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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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.
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
I Got Married!!
I wonder how many of you came rushing to the blog freaking out to see if I really got married! As you can probably guess, I didn't get married; well, not in the normal physical sense we all know of. This past Saturday night I was married with Christ and the Holy Spirit. I was baptized for the first time in my life! Now let me tell you about this last week and how it came about, this story is awesome. I call this first section "The Turning Point."
So for the last few months the idea of being baptized has been on my heart. My whole life I have justified not getting baptized for various reasons: waiting for the right time, being stubborn and wanting it to be perfect, desiring for everyone I know to be there, etc. I have justified it one way or another time and time again since I was 15. With that said, God really stirred things up in me two weekends ago and beat out the stubborn mentality from inside me. However, that wasn't enough. The following Tuesday, our speaker gave us some prophetic words that he received for us and what he told me was so incredibly from God. He envisioned
me coming to Jesus and being handed a huge goblet full of His living water, and instead of drinking it in I poured it over my head and let it soak my whole body. If this wasn't confirmation for me to get baptized then I don't know what is! Later that evening, since that huge prophecy obviously couldn't be enough for me, during lecture our speaker spoke about John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism out of Matthew 3. At this point I was freaking out and I hadn't told anyone yet; so after the lecture I stayed around to talk to the speaker about it and just "by chance" my two leaders Vince and Arnauld wanted to stick around also to speak with him. So I filled them all in on how it came about that I feel like the time is now to get baptized and Arnauld goes on to say that God has placed a huge feeling inside of him this last week that somebody is going to need to get baptized, he just didn't speak up about it because he didn't want to put any pressure on anyone. Little did Arnauld know that I wasn't the only one feeling they needed to get baptized. After I shared with the group that I'm getting baptized this weekend, JP, Travis and Michael all jumped out of their seats and wanted to be baptized as well. It was like God was using my stepping out to open the doors for others to receive this marriage. Interesting how the hearts of those who were burning for baptism are all also going to Japan together, that is so awesome. "The Turning Point" is now accomplished, and now God is moving me into the next section called: "Let's Get Physical."
This section is everything that happened between Wednesday morning and the 5pm Saturday evening. As many of you know, my girlfriend Kirsten came to visit on Wednesday morning and I can honestly tell you that I don't think either of us could have pictured a better five days spent not only together, but also with Jesus. Wednesday was also the start of a massive event we put on called Worship & Ride where we had around 110 people here from across Europe for two days worshiping God and shredding the mountain together. It was unreal to say the least. Our times of worship turned into times of healing where some of us were blessed with the gift of healing and God put us to work. We had shoulders healed, necks healed, a certain man had a flat foot and hadn't been able to snowboard for six years and then after we prayed over him his foot had an arch and he went snowboarding the next day for the first time! I'm telling you, it was crazy! I haven't felt the Holy Spirit that intense in my whole life, it was insane. Now moving onto Friday, I was in a rather sad mood all morning because I was allowing the enemy to fill my mind with lies and deceptions about myself. Lies that made me believe that I'm not good enough and that I don't deserve love; they crippled me and broke me down to the point that I had to leave in the middle of a lecture because I felt my tear ducts about to overflow. I left with my journal thinking I was going write all my feelings out and as soon as I found a random little room where I could be by myself I put my journal on the ground and immediately broke down and wept. Please do not feel any pity of sadness about this because this might of been one of the most influential and significant revelations of my life. For the first time in my life I felt the Hand of God touch me and He went directly to my heart. He stripped away all the lies that I came to believe and and filled me with His love and truth. I audibly heard Him tell me "I love you" and I felt His arms wrap around me. My tears immediately turned into tears of joy and love. This was the first time I have ever felt His touch and heard His audible voice. I mean, I have been a witness to God working in my life, but I hadn't ever truly felt Him and heard Him like this. I couldn't sit still and stop shaking for a few hours after this took place and God filled me with His spirit and gave me a ton of prophetic encouraging words for some of the people here. God took my brokenness, took my imperfections, and has shown me unconditional love and let me tell you, it is intoxicating. Since that moment on Friday I have literally been on cloud nine learning what it means to truly live in Christ's love and not just knowing He loves me. It is hard to even express what this new heart feels like, it is unbelievable. Now onto the section you've all been waiting for: "The Marriage."
The staff here pulled a lot of strings so that we could use the indoor pool in our complex (I don't think anyone knew we even had a pool). So I was the last of us four boys to be baptized and we each had a little different way of doing it. When I first got into the pool, I spoke for a minute or two about why I am doing this and confessing my faith in Him. Basically saying my vows as in a marriage. Then I had my good friend Chantal read Psalm 139:1, 14, 23-24 and then Kirsten read Romans 8:37-39 over me. I had chosen these passages through out the last week because of their importance in my relationship with God. Then I had Vince and Arnaud baptize me in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and as soon as I came up out of the water I felt so incredibly energized! Through this whole time I had a song playing by Lifehouse called "Everything" and as soon as I exited the water, if you know the song, it hit the really awesome and intense part. Then they all laid their hands on me and prayed and spoke words of encouragement over me. If that wasn't special enough, they asked Kirsten to come in and they did the same over both of us. It was such a special time, God definitely demonstrated His love to me that night. I realized that the time isn't in the future, but the time is now to take that next step with Him. I realized how monumental of a step it is to be baptized, I feel as if God has opened my eyes and my heart more to Him so that I can draw even closer to Him. So, now you know who I am married too!
Wow, this is probably the longest blog I will ever write! I miss you all a ton and truly wish you could have been here this last weekend, but know you were all here in my heart! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous new year! Ciao!
So for the last few months the idea of being baptized has been on my heart. My whole life I have justified not getting baptized for various reasons: waiting for the right time, being stubborn and wanting it to be perfect, desiring for everyone I know to be there, etc. I have justified it one way or another time and time again since I was 15. With that said, God really stirred things up in me two weekends ago and beat out the stubborn mentality from inside me. However, that wasn't enough. The following Tuesday, our speaker gave us some prophetic words that he received for us and what he told me was so incredibly from God. He envisioned
me coming to Jesus and being handed a huge goblet full of His living water, and instead of drinking it in I poured it over my head and let it soak my whole body. If this wasn't confirmation for me to get baptized then I don't know what is! Later that evening, since that huge prophecy obviously couldn't be enough for me, during lecture our speaker spoke about John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism out of Matthew 3. At this point I was freaking out and I hadn't told anyone yet; so after the lecture I stayed around to talk to the speaker about it and just "by chance" my two leaders Vince and Arnauld wanted to stick around also to speak with him. So I filled them all in on how it came about that I feel like the time is now to get baptized and Arnauld goes on to say that God has placed a huge feeling inside of him this last week that somebody is going to need to get baptized, he just didn't speak up about it because he didn't want to put any pressure on anyone. Little did Arnauld know that I wasn't the only one feeling they needed to get baptized. After I shared with the group that I'm getting baptized this weekend, JP, Travis and Michael all jumped out of their seats and wanted to be baptized as well. It was like God was using my stepping out to open the doors for others to receive this marriage. Interesting how the hearts of those who were burning for baptism are all also going to Japan together, that is so awesome. "The Turning Point" is now accomplished, and now God is moving me into the next section called: "Let's Get Physical."
This section is everything that happened between Wednesday morning and the 5pm Saturday evening. As many of you know, my girlfriend Kirsten came to visit on Wednesday morning and I can honestly tell you that I don't think either of us could have pictured a better five days spent not only together, but also with Jesus. Wednesday was also the start of a massive event we put on called Worship & Ride where we had around 110 people here from across Europe for two days worshiping God and shredding the mountain together. It was unreal to say the least. Our times of worship turned into times of healing where some of us were blessed with the gift of healing and God put us to work. We had shoulders healed, necks healed, a certain man had a flat foot and hadn't been able to snowboard for six years and then after we prayed over him his foot had an arch and he went snowboarding the next day for the first time! I'm telling you, it was crazy! I haven't felt the Holy Spirit that intense in my whole life, it was insane. Now moving onto Friday, I was in a rather sad mood all morning because I was allowing the enemy to fill my mind with lies and deceptions about myself. Lies that made me believe that I'm not good enough and that I don't deserve love; they crippled me and broke me down to the point that I had to leave in the middle of a lecture because I felt my tear ducts about to overflow. I left with my journal thinking I was going write all my feelings out and as soon as I found a random little room where I could be by myself I put my journal on the ground and immediately broke down and wept. Please do not feel any pity of sadness about this because this might of been one of the most influential and significant revelations of my life. For the first time in my life I felt the Hand of God touch me and He went directly to my heart. He stripped away all the lies that I came to believe and and filled me with His love and truth. I audibly heard Him tell me "I love you" and I felt His arms wrap around me. My tears immediately turned into tears of joy and love. This was the first time I have ever felt His touch and heard His audible voice. I mean, I have been a witness to God working in my life, but I hadn't ever truly felt Him and heard Him like this. I couldn't sit still and stop shaking for a few hours after this took place and God filled me with His spirit and gave me a ton of prophetic encouraging words for some of the people here. God took my brokenness, took my imperfections, and has shown me unconditional love and let me tell you, it is intoxicating. Since that moment on Friday I have literally been on cloud nine learning what it means to truly live in Christ's love and not just knowing He loves me. It is hard to even express what this new heart feels like, it is unbelievable. Now onto the section you've all been waiting for: "The Marriage."
The staff here pulled a lot of strings so that we could use the indoor pool in our complex (I don't think anyone knew we even had a pool). So I was the last of us four boys to be baptized and we each had a little different way of doing it. When I first got into the pool, I spoke for a minute or two about why I am doing this and confessing my faith in Him. Basically saying my vows as in a marriage. Then I had my good friend Chantal read Psalm 139:1, 14, 23-24 and then Kirsten read Romans 8:37-39 over me. I had chosen these passages through out the last week because of their importance in my relationship with God. Then I had Vince and Arnaud baptize me in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and as soon as I came up out of the water I felt so incredibly energized! Through this whole time I had a song playing by Lifehouse called "Everything" and as soon as I exited the water, if you know the song, it hit the really awesome and intense part. Then they all laid their hands on me and prayed and spoke words of encouragement over me. If that wasn't special enough, they asked Kirsten to come in and they did the same over both of us. It was such a special time, God definitely demonstrated His love to me that night. I realized that the time isn't in the future, but the time is now to take that next step with Him. I realized how monumental of a step it is to be baptized, I feel as if God has opened my eyes and my heart more to Him so that I can draw even closer to Him. So, now you know who I am married too!
Wow, this is probably the longest blog I will ever write! I miss you all a ton and truly wish you could have been here this last weekend, but know you were all here in my heart! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous new year! Ciao!
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