent in my prayer life this summer and it's been cool to see the fruit of that in my every day life, especially when sharing my faith at work or on the beach. It's always really apparent that God desires to answer prayer, because he constantly has been.
4) The importance of scripture memory has also been huge in my life this summer. It's been so helpful to be memorizing scripture to meditate on while I'm at work or doing something else in my every day life. Memorizing has really just helped me understand the Bible better as I turn it over and over again in my head, and it's been cool to pray that back to God, and to be connecting with God through his words. It's been phenomenal.

Prayer requests:
~Thank God that He's used Kaleo to grow me and others so very much this summer.
~For opportunities to share my faith at the work place and the boldness to capitalize on those opportunities.
~For each of us as we close up Kaleo in the next 2 weeks to really be left with a desire to labor back on campus, and that each of us would be changed for a lifetime.
~That beach evangelism would continue to be fruitful.
~For me personally to really continue to develop convictions about discipline and improve in various areas of my life.

Thanks so much! Love you all.

Kelsey

Lately...

WOW! What a week! Sorry that it's been awhile, but I decided not to use the internet this last week just to wean myself off of relying on it, etc... so no updates were possible!

Well... I won't bore you with every little detail, but this week has been amazing! Work has been really good and it's been cool to see the interest of my coworkers in spiritual things and how challenging it's been to converse with them on that level through language barriers and culture differences and such.

As a sidenote, the oil is indeed here, but it's not nearly as bad as the media is making it sound. There is oil on the beaches in patches, and the water is oily... but the beach itself is enjoyable... and the severity varies by location. I've been on a few areas of beach with no sight of oil. People are losing jobs/having hours cut, but hopefully this pattern stops.

World prayer yesterday was the BOMB. This week my group talked about tribal people/animism and it was just so interesting to learn about their practices and beliefs and to talk about their spiritual need. It's crazy to think about the fact that there are people out there who have never even heard the name of Jesus in passing. It was super convicting and definitely broke my heart.

Today, my brother and his roommates did the sweetest thing ever! They all invited my DGroup over for dinner to celebrate my birthday on Friday and it was delicious! They did such a great job, and had a little slideshow of pictures of Jordan and I and were just so kind and welcoming... and I loved our conversation! It was just the most pleasant surprise, so thoughtful and nice :)

A few more highlights/things I've been learning:
~1 Corinthians 9:27 - "No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I've been learning a lot about the importance of discipline in my daily life and being in control of my body rather than my body controlling me.
~I am my own greatest barrier in knowing God more. If I want to know God more then it's up to me to deny myself, and to get rid of my own self-interest and really desire to know God and to glorify Him.

Prayer points:
~Just praise God for who he is and for sending his son to die so that we can enter in to a relationship with him if we just trust in him
~Thank God for the amazing opportunity that Kaleo is and how much everyone has already grown.
~Pray that jobs for the whole project would be secure and that the oil spill wouldn't affect tourism to the point of needing to lay off workers or cut hours any more.
~Pray that I personally would continue to grow in my relationship with God and in my daily discipline
~Thank God for the spiritual hunger that's evident at Alvin's Island and for the conversations we've had, but also just pray that we'd overcome the language barrier and the common dislike for workers to be talking with each other at work.
~That the tribal people and animistic people would come to a knowledge of God through creation and through missions work

Thanks so much!
Let me know if there's anything I can be praying for for you!

~Kelsey

I have a job!

Wow guys! Yesterday was really a low point on my job search and I was feeling super discouraged, and today, just one day later, I have a job! We have several people from Kaleo working at Alvin's Island (a surf, souvenir, etc. type shop) both in Gulf Shores and in Orange Beach... and the manager at the Orange Beach location let one of our girls know that he was looking to hire a couple more people! She let Jordan know... who let me and Tiffany (another girl without a job) know... so we went in to apply. Well... the application consisted of the usual - name, number, references, job experience... then suddenly the application turned in to tax forms. We filled out our part, he filled out his part, and voila, we were hired! Tiffany and I start at 9am tomorrow morning and I couldn't be any more excited about it!

I feel like I've never truly appreciated a job before, and even felt entitled to them, so I really feel like God used this to humble me and to make me thankful for a job, rather than feeling like I deserve one. I seriously am soooooo thankful that this was able to happen, and that my job search, though frustrating, was brief.

Praise God! He truly does provide :)

~Kelsey