Not-so-useless-quite-helpful-information-actually-but-completely-not-the-story-that-I-wanted-to-tell-ness!

So what else happened here... Well I have had a couple very cool moments with God (couple is quite an understatement!) but here is one where I was shown something inside of me that I didn't really want to see.

We were being taught by one of the leaders at the base, Bernardo, and he was teaching on forgiveness. It was a very good lesson, I still remember a lot from it even though it was only 2 days of teaching. Mainly that forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. That forgiving someone doesn't mean that injustice will happen. God is just, yet He has forgiven us, so why wouldn't I be just, just like Him? As well as the fact that because it is a choice, it can happen a lot! That with a really big thing that happened in life won't just disappear. Every time it comes back, forgive. Its a perpetual thing (http://goo.gl/hKqTZ) that will most likely have to happen a lot. But that is not the point or the story that I want to say. Hooray for not-so-useless-quite-helpful-information-actually-but-completely-not-the-story-that-I-wanted-to-tell-ness! Now for the story that I wanted to tell! Bernardo gave us some time after the last lesson to go someone and ask God and see if there was anyone that we had to forgive. It just so happened that there was someone in my life that I hadn't quite fully forgiven. That was Steve. Whoever Steve is. Nah, but seriously there was someone I forgave. And I was feeling a little weird and then this thought came into my head about a sin that was in my life. It was hidden very far down in my heart, very deep. It made me feel like crap. So I confessed it and laid it all down at His feet and I felt a little lighter afterwards (I now don't feel any shame towards this sin, which is good, but I don't want to share it). I started walking back (oh right! I forgot about setting! Crap... Well, I was in the park) to the base and on the way there I got Matthew 6:14 which says, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." I then realized that that is exactly what happened! I was pretty awestricken. Now for another one! (One = story.)

This story is like two, but combined into one because they were both in one weekend. We were hosting a youth event at one of the churches out here (Natio, my mentor, was running it) and I was very excited for it! So we start out and there is some music and then a speaker and then the speaker, Itiel, asked if anyone wanted to come forward that they were free to and we would be praying for them. Being in a Discipleship Training School (DTS) our leaders said that we should go up there. At first, I felt like I (KEY WORD! "I") wouldn't be able to do anything because they were all Spanish speaking. So I go up there and I just lay my hands on someone and I instantly feel what they are feeling. This happened with everyone that I laid my hands on! Some people started to shake when I started praying and then others started crying. It was like a mad house, but I'm getting used to that happening when the Holy Spirit is present. I then got really excited because He was translating for me! It was really awesome! So I high-fived Jesus and then I was really excited because I mean, high-fiving Jesus? Saweeeet! And then on the last night (that happened on friday night and now it is saturday night) I wanted to have the same thing happened. My mentor, Natio, calls me up and says, "You have fire in your hands, use it!" God has blessed me with physical heat in my hands whenever I am praying for someone and I am being guided by the Holy Spirit. Except this time I started thinking that I can do it. So I started praying for some people and they were just laughing because, well, they are thinking I am crazy for praying for them in a language they don't understand. This continually happened. I then got frustrated and said to God, "Hey man! Whats up?!" And He tells me, "You've gotten prideful." It was true, I had gotten very prideful of the fire in my hands and being able to pray for people and have them understand me. So I confessed it and asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit again and right after I finished that little prayer, Miguel (a student) turned around and pointed to a girl and said that I have to go pray for her. So I walk over to her and I start praying and it turns out that she speaks English. Whaaaat? Thats crazy! At that moment I broke into praise and was filled once again with the fire of the Holy Spirit and then it was another awesome night!

So that is all that there is for today. If it isn't enough, go stare at a hamster. Usually that is pretty satisfactory. If that doesn't cut it, then cut it. Don't actually, for I will have to then report you. Enjoy, dance, party-hardy, go for it, and always live! WOOHOO!

Guardian? I'll Take Two!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

The first part is semi-true but I'm pretty sure we stayed in the same galaxy. By 'we' I mean my dad (Danny), Nicky (my sister), and I. This is the background story and then the grand finale!

My dad would always come back home from work in the summer time and, being out of school, my sister and I would wait for him with our bathing suits on, ready to go to the beach! This would happen 5 days out of the week, so we got pretty good at swimming but I lost it all over the years (I'm not sure exactly what year it was, but I was most likely around 9 or 10). Not completely, but thats besides the point! Gosh! Come on! Okay. After the beach, we went along a road which, instead of having a ditch, had a cliff. We were all having fun with our slurpees that my dad purchased and my sister did something that distracted my dad. He looked into the back seat and wasn't watching the road; there was a corner coming up and he didn't start turning. By the time he turns around, we're all screaming and we all shut our eyes, my dad slams on the brakes and we stop. Except we didn't stop where you think we would for the cliff was on the other side of the road. To get to the cliff that we were at, we had to cross the road. So we open our eyes and we are all of a sudden on the right side of the road and alive. We're all really happy but completely awestruck, so we all get out of the Jeep (I miss that red beast) and go check the tire tracks on the gravel by the cliff. To our amazement, we saw them when my dad was slamming on the brakes, but just before the cliff's edge, they stopped. A straight line. That's when we ended up back on the road. Craziness! Now for the explanation.

God granted me with a vision. A really awesome one! This happened around the first two weeks that I was here and I was reading my bible, spending some time with my Father. I close my eyes to pray and standing in front of me is this being that was probably about 10-11 feet (304-335 cm). He was completely clothed in white with strips of gold lining his body. He also had wings; magnificently, wonderful wings that spanned probably 20 feet (6.09 m)! My very first reaction: COOOOL! So I opened my eyes and he was gone. So I continue on with reading my bible and then this little voice inside of my head says, "That's your guardian angel." I almost crapped myself. So I quickly close my eyes and I see him again. This time I am able to see that he is wearing a helmet like this one:

http://goo.gl/lbRKw

Now, it looked like that one, but with two bands of gold feathers wrapping around the top of the helmet. They both started at the centre, one went left, the other right. And it was all very shiny and completely gold. Jesus started speaking to me saying, "This is your guardian angel. He has been around you your entire life." The angel then unsheathed his sword and threw it at me. I caught it with my right hand and it was giant! Double-edged and insanely sharp! Around 6-7 feet (182-213 cm); bigger than I am! Yet, it was light as a feather. I then opened my eyes and I was looking at my bible. Jesus told me, "This is the sharpest weapon there has ever been and ever will be. Use it wisely." I agreed! Its crazy though, because I always thought I had a guardian angel and I was blessed to be able to see him! AWW YEAAHH!

Well thats enough story for now. I shall be posting another one tomorrow. Take care and remember: Eat skittles.

WAZZUB! And Update!

WAZZUB!

That might at first sound like a really weird way to say, "Wassup!" but its not. Its a new website that you can join for free! It sounds crazy, I know, but I haven't even explained exactly what it does. Shoot! So here I go:
What it is, is that it makes you money. Thats it. All you have to do is type in your email address and then you'll get an email confirming you signed up with a special link like this one!
http://signup.wazzub.info/?lrRef=fzUGw
You can use that link that I just put to go and sign up for it! Please! There it also explains more than I will because there is no point in repeating what they can say better than me. So! Its going to pre-launch on January 1st, so right now you will just be signing up. You use the special link that they send you (like the one I just posted) that'll keep track of how many people you get to sign up. Its a really good plan and its free! Sounds like a scam, but tons of people have already signed up for it that they've had to change over to new servers for higher capacities! Now onto something else.

The fact that I haven't been updating my blog. I am deeply sorry, I know you guys are all just at my feet begging for me to update (not really, but I picture it that way) so here we go! I will NOT be putting one big post because I don't want your guys' brains to be overloaded and have them melt out of your ears. For that would be messy. SO! What I shall be doing will be updating at least once every two days of some stories (that really crazy and cool!) and what is happening in Spain and what is happening in my life! Along with some other stuff. Like cotton candy. Except I don't really like cotton candy... So like turtles. Because they're awesome. Anypoodle! I will be updating, so keep your eyes peeled (please not literally)!

Learning, Learning, Learning!

So it would seem as though I need to write some more stuff on this here blog of mine. This is something that I shall do then. As I'm writing this, I am realizing that you guys will be reading this and wondering to yourself, "Is this guy bloody crazy?! We can't see into his mind, nor are reading what he's typing as he's typing it." This is a correct accusation, I am crazy for typing it like I am. But! If you guys just had super powers, then this would be a lot less awkward. Now onto what happened in the last week.

A lot happened.

The end.

That's basically the truth, but I'm going to try to sum it up as best as I can. First order of things, my asthma acted up and I had no inhaler. Hooray! Luckily it only last about an hour of me coughing non-stop. What brought on the asthma attack you say? Well all the leaders at the base thought it would be fun to take us through an obstacle course. At first, I was very excited for it. I've always liked obstacle courses, with all the challenges that have to be overcome to get to the end and all that jazz. Except they took us on one of the hottest days ever. It was probably like 35-40℃ outside that day which I thought I would be able to handle. Except here in Spain, it's hot for a lot longer than it is over in Canada. So it was super dry outside. Plus! The obstacle course was in a desert-like setting. So it was very dusty. With all of the dust built up from 3 other people going before I did, it really sucked. It felt like my chest was going to explode. When I was doing the obstacle course, they kept on making up the rules as it went along. So I would come up to an obstacle and I thought I knew what I was doing, but, oh, how wrong I was. I would have to start over and try it again and again. That sucked. Then there was a suspension bridge made of rope that we had to cross for the last obstacle. I thought, "I've done these before! Piece of cake!" Again, I was so wrong. They were shaking the bridge so much, that I had to lay on one side of the railing and drag myself along. This resulted in a lot of rope burns all across my back and my armpit. So, in the end, I was really sore and barely learned anything of the lesson they were trying to teach because I was too busy coughing my lungs up. Hooray!

Now I probably could've summarized that a lot better, but I really wanted to get across what an adventure it was for me. Now onto the next thing on list, what I learned this week. It's a lot, so I'm gonna do my best to just hit the main points that made an impact in my life.

In the first couple of days, my head was ready to explode from everything that I was taking in. I didn't have enough RAM to process exactly what I was receiving. Yet even though I was having such a hard time at coping with all the knowledge I was getting, out came a lesson. Patience! God was trying to teach me to be patient. That He is always going to be able to provide me with an answer to the questions or troubles that I will go through in life. So instead of me trying to rush towards the end of it all, that I should really look at the process and focus on how I am dealing with the challenges in life. This concept was given to me: "Take care of the possible. God will handle the impossible." This also goes along with: "God isn't going to do what you are able to do." With those two concepts in hand, I was then able to focus on the individual steps that I had to do to understand and decipher what I was receiving.

Hopefully that last paragraph made sense. The next most important thing that happened, was that God's hand isn't moved by our faith. It's by His love for us that things are put into place. We can't think that if we pray with such power, with such faith that what we are praying for, be it healing or provision, will happen. If God doesn't want it to happen, it's not going to happen. Menstruation (aka period). So we have to come to Him first, our Father, and ask Him for guidance. If someone comes to us saying that they have cancer, and we just automatically start praying for healing and all this stuff that sounds super powerful. If God doesn't want them to be healed, they aren't gonna receive healing. Which will then only bring upon depression in our walk with Him, along with guilt and all of this other crap. So instead, we must seek Him first. Ask Him, "We don't know how to pray, Father. Please give us guidance as to what to do in this time of need." That also put to rest a lot of stuff in my mind.

So that is that! Another week down and a lot of stuff has been soaked up. My knowledge is growing and so is my relationship with Jesus, but not only Him. With everyone here at the YWAM base and other relationships back home. This is a long blog post and I tried my best to summarize. Hopefully it makes sense, please comment with feedback. With that, I bid you farewell till next time!

Starting to Settle?

So another week goes by and another set of adventures arose. I went to yet another absolutely beautiful monumental area in Cáceres. They were doing some construction making a pathway for tourists (would've been nice if we had it) and they were also doing some restoration work on one of the buildings. Other than that, everything was stunning. There was a giant statue of someone (never got any confirmation on who it was), and I'm pretty sure that I captured a photo of it but I'm not sure. If any of you haven't been seeing the photos on my facebook profile, I'll just tell you to go and look at them because putting a link just makes it too easy for you (which is an inconvenience for me) and I'm pretty sure that everyone who is looking at this blog is already a friend of mine on facebook. So suck it up, I'm not putting a link on here. Now onto a description of the buildings I saw!

There is a prison that is out here and it's actually fairly big. I was surprised to find one out here at all, let alone being so massive. Again, I'm pretty sure I took a picture of it, so go check out my facebook page. There is also a university out here and is it ever massive! The campus spans for probably 50 kilometres. I was amazed when I was first told that that was the university campus. Maybe it would be fun to go to a school that is that large, but I mean, could you imagine if the blueprints for that place said that the cafeteria, with all of it's glorious juice from God's nipple (aka coffee), was placed right in the middle. Sure, super awesome for any building that lies around it, but if you were in a building that was right on the edge of the campus, going that far would be a pain in the ass. Especially if you are like me and want coffee all through out the day. Not that I actually drink that much coffee (it's actually tea right now), but it just goes to show that a campus of that magnitude doesn't seem very logical. But I've never been to university, so don't listen to me. Which means this paragraph is null and void, so don't read it. Sorry I couldn't save you the time.

This next section will be a little more spiritual, so if you don't want to read it, I can't stop you. But I would like to encourage you to read it because you've already made it this far, might as well finish. 

So I have always been a christian throughout my entire life, but I've struggled with religion. Religion is something that always brings up great controversy and with good reason. This is why I no longer say that I have a 'religion'. I like to call it a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is having a friendship with someone who I can share absolutely everything with and not be afraid that I will have condemnation or damnation, for that matter. Youth With A Mission (YWAM) believes in exactly the same thing. We had this teacher come out from Chile this past week and my initial thought was, "Oh great, an older guy coming to bring some 'words of wisdom' that I'm not going to listen to or care about." Yet, as the very first lesson came about, it was clear that this wasn't going to be a normal old guy preacher. He really had a love for discovering new things and being completely open to them. He also said some very harsh things that really opened my eyes and I was glad that he had the courage to say them amongst everyone else. I wrote down pretty much everything he said (mainly because the booklet he gave me was in Spanish, so I couldn't understand anything that was in it) and it was all very well thought out. 

I also had a conversation with Cody (miss having these awesome conversations with you) about how missionaries will go to a place, do some good work like building a school, but will not have anyway of sustaining it. So I came to this YWAM base thinking that I should maybe try and talk to them about this and see what is going to happen on our outreach (missions trip). Yet they seemed to know that they have to sustain what they create in a third-world country because they have a project in Africa that will be in place for many, many months. So this brought renewal to my heart that my missions trip will not be for naught. That it will have a long lasting purpose. 

So! This has been quite a long blog and I don't really want to read it over to make sure that all of my thoughts are in order, so if they aren't, comment and say something so that I can either change it or just not.

First freakin' week!

You know what’s the best part about travelling alone?

Nothing.

I have had one of the most interesting weeks of my entire life! Interesting, in this case, is a bad thing. First, I arrive at the Toronto airport with maybe about 0 minutes left to get to my next flight. I have never run so fast in my life.

Second, I go through all my other connecting flights and arrive in Madrid, Spain. I walk over to the luggage claim area, feeling pretty happy for making it here, and I wait for my luggage. One hour passes and there is no sight of my luggage. Fun? You betcha! I then had to put in a complaint and they tracked my bag and all that jazz.

Third, I arrive at my destination in Caceres, Spain. Getting off the train, I find Natio (who was picking me up) and we drive down to the school. I meet everyone at the school and eat some supper, walk up to my room, empty my pockets and guess what I don’t have? My wallet! Hoooooooooooly craaaaaaaaaaap! This is the point where I lost my mind. I broke down crying (really tired from all the flying and everything) and we search everywhere for it. So we phone the train station and they are closed. Woohoo! *Insanely unimpressed face*

Continuing on through the week, I find my wallet and my suitcase arrives in under a day. Hooray? Nope. About three days into the week, one of the students (Marina) gets a really bad stomachache. No biggy, right? Wrong. She ends up throwing up about three times in the night and the other girl (Amélie) ends up getting sick the very next day. I’m feeling sorry for them, wanting them to get better and everything, and then all of a sudden I have an urge to run to the toilet and throw up all of my lunch. Hooray… So I probably up-chucked about 10 times that day. Plus I had diarrhea, an insanely terrible stomachache and massive headaches/disorientation.

So that’s the life of the Exciting Spaniard so far! At least I am living up to the name…

The Beginning

In the beginning, there was Jack Reggin. Now he is the Excited Travelling Spaniard!
This is just going to be place where I am going to post updates about how my adventures in Spain and some where in Africa are going. You may follow me or whatever you do on Blogger, to always be able to look at these exciting posts. They may a little lengthy at times, but I shall always try to entertain!