The kids...
This week has mostly been about adjusting to our new surroundings. The kids LOVE it here. They have so many kids to play with. The base director Reto and his wife Judy have 3 young children and there is a school from Italy using the facilities; they also have 3 kids. So basically the children spend the whole day playing together while me and another mom take turns watching them. Remy calls where the kids play "the party room."
We've been to the park twice with Remy and Micah. They have a small water feature there and Remy decided it would be a lot of fun to do a belly flop in it . . . fully clothed. Needless to say, we had to go back home at that point.
Micah loves all of the kiddie action going on around him. He tries to keep up and hates being in our room because he wants to go back and play with the kids. The other day he protested by not getting out of the stroller when we returned back to the room, so we just let him sit there for a long time.
The school...
Like I said, there is a school here from Italy. The couple running it is actually from England but live in Italy and run the YWAM there. The program is focused on ministry planting and event organizing with in the free-sports communities. (Free-sports are like skiing, snowboarding, BMX, surfing ect.) A lot of the people who are a part of these communities, or sub culture, are hurting and lost in drugs, alcohol and sex. The heart of the students in this school is to impact the free-sports sub culture with the love of Christ and show them that they can be free from all of the addictions in their lives.
The building where YWAM Davos is housed is actually an old hospital, (our room is on the 6th floor! Ha!). They rent part of the building for the school and the other part is rented out to ski bums in the winter. So picture having a Christian missionary school in the Animal House. It's insane here in the winter, the skiers and snowboarders are literally buying and selling drugs outside of the classroom door. Reto and Judy and the rest of the staff and students outreach as much as possible to these kids. After all, you have to put into action what you learn in class.
Adam and I have been helping the Italy school with cooking, cleaning up after meals and watching their children. That's kind of how it goes in YWAM, your kids are a part of everything you do.
On Monday, we'll have a meeting with Reto and go over expectations for our time here. We're excited.
Last nights' big commotion...
Yesterday we were having lunch with one of the students, Marcello from Holland, and we invited him to come on a hike with us. (Everyone has off on the weekends.) He said no thanks, that he planned to go for a hike later and summit the mountain right behind us, he'd be back for 6:30 dinner.
We left and went for a short hike and then to the park. The pictures at the bottom are from the hike.
Came back and had dinner, Marcello wasn't there. I did the dishes while the family went up to the room. I finished and said good night to Lisanne, the Italy school director. Still no Marcello.
This morning, come to find out, Marcello got stuck on the mountain and spent the night on a cliff! After he summitted the mountain he decided to take a different route back. He crossed a snow field and found a river to follow down but the river led to cliffs and he couldn't go any further. It was getting too dark to try and recross the snow field so he decided the safest thing was to stay put for the night and try to find another route down in the morning.
The poor guy slept on the side of a windy cliff in 34 degree weather in just a tee shirt!
Of course no one had any idea what had happened to him so Lisanne and her husband Phil called the police. They had police and a search and rescue helicopter out looking for him! For all anyone know he could have slipped and become injured and unable to come down.
Long story short, Marcello was able to find a way down and returned safely to the school in the morning. Thank you Jesus!
Lesson learned: Don't forget your cell phone and like momma always says, take your sweater with you.
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| Marcello showing us what happened to his pants on the way down. |
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| We're old and have kids. We hike on paved trails now. |
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| The next few are photos from our hike. |
