I made it through NIKO!!!

————-ENGLISH AND PICTURES BELOW—————

———————PILDID ALLPOOL———————-

Tereee

DTSi teine nädal ongi juba läbi.. aeg lendab kui superman (supermees/superkangelane)  läbi pimeda öö. See nädal oli veidi teistsugune, kuna meil oli NIKO treeningprogramm vms. Jeei. See oli ülilahe. Ma väga soovitan NIKOt kõigile! Väike lühikokkuvõte sellest, mis NIKO on (näppasin selle YWAM Latvia – Läti – kodulehelt):

„NIKO tuleb kreekakeelsest sõnast „ületama“ ja just see ongi see, mis on NIKO sisu! NIKO on 5-päevane metsikus looduses juhtimise treeningprogamm, kus osalejad astuvad vastu ekstreemsetele väljakutsetele ja avastavad endas oskusi ja omadusi, mille olemasolust nad ei olnud teadlikud, seistes silmitsi erinevate väljakutsetega. Õppimiskeskkond on vabas õhkkonnas, see on just kui eluõpe. NIKO keskendub töötamisele tiimina, juhiks olemisele ja enda piiride ületamisele, avastades, et suudad teha rohkem kui arvasid.“

Niisiis, nüüd sa tead, mida ma eelmisel nädalal tegin. Jällenägemiseni järgmisel korral!

Okeiokei, Ma jagan natuke rohkem, kui sa tõesti tahad. Või palju rohkem, kui sa pahaks ei pane.

Antud postituses kirjutan ma, kuidas ma tundsin end enne NIKOt, mida ma õppisin, kuidas Jumal puudutas mu südant (mõned lahedad lood ka, sa ei taha neist ilma jääda) ja kuidas ma tunnen end pärast NIKO lõppu. Lisaks, lihtsalt sulle informatsiooniks, sel nädalal oli meie õpetaja (ja samas ka sõber) Jeff Nelson, kes on NIKO isa põhimõtteliselt ja kelle jaoks oli see 80. NIKO. Aga nüüd tagasi teema juurde. Võinoh, see oli ka seotud teemaga. Aga igatahes, tagasi teema juurde.

Enne NIKOt

Enne kui NIKO oli alanud, olin ma üsna hirmul. Meile öeldi, et me läheme metsa elama mõneks ajaks ja et me ületame ennast.  Mul olid mõned hirmud/küsimused nagu kus me magame, kas me magame lihtsalt muru peal ilma telgita, kuidas ma vetsus käin, kuidas ma ilma pesemiseta hakkama saan, ma ju haisen siis, kas keegi teeb lahedaid pilte, mida saab hiljem meenutades vaadata, ega need väljakutsed liiga rasked ole mu jaoks, kas ma suudan oma hirmudele vastu astuda jne. Ma olen käinud varem telkimas, seega ma polnud superhirmul, aga siiski natukene, kuna mul oli nii palju küsimusi peas ja 0 vastust. Inimestele üldiselt ei meeldi teadmatus ja minuga on sama lugu. Meil tekivad igasugused hirmud, kui me ei tea, mida oodata.

Muideks, mul on üks lahe vihik, mille ma sain oma EC (english camp – inglise keele vms laager) ameeriklastest sõpradelt paar aastat tagasi. Mitmed inimesed on kirjutanud esimestele ja viimastele lehtedele, et julgustada mind. Leidus üks neiu, kes kirjutas aga vihiku keskele ja ma avastasin selle alles paar päeva enne NIKOt. Seal oli kirjutatud: „Ole tugev ja usaldama Jumalat. Ta on alati olemas sinu jaoks ja Ta alati kaitseb sind –Sabrina.“  NIKO esimesel hommikul enne, kui lahkusime oma mugavast majast, lugesin ma oma Piiblit ja kui avasin vihiku, üllatus üllatus, järg oli just seal maal, kus oli kirjutatud Sabrina lause. Sellest sai armas meeldetuletus igal NIKO hommikul, et ma ei ole üksi. Ja isegi, kui ma olin üsna hirmul enne NIKOt, siis NIKO sissejuhatuse ajal kadus see hirm ja mul tekkis tunne, et sellest tuleb midagi head ja ma polnud enam nii frustreeritud teadmatuse tõttu.

Mida ma siis õppisin NIKO ajal? Siin on mõned minu märkmed:

1. Kui on lihtne, ole tänulik. Kui on raske, ole ikka tänulik. Jumal ei ole nagu viimane õlekõrs, kui kõik läheb halvasti. Lase Jumalal elada oma südames 24/7, mitte ainult aegadel, kui vajad Tema abi.
2. Kõik, millest sa kinni hoiad ja mis ei lase sul alistuda Jumalale, on ajutine, aga Jumal on igavene.
3. Sinu valikud mõjutavad inimesi su ümber.
4. Iga kehaosa on oluline, iga osa on võrdselt väärtuslik. (1Korintlaste 12:12-27) Igal osal on oma roll kanda ja miski pole ebaoluline. Jeff tõi näite, kuidas ta hiljuti vigastas oma sõrme ja ta arvas, et see on lihtsalt sõrm, seega ta ei pööranud tähelepanu sellele. Aga samas oli kõike tal raskem teha, kui tavaliselt ja ta sõrm justkui karjus „Tegele minuga, Jeff, ma olen vigastatud!“. Nagu igal kehaosal on oma ülesanne, nii on ka igal inimesel siin maailmas oma roll täita ja igaüks on oluline.
5. Kõik on parem, kui sa oled osa tiimist ja mõndasid asju sa ei saa teha ilma tiimita. Ja mis kõige tähtsam – kutsu Jumal oma tiimi.
6. Kiireim viis näidata austust kellegi suhtes – kuula teda tähelepanelikult.
7. Teenimine on südamehoiak.
8. Teeni inimesi kogu oma südamega, nagu sa teeniksid Jumalat. (Efeslaste 6:7)
9. Miks me laseme oma hirmudel valitseda meie elus, kui Jumal on palju suurem kui kõik me hirmud?
10. Hea juht toob välja parima oma grupiliikmetes. Vaata inimesi samasuguse pilguga nagu Jumal neid vaatab – kui imelisi meistriteoseid, kellele on antud palju andeid Jumala poolt.

Kuidas Jumal puudutas mu südant + lahedad lood

Igal päeval olid meil mitmed väljakutsed, mida ületada ja millest õppida, kui suur on meie Jumal ja kui oluline on meeskkonnatöö. Jumal saab kasutada teisi inimesi, et olla üksteisele abiks. Ta lõi inimesed meie ümber põhjusega. Nad julgustavad meid, on heaks eeskujuks ja aitavad üle saada rasketest aegadest. Oli hetki, kus ma olin nii uhke oma tiimi ja meeskonnatöö üle, et ma tundsin, et hakkan kohe rõõmust nutma. Ma olin lihtsalt nii hämmastunud oma inimestest.

Ühel päeval Jeff küsis meilt, mis on üks asi, millest me peaksime loobuma, et alistuda Issandale. Kui ma mõtlesin sellele, tuli mul mõte, et ma peaksin usaldama Jumalat rohkem. Mul on see mõte olnud varemgi, näiteks siis, kui ma töötasin palju, et koguda raha siiatulekuks, aga Jumal ütles mulle, et ma pole üksi ja ma ei peaks püüdma hakkama saada omast jõust. Tol ajal töötasin ma 4l töökohal (ühel neist tegelt vaid korra, niiet põhimõtteliselt 3l töökohal) ja ma olin enda jaoks avastanud ka Goworkabiti ja kasutasin seda võimalikult palju. Jumal aga tuletas mulle meelde, et ma usaldaksin Teda rohkem ja annaksin end Talle täielikult, et imed saaksid juhtuda. Kui me lugesime raamatut „Oled see tõesti Sina, Jumal?“, siis selles raamatus inimesed pidevalt küsisid Jumalalt üle, kas need mõtted, mis neil on, on ikka Jumalalt. Niisiis ma tegin sama ja küsisin Jumalalt. Kui ma avasin Piibli, peatus mu silm Matteuse 21:22, mis ütleb „Ja kõike, mida te iganes palves palute uskudes, seda te saate.” See oli kinnitus mulle, et antud mõte oli tõesti Temalt ja et ma peaksin usaldama Teda palju rohkem läbi palve.

Veel üks asi, mida ma mõistsin NIKO ajal, oli, et mõnikord peame me unustama, mida me ise tunneme, kui grupis on inimesi, kellel on palju raskem ja kes seisavad parasjagu vastu oma hirmudele ja vajavad kedagi enda kõrvale toetama. Kui mul oli võimalus olla grupijuht, õppisin ma, kui oluline on märgata kõiki grupiliikmeid ja kuidas nad ennast tunnevad olukorras ja missugust tuge nad parasjagu vajavad. Isegi, kui ka minu jaoks polnud ülesanne emotsionaalselt väga lihtne, pidin ma olema tugev teiste jaoks ja ma kogesin, kuidas mõelda suuremalt ja tagada kõikidele turvaline olemine ja teadmine, et nad on osa tiimist.

Kuigi Jumal õpetas mulle nii palju NIKO ja teiste inimeste kaudu, oli üks olukord, mis tõeliselt hämmastas mind. Me olime üsna eksinud ja olnud tihti olukordades, kus pidime otsustama, millist teed valida. Ma tundsin, nagu Jumal tahaks öelda meile „Kui te ei taha minult abi paluda, siis ma annan teile palju valikuid mitmel korral, et te lõpuks alla annaksite ja küsiksite minult, kuhu te peaksite minema.“ Niisiis, lõpuks pärast mitmeid otsuseid me andsime alla ja otsustasime Jumalalt abi küsida. Üks tiimiliikmetest sai kirjakoha, mis alguses oli segadusse ajav, kuna me ei teadnud kõikide sõnade tähendusi seal. Siis aga miski (või rohkem nagu keegi) ütles mulle, et ma peaksin avama oma eestikeelse Piibli, et aru saada, mida Jumal tahab meile öelda. Pärast eestikeelse versiooni lugemist leidsime, et kirjas on põhimõtteliselt kaks märki, mida peaksime otsima ja kui me leidsime mõlemad märgid, mis juhatasid meid õigesse kohta, olime me nagu.. wow..miks me varem ei küsinud.

Jeff on imeline inimene. Ta lihtsalt teab, mida öelda erinevatele inimestele ja mida küsida. Jällegi sain selguse tema küsitud küsimuse kaudu. Ta küsis, miks me (mina) teenime teisi. Pärast mõnda aega mõtlemist ma mõistsin, et me teenima teisi inimesi, et näidata Jumala armastust nende vastu. Mäletate lugu mehest esimesel nädalal, kus John küsis endalt: „Kas mul on õigus lõigata ära Jumala käed, kui Ta tahab näidata oma armastust kellegi vastu minu kaudu?“? Sellega on sama lugu. Me ei teeni inimesi, et saada neilt midagi või näidata, kui lahked ja toredad me oleme (vähemalt see ei tohiks olla meie eesmärk). Vaid me teenime teisi inimesi, et näidata neile, kui väga Jumal neid armastab.

Pärast NIKOt

Nagu ma juba alguses mainisin, NIKOs on palju teadmatust, aga läbi paljude väljakutsete ja teadmatuse, ma ei kõhelnud enam valida teadmatut teed, kuna ma teadsin, et kui ma sain läbi kõigest läbielatust, siis miski pole võimatu. Kui meilt küsiti teha midagi enne, kui me teadsime, millega on tegu, siis ma ei mõelnud isegi mitte 2 sekundit, et öelda jah, kuna ma sain NIKOst midagi väga olulist: teadmise, et ma ei pea teadma, mis on tulemas, sest ma tean, et ma saan hakkama kõigega koos Jumalaga, kes on alati koos minuga.

Lisaks, ma nägin suuremat potentsiaali endas teha asju, mida ma arvasin, et ei tee kunagi ja ma mõistsin, kui hea tiim meil on DTSis. Kui ma peaks NIKOt uuesti tegema, siis ma teeksin seda, sest ma usaldan oma tiimi ja Jumal on meie tiimis.

Lõpp.

Selle postituse lõpp.

Vabandust, et ma nii palju kirjutasin seekord, ma lihtsalt ei suutnud end vaos hoida. Ja kes lugesid kõik algusest lõpuni – õnnitlused teile, ma olen väga uhke teie üle.

Õnnistusi

Silja

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Hellouu

Second week of DTS is already over.. time is flying like a superman. This week was a little bit different because we had NIKO course. Yaay. It was awesome. I really recommend it to everybody! Here’s a little conclusion about what NIKO generally is (I took it from YWAM Latvia home page):

„NIKO comes from the Greek word “to overcome,” and that’s what NIKO is all about! NIKO is a five-day wilderness leadership training program where participants step out and discover more about who they are when faced with extreme challenges.

The learning environment is the great outdoors, the “classroom of life.” NIKO focuses on working as a team, being a leader, and pushing yourself beyond limits you thought you could never overcome.“

So, now you know what I was doing last week. See you next week!

Okayokay, I will share a little bit more if you really want. Or a lot more if you don’t mind.

In this post I will write how I felt before NIKO, what I learned, how God touched my heart (some cool stories as well, you don’t want to miss them) and how I feel after NIKO was done. Also, for your information, this week our teacher (and a friend) was Jeff Nelson who is the father of NIKO and for who this was 80th NIKO.  But now back to the topic. Well that was also related to the topic. But anyways, back to the topic.

Before NIKO

Before NIKO had started, I was pretty scared. We were told that we will be living in the forest and we will push our limits beyond our limits. I had some fears/questions like where are we living, do we sleep just on the ground, how I’m gonna go to bathroom, how I’m gonna live without shower, is there somebody making cool pictures, are those challenges way too hard for me, will I manage to overcome all of my fears etc. I have been camping before so I wasn’t like super scared but still a little because there were so many questions and zero answers. People generally don’t like the unknown and it was the same with me. It makes us being afraid when we don’t know what is coming.

By the way, I have a very cool notebook which I got from my EC (english camp) american friends few years ago. Many people had written on the first and last pages of it just to give me some encouragement. There was one person who wrote in the middle of my notebook and I discovered it few days before NIKO. There was written „Stay strong and trust the Lord. He is always there for you and He will always protect you -Sabrina.“ In the NIKO first morning before leaving our comfortable house, I read my Bible and opened the notebook to write down some things and suprise suprise – It was excactly that place where I had this note written. It was a lovely reminder every morning at NIKO that I’m not alone. And even though many days before NIKO I was quite afraid, then when we had a little introduction to NIKO, I had a good feeling that it was going to be something good and I wasn’t so frustrated about the unknown anymore.

So what did I learn at NIKO? Here are some notes:

1. If it’s easy, give thanks. If it’s hard, still give thanks. God is not like the last option we have when everything goes wrong. Let God live in your heart 24/7 not just at those times when you need His help.
2. All the things we are holding on (and don’t want to surrender to God because of those things), are temporary, but God is eternal.
3. The choices you make, affect people around you.
4. Every part of the body is important, every part is equally valuable. (1 Cor 12:12-27) Every part has their own role to play and nothing is unimportant. Jeff give an example of how he recently hurt his finger and he thought that it’s just a finger and so he didn’t pay attention to that. But it was harder to do everything when the finger was hurt and it was like screaming „Fix me Jeff, I’m hurt!“. Like every part of the body has its role, also every person in this world has their role and everyone is important.
5. Everything is better when you have a team and there are some things that you can’t do without having a team. And what is the most important – you need God to be in your team as well.
6. Quickest way to show honor to somebody – listen.
7. Serving is attitude of heart.
8. Serve with all your heart as you are serving the Lord (Ephesians 6:7)
9. Why do we let our fears control our lives when we have so big God? He is bigger than all our fears.
10. True leader brings the best out of their team members. Look at people the way God is looking at them – they are truly amazing masterpieces with many gifts from God.

How God touched my heart + cool stories

Every day we had many challenges from which we could overcome and learn how big is our God and also how important is teamwork. God can use people to help each other. He created other people around us for purpose. They are encourageing us, being good examples and helping us to get over difficult times. There were times when I was so proud of my team and our teamwork that I was even feeling like crying out of joy. I was just so amazed of the people.

One day Jeff asked us what is one thing that we have to give up to surrender to the Lord. When I was thinking about it, I had a thought in my mind that I should trust Him more. I have had this thought before as well, when I was working hard to get the money for coming here but God told me that I’m not alone and I should not try to do it alone because at this time I was working at 4 jobs (one of them just once actually so basically 3) and I also had discovered Goworkabit and used that as much as possible. So God reminded me that I should trust Him more and give Him all of me to see miracles happen. When we read the book „Is it really you, God?“ then people there all the time asked God about their thoughts to make sure their thoughts were from God. So I did the same and asked God. When I opened my Bible, my eye caught Matthew 21:22 which says „All things, whatever you will ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”. This was the confirmation for me that the thought I had, was from God because the scription is that I should ask more and trust Him through the answers.

Another thing what I realised was that sometimes we need to forget about how we are feeling when in the group there are people who are struggling a lot and who need someone to be beside them. When I had opportunity to be a leader, I learned how important it is to notice all the group members and notice how they are feeling in the situation and what kind of support they need. Although for me the task wasn’t emotionally easy, I had to be strong for others and I learned how be able to think wider and make everybody feel secure and noticed and that they are part of the team.

Altough God taught me so many things through NIKO and other people, there was one situation that truly amazed me. We were quite lost and we had many times situation where we had to decide which road to take. It felt kinda like God telling us „If you don’t want to ask me, then I will give you multiple options many times so you would finally give up and ask me the right way“. So, finally after many decisions we finally decided that it’s too much to handle and we decided to ask God. One of the team members got a scription which first was understandable for us because we didn’t know all the words in there but something (or more like someone) told me that I should open my estonian Bible and see what God is trying to tell us. After reading estonian version, there was written basically what signs should we look and when we found both of them that followed us to the right place I was just like.. wow.. why didn’t we ask God before.

Jeff is incredible person. He just knows what to tell to different people and what to ask. Again I got a big realisation through his question. He asked, why do we (I) serve. After thinking a while, I realised that we serve other people to express God’s love to them. Remember the story of that man from first week when John asked himself: „Do I have the right to cut off God’s hands when He wants to show His love to somebody through me?“ ? It’s the same thing. We don’t serve people to get something from them or to show how generous we are (at least this should not be our purpose). But we serve other people to show them how much God loves them.

After NIKO

Like I said in the beginning, there is a lot unknown in NIKO but through all the challenges and unknown, I didn’t hesitate to take the unknown because I knew that if I got through all of it then anything is possible. When we were asked to do something before knowing what it was, it didn’t even take me 2 seconds to say yes because I got something very important from NIKO: knowledge that I don’t have to know what is coming because I know that I can get through anything with God who is always with me.

Also, I saw bigger potential in me to do things that I thought I can never do and realised how good is our team in DTS. If I had to do NIKO again, I would do it because I trust my team and we have God in our team.

The end.

Of this post.

I’m sorry that I wrote so much this time, I just couldn’t handle myself. And for those who read everything – congratulations, I’m very proud of you.

Blessings

Silja