Get Lost

I believe it is thought of most the time that a person who does not have a plan for their life is considered lost, is without guidance and direction. And I feel that so many people are quick to judge or shake their heads or look down upon seeing this state of being in others. Yet, if I wouldn’t have allowed myself to get lost, I might not have ever found out where I am going. In order to be found, does it mean that we must first be lost?

So Get Lost...or don't, it's usually easier not too. Praise God for navigation systems.

Powerful Quotes

“Hell lies not in torture, hell lies in an empty heart.”

“A single just man causes a demon more trouble than a thousand blind believers.”

“A word of compassion to a criminal or prostitute is more noble than a repeated prayer in the temple.”

They really put into perspective for me Jesus' heart for how we should live. It's not about the life I want to live, it's about the life God desires and wills me to live. What does it look like to live in a way that expresses a full heart instead of an empty one? What are so many of us blind of that keeps us from seeing the truth? What is it that is blinding us? How much easier is it to say a prayer in the church rather than talk to the homeless in downtown Portland who might get on your nerves or make you nervous? How many times in scripture does it say to serve and give to the poor and yet we lack motivation, encouragement, passion?

I'll do my best and blog my reflection on these questions next week.

Live wholeheartedly everyone

Learning About Myself Part I

In reminiscing and listening to this class share lessons learned through reading “My First white Friend” by Raybon, I find myself diving into my last year and a half and the understanding still not fully obtained concerning knowing myself and truly loving, forgiving, and being at peace with myself.

I’m learning that there is a transition in this life where one must turn from needing external love (i.e. from parents early on to friends or lovers later on) to internally loving myself through Jesus. I guess in my circumstance, I have never needed to truly love myself because I have always had the love pouring into me from my family and friends. I’ve never had to completely find who I am and know who I am because I’ve always known who I am in the eyes of my family and my friends. And because I am a great people pleaser, this was and has been all I needed. However, this delayed the transition for me because I never began to know who I truly am and in not doing so, I never learned to love myself as Jesus loves me.

I am now in this process of learning about who I am, and learning who I am in the eyes of my Father in heaven, learning who I am created to be. Through this, I am learning to love myself. It is so hard to do this when you have spent your whole life doing what others expect or doing what others say in order to feel that love. Since starting, it has been extremely hard learning to love myself in making my own decisions because I’ve never necessarily done that before. It sounds ridiculous actually that I’m just now starting to make decisions, as of summer 2008. But it has to start sometime, right?

Become What You Believe

"We are not here to be successful, we are here to be faithful."
- Mother Teresa

As I walk, and sometimes run, down the path laid out in front of me, it is my hope that this quote rings true in my life. I'm really interested in what this quote means to you and your life and where you are right now?

God is Good

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have the opportunity to serve God through running a snowboard park in the middle of nowhere in Japan. Before three months ago, I didn't even know that snowboarding existed in Japan. It's not a lie that God will use you in ways you can't even dream of when you give Him your life and constantly seek His will. That is one thing I've realized since being in Japan, that God will use you right where you are at if you welcome Him in and allow Him to work through you. I work everyday in the snowboard park doing relatively the same things every day and it has become very routine. I mean, we have done a lot of work and our park has grown by leaps and bounds, but I feel like I am working for a construction company. I guess it's just not what I had exactly expected to be doing on outreach. I had expected outreach to be a time of intense evangelism with youth and sharing testimonies daily with people. I've found myself going through the motions here because of how routine it is. This doesn't mean I didn't work as hard or put forth as much effort, but it takes the joy of serving away. I've asked myself multiple times, "what am I doing here God?"
He's answered me in a few different ways, by talking to me and by showing me. In the beginning I heard Him telling me to simply wait and see. So I waited. And waited. After a couple weeks I asked a few more times. He then said, "now see." For the week following this, multiple amazing events happened. God uncovered that my work ethic and my ability to serve without complaining and with a positive attitude has been an encouragement and motivator for many people. He has revealed so many of my strengths to me and they all revolve around being a leader and leading people. He has given me a heart for discipleship, for developing people into passionate followers of Jesus. You see, I was at one time 'lost' here in Japan. Now lost does not mean that I'm not tangibly doing anything, it is just lacking purpose, motivation, passion. "I was once lost, and now I am found" - famous words in the song Amazing Grace. While I was lost, God was using me right where I was and I didn't even realize it. He was and is continuing to mold me into a man who can sense His presence always, because it is when I don't feel His presence that I feel 'lost.'
Please pray for me as I begin to organize what my life will look like back home. Pray that God will open doors where He wills and that I will notice them. I miss you all so much and think about you all the time. Thank you for your continued support and prayers, you all are amazing. Peace and Love.

Japan Newslettern 2/12/09

Greetings everyone! We are currently in the fourth week of nine and are halfway through out time here at N* (Northstar). Like always, some random facts we've found out about Japan. Not only do men and women have Ofuros (Japanese baths), but also do monkeys'. And yes, we drove two and a half hours to see them run around and bath in a natural hot bath. It was awesome. Another random fact that is highly depressing is that most Japanese deserts include sweet beans inside their cakes, donuts, and mochi. The really sad part is that the sweet beans look like chocolate and you know they would be so delicious if they were chocolate, but they are sweet beans and they are fairly disgusting. Coming from Switzerland, we are chocolate deprived! OK, now on to the important things.

Since our last newsletter some amazing things have happened. Our park is growing not only physically, but also socially! We have added three new features (flat-down rail, C-Box, and 10meter box) and are in the process of building a 10meter kicker as we speak. The popularity is increasing daily which is a huge answer to prayers. We have riders coming to our park over other really well known parks because our park is more fun. It is so encouraging and such a sign of things to come for N* and this snowboard park. Off the mountain, we have had a few awesome times of evangelism through english class and being invited to a youth church in Matsumoto. We have the opportunity each Tuesday night to participate in english class and help them learn the language. Some people drive over an hour just to come to our english class because they enjoy our community at N*, it's a great way to build a friendship with the people off the mountain. Also, JP and Matt were given the opportunity to share their lives and serve at a youth church in Matsumoto. There were eleven kids ranging from 13-17 and they are loved watching JP and Matt play Jya Ken Pon (Japanese style rock, paper, scissors). Don't worry, we'll teach you all when we come home! Our times off the mountain have served to be great blessings to all of us being able to build our relationships with the people here on a more serious level. Our days off thus far have consisted of trips to Matsumoto and Nagano and amazing Japanese food. We have really liked our trips to the different cities and have about a combined 1,000 pictures to prove it! Those of you who have access to Facebook will continually see updated photo albums from most of us, so keep your eyes peeled.

Now onto more prayer requests. Our team is back to full strength, everyone is healthy, strong and hard at work six days a week. We would compare this job to that of a construction worker; tough and long hours, but God gives us the strength and motivation to keep on working hard. We ask that you pray for continued health and motivation for our team, as well as unity and passion for us. It is so important for us to work together with the same goal and purpose in mind. Last, but definitely not least, for boldness. Can you please pray for boldness amongst the team to share our faith with the locals and the riders we see each day. Thank you all so much for your encouraging words and for keeping us in your prayers. It means more than you know!

We hope that you are doing well and that God is blessing you abundantly for blessing us.

Japan Newsletter 1/29/09

Hello Everyone! We arrived safely into Japan a little over a week ago after one extremely long day of traveling. It is beautiful here in Norikura, snow is everywhere and it is freezing cold. A quick few random facts to get started, the Japanese in this region don't believe in insulation! Did I mention it is freezing cold here? Also, everything is plugged in! The toilet seats are all heated and the toilets themselves have a variety of options to choose from: get squirted with water here, get squirted with water there, etc. Monkeys have been known to play around the streets here so we have seen our fair share of wild monkeys messing around. There are vending machines everywhere here and they serve hot and cold drinks in a can! You can get your daily morning latte right out of the vending machine each day! It's crazy. God is so good. Now onto the important stuff.
We have had an amazing first week here getting to know the other Northstar staff and building up the snowboard park here. Like our YWAM team, the other Northstar staff come from all over the world and are really sweet people. Our primary job for the duration of our time here at Northstar is to make their snowboard park bigger and better than ever before. When we arrived here, the park consisted of three features (two rails and a rollover). In the last week that we have been here, we've added six new features to their park! It looks much more professional now and it is only going to get better. We received an awesome encouragement the other day from a guest pastor who came to speak to all of us. While he was driving, he listened to someone on the radio mention Northstar and share how awesome their snowboard park is becoming! This was a huge encouragement to us working the park and trying to make it look great. For most of us, rather, all of us, this is our first time truly building, creating, and grooming a snowboard park. So hearing this came as huge inspiration to all of us.
The people we have met in the park while snowboarding have been a blessing to all of us. We meet new Japanese snowboarders each day and it is really cool to watch these relationships grow each day. It has given us a deeper purpose hear than simply building a park. Our hearts have opened up for other snowboarders on the hill and this includes the guys working the chair lifts. We have developed friendships with most of the lifties and have learned different phrases in Japanese to say back and forth with them. Due to the fact that we won't have any contact with the actual camps that come through Northstar, it is another huge blessing that these relationships are developing. We desire to continually show the love of Christ to these people and hopefully we'll have the opportunity to share that love with them.
Now for a few prayer requests. A few of our teammates have been really sick lately and are now finally starting to feel better. If you could pray for their perfect healing that would be awesome. We all would really appreciate it if you could pray for strength and continual motivation for us each day, given that shoveling snow everyday could get old fairly quickly. Also, if you could pray for the relationships that are being built to continue to grow and develop. Thank you so much!