Week 16

Hello all! This week in Sarajevo has been amazing! At the beginning of the week we decided to make the conscious decision to really press into the Holy Spirit and seek him for what we should do this week, and it has been so cool. Starting on Monday we decided we would pray for everyone we talked to this week and just see what the Holy Spirit decides to do when we step out. It's been pretty interesting, we have seen the Holy Spirit do some amazing things through us praying for the people we meet! We has worship times as a team almost every day and this week we decided God was just in a "funny mood", which made these worship times so fun for us! He would point out funny verses in the bible to simply make us laugh! The holy spirt was so evident to all of us as we got words and visions for one another and the city. 

On Wednesday we decided we were going to take trash bags to the skatepark and clean up all the crap that's there. But when we got there someone had come in the same morning and already cleaned up the majority of the trash! This was crazy to us and also somewhat discouraging. But while we were picking up the little things or bottles that got missed God hit me with this thought, "Through our worship times we have been praying for the people of the city and that they would begin to realize that they actually do live in a beautiful place and that they can take care of it! We are now seeing the result of our prayers!" This was really encouraging to us because our prayers for an entire city actually made a difference! We were discouraged at first because we thought we could only make a difference by physically going and cleaning up the trash. This really taught me how powerful prayer actually is! Never again will I underestimate the power of me talking with God. 

Yesterday (Friday) was a really cool day. We went up to the apartment where another YWAM team is coming to stay for two weeks and had a worship time. There is an American couple who live here with their kids that host teams like us and we have been able to build a really cool relationship with them. We hang out and worship together and speak in English together which is really nice too! So we went with them in the morning and just proclaimed God's kingdom, and the authority we have over the house for the other team. It was an amazing time of sitting in God's presence and to also get excited about what God is going to do over the next few weeks! 

In the afternoon we were able to get to a welder to have a rail built that we are going to add to the skatepark. Everything finally came together for us to transport everything, have it welded and get it ready to be installed. Hopefully we put it in tonight! The skaters are stoked because we have the equipment to bolt it into the ground so it cannot be stolen! 

That was just a quick update on what God is doing in this city and in our team! Thank you so much for your prayers, never underestimate the power you have in being able to talk the Creator of the universe! 

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I have taken zero worth posting on the blog! 

Much Love Nick

Week 15

This week was so much fun! We worked with a team in a city called Zenica (pronounced zenitza) who run a few different ministries in the city. One is a daycare for kids with social and psychological problems. They are able to shower, they get a hot meal, access to washing machine etc. The kids at the program have so much joy and are amazing to play with! Even though we can't communicate with most of them we still had loads of fun. They loved our skateboards! 

The other ministry is similar to a half way house for young guys. But it is a farm! The farm is in a beautiful valley just outside of the city. There are sheep, goats, chickens, and a few cows, and twelve guys in their late teens and early twenties. We dug trenches, planted trees, and drank a ton of coffee with these guys! I think we freaked them out at the beginning of the week but by the end of the week we were having so much fun together! They loved speaking English with us and just hanging out. We were able to have some meaningful conversations with them and challenge them on what they believe which was amazing! Something we noticed as a team is that we laughed a lot! The joy of The Lord was so evident as we went to the city and God was just revealing it to us throughout the week which was amazing to see him work. The city itself is just as beautiful as Sarajevo with less up hill streets which was a nice change! 

We would love continued prayer as we move into the coming week of kids ministry. We are back in Sarajevo working with a local church and their kids program and we are so excited to be able to sow into the younger generation of kids in Sarajevo! 

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging messages! It means a lot to hear from you!

Much love, Nick

Week 14

Hello from Bosnia! It's been a pretty chill week for us because of the crappy weather. We had planned for this week to do some skatepark work but it snowed for the first half of the week. Do not fear, we still managed to have some fun! Andrew had a connection from last year who had some crazy gear for us to use to go riding for a day! So on Thursday morning we drove out of the city 45 minutes to the mountain and rode for a few hours which was super fun! We also have been able to hang out at the skatepark for the second half of the week. God is giving us tons of connections to build relationships with people! 

We have also had some unreal worship and prayer times as a team! The spiritual atmosphere in Sarajevo is very heavy. The people are spiritually drained from the war and depression that came from it 20 years ago. This has some interesting affects on us as a team, but when we pray and invite the Holy Spirit to come the atmosphere instantly changes! The contrast of the Holy Spirit to the rest of what is going on is so tangible and brings so much life and strength to us! God is showing himself to us in new ways and through lots of visions it is amazing for all of us!  We would love continued prayer for favour and for us to be able to keep loving people and changing the atmosphere of the city! There has already been a change since we have been here praying and prophesying over the skatepark. Especially in the last few days it is literally tangible! 

This week we are headed to a city an hour northwest of here called Zenica. We will be working with the YWAM team there. We are waiting to hear our schedule once we arrive! We are looking forward to serving the team in any way possible! 

Miss you all! 

Much love, Nick. 

Week 13

Since I last updated you all a lot has changed! Last weekend both outreach teams left our home in Davos made it safely to their outreach locations! The South Africa Team had a long adventure but they made it to Johannesburg and we Arrived in Sarajevo Bosnia on Monday night. The city here is amazing! It's so beautiful and such a different culture than I am used to, which is fantastic. On Tuesday we hiked up to an old fort from a long long time ago. It was beautiful! Minus the spray paint and garbage, it's such a cool site. We climbed up on the walls and looked out and ate our lunches and prayed over the city. There is so much opportunity for us to make a difference here and over the last week God has been showing us the best way of doing that! 

Sarajevo is a beautiful place and also a very spiritual place. It's cool for us to be walking through the streets claiming the authority we have and living in the freedom of a God who loves us and always hears our prayers. While we are here we will be doing some kids programs, cleanup around the city, and lots of relationship building. The culture here is all about relationships. People will sit over a cup of coffee and talk for hours and it's amazing to be able to talk to people and get to know them! Already we have connected with some skaters and I even got to climb with a guy and talk with him about Jesus and stuff. 

We would love continued prayer for safety and for favour as we begin to meet people and build relationships. I'm so thankful for everyone's encouragement and prayers!

Happy Easter! Enjoy celebrating the life we have in Christ! 

Much love, and happy Easter!

Nick