Well it’s been a while since I’ve updated so I’m going to do a couple of posts so as to split of the different topics.
I’m going to start with more details as to how Calcutta came to be the destination. Let’s begin back when I was still a young lad. I remember hearing a story about a man who travelled to Calcutta India to volunteer at Mother Teresa’s house of the Dying destitute. The story that he told was that of a dyeing baby who would not stop crying no matter what they did for it. The baby was taken in by the lepers who were used to the wailing of people in agony. WOW! I remember even that that this would be a place worth visiting. From there the desire to go to India would not surface for some years. During the DTS that I did I read a book about a guy and his prayer life. During his walk he felt prompted to pray for a country that he had no connection with, Bulgaria I believe it was. Eventually that man smuggled bibles into that same country. In response to reading about this I asked God if there was a country that he wanted me to pray for. I felt that if there was one then it was India. A few days after I got this impression I received an e-mail from my mother regarding someone she had heard speaking about India. Furthermore, she mentioned that although she’d never had a desire to go there she now thought that it might be a place of interest for her. “hmmmm” I thought, “Interesting how God works. Could this be coincidence? I THINK NOT!”
Next, I was reading the book Irresistible Revolution in which the author describes his experience in Calcutta living with the poorest of the poor alongside the lepers. From this I could not help but desire once again to go and experience it myself. And so, as I had this desire I climbed Mt Iron in Wanaka NZ. During the climb I would stop both to rest and to take in the view knowing that it would be even better from the top.
At last I arrived at the summit of the mountain and was sad to see the clouds rolling in as fog to obscure the view. As sad as that was not to be able to see the view, I felt that it was symbolic of my life. I was unable to see what direction that I was supposed to go in. At this time I began to sing and worship God as Lord and King. I knew that I was not wearing enough layers to stay warm without moving around vigorously, and with the fog, the added moisture would make me cold even faster. Despite this, I persisted to wait for instruction and heard this. “Take off your sandals for the ground you are on his holy ground.” That’s what Moses heard when he first encountered the burning bush. SO I decided to obey, and I took off my socks and boots and kept praying and worshiping. Which, when I already felt unprotected from the elements seems stupid to take off what protection I was wearing. However during the entire experience I neither felt cold no wet. And then BAM! I felt the impression “How about Calcutta?” So I replied with “How about Calcutta!” and so I am on my way to Calcutta!
On his way to Calcutta,
Matt Clarke
Go Big or Go Home!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
A New Direction
So, updating time.
I did NOT get the job as a snowboard instructor on Treble Cone (TC). The hiring clinic was an intense 4 day rider improvement, teaching improvement and audition for a position. Unfortunately for me there were some well and good riders and teachers in the group. Enough of them were better than myself that they got the positions and not me. I must say that I think my riding has not improved as much as it did over the past 4 or five days since I spent the season riding everyday while working at Grouse. I am definitely planning on taking this and other clinics in the future to improve my riding.
For now? This is a huge set back as far as living in Wanaka goes. There are very VERY few jobs here, as likely there are very few everywhere. I do not have a seasons pass for any of the mountains, if I did I would e set to live and ride all day everyday. But I do not. I also asked God that if this was where I am to be that I receive the job through the clinic. Since I did not I am feeling right now that I should be moving on.
Where should I go? What should I do? Well that's been the theme of my thoughts over the past few days. Today I climbed a mountain to seek God's face and his plan. I think that I have found it. I'm going to go to Calcutta India to Mother Thereasa's House of the Destitute and the Dying. I remember hearing stories about people who go to help out for a time and extreme things happen. During the DTS, India came up for me as something to pray for. The book I am currently reading, the author went to Calcutta to try to understand the poor that he might understand poverty. I have the time, I'm pretty sure I have the resources and who needs more than that?
...I don't know what else to say...It should be amazing, God always is.
Go Big or Go Home!
I did NOT get the job as a snowboard instructor on Treble Cone (TC). The hiring clinic was an intense 4 day rider improvement, teaching improvement and audition for a position. Unfortunately for me there were some well and good riders and teachers in the group. Enough of them were better than myself that they got the positions and not me. I must say that I think my riding has not improved as much as it did over the past 4 or five days since I spent the season riding everyday while working at Grouse. I am definitely planning on taking this and other clinics in the future to improve my riding.
For now? This is a huge set back as far as living in Wanaka goes. There are very VERY few jobs here, as likely there are very few everywhere. I do not have a seasons pass for any of the mountains, if I did I would e set to live and ride all day everyday. But I do not. I also asked God that if this was where I am to be that I receive the job through the clinic. Since I did not I am feeling right now that I should be moving on.
Where should I go? What should I do? Well that's been the theme of my thoughts over the past few days. Today I climbed a mountain to seek God's face and his plan. I think that I have found it. I'm going to go to Calcutta India to Mother Thereasa's House of the Destitute and the Dying. I remember hearing stories about people who go to help out for a time and extreme things happen. During the DTS, India came up for me as something to pray for. The book I am currently reading, the author went to Calcutta to try to understand the poor that he might understand poverty. I have the time, I'm pretty sure I have the resources and who needs more than that?
...I don't know what else to say...It should be amazing, God always is.
Go Big or Go Home!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
In Wanaka with God
Okay, let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. I am in Wanaka New Zealand and I’ve been here for 29 hours and I don’t really want to leave. Yeah, it’s that awesome. Today the weather’s not as good as yesterday and yesterday I didn’t take my camera out so you’ll just have to wait for photos and a couple new videos.
God’s awesome and he’s given me a really cool place to stay and some cool people to hang out with so far. Not to mention amazing trails and mountains to climb and a mountain bike to ride all over them. He’s also given me a phone to use so that work can contact me. That is they’ll be able to contact me once I get the job. I’m trusting that God will give me that too.
The Church that I want to connect with here is called Lighthouse Church and is geared around worship and young people. Could this be an intro into something bigger? For those who are unaware, because I haven’t told you, I’ve got an interesting new idea that will alter the course of my travels.
I am in the process of applying to the YWAM base in Davos Switzerland to join the team there as a Staff member for the Snowboarder DTS beginning in November. The commitment is 12 months, which could be split into two 6 month Snowboarder DTSs. It’s incredibly exciting to see God move and encourage me about this direction. I don’t know if I will be accepted or not, but sometimes it’s the journey and not the destination that counts eh?
And on that note I guess this is a good place to mention that I am seriously considering full time missions work. Where? And doing what? I have no idea. Someplace where I am needed and serving people, the rest God can take care of. Don’t worry too much, I’ll visit.
Cool story, a couple nights ago while laying in bed I had one of those moments, or maybe it was an epiphany, and it was about how awesome God really is. How awesome I that? SOOOO AWSOME! And then more. It was really cool to feel that.
Well, I won’t bore you with details, I’ll get a few videos uploaded in a couple days though and they’ll give you the details and entertain you.
Matt Clarke
Go Big or Go Home!
God’s awesome and he’s given me a really cool place to stay and some cool people to hang out with so far. Not to mention amazing trails and mountains to climb and a mountain bike to ride all over them. He’s also given me a phone to use so that work can contact me. That is they’ll be able to contact me once I get the job. I’m trusting that God will give me that too.
The Church that I want to connect with here is called Lighthouse Church and is geared around worship and young people. Could this be an intro into something bigger? For those who are unaware, because I haven’t told you, I’ve got an interesting new idea that will alter the course of my travels.
I am in the process of applying to the YWAM base in Davos Switzerland to join the team there as a Staff member for the Snowboarder DTS beginning in November. The commitment is 12 months, which could be split into two 6 month Snowboarder DTSs. It’s incredibly exciting to see God move and encourage me about this direction. I don’t know if I will be accepted or not, but sometimes it’s the journey and not the destination that counts eh?
And on that note I guess this is a good place to mention that I am seriously considering full time missions work. Where? And doing what? I have no idea. Someplace where I am needed and serving people, the rest God can take care of. Don’t worry too much, I’ll visit.
Cool story, a couple nights ago while laying in bed I had one of those moments, or maybe it was an epiphany, and it was about how awesome God really is. How awesome I that? SOOOO AWSOME! And then more. It was really cool to feel that.
Well, I won’t bore you with details, I’ll get a few videos uploaded in a couple days though and they’ll give you the details and entertain you.
Matt Clarke
Go Big or Go Home!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Roaming the North Island
Over the past week, since DTS graduation and commissioning, I’ve been working my way around the North Island. Auckland, Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellington. Now I begin heading south with a bit more purpose. I’ve got a few people to meet along the way, but then I’ll end up in Wanaka. Let’s hope that I can arrange some accommodation before I get there.
While in Wellington, a few mates from the DTS and I toured around on our own and visited some of the LOTR filming sites. For example, the Hobbit hideout when the nazgul approach them on the road in Fellowship. The quarry where Helms Deep Battle Scenes were done, the location where close ups were done on the Anduin river, and the gardens in Isengard. It was cool to see the exact locations where the filming happened, but as I have seen the landscape along the roads and in the wilderness I can’t help but dream about hiking through the hills and to top it off the LOTR sound tracks keep playing in my head.
Unfortunately those dreams of hiking will have to wait. Hitching and Snowboarding are first so long as Jesus remains the center of attention and doesn’t tell me to go elsewhere or do otherwise. Of course I’m going to meet up with a few people that I got to minister to while on outreach. I hope to spend a day in Christchurch locating a guy from the street that we got to talk to. And another day in Picton with a guy from the church that we chilled at.
No idea what else to write. It’s been fun here, and there’s more to come.
While in Wellington, a few mates from the DTS and I toured around on our own and visited some of the LOTR filming sites. For example, the Hobbit hideout when the nazgul approach them on the road in Fellowship. The quarry where Helms Deep Battle Scenes were done, the location where close ups were done on the Anduin river, and the gardens in Isengard. It was cool to see the exact locations where the filming happened, but as I have seen the landscape along the roads and in the wilderness I can’t help but dream about hiking through the hills and to top it off the LOTR sound tracks keep playing in my head.
Unfortunately those dreams of hiking will have to wait. Hitching and Snowboarding are first so long as Jesus remains the center of attention and doesn’t tell me to go elsewhere or do otherwise. Of course I’m going to meet up with a few people that I got to minister to while on outreach. I hope to spend a day in Christchurch locating a guy from the street that we got to talk to. And another day in Picton with a guy from the church that we chilled at.
No idea what else to write. It’s been fun here, and there’s more to come.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
End of Outreach
The end? Who'd think something this awesome could come to an end? But alas, all good things must come to an end so that something even better can occur. This last and final week is called re-entry. Discussing how to close off a season as intense and incredible as the past five months.
Some people reading this are probably curious to know what happened during the past six weeks while I was out on outreach, but at the moment I’m not in the place where I can pt all of that into words. Finishing off a DTS does not mean that you’ve now got your entire life together, you do not know what tomorrow will bring or how you will respond to it. Finishing a DTS doesn’t make you a guru on how to live the perfect Christian life. What does finishing a DTS leave you with? Hope and confidence. I know that I can make a difference, I have already made a difference to people. Here looks like a good place to slip in an outreach story.
The first week and a half of outreach in Fiji, a number of the guys were involved in a construction team, fixing things around the village wherever we could help. With very limited supplies and tools, and the chill attitude of the people, we disbanded the team whose focus had been stairs. In the town of Koroko (sp?) there was a lady who’d had a stroke and had been unable to walk and get around for years. Once the physiotherapist on the outreach had worked with her she made a special request for the construction team to be reassembled for one last mission; to provide stairs that this Lady could walk again. For what you do not yet know is that the only form of stairs her house had, was a stump at each door as a step up. With inferior nails and tough as rock wood, we struggled with hand tools to get the stairs us. At the end of the day we put in a mean set of stairs. You know what? By the time we left that village, she’d gone from sitting around all day to walking on her feet with crutches, unassisted by anyone else for the first time in years. This woman’s name is Elanore, and God loves her so very much.
For those who know me you know that I didn’t often shed tears, well I tell you what; I do now and even typing this story out has brought tears to my eyes, and this is only the part of the story that I was involved with, there is much more.
I don’t feel like typing out more details about outreach at the moment but upon request I may do so.
Right now my heart turns to God and those wounds in my heart that he wants to heal that I am trying to keep hidden. Here’s the funny part, I don’t even know exactly what they are. These next four days are going to be amazing and then, well then I’ll be alone. The sixteen four staff and team leader shall all go our separate ways, some will go together for a while, but for the most part we’ll be apart from people we have been in constant connection with for five months straight and I am not looking forward to that. On the other hand, this season of my life is closing, and I move on to the next season knowing that God’s walking alongside me and eagerly waiting to show me something cool, and I’m going to have one response: THAT’S AWSOME!
So, I hope that it’s good for you to hear from me again. PLEASE, continue to let other people know about this blog if you think they’ll like it or not. I want to share what I’ve learned and experienced that I might encourage some of them.
This is matt clarke
Go Big or Go Home!
Some people reading this are probably curious to know what happened during the past six weeks while I was out on outreach, but at the moment I’m not in the place where I can pt all of that into words. Finishing off a DTS does not mean that you’ve now got your entire life together, you do not know what tomorrow will bring or how you will respond to it. Finishing a DTS doesn’t make you a guru on how to live the perfect Christian life. What does finishing a DTS leave you with? Hope and confidence. I know that I can make a difference, I have already made a difference to people. Here looks like a good place to slip in an outreach story.
The first week and a half of outreach in Fiji, a number of the guys were involved in a construction team, fixing things around the village wherever we could help. With very limited supplies and tools, and the chill attitude of the people, we disbanded the team whose focus had been stairs. In the town of Koroko (sp?) there was a lady who’d had a stroke and had been unable to walk and get around for years. Once the physiotherapist on the outreach had worked with her she made a special request for the construction team to be reassembled for one last mission; to provide stairs that this Lady could walk again. For what you do not yet know is that the only form of stairs her house had, was a stump at each door as a step up. With inferior nails and tough as rock wood, we struggled with hand tools to get the stairs us. At the end of the day we put in a mean set of stairs. You know what? By the time we left that village, she’d gone from sitting around all day to walking on her feet with crutches, unassisted by anyone else for the first time in years. This woman’s name is Elanore, and God loves her so very much.
For those who know me you know that I didn’t often shed tears, well I tell you what; I do now and even typing this story out has brought tears to my eyes, and this is only the part of the story that I was involved with, there is much more.
I don’t feel like typing out more details about outreach at the moment but upon request I may do so.
Right now my heart turns to God and those wounds in my heart that he wants to heal that I am trying to keep hidden. Here’s the funny part, I don’t even know exactly what they are. These next four days are going to be amazing and then, well then I’ll be alone. The sixteen four staff and team leader shall all go our separate ways, some will go together for a while, but for the most part we’ll be apart from people we have been in constant connection with for five months straight and I am not looking forward to that. On the other hand, this season of my life is closing, and I move on to the next season knowing that God’s walking alongside me and eagerly waiting to show me something cool, and I’m going to have one response: THAT’S AWSOME!
So, I hope that it’s good for you to hear from me again. PLEASE, continue to let other people know about this blog if you think they’ll like it or not. I want to share what I’ve learned and experienced that I might encourage some of them.
This is matt clarke
Go Big or Go Home!
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