Battalion 3445

Tuesday

2012-01-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

Another good night at Battalion!! We played murder ball to start the night, my team won the first game and were feeling pretty good about it. After that Dan's team won the next four, we almost came back to win two but could not make it happen. After that we played British bull dog, always a big hit. We made Jerrod start in the middle because he was taking smack. He was slow to start but started taking us down. At the end it was Dan, Ryan and myself left. Ryan and I did not last very long and then there was Dan. His first solo run across the gym Stephen stepped up to take him on, and instantly took him down before the rest of us barely moved. Well done Stephen!!
After that we talk about Joshua and the city of Jericho. We talk about the solid faith that he had in God and did not waver in what God asked him to do. Something we can all work on.

2012-01-04T06:26:00.000-08:00

First night back after christmas was a good one!! Played floor hockey, game went back and forth who had the lead. Not sure who acctually one my team or Dans but it was a great game. After that we listened to Dan talk about Gideon and how Gideon was afraid but God still used him because Gideon kept moving forward with his faith and was following God's plan. We talked about what Gideon saw happen when he followed God and how that would have changed his life, and how something like that would change ours if that happened to us. Dan then showed us what happened to Gideon and the people of Israel after the battle and how they worshiped the ephoed and not God himself, and they went back to there old ways. We talked about how crazy it seemed that the people would fall away so fast after something so amazing happened in front of them, and how the ephod was a snare to Gideon and his family.
Hope you guys will be there next week!!

2011-11-30T06:23:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since someone put some thing on here, sorry guys something to work on I guess.

if you did not make it last night you miss out! We played Bulldog all night, Ryan and Stephen were almost unstoppable. After that we talked about David and Goliath, and why David would even step forward to take on the monster. David was not looking at the monster, he was looking at the promises that God had told him, that he was to be the next king, and he was leading the people already even if he was still a boy, if no one else was. David did not see Goliath as a problem because he had God on his side. He rejected Sauls armor and weapons, and used the tools that he understood and was familar with and left the rest in Gods hands. We should do the same, use the gifts and talents that God has given us, face the giants in our life whatever they look like and then leave the rest to God.

Fight the Good Fight!!

2011-10-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well this week we started looking at our theme for this year which is "Fight the Good Fight". Our Battalion theme verse is 1 Timothy 6:11-12, which says "But you man of God, flee from all of this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

So what does that mean to fight the good fight? How can we do that and pursue love and gentleness at the same time? Who and/or what are we fighting against? What tools, weapons or training do we have to be ready to fight? I hope that this year we will look at some answers to these questions and many more.

This week we read Exodus 17:8-16. The story of the Amalekites coming to attack the Israelites and how Moses instructed Joshua to lead the army into battle and then went to the top of the overlooking hill. Moses held the staff of God in the air and as long as he held it up Israel would win, if he let it lower then the Amalekites would win. Eventually Moses became tired and his friends Aaron and Hur held his arms up until night when the battle ended, and Israel was victorious. Clearly God was the reason for the victory, no matter how they fought the men on the field would win or lose depending on how God responded. We also read in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against flesh and blood, or other people, it is against the principalities and powers of this "dark" world. The fighters in that picture up there, they live their lives to fight. They train extremely hard to be in great shape and to prepare for the next fight, they work on skills and techniques to be able to overpower the other guy. Unlike them we don't have a date that we know the battle will take place on, instead we have to fight the battle each day against the power and temptations of the devil.

We read in Romans 12 about how christians make up one body. We all have different gifts and abilities and we are supposed to work together. In council ring I brought out my sword and asked any of the guys if they would like to fight me. Obviously nobody is all that eager when you are swinging a 4' long sword. Then I asked what if they had armour and a sword of their own? I think a couple of the older guys might have taken me on at that point but not the younger ones. Then I asked them if I was blind if they would fight me. A couple still thought I might get lucky and hit them by swinging wildly, but there was a little more interest. Then I asked if I had only one leg if they would. Almost everyone thought that me on one leg would be pretty easy to dodge past and take down. I explained that not working together as christians is like a soldier trying to fight with one leg and/or no eyes. He is easy to pick off, even by a smaller less powerful enemy.

At Battalion we learn about God together, we memorize verses together, we play games together, we hang out together, but we can also work together and fight together as christians. Just a few of the ways that we can help each other are:
- encouraging one another
- being accountable to one another
- praying together and also praying for each other
- showing love to each other and to others around us
- helping each other with truthful advice or wisdom
- being bold and courageous, sticking up for each other, encouraging each
other to be bold when we need to and sticking with them when they do
- sword fighting, the bible says the word is like a two edged sword, and we
should know how to use it, working together we can memorize it, read it,
and study it so that we can use it effectively.

We played Murderball again this week. The teams looked pretty even at the beginning. The first game was an epic that seemed as though it might never end. Just when one team would be close to finishing off the other they would manage to get a few guys back and then keep going. I think both teams were down to 1 or 2 guy a couple times. In the end though Luke's team won 3 out of 4 games.

Speaking of Luke, don't forget to pray for him as he heads to YWAM on Friday. Pray that he would have an amazing time, and that Luke would learn more about God and be able to do some awesome work for him while he is at YWAM.

Expecting GOD's Reward

2011-10-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

I am a little slow on the recap this week, sorry about that. This week Phil finished off our four weeks on RALE, talking about Expecting God's reward.

I hope everyone remembers the tape measure, it is a great way to think about our life. For those of you who missed out Phil pointed out to us that most people spend their whole life planning and working hard so that they can enjoy approximately 15 years of doing what they want at the end of their life. These people needlessly are putting all their attention into life on this earth. When we think about it in the perspective of this life and eternity, that 15 years looks pretty silly. Don't get me wrong I am not saying don't plan for retirement. What I am saying is that we are given a very short period of time on this earth, and the best way to use our time here is to use it doing things that will impact eternity after this life. Sometimes this may seem strange to people who do not think that way. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Most people will not think the same as you when your perspective is closer to God's, but it is a powerful way to live.

In council ring we read the account of Moses in Hebrews 11. It says "by faith" Moses gave of the treasures of Egypt. He was pretty much the richest most powerful person in Egypt next to Pharoah but he chose to give that up and to be mistreated and identified with his people as a slave. Verse 25 says "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." Moses knew that God had a bigger plan and that by following it he could have an impact on eternity. By thinking that way all the riches and power of being Pharoah's grandson were meaningless. What a way to think! The Egyptians must have mocked him, even the Israelites didn't accept him right away, but he chose to persevere.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And the memory verse for this week.

Matthew 6:20-21 But store up treasures for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

See you on Tuesday. We are starting our bible study theme for this year, come on out and find out what it is.

BTLN Recap

2011-09-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see the new shirts are here. Make sure you bring your form and money next week so you can get yours.

This week Ryan did our bible study on Leading Courageously. We read the story of Jonathan and his armour bearer in 1 Samuel 14. We saw how to be a good leader we need to have certain attitudes and qualities such as: courage, honesty, humility, faith. We also need to trust God and the truth in his word. Jonathan knew that God wanted to help them but he wasn't sure exactly how. He came up with a plan to trust God and also to let God guide them in their action. If the Philistines told them to stay put that would be God's sign to not attack, if they told them to come up to them that would be God's sign for them to attack. Jonathan trusted the truth that God would help them and direct them, he also had faith that God would give them a sign as to what to do. He wasn't trusting his own abilities or plan of attack. In his words; "Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." Jonathan also knew that to do what God wanted them to do they would need to act without telling Saul or the rest of the army. Saul's leadership was not centered on God's will as much as it was on Saul's own will and plans. Jonathan must have suspected that they wouldn't be allowed to leave if they consulted with their superiors.

We talked about how when we lead according to God's will and word that we will often experience others telling us that we are foolish or opposing what we know is right. It takes perseverance, courage, and strength to lead and make decisions in accordance with God's word. Even in Jonathan's case the Israelites who should have know better weren't following God's will.

We talked about Adam again and about how he was the leader in the Garden of Eden but when the serpent came Adam didn't do what he should have as a leader. He was convinced by Eve and the serpent that he would be better off to eat the fruit than to follow God's instruction. Ryan shared a quote from a guy named Robert Lewis that says "The courage to lead with truth rather than surrender to feelings always separates the men from the boys." At Battalion we are all men and have to learn about how to be better godly men. One thing we can work on is leading according to God's truth, not trusting in our emotion or other ideas, trusting God and his truth. We know that will require trust in God, faith that he will help us, humility to know that we don't do it by our own strength, and courage to do things that others might give us a hard time about but we know are right.

The memory verses for this week are four verses from 1 Timothy 4. All of us could read that whole chapter this week. There are some good principles for leading there. I picked out four that I think bring out the main things for our memory verses. The verses are 7, 12, 15-16.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

We started the night out with Handball this week. Phil and Ryan's team had a couple cherry pickers which allowed the other team to out number them down low and dominate the play. We played a couple rounds of Bulldog after that.

Next week Phil is wrapping up our studies on godly manhood.

2011-09-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Well second week of Battalion, and the second week I brought my camera and didn't take any pictures. Someone remind me next week.

This week was the second of our 4 studies on RALE. This week we looked at accepting our responsibility.

Responsible means: answerable or accountable, for something in your control or management. Also means having the capacity to make moral decisions. Interesting definition. Two things I like about that definition are being accountable for something in your management, and being able to make moral decisions. As men God has entrusted us with lots of things to manage for his purposes and we are responsible to make sure we do that wisely. We are also given the capacity to make decisions, and also to make decisions that will affect others. It is our responsibility to be careful and make decisions wisely.

In squad meetings we read from Ephesians 5+6 which talks about how to live godly lives, as well as how men are supposed to look after their families. We also read from Colossians 3 about the same things, instructions how to live godly lives and how to look after our families. We also read in James 1 that we need to listen to the word of God, but more than that we also need to do what it says. We also read some more about Jesus and how he didn't need to eat because he was doing the work of the Father.

We can see three things that we as men are all responsible for: to live godly lives, to do what God asks, and to love our families.

We learned that as men of God we are responsible to live godly lives. That is a big task and we have to focus on doing the right things every day. That's one place where rejecting passivity that we learned about last week becomes clear. It is definitely easier to not try to live a godly life but God asks us to, so we must.

In James it said "do not merely listen to the word, do what it says". We need to listen to God and do what he tells us to do. We saw Jesus example of being satisfied enough to not eat by doing the will of God. We need to follow his example. What is God's will for your life? For some of us this might mean a certain job or profession. God gave us all talents and gifts to use in a different way to glorify him. All of us will need to work in our lives, we should use what God has given us to be good at what we do. We might also have gifts or talents that are not part of our job and God also asks us to use those to expand his kingdom. That might mean serving and leading in churches, youth groups, Battalions or other things to help others know Christ.

We also see that God tells men to look after their wives and children and to love them, as he loved us. Wow, big responsibility! Again it is easier not to but God tells us to so we need to do it. This is where that capacity for decision making really comes in. Each of us as men have increasing responsibility as we get older. As teens like most of you guys you start to have to make more decisions on your own instead of your parents making them for you, with this comes the accountability of making good choices. In a few years you will probably be almost completely responsible for yourself. Not long after that you will likely be thinking of getting married and then add the responsibility of having a wife to your life. God asks us to love our wives as he loved us, and also to lead them according to God's will. Sometime after that you will probably have kids and the same kinds or responsibilities are added for them

Be obedient to God, work for his kingdom, and love and lead your family, three major things God has made us responsible for. Next week we are going to look at how we can lead courageously.

Sometimes we need courage to reject passivity and accept responsibility, as men we are called to be leaders in our homes, in our churches, maybe at work or even in our communities. Next week we will look at how to be a good leader.

After squad meetings we played floor hockey. It was a pretty good game except for the bad goalie letting in a whole bunch at one end. As the game went on though it seemed to even out. In the end Phil and Ryan lost to a "next goal wins" goal. We wrapped up with council ring and then a good round of Bulldog.

Remember, double points if you do the memory verses this week! Simon and Lucas took advantage last week, everyone else should as well.

This weeks verses are James 1:19-25
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Night 1

2011-09-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Well the first night is done. Great to see everyone after summer. We had 5 new guys from Stockade which was awesome! We also had a bunch of alumni/leaders there which was also great.

In Squad meetings we started the first week of a four week study about being a real man. We read about Adam and how he was in charge of the animals, and looking after the Garden of Eden and everything in it. We saw that when the serpent came to tempt them he was with Eve, but didn't step in to stop the sin. Even though it was his responsibility to look after Even and the rest of the garden he didn't act to protect them. One author said "you fully expect Adam to come running with a garden hoe, cut off the serpent's head, and end this heinous approach of evil." Instead Adam chose to go along with Eve and the rest as they say is history.

We also got to read about Jesus and his incredible example to us of not avoiding responsibility. We read about him just before dying for our sins, he was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death". Think about that, Jesus, all-powerful was overwhelmed with sorrow! He prayed that God would let him avoid what he was about to go through. In spite of that fear and distress Jesus finishes praying and rises to meet his task head on. I am sure thankful that Jesus accepted his task and didn't respond as Adam did.

As men, often the hardest thing for us to do, is what's right. As real men, christian men, Jesus asks us to choose his ways over what is easy. He asks us to live our lives dedicated to God and his ways, as Jesus did. Matthew 10:39 says "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (emphasis added) Jesus isn't talking about physically dying. Jesus is talking about losing our pride, our ambitions, our priorities, our schedule, our image, and replacing them with his! This is the only way to find out what true life, and true manhood is all about.

Next week Matt is going to be talking about responsibility.

After squad meetings, we played a good round of Bulldog. It was definitely harder with so many guys in the gym. Then we moved on to Murderball. The two Battalion staples, what else would we play on the first night?? Phil's team got their butts kicked in Murderball, I'm pretty sure it was 4-0! We ended with another round of Bulldog. Check out this game of Bulldog!! I think we could give these guys a run for their money.

The verses to memorize for next week are:

1 Timothy 6:11-12 But you man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Don't forget to pray for Noah this week. See you next Tuesday.

Hawk Nelson!

2011-09-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.. Here's an update on Hawk Nelson's new album! This one is the fifth release and revolves around the topic "a need for truth". It was Inspired by Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love.
“Sometimes submerged in a Christian environment, we lose perspective of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We need to wake up and grasp the meaning of what he did; Jesus made something completely unattainable, attainable, and we are called to live in and practice that same ‘crazy’ love." says Dunn (guitarist).

For me the album is sweet to listen to as it sounds sweet, its rock music and has meaning to it. I hereby recommend it...

New music video!!

Winnipeg Free Press Article

2011-08-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Winnipeg Free Press just wrote an article about Nathan Driediger. If you guys want to read it the link is below.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/wings-of-faith-128518728.html

Campout 2011

2011-06-07T17:40:00.001-07:00

Well the campout is over for another year. Everyone is home and the gear is put away (almost). Thanks to everyone who came, we had the biggest turnout we have had yet, as well as having the most Battalion guys ever which was awesome. Great to see some new faces and get to know some people a bit better. In the past we have had to go up Thursday night to set up some tents to get the spots we want before they fill up. This year Paul and Ryan and I decided we would just go and stay Thursday night as well. Most of the rest of the crew showed up at various times Friday afternoon and evening. Saturday there was alot of dirt biking and fishing going on, although nobody was having great luck with the fishing. Ranger Ron showed up with dirt bikes instead of his fishing boat this year, he said they needed to change it up. Sunday everyone slowly packed up and headed home, Some more slowly than others. Doug and Nathan and Nolan went out for one last fishing spree and Nolan caught 5 in a couple hours. Not sure how he did it but we figured we better give out the prize for that.

Every year a couple guys say we should do this trip twice a year instead of once so we are thinking about that maybe in the fall having a similar trip. Stay tuned about that. Have a great summer!!

Last Night

2011-04-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, I feel out of the loop for sure after being sick so long. I hope everyone is doing well. this week is the last night of Battalion until September. We are planning to get started at 6 this week so come early. Don't worry about eating supper before you come we will have plenty to eat. Also there are a couple guys who have some verses left so hopefully they will have some ready this week. See you Tuesday.

Updates all around

2011-03-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well Spring break is here and if you are wondering we had decided to keep meeting during spring break. We had less guys than usual last night but we had fun anyway. The week before was Olympics and Jerrod and Paul ended up tied at the end of the night. We decided that they could each choose one event to redo and see if that could change things. Jerrod chose arm wrestling and came out on top in the match. Next they moved to Paul's pick which was the hockey shootout. I thought this was going to be over fast but after about 8 tries each there were still no goals. Around the 9th or 10th shot Jerrod snuck a weak shot under Ryan's arm to put the pressure on Paul, who Ryan promptly stoned. Jerrod becomes the champ for the 3rd time. Congrats!

This week everyone showed up in a daze or something no one was very energetic, so we decided that the best way to fix that was with a round of bulldog. We followed that up with another round of bulldog and then 3 rounds of bump, and then a third round of bulldog. Good times, I was getting tired by the end.

In bible study we read in James that we shouldn't show favouritism towards people based on how they dress, how they smell, how good looking they are or how famous they are. We talked about how God loves all people and how we are all his children whom he loves. We also noted that James includes in this paragraph a few sentences about living as though we were going to be judged by the law. Because of the grace of Jesus we don't have to be judged by the law which is a good thing because we would all be condemmed. Even something as simple as showing favouritism makes us a sinner.

As for the memory work, Simon and Lukas are at 101, and 104 points respectively. Stephen and Noah are the only others who have memorized verses, there is definitely still time for them to finish. Matt is working on his and he told me that by the end of spring break he thought he would be ready to say them all in one night. I am looking forward to that. We are still hoping that Jerrod will get to at least 1 point.

See ya next week.

2011-02-28T23:22:00.000-08:00

I haven't had anyone coming with any verses for a couple weeks so here is a little something to get you motivated to get working on it.

H2O

2011-02-15T10:49:00.001-08:00

Just a reminder that we are going to the H2O Centre tonight. Don't forget your waiver form for the flow rider. See you tonight.

Finally, SHIRTS!!!

2011-02-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well the day has finally arrived where I can do a post about our new shirts. I picked them up this afternoon. If you don't recognize it, the graphic is a colorized version of one of Simon's sketches. Make sure you are there on Tuesday to get yours.

Memory Progress

2011-01-31T14:13:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year at Battalion because every week I get to come and listen to guys telling the memory verses that they have memorized. It is awesome to know that you guys are doing that and I know that you will be encouraged by it for many years. Not only that but you also have the chance to go on an awesome trip in July. Creation Fest is so fun. Lots of good times hanging out, wrestling, playing crib, laughing and enjoying the concerts with some good guys. So far we got 4 guys looking like they are going to go for it this year, here are the points.

Lukas - 86
Noah - 52
Simon - 71
Stephen - 57

Matt hasn't said any of his verses yet but I think he is saving them up to try and get the extra $100.

If any of you guys want to get some extra points and say a passage in church let me know we will arrange it.

See you tomorrow.

Girls!!

2011-01-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

Well in case you missed it Phil's daughters were born on Wednesday. Their names are Faith and Hope. They and Mom are doing great. We will miss Phil for a bit while they get settled at home. Can't wait to have him back.

In Honor of their names, anyone who wants to memorize 1 Corinthinians 13 for this week can ad an extra 15 points, this week only. See you tomorrow.

Geo-Cache

2011-01-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

Phil and I went and retrived the geo-cache this afternoon. As you can see Jerrod and Tim destroyed the ammo box a bit trying to get it out of the ice. Watch for some new coordinates on the blog soon.

Memory Verses

2010-12-18T11:35:00.001-08:00

So I was just looking at the 3739 blog and I see that Lance beat me to posting the Memory Verse list. Oh well it is still a good idea and here it is. I am updating the list so this is the one from last year. If you want to start memorizing over Christmas holidays you can use it. I will have a paper copy for everyone in January. This is a great time, ask Simon or Matt if you want to know.

By the way 3739/3445 alumni night is December 27th. Any alumni or grade 11 or 12 guys are invited. Let me know if you want to come. We will be staying over night again and coming home the next day. Merry Christmas everyone.

Saturday Afternoon

2010-11-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

So you shouls all know by now that our weekend trip had to be cancelled this weekend. Instead we are planning to go out in the bush for the afternoon. We will be doing some shooting and having a bonfire. We will be leaving from Phil's house at 1:00pm on Saturday, and we will be back around dinner time. Please bring $8 so that you can get a bunch of ammo to use. Also bring a couple bucks change, we may have some cool guns to shoot but that will be extra and they usually cost a couple bucks a shot. Your Dad's are all welcome to come out for the afternoon as well if they want to. Hope to see you all on Saturday. Any questions call me or Phil.

Geo Cache

2010-10-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so I guess the area that I gave you was too big. Anyway here is the coordinate and a picture even. I will leave it out there for a little while longer.

49*51.570' N
119*23.340'W

Football trip Saturday, see you at Phil's in the morning!!

Bible Trivia

2010-09-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

I was talking to Mr. Stovel (Laird) on Saturday. He was giving me some interesting information about the letters of Paul which are in the New Testament. Anyway I got to thinking it would be great to add a new Bible Trivia feature to the blog. Here is how it will work. When we decide to do this we will post a question on Monday. If you can come to Battalion on Tuesday with the answer then there will be something waiting for you. So here is the first one.

Which of Paul's letters was written first? What is the order in which Paul's letters are published in the New Testament?

See you tomorrow.

First Night

2010-09-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the first Battalion of the season. Hope to see you all out there. Phil is bringing the BBQ, so there will be burgers and some regular Battalion fun. Don't miss it

Geo Cache

2010-09-05T20:30:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I promised that I would have the Geo Cache done this weekend so that is what I did on Saturday was wander around in the bushes trying to find a good spot for this. This time I figured that I wouldn't make it as easy on you as I did last time. So below you will find 4 GPS coordinates. If you plot those coordinates you will see that they form a rectangle (roughly). Anyway, somewhere in that rectangle is our Geo Cache. The same box as before so you know what to look for. Same drill as last time, find it and there is a prize of some sort. Have fun!
49° 51.649'N, 119° 23.469'W
49° 51.570'N, 119° 23.142'W
49° 51.467'N, 119° 23.134'W
49° 51.532'N, 119° 23.464'W

Counting Down

2010-08-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well as of today the first night of the 2010-2011 Battalion season is only 2 weeks away. I am pumped and in preparation I thought I would share some pictures of some good times. You'll notice that there is no way to pack everything into 3 minutes but I tried. Enjoy.

I posted it on Facebook as well and the quality there is much better, check out Battalion 3445 or my profile if you want to see it.

P.S. Look for new Geo-cache coordinates at the end of the week.

10,000 visits to the Blog!

2010-08-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Well as I post this there are only 4 visitors left before we reach 10,000. If you are reading this scroll to the bottom of the page and check out the little green counter at the very bottom. If you are lucky enough to see it at exactly 10,000 then take a picture of it. There is going to be a prize for seeing it!!

Tubing

2010-08-13T00:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of last weekend. Huge thanks to Phil's Mom for feeding us all weekend. Also thanks to the guys at OK Tire in Grand Forks for supplying some tubes for us. Anyway the weather was not so great on Saturday afternoon but Sunday was better. I think we will have to try to make this an annual trip.

Tubing Weekend

2010-08-03T12:11:00.001-07:00

So we will be meeting at the church on Friday night at 6:30. Saturday morning we are going golfing and then we will hit the river in the afternoon. Sunday morning we are going to go to church in Rock Creek and then head home. The cost is $30. That includes golfing, food, and everything. (Luke you need an extra $14 for golf because you are over 17) We need to have you confirmed by Wednesday so that we can arrange for food. Comment here or on facebook or call Phil, even if you said you are coming already, please confirm it again so we can get a good count.

Creationfest 2010!

2010-07-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

The words "awesome and "fun" and all their synonyms would describe this weeks amazing time we had! This year we had Simon come from our Battalion which shows that we're slowly stepping up. We were 12 guys in total with the Battalion 3739 in Grand Forks. This year we had a sweet line-up of bands and concerts including Switchfoot, Toby Mac, Newsboys and Skillet. Obviously there were a ton of other famous bands that attended and pulled off a great show. Almost all types of genre gave a great variety of tastes. Many incredible speakers gave inspiring speeches that were definitely worth listening to. Next year for those who are committed enough to memorize also might consider bringing your Cribbage playing skills... Insides to that next year. All I want to say is that for those who were lazy or didnt feel it was necessary to complete the memory work missed loads of fun and may have missed the best trip of your summer. Hope more of you guys make it next year to represent. Always room for more guys! More pics will be uploaded later.

Creation

2010-07-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

Well I just received an email informing me that there are only 6 days until Creation Fest 2010!! That means that Simon, Matt and I will be leaving in 5!! YEEEAAAH!!! You guys should all have done the memory work, I can't even tell you how fun this trip is. I can't wait, I am getting the jitters just thinking about it. Pray that we have a safe trip.

Golf / Tubing Weekend

2010-07-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I shouldn't need to post any text under these pictures. Mark August 7 & 8 on your calendars. We are going to go down to Rock Creek for the weekend. We will camp out at Phil's Mom and Dad's place and are planning to have a golf tournament one day and some tubing down the river probably the other day. We will have some specific details in a week or two.

Campout

2010-06-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well the campout is now over. I can't wait for next year already. We had around 25 guys staying for the whole weekend which was really awesome. We also had another 10 or 15 who just came for the day on Saturday. The fishing wasn't as good as last year but that didn't stop us from trying. Several trout were still caught. There was also the usual hiking and dirt biking all weekend long. Saturday we cooked steak dinner for 30 which was cool. Thanks to everyone who came for that, your support is much appreciated. If you want to see all the pictures you can see them HERE.

Campout

2010-06-04T09:32:00.001-07:00

Well the campout is finally here. We have the same campsite as we did last year. Hope to see lots of you there.

Archangel

2010-05-28T22:36:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, I got this picture of Archangel and another letter the other day. I thought I would put it up. Even though we are off for the summer don't forget to pray for Archangel.

Don't forget about the campout next week. Hopefully lots of you can make it.

30k Club Bikeathon

2010-05-12T09:02:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, I was talking to Ami from Kelowna Gospel Mission this morning and she was telling me about this bikeathon that they are doing on June 19th. Basically it is 30km along the greenway. She asked if we would be interested. We seemed to have a good time helping out at the Mission a couple weeks ago so I thought some of us might be interested. Anyway, I started a team, called Battalion 3445. If you want to ride join the team by following this link, www.gifttool.com/athon/OurTeamPage?ID=1529&AID=1089&TID=6460

If you want to bring friends or family, everyone is welcome. Also people can sponsor you at the website as well. If you are under 18 and want to ride make sure one of your parents comes to the event to sign a waiver. Any other questions call me. See you there.

2010-04-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you who missed last night, we had a good time. I wasn't aware that Jerrod was as big a fan as he is, I guess you learn something new everyday. Even though the kitchen was under construction we managed to cook about twice as much poutine as we needed to, and burgers as well. Near the end Luke and Ryan and Phil and I were left and I realized the were chocolate chip cookies still so we had a go at them to. One week left before we break for summer. Man the year went by fast.

Next week we are off to the Gospel Mission to help out there. I am told we will be putting on a nacho night so we will be preparing, serving and hanging out there. We are leaving the church at 6:30, and we should be back about 8:45. Make sure you wear shoes, NO SANDALS, and there are no cell phones allowed in the kitchen there so leave that at home to. See you there!

Lord of the Rings

2010-04-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Well as database (whomever that is) pointed out the blog has been silent for far too long. We have 2 weeks of Battalion left before we end for summer. Next week we are going to watch the final movie in the Lord of the Rings series. The movie is over 3 hours long so we want to try and start it at 5:45. We will be having poutine and probably some burgers and stuff so don't worry about eating dinner before you come. Should be a good time together. If you want to watch the first two movies you can come to my place Saturday for the first one and Sunday for the second one. We will start those just after 6:00pm each night.

An update on the memory work for those who are interested, Matt has 163 points and Simon has 155 points. They both told me they were working on large passages for next week so that will be awesome. Looking forward to Creation this summer with you guys.

James 3:13-18. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wsdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Proverbs 3:7-8. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

See you next week.

Manafest - Wednesday April 7

2010-03-29T00:24:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, I don't know if you guys listen to Manafest or not but he is going to be in Kelowna next Wednesday. I thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone is interested in going. His new CD comes out this Tuesday and it is great, I have been listening to it non-stop since I got it. Maybe I will try to bring it Tuesday night and play it. Anyway as you can see admission is free so if anyone wants to go it should be good.

Airsoft Update

2010-03-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

I found out this afternoon that our guns won't be here in time for next week so we will be at the church for a regular night. Hope to see you all there. I should have details about when we will do it on Tuesday.

Creation Update

2010-03-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Just a couple videos to get you excited for Creation Fest this summer. I can't wait to see these guys, the new album is awesome. Here is where everyone stands on the memory points so far.

Simon - 115
Matt - 111
Noah - 52
Lukas - 45
Austin - 25

You guys still got time. Keep workin' on those verses. Let's hear some recited this week. The last little while Simon has been the only one with any to tell me.

Hockey Night in Battalion

2010-03-11T20:16:00.001-08:00

Alright, like I mentioned on Tuesday, next Wednesday we are heading to Grand Forks to play hockey with the guys from 3739. We will leave the church at 3:30 in the afternoon. We should be back around midnight or 12:30 at the latest, we will drop everyone off at home when we get back. There are skates there if you don't have any. Bring a stick if you have one and bring some money for supper. I need to know by Tuesday who is coming. You never know who might be there. There is a event on Facebook that you can respond to if you are on there. See you Tuesday.

Olympic Champion!

2010-03-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

Well the Olympics are over. I don't know if we could have had a closer finish. Simon beat Luke in a last minute soccer game, which made it close but wasn't enough to get the win. Luke was able to get the overall win by just one point. Congrats to Luke. I posted all the pictures I took they are HERE if you want to see them. Here are the final scores.

Luke H - 11
Stephen - 10
Matt - 10
Jerrod - 10
Braden - 8
Austin - 8
Simon - 6
Pascal - 6
Luke E - 6
Ryan - 5

On top of being the Olympics last night it was also my first barbecue of 2010. I love barbecue.

We will be continuing over spring break so if you are not on holidays don't forget to come to Battalion on Tuesday. We are also hoping to get to Grand Forks for hockey with the 3739 guys on spring break. I should have more details next week.

Olympics

2010-02-25T12:12:00.001-08:00

Well the Olympics will officially end on Sunday for most of the world but here at Battalion 3445 the Olympic spirit won't end until Tuesday night. We don't have fancy medals like the Olympics, we have a big trophy for the winner. Jerrod has been the winner the last two years so make sure you all show up this week. We had a request for a new event from Pascal so that should be interesting. Don't miss this week it is going to be a great time.

Stay tuned to find out about a trip to Grand Forks for some ice hockey on spring break.

Winter Camping

2010-02-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

Camping is over, it was a good time. Too bad we couldn't stay longer. Anyway if you want to see the pictures click HERE.

Creation Schedule

2010-02-04T15:01:00.001-08:00

I just saw the Creation Schedule for this year and wow does it look good. As if you need more incentive to memorize but here is how it looks!

Wednesday Night:
David Crowder
Switchfoot

Thursday Night:
Hillsong
Newsboys

Friday Night:
Thousand Foot Krutch
tobyMac
(this should be the best night)

Saturday Night:
Tenth Avenue North
Skillet

Skillet's show last year was in at another level than all the rest last year and that is probably why they get to close the event this year. I expect that TFK, after missing last year because of Trevor's appendix, will step it up and Toby's show is always awesome. Switchfoot apparently is amazing live, this will be the first time I have seen them. I think all of these bands also have new albums out as well so pick those up and start singing along.

Back on the fringe stage are Classic Crime, B. Reith (one of my faves), also KJ-52 will be on the main stage one afternoon as well as on the fringe stage. This trip is going to be a good one. GET THOSE VERSE DONE!!!!

What you missed!!!

2010-02-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

Well if you haven't been to Battalion for a while then you are not alone. Attendance has been a bit low for the last month so we were surprised to have 12 last night. Last week we had the Tower of Babel, with some new building materials. It was fun but I may have to modify the quantities for next year. If you happened to miss this week you missed the biggest injury we have ever had at Battalion. Simon and Stephen went into the wall hard during Bulldog and Simon came out on the losing end. He had a bloody gash on the back of his head. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that. Anyway I hope you are feeling OK Simon.

The number of verses that guys are memorizing seems to have dropped as well. You all still have time to finish.

This weekend is winter camping. You guys who are coming, we will see you on Saturday.

Creation 2010

2010-01-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

I was checking out the Creation website this morning and noticed that they have added some more artists on there since the last time I looked. Check it out if you haven't looked in a while. I can't wait for this summer this is going to be awesome.

On a related note, get memorizing!!! Just for an update here are the points for the guys who have started. Remember even though you think you have a long time to do it if you keep putting it off it won't happen.

Matt - 111
Simon - 83
Nick - 72
Noah - 52
Lukas E - 45
Austin - 25
Dan - 11
Stephen - 3

If you don't see your name here then get at it. Also I am going to put a challenge out there for you guys. I doubt yu will read this before tonight so we will do it for next week.

Next week, I am going to have a prize for anyone who has more verses ready than I do! I can tell you that I will have some verses so 1 won't cut it. See you all tonight!!!

SNOWCAMPING

2010-01-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

Well it is time to start getting ready for snowcamping, some of you got a little cold last year, for different reasons (Jarrod), some had better reasons then others. So this year I was going to try and make some little heaters with you guys that are going to go. If you want to build one of these, bring an empty tuna can and some of your moms old candles. Snowcamping this year is going to be better then ever, I have talking with some of the guys that are coming and they have some good ideas of things they want to do out. Hope to see you all Tuesday night.

2010-01-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

I didn't stay up for the Late Late show last night, and I missed seeing this on the show but I found it on Youtube today. Check out a little preview of one of the performers we will see at Creation this summer.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T16:57:00.000-08:00

This is a picture from the Battalion 3739 Alumni night. They invited our grade 11 and 12 guys so Luke, Matt and Jerrod went down with me, we had a fun time.

Just wanted to wish everyone who is part of Battalion a very Happy New Year! May God bless you in the new year.

I hope to see most of you next week for Battalion.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T09:43:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas! I guess by the time you read this the presents are all opened, and you have gone on with your day. Hopefully you will all be having a wonderful Christmas.

At our Christmas Eve service we were reminded to remember the story behind the story, the one that needs to be read between the lines so to speak. Christmas is all about Christ coming to us here on earth, and that is a great thing but unless we think about the reason why he came, which was to ultimately die on the cross for our sins, then Christmas doesn't mean much.

Way to go Stephen!!

2009-12-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

For the guys who don't know, Stephen was baptised this past Sunday. Baptism is something that Jesus taught us goes together with becoming a Christian. It is a symbol of us dying with Christ and being raised to a new life in Him. Way to go Stephen, we are proud of you.

Creation Fest 2010

2009-12-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

So I just saw the first listing of some of the bands that will be at Creation Fest next summer. Anyone who is memorizing, check out the site here. Bands to definitely look forward to: Switchfoot, Skillet, Toby Mac, and Thousand Foot Krutch!!!

Don't forget about tomorrow, last one 'til January!!!

One Battalion Left!!

2009-12-09T01:48:00.000-08:00

Yep time sure flies, I can't believe that we are halfway through the year already. The first half was good but I predict that the second half will be even better. Some things to look forward to in the second half are: Winter Camping, Tower of Babel, and then there is Father/Son campout, and possibly a few other good times. I also get to hear more memory verses being said which is a huge highlight for me.

Anyway don't forget next week. Bring a friend, the more the merrier.

First Battalion of the New Year is January 5!

H2O Center

2009-11-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

So we had a good time at the H2O center tonight, except for the lifeguard who figured it was appropriate to scream at us at the top of her lungs. Anyway it was fun trying to make the water slide rain on her. The flowrider was cool although Nik was the only one I saw on there. We will have to rent that thing sometime. Back at the church next week, hopefully you will all be there.

The picture I posted is a sketch that Simon drew. I saw him drawing one day and thought maybe he could design a shirt for us for next year, and this was an idea he came up with. Thanks Simon, I love it! Anyway if you have any ideas about this design or ideas for some other kind of a design, talk to Simon about it. Maybe he can do up a couple different ones and then we can vote on them or something.

November 24

2009-11-18T22:49:00.001-08:00

Just a reminder that next week we are heading to the H2O centre. Same time 7:00 to 8:30, if you come to the church you will be sorely disappointed. This should be a fun time.

MAKE SURE YOUR PARENTS COME IN AND SIGN A WAIVER IF YOU WANT TO GO ON THE FLOWRIDER!!!!

Switchfoot

2009-11-15T13:08:00.001-08:00

So I did two things yesterday afternoon. 1. I had lunch with a friend of mine, and 2. I went to look around at the christian bookstore. At lunch my friend and talked a lot about church, and youth group and stuff. One of the things that came up was how churches deal with conflict and how sometimes little things cause big problems in churches. This seems strange to me because as christians we have a lot of scripture telling us to avoid those types of things and when we can't to deal with them in love.

Then I went to Bell Tower and was looking through the music section. There are a number of new CD's out right now. Kutless has a great new worship album out, KJ-52 has a new album out, The Almost has a new disc out with a new full band, this is probably my favorite from the listening I did. Flyleaf also has a new disc out, and Switchfoot's new disc Hello Hurricane is also out.

Anyway by now you are probably asking yourself why I am telling you all this. Here is why. I know that most of you are Switchfoot fans, and because of my recent thinking about the importance of love in the church I decided to make a little challenge for you. So, the first person to memorize 1 Corinthians 13 is going to get the new Switchfoot CD. We also handed out the memory work sheet last week so you will also get the points for it, 26 if I remember correctly. If you are reading this then you have a head start, I will make sure everyone knows on Tuesday. See you then.

Memory Work & Captain

2009-11-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

If you were at Battalion last week you were given the Battalion 3445 Memory Verse Challenge meaning that if you memorize enough points you get to go on a trip.... Thats right, an unforgettable trip which truly worth memorizing for.... Start memorizing!!

As a tribute to our Captain and Leader of Battalion 3445 we want to wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Sunday November 8th

2009-11-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys just a reminder that we are going to be having a bit of a special event at church this Sunday. If you can make it please come out. Church is at 11:00am, DON'T FORGET TO WEAR YOUR SHIRT!!!!

Pines Report / November Birthdays

2009-11-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

So I had a great time at the Pines last weekend. I hope you all did to. For those of you who weren't there you can check out the pics HERE. As usual we arrived Friday night, pretty much just got the hot tub started a bit and that was it for Friday, oh yeah and a Mars bar war. Saturday we did some shooting. Check out the picture of all the targets!! It was insane, and we had to set up more a couple times. Charlie came out with us and brought his rifle. We had some good fun shooting Phil's steel plate target with the big gun. We also did a bit of skeet shooting again which apparently isn't as much fun as the target shooting. Saturday night we lit the camp's big brush pile on fire. Most of the guys headed to the hot tub after a couple hours. Phil and Charlie and I watched the fire a bit more until it was under control. Then we headed to the hot tub as well. Sunday we went to church in Grand Forks, and then had lunch at DQ before heading home.

I decided that the guys at Battalion 3739 had a pretty good idea to share who had birthdays each month. This way we can pray especially for these guys in the month. So here are the birthdays for November. Happy Birthday guys, God Bless you.

Dan - November 9
Braden - November 21
Matt - November 28
Stephen - November 28

See you tonight!!!

Pines!

2009-11-02T00:06:00.000-08:00

So I managed to keep my eyes open long enough to get one pictured posted tonight before I get to bed. I will try to get the rest up ASAP! Fun weekend, again!

Shirts

2009-10-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

So the shirts have been here for a while now and I didn't post any pictures. They turned out pretty sweet this year. This could be my favorite so far.

On that note if you are coming to the Pines this weekend make sure you bring your shirt to wear to church on Sunday morning. We are meeting at the church at 6:30 tonight.

Also next Sunday, November 8th our church wants to have an emphasis on CSB. So if you can come to the 11:00 service, WEAR YOUR SHIRT!!! We would like to get as many guys out as we can.

2009-10-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

We are planning the PINES trip, if you are coming make sure you let us know. All the same as last year but hopefully bigger and better, hope you will all be able to come.

There will be more shooting, branding, hottubbing, and eating of food then most people will be able to handle.

Make sure you bring warm clothes it will be cool out there, or you will be looking for other ways to stay warm.

2009-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well for those that found the Geo Cache, we got the new Thousand Foot Krutch CD and Snickers. Since we're so grateful we like to thank Dan and Phil for it again! For those that haven't found it. FIND IT!

Also don't forget about our friend Archangel! Let's keep donating and praying for him!

For those of you that didn't bother to find it, the chance is over! So no Cd or candy for you! Well apparently the next time we do this, chances are it's not going to be as easy. Gotta find it next time.....

Bible Study

2009-10-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well last I heard two guys had found the cache and a couple more were trying to tell me that I hid it in China somewhere. I guess it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Anyway if you weren't told the first number should be 49 54.960.

This week we are going to be talking about 1 Timothy 3. If you want to read it ahead of time that would be great. I would also encourage you to read all of 1 Timothy if you get the chance. Anyway we will do a bit of a review of chapter 2 and then we will talk about how chapter 2 and chapter 3 relate to each other and what we can learn from chapter 3. See you all tomorrow.

NEW INFO Geo Cache #1

2009-09-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

It seems that the guy writing down the numbers on your paper wrote down the wrong Latitude coordinate. I appologize for that, anyone looking for the cache enter 54 degrees instead of 59 degrees, same decimal places. Sorry guys see you this Tuesday.

Well this is a new idea that Phil and I came up with this week. Geo Caching is a new thing that some people are into. The basic idea is that you stash a container somewhere and fill it with something, then you post the location on a website and other geocachers can find the coordinates of your cache and go find it. Once they find it they will take something out and leave something else in place of what they took out. We figured it would be more fun to limit our cache to only Battalion guys. So as you can see from the picture above we have stashed a lock box out there somewhere and are waiting to see if any of you find it. The way our cache will work is that there is something in there that you can bring to Battalion and exchange for a prize. I will give you some more information on Tuesday night and then let you go to it. Happy hunting!!!

2009-09-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well at Phil's request I am posting up some "outtakes" from the pictures that we tried to take last week.

You may also want to check out the Grand Forks site for some pictures of the kick-off with the Lions this past weekend. There was actually a football game between the Battalions played this time so that was pretty cool actually.

Last but not least if you want to bring your $35 this week that would be great, looks like the t-shirts won't make it by Tuesday but I should have them next week. See you tomorrow!!!

A new year starting

2009-09-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

So summer is over, school has started and it is now time for Battalion to get going again. What will happen this year? Will Jerrod be able to take the olympics for the third time? How many guys will finish the memory work this year and go to Creationfest? Who will bleed first? We will have to wait and see. Sept. 15, which is tomorrow is the first night, hope you can all make it.

Shirts

2009-08-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I just looked at the final revision of our shirt for this year. I have to say this might be the best shirt yet. I think it turned out better than I even expected. Anyway I am trying to figure out what sizes to order. If you guys could leave a comment or call me and let me know what size you will want then I can try to order appropriately.

First Battalion night will be on Tuesday September 15th. Looking forward to catching up with you guys. See ya soon.

Ammunition Box

2009-08-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.... The Battalion 3739 had a really neat idea to place items like memories, photoalbums, stickers, old stuff to remember the good past years of Battalion in an aluminum ammunition box. Now the box was catching my attention and it be really cool idea to do our own thing at our group. The fact that its an ammunition box made it look just cool and suits Battalion theme... so if anyone had an idea were they could find such a thing that might look similar to the Image, don't hesitate and offer it to Battalion. Thanks for looking!

Places where box could be found:

Attic

Retired Soldier

Some guy you might know that has it

Good offer on Internet

More Pics

2009-07-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures. It looks like Lance posted a bunch of his pictures up on the 3739 blog so check them out if you want to see more.

It's a Beautiful Thing!!!!

2009-07-27T12:37:00.001-07:00

I will have more pictures later but here are a few of the best ones. Just to give you an idea of how much fun Matt and I had at Creation. We left Kelowna on Tuesday afternoon and drove to meet up with the guys in Grand Forks. Wednesday morning after a minor passport incident we were off to Washington. We arrived Wednesday afternoon in time to get setup and head over to see Hawk Nelson and Skillet kick off the week. Skillet turned out to be the stand out concert of the week. It was a great show. Anyway I compiled a list of reasons why it was a beautiful trip. I am sure I will miss something but Matt can chime in with more. I will try to post some more pictures to when I get a chance. So anyway, reasons for you all to do the memory work next year in no particular order.

1. 16 concerts in 3 days
2. Hawaiian Punch
3. $10 CD's
4. Red Robin's
5. Free Hugs
6. Mosh Pits
7. Suicide Frisbee
8. Bacon
9. Mosh Pit Girlfriends
10. Uncontrollable Laughter

Sarg!

2009-06-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say congratulations to our Sargent, Lukas who was playing in the Kelowna U-18 soccer finals this past weekend. Although his team looked like the better team to me they lost the game 2-1. Luke, you played well and we are all proud of you.

2009-06-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well if you missed the campout last weekend you can see some pictures of it here. We had an awesome weekend of eating bite size fish, biking, hot tubbing, and lots of eating. As you can see we had steak night again on Saturday and even had Chief Ranger Laird show up for the afternoon and have dinner with us. Once again the Stockaders out numbered the Battalion guys which was a little disappointing but we were excited to have everyone who made it. We had a total of 22 guys this year. Can't wait for next year.

PS. stay tuned for more events this summer.

Campout

2009-05-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder our campout is coming up in a couple weeks. We had an awesome weekend last year, even though not many Battalion guys came. Hopefully we will see more of you there this year. Phil and I and sounds like a few more will be there on Friday night. If you need a ride let me know early and we might be able to arrange it.

Memory Verses

2009-05-03T17:23:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of Matt reciting 1 Corinthians 13 for us in church this morning. Great job Matt, you did awesome, I talked to several people after who said to tell you that you did a great job. One lady said she kept thinking you were going to stop and you always kept going. Just a couple more and you are done!!! Better start deciding where you want to go.

POUTINE!!!

2009-04-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well the poutine turned out to be awesome. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was great and I ate way too much of it. I didn't even eat breakfast this morning I was still full.

Phil also shared a little bit with us about the definition of a man. We talked about R - rejecting passivity, and how as men we need to step up and do what is right even when it is easier to stand back and not act. A - accept our responsibilities, we talked about Adam and how when Eve gave him the fruit from the tree he had two problems, one he needed to act and he didn't, and second he needed to be responsible for his wife and he was not. L - lead courageously, we talked about how God has appointed all men to be leaders, whether it is of their family, or at work or in the church, and how we need to lead and stay the course of righteousness even when others around us doubt. And E - expect God's greater reward. We don't know all the details about how God will reward us but we can see from the Bible that God promises rewards in heaven to those who are faithful to do as he wills.

We also read the requirements for deacons in the book of Timothy and talked about how deacons are to be the examples to the church and so we as men should all strive towards those requirements even if we are not deacons.

Matt also recited 1 Corinthians 13 for me before Battalion and is planning to say it in church on Sunday. That will put him 17 points short of finishing and maybe he will have another passage as well for us Sunday morning. Anyway I am confident that Matt will indeed be the first one to finish the memory work, and so we gave him a Buck knife that had "R.A.L.E. 3445" engraved on it. If you need to know what that stands for see above what Phil shared in squad meetings. Pray for Matt this week as he keeps memorizing and pray that he wont be nervous on Sunday.

Anyway I hope you all had a good year at Battalion this year. Don't forget our campout at Arlington Lake June 12-14.

As you can see we also gave Jerrod the trophy for winning the Olympics last week. That makes it two years in a row, although it came down to one game of basketball this year so it was close. Nice job Matt on scaring him.

Last Battalion NEXT week!!!

2009-04-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so I was told this week that on May the 5th we cannot use the gym at the church because there is advanced voting for our election. This means that we have to move our last night to this coming week. Hopefully you guys can still all make it. If you are reading this make sure you tell the other guys you see as well so that everyone knows. If anyone has any board games that we can play that they want to bring, go for it. Hope to see you all Tuesday.

Olympics - Today!!!

2009-04-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

So Olympics are today and then we have two Battalions left before the end. Jerrod is the Champ from last year, so make sure you show up for a chance to get your name on the trophy.

Swimming

2009-04-04T13:30:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder to everyone that we are going swimming this week. We will meet an get picked up at the Y in Rutland.

Foosball

2009-03-30T23:00:00.001-07:00

So we are going to be having a Foosball tournament this week so get ready for that. See you all there, except for Luke.

POUTINE!!!!

2009-03-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

So I guess everyone gets busy on Spring Break. We had only 2 guys at 7:20 last night so we decided to call it a night and go catch the third period of the Canucks game. I always love just hanging out because you never know what might happen and last night is a classic example. I don't even remember how we got talking about poutine but we decided that we must have a poutine night at Battalion. This is a genius idea, I can't wait for May 5th!

Hockey Night in Grand Forks

2009-03-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

Well Lazer Tag was awesome last night. Thanks to Jasen for bringing his friends otherwise we would have had a bit of a small group. Hopefully we see you guys again. Next week we are back at the church. Check your calendars because Olympics are coming up and so is the Branding weekend. If you didn't get a permission slip for Branding this week then talk to me on Tuesday, I will have more.

Also coming soon is HOCKEY NIGHT IN GRAND FORKS. Battalion 3739, plays hockey for their Battalion night one of the weeks of Spring Break. Hopefully a few of us can get there for that. It should be the second week of spring break, which would be WEDNESDAY MARCH 25, we are waiting final confirmation on that. This will be a quick trip there and back in the same night. Don Cherry won't be there unfortunately but maybe Todd Bertuzzi.....

Talk to Dan if you want to come.

Lazer Tag

2009-03-04T12:45:00.001-08:00

Well another night of Battalion is over. We had a bit of a small turnout last night as only 6 guys showed up. Charlie made a guest appearance as well so that was pretty cool. Our bible study was on faith and how faith includes believeing, trusting, and action.

We read in Hebrews 11:1, that "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

We also read in James 2:19 "you believe there is one God, Good! Even the demons believe that" so we know that believing is not enough.

We also read about Abraham and Isaac and how Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son even though God had promised him many descendants. We talked about how his faith required that he trust God that he would do what he promised even though it seemed impossible.

We also read in James 2:17 "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead." So we know that faith also includes action on our part. We talked again about Abraham, and Noah, and Moses and others who had faith and acted on it even when people considered them to be crazy.

Remember, next week is Lazer Tag. Meet at Planet Lazer at 6:45pm, bring $5. We will be done at 8:30pm and you can get picked up there as well. Some of us will probably go to Boston Pizza after as well so plan for that if you can. Make sure that the guys who didn't make it this week know, tell them if you see them. We should have some extra spots as well if you want to bring a friend. See you Tuesday!!!

P.S. I posted the Bible reading for the month of March. I know that some of you guys said that it was too much to read in one day. I was thinking that if that is the case then pick either the new testament or the old testament and just do one. Don't forget to post up here or tell me at Battalion, it encourages me to keep reading if I know that some of you guys are doing it. Also don't forget to think about whether you would like to say some of the memory verses in church, talk to me next week about it.

BRANDING

2009-03-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well we have a problem, there is too much snow at the ranch to start branding this weekend. We are having to rebook this trip till the middle of April, we are thinking of leaving on the 17 and coming back on the 19, more info will come later. Any questions, please ask.

We have talked to the ranch and we will be going to brand some cattle. This will be a weekend that you will never forget. Al said that he could set up some cow wrestling for us as well for something else to do. I didn't get a chance to ask him but we could probably play slap the bull, and do some cow tipping if we wanted to as well.

Grand Forks 30th

2009-02-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

The Suburban is going to Grand Forks on Sunday afternoon to celebrate with the Grand Forks crew 30 years of CSB at the church, if you want a ride with me to go, let me know as soon as possible. There are only limited number of spots so call me or Dan if you want to come.

30th Anniversary

2009-02-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

Events of 1978

January 1 - Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes into the ocean near Bombay, killing 213.
January 9 – Birthday, Chad Ocho Cinco, American football player
January 12 – Birthday, Jeremy Camp, American Christian guitarist and singer
January 24 - Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.
February 7 - Christopher Ashton Kutcher, American actor (That '70s Show)
February 11 - Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, killing 44 of the 50 people onboard.
February 13 – Birthday, Niklas Bäckström, Finnish hockey player (Minnesota Wild)
February 15 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida.
March 1 - Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.
April 22 - The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bob Marley unites 2 opposing political leaders at this concert, bringing peace to the civil war-ridden streets of the city.
May 5 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit.
May 25 - A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard (the first Unabomber attack).
May 25 – Birthday, Brian Urlacher, American football player
June 19 - Garfield, which eventually becomes the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.
August 23 – Birthday, Kobe Bryant, African-American basketball player
September - Christian Service Brigade Unit 3739 begins operation in Grand Forks BC.
November 18 - Jonestown incident: In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder-suicide that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo J. Ryan is assassinated by members of Peoples Temple shortly beforehand.
December 2 - Nelly Furtado, Canadian-born singer and songwriter

As you can see it was just over 30 years ago that CSB Unit 3739 was started. On Sunday March 1st, they will be celebrating 30 years of CSB. For me this is awesome to see and especially cool because of what God has been doing through Battalion in my life and others in the last 15 years. I am planning to go to Grand Forks for this Sunday to join in the celebration. If any of you guys are interested in going to support our brothers in Grand Forks let me know and maybe we can get a bunch of guys together to go.

Winter Camping

2009-02-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well the weekend was a blast. Sleeping in a snow cave is definitely an experience. The weather was awesome, great sun and warm both days. We even caught some fish. Anyway I posted some pictures on Facebook and HERE as well. The pictures from last year are in the same folder so you can compare if you want. Check it out. See you all tomorrow. Hopefully some of you have some verses to tell me.

As of right now Nicholas has 107 point and Matt has 105. Nice work guys, keep it up. You other guys get moving, you can do it.

Tuesday night

2009-01-28T08:12:00.000-08:00

Well last night was a good night, after we all got over Dan not being there. We played some hand ball to start the night, my team seemed to be dominating Bobs, the teams looked very fair but the game didn't play that way. At the end we played some soccor for Luke so he would be happy. Matt put an amazing header in the net that wowed everyone. The teams seemed very fair for that and at the end we firist pulled the goalies and called next goal wins. Nobody could still score, we were running out of time and then went to a shoot out, everybody got one shot on net, and nobody could score again, so it all ended in a tie. Luke then talked to us about how Jesus showed compasion and love for his friends and other, and how showing how you feel is OK to show.
If you are coming camping let me know, and start packing you stuff. Do not forget to bring food, I do not want you to have to depend on catching fish and rabbits to eat while you are out there, but if you want to that would be cool to see!

WINTER CAMPING

2009-01-21T12:31:00.001-08:00

Well time to sleep in the snow is here again, Start getting ready for it. We are going February 7 and 8, we will leave Saturday morning at 9 and should be back on Sunday around 4, this is a change from last year to give us more time to build our shelters and ice fish. We want to go earlier in the year but it did not work out, hopefully there will not be water ontop of the ice this year. I will be adding to this more information and ideas as it gets closer so keep an eye on the blog. Any questions, leave them in the comments and I will answer them for you.

I HAVE CHANGED THE DATE THAT WE GO CAMPING!!!!! FEB7 AND 8, I FEEL THAT WE NEEDED TO MOVE IT UP A BIT TO AVOID TO MUCH WATER ON THE ICE. ANY PROBLEMS WITH THIS CHANGE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!

2009-01-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well this was the tallest tower last Tuesday. Pretty sure that the rules say you can't use a step ladder to construct you tower though, hang on I'll check that.... yep I was right no step ladders. So I guess they were disqualified. That would mean that Matt's team won. You can see the other towers and some of the construction HERE. Looks like we may have to switch up the building materials a bit for next year just to keep you guys guessing.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2008-12-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well unfortunately the blog hasn't been updated in far too long. Anyway I finally got the pictures from wrestling up. As usual follow click the Battalion Pics link and find the Wrestling 08 album.

Hopefully you guys are all having awesome holidays, I know I am.

I am not usually an New Year's Resolution type of a guy but I was thinking about how we have had a couple bible studies this fall about the Word of God and how important it is in our lives and how we need to have a good knowledge of it to be able to discern right from wrong sometimes. So this year I am hoping to read the entire Bible. I found a reading plan that involves reading passages from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day. It amounts to about 3 chapters a day but because of the way it is broken up I think it will be easy. It could even be read a little in the morning and a little at night. i haven't totally decided yet but it will force me to spend some time reading every day. I am hoping that some of you guys will join me in this. I think it would be awesome if we could get a bunch of us to keep us accountable to read every day and to encourage us that we can do it even when we don't feel like it or are busy. We could even read it together with our Dads or sons, or spouses.

I know I am a bit late getting it posted up here but if you read this in the next couple days you could even catch up to where you should be or just start with whatever is there for that day. I have the readings posted for the whole month January and I will do my best to get then next month posted well ahead of time so that you don't miss anything. A great way to do it would be to set the blog as your internet homepage and then each day you would be able to see the passage you need to read right away. If you guys are going to do this post up here so that we can see who all is in.

First Battalion is next week (January 6) see you all there. Bring your verses I hope you used at least some of your holidays to memorize.

Memory Verse Update

2008-12-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

Well the flurry of memory verses being recited to me on Tuesday caught me off guard a little bit. Great job guys. As you can see Nicholas grabbed the Pepsi for being in the lead this week. Unless Noah or Jerrod can memorize something for me for Sunday then he will be doing it again next week.

As well as that Phil shared with us how we are not defined by what we wear or what have or even by what nationality we are. We are defined by the fact that we are children of God. Then we looked at some of God's promises to his children in Proverbs 3, 1 Thessalonians 4, and Hebrews 12.

Keep the verses coming guys. Don't forget Wrestling is next week, Don't Miss It!!!

Memory Verses

2008-12-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well it has been quite a while since the blog had a post. My appologies. If you weren't at Battalion last night here is a summary of what you missed. We started the night off reading about the armor of God in Ephesians 6. We also had cheeseburgers for anyone who had their bible with them. Suprisingly even though I told everyone last week there were still some guys missing theirs.

After that we started out with some british bulldog, which is always good. Then we played football for a bit. My team got destroyed in the football game. I think Ryan got 3 touchdowns on us.

In Council Ring we talked about the sword of the spirit and how it can be used in our lives. We read about how Jesus used it to resist temptation and how he had to know the bible well to know that Satan was using verses out of context to tempt him. After that we handed out the Memory Verse sheets so you can get started on memorizing. I said it last night but I will say it again. You have four months to get the verses done, out of that four months you will be on holidays for a month of it, including Christmas and Spring breaks. Last year nobody finished so there was no trip to go on. In order to try to create more incentive this year we decided that the guys who finished the memory verses would get to decide what we would do for a trip.

Afterwards, Phil, Bob, Luke and I, talked about the things we want to do in the spring. Keep checking back in the upcoming events section, I will update that soon.

We also started brainstorming some possible trips for the memory verse guys. Some ideas we had so far were: 6 Flags, West Edmonton Mall, Creation Fest, Vancouver Whitecaps game. We'll have to see who actually finishes.

Here are some pictures of West Ed to get you excited. This waterpark is amazing!!!

Pines Weekend

2008-11-16T19:48:00.001-08:00

Well I just got home from the Pines trip. Thanks to Gene and the camp for letting us come up there, it is great. The second time around was definitely better than last year in my opinion. One big reason was breakfast on Saturday. If you weren't there you can't possibly imagine how good that tasted. We had the usual skeet shooting during the afternoon, highlighted by Phil sending a barrel flying with his big rifle and a guest appearance by Charlie. Saturday night we played Predator and sat in the hot tub, and did some branding. Anyway enjoy the pictures. If any of you guys take pictures with the 3445 "calling cards" email them to me and I will post them. Those should be sweet.

I just got an email from Nathan Driediger. You guys may remember him he cam out to Battalion last month and shared with us about missions. Here is what he had to say:

"Hi everybody,

I just wanted to quickly update you all about our new addition. Yesterday morning (Nov 14) at 6:28 in the morning, we had a little girl. We named her Alyssa Evelyn, and she weighed 6lb 10oz. Sorry I don't have any pictures at the moment because the camera is still in the hospital room. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the presance of mind to bring it home to send pictures. Both mom and baby are doing great and expect to be home sometime tomorrow. More Later,

Thank you all for your prayers for us as we welcome Alyssa to our family,

Nathan"

Don't forget to pray for them.

Pines Campout

2008-11-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

Pines Campout is here!! If you want to come tell us very soon, we only have room for 11 guys to come, firist 11 to tell us are going, it is that simple. Call us, leave a comment, send up a smoke signal but do something soon if you want to come!!

We are planning to leave on Friday night at 6:30 and will be back on Sunday around 4:00 I think. The cost is going to be 35$ and you will need to bring some money for lunch on Sunday at Dairy Queen. We will be playing in the snow, shooting guns, and bring your bathing suit, the hot tub is going to be HOT!! this year. We are also planning to go to church sunday morning in Grand Forks so keep a change of clean clothes for that. If your friends can't or don't check the blog tell them about it and then you leave a note for us here so they get to come too. Its going to be fun so don't wait to get on the list.

BC Lions Trip

2008-10-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a weekend. I definitely enjoyed this years trip more than I did last year. Even though there was no football game to play we still had a good time. The Lions kept the game close, to build some excitement I guess, until sometime during the third quarter. All of a sudden the were more touchdowns than I can remember. Nothing like a good 3 touchdown rout of Toronto.

I thought it was great getting to hear from the players a little bit after the game. Definitely cool, hopefully next year we will get to meet Cam Wake or Wally.

Also very cool to run out onto the field in BC Place even if it was only for a very short time. Time enough to get a picture as you can see.

Well tomorrow is Tuesday already so that is crazy, I haven't recovered from the weekend yet. Don't miss out on tomorrow night. Luke has got a bible study for us and we have an event planned that I think you guys will like. See you tomorrow.

2008-10-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well next weekend we are going to the game, hope you all can make it. If you know that you are coming let us know as soon as possible. This is going to be a weekend that you will not forget, so don't miss out. We will be playing some football as well so be ready for that, we need to beat the coast battalions and keep bring the cup back to the interior.

Go-Karts

2008-10-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

Alright well Go-Karts were definitely fun. There were some cars faster than others but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. After the final race Trevor came in first. Even though there was some bumping and jolting, he went home with the mug. Nice work Trevor!!

If you guys want to go on the football trip you need to bring the form back next week so we can plan for who will be coming.

I spent a good part of the day on Monday peeling decals off the bus. It has sure changed the look of it just getting that off there. Keep checking for more pictures of it. Also if anyone has any ideas how we should paint it, let's hear them.