As a mini-update, we had 7 new people come to Christ yesterday in Winter Park, CO at Crankworx. How awesome is that?! Not bad for less than 2 hours of "work"! On top of that we had a lot of good conversations and had a lot of fun. We also had 3 people in housekeeping come to Christ this last week, and all the international staff are still very interested and wanting to read the Bible with us. It's pretty awesome up here! Today it is raining a lot, and I had my Half-Day Alone With God wrapping up all I'd learned this summer. It's a lot of stuff. But there's still a week left! It looks like I'll be done and headed home Sunday, August 8th.
Love ya!
-Kolten
Passage of the week: Hebrews 11
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean...
Well, I think it's obvious that the bulk of my time hasn't been spent on the computer this summer...which is fine with me. However, I'm sorry my blog updates haven't been very consistent. Things have been going pretty great up here this summer! It's weird to think that there's only a week left. I'm certainly excited to see my family, not work in dishes, and return to Laramie. I'm also really loving my time here and wish I had more. Oh well.
Throughout these last few weeks we've had a bunch of cool speakers come through. A lot of pretty "prominent" people in the Navigators have come by, and it's been awesome to hear them talk. We've talked about everything from living day by day to worship to dating to missions to discipleship to being good stewards to growing deeper with God to developing convictions and much more! It's a very large load of amazing info to take in at once, so I'll definitely be spending time this week to going over what God has taught me this summer. I've learned a lot of things, most of which I wasn't planning on learning. Something I have realized recently is that I'd like to go on an overseas mission trip next summer. Ta-da! This guy named Chase Pettus came and spoke to us about missionaries and overseas missions and the need for people to be going, and I got pretty fired up. I know I've been to a few places outside the USA already, but it would be awesome to go on a missions trip having the spiritual maturity I have now (compared to Brazil in 2006). I am hoping to be involved with planning/leading wherever UW goes this next summer, because it sounds like the whole Rocky Mountain region of the Navs will be partnering together to go different places next year. It should be exciting, and I hope I can be a part of it! I know I only have one more summer left of still being a college student, so I want to take full advantage of it.
Well, this week should be packed with awesomeness. We'll continue to meet with Bruce and Eddy from Taiwan, we're going to go evangelize at Crankworx in Winter Park, CO (http://www.crankworx.com for more info), a bunch of people are getting baptized on Wednesday morning (hopefully including Bruce and Eddy!), and we're going to have an awesome closing banquet on Thursday. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed with all the transitions that will be going on in my life in the next month, but instead focus on today and take take full advantage of the opportunities that come my way...while still planning for the near future. It's crazy stuff, but it's life...and I'm finding that life is much better/easier when God is the center of it.
That's all!
Love,
Kolten
Passage for the week: Romans 14
Throughout these last few weeks we've had a bunch of cool speakers come through. A lot of pretty "prominent" people in the Navigators have come by, and it's been awesome to hear them talk. We've talked about everything from living day by day to worship to dating to missions to discipleship to being good stewards to growing deeper with God to developing convictions and much more! It's a very large load of amazing info to take in at once, so I'll definitely be spending time this week to going over what God has taught me this summer. I've learned a lot of things, most of which I wasn't planning on learning. Something I have realized recently is that I'd like to go on an overseas mission trip next summer. Ta-da! This guy named Chase Pettus came and spoke to us about missionaries and overseas missions and the need for people to be going, and I got pretty fired up. I know I've been to a few places outside the USA already, but it would be awesome to go on a missions trip having the spiritual maturity I have now (compared to Brazil in 2006). I am hoping to be involved with planning/leading wherever UW goes this next summer, because it sounds like the whole Rocky Mountain region of the Navs will be partnering together to go different places next year. It should be exciting, and I hope I can be a part of it! I know I only have one more summer left of still being a college student, so I want to take full advantage of it.
Well, this week should be packed with awesomeness. We'll continue to meet with Bruce and Eddy from Taiwan, we're going to go evangelize at Crankworx in Winter Park, CO (http://www.crankworx.com for more info), a bunch of people are getting baptized on Wednesday morning (hopefully including Bruce and Eddy!), and we're going to have an awesome closing banquet on Thursday. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed with all the transitions that will be going on in my life in the next month, but instead focus on today and take take full advantage of the opportunities that come my way...while still planning for the near future. It's crazy stuff, but it's life...and I'm finding that life is much better/easier when God is the center of it.
That's all!
Love,
Kolten
Passage for the week: Romans 14
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Elite 8
Why hello everyone. Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile, but the computer is becoming less and less a part of my life over the summer. Just so everyone knows, things are still going great here at SMR! I'm currently in a coffee shop in Granby, CO about to do my Half Day Alone With God (H-DAWG). I'm finding that these are one of my favorite new parts to the summer. Having an extended period of time to just read the Word, pray, look up questions, memorize the Word, etc. has been really beneficial. If you've never taken half a day and gone somewhere by yourself to just be with God, I completely and totally recommend it. This is something I'm hoping to continue when I get back to UW.
July 4th weekend half of our group went to Grand Lake, CO to do initiative evangelism. Some were nervous, some were stoked, and some thought this type of evangelism didn't work and was stupid (I was pretty excited). The guy who was most opposed to this went out to a skate park and talked to some kid riding a bike. And guess what? The very first person he talked to accepted Christ! There was also another girl who was so nervous she almost threw up before we went. She was paired with another guy who almost faked sick to get out of it. And guess what? They ended up being a part of 3 people coming to Christ! It was a crazy day. Overall, 8 people came to Christ on July 3rd! Now, I've been hearing a lot of people say that evangelizing door to door or randomly around large groups of people isn't effective. I even heard on a Christian radio station a few weeks ago that the listeners (and the host) agreed that you need to get to know someone first before you share the gospel. I say that's crap. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with getting to know someone and then sharing the gospel with them. In fact, it's great! But, if you look through the Bible there are plenty of examples of people going out and sharing the gospel in cities and towns where they didn't know anyone (and thousands of people came to Christ). God calls us to "Preach the Word! Be ready in and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2). So, for anyone who thinks initiative evangelism is wrong or not effective, I have at least 8 people who would beg to differ.
So that's that ;). Also, things with Bruce and Eddy are going well. I'm still meeting up with them weekly, and they seem to be growing a lot. We're also having a lot of opportunities with some Turkish people here at the YMCA. They are all Muslim, but none of them have ever done anything with it. In fact, a few of them have never read the Koran. We've been getting into a lot of good conversations, so I'm excited to see how this pans out over the next few weeks.
Well, there's a lot I could go on about, but that will be it for now. We are going to Water World in Denver this Saturday! After that, I WILL post pictures on Facebbok. Don't fret people, they're coming. Until then, have an awesome summer!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
July 4th weekend half of our group went to Grand Lake, CO to do initiative evangelism. Some were nervous, some were stoked, and some thought this type of evangelism didn't work and was stupid (I was pretty excited). The guy who was most opposed to this went out to a skate park and talked to some kid riding a bike. And guess what? The very first person he talked to accepted Christ! There was also another girl who was so nervous she almost threw up before we went. She was paired with another guy who almost faked sick to get out of it. And guess what? They ended up being a part of 3 people coming to Christ! It was a crazy day. Overall, 8 people came to Christ on July 3rd! Now, I've been hearing a lot of people say that evangelizing door to door or randomly around large groups of people isn't effective. I even heard on a Christian radio station a few weeks ago that the listeners (and the host) agreed that you need to get to know someone first before you share the gospel. I say that's crap. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with getting to know someone and then sharing the gospel with them. In fact, it's great! But, if you look through the Bible there are plenty of examples of people going out and sharing the gospel in cities and towns where they didn't know anyone (and thousands of people came to Christ). God calls us to "Preach the Word! Be ready in and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2). So, for anyone who thinks initiative evangelism is wrong or not effective, I have at least 8 people who would beg to differ.
So that's that ;). Also, things with Bruce and Eddy are going well. I'm still meeting up with them weekly, and they seem to be growing a lot. We're also having a lot of opportunities with some Turkish people here at the YMCA. They are all Muslim, but none of them have ever done anything with it. In fact, a few of them have never read the Koran. We've been getting into a lot of good conversations, so I'm excited to see how this pans out over the next few weeks.
Well, there's a lot I could go on about, but that will be it for now. We are going to Water World in Denver this Saturday! After that, I WILL post pictures on Facebbok. Don't fret people, they're coming. Until then, have an awesome summer!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
Monday, June 28, 2010
Made in Taiwan...Born in the USA
Hola amigos! I'll try to get some pictures up soon. I'm not very good at taking pictures while I'm having a good time, so that should be a good indicator that my summer is going pretty awesome! I'm going along with my normal schedule, and it's all pretty fun. We're amping up our scripture memory stuff! I should know a lot of verses by the time the summer is over, and I'm pretty excited about it. Not too much new stuff is going on, except for Bruce and Eddy.
Bruce and Eddy are two food service workers from Taiwan that arrived a couple of weeks ago. They didn't have any religion or anything when they came here, but I'm pretty sure they have Christian friends in Taiwan. They came to this thing called Super Tuesday (like a NavNight), and afterward came to a campfire we were having. They loved Super Tuesday. They said the singing and instruments were great, but Derek the NavStaff guy spoke too fast. I got to explain more slowly the gospel to them, which was pretty awesome. They wanted to make sure we weren't Mormons, and that we were saying all you had to do was believe in Jesus to take care of your sins, make him king of your life, repent of your sins, and you can go to heaven. Then, out of nowhere, they decided they thought it was real and wanted to believe it. It was awesome! Zach Hamilton and I took them away from the campfire, prayed with them, and they were born again here in the good 'ol USA! They then asked if they had to pray to God in English, and we told them of course...just kidding. Geez, calm down. They wanted to pray it again in Mandarin, so it was good to get the affirmation that they understood what was going on.
We got to follow up with them a few days later, and we talked about the assurance of salvation. We had them explain stuff to us from their Mandarin pages we printed out of the Bible, and they rocked it! They totally understood what was going on, and they really enjoyed their first "Bible class." Things are going great here, and I know they'll continue to get better.
Until next time!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: Colossians 3:12-17
Bruce and Eddy are two food service workers from Taiwan that arrived a couple of weeks ago. They didn't have any religion or anything when they came here, but I'm pretty sure they have Christian friends in Taiwan. They came to this thing called Super Tuesday (like a NavNight), and afterward came to a campfire we were having. They loved Super Tuesday. They said the singing and instruments were great, but Derek the NavStaff guy spoke too fast. I got to explain more slowly the gospel to them, which was pretty awesome. They wanted to make sure we weren't Mormons, and that we were saying all you had to do was believe in Jesus to take care of your sins, make him king of your life, repent of your sins, and you can go to heaven. Then, out of nowhere, they decided they thought it was real and wanted to believe it. It was awesome! Zach Hamilton and I took them away from the campfire, prayed with them, and they were born again here in the good 'ol USA! They then asked if they had to pray to God in English, and we told them of course...just kidding. Geez, calm down. They wanted to pray it again in Mandarin, so it was good to get the affirmation that they understood what was going on.
We got to follow up with them a few days later, and we talked about the assurance of salvation. We had them explain stuff to us from their Mandarin pages we printed out of the Bible, and they rocked it! They totally understood what was going on, and they really enjoyed their first "Bible class." Things are going great here, and I know they'll continue to get better.
Until next time!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: Colossians 3:12-17
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
A Week in the Life...
Hola compadres! Things are going great here at Snow Mountain Ranch. We're finally getting into the swing of the normal life here at STP, and I'm loving it. Let's take a journey down the path of a normal week for Kolten of the Rockies:
-Monday and Thursday from around 9:00am to 3:00pm are reserved for team leader training. We do things like Bible study, training on 1-on-1 meetings, lessons in leadership, times where guys and girls split up and talk about stuff, and other things like that. Bruce and Rosie, (who are in their 70s), lead the Bible study with the Navstaff people. The Navstaff lead it for the team leaders, and the team leaders lead it with the team members. So, overall, it's just one big chain of wisdom :). I put in 5-7 hours on my own in the Bible study each week, and have around 5 hours of actually doing it with people. It's probably the best part-time job ever! I also have to memorize at least 3 passages of scripture each week, which turns into at least 5. It's difficult, but it's something I'm working on while I'm down here.
-I meet 1-on-1 with each of the guys on my team each week, as well as Clint. Clint is the Navstaff guy from the University of New Mexico. He's awesome and it's been awesome to have him speak into my life and my time here. My meetings with my team are great! We go over life stuff, how the week is going, and we usually have one tool we try to go through with them each week.
-Every other Saturday we have evangelism training. This last week was going over some tools to use, and it will eventually turn into actually going out to different towns and doing it. It's challenging and scary to a lot of people, but it's very helpful and very important for us to be doing as Christians.
-Oh yeah, I guess I also have a real job. Food service is pretty easy, and I only work 20 hours a week. I've been able to meet a lot of new people from all over world, talk to them, organize soccer games, and we've got a lot of them to come to Super Tuesdays. What's Super Tuesday? Well,...
-Tuesday night we have Super Tuesday. It's like a NavNight on campus, and everyone is invited. Navs, other employees, people just passing by, international guys, everyone. I am playing drums for that every other week (yeehaw!), and it's a lot of fun. Thursday night we have NavNights, which are just for the Navigator people. We bring speakers in and get to learn a lot, and it's awesome.
-Now for free time! We have a decent amount of it, and I'm learning to be disciplined in using it wisely. I try to get in some good time in the Word, as well as in prayer, every day. It's new for me, but I'm finding that it's very life-giving. I've been to a few campfires, gone to the Sperlings' hot tub, headed to some local mountain towns, hiked around, play in the gym, play mini golf, and I'm finding more and more things to do as I go along. They're all awesome, but I try not to do them too often. I have the rest of my life to camp and play putt putt, but I have about 6 more weeks of this kind of environment for spiritual growth. I don't feel forced into doing things when I know I should be doing things for God, and it gives me a lot to look forward to when I get time with my team doing fun things.
-...also in my free time I get one date night with Katie a week, as well as one or two walks together. It's awesome, so there's that.
Well, that's my life! Hope you guys like reading this. Thank you all for checking in!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: Philippians 3
-Monday and Thursday from around 9:00am to 3:00pm are reserved for team leader training. We do things like Bible study, training on 1-on-1 meetings, lessons in leadership, times where guys and girls split up and talk about stuff, and other things like that. Bruce and Rosie, (who are in their 70s), lead the Bible study with the Navstaff people. The Navstaff lead it for the team leaders, and the team leaders lead it with the team members. So, overall, it's just one big chain of wisdom :). I put in 5-7 hours on my own in the Bible study each week, and have around 5 hours of actually doing it with people. It's probably the best part-time job ever! I also have to memorize at least 3 passages of scripture each week, which turns into at least 5. It's difficult, but it's something I'm working on while I'm down here.
-I meet 1-on-1 with each of the guys on my team each week, as well as Clint. Clint is the Navstaff guy from the University of New Mexico. He's awesome and it's been awesome to have him speak into my life and my time here. My meetings with my team are great! We go over life stuff, how the week is going, and we usually have one tool we try to go through with them each week.
-Every other Saturday we have evangelism training. This last week was going over some tools to use, and it will eventually turn into actually going out to different towns and doing it. It's challenging and scary to a lot of people, but it's very helpful and very important for us to be doing as Christians.
-Oh yeah, I guess I also have a real job. Food service is pretty easy, and I only work 20 hours a week. I've been able to meet a lot of new people from all over world, talk to them, organize soccer games, and we've got a lot of them to come to Super Tuesdays. What's Super Tuesday? Well,...
-Tuesday night we have Super Tuesday. It's like a NavNight on campus, and everyone is invited. Navs, other employees, people just passing by, international guys, everyone. I am playing drums for that every other week (yeehaw!), and it's a lot of fun. Thursday night we have NavNights, which are just for the Navigator people. We bring speakers in and get to learn a lot, and it's awesome.
-Now for free time! We have a decent amount of it, and I'm learning to be disciplined in using it wisely. I try to get in some good time in the Word, as well as in prayer, every day. It's new for me, but I'm finding that it's very life-giving. I've been to a few campfires, gone to the Sperlings' hot tub, headed to some local mountain towns, hiked around, play in the gym, play mini golf, and I'm finding more and more things to do as I go along. They're all awesome, but I try not to do them too often. I have the rest of my life to camp and play putt putt, but I have about 6 more weeks of this kind of environment for spiritual growth. I don't feel forced into doing things when I know I should be doing things for God, and it gives me a lot to look forward to when I get time with my team doing fun things.
-...also in my free time I get one date night with Katie a week, as well as one or two walks together. It's awesome, so there's that.
Well, that's my life! Hope you guys like reading this. Thank you all for checking in!
Love,
Kolten
Passage of the week: Philippians 3
Friday, June 11, 2010
Dish Boy
Hey guys! Things are going great here at SMR (Snow Mountain Ranch). Today was my first official day of work, even though I worked a surprise shift last night. I'm working in the main eating hall (called the Commons), and so far I've been a dish boy! It's actually pretty fun. I had to work at 6:00am this morning, and I'll repeat it tomorrow! I posted pictures of the guys on my team. The first guy is named Steve (with the long hair). He is from CU-Boulder and only became a Christian last December, so I'm pretty pumped he's on my team. He doesn't know much about Christianity, but he's running pretty hard after God at the moment. The next guy is Ryan (baldy). He is from CU-Boulder as well. He's on the cycling team, and he was once ranked 4th in the nation in tae kwon doe (or some other martial art). The last guy is Brian (with the glasses). He is from CSU, and he is quirky and awesome. I'll get to meet 1 on 1 with thim this coming week, so I'm excited to dive deeper into their lives.
I'm also excited that we're officially orientated. We've gone through team leader orientation, normal STP orientation, YMCA orientation, and food service orientation. NO MORE! Two days ago we combined with a girls team and did a photo scavenger hunt around SMR and into Granby, CO. It was way fun. Last night we did a traveling dessert thing at all the Nav Staff houses, and guess what? It was fun!! There is a lot of fun going on here, and I'm glad to be a part of it.
Until next time!
Love,
Kolten
Passage for the week: Colossians 3:12-25
PS: the other picture is up in Rocky Mountain National Park
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Here goes blogging!
Alright guys, by popular demand I am starting a blog on my summer experience. For those of you who don't know, I'm spending my summer at the YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch, CO. I'm working 24 hours a week in food service (to pay for food, room, and board), and the rest of the time I'm a team leader for a Summer Training Program (STP). During this STP we will be doing Bible studies, evangelism, discipleship, having speakers, and doing tons of other awesome God-centered stuff. Oh, and we can go play in the mountains of Colorado whenever we want! It's going to be an awesome summer!
All of our team members arrive tomorrow, so today is the last day of team leader training. It has been awesome! I love all the other leaders and staff members here, and I can't wait to meet the guys on my team. I don't know them yet, but they're names are Bryan, Ryan, and Steven. 2 are from CU-Boulder, and one is from CSU. I hear Steven just became a Christian this last year, so I'm pumped that he's in my group. I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in Granby, CO going over the first week of Bible study (team leaders will be one week ahead of the team members in the study). Based on these last few days of having fun and training, I honestly believe this summer will change my life. I'm very very excited!
I'll try to update this once a week or so, and I'll post pictures too. Hope you guys all enjoy this, and hopefully it can be encouraging to you guys! Love you all,
Kolten
Passage for the week: Colossians 1:9-14
All of our team members arrive tomorrow, so today is the last day of team leader training. It has been awesome! I love all the other leaders and staff members here, and I can't wait to meet the guys on my team. I don't know them yet, but they're names are Bryan, Ryan, and Steven. 2 are from CU-Boulder, and one is from CSU. I hear Steven just became a Christian this last year, so I'm pumped that he's in my group. I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in Granby, CO going over the first week of Bible study (team leaders will be one week ahead of the team members in the study). Based on these last few days of having fun and training, I honestly believe this summer will change my life. I'm very very excited!
I'll try to update this once a week or so, and I'll post pictures too. Hope you guys all enjoy this, and hopefully it can be encouraging to you guys! Love you all,
Kolten
Passage for the week: Colossians 1:9-14
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