Knowing God, Making God Known...

The Last of the First

zion — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:58:00 GMT

A Brief...ish Overview Of My YWAM-ing

zion — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:27:00 GMT

Life and learning have been very interesting over the past couple of days. In fact, I believe it has been more than a couple weeks since the last time I took a little bit of time aside and wrote down a small bit of what is going on i my life. My appologies to anyone that was hoping for more! I trust you can understand the immense amount of different things to do.

With that said, however, I would also like to let you folks in on a little snapshot of what I have been doing and going through over the past few weeks.

First things first, I will start with the skiing. I have a feeling this is what a lot of people will be wanting to know about! So far, we have made our way up into the mountains to two different ski areas. The first one we made it to is a lovely little ski field bt the name of Porters. Porters was maybe a little bit boring the first time around, due to a major deficiency of snow mostly. The majority of riding area consisted of a cat track that wound down the mountain from the top of the third T-bar to the bottom. Since the first time, we have been up a couple more times and the hill has put in a decently epic park. The other hill we have been up to is called Mt Hutt. Hutt is more of a 'big' ski resort, and in being that also has the crowds that come with it. We have only been to Hutt once so far, but on that one day I managed to: hike a ridge, drop a powder line through shoots and giant spires of rock, hit a variety of rails and boxes, and throw down some 360's over a few of the smaller tables. (for explainations of these terms, please talk to any of the Hall boys, or nate o'hearn)

Going skiing is not the only interesting thing we have been doing here at the DTS, however. In fact, it is virtually swallowed up in the memory of all the other things that have been happening in my life! I am almost hesitant to start writing about all of the things that God has been doing in my life. Perhaps I will have to just write a whole journal story devoted to that specific topic. We have also made a couple of trips the the nearby city of Christchurch. It is an interesting little city, full of a very diverse selection of people. There is everything from white canadians buying overpriced souvenirs, to more middle-eastern looking young men playing soccer in the square in the middle of town. I should add that there is a beautiful cathedral in that square in the middle of town. Most of our time in Christchurch has been spent wandering the streets, poking around in all of the different shops, everything from tiny music stores, huge skateboard shops, to second hand clothing stores with cheep NZ wool shirts and sweaters to be had. I have managed, by the grace of God, to not whittle away my funds on all of the useless good though, which I am sure most of you are happy to hear. Especially my mother. I love you mom!

The school and lecture part of the DTS is very much what makes this place so important to me though. As of now, we have had one wonderful lady named Georgina come through and speak to us, and now we have a man named Mark Parker here for the next week and a bit. Both speakers are absolutely amazing people of God, and the indescribable mass of knowledge and wisdom that they have passed on to us students is absolutely astounding! I have begun to take notes in class, and not because i have to but because I really do want to remember all of these things later in life! Note taking was never really one of my strong suits in school. God has been challenging me and causing me to grow every day so far, and usually multiple times a day. I have already been through high times and low times, amazingly lively worship and amazingly quiet and humbling times alone in my little tree fort, as God speaks to me and teaches me how to pray for all the people I love. If you are wondering anything that you could ask God for, for me, it would be simply this: that I would be able to let go of all selfishness, and learn to serve selflessly out of love just as He did. I would like to thank all of the wonderful people who have been praying for me, because I have noticed the difference. Anyone that feels like they need to pray for me, please do, because with those prayers I know that God will be building up a warrior in me that He will use to reach out and change parts of the world! As you can probably tell, I am very excited for the work that God is doing in me, and I hope to God that I will not leave this place the same as I got here.

Whether you believe He is up there or not, I pray that God will bless you and that you will feel His love in your life every day! Thank you again for your prayers, and your support as well! I know that God will bless you because of the blessing you have been to me.

Gallery: Plane Ride

zion — Sun, 6 Jul 2008 13:19:00 GMT

A couple pictures of the plane ride over

Arrival At Last!

zion — Sun, 6 Jul 2008 12:17:00 GMT

I would just like to say right now, airline travel is a lot more intense than I had previously remembered. Maybe due to the fact that I have never crossed over the equator or the international date line, or maybe because now I don't have my mother valiantly leading the charge through any and all of the international airports I have been to previously? All I really know is that it really is a good idea to use the washroom before you leave, purchased food is much better than what the airlines so generously provide, read everything on every sign you possibly can, and don't ever buy coffee in a New Zealand airport.

Travelling adventure and difficulty stories aside, it was a pretty good experience through and through, but needless to say I am very happy to finally be here. I did run into a reasonably small amount of hitches on my way for the most part. The only problems I every really had turned out much better than thay possibly could have considering what would have been on the line. The first major problem I faced was a late arrival in Vancouver (thank you Air Canada), which resulted in full-on marathon invlolving a decently large amount of the international airport. The lady working at the gate was more than amazing in her determination to ensure my being on that departing airplane. She even had done all my paperwork ahead of time, and checked my ID as she ran with me down the loading ramp right before yelling at the crew members who were closing the airplane door, to hold on! I thanked her as best I could, and got myself to my seat so the aircraft could depart. The only other difficluty worth mentioning would be how my bag containing all of my skis and skateboarding equipment, managed to get 'misplaced' somewhere allong my travels. The airline was kind enough to take my information down, and give me a ring when they heard anything about it. Such nice people. Actually, as it would turn out, the airline contacted the school this morning and said that the bag should be delivered sometime this afternoon.

As for life here at the school, I get the feeling that I will be enjoying it here. Ever since the first moment that I stepped out of the airport here in Christchurch and watched the thin cloud of condensation disappear into the air with each of my breaths, I could tell that this was the place for me. I should also mention that yesterday, it snowed for about 2 hours. Big fat snowflakes too! None of it really ever stays, but that is fine with me. It stays in the mountains. This means I can still go longboarding and skateboarding down here. There is talk that the first day of riding (skiing and snowboarding) could be as soon as wednesday! I think my excitement level really goes without saying here.

The people here are great as well. Not just the local kiwis (New Zealanders) either. All of the other students from all over the world seem to be pretty thouroughly awesome! I can tell already that there is going to be a huge amount of oportunity for growth down here on this tiny little island. Also they feed me. Three times a day to boot! The cook, Amy, is a wonderful person, and I think that we will have a great relationship while I am living here at the school.

Thanks to everyone that gave anything to get my out here, you are awesome and I know that God will be blessig you abundantly in return! I appreciate every cent and every little prayer that has been offered. Every last thing that was given has touched my heart, and I am unexplainably grateful. Thank you again! I promise that I will make every last little bit count.

Working and preparing

zion — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:13:00 GMT

Life here in Cranbrook, BC is mostly pretty slow. I have been spending the last few months of my life working with a junior mining company, mining slate (or Argelite)...not juniors. Sometimes it can be hard to get out and about after work, just because I am so tired everyday, but my good friend Nate does his best to con me into going skating with him after work. I have also found a new creative outlet in playing the guitar, and have had the oportunity to get to play a couple songs I sort of learned, at an open mic nite at a local coffee shop. I say sort of, because in all reality, I am by no means a hidden jem in the musical industry...if you know what I mean.

Other than all that, I have been doing what I can to raise the needed funds for my YWAM trip, and also doing all I can to trust that God will generously and faithfully provide for all of my needs on this trip. He has this really amazing tendency to do that sort of thing from time to time you know. So far a great deal of funding has come in, which to anyone that knows me and is familiar with my money-saving skills, is a little miracle in itself. I figure there is about enough money in the account to pay for the first phase of the school, and probably cover most of the expenses of getting myself down to the actual school. I would also like to mention one of the greatest blessings so far, and that is the fact that my dad willingly put up all of his Travel Points to completely cover my airfare to and from NZ. Pretty amazing, thanks Dad.

Am I excited to be heading out so soon you ask? I really think it goes without saying, that I would be. Yes, however, there is this tiny churning deep inside my stomache that grows a little every day that goes by that brings me closer to the departure date. This whole trip is a great blessing from God, and the fact that He is providing a way for such an amazing adventure is almost too much for me to grasp. Pretty awesome, thanks God.