Key points from today's lecture from Herman the German (David's dad):
1. It is right to have dreams and even to write them down
2. Each dream coming from God can be a reality
3. Prayer strengthens us in dreaming
4. "May God give us a task that we are totally unable to finish without Him."
5. Now we move from looking at the clouds to building the stairs, step by step
6. As long as you operate in your own power, life will be unfulfilling
7. If God's spirit is burning inside of you, then you can go for the long-term
8. If what's burning inside of you is your own fire, it will eventually burn out
Today we got to go off by ourselves after the lecture and spend an hour with God, our Bibles and our journals and just talk to Him about the things that are on our hearts that we have been dreaming about, or the things that God is revealing to us to dream about. It was such a great and blessed time for me as it has been a while since I have sat down and allowed myself to dream without putting myself in a box. After we got back, we got into groups of two and shared our dreams with our partners and spent time praying for one another and then we each had to make a commitment to the other that we would pray for the other's dreams for a year. Herman told us to dream, whether it was realistic or not. It's funny because the first thing I put on my dream list is the same dream that's been on there since I was a little girl... why did I ever lose sight of it!? I am believing for God to just reveal His perfect timing for everything as I re-learn to dream without boundaries.
I would just encourage anyone reading this blog to take an hour away from everyone and everything and spend some time talking to God about the things that are on the inside of your heart. Dream without boundaries and write down everything that you would love to do. The Bible says we have not because we ask not. Where God guides, He will always make the provision. My heart is leaping and getting so excited at the endless possibilities of my dreams when I can just dream without letting my human realism come to steal away the hope.
Here are a few verses that God encouraged me with today. I hope they can be encouraging to you as well:
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 The theme with these verses is that our goals, regardless of what they are, should be to always please God.
Galatians 3:1-14 The theme with these verses is that it is not by human effort that we can do anything... it MUST come from God!
I hope everyone is doing well. Please continue to pray for me and my teammates as we are going through this process of God revealing stuff to us and working on our hearts. I'd love to hear from each of you so please drop me an email line with some encouragement! niccole.grimaldi@gmail.com
I love you and miss you all!
Niccole
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Soccer Camp
Family and Friends,
I wanted to just type out a page from my journal about the sports camp from last week and post some pictures (I will post more pictures later):
"Today was the final day of camp in Torre Pellice [which is about 10 minutes from Bobbio Pellice where I'm staying.] It's sad to think I probably will never see the vast majority of any of those kids ever again. I'm not sure what all is going on with me but I feel both joyful and sad and just and sad and just feel like crying. I'm glad i'll get to see Sam and Luca again and their little sister Julia is the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. I love those kids so much. It's crazy to think that in just a couple of days I could love someone so much. How much more does my Father love me!? Watching the kids sing the praise and worship songs with the Georgia team was absolutely beautiful and so incredibly amazing. I'm just praying and believing for the salvation of those children and their parents. Apparantly some of the parents were crying while watching their kids sing and perform...just a testiment to God and His ability to work on their hearts. I can't help but think of the movie, Field of Dreams, and the line that says, 'if you build it, they will come.' Operation Mobilization (OM) is building and the kids are coming. If we could just pour out ourselves in the various athletic areas, coupled with some teachign and worship, in addition to modeling to the kids how to be good sports and nice to one another, God will change their hearts. Those kids would have to be different leaving Saturday than they came in on Monday. God just asks us if we're willing to pour out so He can use it for His glory. God was so glorified in all that was done this week and it is my prayer that the progress keeps coming and more and more lives get changed. I believe that God was pleased. Today I remembered to pray for God to be pleased and for me to be able to sense and experience His pleasure. I also prayed that He would help me not to get too competitive, but to just have so much fun. I had fun and I'm so glad I was able to have the little ones in my group because they were so distracted that competition wasn't even an issue and I ended up running around after them all day. But to have them sit in my lap and hold my hand and smile at me made it all worth it. Just to be able to love on them makes me so joyful. I really just want to be able to play again and coach kids and spend time in a different culture. I believe I was born to do what I'm doing right now."
The camp was an awesome opportunity to play all different sports with the kids, share our testimonies at break time, and another team of people came in to do music, arts and crafts with them while teaching Bible stories. It rained for a few of the days so we had about 45-60 kids crammed into a very small gym, but it was absolutely amazing and we learned to be flexible and to just go with the flow. We do this little dance with the kids to get them warmed up which is absolutely hilarious and they love it. I have learned some Italian since I've been here so I was able to converse with the kids a little bit. It is fun to speak their language with them and to just spend time with them and play soccer with them. Some of them have so much potential to play so we got to just encourage them to play and not quit their teams because they didn't like their coaches. It's so awesome just to see the different dynamics here with the kids and their siblings. I wish we loved our siblings as much as family is valued here...truly amazing that young kids actually understand what sharing is and putting others first. It was so ministering to all of us. We went to church last Sunday at a Brethern church in Torre. It was really neat because it was in Italian and English. I loved that we could sing in both languages and hear the message translated from English to Italian. The service was so relaxed and I just loved the simplicity of it. I got a little choked up when the guy came around to collect the offering and I put some change in the bag and his face lit up with gratefulness and surprise. It is so amazing to see the hearts of the people here and how much they love the Lord so purely. Sitting there I just felt tso comfortable and at peace and I just loved it. My friend Brian got to give a recap on the camp from the week and it was so amazing and touching. I just wanted to share his story with you all because I believe it sums up the camp so perfectly:
"What I saw: My name is Brian Mathay and I have the incredible opportunity to talk to you today, to get to represent perhaps the most amazing team of people I have had the opportunity to be a part of. As much as I would love to talk about them today, I have been given the purpose to talk about this last week of camp. So what I saw this week. The camp was incredible. With a total language barrier, I saw connections made between the kids and the coaches. Legitimate relationships were created when words were not available. From this camp, there is one thing I am sure of now. Love is not words. Love is an action. It is an action to love as Jesus loves; to give all we are to those around us, in total humility and in every way filled with the purpose of building God’s kingdom. And when we do that, amazing things happen around us, like the amazing things that happened at camp. This week, I saw joy. I saw kids become so happy that they lost their problems and worries and they became caught up in the incredible spirit of the camp. In this Joy from the Lord, I saw kids shouting and proclaiming the name of Jesus. I saw courage come out in a young boy that volunteered to pray for the entire camp. I saw compassion in the heart of this team focused on loving kids, on showing Christ with everything in them, focused on giving their bodies and spirits to kids with absolute humility. In this humble sacrifice I saw my teammates grow in amazing ways, right along with the kids. I also saw humility in the campers, when kids gave up their own needs, mostly food, to share with those around them for no other reason than to be kind. This week I saw miracles. I saw rainy days, when all was thought to be lost, that turned into the most incredible ministry opportunities. I saw God’s plans overtake our own, and I saw how truly good it was. I saw love, it was in the way that a brother treated a younger sister, as he regarded her needs as more important than his. A 14 year old boy understood loving someone else as himself. I saw passion. I saw God given passion in the heart of children expressed through sports. I saw eyes light up when a goal was scored, a ball was hit, or a basket sunk. I saw their passion turned into dreams. I saw kids get to dream that maybe, just maybe, they could for a day be exactly what they wanted to be. I saw a girl, who on any other week would be looked over, become the focal point of the entire staff. I saw the teachings of Jesus on the kingdom of heaven become very real. Jesus says that in the kingdom, the last shall be first, the lowest will be the exalted the most. A girl at the camp was mentally handicapped, and she received constant love and attention the whole week. Normally she was last and merely and afterthought, but she was, at least for a week, first and the apple of everyone’s eye. This does not happen in the world. The only place this type of experience is possible is in the kingdom of God. In Matthew 19:14 Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children, such as these. So I know that heaven is a place where dreams come true. In heaven the name of Jesus is exalted, proclaimed. In heaven there is courage, humility and uninhibited love. In heaven there is joy and compassion, and the last are always first. With that in mind, I guess I saw a glimpse of heaven this past week."
I wanted to just type out a page from my journal about the sports camp from last week and post some pictures (I will post more pictures later):
"Today was the final day of camp in Torre Pellice [which is about 10 minutes from Bobbio Pellice where I'm staying.] It's sad to think I probably will never see the vast majority of any of those kids ever again. I'm not sure what all is going on with me but I feel both joyful and sad and just and sad and just feel like crying. I'm glad i'll get to see Sam and Luca again and their little sister Julia is the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. I love those kids so much. It's crazy to think that in just a couple of days I could love someone so much. How much more does my Father love me!? Watching the kids sing the praise and worship songs with the Georgia team was absolutely beautiful and so incredibly amazing. I'm just praying and believing for the salvation of those children and their parents. Apparantly some of the parents were crying while watching their kids sing and perform...just a testiment to God and His ability to work on their hearts. I can't help but think of the movie, Field of Dreams, and the line that says, 'if you build it, they will come.' Operation Mobilization (OM) is building and the kids are coming. If we could just pour out ourselves in the various athletic areas, coupled with some teachign and worship, in addition to modeling to the kids how to be good sports and nice to one another, God will change their hearts. Those kids would have to be different leaving Saturday than they came in on Monday. God just asks us if we're willing to pour out so He can use it for His glory. God was so glorified in all that was done this week and it is my prayer that the progress keeps coming and more and more lives get changed. I believe that God was pleased. Today I remembered to pray for God to be pleased and for me to be able to sense and experience His pleasure. I also prayed that He would help me not to get too competitive, but to just have so much fun. I had fun and I'm so glad I was able to have the little ones in my group because they were so distracted that competition wasn't even an issue and I ended up running around after them all day. But to have them sit in my lap and hold my hand and smile at me made it all worth it. Just to be able to love on them makes me so joyful. I really just want to be able to play again and coach kids and spend time in a different culture. I believe I was born to do what I'm doing right now." The camp was an awesome opportunity to play all different sports with the kids, share our testimonies at break time, and another team of people came in to do music, arts and crafts with them while teaching Bible stories. It rained for a few of the days so we had about 45-60 kids crammed into a very small gym, but it was absolutely amazing and we learned to be flexible and to just go with the flow. We do this little dance with the kids to get them warmed up which is absolutely hilarious and they love it. I have learned some Italian since I've been here so I was able to converse with the kids a little bit. It is fun to speak their language with them and to just spend time with them and play soccer with them. Some of them have so much potential to play so we got to just encourage them to play and not quit their teams because they didn't like their coaches. It's so awesome just to see the different dynamics here with the kids and their siblings. I wish we loved our siblings as much as family is valued here...truly amazing that young kids actually understand what sharing is and putting others first. It was so ministering to all of us. We went to church last Sunday at a Brethern church in Torre. It was really neat because it was in Italian and English. I loved that we could sing in both languages and hear the message translated from English to Italian. The service was so relaxed and I just loved the simplicity of it. I got a little choked up when the guy came around to collect the offering and I put some change in the bag and his face lit up with gratefulness and surprise. It is so amazing to see the hearts of the people here and how much they love the Lord so purely. Sitting there I just felt tso comfortable and at peace and I just loved it. My friend Brian got to give a recap on the camp from the week and it was so amazing and touching. I just wanted to share his story with you all because I believe it sums up the camp so perfectly:
"What I saw: My name is Brian Mathay and I have the incredible opportunity to talk to you today, to get to represent perhaps the most amazing team of people I have had the opportunity to be a part of. As much as I would love to talk about them today, I have been given the purpose to talk about this last week of camp. So what I saw this week. The camp was incredible. With a total language barrier, I saw connections made between the kids and the coaches. Legitimate relationships were created when words were not available. From this camp, there is one thing I am sure of now. Love is not words. Love is an action. It is an action to love as Jesus loves; to give all we are to those around us, in total humility and in every way filled with the purpose of building God’s kingdom. And when we do that, amazing things happen around us, like the amazing things that happened at camp. This week, I saw joy. I saw kids become so happy that they lost their problems and worries and they became caught up in the incredible spirit of the camp. In this Joy from the Lord, I saw kids shouting and proclaiming the name of Jesus. I saw courage come out in a young boy that volunteered to pray for the entire camp. I saw compassion in the heart of this team focused on loving kids, on showing Christ with everything in them, focused on giving their bodies and spirits to kids with absolute humility. In this humble sacrifice I saw my teammates grow in amazing ways, right along with the kids. I also saw humility in the campers, when kids gave up their own needs, mostly food, to share with those around them for no other reason than to be kind. This week I saw miracles. I saw rainy days, when all was thought to be lost, that turned into the most incredible ministry opportunities. I saw God’s plans overtake our own, and I saw how truly good it was. I saw love, it was in the way that a brother treated a younger sister, as he regarded her needs as more important than his. A 14 year old boy understood loving someone else as himself. I saw passion. I saw God given passion in the heart of children expressed through sports. I saw eyes light up when a goal was scored, a ball was hit, or a basket sunk. I saw their passion turned into dreams. I saw kids get to dream that maybe, just maybe, they could for a day be exactly what they wanted to be. I saw a girl, who on any other week would be looked over, become the focal point of the entire staff. I saw the teachings of Jesus on the kingdom of heaven become very real. Jesus says that in the kingdom, the last shall be first, the lowest will be the exalted the most. A girl at the camp was mentally handicapped, and she received constant love and attention the whole week. Normally she was last and merely and afterthought, but she was, at least for a week, first and the apple of everyone’s eye. This does not happen in the world. The only place this type of experience is possible is in the kingdom of God. In Matthew 19:14 Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children, such as these. So I know that heaven is a place where dreams come true. In heaven the name of Jesus is exalted, proclaimed. In heaven there is courage, humility and uninhibited love. In heaven there is joy and compassion, and the last are always first. With that in mind, I guess I saw a glimpse of heaven this past week."
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Day 26
Hello family and friends!
Just thought I'd drop a little line to let everyone know how I'm doing and how everything is going. I'm having such a blast even though it is a difficult internship with lots of information, lots of challenges and major stretching. I love my family here and we are all getting so close that it's going to be so hard to say bye when the time comes. 4 people plus myself will be going to another country for 2 weeks and we will leave next week. The details about where we will be and what we are doing are confidential. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels and for God to use us and speak through us as talking to this demographic will require much wisdom.
I've been learning much about how to really play for Jesus and to really represent Him on the field and off the field in a more intentional way. The other night was a really powerful night for me and really just broke me down. I was really challenged in my thinking with how I look at performing and winning in soccer and in life. I've been so driven by performance and winning my whold life, and I thought I had it under control since soccer has been over and I've worked on chilling out a bit with the need to win and "just play for fun." Being with a bunch of other athletes and using my soccer skills have really brought my competitiveness out, and I'm basically unbarrying the root issue that never got uprooted...I just covered it up. When Dan (FCA guy) asked me what my definition of winning was, I said, "Having more points on the board than the other team by the end of the game." It was weird hearing myself say that because as it was coming out of my mouth I was thinking, "That's not correct thinking," and "Is thar eally how I define winning?...Shocking!!!" Dan went on to takl about Biblical truths about winning and competition to correct my wrong thinking. My whole life a lot of my identity has been in my performance. That's why it was so hard when it all came to an end too becasue I didnt' have the sport or my accolades to show people "who I was." Dan asked if when we're out on the pitch (soccer field) if we experience and sense God's pleasure. I honestly had a hard time remembering times or instances when I had felt like God was pleased with me on the field. (At the time I couldn't think of any...but I have since picked out a couple of moments, but I want to experience it every time I'm out there). The thought of this really bothered me and I just broke down crying. Here all this time I've been thinking I was playing "for God" by leading my team in prayer, not going to the parties or cussing, them knowing I was a Christian and standing for what was right...instead of playing "in Christ" and using my talents to help make my team better, my opponents better, and anyone else linked to me playing. How totally selfish I had been in much of my playing experience. Sure I coudl win things and give God the glory, but the real question is, "who did I impact for Christ?" I know that it's not about me, and that is part of the problem, and I just pray that He was and is still able tow rok on their hearts and that he is able to get ahold of them. I'd love to be able to have one of them call because they remembered something I said, or if they needed advice and thought of me because they knew I was Godly..."God, please entrust me again." It just broke my heart because I felt like I kind-of blew it. I knwo I am extremely hard on myself too, but I just want a chance to do better. Dan encouraged us to pray before goign on the field, "Lord, I want to experience and sense your pleasure today when I play/practice/coach. I want You to be pleased with me when I step on and off the pitch." I dont' even know what this woudl look like or feel like for me because it's such a new and foreign concept. When we played soccer in the mud and rain with the Italian kids at the camp and had such a blast, it was just sooooo much fun and amazing!!! If that feeling is anything like what feeling God's pleasure is, that would be absolutely euphoric. My goal is to really renew my mind through the help of Jesus and really train myself to remember to pray before everything for His pleasure in all I do. I'm excited for what this will do in and through my life, but I now realize that this thinking I've had is so far engrained into me that I will NEVER be able to do it myself...I need God and I need others to help me. It will be a constant fight every time for the rest of my life, but I believe that with God's help, I can do ALL THINGS! So God has revealed one of my major weaknesses to me, since this trickles into many other areas of my life--performance, competition, pleasing others, doing things for myself, doing things myself--and I am believing for freedom. Although I don't believe that God took soccer away from me to teach me this lesson the hard way, I do believe that me doing things in my own way put a wedge between me and soccer to the point where I became so busy with everything else that playing wasn't really even an option, and with that, I just kind-of list interest because I knew I wasn't going to be able to play anymore, so why make it harder on myself? I believe that God used the season in between to lay some groundwork and make it easier for me to cope and not thinki about it as much because my attention was directed elsewhere. I believe He is using this time to work on my heart and specifically the other night, He is using the Italy trip to bring things back into the light so that God can work on my heart directly. I miss playing so much, but before I could play again, there needed to be space in between for God to work on my heart and show me these things before He can entrust me again with the gift and opportunity. I pray that God will entrust me again with the gift to play soccer at a high level. Althought I'd love to play again and get the chance to do it right the second time, I cant' get bogged down and motivated for the wrong reasons. It has to be purely for God and His people, but I also believe that He wants me to be hapy and joyful too and to play becasue I love to play and utilize the gifts He has given me. I believe I'm ready to play again, and I'm feeling like God is ready to entrust me again with the opportunity to use my gifts to help win others to Christ. The question of, "What would you do if you could do anything and you knew you wouldn't fail?" has always yielded this response from me, "Become a professional soccer player." Now I dont' know if that will ever happen or not, but I'd like to try and see. I beleive I'm ready now to try again becasue I now realize that I CANNOT do this without God helping me to get back into shape, find the right team and place, giving me favor, opening all the right doors and creating the windows of opportunity. I acknowledge that in my weakness in all these areas, God will give me and be my strength. "God, if it is Your will, I'd love to be entrusted again with the gift and passion to play soccer at a high level. Please give me favor and help and be my strength and my everything. My desire is to please you and experience Your pleasure doing the things I love while being a great example and leading others to Jesus. Amen!"
Friends and family...if you can continue to keep me in your prayers for God's wisdom and guidance in my life. This week my roomate Anna and I will start training and getting back into shape for when we go to England for the soccer camps. We're believing for God to open up awesome windows of opportunity for us to play soccer again.
Just thought I'd drop a little line to let everyone know how I'm doing and how everything is going. I'm having such a blast even though it is a difficult internship with lots of information, lots of challenges and major stretching. I love my family here and we are all getting so close that it's going to be so hard to say bye when the time comes. 4 people plus myself will be going to another country for 2 weeks and we will leave next week. The details about where we will be and what we are doing are confidential. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels and for God to use us and speak through us as talking to this demographic will require much wisdom. I've been learning much about how to really play for Jesus and to really represent Him on the field and off the field in a more intentional way. The other night was a really powerful night for me and really just broke me down. I was really challenged in my thinking with how I look at performing and winning in soccer and in life. I've been so driven by performance and winning my whold life, and I thought I had it under control since soccer has been over and I've worked on chilling out a bit with the need to win and "just play for fun." Being with a bunch of other athletes and using my soccer skills have really brought my competitiveness out, and I'm basically unbarrying the root issue that never got uprooted...I just covered it up. When Dan (FCA guy) asked me what my definition of winning was, I said, "Having more points on the board than the other team by the end of the game." It was weird hearing myself say that because as it was coming out of my mouth I was thinking, "That's not correct thinking," and "Is thar eally how I define winning?...Shocking!!!" Dan went on to takl about Biblical truths about winning and competition to correct my wrong thinking. My whole life a lot of my identity has been in my performance. That's why it was so hard when it all came to an end too becasue I didnt' have the sport or my accolades to show people "who I was." Dan asked if when we're out on the pitch (soccer field) if we experience and sense God's pleasure. I honestly had a hard time remembering times or instances when I had felt like God was pleased with me on the field. (At the time I couldn't think of any...but I have since picked out a couple of moments, but I want to experience it every time I'm out there). The thought of this really bothered me and I just broke down crying. Here all this time I've been thinking I was playing "for God" by leading my team in prayer, not going to the parties or cussing, them knowing I was a Christian and standing for what was right...instead of playing "in Christ" and using my talents to help make my team better, my opponents better, and anyone else linked to me playing. How totally selfish I had been in much of my playing experience. Sure I coudl win things and give God the glory, but the real question is, "who did I impact for Christ?" I know that it's not about me, and that is part of the problem, and I just pray that He was and is still able tow rok on their hearts and that he is able to get ahold of them. I'd love to be able to have one of them call because they remembered something I said, or if they needed advice and thought of me because they knew I was Godly..."God, please entrust me again." It just broke my heart because I felt like I kind-of blew it. I knwo I am extremely hard on myself too, but I just want a chance to do better. Dan encouraged us to pray before goign on the field, "Lord, I want to experience and sense your pleasure today when I play/practice/coach. I want You to be pleased with me when I step on and off the pitch." I dont' even know what this woudl look like or feel like for me because it's such a new and foreign concept. When we played soccer in the mud and rain with the Italian kids at the camp and had such a blast, it was just sooooo much fun and amazing!!! If that feeling is anything like what feeling God's pleasure is, that would be absolutely euphoric. My goal is to really renew my mind through the help of Jesus and really train myself to remember to pray before everything for His pleasure in all I do. I'm excited for what this will do in and through my life, but I now realize that this thinking I've had is so far engrained into me that I will NEVER be able to do it myself...I need God and I need others to help me. It will be a constant fight every time for the rest of my life, but I believe that with God's help, I can do ALL THINGS! So God has revealed one of my major weaknesses to me, since this trickles into many other areas of my life--performance, competition, pleasing others, doing things for myself, doing things myself--and I am believing for freedom. Although I don't believe that God took soccer away from me to teach me this lesson the hard way, I do believe that me doing things in my own way put a wedge between me and soccer to the point where I became so busy with everything else that playing wasn't really even an option, and with that, I just kind-of list interest because I knew I wasn't going to be able to play anymore, so why make it harder on myself? I believe that God used the season in between to lay some groundwork and make it easier for me to cope and not thinki about it as much because my attention was directed elsewhere. I believe He is using this time to work on my heart and specifically the other night, He is using the Italy trip to bring things back into the light so that God can work on my heart directly. I miss playing so much, but before I could play again, there needed to be space in between for God to work on my heart and show me these things before He can entrust me again with the gift and opportunity. I pray that God will entrust me again with the gift to play soccer at a high level. Althought I'd love to play again and get the chance to do it right the second time, I cant' get bogged down and motivated for the wrong reasons. It has to be purely for God and His people, but I also believe that He wants me to be hapy and joyful too and to play becasue I love to play and utilize the gifts He has given me. I believe I'm ready to play again, and I'm feeling like God is ready to entrust me again with the opportunity to use my gifts to help win others to Christ. The question of, "What would you do if you could do anything and you knew you wouldn't fail?" has always yielded this response from me, "Become a professional soccer player." Now I dont' know if that will ever happen or not, but I'd like to try and see. I beleive I'm ready now to try again becasue I now realize that I CANNOT do this without God helping me to get back into shape, find the right team and place, giving me favor, opening all the right doors and creating the windows of opportunity. I acknowledge that in my weakness in all these areas, God will give me and be my strength. "God, if it is Your will, I'd love to be entrusted again with the gift and passion to play soccer at a high level. Please give me favor and help and be my strength and my everything. My desire is to please you and experience Your pleasure doing the things I love while being a great example and leading others to Jesus. Amen!"
Friends and family...if you can continue to keep me in your prayers for God's wisdom and guidance in my life. This week my roomate Anna and I will start training and getting back into shape for when we go to England for the soccer camps. We're believing for God to open up awesome windows of opportunity for us to play soccer again.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Day 1 of Sports Camp... Day 14
Dear Family and Friends,
I apologize that it has been such a long time since I have updated my blog. We have been very busy with team building exercises, mini field trips, preparing for sports camps, classroom training and the start of the World Cup. In addition, I dropped my computer last week and it doesn't seem to want to work very well, so I am borrowing other people's computers from time to time to be able to check email on occasion. I'd love to update more about the time in between Day 3 (my last post) and now, but it may have to wait for a little while, or you may have to ask me when I get back and/or send me an email if it doesn't happen that I can get to it. I just want to say that I am being challenged and stretched in all areas of my life right now. This internship is intense and God is really doing a work in my heart and really shaving some things off of my life so that He can use me even more. I love all my teammates and we have had amazing speakers come in and teach us about leadership, evangelism, and giving testimonies thus far. I have been learning a lot of stuff and I love that we use the Word every day in our classroom training. In addition, Italy is absolutely beautiful and it has been so awesome to go running, hiking, and play soccer and other sports during some of our free time to relax. While God is working on me, if you could please keep the following things in your prayers for me:
1. God to completely heal my heart of any past hurts or pains so that I can move on from the past, enjoy the present, and walk into the future with a new heart that will have everything I need.
2. Rest - for me to get enough sleep to really be effective during the days.
3. My stomach hasn't quite gotten used to the change of foods yet and from traveling, so just pray for all to function properly.
4. As we are working on disciplining our thoughts, words and actions, we are doing pushups as a team and individually for things that are not pleasing to God... my arms are getting buff - haha - needless to say, my arms are hurting because I have been doing ALOT of pushups! I want to not do so many pushups, but there is some work to be done...Love the process!!!
5. God to reveal Himself to me and show me the areas where my passions lie and also to show me the things that really excite me, make me cry and the things I can dream about.
6. God to reveal the next step I'm supposed to take after the internship by way of going into missions, going back to school, working, moving, etc.... I know He has big plans for me, and I know that His timing is perfect, so I am believing for complete clarity in ALL areas of my life.
7. Purging the need to always be in control and be perfect in all situations. There is an excellence factor to life, but there is a fine line and I need freedom in some of these areas.
8. To be 100% selfless and always consider God first, others second and self last.
9. Patience when I do not agree with things Biblically or when I get frustrated with people that I am on the trip with. I'm also believing that the Holy Spirit will tell me when it is time for me to speak up and to speak truth in a situation. I want my motivation to always be spirit-lead, and not for me to just be right or to make a point, or to show that I know better.
10. I asked God to humble me... which if you've ever prayed that you will understand why I need prayer. I want God to remove the sources of pride in my life so that the roots of my life are grounded in humility so that God can produce virtue in my life.
Today was the first day of the sports camp that we are having for the kids all week. We spent some time the last couple of weeks passing out fliers and marketing the sports camp in the local towns for the kids to come. We had about 35 kids show up today to play soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball/softball, cheer, karate, and ultimate frisbee. After the sports portion of the camp is over, the kids go to English lessons that are being taught by a missions team from Georgia that joined us this week. Please pray for the following things as we continue the camp this week:
1. Good weather - we are supposed to get rain all week since we are in the mountains, but thankfully God was able to hold back the rain today, but now it is pouring...please pray that we get absolutely no rain until camp is over so that we don't have to fit everyone into the gym.
2. Kids to return and bring others - we are believing that the same kids will come back and that they will bring friends with them, and/or that more kids will come because they saw us playing, saw signs, etc.
3. Us to be able to build and form relationships with the kids - in Italy, winning lives for Jesus is a very difficult process since the Catholic Church is very different here than in the United States, in addition to the fact that the culture is very relationship oriented. It is important for us to build a strong relationship with the kids before they ever will let us in to talk to them about Jesus.
4. Our testimonies will be used by God to minister salvation - each day one of us gives a testimony of how we came to know the Lord so please be praying for hearts to be open and prepared to hear the testimony so that they'll ask questions and seek to know Jesus.
5. Patience, flexibility and rest - with the language barrier and other circumstances that arise, please pray that we will be patient and flexible with everything thrown our way. In addition, we have breakfast at 7:30am everyday and then do the camp with the kids from 9am to 1pm and then come home and have about 4-5 hours of lectures and what-not in the classroom. With the heat of the sun and all the energy expended, in addition to the heaviness that comes from the lectures (which are amazing) we are very tired.
I'll just mention a little bit about how the day went for me today. We had quite a few kids choose to come over and play soccer with us. Once some of the bigger kids started coming over, we realized that they really needed to be separated from the small ones. I ended up taking the bigger kids--all of them boys--and tried to work with them on some skills and what-not. It was a frustrating day for me because of the language barrier and me wanting so bad to really be able to communicate with them instead of in broken Italian, in addition to the fact that they didn't seem to want to listen to me. I started earning their respect a little bit once I started playing with them and could show them that I could play, but it is still a challenge for me, especially as a girl. We have translators in part of the day, but that is tricky too because they will often look to the translator instead of us and it could mean that the relationship between the kids and myself does not form all the way. I just need to remind myself that it's okay when plans change and when things don't quite go the way we had hoped or had planned. I need to remember that this is about having fun and I just need to be patient and ask God to help me. Perfectionism is a good thing, but it also has an ugly side that will rob you of your joy if you let it. I let it rob me for a good portion of the day, but I know that my Father is gracious and with His help, I will not let this happen tomorrow. I'm stirring up my spirit and my passion for these kids and really spending some time tonight putting together something that will really help them tomorrow so that they can develop into better players.
I apologize that it has been such a long time since I have updated my blog. We have been very busy with team building exercises, mini field trips, preparing for sports camps, classroom training and the start of the World Cup. In addition, I dropped my computer last week and it doesn't seem to want to work very well, so I am borrowing other people's computers from time to time to be able to check email on occasion. I'd love to update more about the time in between Day 3 (my last post) and now, but it may have to wait for a little while, or you may have to ask me when I get back and/or send me an email if it doesn't happen that I can get to it. I just want to say that I am being challenged and stretched in all areas of my life right now. This internship is intense and God is really doing a work in my heart and really shaving some things off of my life so that He can use me even more. I love all my teammates and we have had amazing speakers come in and teach us about leadership, evangelism, and giving testimonies thus far. I have been learning a lot of stuff and I love that we use the Word every day in our classroom training. In addition, Italy is absolutely beautiful and it has been so awesome to go running, hiking, and play soccer and other sports during some of our free time to relax. While God is working on me, if you could please keep the following things in your prayers for me:
1. God to completely heal my heart of any past hurts or pains so that I can move on from the past, enjoy the present, and walk into the future with a new heart that will have everything I need.
2. Rest - for me to get enough sleep to really be effective during the days.
3. My stomach hasn't quite gotten used to the change of foods yet and from traveling, so just pray for all to function properly.
4. As we are working on disciplining our thoughts, words and actions, we are doing pushups as a team and individually for things that are not pleasing to God... my arms are getting buff - haha - needless to say, my arms are hurting because I have been doing ALOT of pushups! I want to not do so many pushups, but there is some work to be done...Love the process!!!
5. God to reveal Himself to me and show me the areas where my passions lie and also to show me the things that really excite me, make me cry and the things I can dream about.
6. God to reveal the next step I'm supposed to take after the internship by way of going into missions, going back to school, working, moving, etc.... I know He has big plans for me, and I know that His timing is perfect, so I am believing for complete clarity in ALL areas of my life.
7. Purging the need to always be in control and be perfect in all situations. There is an excellence factor to life, but there is a fine line and I need freedom in some of these areas.
8. To be 100% selfless and always consider God first, others second and self last.
9. Patience when I do not agree with things Biblically or when I get frustrated with people that I am on the trip with. I'm also believing that the Holy Spirit will tell me when it is time for me to speak up and to speak truth in a situation. I want my motivation to always be spirit-lead, and not for me to just be right or to make a point, or to show that I know better.
10. I asked God to humble me... which if you've ever prayed that you will understand why I need prayer. I want God to remove the sources of pride in my life so that the roots of my life are grounded in humility so that God can produce virtue in my life.
Today was the first day of the sports camp that we are having for the kids all week. We spent some time the last couple of weeks passing out fliers and marketing the sports camp in the local towns for the kids to come. We had about 35 kids show up today to play soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball/softball, cheer, karate, and ultimate frisbee. After the sports portion of the camp is over, the kids go to English lessons that are being taught by a missions team from Georgia that joined us this week. Please pray for the following things as we continue the camp this week:
1. Good weather - we are supposed to get rain all week since we are in the mountains, but thankfully God was able to hold back the rain today, but now it is pouring...please pray that we get absolutely no rain until camp is over so that we don't have to fit everyone into the gym.
2. Kids to return and bring others - we are believing that the same kids will come back and that they will bring friends with them, and/or that more kids will come because they saw us playing, saw signs, etc.
3. Us to be able to build and form relationships with the kids - in Italy, winning lives for Jesus is a very difficult process since the Catholic Church is very different here than in the United States, in addition to the fact that the culture is very relationship oriented. It is important for us to build a strong relationship with the kids before they ever will let us in to talk to them about Jesus.
4. Our testimonies will be used by God to minister salvation - each day one of us gives a testimony of how we came to know the Lord so please be praying for hearts to be open and prepared to hear the testimony so that they'll ask questions and seek to know Jesus.
5. Patience, flexibility and rest - with the language barrier and other circumstances that arise, please pray that we will be patient and flexible with everything thrown our way. In addition, we have breakfast at 7:30am everyday and then do the camp with the kids from 9am to 1pm and then come home and have about 4-5 hours of lectures and what-not in the classroom. With the heat of the sun and all the energy expended, in addition to the heaviness that comes from the lectures (which are amazing) we are very tired.
I'll just mention a little bit about how the day went for me today. We had quite a few kids choose to come over and play soccer with us. Once some of the bigger kids started coming over, we realized that they really needed to be separated from the small ones. I ended up taking the bigger kids--all of them boys--and tried to work with them on some skills and what-not. It was a frustrating day for me because of the language barrier and me wanting so bad to really be able to communicate with them instead of in broken Italian, in addition to the fact that they didn't seem to want to listen to me. I started earning their respect a little bit once I started playing with them and could show them that I could play, but it is still a challenge for me, especially as a girl. We have translators in part of the day, but that is tricky too because they will often look to the translator instead of us and it could mean that the relationship between the kids and myself does not form all the way. I just need to remind myself that it's okay when plans change and when things don't quite go the way we had hoped or had planned. I need to remember that this is about having fun and I just need to be patient and ask God to help me. Perfectionism is a good thing, but it also has an ugly side that will rob you of your joy if you let it. I let it rob me for a good portion of the day, but I know that my Father is gracious and with His help, I will not let this happen tomorrow. I'm stirring up my spirit and my passion for these kids and really spending some time tonight putting together something that will really help them tomorrow so that they can develop into better players.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Forterocca & The Waldensians
I meant to send this blog way earlier, but that obviously didn't happen so here it goes:
A couple of weeks ago we learned all about the significance of the place where we're staying and also got to go on an excursion to learn about the Waldensian people who were front-runner missionaries in the Body of Christ who became martyrs for Jesus. Their sacrifices allow us as the Church to have access to the Bible and the truth of the Word of God, in addition to the opportunity to worship, pray and read the Bible freely without having to do it in secret...
For specific information aside from what I will write in this blog, I would encourage everyone to read the little brief history about the place I am so that you appreciate the simple freedoms we take for granted everyday!
http://www.om.org/en/article/r12046
http://www.forterocca.it/
The place where we are staying is called Forterocca which means, "solid rock." It's a very plain burnt orange building and the rooms are a bit small with two single beds in each room, a window, a closet dresser for two, two end tables and a bathroom. It's a cute little place, but definitely a place of quietness and solitude. Sergio and Anna are the people who built it and they are little old people with spunk and Italian passion! I love them so much. Anna is the cutest thing ever and I want to smuggle her home in my suitcase hahaha. They are absolutely selfless people and the hardest workers and kindest people.
Anyways...where Forterocca was built is very significant. The very first missions training was done here in this valley where we're stayng, so it is significant that several years later we are being trained in missions. David (our leader) had us look up into the mountains at two particular areas to show us where the missionaries were pushed off the mountain cliff for not denying their love for Jesus by the Catholics who were unhappy that these people were teaching against their doctrines. Hundreds of people were pushed off the mountain and died for their faith right behind Forterocca. The significance of the valley is that the blood of the men that died for the cause of Christ flows down the mountain when it rains or when the snow melts to cover the valley and that's why this place is so special...we are on holy ground.
We also went on an excursion during the day/night to see the area where the first Christians--the Waldensians--settled after coming over the mountains from France. These people were getting killed for their faith and sought shelter and protection hidden deep in the valley. Where the Catholic church wouldn't allow people to see the Bible, people would come afar to the valley to read a single Bible in secret so they wouldn't be killed. They woudl gather secretly in a room with a single Bible opened and faced toward them so they could all read what the truth said, not what theh Catholics preached. (Sidenote: the Catholic church in Italy is very very very different from the Catholic church in the United States, which is more rooted in Christianity.) We got to see their dwelling place and drink from the well. The valley was so incredibly beautiful that words cannot even express. The Waldensian people would read the Bible and receive training to go out and preach the good news, knowing that once they went out, they woudl not be returning as they were typically killed for their faith; they were martyrs for Christ. It is absolutely amazing. These people died and paved the way so that we can have the freedom to read the Word of God and declare His truth!
We also got to see their church and the Bible faced outward to the congregation so the people coudl see the Word for themselves, unlike the Catholic church at the time that faced the Bible toward the Father/Priest so no one coudl see it. Outside the church was another little well and the metal thing that you see in the picture is symbolic...can't remember the exact meaning, but it also comes down and parallel so that little babies can be baptized.
We then went on to another excursion to a cave where the Christians woudl meet in secret, but who were one day found and were killed as torches were thrown in from the top of the cave and hundreds of them died by being burned and torchered to death. Although I felt a bit disconnected from everything I had seen so far, this portion of the excursion hit home a little more--I was standing in the place where people would have to meet in secret to worship God, study His Word, and who literally died by flame on the very ground I was standing on. Wow...this really puts some things into perspective even though I still cannot imagine what that life and that experience would have been like. In the cave we sang a couple of old hymn worship songs all together with just two tea lights giving us a bit of light to see in the cave. It was so annointed. We flowed in the Spirit and some people felt led to pray. I felt like God wanted me to start to sing another song after the prayers so I opened my mouth and stepped out in faith and began to sing, "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus." It was awesome becasue I was a little nervous but I just stepped out anyway, and everyoen immediately joined in to sing--it was just such a sweet and annointed time. We prayed one last time and then left the cave, helping one another back to the vans since it was dark outside and we didn't have much light...what an amazing moment.
A couple of weeks ago we learned all about the significance of the place where we're staying and also got to go on an excursion to learn about the Waldensian people who were front-runner missionaries in the Body of Christ who became martyrs for Jesus. Their sacrifices allow us as the Church to have access to the Bible and the truth of the Word of God, in addition to the opportunity to worship, pray and read the Bible freely without having to do it in secret...
For specific information aside from what I will write in this blog, I would encourage everyone to read the little brief history about the place I am so that you appreciate the simple freedoms we take for granted everyday!
http://www.om.org/en/article/r12046
http://www.forterocca.it/
The place where we are staying is called Forterocca which means, "solid rock." It's a very plain burnt orange building and the rooms are a bit small with two single beds in each room, a window, a closet dresser for two, two end tables and a bathroom. It's a cute little place, but definitely a place of quietness and solitude. Sergio and Anna are the people who built it and they are little old people with spunk and Italian passion! I love them so much. Anna is the cutest thing ever and I want to smuggle her home in my suitcase hahaha. They are absolutely selfless people and the hardest workers and kindest people.
Anyways...where Forterocca was built is very significant. The very first missions training was done here in this valley where we're stayng, so it is significant that several years later we are being trained in missions. David (our leader) had us look up into the mountains at two particular areas to show us where the missionaries were pushed off the mountain cliff for not denying their love for Jesus by the Catholics who were unhappy that these people were teaching against their doctrines. Hundreds of people were pushed off the mountain and died for their faith right behind Forterocca. The significance of the valley is that the blood of the men that died for the cause of Christ flows down the mountain when it rains or when the snow melts to cover the valley and that's why this place is so special...we are on holy ground.
We also went on an excursion during the day/night to see the area where the first Christians--the Waldensians--settled after coming over the mountains from France. These people were getting killed for their faith and sought shelter and protection hidden deep in the valley. Where the Catholic church wouldn't allow people to see the Bible, people would come afar to the valley to read a single Bible in secret so they wouldn't be killed. They woudl gather secretly in a room with a single Bible opened and faced toward them so they could all read what the truth said, not what theh Catholics preached. (Sidenote: the Catholic church in Italy is very very very different from the Catholic church in the United States, which is more rooted in Christianity.) We got to see their dwelling place and drink from the well. The valley was so incredibly beautiful that words cannot even express. The Waldensian people would read the Bible and receive training to go out and preach the good news, knowing that once they went out, they woudl not be returning as they were typically killed for their faith; they were martyrs for Christ. It is absolutely amazing. These people died and paved the way so that we can have the freedom to read the Word of God and declare His truth!
We also got to see their church and the Bible faced outward to the congregation so the people coudl see the Word for themselves, unlike the Catholic church at the time that faced the Bible toward the Father/Priest so no one coudl see it. Outside the church was another little well and the metal thing that you see in the picture is symbolic...can't remember the exact meaning, but it also comes down and parallel so that little babies can be baptized.
We then went on to another excursion to a cave where the Christians woudl meet in secret, but who were one day found and were killed as torches were thrown in from the top of the cave and hundreds of them died by being burned and torchered to death. Although I felt a bit disconnected from everything I had seen so far, this portion of the excursion hit home a little more--I was standing in the place where people would have to meet in secret to worship God, study His Word, and who literally died by flame on the very ground I was standing on. Wow...this really puts some things into perspective even though I still cannot imagine what that life and that experience would have been like. In the cave we sang a couple of old hymn worship songs all together with just two tea lights giving us a bit of light to see in the cave. It was so annointed. We flowed in the Spirit and some people felt led to pray. I felt like God wanted me to start to sing another song after the prayers so I opened my mouth and stepped out in faith and began to sing, "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus." It was awesome becasue I was a little nervous but I just stepped out anyway, and everyoen immediately joined in to sing--it was just such a sweet and annointed time. We prayed one last time and then left the cave, helping one another back to the vans since it was dark outside and we didn't have much light...what an amazing moment.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Day 3
This week we have been doing team building exercises and really getting to know each other and learn to work together as a team and as a cohesive unit. Today was a tough day for me as God is definitely working on my heart and the inside of me...bringing out my strengths, and my weaknesses. The day began with working in partners and leading each other up and down from the 3rd floor of our building blindfolded. We had to learn to listen and trust the voice of the person leading us. It was a great little game and everyone really did a great job with it and was feeling encouraged and inspired.
The next game we played involved working in partner teams of 2, and there were 7 teams total. Our instructions were for us to draw a tree and then come show it to David. We did this multiple times over the course of an hour. My partner and I tried to think of every picture that could possibly represent a tree. I think we exhausted all the options in the scriptures: I am the vine and you are the branches, I am the tree of life, tree starting as a seed and growing and producing fruit...etc. Every time each group went up David would just say, "no, that's not what I'm looking for." Then we would go back and try again. Finally he gave us a little hint and my partner and I finally caught on that the goal was for every group to draw a part of the tree and then come together to form the whole tree. I misunderstood the directions or else we would have probably caught on a little bit sooner (not much, but some)...we were one of the last groups to catch on which was frustrating. At the end of the exercise, once finally complete over an hour later, David proceeded to tell us that this assignment was only supposed to take 15-20 minutes and that our group took the longest time that anyone has ever taken that he has worked with. He said we all still had a long way to go until we could finally begin to think of the whole team, and not just ourselves or our unit. After we heard this, we all just kind-of felt like we failed. We were all frustrated and just felt down on ourselves for not catching on sooner, since we had really felt like we were coming together as a team. Finally we were taking steps forward, and now we had taken a few steps back. I was a little bit mad because I thought we were doing so good and wanted to really hear that we had come a long ways, even though we still had things to work on, but I guess we don't always need a pat on the back in every situation...sometimes it takes hard lessons to really learn the lesson.
The next task was a competition between two teams. We competed in various exercises from 2:30pm to 6:00pm. The catch was this: one person in each of the groups was "blind" and would be blindfolded the ENTIRE time, NEVER taking the blindfold off. Another person in the group could never touch the ground, and had to be constantly carried. And then another person could not speak or make any kinds of sounds or noises with their mouth. With all the stuff that has been going through my mind about just dying to self and not always being the one to speak, this couldn't have worked out any perfectly as I was chosen by David to be the one on my team that would not speak. :( I'm sure you can sense my frustration already. I couldn't even say, "mmmmhmm" or else it would be a penalty and points would be deducted from my group. Points were deducted for various things and awarded for others. This was an extremely difficult task for both teams as the blind person had to really work on trusting and not being able to see for 3.5 hours of the day, and the other person had to rely on others to carry her for the entire 3.5 hours...which was difficult to do. I was extremely frustrated during the time I couldn't speak. Some strengths I have are in leading and giving direction and communicating. It was hard to do this without a voice. I felt like I had my legs cut out from under me as I was unable to lend my strength to the team and spent a lot of the time figuring out how I could compensate and communicate. Oh...I also couldn't move my lips to mouth the words. I began communicating with my hands and with snaps and claps and with really just spelling things out for people and trying to help in all situations. Between each activity we had to do as many push-ups in a 3-minute period and I knew that was something I could do. I ended up doing a little over 300 push-ups today, so I'm not too excited to see how my arms feel tomorrow! :) haha... I helped lead the blind person by holding his hand while my other group mate held his other hand and was able to verbally instruct him. Some of the tasks included: going from the 3rd floor to the river and each picking up a rock to stack in a row without falling, blind person putting together a puzzle but not allowed to talk and the others only allowed to say "no, yes, up, down, right, left" and me not being able to speak at all but just point to the group. I was eventually allowed to guide his arm to help him while the others were still limited in their speech, and then the person who couldn't walk was finally able to speak as well as the blind person to ask questions. What we were doing was putting together a puzzle which was a map of the world...it took a while but we eventually completed it. Another task was basically a web made out of rope where we had to get all of the members through the holes of the web, without touching the rope, to the other side. We could only use a space one time so we had to be strategic with everything, especially with the blind person and the person who couldn't walk. Our group was able to finally get all 7 people over to the other side without touching once! The last task was to put the rocks back into the river and go back up to the 3rd floor.
During this whole no-talking experience, I just felt like I couldn't express myself or give encouragement to others for things I wanted to help them with. It was very difficult for me as these are things that I love to do. I even cried at one point out of pure frustration with not being able to talk and lend my full strength and also with the point scorer. It was definitely a day...
Things learned from the no-talking experience:
1. If I do not speak or speak up, I will be frustrated all of the time.
2. When I do speak, I need to know when the time is to speak, and when the time is to be quiet and listen and/or hold my tongue.
3. My voice and my encouragement is my strength...to not use it is to handicap myself and disable myself from having the fullness of God working in my life.
4. I can still communicate without my voice, but it will be difficult, and people need it!
After debriefing from this experience, we had dinner and then a bible study time with the whole group. We are going through the book of Romans. I am finding that I do not necessarily agree with everything, and I am learning when the time is to be quiet and just test the things for myself against the Word, and when the time is to speak up and speak truth. Tonight I got to pour into the group some and remind them that they are the righteousness of God in Christ. That there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That the Holy Spirit came to convince believers of their righteousness, but to convict unbelievers of their need for a Savior. That the Holy Spirit is here to remind us of our righteousness and our ability to do all things through Christ. Also that grace is unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor and blessing of God for all believers. Again a testament to using my voice to speak up and proclaim truth, the entire group woke up from literally sleeping during our Bible study discussion time and began to engage in the conversation and speak up about struggles with this particular topic. I was able to pour into them and remind them that God thinks they are rock stars. Yes we understand that we are sinners and did not deserve everything Jesus did for us, but that because of Jesus, God sees us as perfect because He looks at us through the eyes of Jesus and calls us perfect...we have been perfected forever! I also got to remind them that they are Champions and conquerors and that although we are undeserving, God says we do deserve His grace and we need to take hold of that! We need to walk in confidence of Who is living on the inside of us, but not to be cocky. It was so awesome to just get to talk with some of them individually and hear from their perspective and see that it encouraged and inspired them, and they even encouraged me to speak up more.
Niccole = "Victory of the People"...I'm proclaiming that!
The next game we played involved working in partner teams of 2, and there were 7 teams total. Our instructions were for us to draw a tree and then come show it to David. We did this multiple times over the course of an hour. My partner and I tried to think of every picture that could possibly represent a tree. I think we exhausted all the options in the scriptures: I am the vine and you are the branches, I am the tree of life, tree starting as a seed and growing and producing fruit...etc. Every time each group went up David would just say, "no, that's not what I'm looking for." Then we would go back and try again. Finally he gave us a little hint and my partner and I finally caught on that the goal was for every group to draw a part of the tree and then come together to form the whole tree. I misunderstood the directions or else we would have probably caught on a little bit sooner (not much, but some)...we were one of the last groups to catch on which was frustrating. At the end of the exercise, once finally complete over an hour later, David proceeded to tell us that this assignment was only supposed to take 15-20 minutes and that our group took the longest time that anyone has ever taken that he has worked with. He said we all still had a long way to go until we could finally begin to think of the whole team, and not just ourselves or our unit. After we heard this, we all just kind-of felt like we failed. We were all frustrated and just felt down on ourselves for not catching on sooner, since we had really felt like we were coming together as a team. Finally we were taking steps forward, and now we had taken a few steps back. I was a little bit mad because I thought we were doing so good and wanted to really hear that we had come a long ways, even though we still had things to work on, but I guess we don't always need a pat on the back in every situation...sometimes it takes hard lessons to really learn the lesson.
The next task was a competition between two teams. We competed in various exercises from 2:30pm to 6:00pm. The catch was this: one person in each of the groups was "blind" and would be blindfolded the ENTIRE time, NEVER taking the blindfold off. Another person in the group could never touch the ground, and had to be constantly carried. And then another person could not speak or make any kinds of sounds or noises with their mouth. With all the stuff that has been going through my mind about just dying to self and not always being the one to speak, this couldn't have worked out any perfectly as I was chosen by David to be the one on my team that would not speak. :( I'm sure you can sense my frustration already. I couldn't even say, "mmmmhmm" or else it would be a penalty and points would be deducted from my group. Points were deducted for various things and awarded for others. This was an extremely difficult task for both teams as the blind person had to really work on trusting and not being able to see for 3.5 hours of the day, and the other person had to rely on others to carry her for the entire 3.5 hours...which was difficult to do. I was extremely frustrated during the time I couldn't speak. Some strengths I have are in leading and giving direction and communicating. It was hard to do this without a voice. I felt like I had my legs cut out from under me as I was unable to lend my strength to the team and spent a lot of the time figuring out how I could compensate and communicate. Oh...I also couldn't move my lips to mouth the words. I began communicating with my hands and with snaps and claps and with really just spelling things out for people and trying to help in all situations. Between each activity we had to do as many push-ups in a 3-minute period and I knew that was something I could do. I ended up doing a little over 300 push-ups today, so I'm not too excited to see how my arms feel tomorrow! :) haha... I helped lead the blind person by holding his hand while my other group mate held his other hand and was able to verbally instruct him. Some of the tasks included: going from the 3rd floor to the river and each picking up a rock to stack in a row without falling, blind person putting together a puzzle but not allowed to talk and the others only allowed to say "no, yes, up, down, right, left" and me not being able to speak at all but just point to the group. I was eventually allowed to guide his arm to help him while the others were still limited in their speech, and then the person who couldn't walk was finally able to speak as well as the blind person to ask questions. What we were doing was putting together a puzzle which was a map of the world...it took a while but we eventually completed it. Another task was basically a web made out of rope where we had to get all of the members through the holes of the web, without touching the rope, to the other side. We could only use a space one time so we had to be strategic with everything, especially with the blind person and the person who couldn't walk. Our group was able to finally get all 7 people over to the other side without touching once! The last task was to put the rocks back into the river and go back up to the 3rd floor.
During this whole no-talking experience, I just felt like I couldn't express myself or give encouragement to others for things I wanted to help them with. It was very difficult for me as these are things that I love to do. I even cried at one point out of pure frustration with not being able to talk and lend my full strength and also with the point scorer. It was definitely a day...
Things learned from the no-talking experience:
1. If I do not speak or speak up, I will be frustrated all of the time.
2. When I do speak, I need to know when the time is to speak, and when the time is to be quiet and listen and/or hold my tongue.
3. My voice and my encouragement is my strength...to not use it is to handicap myself and disable myself from having the fullness of God working in my life.
4. I can still communicate without my voice, but it will be difficult, and people need it!
After debriefing from this experience, we had dinner and then a bible study time with the whole group. We are going through the book of Romans. I am finding that I do not necessarily agree with everything, and I am learning when the time is to be quiet and just test the things for myself against the Word, and when the time is to speak up and speak truth. Tonight I got to pour into the group some and remind them that they are the righteousness of God in Christ. That there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That the Holy Spirit came to convince believers of their righteousness, but to convict unbelievers of their need for a Savior. That the Holy Spirit is here to remind us of our righteousness and our ability to do all things through Christ. Also that grace is unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor and blessing of God for all believers. Again a testament to using my voice to speak up and proclaim truth, the entire group woke up from literally sleeping during our Bible study discussion time and began to engage in the conversation and speak up about struggles with this particular topic. I was able to pour into them and remind them that God thinks they are rock stars. Yes we understand that we are sinners and did not deserve everything Jesus did for us, but that because of Jesus, God sees us as perfect because He looks at us through the eyes of Jesus and calls us perfect...we have been perfected forever! I also got to remind them that they are Champions and conquerors and that although we are undeserving, God says we do deserve His grace and we need to take hold of that! We need to walk in confidence of Who is living on the inside of us, but not to be cocky. It was so awesome to just get to talk with some of them individually and hear from their perspective and see that it encouraged and inspired them, and they even encouraged me to speak up more.
Niccole = "Victory of the People"...I'm proclaiming that!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Day 2
So far today has been absolutely saturated with goodness. In our first few sessions we are working team building and have been playing games and doing exercises to work together to become a team while we are here. It is in these games and exercises that we are learning such amazing lessons. This blog will be a little longer because there was just so much in the teaching that really spoke to me and that is really challenging me right now that I would like to share about bit by bit.
Take-Aways from the Training:
1. Ask others what their idea is...create room for everyone to speak, especially if you are an extrovert. Extroverts have the gift of talking and being assertive, and can use this give to encourage and inspire introverts to speak up by asking them for their ideas, thoughts and opinions on the situation...use your strengths to pull out the strengths of others!
2. There is a difference between communication and just talking...there must be understanding and you must also listen.
3. Create an environment for introverts to be a part for their God-given strengths to shine.
4. Introverts have been busy listening and not talking, so they have a strength in analyzing and knowing more about what's going on because they have been listening while others of us have been talking.
5. It's not about talking louder and trying to talk over people.
6. Know your audience and the people you are on a team with and working with. Do you have other cultures of people? You may need to talk slower for them to understand and you may need to check at times to see if they are on the same page. Don't just assume they are in the same boat as you...they have other barriers to climb over to participate.
7. We've got to wait for each other to be up to speed and on the same page...leave others with the time to come on board and be a part of what's going on...don't just think you have it all figured out in all areas--you don't!
8. It would be better to post onto our [church, personal, missionary] websites hours spent building relationships with others rather than # of total salvations.
9. Think about what your motivations are when you try to run the show.
10. Servant leadership is simply not enough...humility is what it's all about. Even if I know something I shut up because it's not all about me...I need to let others come along.
11. Sometimes it's good to do things in secret and in private, and not before an "audience."
12. To live out our faith, we have to be willing to go where it hurts...sometimes in the valley for a season.
13. We can't point finger sat mistakes if we are playing for Jesus' team...no one makes mistakes intentionally.
14. We need the Lord Jesus and we need each other...we need to unlearn to look after ourselves all the time.
15. You were created into community, not to just act as an individual...allow others to help you!
16. Don't just wait for others to come to your side to do it your way...lay down your pride and switch to another's tactics at times...your way is not always the best way or the only way.
17. Understand that we don't have it all sorted out and that you have all your priorities in line perfectly.
18. Do you want things for yourself, or do you [truly] consider things for the overall community?
19. You can't just go for your own...we look out for each other...that's why our eyes are in the front of our heads and not in the back.
20. The moment you look at yourself, you let everyone in the team down, instantly.
21. It's not an option that you have your own back when you're on God's team.
22. Train others to look after you and tell them what you need...open up to others.
23. Let others take care of you, while you take care of them--carrying one another's burdens.
24. We need to simply get over ourselves! Jesus asks for our complete surrender so that He can be our source and our everything.
25. We need to learn and get a feeling for what is important to others if we want to be a team. To only rely on yourself, consider yourself and your perspective is STUPID!
26. I am here to change the world one person at a time, and person #1 is MYSELF! I choose humility, not pride!
27. Consider the life of King David: even after all his triumphs and failures, he was still considered a man after God's own heart because he know how to get over himself...he was all about other people and about God.
28. You have to stop fighting your own battles!
29. Consider the life of Joseph: after everything he wen through, he still knew that God was in charge and that His timing is perfect...Get over yourself so that when things happen in life, you know God is in charge and His timing will prevail in all situations...it is no longer about your suffering and your pain.
30. Both King David and Joseph could have blown the whole story and the line of Jesus would have looked a little differently if they hadn't gotten over themselves.
31. The issue of getting over yourself is a heart issue...a genuine, true heart issue to learn how to do this with the help of God.
32. Nothing grows on a mountain top...things grow in the valley. Everyone wants to be on the mountain top to see and be seen...you need to go for a hike in the valley...you choose to go to the valley and allow God to grow you through different seasons of life. He allows you to go there because He knows that you have to get ready for the job He has for you to do.
33. We need to have an eternal perspective.
34. Love without sacrifice is not real love at all.
35. Missions is pitching your tent among people and living in the community where God places you--it is harder the closer to home you get.
36. "What if we are the people we are waiting for, for God to do His work, and what if the time is now?"...then it's time for me to start getting over myself!
37. Don't stand on the mountain and wave to people. Follow where God is leading you. Don't let go of His hand and try to do it yourself.
38. Don't worry about what you have or don't have...it's all about Who you have--Jesus--it's not about you and all about Him and He will equip and lead you.
39. You need to lose your life first in order to find it.
40. We need to be willing to lose the argument and be walked all over in order to build the relationship and win people over...there is no such thing as a win-win situation.
Lots of food for thought in those 40 points. This was just the first real day of teaching and I'm already so challenged and inspired. I know the training is going to get more and more deep as we go along and I'm just looking forward to how God is going to grow and use my teammates and I in this season of my life while in Italy. After reading over my notes and listening in the sessions, I have written down some questions to ask myself as I go about my daily activities and interact with others:
1. Do I act like I have it all sorted out?
2. Do I think that I am always right and that my way is the best way in most situations?
3. Do I help create an environment for others to shine or do I just look out for myself and work to stand out above the rest?
4. Do I welcome others' opinions, ideas and suggestions in team and group settings? And do I honestly listen if others present their opinions, ideas and suggestions?
5. What are my motivations for when I try to take control over situations and run the show?
6. Am I truly humble, or is it a false sense of pride?
7. Do I hold others to a standard of perfection, constantly pointing out their mistakes and short-comings (whether verbally or just internalizing them)?
8. How often do I allow someone else to take the lead and not be the leader? Am I willing to be a good follower and allow someone else to lead me?
9. Do I want things just for myself or do I consider things for the overall community? Do I have others' backs or do I just [think I] have my own?
10. Do I allow others to take care of me?
11. What am I so worried about? Why is it so hard to just completely surrender? How often do my plans work out well for me anyways?
12. What does it mean to get over yourself?
13. Are there some lessons that you need to learn in the valley before God can give you your next assignment?
The last little bit of the training involved us being blind folded and going from the third floor of our building to the grass area in the front by leading and guiding one another, all blindfolded. Afterwards, David took us to an area and shared about how the place were we are staying is where the first missions training began in this area, where martyrs were pushed off of a cliff for their beliefs in Jesus...it's getting late so I will post more about this tomorrow and tell everyone about our excursion that we went on tonight...
Chao!
Take-Aways from the Training:
1. Ask others what their idea is...create room for everyone to speak, especially if you are an extrovert. Extroverts have the gift of talking and being assertive, and can use this give to encourage and inspire introverts to speak up by asking them for their ideas, thoughts and opinions on the situation...use your strengths to pull out the strengths of others!
2. There is a difference between communication and just talking...there must be understanding and you must also listen.
3. Create an environment for introverts to be a part for their God-given strengths to shine.
4. Introverts have been busy listening and not talking, so they have a strength in analyzing and knowing more about what's going on because they have been listening while others of us have been talking.
5. It's not about talking louder and trying to talk over people.
6. Know your audience and the people you are on a team with and working with. Do you have other cultures of people? You may need to talk slower for them to understand and you may need to check at times to see if they are on the same page. Don't just assume they are in the same boat as you...they have other barriers to climb over to participate.
7. We've got to wait for each other to be up to speed and on the same page...leave others with the time to come on board and be a part of what's going on...don't just think you have it all figured out in all areas--you don't!
8. It would be better to post onto our [church, personal, missionary] websites hours spent building relationships with others rather than # of total salvations.
9. Think about what your motivations are when you try to run the show.
10. Servant leadership is simply not enough...humility is what it's all about. Even if I know something I shut up because it's not all about me...I need to let others come along.
11. Sometimes it's good to do things in secret and in private, and not before an "audience."
12. To live out our faith, we have to be willing to go where it hurts...sometimes in the valley for a season.
13. We can't point finger sat mistakes if we are playing for Jesus' team...no one makes mistakes intentionally.
14. We need the Lord Jesus and we need each other...we need to unlearn to look after ourselves all the time.
15. You were created into community, not to just act as an individual...allow others to help you!
16. Don't just wait for others to come to your side to do it your way...lay down your pride and switch to another's tactics at times...your way is not always the best way or the only way.
17. Understand that we don't have it all sorted out and that you have all your priorities in line perfectly.
18. Do you want things for yourself, or do you [truly] consider things for the overall community?
19. You can't just go for your own...we look out for each other...that's why our eyes are in the front of our heads and not in the back.
20. The moment you look at yourself, you let everyone in the team down, instantly.
21. It's not an option that you have your own back when you're on God's team.
22. Train others to look after you and tell them what you need...open up to others.
23. Let others take care of you, while you take care of them--carrying one another's burdens.
24. We need to simply get over ourselves! Jesus asks for our complete surrender so that He can be our source and our everything.
25. We need to learn and get a feeling for what is important to others if we want to be a team. To only rely on yourself, consider yourself and your perspective is STUPID!
26. I am here to change the world one person at a time, and person #1 is MYSELF! I choose humility, not pride!
27. Consider the life of King David: even after all his triumphs and failures, he was still considered a man after God's own heart because he know how to get over himself...he was all about other people and about God.
28. You have to stop fighting your own battles!
29. Consider the life of Joseph: after everything he wen through, he still knew that God was in charge and that His timing is perfect...Get over yourself so that when things happen in life, you know God is in charge and His timing will prevail in all situations...it is no longer about your suffering and your pain.
30. Both King David and Joseph could have blown the whole story and the line of Jesus would have looked a little differently if they hadn't gotten over themselves.
31. The issue of getting over yourself is a heart issue...a genuine, true heart issue to learn how to do this with the help of God.
32. Nothing grows on a mountain top...things grow in the valley. Everyone wants to be on the mountain top to see and be seen...you need to go for a hike in the valley...you choose to go to the valley and allow God to grow you through different seasons of life. He allows you to go there because He knows that you have to get ready for the job He has for you to do.
33. We need to have an eternal perspective.
34. Love without sacrifice is not real love at all.
35. Missions is pitching your tent among people and living in the community where God places you--it is harder the closer to home you get.
36. "What if we are the people we are waiting for, for God to do His work, and what if the time is now?"...then it's time for me to start getting over myself!
37. Don't stand on the mountain and wave to people. Follow where God is leading you. Don't let go of His hand and try to do it yourself.
38. Don't worry about what you have or don't have...it's all about Who you have--Jesus--it's not about you and all about Him and He will equip and lead you.
39. You need to lose your life first in order to find it.
40. We need to be willing to lose the argument and be walked all over in order to build the relationship and win people over...there is no such thing as a win-win situation.
Lots of food for thought in those 40 points. This was just the first real day of teaching and I'm already so challenged and inspired. I know the training is going to get more and more deep as we go along and I'm just looking forward to how God is going to grow and use my teammates and I in this season of my life while in Italy. After reading over my notes and listening in the sessions, I have written down some questions to ask myself as I go about my daily activities and interact with others:
1. Do I act like I have it all sorted out?
2. Do I think that I am always right and that my way is the best way in most situations?
3. Do I help create an environment for others to shine or do I just look out for myself and work to stand out above the rest?
4. Do I welcome others' opinions, ideas and suggestions in team and group settings? And do I honestly listen if others present their opinions, ideas and suggestions?
5. What are my motivations for when I try to take control over situations and run the show?
6. Am I truly humble, or is it a false sense of pride?
7. Do I hold others to a standard of perfection, constantly pointing out their mistakes and short-comings (whether verbally or just internalizing them)?
8. How often do I allow someone else to take the lead and not be the leader? Am I willing to be a good follower and allow someone else to lead me?
9. Do I want things just for myself or do I consider things for the overall community? Do I have others' backs or do I just [think I] have my own?
10. Do I allow others to take care of me?
11. What am I so worried about? Why is it so hard to just completely surrender? How often do my plans work out well for me anyways?
12. What does it mean to get over yourself?
13. Are there some lessons that you need to learn in the valley before God can give you your next assignment?
The last little bit of the training involved us being blind folded and going from the third floor of our building to the grass area in the front by leading and guiding one another, all blindfolded. Afterwards, David took us to an area and shared about how the place were we are staying is where the first missions training began in this area, where martyrs were pushed off of a cliff for their beliefs in Jesus...it's getting late so I will post more about this tomorrow and tell everyone about our excursion that we went on tonight...
Chao!
Day 1
Yesterday was our first day of training and I wanted to give a brief recap of the training session that is laying the foundation for our training and time here in Italy. The expectations that our leader has set for this program is two-fold:
1. Trust God with who we are
2. Trust others with who we really are
David said something profound yesterday along the lines of this: You can choose your spouse and you can choose your friends, but you do not choose your brothers and sisters. My brothers and sisters are the people on this trip with me...they are the people that I will go to battle with. Each person on this trip was hand-picked and chosen by God to walk alongside me on this journey. I need to treasure them, work to get to know them, and learn to work with them as a team unit.
He said another thing that really hit me during prayer time...he prayed, "God, don't let us get away with things." Wow...how often do we just settle for things in our own life or just go through life not even knowing that we cut corners or actually get away with stuff. If we really want to grow in our walk with God and be stretched and challenged, we need to be willing to ask God to not allow us to get away with things so that we are fully accountable and intentional.
My expectations for this trip:
1. Minister to the children by showing them the love of God and leading them to salvation
2. Grow stronger in my walk with God and for Him to reveal Himself to me and the next steps He has for my life after this internship
3. To affect and pour into those on the trip with me and to also be poured into
4. To be stretched and challenged
5. To be equipped to answer the call to the mission field, should God call me in that direction
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
I'm Here!
I just wanted to let everyone know that I got to Italy safely. I had an 11 hour layover in London, England so I decided to take the tube into London and do a bus tour of the city. The sights were very pretty but there was a lot of construction so getting around in the bus took a lot longer than it was supposed to, and with basically zero sleep on the way over, I was pretty well spent. I cut the trip a little short and went back to the hotel to just sit and wait. I found most of the people in my group right before we were going to board the airplane so that was cool. Everyone is pretty awesome and I think that great friendships are going to form. My roomate's name is Anna and she is a soccer player who just graduated from Covenant College in Georgia and she's awesome. We talked for several hours before going to sleep about our expectations, struggles, and just life. I know that a great friendship is beginning to form so I'm super excited for that.
It was dark when we got in last night, so we couldn't see anything yet. Waking up in the morning was literally a breath of fresh air as we are in the Italian Alps, very close to France. I looked out my window this morning and was just in awe...it is SOOOOOO beautiful! I can't figure out how to post pictures to this blog yet, but take a look at my facebook page: www.facebook.com/niccole.grimaldi. We went for a run in the morning, which was tough for me because we are in altitude and we were running straight up the mountain. There is a river that runs down the mountain so our goal is to find the lake where the water is coming from, and another goal we have is to run up the entire mountain without stopping before the trip is over. I just can't even tell you how beautiful it is.
The people who own the little hotel we are staying at are Italian and they cook all of our meals for us. I'm praying that I don't get fat on this trip because it's going to be a lot of pasta! haha. So good though! We have a meeting in about 5 minutes and a guest speaker so more to follow...
It was dark when we got in last night, so we couldn't see anything yet. Waking up in the morning was literally a breath of fresh air as we are in the Italian Alps, very close to France. I looked out my window this morning and was just in awe...it is SOOOOOO beautiful! I can't figure out how to post pictures to this blog yet, but take a look at my facebook page: www.facebook.com/niccole.grimaldi. We went for a run in the morning, which was tough for me because we are in altitude and we were running straight up the mountain. There is a river that runs down the mountain so our goal is to find the lake where the water is coming from, and another goal we have is to run up the entire mountain without stopping before the trip is over. I just can't even tell you how beautiful it is.
The people who own the little hotel we are staying at are Italian and they cook all of our meals for us. I'm praying that I don't get fat on this trip because it's going to be a lot of pasta! haha. So good though! We have a meeting in about 5 minutes and a guest speaker so more to follow...
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