The Fastest Woman in the Canary Islands
Kayla Casaletto was coaching, running, and living life in Indiana when her friend Grace approached her with an opportunity that she couldn’t say no to! Kayla joined Grace in the Mercy Ships Academy and she came as the P.E. teacher. Having never taught students before, this posed a big learning curve for Kayla. But her passion for running and exercise and all things outdoors, along with her coaching skills, has made for one fabulous teacher.
In this episode Kayla shares how not volunteering in Africa, as she originally planned, hasn’t stopped her from ministering to the people she meets and sharing the love of Jesus in a very creative way. Her stories of starting a running club, empowering her students, and winning a high honor in the Canary Islands, will inspire you to go for a run and live out your passions!
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New Mercies Podcast Transcript
Welcome to the New Mercies, a podcast by Mercy Ships, where we’ll take you behind the scenes and on board our incredible hospital ships that are transforming lives all over the world. We invite you to join us each week as we sit down with our crew, patients, volunteers, and partners to hear their stories of life-changing hope and healing.
Kayla Casaletto was coaching, running, and living life in Indiana when her friend Grace approached her with an opportunity that she couldn’t say no to. Kayla joined Grace and the Mercy Ships Academy and she came as the PE teacher. Kayla is about to inspire you to live out your passions, no matter where life takes you, and to be excellent in all that you do.
Here’s my interview with Kayla Casaletto.
Raeanne Newquist:
So last week, we got to hear from Kayla and Grace in the beginning, hearing about how you two women came to Mercy Ships to serve together in the academy. And then we really spent most of the episode hearing about Grace’s story. But today, Kayla, we get to hear from you. And we get to hear your side of the story and your experience. So thank you so much for being here and welcome to New Mercies.
Kayla Casaletto:
I’m very glad to be on here. Like I said last time, it’s my first podcast, I’ve listened to many and I get to be on one.
Raeanne:
Well, we touched on it last week in the beginning that you are a superstar runner being awarded in the Canary Islands the title of the fastest woman! I don’t know if there’s some Spanish women that are maybe offended by that — that there’s an American that’s going to be named the fastest in the islands? But it’s a pretty huge thing. And are you excited for that?
Kayla:
I’m excited. I do think about that sometimes, because the same thing probably happens every year on the island — the same person gets first and then I just came in and disrupted it all. And not only because of how I’m placing, but in almost every single race, people tell me a couple of days before, Hey, I actually want to sign up for the race and the registration is closed. So I have to phone the guy in charge of the race and say, Hey, actually, I have five more people I want to set up for the race.. I’m always the most difficult person. I mean, I feel like I am. So I bet the people of the Canary Islands are ready for this ship to sail and to have their races back to being just the Spanish people.
Until I move here and become a resident! So look out!
Raeanne:
I know that you are teaching PE at the academy, some physical education for the students. But I’ve also heard, and Grace mentioned it a little bit as well, that you guys have started a running club. But tell us how that came about what is the running club that you’ve started?
Kayla:
So last spring, I remember thinking these kids have no sport after school, they’re just on the ship. When kids don’t know what to do, they’re going to get into trouble. Or they’re just playing video games and stuff. And I thought I would love to do a sport for them and I want to do running. I’ve run since I was two years old, I’ve coached running, I’ve been on many, many teams for running, and I love running. But I was worried because when I was in high school, I went to a small Christian high school and we had 200 kids in high school. And it was a struggle to get five girls on the cross-country team. So I thought with the small number of ship kids, we might have a really small group. So I prayed all summer, Lord, please help this work, please help us to find just one race on the island and help this to be something impactful for the kids.
Next thing I know, we put out the signs for the running club, and we get 100% participation, every practice, every race, every kid wants to come to everything. I never expected this. So how it works — every day, or three times a week, I run the practice. We take the kids out to the desert, we don’t just release them — it’s hard to explain. The desert is like canyons and trails and stuff, it’s about seven minutes away from the ship. There’s this nature reserve and we go and we run for, you know, 30-40 minutes and then we go back to the ship. And sometimes we do workouts on the dock. And then Mondays and Fridays are on their own. Before we even started the training, I wanted to find one race to run, because it’s really hard to just make kids run. I mean, why would you run unless you are in a race or chasing a soccer ball. Then Grace stumbles upon this website that’s this entire running series and they have races every single weekend. And they have races for kids and races for adults and every race for the kids is like three euros, and they get a shirt, they get food, they get medals, they get trophies, it’s really awesome. And it’s been very, very fun going to all the races, the kids love going to the races, I love going to the races, I love watching them run.
Raeanne:
Have you had adults participate too?
Kayla:
Yes. Many adults, all the parents have been inspired to run. We see them outside on the dock running, they sign up and they run the races. It’s been very fun for everyone. And we have other people on the ship who aren’t parents who come to the races too.
Raeanne:
Well, you have a lot of great experiences ahead of you when you guys sail down and spend a full field service in Dakar, which will be great. This is kind of your first time officially teaching students and now you’re doing it in a very unique environment on a ship. So tell us a little bit about your creativity with PE on the ship.
Kayla:
When I first got here and they showed me my space for teaching PE, it was an enclosed area was probably about 10 feet high and maybe 10 feet wide and very long. They told me that I was going to teach an entire high school / junior high PE class and I thought I have absolutely no idea what I could do here. You can’t play soccer, you can’t play dodgeball, like you can’t play any games. So honestly, at first, that was very hard and we just did workouts and I felt very bad about that. The creativity with the younger kids was a lot easier. I mean, because we could play ball throwing, catching, dodging games. But I would say that we oftentimes take a game and change it to make it fit into a smaller space. But it’s really great because the kids are very understanding. They always understand that we don’t have the biggest space and we’re going to play our best in this space. Or we’ll take turns because sometimes we have just too many kids in a small area. And so they realize they have to take turns. So honestly, I’m very grateful for how gracious the kids are in our small spaces.
Raeanne:
And then on the Global Mercy, you’re going to have plenty of space and probably lots of resources to do some great things with the kids.
Kayla:
Yeah, we have a basketball court so we can do a lot of fun stuff there.
Raeanne:
Tell us about a memorable moment that you’ve had with your students thus far.
Kayla:
I have a couple if you don’t mind me sharing a couple. Now, I know Grace had mentioned last week, the night race, but I haven’t done a night race, which I think maybe it’s a popular thing to do on the island. One of my favorite, my most memorable moments was from a night race when they were playing extremely loud music, like so loud that you have to stand less than an inch from somebody’s face to be able to talk to them. So they they’re playing this loud, loud music before the race and I just remember, all the kids in a giant circle dancing, and Grace and I are dancing with them. And then after the race, there was a live singer and all the kids were in the very front row. In fact, I think they were the only people dancing and they all had their arms around each other, kicking their legs, and dancing and I was so happy to see how happy and free and alive they were.
My other fun memory with the kids is we took them on Junior High / High School retreat up in this woods at a camp. It’s owned by two people that are locals on the island and they love mushrooms. Before we went to the camp, I looked them up on Instagram, and every single picture is the husband or wife with a giant massive mushroom in front of their face! And I was like, This is going to be really good. So we went one day with the man out into the woods, and he had his little mushroom stick, and he said, anywhere you see a raised pile of pine needles is a mushroom growing. And so the kids are just running everywhere hunting for mushrooms. But the problem was, I didn’t understand that the man was picking poisonous mushrooms and putting them in with the non-poisonous ones.
And he’s like, Oh, it’s okay. It’s okay. We picked five pounds of mushrooms. And then in the end, he just throws them all away because we ruined them by putting them with the poisonous ones.
Raeanne:
Oh, my goodness. What else did you guys do on that retreat? What did the kids do? I know we had Justin Brunenkant on the podcast many months ago and he was one of the speakers on the retreat for the students. I know my kids were in junior high when we were on board, and they absolutely loved that retreat. So tell us a little bit about what you guys did.
Kayla:
We played a big game of capture the flag in the woods, which I think the kids loved because it was way more space than the ship and it lasted for hours. We had a fort building competition, they had to build the best hut in an hour. Theat was a lot of fun. Lots of just Gaga ball. And then we learned about the stars with Kim, the guy who owns the camp, and they cooked all of our food for us. And we stayed in little cabins there and then the last day we had a speaker come in from Colorado, who shared a really awesome testimony of how he used to be in prison and how he escaped from prison. He went into solitary confinement and then how the Lord won his heart and how now he’s able to travel and share his testimony. And that was that was really impactful for the kids. So that was very special.
Raeanne:
Well, I know that this has been a very unique experience for you. You guys probably signed up thinking that you were going to be volunteering in West Africa on this medical ship. And all of a sudden, you’re a teacher on a ship that’s mostly in the Canary Islands. You did spend time as well, in Rotterdam and Belgium and all sorts of different fun places. But you are about to go to Africa and that is exciting. In the midst of this unique season of Mercy Ships, how were you able to kind of continue the mission of Mercy Ships without being in a hospital in West Africa?
Kayla:
Being on the island was a huge blessing for me because my dad is Spanish teacher, so I’ve grown up speaking Spanish. The island speaks Spanish and so I could fit in comfortably with the culture and stuff. And I remember when we first got to the island, we only could go within 50 km of the ship since we were like seamen, and we weren’t allowed to be vacationing or anything, and we also had no cars because Spain shut down all of our Mercy Ships vehicles, because they said they give off too much exhaust. So luckily, Grace and I had bought bikes in Texas, and shipped them to the ship. So we said, oh, that’s no problem, we can still find a church and go to church. So I found a church seven miles away through the desert across a mountain and canyon. So we decide to bike out to this church. And I’m trying to remember, I don’t know how we found out when it was open, maybe Facebook or something. And then we biked all the ways to this church, and when we got there, it was all in Spanish. But turns out the pastor’s from Ohio and his wife from Venezuela. So immediately, they invited us over to their house. And we formed a very close connection with them and relationship. So much so that even this past summer, they came to Grace’s house, when they were on leave to meet her family and visit her in the United States. They have a daughter who goes to school in the US, and then their son was going to go to school. And so they were there visiting and they saw Grace’s family and we ate dinner with them. That was really, really special. We’ve formed a close connection with them, we go to their church every week. And what’s kind of been cool is the connection that we’ve also made with the running community. So through the running community, I’ve met other PE teachers who have been able to bring their entire school to visit the ship. And we’ve also met other people and invited them to church. And we had some people come to the Thanksgiving meal that we had at church and stuff. Now people on the island are very opposed to church, so we’ve invited lots of people, but we haven’t had too many come. But we have made lots of lots of connections with people and pray for people at races and stuff.
Raeanne:
Oh, wow, that’s so neat. Regardless of where you are, if God has placed within your heart this desire to care for others, and tell others about Him, you’re going to make that happen, no matter what.
Kayla:
You know that our most recent thing that we have been very enthusiastic about is sharing the gospel through geocaching. It’s like a secret treasure hung, there’s all these hidden things all around you, in your neighborhood, in the woods across from your house, they’re a little boxes, some people might call them pieces of trash, but there really are prizes inside. Anyways, there’s an app that shows you where they are, and you go around and find them, we find them with our students. And recently, some of them have been very into writing the gospel and putting it in the box. I don’t know, it’s a little thing that you do outdoors, but you can still use any little thing that you’re passionate about to share Jesus with the world.
Raeanne:
That is so cool. Well, it sounds like you’re creating a lot of incredible memories, and things that you’ll never forget when you go back home. Is there maybe a standout moment for you — something that has impacted you?
Kayla:
I teach a life skills class. And for it, we decided to do an event planning project. And the event we decided to plan was a race — the Chicken Chase Race. And the kids, I mean honestly, the kids came up with everything. I was just kind of there to guide them and help them think through the things needed to plan an event. And this was right up my alley, because that’s exactly what I studied in school — sports management, I literally had an entire class on planning races.
Raeanne:
How old are the kids that that are a part of life skills?
Kayla:
12 and 13.
Raeanne:
Okay, so a little bit older.
Kayla:
Yeah, yeah. They’re all seventh grade. We spent two months planning and it was very fun because we would go to the races on the island and the kids would say, I don’t really like that, like kids had to wait one hour while these kids walked out one kilometer and then ran back. Or you know, whatever little thing they didn’t like about the race, they would kind of take that and say we’re going to do it differently. And so we made awards trophies for prizes, and we had speakers and a podium, you know, everything and the kids were just so impressed when we got there. They thought, We did this and it really looks like a real race. And I think we had 100 people came to our race.
Raeanne:
Oh my goodness, how cool. And why did you call it the Chicken Chase Race?
Kayla:
The kids were really into chickens at the time. And I dressed up as a chicken. And all the kids chased me!
Raeanne:
How have you seen lives being changed during your time of volunteering?
Kayla:
In Belgium, I was blessed to have a lovely roommate from Belgium, who helped me work on my Dutch — each night we would practice saying good night and good morning. But each morning I would sit in my windowsill and read my Bible. One day she asked me, what is that book that you’re reading? I answered, the Bible. She said, well, a lot of people read that book here. And from there, I had the chance to share Jesus with her and many other Dutch women who she was friends with got to hear about Jesus and she is now a fervent follower of the Lord and knows him. But it was just so cool because she never knew people who love Jesus and love His word. She had never seen that before.
Raeanne:
Wow. Well, what was she doing that brought her on board?
Kayla:
She was working in the dining room observing.
Raeanne:
Okay, so neat. And how long was her commitment for? Was it just brief while you guys were in her country?
Kayla:
Yeah, I think it was only one month. She says what brought her to the Lord was seeing us on the ship reading the Bible.
Raeanne:
Wow. Are you still in contact with her?
Kayla:
Yeah, I just saw her last week she came to the ship.
Raeanne:
Wow, what a gift to get to be a part of that experience, to watch someone’s life be changed.
How do you now feel now about Grace inviting you or making you aware of this opportunity with Mercy Ships?
Kayla:
I’m very grateful. I mean, I’ve met incredible people. I’ve had incredible experiences. There’s just so many things that I would have never known about or never learned or never done if I hadn’t come. So I’m very happy.
Raeanne:
Well, how was your life different because of this?
Kayla:
One of the My biggest impacts is honestly learning how to teach. I mean, I just really didn’t know anything about writing rubrics. I didn’t know about writing lesson plans, nothing. I knew nothing. And I came I was like, Oh, my word, This is so much work! I appreciate all my teachers back home. I appreciate my dad and all that he’s done. I just think about how hard I might have made my teachers live sometimes how I could have made it better. The kids here are so sweet. They literally say thank you every time when we finish class. I’ve never heard that before. I think I’ve never thanked a teacher when leaving a class. I’ve done more work here than I think I did my entire four years of college. It’s a huge, huge learning curve. But I mean, it’s a great place to do it because I’m surrounded by lots of people who are also new. And also people who have taught for 40 years or taught for 20 years who can help me. People have been very, very gracious and very helpful.
Raeanne:
Well, what does this mean for you going back home? You still have six more month, I understand. But after that, do you want to become a teacher back in the States now? Or how is how has this changed maybe your career path?
Kayla:
I think I might want to. I think that the kids here on this ship are a lot different than teaching in a public school in America. I mean, none of these kids use social media or anything. So like they’re way different than kids that I know in public schools, but I think I would like to try my hand at it. First, I want to convert a van and live in it. But after that, I might want to start teaching again.
Raeanne:
That’s awesome. Well, Kayla, what are you most looking forward to as you guys begin a field service in Senegal on the Global Mercy‘s first full field service in West Africa. What are you most looking forward to?
Kayla:
I want to see the patients coming off the gangway healed I just think that would be so awesome to see. I also just found out about a rock-climbing gym in Dakar, so I want to go there.
And my family that I had never really met lives in Dakar, so I’m actually excited to get to know them better.
Raeanne:
What do you mean your family lives in Dakar?
Kayla:
I just found out that I have some cousins that live in Dakar. I’ve only met them once before, so I’m excited to get to know them more and spend some time with them. They work for the US Embassy.
Raeanne:
Oh, my goodness. So you have family in Dakar. How exciting is that?
Kayla:
Yeah, I think it’s kind of crazy. I mean, the closest that I’ve ever lived a family is five hours and 14 hours. So now I’m going to live like 30 minutes away from my family now that I’m in Africa on the other side of the world.
Raeanne:
Well, Kayla, I’m very excited for you and all of the adventures that lie ahead of you in the next six months, but even beyond that, and we just thank you so much for sharing with us a little bit about your Mercy Ships journey, but also thank you for your initiative and starting this running club and taking kids out of their comfort zones, exposing them to a whole new sport, and congratulations for being named the fastest woman in the Canary Islands. That’s pretty massive.
Kayla:
Thank you.
For more information about Mercy Ships, go to mercyships.org, and to keep up with the guests on New Mercies, follow us on Instagram at NewMerciesPodcast.