Back to Kaleo!

Yes you heard it right! I am returning back to Kaleo the day after graduation to be a Discipleship Group Leader (Dgroup). I will be leading three girls from SNU: Emily Spitler, Timara Starkey, and Kayla Conant. I am so excited to get to share this experience with these girls and get to grow with them. A lot of you are probably thinking..man this girl needs to settle down and get a job. Well to be honest, I understand what you are thinking. This past year I have been praying that if the desires me to return to Kaleo, that he would make it clear to me. He definitely has done that. There are a lot of different feelings I am having in this stage before graduation. Some parts of me think I am so crazy for doing this, and not looking for a job this summer. Other parts of me are stressed out because I have to leave the day after graduation (which means a lot to get done!). But the main part of me is so excited to see what God is going to do this summer. He has opened the doors for me to return to Kaleo, and I know that this experience will continue to shape me.

I heard some one say that being a Kaleo participant helps you grow in your head knowledge about God, and being a leader helps you grow in Godly character. I am very excited/nervous to be able to continue growing into the Godly woman God has called me to be. Seth and I are also very excited to both experience this because we know that it will just help our marriage.

I am writing this to some of you specifically... I would love your prayers right now as I deal with so many emotions. I would also love it if you joined in praying for me this summer.

Right now I am thinking about a job, wedding, kaleo, leading, etc. I know that I am doing God's will and that gives me peace, but still sometimes the devil tries to tell me that what I am doing is not worth while. I need to trust.

Specific prayer requests that you could pray: that I would put my relationship with God over everything. That the Lord would give me peace and take away my stress so I can focus on Him. That I would be a servant leader (and have patience). That the Lord would provide a job for me in His timing (at Kaleo and at home and that I would trust Him for this), and for my group to all have teachable hearts.

Thank you so much for committing to this. I am looking forward to another life-changing summer.

back to campus.

It is crazy to think that in 2 days, i will be headed home. I am definitely excited, but I am also sad to say goodbye. This week is called "Back to Campus" week. This is a week that basically teaches us how to apply the ministry that we have learned here, back at home. It has a huge emphasis on strategic ministry. It has been so helpful to have direction and ways to actually be able to bring this experience back home with me. Tomorrow is the last full day of Back to campus, and then we have our final worship service. Then on Friday we make the trek home! I cannot wait to see you guys and share. The Lord has definitely changed my life from this summer. I am confident of that. I know this is not a summer high, it is a life change for me. I am so thankful that I have had this opportunity, and I am truly grateful to those who have helped me have this chance! Can't wait to see you guys very soon! Thank you so much. Love you guys.

missions conference and baptism!

This weekend was such a great weekend! We drove down to Destin for the Missions conference. I can't really sum up through this blog all that I learned during this conference. All I can say is that the Lord is really working in my heart, and teaching me a lot about Him, and our calling as Christians. We talked about some of our roles as Christians, and two of them were to be a Prayer person, and a Sender for other missionaries. As I was learning about these roles, my supporters were brought to my mind. Although many of my supporters are not able to go over seas, or come to Kaleo to learn and grow more, they have truly supported me and prayed for me during the past two summers. Whether I was in Mozambique, or in Panama City, my support has been so consistent and so faithful. So I just wanted to say first of all thanks, and second I know that you all are being faithful to the Lord, by your support for me. It means so much to me. I am blessed to be here, and learning all that I am. I know this is not a camp high, but these things that I am learning our changing me, and my relationship with Christ. I am growing with God more than I ever have. I am just so thankful that I am here.
Sunday we had a project baptism. Before the baptism, I just kept going back and forth on if I wanted to get rebaptized or not. I finally came to the decision that as an act of obedience to God, I want to be rebaptized. When I was baptized, I didn't fully grasp what a Christian was so I want to be rebaptized when I get home. I thought about doing it with the project, since I believe this is where I have truly started growing in my faith, but I want to wait until I get home! I want to do it at my home church, in front of the people who have supported me and loved me through the thick and thin of my life. I am really looking forward to using this act of obedience as a testimony for others.

At the baptism I got to see Seth, and some of my closest friends get rebaptized, and some get baptized for the first time! It was such an awesome experience. It was a big celebration in the ocean, and it was really amazing to see how God has moved in so many ways here. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words. You are dear to me!
Love, Kaylee

thankful for freedom.

The picture on the top left is the outdoor crew I work with, the picture below is Deb and Kenzie, the two ladies I am with is Alecia and Diane, the next picture is of my dgroup, and we all know who the last picture is of!!

















This week has been a really good week. I got to share the gospel with 2 Jamaican ladies that I work with. Their names are Diane and Alecia. It was really good to be able to share it with friends that I have gotten to know, and not just strangers on the beach. They both had received Christ already, but it was good to open the doors for more conversation. Christianity looks so different in Jamaica than here, so it is good to share about the differences. On Thursday my coworkers and I were able to visit the Bigstuff service. This is the camp that we serve food for. We invited a lady that we work with named Deborah. She was working that night but she said she would try to stop by. We she ended up coming for a little bit, and I could just see her interest in her eyes. The service was fun, and people were freely praising God. The next day, Kenzie and Courtney (girls that I work with) got to share the bridge with her. As they were showing it to her, I was just watching her face, and
praying that the Lord would soften her heart. When they
asked her if she would like to put her trust in Jesus Christ, she looked at them with tears in her eyes, and said, "Yes, this is what I need." We all got to celebrate with her, and it was just awesome. Now Kenzie gets to walk her through steps of what to do next in your walk with Christ, which is so exciting!

Friday night we had a social which was at the park. It started pouring rain, but that didn't stop all of us from playing in it. It was a lot of fun! Saturday a group of us went to Royal American (where I work) and watched the fireworks. It was fun to see my coworkers in action too. Then Sunday we went to church and then we went to evangelism training early because we were going to Seaside that night. So after church we headed to training. At training they taught us some answers to some hard statements we get like, "There are many ways to get to heaven, besides Jesus, and "We can work our way to heaven." We learned some scripture that goes to prove that these statements are not true, if they came up in conversation. After training we got paired up with a partner. This week they did mixed partners. I was a little nervous about this. I got paired up with the guy that leads training. This was a little intimidating at first, but I just prayed that I would be able to articulate myself and that the Lord would speak through me. It turned out being really great, and we had some really good conversations. We got to lead a guy named Walter to Christ, which was really awesome. Later, we talked to this Christian family. They told us that we needed to talk to their daughter who was not there at the moment, but they told us she would try to test us. So sure enough, she comes walking up. I asked her if she wanted to see it, and she said yes. She began making up all these theories that she believes. I was so thankful that my partner was here, because he is a religious studies major, so he definitely knows his stuff, and also he was not going to let her questioning and theories trip him up. He did a great job talking to her, and she definitely understood what he was saying, and stopped trying to test him. Even though it was a tough conversation, I definitely could see that the Lord is going to use it to help the girl better understand who he is. Sunday night we went to Seaside. It was a lot of fun! I got to see my great friend Terry, because the Destin Kaleo was there also. It was a great weekend!!

This week I have off work because a camp canceled. It's kind of a bummer, but I am going to try to milk it, because it is not long before we leave! This weekend is missions conference. I am really excited for all that I am going to learn. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you are doing well!!

what a gift.

During these past weeks I have loved reading "The Cross Centered Life" and learning more about Christ's sacrifice. I just feel like I keep on learning more, and gaining a new perspective of Christ's sacrifice. Not only through the readings, but also through the material we work on throughout the week. Sharing the bridge with others has also helped me really understand what the gospel should mean in our lives. After reading and discussing the book I now see that the gospel should be the focus of our every day lives. It makes complete sense. Our salvation is not supposed to be celebrated on Easter, or Sundays, but everyday. Because of Christ's sacrifice, we have an opportunity of having eternal life with God. The fact that God would sacrifice His Son for me, is so humbling, and amazing. Another chapter talked about how because God sent His Son to die, he understands all suffering. No suffering is greater than what Christ experienced. We will never experience separation from God, because our perfect and sinless Lord died for us. Despite our suffering, we should be joyful because our suffering will never be as severe as our sins, that Jesus took away. I do not think I will ever be able to fully grasp how powerful that is. I did not mean to spoil the book for you guys, but I really would encourage you all to read it. To think about it. This gift is TOO great not to share! I have been so inspired by others here, and their passion to share with others. I am definitely learning a lot.

I pray that I will stay motivated and dedicated to all the things that I have to get done in these next couple of weeks. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be here. I am growing so much, and it would not be possible without you guys. I am so grateful.

a little catch up!

Hi all! Sorry its been a little while since I have written. I hope you all are doing well. I thought I would write and catch you up on my week. Last week was really busy with a full week of work and then also staying on top of my inductive Bible study and verse memorization, but it was a really good week. Then this past weekend we had relationship conference, which was 2 nights of seminars about how to have a biblical relationship. It was really awesome, and very articulate about what this type of relationship should look like. I am very thankful for what I learned, and I really have no doubt that it will help me in many ways. Sunday we had a great church service, and then we went to Evangelism training. We learned how to prepare our 90 second testimony. Then we added our testimony to the bridge diagram. I really liked adding this to the bridge because it makes it really personal. People can argue with the gospel, but they cannot argue with something that has happened to you, so that is pretty awesome. After we practiced we set out for the beach. I was with a girl named Kelby who is one of the team leaders at Kaleo. It was good to evangelize with someone who has practiced evangelism a lot, and really knew how to make the gospel personal. The conversations we had with some people were more of a challenge then last week, but I really still felt like I learned a lot from those as well. I just pray that the Lord can plant seeds through us, even if the people don't choose to accept Christ when we present the gospel. Sunday night we had everyone get together for a World Prayer over Pune, India which is where Student Mobilization just launched a team (short and long term) there. It was really neat to learn about Pune. There is such a need for Christ there. (I will write more about that later) Last night we had our Bible study with our Dgroup, and it was really great. Tonight is Stumo night, which is a Kaleo church service. It is awesome, and definitely one of the highlights of my week! Have a great week guys!

the Lord listens.

This weekend was a really good weekend. Saturday morning we got to go on a snorkeling trip for free because one of my friend Britton works a snorkeling company and her boss offered for 77 students to go on a tour, and the only thing we have to do is refer others! It was so fun. They took us to the area of shell island and we got see all sorts of sea creatures. I found a sand dollar that was still alive! It was pretty exciting, even though I couldn't keep it. I also got to hold a live star fish. All that to say, it was a lot of fun! Saturday evening we had our first social. The theme for the evening was "Things that come in 4's," but since my leader was gone we only had three. So we dressed up like smores. Our costumes were pretty great, if I can say so myself. After the social, I practiced the bridge with my friend Britton. She was so encouraging to me, and helped give me confidence which I was praying for. I have really enjoyed getting to know her, and I am thankful for her friendship while being here.

Today we went to church, and it was really good. The pastor of the church used to be in the military, so this man does not sugar coat things. It is kinda refreshing to hear the gospel straight up. Sometimes in my journey I forget how real the wrath of God is, and sometimes I think we needed to be reminded of that for accountability, and also to put us in our place. I also think this makes the gospel so much cooler. The reason God's Son died for us was to calm God's wrath. Pretty awesome.

After church we got ready for evangelism training. I was getting a little anxious, and I just kept praying that the Lord would calm my nerves and that the Holy Spirit would speak through me. After training I was paired up with my friend Allison, and we set off to share the gospel on the beach. The first lady that I spoke to was named Rita. She was so confident in her faith, and really encouraging to me and what I was doing.Then she told me that she would love for me to talk to her daughter that had just been baptized, but she was at the pool. I told her that we would try to catch her on our way back so we could show the bridge to her. We went on down the beach and we saw some other Kaleo girls down there, so we decided to turn around. When we walked back I saw Rita with her daughter. I asked her if they had time and she said yes. I met her daughter and her friend Caroline. I got to share the bridge with them and Caroline had never received Christ. I asked her if she wanted to, and she said Yes! It was so exciting to help someone make such an awesome decision. I am so amazed that we (sinners) just have to turn from our self-desired life, and trust that Jesus did die for our sins and conquered death, and we are SAVED! God has made salvation so easy for us! That just amazes me.

Later in the day I got to talk to another lady named Courtney. She was so excited to hear what I was sharing, and she really enjoyed how articulate the bridge was. She was saying how she wishes she could share like I did because her husband is an atheist and she has been praying that he would accept the gospel. She said that he is very scientific, so he really likes to see facts. I told her that I just learned the bridge 3 weeks ago, and that if I can learn it she can. So we exchanged information and I am going to send her some info on the bridge. We prayed for her husband and she was so emotional. It was really neat talking to her, and also encouraging her to share. I just pray that the Lord softens her husband, Jason's heart.

Anyways, I felt much more confident in sharing my beliefs and that was definitely an answer to prayer. Thanks for reading! I appreciate you guys!