It's about 1:00 pm here in Switzerland, meaning that it is 7:00 am for most of you in the States. It's still so weird for me (Jake) to get used to this!  

Overall, we're having an amazing time.  The weather has been beautiful, and it has been a great chance for us to focus on growing individually and in our relationship.  Here are some of the highlights from our first "real" week of DTS...

Swiss Night - Early in the week we got to experience a bit of Swiss culture at the base.  This included a presentation on the culture, as well as bread, cheese, fondue, and many kinds of chocolate!

Loren Cunningham - The founder of YWAM spoke to us via webcam from the YWAM Base in Hawaii.  The base we are staying at (Lausanne) was the first base Loren founded in the 1970s.  He shared about how YWAM grew from a few people in our hotel to training nearly 30,000 missionaries annually.  For me, one of the biggest lessons was that when God calls you to do something, he often does not show you every step from beginning to end.  Typically, you must be content with only knowing the NEXT step.

Sickness - A flu/fever has been making its way around our base the past week, and I had it pretty bad from Wednesday to Saturday.  Lauren has stayed completely healthy throughout the week, which she attributes to her healthy diet!

Villars 24 Hour Race - One of the practical ways that we show God's love is volunteering in community events.  Villars (a local ski resort) hosted a 24 Hour Race from Saturday afternoon 

to Sunday afternoon.  Teams of racers had people pledge a certain dollar amount for each kilometer they complete.  Over 200,000 francs were collected to teach disabled people to discover the joy of skiing!

Our part in this was to maintain the race course and assist if there were any crashes.  Lauren's shift was from 5:00 am - 8:30 am, while mine was from 7:00 am  - 1:00 pm.  We didn't get a ton of sleep, but we did experience an amazing sunset/sunrise.  This picture is of us in front of a chalet (that we would like to have someday) in the mountains.

Class Time - Our teacher for the week was Mike Oman, who spoke on the "Father Heart of God."  We went through the book of Exodus, looking at how God led the Israelites out of Egypt, and revealed His nature to them.  It was very encouraging and reinforced many things we've learned in the past, but nothing too ground breaking.

Personally - On my end, I've been learning a lot about myself.  Most important is that I tend to keep myself WAY TOO BUSY, and busyness kills both joy and spiritual growth.  YWAM has been a lesson for me in slowing down.  I've also been re-reading "Mere Christianity," by C.S. Lewis.  One of the primary issues he covers is that of pride.  He claims that "It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began."  This past week I've been discovering the tip of the iceberg of how pride affects my life and actions.