Week Four

This week was amazing! From Tuesday until Thursday afternoon Davos just got dumped on. There was a few sunny breaks, but it made for some incredible riding! Ben and I went up to Reinerhorn on Tuesday afternoon and rode knee deep snow for at least two hours. We also coloradoed a few trees and had way too much fun. For those of you that don't know what a Colorado is: you climb up an evergreen tree all the way to the top and swing around until the tree breaks and you fall in the snow! It's pretty hilarious.Then on Thursday the whole crew went up to Reinerhorn and we had an awesome time doing some cliff drops and riding in the deep snow. By Thursday the snow was waist deep in some spots and it just made for some hilarious riding. The sun came out in the afternoon and the view still leaves me breathless. 

We had another fantastic day under the sun in the park up at Jakobshorn. Doing laps and just having a ton of fun. It's sweet to see the progression of myself and everyone over the last month. One day last weekend Ben brought his camera up and captured some unreal photos so that made for a pretty fun day as well. 

This week our speaker was hilarious! His name is Borris and he currently lives in Australia. He started the Boardriders dts on the Gold Coast. His teaching style was pretty unique, he mainly told us stories of his own life adventures and what God taught him and what he learned through his different experiences. Of course all he taught us was biblically based and backed up by scriptures. It was nice to have a bit of a different take on lectures this week. He really challenged me with one thing he said. He was talking about how life is always based on our choices and that's why we are so powerful as human beings. However, whatever choice we make has the power to give us authority or take away authority. For example, he told us the story of how he met his wife and went about the whole dating thing and he told us he always wanted to have a "story worth telling". Meaning he wanted to trust God and 100% do his relationship God's way. Now because he followed God through all of it he has the authority to teach others because he actually has experience. Having authority doesn't come from being perfect, but life experience always brings amazing teaching.

Borris was only able to stay with us until Wednesday because he had an appointment saving the world in another part of Europe. So Reto and Judy taught for Thursday and Friday about the prophetic. It was amazing! I believe each one of the students got a new revelation because God is speaking like I have never seen and we all love it! Thursday morning we had the coolest prophesy "practice" exercise. One group had a blindfold on and then each person from the other group (not blindfolded) walked up and touched one of the blindfolded people and the blindfolders had to just ask God and listen for a word or picture or something for the person who touched their shoulder. My group went first and as soon as the person touched my head I got an instant word for them. It's the coolest thing knowing God wants to use us as little humans to share His heart for someone else. Then when it was my turn to be prayed over it was pretty hilarious. The guy who prayed for me saw a picture of finding nemo! God was telling him how Nemo's dad pursued him and God is pursuing me the same way. He will always love me and always fight for me. That was amazing to hear, but my favourite part was the fact that I was wearing orange, black, and white! The same colours of a clown fish! So that gave us all a good laugh, God gets me every time. 

We are just chillaxing and getting ready for another full week of lectures and riding and whatever else God has in store. 

As students we could use prayer for our outreach teams as we are starting to prepare and really seek God for all that we will be up to during the outreach phase. I will continue to give you all more details about outreach as they come!

Miss you all!

Nick

Week Three

Hello all! This week has been really amazing and really challenging. Over last weekend we got almost a foot of snow just in town so that made for some unreal powder riding Sunday.  On Monday we had the day off so we rode in the morning at Parsenn (the largest mountain) and found a ton of fun powder runs and even a little mountain shack to jump off of! Then we took the bus to Jakobshorn and rode in the park for most of the afternoon. There was almost no one there, because all the kids were in school so we had it all to ourselves! Monday was an unreal day of riding. 

Then on Tuesday we baked a TON of smilie cookies and then went for a walk overlooking the city of Davos to pray as a school for the upcoming week of the World Economic Forum. For those of you who don't know, the WEF is an event always hosted in Davos. Kings, queens, diplomats and anyone else rich enough to join their club is allowed to come. Because of all of the important people in town this means security is veryyy tight (If you would like to hear a very personal story about how tight security is you'll have to ask me privately). Along with security and famous people means lots of press, and lots of just people roaming about Davos that wouldn't usually be there. So as a school we took the opportunity to bless people, pray for them, make them smile, and let them know that there is a God who cares about them so much! On Wednesday we handed out smile cookies and just chatted with people. On Thursday and Friday we got to work with an evangelist team called "Fingerprint". They are also from Switzerland and it was so amazing to watch how they interact with people and how in tune they are with the Spirit.  They really challenged me to think about how much I care for people around me. The first day with them was pretty hard for me. I was overwhelmed with how amazing they were at connecting with people, and not speaking Swiss-German makes things a lot tougher. These were only excuses however, and later that night during a prayer time God told me that my love for those around me needs to surpass my love for myself. That's when stepping out to talk to then becomes so natural and easy! 

Friday morning came and we went back out to the street and it was awesome! Within the first 15 minutes I was chatting with a young guy and got to pray for him and that was a massive confidence boost. It showed me how simple it is to love someone who I don't have a relationship with! Then throughout the day we sang and worshiped on the sidewalk, handed out cookies, and just interacted with people and it was amazing! Here is a link to a video with a few of Friday's testimonies. https://www.facebook.com/video.phpv=10205321513853640

One thing that Stephan really challenged us on is that evangelism should be a life style not just something we plan to go out and do. I challenge you to look for ways to bless people throughout your regular schedule. Buy someone a coffee, ask someone to pray with them. The more you do it, the easier it gets! 

Yesterday we had some hilarious sessions in our backyard mini park. We have a convenient hill in our backyard to build features and ride when we have time off class. We plan on inviting a bunch of locals to come chill and maybe have a mini comp in the backyard. So we spent last night building some new features and goofing around under some flood lights. 

It is now Saturday morning and the crew is getting ready to go ride! We are supposed to get some snow today and maybe a bit tomorrow as well. I hopefully will be able to join them but this weekend I am one of the Weekend Warriors. Which means a few of us have to stay back one weekend a month to make sure the base stays running properly and make sure guests have everything they need. So potentially I'll be riding later but who knows! 

Missing you guys back home! 

Nick 

Week Two

This week has been amazing! Riding this week was quite the adventure.  Tuesday was a blue bird day and we rode in the park for a few laps and had a great time. Then Thursday the whole crew went up to Parsenn which is the biggest mountain in the region! Me and two others got a little lost and ended up taking 45 minutes from summit to base (approx 8km) and we were not going slow. We found a ton of fun little jumps and took some pretty silly videos I'm sure you will see eventually!

Aside from the  riding we received some amazing teaching. The pastors from Bethel Church in Redding California, Eric and Candace Johnson, were our speakers for the week. Their teaching was phenomenal and as students we learned so much. My mind was blown multiple times this week in many different ways. We learned about core life principles like: We are the child of a good Dad (obviously that is God although my earthly Dad is pretty great! ), God is a good teacher that always prepares us for a test, and lastly that we are always moving from glory to glory. These may seem confusing, but it was all completely unpacked to us throughout the week. We also had the priveledge of being prophesied over on the last day! Prophecy always blows my mind and God revealed some interesting and even hilarious things to me that I am so excited to discover! Something else that I have been noticing is how much my hunger for quiet time with God is growing. At the beginning of dts on our first full class day we had about  40 minutes for quiet time to worship, read, or pray just on our own. I remember thinking to myself " how am I ever going to fill this time?!" But as the days went on and God started revealing Himself more and more I continually wanted more time! We now have an hour for quiet time and it still isn't enough! So as I write all of this I am still processing all that I have learned and all that God has spoken to me! 

This coming week is the World Economic Forum (WEF) which is held in Davos. In its simplist term the WEF is a meeting of kings and queens, presidents, diplomats, and anyone else who is rich enough to join their "club"! They meet to discuss how to better the state of the world through economics and business. This year they are focusing on a search for "truth" which I find is quite interesting. So during this week we could use lots of prayer! We will be doing some street ministry and going around town looking to be a blessing and bring joy to everyone we meet! I am slightly excited and slightly nervous because I have quickly found out street ministry is a lot different in person than it is in a Pastor's story on a Sunday morning. It is eye opening and an interesting challenge that allows me to grow in my ability to hear God and to build up boldness too!

It has been snowing solid for the past 24 hours so that made riding today quite the adventure. Imagine skiing or snowboarding during a snowstorm, except you are riding directly in the cloud the storm is coming from! That's what riding was like today. But never fear, the forecast tomorrow is called for a blue bird day which means powder riding for sunrise and then off to the park for the later afternoon to make new friends and live out what we are learning about in our lectures and all that God is teaching us too. 

I am so thankful for everyone's  support and prayer! Miss you all!

Nick 

Week Juan

Hello all! You have made it to my blog. This is where I will be updating and posting some pictures for while I am away. I will try to update you at least once a week depending on our class schedule and also depending on the tons of other things we do here at the base in Davos that  you are sure to hear about. Well it has been one week since I arrived in Switzerland and it's been an amazing, super tiring, and heavy week. I have been pumped with so much information about YWAM and what the heart behind their DTS ministry is all about. It has gotten me so excited for what God has in store for me. Reto and Judy, our base directors, along with a few other staff have helped each of us prepare our hearts and helped us understand all that these next few months will hold for each one of us. My new friends and I are very ready to grow and be challenged by the numerous speakers that are planning to come and speak in our daily lectures. Along with the amazing teachings we are receiving, we are also able to spend time snowboarding in the Alps which are completely breathtaking.  

This week we were able to ride at Rienerhorn which has a gondola only a 5 minute walk from our base. The snow was amazing and made for a super fun day of riding in waist deep snow, exploring cliff drops and bailing head first into the powder. Also, we went up to the park for a few hours at Jakobshorn and everyone just went for it. The 55foot kicker gave me quite the scare but the feeling of flying that high in the air is quite indescribable. 

Aside from the snowboarding I have already made some amazing friends and I already see and understand new things about God and how he wants to relate with me in a personal and intimate way. His presence is definitely in this house that I share with my new "Swiss Family" (which ironically, is comprised of mostly Americans) and I am so expectant and excited for all God has in store for me. 

The leaders took some time to pray for each student before we came, and they made each one of us a mug with painted pictures on it which summarized a prophetic word or verse they received regarding each student. Part of mine was from Jeremiah 33:3 which says, "Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come." This verse gets me so excited for the things God has planned for me. I am excited to explore a deeper relationship with Him. If I could challenge you all in any way it would be this: if God is telling me He has secrets and "remarkable things to come" for me, he 100% has those secrets to reveal to you as well! I have been learning to step out in faith and trust that when I step out, God will come and meet me where I am at, and I challenge you to do the same!

I am so thankful for all of the support, prayer and love I have received thus far. I will continue to keep everyone updated through my blog. 

Nick

Ps I'm still working on an effective way of adding pictures to this blog so hopefully my next one will have a couple more attached!