Week Twelve

Week twelve 

Hello all! This was sadly our last week of lectures! It was still amazing! On Tuesday the weather was coldish and cloudy so we decided not to ride (we have gotten quite spoiled with conditions). So we decided to stay home and skateboard which is still just as fun. Our base has a bus stop just outside the parking lot and continently one kilometre down the hill there is another bus stop. We have timed it perfectly so we can bomb down the hill on our skateboards and then catch the bus back up the hill to take us home! Thursday I worked on our outreach T-shirts, which are quite fantastic if I do say so myself. We have an unreal t-shirt press at the base so with Reto's help we designed some kickin shirts! Then today (Saturday) was our last day in the park. It was bluebird and not too warm so the snow was perfect. We all had loads of fun riding together for the last time in the Apls. Carlos the cow also made another appearance which was quite amazing. 

Our speaker this week was unreal! His name is Mountain Man Martin. A Norwegian ski touring/running/unreal beard growing professional. He was talking about the father heart of God and we had so much ministry time this week. It was amazing for us to receive healing, prayer, and to hear how much our Dad, meaning God, loves us so much! My favourite part of the week was God showing me how my earthly dad parallels how God cares for me. My earthy dad is amazing and I am so thankful for him. It's crazy to me that God loves me more than I can comprehend. The bible says his thoughts and plans for us are more numerous than the sands on the shore! This is crazy to me and I don't think I will be able to fully understand it until I get to heaven. 

Our lecture phase has been so amazing. Twelve weeks of teaching and ministry and opportunities for growth have changed how I see God, myself, and a whole lot of other stuff! The major thing that I have learned is how much God wants us to have a two way relationship with him. He wants interaction and wants us to tell him our dreams and our desires because he put those dreams and desires in us! He is just waiting for you to ask him to help make your dreams come true because the dreams we have from our hearts are there because God put them there! The other thing is that the Holy Spirit is always surrounding us and is always present. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."(Proverbs 25:2 NIV) this verse is God saying to us "Common lets play hide and seek!". As believers we are the kings the verse talks about. God hides stuff specifically for us to find it! Maybe it's time to start looking...

We leave on Monday the 30th for Bosnia and our team is beyond excited! Tomorrow (Sunday) is a full cleaning day. We are going to be scrubbing every inch of the base hopefully to Reto and Judys satisfaction! Then Sunday night the South Africa team heads out to catch their flight. It's mixed emotions leaving half our crew to go to South Africa. Saying goodbye is never fun but we are all psyched to see what God will do through each team and the testimonies we will have. I'm so thankful to have been able to spend the past three months with the students and staff at YWAM Davos. Each one has made a huge difference in who I am and I am so thankful. I have made loads of memories and friendships that will last a lifetime and we're only half way through! I am so thankful for everyone's prayers. I love hearing from you how life is back home. Miss you guys tons! 

Much love, Nick. 

Week Eleven

Hello friends it's week eleven and pretty much summer here! We spent two or three afternoons in muscleshirts and shorts! Im also starting to get a nice Goggle tan too! Since its so warm it makes riding quite interesting. The regular runs are pretty terrible, but I decided I would go up to the top of one of the mountains to pray and hang out with God. The two of us had a pretty fun time! 

Thursday a few of us went up to the park to mess around in the slush and had an awesome time too! Then on Saturday I decided I would borrow some skies and go up to the park. I actually didn't do so bad! I was landing ski slides through kink boxes and just having a hilarious time! 

For lectures this week we had this amazing dude named Kayle Mumby. He talked about the Holy Spirit and how we need to learn to train our minds and hearts to be listening because God is always speaking to us. One challenging thing he said this week was "those who are hungry will eat...". This was cool because he was talking about how we get out what we put in when it comes to our relationship with God. If we really want to find him we will! Jeremiah 29:11-4 talks about that, it says "You will call on my name and I will be found by you."  This was awesome teaching! 

Seven days until we leave for Bosnia!!!!! We officially have all the money in for each team member which is so exciting. It was amazing to see how generous people are, and how faithful God is. When he says he will provide, he will! 

We would love continued prayer for our team as we do the final preparations this week and eventually take off. 

Miss you guys tons! 

Week Ten

Hello friends and family! Missing everyone back home lots! I hear it is finally warming up too! It's been warm here and it is looking like it will be warm right until we leave for outreach! Riding this week was quite average. On Tuesday I crashed really hard and hurt my shoulder and lots of other things, so Thursday I just stayed back at the base and enjoyed the sun! 

On Sunday Tanner and I had loads of fun. We decided that we would try to skateboard, snowboard, and climb in one day. We were probably more tired than after a day of skiing but it was still a hilarious day! 

From Monday to Wednesday Reto and Judy taught on Spiritual Warfare. Wednesday morning we had three groups go to the summit of each mountain to declare and bless the city of Davos. We had a really powerful prayer time for leaders, local churches, and loads of other stuff too! Then for lectures on Thursday and Friday we had Robi, who is the pastor of the local International Christian Fellowship church speaking on spiritual warfare as well.  Robi's teaching was amazing! We talked about apologetics, unpacked the story of David and Goliath, and also talked about the story of Jesus calming the storm. Studying this story closer was amazing for me. The first thing I took away was how well Jesus knew himself when he needed to take a break. Even when there are so many people who need healing he decides he needs to go to the other side of the lake to rest. He knows that he will burn out and needs to spend time alone with God. This amazed me because Jesus is Jesus! Why would the most amazing man on earth need time to rest and recuperate? Then it hit me that Jesus is 100% man while still being 100% God. We looked at it from a really unique perspective. Jesus understood that to effectively change the world with a three year ministry time his connection with God would need to be unparalleled, and it was! Jesus understood that when he took time by himself to worship, pray, and seek God the more intimate their relationship would be. The outcome was that Jesus ability to heal people that he met was so great! His connection with the Father was so perfect, but because he was just as human as I am he still needed to deliberately set time apart.  This was the coolest thing for me to realize. I can have that exact power to heal the same way Jesus did, I just need to seek God the same way he did. Obviously easier said than done. It was just a really cool revelation for me that even though Jesus was 100% God, he still needed to seek God and spend time praying and listening because he was also 100% man. 

That's just a tidbit of what I learned this week!

Friday night was also amazing. A group of five of us went over to a family's place to prophesy and encourage them. Every time we pray for words or pictures for other people it always amazes me how willing God is to speak directly to their hearts through me! When God speaks it is always spot on. Maybe you are wondering what all this prophetic stuff is. It's just God speaking to us through people. It's all new to me too so don't be weirded out but check it out in the bible for yourself! It is always interesting because often our prophetic prayers or explanations are translated, so sometimes I have no clue of what is going on. I only know that God is speaking directly to someone's heart which is life changing! Throughout my time here we have been given many opportunities to prophesy over one another in the school as well as for different individuals and family's. It blows me away every time! I am so excited to learn more about the prophetic and to develop a deeper discernment for God's voice! 

And update on outreach: we now have our flights booked! My team flys to Bosnia on the 30th of March! This gives us only 17 more days of skiing in the beautiful Alps :'( But as a team we are getting so excited for what God is going to do!) There are still a few team members that are in need of finances and I would love it if you would continue to seek God if he wants you to give in any way! 

I am so thankful for everyone's support and prayers thus far, thank you so much! 

Happy almost spring!

Week Nine

Hello all! I hope things are going great back home! 

It's been sooo warm this week which made riding unreal! Tuesday was warm and sunny after a fresh dump of snow!! We rode at Parsenn and found a ton of cliff drops and tons of untracked snow it was amazing! 

On Thursday I decided it would be a great idea to ski in the park. Unfortunately the T bar was closed bc of wind so I couldn't hurt myself on big jumps. I did manage to hurt myself on the regular runs so don't you worry about that. There's nothing better than a sore body and headache on and off for two days. We also managed to take zero videos or pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it. 

  

(This is Sean the sheep. He was our object lesson and he is now my friend)

Our speaker this week, Ben Foster from England, was talking about lordship. We talked a lot about what the cross is and truly understanding the sacrifice Christ made for us and then moved in to surrender and laying things at the cross. We had an amazing ministry time on Friday surrendering and repenting and confessing of sins from the past. Ben was an amazing speaker because when he spoke about lordship he talked about how it blesses us and God delights in it. I have heard many speakers talking about surrender and it is always fear driven instead of based on pleasing God. I thought it was amazing!

On Thursday we had "Love Feast", which is a ywam tradition from back in the day. Everyone on the base dresses up and we have an amazing meal and take time to individually encourage one another. It was amazing! The food was fantastic and encouraging each other really showed us how much we care for one another and how many good times we've had over the last 2 months! 

An update on outreach: we are leaving for Bosnia around the 28th of March! We will be in Sarajevo for 7 weeks, then a 2 week debrief in Hvar (a small island in Croatia), then back to Bosnia to a small city named  Banjaluka (no clue how to spell that lol) for 3 weeks, and lastly back to Sarajevo for 2 weeks before flying back to Switzerland. We don't have our ministry mapped out 100% yet but some of it will include skatepark rebuilding, running youth camps, and many more adrenaline packed ways to reach the young people of Bosnia! I am started to get so excited! As a team we are still in need of finances. My personal fee has been paid but as a team we are still seeking God for the rest! We would love for you to pray and see if God lays it on your heart to give! 

Thank you so much for your prayer and support! Miss you guys! 

Nick