Update!

Hey everyone! Time is flying by here in Biarritz, already at week 5! Last week lectures were on repentance and forgiveness, by a Ywam leader from Perth. I thought I'd share more specifically what kind of things he talked about, I'll highlight some things from my notes:

-True repentance is not just about confession, but about allowing Christ in and being truly willing to change.
-Our greatest need is to know God.
-Repentance is about a changed life, from self centered, to God centered.
-God wants us to have a transformed heart that wants to make the right choices for the right reasons. Why have we decided to follow Jesus? We talked about some of the primary motivators for many Christians: blessings, and discipline. Though God can use this, they are not sufficient because they are self centered. Our primary motivation for following Jesus should be a deep revelation of the worthiness of God and the un-worthiness of self.

Personally it was very good to dwell on the simple thought: Why am I a Christian? I appreciated that the speaker highlighted how good it was to be honest with God and how much God loves honesty. It's not about earning God's love, it's about a genuine relationship. And no matter how many times we are unfaithful, God will always be faithful.

So as much as this week was a more serious one, I was very encouraged and learned a lot and realized a deep need for growth in my relationship with God. I could write pages and pages of what we talked about but I won't. ;) Instead I'll talk about the awesome trip we took to the PYRENEES mountains! Lectures last week ended on Thursday, and so we took Friday up to the snowy mountains of France, and it was so much fun. Getting there, however, was a bit difficult, as our chains kept breaking, and we kept stopping to help others get up the mountain, too. But after carefully winding our way up the snowy roads, we made it, all 3 vans and one car of us -all the staff came too! It was nonstop snowing all day! And it was so beautiful! We had choices to ski, snowboard, sled, or just hang out, and I wanted to do it all, but in the end I chose to snowboard. Best decision ever! It was my first time, as for a few of the other snowboarders, so one of the leaders, Timo, helped us learn. It was so much fun! Most students just went sledding, but a couple went skiing and a few of us went snowboarding. So yeah, we stayed there for lunch and then headed home around dinner time. So it was an awesome time, and I hope I can snowboard again before I leave!

This week is on relationships by Leah Thompson one of the base leaders here! And we are planning to go to the outdoor market in Anglet on Saturday. Should be a good week, and I'll update again next week. Ooh we also find out our outreach teams and places soon I believe. I'll keep you posted!