Kaleo Conclusion

Kaleo was amazing.
It's been about 2.5 weeks since I've come home from Kaleo and I'm finally making time to process the growth that I've experienced at Kaleo. But before I reflect on the growth, I'll go into a little more detail about the last two weeks of Kaleo, which were absolutely insane.

D Group love<3

Week 8 was pretty normal. Last week of work. Everything was pretty normal... Until Missions conference! Let me tell you about Missions Conference. First surprise was that Jennifer, aka my best friend from TU, flew all the way from St. Louis to Fort Walton to see me and our friends Meg and Charlie (but I'm gonna pretend it was just for me(: ). She totally surprised me by hugging me as I walked into the church. It was so wonderful catching up with her and spending time with her and hanging out with her. She's my best friend for a reason! Seeing Jennifer was so much fun, and it made Missions Conference even better. At Missions, we spoke about being a global Christian. The speaker was absolutely hilarious but was still able to stir up a passion for the world in the hearts of the audience. Never in my life have I so clearly understood God's global purpose. I was so amazed by his teachings. The speaker argued that since the very beginning of his covenant with Abram, God has been trying to reach the nations for their good and his glory. We learned about the Old testament and how out of all the nations God chose one nation (Israel) to reach all the nations. We talked about the 10/40 window, about the 2.7 billion people living in the 6,900 unreached people groups and the 540 million people living in 639 unengaged people groups. Unreached people groups are defined as people groups with a population of less than 2% Christians, and unengaged people groups are those with 0% of a Bible translation and with a population of 0% Christians. Those billions of people that don't know Christ? Those are my problem. The speaker argued that the 10/40 Window and the billions of lost people is every single Christ follower's problem. We have to reach them.
We talked about the purpose God has for his church which calls us to stand in the gap between God and the nations. We are called to bless the nations that they may be reached for Christ. The Great Commission became very clear at this conference: every single Christian is called to reach the nations for Christ because God wants a representative from every tribe and every nation in heaven--he wants the nations because he loves them and died for them!

Meg, myself, and Jennifer!!!!

We as Christ followers are called to reach all peoples, to be the goers who physically go to the nations, to be the welcomers who welcome people from other nations into their lives at home as to reach them, to be the prayers who pray earnestly and specifically that the nations be reached, to be the senders who provide the financial and physical means for missionaries to go to the nations, and to be the mobilizers who pass on the passion for the world to other Christians.

I was reminded time and time again about how reaching the world for Christ is not about our ability but our availability, and I had to open my life up to God at this conference. I could not walk away from the conference without making the decision to completely surrender my future to God that I may reach the nations in whichever way he calls me. I had to surrender my future plans, my future spouse, my future livelihood, my hopes and dreams and where I will live, everything, as a response to God's invitation that night. It wasn't easy and I still have no idea what it looks like, but I know that I am so thankful to know a God who cares so deeply for the nations and who cares so deeply about me that he would let me be a part of his purpose.  Missions conference changed me and reignited a fire for the nations in my heart.

For week 8, I lead World Prayer in our small group time. I chose to have my group pray for Belize. If you would take a moment to pray for the country of Belize, for my friends the Gomez Family, and that pastors would be raised to teach the truth in Belize, that would be greatly appreciated!

Week 9 was our last week, and it was amazing. Monday was our last day of work, and after many hugs and a few tears from coworkers, I said my goodbyes to my coworkers and McAlister's and hello to freedom for the rest of the summer! The managers even went so far as to throw us a little pizza party with cupcakes to celebrate the summer and send us off. Though it began as a rough start, I really enjoyed working at McAlister's and getting to know the people I did. For the rest of the week, we had Back To Campus Week, where we focused all of our time and energy for the day on preparing our individual ministries back on our campuses. We spoke and planned what our goals were, who and what we wanted to pray for, who we wanted to share with, how we would meet new people, who we would invite to Stumo conference in January, who would mentor us, etc etc. We talked very specifically about how we could live out the things we learned at Kaleo in our sororities, fraternities, athletic teams, and in our dorms and apartments. I was so encouraged but so challenged, and I am so excited to get back to campus!

Madison, Steven, Ricardo, Brian, James, and myself! All of us are from Kaleo except Ricardo. All 4 of them are from OSU!

One afternoon during BTCW, I was able to share the Gospel with my coworker who is a year younger than me. It was amazing, and definitely one of the highlights of my summer. We met up at a Thai restaurant near McAlister's and ordered the delicious chicken wontons! One of the things I learned this summer was how to connect to people and make them feel important and valued in a conversation, so I applied some of those techniques and really focused in on my coworker and the things I knew were going on in her life, and I definitely think that made a difference. At some point in the conversation, the topic became Kaleo and we talked about some of the things I had learned, and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that this moment was the opportunity to share the Gospel that I had been praying for. For the first time in a while, I very clearly felt that voice and I responded with obedience. I didn't ignore it as I am so guilty of doing, but I surrendered to it and asked my coworker if I could share an illustration that I had learned at Kaleo. I went through the illustration and explained to her what it meant to follow Christ and make him the Lord of her life. I felt so confident and bold in that moment. She told me that she was already a Christian and had already made a decision to follow Christ, but that made me all the more joyful. To my knowledge, this girl had never been explained the Gospel in a way like this. God put it on my heart for weeks to share this with her, and finally given the opportunity and the courage to be obedient, I know that He did wonderful things with my sharing. As we continued our conversation, I was able to encourage her in her faith as she begins college this fall, and I was able to give her a few pieces of advice and even encouraged her to share the illustration with her friends. I really have no idea what God is going to do with my act of obedience. There is no way for me to know whether this girl is saved and is having a rough patch or just claims to be a Christian but hasn't surrendered her life to Christ. But I do know one thing--I was obedient. My entire life I have struggled to be obedient to the callings and promptings that God has laid on my heart. Too often I am guilty of half-obeying God's leadings or even just ignoring them, but this time I obeyed and my heart was filled with joy. As I got in the car after sharing, I was beaming. I was not beaming in pride of myself but I was beaming because I had just been used by our great God. I was beaming because God worked through me, because I had been his vessel to bring his word and his truth to this girl. I obeyed--praise God!

I tell this story not to boast or brag on myself. Seriously, God has been faithful in teaching me humility and while I'm still learning big time, my heart has been changed. I tell this story because it gives me hope, and I hope it gives you hope. This story gives me hope to share the gospel and be obedient to Christ at TU. I know through Christ I can do anything he calls me to do, because He did it with my coworker at Kaleo. I know that YOU can do anything Christ calls you to do, because He does it through people all the time. Obey God as an act of love, and it will open up a door to feeling his love like never before. God does not love me more because I obeyed him, God loves me because he is love, and when I obeyed him I was fulfilling his purpose for my life, and fulfilling my purpose satisfies me, and fills me with joy and love and thankfulness.

Micaela and Cherish were baptized this summer! Woot woot, sisters in Christ! 

God is awesome. Kaleo is awesome. Two of my new best friends were baptized this year at Kaleo because God moved in their hearts and they made the decision to accept Christ at Kaleo. God moves at Kaleo. I am so so thankful for every single person who blessed me by supporting me financially, by praying for me, or by encouraging me or thinking about me while I was gone. I loved my experience at Kaleo. I really did, and I believe whole heartedly that I am a better woman because of it. I feel like I have grown so much as a person (Look Mom, I can cook now!) and as a Christ follower. I have made friendships that I pray will last a long long time, and I have been challenged and sharpened more than I ever had. God is at work within me, and I am so thankful for my time at Kaleo. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed along my journey at Kaleo. I have more stories to tell than I can write in a blow, and I would love to tell you more if you ask. Thank you so much for supporting me. Lots of love, Karla

Week 7

What a week! It's been one of the best weeks yet. Fourth of July set the tone for an amazing week, and I loved the memories that were made this week.

A picture from Crab Island with my fruit loop

Monday started off like a normal work day, except that absolutely nobody goes to McAlister's on the Fourth of July. Go figure. Business was so slow that we were sent home over an hour early (and we were happy about it, too!) my Kaleo coworker Madison and I then headed to Seaside where we were to meet the rest of the Kaleo project, and two other Kaleo projects. There, we ate dinner and spent time with friends, ate ice cream, and watched fireworks on the beach. Right when the fireworks were about to begin, I lost my D-group. My phone was on 3%, it was completely dark, and Seaside is about an hour away from where we live. I could not find them to save my life, and there were so many people at Seaside that it took about 20 minutes before a text would load.

The picture that probably caused me to lose my group. Look at that majestic flag tho

 Fear crept in my mind of being left behind or kidnapped, but I just ate my ice cream and watched the absolutely beautiful and amazing Seaside fireworks from the beach. It was such a wonderful experience, and after about 45 minutes of being lost I finally found my D-group and made it home safely! At some point I even saw a friend from high school, Bailie Edwards, who is a participant at the Panama City Beach Kaleo project. It was so wonderful to see all the Kaleo people from other projects and to see hundreds and hundreds of preppy people decked out in red, white, and blue.

Family Photo at Seaside July 4th

Tuesday was for the most part back to normal, and work went by pretty quickly. After work we had our Stumo night, where we chowed down on Honeybutter Chicken Biscuits from Whattaburger! On this day, the message was focused around prayer. While we've been talking about increasing and deepening our prayer life the entire summer, no message has made me want to pray more than this one. The speaker's explanation of the power of prayer made me want to pray for seriously everything. I loved it, and while it's only been a week, my prayer life has already been so much better. I find myself praying for longer periods of time and over things I would never have thought to pray for. I love the time and power in prayer.
Wednesday was pretty normal as well, and work was pretty busy so hopefully it'll show up in my tips :) . It was our free night, and I think I spent most of it trying to get a strong enough internet connection to Facetime Heath, but I failed and spent a good part of 2 hours on little pieces of conversation interrupted by wifi disconnections. Luckily for me, Heath put up with the bad connection and reminded me of how much he cared for me. I'm starting to miss him and my family and friends a lot, but I know that this investment in my spiritual growth is worth it and that it will enrich those relationships, too.  If I remember correctly I think I also worked in a bit of reading (I'm about 100 pages in on two "For fun" books, and I'm really proud of myself for making time for reading. I've always loved reading, and I'm finally learning to make time for it again).
Thursday was another busy day at work. However, one of my Kaleo coworkers told me that he was able to lead two of our non-Kaleo coworkers to Christ the night before at Starbucks. He had just happened to be at Starbucks, which he said he hadn't been to in a really long time, when two McAlister's workers came in and started a conversation with him that happened to lead in to the Gospel. After sharing the illustration we learned at evangelism training, they both accepted Christ. Ray and Shania are their names--praise God for their salvation, and for working out the details that Steven had the opportunity to share with them! When Steven told us this, we invited the girl Shania to go to World Prayer and Girls Night with us, which was on Thursday night. There, we prayed for Syria and for Muslim countries, and for missionaries and Christians in Muslim communities. At Girls' time we talked about materialism, and I was reminded of the importance of contentment, and the importance of valuing people over material objects. Shania was able to come, and she said she liked it! I really want to see Shania grow in her faith in Christ, so please be praying for her and the other McAlister's workers who have accepted Christ.
Friday was very fun. Work was once again crazy busy. After work, my D-group thanked the boy's D-group for taking us on a D-group date. We did this by baking a delicious cake and sending them on a scavenger hunt, which led them to meet us on the beach for "cake by the ocean". It was a really funny time and it was cool to hang out with the boys for a little while before returning to our room for D-group time.

I made something and I didn't burn it

This time, we staying in our little condo and ate scones and drank tea like the sophisticated and class adult women that we are. :) This week, Eliza led the Bible Study, Micaela led World Prayer, and I led the Book Study. I thought it was a wonderfully productive and fruitful time together. The book study that I led was over humility, and boy was I convicted writing out the study. One of the greatest things I've learned here at Kaleo is humility. After this, we headed to Destin Commons to watch Tarzan! I would recommend seeing it, 7/10.
On Saturday, we went to Destin Commons again to shop and eat lunch. I went to Whole Foods, where I bought pizza. I'm not that healthy, okay? It was delicious. Afterwards, we went to Evangelism training, where we discussed how to transition everyday conversations to talk about the Gospel, as well as the doctrine of hell. Honestly, transitioning conversations to bring in talk of the Gospel and of just spiritual things in general is one of my weaknesses. And talking about the reality of hell isn't super fun or happy. However, it was such a good reminder and motivator for the day. We aren't just offering people a cool story that can make their lives better--we are offering people the chance to accept the gift of an eternity with Christ himself through repentance and placing their trust in Christ. It was such a good reality check. We then headed to the beaches and shared our illustration and the Gospel. Pray for Sara, a girl we met who wanted to accept Christ but wanted to work through a few things before making her decision. Pray that she would see that she doesn't have to work through anything but can follow Christ where she is today, no clean up necessary. After beach evangelism, I went to Walmart with Meghan to find her a superhero outfit for a Kaleo Rave that some of the D-groups created as a D-group date. Afterwards, I cooked dinner then headed to the beach, where one of the guys was leading worship. I remember being a little bit angry and bitter before worship for a handful of unimportant reasons, but worship reminded me of the grace of God, and I didn't feel so bitter or angry afterwards. Worshipping God is good.
Sunday was funday for sure. We went to church, and this Sunday they had communion. I love taking communion. For some of the girls in my group, it was their first time taking communion since deciding to follow Christ. I'm not sure how special it was to them, but it made my heart so happy to take the bread and wine (grape juice lol) with them. Communion has meant a lot to me for a long time, and sharing it with this church in Fort Walton just added to the depth and meaning of it. After, we headed to Alvin's Island for some inner tubes and then to Crab Island! All of Kaleo piled into pontoon boats and headed to Crab Island, a sand bar with food-boats and entertainment. I had so much fun exploring the island, and I even tried french fries from one of the boats, and a snow cone from another boat.

The D-Group (minus Stacey who was on a jet ski at the time) in our boat

There was also a DJ at some point and some floating volleyball nets to play volleyball (my team won). It was so fun! I got to know a lot more Kaleo people and I really enjoyed spending the day relaxing and floating around in my inner tube. After, my D-group headed to McGuire's Pub for burgers and soup with Eliza's coworker. It was soooo delicious! If you ever go to Destin, go to McGuire's! It is worth the wait, and my burger was one of the best I've ever had.

Picture this time 50... that's what our group looked like this Sunday. So. Many. Floaties.

Overall, it's been one of the best weeks yet. My spiritual growth was good, I definitely felt more motivated, I had so much fun, and my prayer life has been great as well. I'm getting closer to sharing with a few of my co-workers, and I'm still being challenged and pushed every day. God is beginning to really show me what my sins and struggles are, and I'm starting to see the challenges that I'll have to face this next semester, but I'm gearing up for them all. I'm learning every day. I love being here every day. This week was such a great experience.

Continue your prayers, they're working!
-Pray that more and more McAlister's workers would hear and respond to the Gospel.
-Pray for the people we are reaching on the beaches, that their decisions would stick and that their hearts and lives would be surrendered to Christ.
-Pray for endurance as we finish out our last full week of work and normal schedule.
-Pray for boldness
-Pray for us as we prepare to go back to our campuses
-Continue prayers for Swift, his family, and his girlfriend, Abbi,
-Pray for my grandma, Kathy, who is also fighting cancer and is in the hosptial because she is dehydrated. Pray for healing, comfort, and answers.
-Pray for my friend Eliza, who is leaving Kaleo early this weekend for a family reunion. Pray she would be bold in sharing her experience and the Gospel with her family.
-Pray for Shania, Ray, and Ajonni to experience spiritual growth in their new Christian faith. Pray that God would provide people to disciple them that they may bear fruit for him!
-Join me in praying for DaySpring Villa, for no other reason than that they are doing God's work every day and the Lord has put in on my heart to pray for them.
-Pray for a coworker of mine who revealed to me today that she is in an abusive relationship with her husband. Her daughter has been taken away because of the abuse and she is going through a really hard time. God knows her needs and hurts. Pray that he would heal her and take care of everything she needs.

Thank you so much for supporting me. Not a day goes by that I don't feel thankful for this experience. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Karla

Week 5 and 6

Life here has been so crazy that I didn't even know what week it was! The time here is going by so quickly and honestly I'm having trouble keeping up with all my assignments and responsibilities: hence why I haven't updated my supporters for the past 2 weeks! But I can't express how much I am growing. Spiritually and personally, I am being sharpened and challenged. God is moving in my heart and mind, revealing himself to me and growing my faith and love for him. Intellectually, I'm learning so much about science in general and its relation to my faith in Christ through reading the book. I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. My job is sometimes physically taxing (Some days I'll take over 10,000 steps before 3pm!), and my friendships with my D-group and with other TU students are developing as we seek Christ together. Life is crazy at Kaleo, but it's crazy rewarding and wonderful and amazing. I'm thankful beyond measure for this experience, so here's a little bit about it (of what I can remember haha)

My D-Group on the beach this Sunday! 

Week 5 was pretty normal. On Monday, we went to work, did our inductive study over a passage in Ephesians like normal, and took a trip to Walmart. Tuesday was occupied with work and was followed by Stumo Night, where the message was on fellowship. Never before have I been convicted by the Spirit so strongly for something I thought was super easy! I learned about what true fellowship meant and how to grow into a person that lives out true fellowship. The speaker had us look at the characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13 (Love is patient, love is kind...) and examine ourselves to see which characteristics we needed to work on--the characteristics that were getting in the way of us having the fellowship that is talked about in the Bible. We then made applications about how we could intentionally grow in those characteristics. Sometime during the week, all the TU students and staff got together to pray for our campus and to learn about the legacy of Stumo at TU and how we could be a part of its continuation.

One of the slides of prayer points for next semester

We prayed that many people in the different social groups and sports teams we are in would come to SMC, our big conference in OKC in January, and that many people would come to Kaleo next year. We prayed specifically for our friends and for our return to campus. We have high hopes for our future as a ministry. On another day, we had a surprise going -away party for the staff, who were leaving for their vacation time and for time back in Tulsa. It was such a great time of fellowship and loud music and ice cream and fun. We had world prayer, where we prayed for the church in China and for non-religious individuals in China to come to know Christ. We also had our girls/guys time, where the girls learned about Emotional Purity, which is a subject I knew nothing about and was so excited to apply to my life. It's a topic that's hard to explain, but I would love to talk about it further if you're really interested in it! On Friday we had D-group night and had great conversation, Bible Study, book study, world prayer, accountability, and scripture memory like normal. I love my d-group and I grow to love them more each week. Saturday was beach evangelism, and me and Stacey were able to share with 3 ladies, 1 of which was a non-believer whose father was recently diagnosed with cancer, and who said she would consider putting her trust in Christ as Lord. Her name is Robin, so please pray that her father would be healed and comforted, that her family would find security and peace in Christ, that all things would work out for God's glory, and that Robin would be given more opportunities to accept Christ as her savior and Lord. Church on Sunday was great as normal, and a couple in the church named Judy and Greg even took us and another group out for lunch! Praise God for the wonderful people he puts in our path to bless us.

Week 6 was a little different, and extremely exhausting. I procrastinated nearly all of my assignments to Friday, and I felt really bad about it. It was harder for me to do my devotionals throughout the week, and I just felt lazy. Work was alright, but I didn't take any initiative to speak with my coworkers about spiritual things or about the Gospel, except for one brief conversation with someone who was already a believer. Work is getting easier though, and I'm starting to get a lunch break every day. Thank you for everyone who has prayed for McAlister's to treat me nicer! :) On Monday night, we had a mini-conference where we talked about the biblical response to modern media. We discussed how to glorify God with the media we take in, and how to avoid making social media an idol or a point for glorifying ourselves. We learned the importance of seeking holiness and we were given tips for how to decipher what media we should allow in our minds. The entire time, they invited us to voluntarily pass our phones away from us to not be a distraction. Overall, what I learned was that my entire life--not just the life that I physically live but also the life I portray on the internet and my reading, watching, Netflix binging, video game playing lives--belongs to Christ and I must allow Him to have full control over all of it. It was so good to hear that I wasn't the only person that felt convicted by some of the shows I had watched on Netflix, and to know that other followers of Christ were going to join me in seeking holiness. Oh, it was so refreshing and true and good! On Tuesday my D-group spent a good hour learning a stupid-funny dance we saw on the internet, and I was able to Skype my friends from home and catch up on what was happening in their lives. Afterwards I caught up the Bachelorette, as per usual. On Wednesday and Thursday we met up with the Destin Kaleo project (University of Arkansas, Hendrix, and a few other schools that I didn't really know haha) for our Disciple Making conference. It. was. awesome! I saw my Girls State roommate at the conference--small world! It was nice to catch up with her and see that she is following Christ.

Cerelia goes to Hendrix and is a part of the Destin Kaleo project! She was my roommate for a week the summer after my junior year of high school. It's so funny that we ran into each other!

 The speaker was hilarious but so great at portraying the importance of making disciples. The message was to chase the pace of Christ, to run with our whole hearts towards him, and to bring others towards him along the way. We learned so much about pursuing him, about letting go of chasing other things that are idols in our lives. We learned practical things we could do to make disciples on our campus this next school year. It got me like SO pumped to make disciples at TU this next fall. I cannot wait to invite people to Christ and to following him closely and to experience the joy and hope and peace and just love and forgiveness that Christ brings to our lives. Afterwards we shot off a handful of fireworks on the beach to celebrate the Fourth of July since we will be in Seaside for the actual holiday.

Yay Independence Day!

On Friday, we did our D-Group time in a little donut shop called the Donut Hole, where we ate key lime pie and donuts :-) We did all of our main points like always, but this time us participants lead each different part of our time. For this week, I lead Bible Study while Cherish lead the book study and Eliza lead world prayer. It was more challenging that I thought to get everything together to have an in depth but still time-conscious Bible study. I really liked it, and I hope to get better at leading Bible studies so I can do them in the future. On Saturday we did our beach evangelism, *Side note: there's some sort of fecal bacteria that is infectious in the waters all around we are living and it's DISGUSTING and there is tons of algae and it's actually hilarious and terrible but mostly hilarious. Anyway, I was partnered with Cherish, who is a Theta at TU like me. Together Cherish and I shared with three pairs of women. I was completely astonished by Cherish this weekend. I hadn't heard her testimony before beach evangelism this weekend, and I seriously almost started crying on the beach in front of the people we were sharing with because it was so wonderful. Seeing Cherish share the illustration with the women made my heart so happy because I have so much hope that together we can impact our sorority this next year. She really impressed me and I am so thankful for her friendship! To everyone who has prayed for unity for our group and for friendships to form, thank you so much. Her friendship blesses me and beach evangelism was so wonderful this week.

Sister in Theta and Sister in Christ--too cute amirite??

Pray for Lindsey, Kylie, Ellie, and Sara that they would choose to follow Christ in the future. 2 of them said that they had never heard the gospel before. Also, pray for Kat and GraceAnn, 2 believers we shared with on the beach who struggled with doubt and assurance in Christ. After the beach, I did laundry and once again forgot all my money so I couldn't dry my clothes and as I'm typing my clothes are STILL air drying back in my condo. Smh. My life isn't perfect. It's really funny. Then we all cleaned up to get ready for our very first D-group date with Stacey's boyfriend's D-group! First, each of us girls received index cards with 2 truths and a lie, and we had to guess which guy matched up with our card, and which statement was the lie. The person on our card was our partner for putt putt! The pair with the best putt putt average won. My partner's name was Conor, and while I had the second lowest scoring game (shout out to my Dad for making us play putt putt too many times on our Tennessee vacation), we unfortunately lost by 1 stroke. It was okay though because there wasn't actually a prize :). We then headed to Sonic, where the boys bought us milk shakes and slushes and we laughed a lot at our D-group leaders burning their mouths on lava-hot  fried cheddar peppers. The group of boys were seriously so sweet and funny. We then headed to a park where Grey (boys' D-group leader) pulled out three blank cookie cakes and an assortment of icing. We split up into three teams based on our favorite childhood TV channels (team Nickelodeon for life) and then decorated our cakes based on something we had in common. After much discussion and getting to know each other, we all concluded that our commonality was our love for Spongebob Squarepants and decorated our cookie cake accordingly.

My cookie-decorating team: Me, Kade, and Eliza. #Spongebob4lyfe

We then headed back to our condos after a great jam session at full volume in the car. Dance moves were created. When we returned home, we spontaneously jumped in the bed of a random Kaleo man's truck and headed to Whattaburger for no reason other than to prolong the fun we were having with their group! It was so much fun, and we were able to meet some more OSU students and eat delicious fries. Since Heath is obviously 15 hours away, I haven't really been on a date for like 6 weeks and so it was super fun to be reminded of how hilarious and ridiculously different the presence of males can be. Today we went to church, the beach, and now I'm at Starbucks typing an update of my past two weeks at Kaleo.

Just a reminder of how beautiful it is here! I'm so thankful.

Oh, how I need your prayer! Please pray for the following, it would mean so much to me.
-Pray that I would be a good steward of my time. Pray that I would make time to do all of my assignments to the best of my ability, that I would make time for further study, and that I would have deep and heart-altering time with God.
-Pray for my workplace. Pray that I would make opportunities to share with my coworkers. Pray that they would accept our invitations to Kaleo events where they will hear about Christ! Pray that the lost at McAlister's would hear the Gospel and respond.
-Pray for our future. Pray that the applications we are making would follow throughout the school year. Pray that we would be bold witnesses on our campus. Pray for the lives we will impact.
-Pray for those in Tulsa. Pray for my grandma. Pray for Swift Myers, a friend of my brother's who is fighting cancer. Pray for the students going to TU. Pray that you personally would see God at work where you live.
-Pray for world. There have been far too many terrorist attacks this week, and God hates it. Pray for restoration, for hope, for the end of groups of people that are causing intentional harm to God's children in Iraq, Turkey, and Bangladesh. Those attack do not glorify God. Pray that God would bring healing to those affected and that he would work in his mysterious way to bring goodness from this tragedy.
-Pray for increased confidence and boldness. I'm nervous about this next year. God is calling me to make a lot of changes in my life to better glorify and see him. There's a lot on the line; pray that Christ would give me discernment this next year as I seek to follow him.

I feel so blessed right now. Once again, thank you to my supporters who have funded Kaleo for me. The investment is already paying off in my life. I'm loving it. Thank you so much.

Continue to lift up my project in your prayers, and continue to seek Christ for yourselves. Our Father is so good.

Karla

Week 4

AH! What a crazy week. It's getting harder and harder to make time to keep everyone updated on my time at Kaleo. But let me tell you, it's been wonderful. I'm being challenged. I am growing. God is good.

2 TU D-groups at Seaside--Meghan, me, Roxy, Bekah, Stacey, Haley, Lauren, Cherish, Micaela, Rachel, and Eliza. Pray for these sweet girls this week! God is working in them at their workplaces, on the beach, and everywhere we go.

For the most part, my week followed the same pattern as it has for the last few weeks. I've gone to work each day, cooked dinner, and then headed to our various training each night. On Monday, we did our Inductive training, where we learned about creating applications from scripture about observing and interpreting it. We learned to make applications and goals specific, practical, applicable, and measurable. I'm looking forward to making applications to the scripture as we continue our study in Ephesians. On Tuesday, we had Stumo Night like normal, where we ate dinner, worshipped, and listened to a speaker. The message was about not giving up on sharing the Gospel. The speaker reminded us of God's calling on our lives--to share the Gospel, even when we feel like we are failing. It was a really great reminder to persevere when it comes to following God. No matter the situation, no matter my feelings, I am called to obedience to Christ. My faith is not defined by feelings.
On Wednesday, we had a free night! My group caught up on laundry and on the Bachelorette :-)

It is absolutely beautiful here. Praise God for his creation!

On Thursday we picked up on world prayer and girls time. We prayed specifically for animistic and tribal peoples around the world. We prayed that missionaries would be called to reach animists and that Bible translations would be made available to peoples with tribal languages.
Friday was d-group night and my d-group went to a local mexican restaurant and ate burritos over our Bible study. We discussed Ephesians, prayed for the country of Chad, were accountable to our prayer and Bible-study lives over the week, and discussed the book we have been reading about evangelism. I love the time I am able to spend focused on Christ with my D-group. Afterwards I think I went to an ice cream social in a TU D-group's room, where everyone brought their own tub of ice cream and ate it together and danced to songs straight from middle-school dances and the 80's. It has been a blessing to get to know other people from my campus and I can't wait to see how the relationships grow over the summer and into the school year.

Our memory verses for the week. Great reminders to stay connected to Christ.

On Saturday we trained in evangelism. We worked on our testimonies and answered some questions and misconceptions about testimonies and coming to Christ. Afterwards, we went to the beaches to share the Gospel with the people around us. My group was able to have a really in depth conversation with a couple, and we were able to give really great insight about the Holy Spirit and about Christ. At the end of the conversation, the man didn't come to know Christ, but my partner Haley's testimony that she shared related so well to them and I strongly believe that it planted a seed in their hearts. Pray for Jabar and his wife to come to now the true Christ.
Sunday was a great day of worship at Westminster Presbyterian Church. The message was over the minor prophet Hosea. I really enjoy the sermon series because I'm learning a lot from books of the Bible I've only grazed through a few times. Afterwards, we headed to Seaside for a day of relaxation with my D-group. We ate at some food trucks and then walked around the little town shopping and sight-seeing. We also visited Seacrest to see where Stacey worked last year. We were able to meet some of her old friends from last Kaleo and it was so cool to physically see the impact she had made last year, and gave me hope that I'll build friendships that last this year.

My D-group at church! We are so thankful for the church that has welcomed us this summer. They are so fully of joy and kindness and I'm really being fed by this body of believers. 

I've learned a lot so far. Way too much to even begin to list. I'm learning every day, I'm making applications every day, and I'm growing closer to God every day.
But it's getting really, really hard. It's hard to manage my time. It's hard to keep a good attitude at work. It's hard to get all my assignments done. But this time is so rich, and I'm absolutely so grateful for my time here. I think I'm maturing and I think that the time I've invested will pay off.

Thank you for your continued support. Thank you for your patience and for reading my updates! I am so excited to see those who are still in Tulsa and I am so grateful for your prayers and encouragement. Please continue to pray for our endurance and that God would continue to reveal great things to us. Pray for the upcoming semester that each of us would continue to seek Christ when school starts back. Pray for the hearts of those we will minister to, and pray that many people would come to know Christ or know Christ better because of our lives. Thank you so much! Have a great week!

Karla Johnson

week 3

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great week last week-- I know I did! Let me share with you my experience at Kaleo this last week!

On Monday I was able to sleep in a little bit and get to work at 9:30. My devotional time was really wonderful because my roommates all had work really early that morning (poor Eliza had to be at Panera where she works at like 5am or something!) so I had the room completely to myself and I was able to take my time and complete focus on God. I loved it. Work was really great too because the scheduling manager forgot to add my name to the schedule, so the general manager penciled me in and gave me extra hours! (Yay money!) So it was really a blessing in disguise. After work, I had some time to catch up on my Inductive study and book reading for the week, and for the first time since the first week of Kaleo, I chilled on the beach on a week day! It was so nice to be on the beach soaking up the sun at the same time I was soaking up God's work. There are few places I would rather be than on this beautiful shore! I really can't express how thankful I am to those who have supported my financially, because your gifts are paying my rent so that I can live here! After my time not the beach, we headed to a special conference on relationships. At this conference we focused on how we can glorify God in our time before marriage by investing in becoming the people God wants us to be, by investing in seeking God, and by investing in his mission for our lives. We talked about sexual sin and how to live sexually pure lives. We talked about what the Biblical definition of marriage and sex are, and about how we our lives can be enriched by pursuing these virtues. At one point we talked about modesty, and the perspective preached was my favorite--as women of God, we should dress modestly not because it is our responsibility to control if men lust over us or not. As women of God, we should dress modestly because it helps our brothers in Christ (we don't HAVE to, but if we love our brothers and we can help them overcome a sin, why on Earth should we not?) and because it attracts the right kind of men (godly men who flee from lust). I thought the perspective was great because it said that women do not sin because of how they dress, but they still have a responsibility as a caring sister in Christ to think about how they can help others not sin through their dress.

One of our memory verses for the week!

Tuesday was another normal day of work. It was a long day. After work we continued with our relationship conference and once again I was blown away by the things I learned. We talked about standards, boundaries, and becoming godly men and women as we prepare for the future. We discussed living our single life to the fullest for God and learned how to develop a healthy plan for dating. While a lot of the discussion was based in opinion and would require prayer to see what is right for each person, the important, biblical hard facts were preached and we were able to develop strategies so that we can live dating lives that line up with the Bible. I really really enjoyed it and I plan on applying a lot of what I learned to the relationship I have with Heath. I saw areas of our relationship that can be better surrendered to God to improve both our individual relationships with God and our relationship to each other. The lessons taught at the conference were relevant, helpful, and I really can't wait to apply them in my future.

On Wednesday I worked at McAlister's once again. Afterwards, we ate Dinner in the Fitter's room (a Stumo Staff couple from TU whose influence is so great).  They made us the best crock pot Mexican food and it was so nice to be ministered to by a a couple who I respect so much. After, we went to Inductive Training, where we learned how to interpret the Bible. By focusing on the word, sentence, paragraph, book, Bible, and historical context, we learned how to use the Greek and Hebrew translations (through an app called Blue Letter Bible which provides definitions of words straight from the languages of the Bible) to interpret what the author meant by the things he wrote. We were also trained to cross-examine verses through the app to get a full-picture understanding of the ideas we were studying. I find this training so useful. I believe it will come in handy when I am unsure what is meant by a certain passage or phrase and I am so thankful for the training I am receiving.

On Thursday, I of course went to work, but I also had my one-to-one with my D-group leader, Stacey, who I look up to so much already. Her advice and counsel have really helped me as I face the challenges here, like trying to have a good attitude while working a minimum wage job, or living with girls who have different personalities and modes of operation than me. Our discussion was focused on prayer and I think it was a great reminder for me and gave me some good ideas on new things to pray for and ways to pray. After work my D-group had our discussion time. We went over our highs and lows, world prayer, Bible study, book study, and the same categories we always talk through. It was wonderful, but I'm so sleep deprived right now that I can't quite remember what I learned :-)

Friday is where the real fun started. First, at work, I was put on register for the first time. Let me tell you, time flew by so quickly! Before I knew it 4 or so hours had passed and I was half way through my shift in the blink of an eye. It was a blessing--I was ready for it to be the weekend! Right after work, my D-group and I jetted to Atlanta, Georgia for our D-group weekend! The drive was about 6 hours long, but the time change meant that we didn't arrive until about 1am.

My lovely D-group :-)

On Saturday we woke up bright and early to start our day in down town Atlanta. We began with a downtown scavenger hunt that Stacey bought on Groupon. It took us to a lot of cute places around the city, like the Coca Cola Museum and the Olympic Park. We ate at a really delicious flatbread place and then headed to the Aquarium, where we saw so many different kinds of fish. Atlanta has the largest aquarium in the world, and it was so impressive and fun! We explored lots of fun exhibits and even saw a dolphin show. I really loved it! Afterwards we ate at Fat Matt's Barbecue, which was recommended by locals as a must-visit restaurant. It was well worth the drive.

Fat Matt's! They had the best barbecue and the best live blues band.

On Sunday, we went to Passion City Church, which was such a cool experience. Louie Giglio spoke, and Jeff Johnson lead worship. I've never been to a mega church, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and excitement in the building, and was impressed by the love I felt as the members welcomed me. The message was on Evangelism--we are all evangelists. I loved the experience and I really feel that I heard from God and felt his presence in the giant church. It was seriously one of my absolute favorite parts of Atlanta. Afterwards, we ate at a delicious brunch place with another D-group, then headed to a Peach Festival! At the peach festival, I tried a fresh-picked Georgia peach, and let me tell you those peaches are worth the hype! It was so juicy and delicious and it was everything I could ever dream of in a peach! I was also able to buy gifts for my family at all the booths that were set up (Love ya, fam!) We then headed home, where we caught up on the Bachelorette (Shocking ending, btw). It was a really really fun day. We also made a video for the Kaleo D-Group Weekend Video Contest (we lost...) Scroll to the bottom to watch it!

One of the walls at Passion City Church. When someone comes to know Christ at Passion, they place a light bulb in one of the holes in this mural--each lightbulb represents a person who has come to know Christ! It was a wonderful picture and it was so cool to visually see the impact that this church was having on the Atlanta community.

Overall, my week was filled with ups and downs but my weekend was wonderful. I love my D-group more, I love God more, and I learned more about myself on the weird mini-vacation.

Here are some prayer points:

-Pray for group unity. We saw a lot of each other over the weekend and we saw a lot of areas to work on.
-Pray for Evangelism this Saturday. We'll be sharing on the beach. Pray that many would come to know Christ.
-Pray for my work situation. I'm not getting the hours I would like, and I'm not getting breaks either. Pray that I would have a good attitude, that my bosses would find good favor with me that they may give me more hours, and that I would have opportunity to share Christ with those around me.
-Pray that we wouldn't get weary as the new-ness of Kaleo is beginning to wear off and the heaviness of work is beginning to take its toll.
-Pray for my family. My grandma and uncle could use your prayers as they're facing some health issues. Pray also for my mom and dad and siblings cause I miss them a lot.

Here are some of the things I've learned:
-God is good. He's at work. He loves me. He wants me to love him too.
-Relationships surrendered to God are worth the trouble.
-Patience.
-Self-control.
-Perseverance.
-I'm learning about how to love God--through obedience.
-How to create practical applications from our inductive Bible Study
-The world and how to pray for it.

While I can't say that I'm happy every single moment here, I can say that I wouldn't trade them for the world. I'm having fun, I'm making memories, and I'm growing spiritually and personally. I'm learning to cook and care for myself, to pursue God always, and to think of others way more frequently than I would normally. This summer is amazing. Thank you once again to everyone who has supported me financially and through prayers and encouragement. Thank you to Jennifer for being the wise voice that told me to come here. Thank you to my parents who keep sending me snacks and other nice things. Thank you to those who send me nice texts and cards and snapchats. Thank you to Heath for taking care of my library fine while I was away. Seriously, thank you to everyone who has invested in me. I can't wait to show you how it will pay off in my future.

Also, if you've read this far, your reward is watching this awesome video that my D-group leader, Stacey put together from videos that we took on the trip! I hope you love it as much as I do.

XOXO

Karla

Week 2

Hi friends! Week 2 of Kaleo flew by! I'll update you on what's happened since my last blog post.

Alright, last Sunday I left off with what we did after church. But after I posted, my D-group cuddled around our leader's bed to watch the Bachelorette. (#JustGirlyThings, amirite?). I've never really gotten into the Bachelor or anything but oh boy was I laughing so hard with my D-group as we analyzed the guys picked out for JoJo (Big fan of Jordan, Luke, and James T. btw). Even though our main focus for the summer is definitely growing closer to Christ, the friendships that have already began growing are a serious perk and I am so excited to see how much they grow and broaden this summer.

Pray for my D-group!

And did I mention that I got to see this really awesome Journey tribute band?? They seriously sounded just like Journey and I flipped out when they sang Faithfully. It was so hilariously wonderful and I just had to share.

Monday was my first full day of work at McAlister's Deli. It was interesting. It was our grand opening, so my job for the day was to greet people as they walked in and direct them to the counter to take their order. I spent about 6 and a half hours on my feet, standing in the doorway and saying Welcome to McAlister's a few hundred times. I didn't get a lunch break which bummed me out, but I did learn how to wrap cookies and I was able to have good conversation with my coworkers. I really believe that God will work within those relationships with my coworkers and that I will be able to positively impact their lives.

On Monday night, all Kaleo participants headed toward Inductive Training, which is a session where we learn how to study the Bible so we can understand it on our own. We learned about different types of observations to make for each Bible passage, and we learned how to draw the main idea from the passages. This week our inductive study was over Ephesians 1:1-14, and we will be going through the entire book of Ephesians this summer. The passage this week's main idea was that God blessed his chosen people in Christ. It was interesting to draw conclusions from the passage by looking at simple observations like repetition, cause-results, descriptions, and promises made. I learned a lot from the passage by studying it in depth and I can't wait to apply this technique to my personal Bible study as I learn more and more about how to practice it.

On Tuesday, I went with another Kaleo girl who works at McAlister's to Starbucks to do our devotionals together. Her name is Maddison, and it was so nice to be kept accountable to my devotional, because I totally missed it on Monday because of the business of the first day of work. At work on this day, I was assigned to be a runner, which means I looked at the food orders on a screen, prepped for each order by laying out napkins and utensils, then ran each order to the corresponding number in the dining room--I brought people their food! It was very fun, and because I worked side-by-side with my boss, I was able to ask (and receive!) a lunch break. It was a much better day and I was in an even better position to speak with my coworkers and get to know them.

Tuesday night was Stumo Night, which meant that we all went to a church to eat (free!!!) food and worship. This Stumo Night was special though, because it was themed and there was a costume contest! The theme was "Moon" and so my D-Group leader, Stacey, decided that we should go all out, so she cut up card board boxes at her work to make into space ships. Her coworker also happened to have galaxy print pants in her car and she gave them to Stacey (we didn't know the theme until like 5 hours before the event so it was totally crazy that her coworker happened to have these perfect pants). So I put on my NASA shirt on, pulled on my star printed skirt, jumped into my space ship, put on some purple lipstick and blue eyeliner, and I marched into Stumo Night with my D-Group with pride. And guess what? My group won! It was such a funny experience to dress up like aliens for a night of worship, and I am so glad for all the laughs that were made in the process. The message was about being hungry for God, and I plan on applying what I learned in it by spending more quality time in God's word this summer.

This D-Group is out of this world 

P.S. We went to Walmart right after Stumo Night to pick up some groceries for the week, and of course we didn't have time to change from our alien outfits, and we totally got some crazy stares.

On Wednesday, I did my devotional with one of the Stumo staff members--Lauren. I loved gaining perspective from someone who was at a different stage of life than me, and the devotional was one of my favorite so far because of the implications of the verse it was over: John 14:21, which says, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved my by Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him." For me, this was really challenging because it basically said that if I, and other people in my life, say we love Christ but do not keep his commandments (including his commandment to go and make disciples of all nations!), we aren't completely truthful in saying that we love Christ. It meant that our lifestyles and our actions must line up with God's plan and will for his children or else we aren't loving Christ. The message also encouraged me to watch out for my Christian brothers and sisters who claim to love Christ but live lives that are contrary to his teachings by gently and lovingly reminding them that loving Christ means obeying Christ.

Afterwards, I worked another full shift of 8 hours and then we had a free night. It was my week to cook for my D-group, so I made chicken enchiladas, black beans, chicken tacos, and kettle corn (which I burned..) It was delicious, and despite the many problems I ran into cooking the meal. After that, my d group and I went to the Laundromat. It was extremely sketchy, and we couldn't understand the Vietnamese owner, but we got all our clothes washed and dried and even had a nice conversation with a woman named Margaret, who encouraged us to live for Christ in our daily lives and to keep on working for our relationship with Christ.

Thursday was filled with work until 5, and afterwards we had World Prayer and Girls time! At world prayer, we focused on Hinduism and India, and heard about some people who live in India. We learned how to pray for workers in New Dehli and Hyderabad. It was amazing to hear stories of how God is at work in India, and praying for India impacted my heart. I felt like I was making a difference even though I wasn't actually doing anything. My view of God widened as I saw how he was changing lives despite how difficult it was for Hindus to follow Christ. After world prayer we broke up into two rooms. The guys had a lesson together and the girls had a lesson together. At first, I was really weary of girls/guys time. I thought it would be kind of offensive and stereotypical and that we'd talk about sins that both sexes struggle with but are only deemed "bad" if girls/guys do it, or that we'd be lectured on modesty or something irrelevant or silly. But I was so happily surprised. The message at girls time was probably to most impactful messaged I've heard so far at Kaleo. The focus was gossip, complaining, and bitterness. When I heard the focus, I thought I was fine. I feel like I'm not a huge gossip or complainer and that I can get over things pretty quickly. But as we dug into the lesson, the Spirit dug into my heart and I saw my sin for what it was. I began to realize that my dabbles in gossip and complaining--no matter how small or harmless I consider them--are absolutely destructive and simply pull me away from God and away from people. And I realized that I held bitterness, real, deep and nasty bitterness in my heart, and I had for nearly an entire year. As we discussed bitterness and strategies to overcome it, I was moved and inspired to really tackle my bitterness. I also learned strategies to handle gossip and complaining, and I am so excited to give over these petty sins in exchange for the goodness that comes from having words given over to God. On Friday morning before my devotional, I prayed to overcome the bitterness I held because of certain broken relationships, and my heart lightened. For the first time in a long time, I prayed for the people who had hurt me, and I prayed for their well being. Afterwards, I felt so much better. God is working in my heart to uproot those ill feelings and unforgiveness.

So like I said, Friday started off great. My time in prayer with God impacted my heart and my devotional went really well. Work was fine and when we got home my D-group had our time together talking about accountability, inductive, world prayer, our evangelism study, and all the other lessons we go over every week as a group. This weeks memory verses were John 14:21 and Romans 12:1 and I worked really hard and was able to recite both of them correctly! After our time going over our lessons, we went to a movie theater to watch Me Before You. (Not a fan of the movie, but loved the memories made before and after!)

Our memory verses for the week!

Saturday began with a one-to-one meeting with Stacey, and she encouraged me and checked up on my week. She taught me an illustration that helped me understand different ways to dig into the Bible and I really loved getting to talk to her and hear her advice about spending my time in the word. I plan to apply the illustration by spending at least one morning this next week meditating on a passage of scripture and to be more intentional about reading and understanding Bible passages used in sermons and lessons.

Stacey is seriously killin' it at the DGL game 

After that, we went through some evangelism training. We then headed to the beaches to share what we had learned with others. And here's what happened: My partner was able to share the Gospel with two young girls who were super nice and were apparently believers. They encouraged us and thanked us for sharing with them, and then it was my turn to find someone to share with. We asked a woman our opening question, "We are here for the summer with a group of college students and are looking for opinions of an illustration that sums up the main message of the Bible, can we get your opinion?" Her response? No. No big deal, we walk on to ask another lady, who just looked at us funny when we began speaking to her. We keep looking and looking for someone to talk to, but we kept getting rejected. After about 4 No's, 1 "we don't speak English", and a few missed opportunities of people walking away as we headed towards them. Honestly, it was frustrating and a little discouraging. But my partner, Micaela, and I decided that because we only had a few minutes left before we would have to head back to the condos, we would sit down and pray for the groups that managed to find people to share with. We prayed for all the pairs that were speaking with people and for all the people who said no to us. While I was bummed that I wasn't able to share the Gospel message this Saturday at the beach, I was thrilled to still be a part of God's work through prayer. When we headed back to the condos, our large group had share time. So many people chose to make Jesus their Lord that day on the beach, and I am so thankful for the growth and stories that came from the day. While I was so heavily tempted to pity myself and feel guilty that I didn't find someone to talk to, instead I chose to allow God to teach me the lesson of patient and persistence. God gave me really great perspective and even though it was hard for me to feel like I failed, I know that God used me that day on the beach and I know that He is good no matter if I can't see what comes from that experience.

After share time, we headed to this really cool Pirate Festival called Billy Bowlegs, where we saw way too many people dressed like pirates and way too many fried food stands. I caved and bought a corn dog and even had a bite of a deep-fried Oreo. It was really funny to see all the pirate themed merchandise and hear live pirate music. Later, my D-group minus Stacey went and walked around downtown Fort Walton Beach and ate ice cream and laughed forever.

Cherish and I in downtown Fort Walton Beach

Today, Sunday, we went to a new church and I absolutely loved it. This morning before church my devotional was based on Psalm 8:3-4 which says, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" As someone who is obsessed with astronomy and space, I absolutely loved the devotion and was simply overwhelmed by the power of God and was so eager to praise him at church. When we showed up at church, the first song we sang was "Overwhelmed" by Big Daddy Weave which says, "I see the work of Your Hands, Galaxies spin in a Heavenly dance oh God All that You are is so overwhelming" and I seriously almost cried. The eagerness to praise God in my heart that was caused by my devotional and the fact that the song related so well and allowed me to worship God so personally leads me to believe that that church service was a perfect start to the week ahead. The rest of the service was so wonderful and I felt so welcome and loved and challenged by this new church. I am really excited to see how God moves in this little church in Florida.

After church, my d-group and I went to this really beautiful and amazing flew market! Luckily I forgot my wallet or I would have purchased so many cool things for my living space this fall. It was definitely an experience and I loved that added memory with my D-group.

If you've made it this far down this week's update, you deserve a gold star! I've way over-shared this week, but I'm having such a wonderful time that I can't hold back the details of the things I am experiencing. As I finish up, keep these main points in your prayers.

Prayer points:
-Unity for our group. As we spend so much time with each other and are starting to get into routines that can make us tired and grouchy, it is so easy to forget to love each other and serve each other like Christ has called us to.
-Encouragement. Because of the obstacles I personally faced this week on the beach, I could definitely use prayers that I would not have fear of rejection the next time that we evangelize.
-Energy. We're into the full swing of 35-45 hour work weeks on top of all our training and responsibilities. If you could pray that we could get good rest and that God would energize us, that would be wonderful!
-Dedication. Pray that as we learn so many new lessons, we would have the dedication to actually apply the things we are learning. It's easy to write down applications without actually applying them!
-Hearts for the world. Pray that our hearts would grow for others. Pray that we would be open to listening to others.
-Relationships. This week starts our conference on relationships. Pray that every student would have hearts open to listen to what we can learn about having Christ centered relationships. Pray that we would have strength to end or fix relationships that do not glorify God and to seek and foster relationships that do glorify God.
-Endurance! It's getting hard to balance all of this stuff, but I know that with God we can do it.
-Generosity. I'm still about $600 dollars short of my fundraising goal this summer. Pray that my friends and family would have generous hearts (or that my boss gives me a raise!) so that I can have my summer fully funded.

Thank you so much to each of you who have supported me through prayer, financial support, or through encouraging words or Facebook posts. Thank you for loving me and caring for me even though I'm not at home to love and show care for you. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to be here at Kaleo (Hey Jennifer, I'm talking to you!!!) and for everyone who has been sending me mail or text messages or tweets. I love them.

If you want to invest in my time at Kaleo and in my spiritual growth this summer, please click on this link! https://secure-q.net/Donations/StudentMI/8842 I would really appreciate it!

I pray that God will give my group another amazing week and that because of this week we would be more like Him. I pray that you, the person reading this, would also take steps to become more like Him this week as well. Thanks for reading!

Week 1

Hi all! I wanted to share with you about my first week at Kaleo.

On Saturday May 21st at 8am, I pulled up to my friend Meghan's car to leave for the 13 hour drive to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. My friend Charlie and I would be riding with Meghan all the way to Lafayette, Louisiana to stay with another Kaleo participant's grandma who offered her home to us for the night.

Meghan and me on the beach! It is so nice in Destin!

When I pulled up, I found out that Charlie's luggage had been stolen shortly after he arrived where Meghan was staying. Charlie filed a report with Campus Security but the chances of them finding his tub with all of his clothes for the 9 week trip were slim to none. Not a great way to start a trip. This caused us to delay our departure, and we had to make a stop by Kellyville so that Charlie could pick up some clothes for our trip. After that, we were off. Disappointed that his luggage was unfound, we headed to Florida, praying that God would take care of the situation and protect us on the drive there.

At nearly 5pm that day, Charlie got a call from Campus Security that said that Charlie's tote was found by Tulsa Police Department. Campo also disclosed that the person who took Charlie's stuff was the same man who Charlie had talked to in the parking lot earlier that morning, and who filed a report with Campo about a stolen wallet. The man also stole a car and a motorcycle the night before in the same apartment village. But his stuff was found! We praised God that he took care of Charlie in this situation. We acknowledged that the problems we encountered were attempts from the enemy to stop our work in Ft. Walton, and God showed us on the very first day that His hand was on us and He was ready to answer our prayers. The fact that Charlie's things were found by the police--something that simply doesn't happen every day---gave us confidence that God was going to take care of us at Kaleo.
We arrived in Louisiana and had a great night of talking with other Kaleo participants.We really had a lot of fun and it really boosted my confidence that I would build fun and rewarding relationships at Kaleo. We left early the next morning, and the participant's lovely grandmother made us breakfast before we headed off to Florida. It was my birthday, May 22nd, so Meghan allowed us to make a stop at Buffalo Wild Wings and Starbucks for a mini celebration. Charlie even bought my lunch and I really loved that my friends took care of me on my birthday.

That night, we finally got to where we were staying. My room, which I am sharing with 4 other girls from TU, contains one bedroom with a full bed and a bunk bed, a small bathroom, and a room with a kitchen and living area that contained a pull out coach and a small table and chairs. It wasn't much, but the view from our balcony made it all worth it--it's beautiful!
When I was told we would live on the beach, I thought it meant we would live like a few minutes from it. I was wrong. I walk across a parking lot and I am on the beach. It's so amazing. I absolutely love it!

The view from out room! I love it.

The first night, we ate dinner then had Kaleo Olympics, which was kind of a long relay race with tons of different events. We met a lot of different people at this event, and it was super fun, but I hurt my leg which kind of sucked (but it's healed now!). I don't really know who won, but I know that I really enjoyed myself. 

After our game, my Discipleship Group (D-Group) began unpacking and went to Walmart to buy groceries. At Kaleo, only about 1 or 2 meals a week are provided, and all the others we have to cook or buy ourselves. So this was my first time shopping to cook for myself for the week. It was absolutely overwhelming despite the fact that I made a grocery list and meal plan a week before leaving for Kaleo. It was absolutely crazy! The Walmart was huge, the produce sections was nearly bare, and I couldn't find a lot of the things I needed, but I managed to make it out alive and without destroying my bank account. And I even have food left over! (That's right--I successfully fed myself for a week!)

After that, my D-group and I sat down and my D-group leader Stacey gave me a cupcake and we sand happy birthday to me! She gave me candy and the others mini cupcakes and I loved that small celebration. It was really hard to be away from my family on my birthday, but my D-group made me feel the love, and I made it through.

Me, Cherish, Stacey, Eliza, and Micaela--keep them in your prayers this summer, because the poor things have to live with me!!

My D-group is wonderful. Micaela, Cherish, and Eliza are the other members of my D-group and I love them so much already. 

The rest of the week was crazy, too. On Monday, we had orientation in the morning and the rest of the day was dedicated to job hunting (I filled out at least 20 applications!) That night, we learned the first part of inductive Bible study, which is just a fancy and in-depth way of reading the Bible. On Tuesday, we job hunted again until 5pm, and then in the evening we had Stumo Night where we worshipped and listened to a message from a speaker about giving our all to God this summer. On Wednesday, we continued our job-hunt during the day and had World Prayer in the evening.

During World Prayer, we prayed from the nations. Specifically, we prayed for followers of Tribal religions, Hinduism, Atheism (Unreligious), Islam, and Buddhism. We prayed specifically for missionaries that shared connections with Stumo and Kaleo, and we prayed that God would give us a heart for the nations and call upon workers for his harvest.

On Thursday, most everyone had jobs, but I still didn't. The places that said they would hire me still hadn't called me back, and I was getting very frazzled and disappointed. All of my D-group had jobs, and I was the only one who didn't, and I felt so incompetent and angry! I went to two jobless meetings and I was getting tired of waiting on job offers that weren't coming in. At this point, I heard that McAlister's Deli was hiring workers on the spot. Luckily, one of the staff members from Stumo--Bekah--offered to take me to apply. On the drive there, she poured her kindness into me and encouraged me. She prayed for me before I went in and while I was speaking with the managers, and I got the job! I was so thankful. Afterwards, we made a Target run and I really loved the chance to connect with this woman who I looked up to in the faith. Her love for Jesus and for others overflows, and though she is in a different season of life than me (she's out of college and married), I loved being able to deepen our relationship and have conversation with her.

On Thursday afternoon, we had free time so my D-group and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Thunder Playoff game. On Friday, I began work (which was long and stressful, but I am so excited to be working with so many new people that I can share the Gospel with), and then we had D-group night. Together, we studied the Bible, studied our book on evangelism, recited our memory verses, discussed our inductive Bible reading, discussed our devotionals, and shared accountability and the struggles we were facing. And we enjoyed Waffle House (there is a Waffle House on every corner here. Every. One.)

On Saturday morning, we started training in evangelism. We learned how to present the Gospel in a clear and effective manner, practiced a ton, and then headed to the beaches to share what we learned. My evangelism partner was Eliza, and we were able to share with 4 women who said they were all believers, but said that they really liked our presentation of the Gospel. It was a success--we shared the word!

After sharing, we headed back to our condos for a beach cook out. Before the cookout, we were divided into groups containing 3 D-groups and each group was given an animal. We then had about 10-15 minutes to build a sand castle/sculpture that represented our animal. My group was the horses, and Cherish had the great idea of building a sea horse! Our sculpture won and the prize was getting to either ocean kayak or paddle board. I decided to ocean kayak with Cherish and while it was really hard to get on the kayak, and it was really scary to be so far in the ocean, it was so much fun and it was one of the coolest adventures I've been on.

Our winning creation!

This Sunday, we woke up and went to church, had lunch together at this great Donut place, and went thrift store shopping. We just got done cleaning our room and now we're all watching Netflix/ typing a blog to keep friends and family updated about Kaleo. It's been an amazing week and God is already at work. Here are some of the main things I've already taken from Kaleo:

-My patience level had moved through the roof as I live with people with different habits and try to quickly get a job in a slow-hiring location.

-My ability to cook has improved lol

-God is teaching me in our devotions to love him and pursue him more.

-I'm learning true and deep fellowship centered around Christ.

-New tools to study the Bible and reach others is a definite plus

-My prayer life is improving and my heart for the world and for the lost has already shown signs of growth.

Highly photoshopped picture of my D-group when we first found out we were a D-group!

I really am starting to miss my family and Heath. Heath's family went to Flippin, AK and I was originally going to join them, but it conflicted with Kaleo so I had a really hard time knowing that I was missing out on that experience. However, I wouldn't trade this training or time at Kaleo for anything. I absolutely love the atmosphere here. I love the people around me, the activities, and the presence of God. I'm learning to live for Him in the midst of a crazy busy schedule of a full-time job and hours of training, and it's pushing me to make my time with him intentional. I love the skills I'm gaining and the relationships I making. I am so excited to see how God will work. This is just the beginning of a wonderful and Christ-filled summer.

I'd like to give a huge shout out to everyone who has prayer for me or given financial support for Kaleo. This is the summer of my life, and I'm so so thankful for all of you who have made it possible. Thank you for investing in my spiritual growth. I can never thank you enough for the impact that your prayers and gifts are having in my life. Thank you!!!

If you're reading this and you're like WOW I want to support all this amazing program is offering you, Karla! Then click this link to donate to my Kaleo fund. https://secure-q.net/Donations/StudentMI/8842 The money you donate pays for my rent so that I can have a place to live during all this training and fun. Please consider giving what you can!

If you're reading this and you're like WOW I want to pray for you, then please keep these points in your mind as you pray.

-Unity for D-groups. Pray for my D-group: Me, Eliza, Cherish, Micaela, Stacey.

-The people we are reaching on the beach, that they would be open to the Gospel and we would be faithful in telling it boldly.

-For safety

-That we would open our eyes to the opportunities we have to share our faith with our coworkers over these next 8 weeks. That our relationships would be strong enough to give us a good witness.

-For workers to be called to the Lord's work around the world.

-For the people we will reach on our campuses when we return this fall.

-For God's will to be done at Kaleo

If you've read this far--you're the coolest. Thanks for your patience and interest in my life.

Thanks so much for the support!

Karla Johnson