.Home from Japan.

I am back home in Hood River now from spending this past snowboard season in Norikura, Japan. I can honestly say that going to Japan has been one of the best and most life changing experiences I have had so far. I cannot even begin to describe how awesome working at NORTHSTAR outdoor adventures (www.ridenorthstar.com) is to all of you, but to sum up the thousands of words and hundreds of stories I have in my head from the past 3 months into just a few sentences, I will say this; there were vast challenges, opportunities to grow, amazing new friends from around the world, loads of hard work and let's not forget my favorite part, snowboarding. So much snowboarding.... I have never been able to ride as much in one season as I did while in Norikura. I had so much fun and I wouldn't trade the experiences or friends from my time in Japan for anything.

Traveling and getting out of my comfort zone always open my eyes to what life is really supposed to be about. I feel so much more grounded now in the things that I want, and for the opportunities I know I have to effect people around me in positive ways. You should always be stoked on life. You should always have a fire and passion for the things you love, the people you love and the talents you are given. It's when we reach that place of complacency, that we start to fail, and lose sight of what we really want to do on this earth, and who we are meant to be. Life is about growing, and learning from past experiences. Never giving up or getting down about past mistakes, but looking forward with positivity about how many future successes we'll accomplish.

So, the short conclusion of my trip to Japan is this: life is what you make of it. We have opportunities every single day to learn, and be challenged and grow, but it's our choice to use the hindsights and the experiences (good and bad, failures and success') to become the individuals we desire to be. Live your passion. Share your love. Get stoked on life. Enjoy every moment, every smile, every laugh, hug and kiss. They are all irreplaceable gifts from above.

Hello everyone,
A much needed update from Japan. I just wanted to let you guys know how everything is going over here and how much has been happening. We have been super busy with camps all season. NORTHSTAR has been such an awesome place to grow and do ministry and humble yourself to really help out where you are needed, be that background stuff such as cleaning the whole lodge top to bottom or cutting up tons of potatoes and carrots and onions for curry dinner. Being an instructor has grown me in learning how to teach snowboarding in a very easy to understand way and through Burton's awesome LTR (Learn To Ride) program. My snowboarding has improved so much here, and I'm stoked to come home and be able to ride on Mt. Hood again.

Japan has rekindled the flame I have for snowboard ministry, and youth and just how important relationships with people are. They are so so so God given. I am more stoked than ever to go back home and start really working hard to do stuff for SFC Oregon and really get that ministry up and moving at a better rate, be that just me working on stuff, or anyone else who wants to get involved. I know God is going to use this to effect people's lives and I just feel that He is prompting me more and more to start this and stay committed to Him and to SFC and to really see a change in the Portland and Hood River areas for the Lord with this ministry. :) :) :)

Being here at NORTHSTAR has been very vital for me and the desires of my heart. So I thank God that He has given me this opportunity to serve in Japan as a way to grow in Him this season. I'm stoked on life again. I feel like my motives are daily being refined and purified and my life, has a true purpose and direction and faith that leads it once again. Over the past couple years, my life took some turns and I made some super selfish, super ugly decisions, but all that was necessary for me to grow and for my heart to be broken for Him again. I need Him to be my everything, and I finally feel like He's inside of me helping my heart to beat strong again, helping the roots of my tree to grow down deep into His love. It's awesome to know that all my past mistakes and failures are washed away, and I can simply rejoice in the fact that He has grace and mercy that are never ceasing, always there, and He is waiting til I say, "Lord, I'm sorry, please forgive me for all my past crap, and the bitterness I've had welling up in my heart" before He will drench me with His love and pour down his pure blood over my body, and wrap me with His arms of love, and never ever let me go. God is an amazing and awesome God who we are so so so priviledged to know and love.

Please Pray For:
My last two weeks here in Japan, for God to keep moving and for opportunities to talk to people here and for me to continue learning more and realizing just how much I've been growing here. It's been awesome.

Thank You for your support and love and prayers while I've been here. They mean so much to me.
~Sarah

.Takayama Day Trip.

Today we had a day off and we took a day trip to Takayama which is close to Gifu City Prefecture. It was awesome to get out of Norikura for the day and see a new Japanese town. I loved the traditional streets and we went to an awesome ramen noodle shop for lunch. I bought a few gifts for friends back home and sampled a few different varieties of sake. I also had soy sauce ice cream for the first time today and it was surprisingly super oishie (yummy). We had an awesome day off. :) And, it's snowing in Norikura, so more fresh powder tomorrow.

.Matsumoto Castle.

.Tokyo Trip.

Tokyo was an amazing trip. I loved this city. So, so, so cool. Seriously. :) LOVED IT!!!!!! If you ever get the chance to go to Tokyo you totally should. :)

.consumerism is such an ugly trend.

Seth just shared this link with me, you have to watch this:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

.so cool.

Oh man, so after dinner the group did skits before we had discussion time and they were super funny. Good entertainment, and then they did this skit of a group of people walking past a chair that says "DO NOT TOUCH" so all of them walk past the chair, then one girl goes back takes the sign tosses it away and touches the chair, and he hand gets stuck, like super glue, then to try to remove her stuck hand, she puts her other hand on the chair, but this hand also gets stuck, then she takes her leg to try to pry her hands off, but now her leg is stuck to the side of the chair, one of her friends walks back by, and sees that she's stuck so he tries to help her without touching the chair, but he can't seem to get her free, so he goes to his friends and they say they'll say a prayer for her. So they start praying and her foot comes loose, then they start praying and her hand comes loose, and they keep praying and praying but her last hand won't come loose, until she has faith to pray as well. So after she prays her last hand comes loose.... the gist being the metaphor of Adam and Eve with the tree of knowledge... and the discussion questions were all based on this skit.... such as "What might that "DO NOT TOUCH" sign be in your life?" and "Why do you think that the girl couldn't get her last hand free until she started to pray?" etc... (This is all in Japanese mind you, and people one English girl was translating for me so I wasn't totally lost). So, then after everyone answered the questions, the leader of the group was trying to tie everything together, with the point of the evening and you know those awkward pauses and just like... you get done, but don't know what to say next.... yes those moments.... well one of those happened in our group and for whatever reason, my heart started beating super fast, and I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me to share my testimony with them.... so without hesitation I just started sharing my story, piece by piece, and Joyce was translating for me from English into Japanese, and by the time I was done 3 out of the 5 people in the group were in tears, one girl was totally bawling, and I continued to share how much God has done in my life and why I came to N* and how much God desires to love and be a part of their lives (2 of the 5 people were not Christians) and just how much he cares for each and every one of them, and how He will seek you out, and we can run as long as we want to, but ultimately the only thing that will ever truly fulfill us and truly mean absolutely everything and make us completely whole is God. And I usually talk really fast, and don't make a lot of sense when I'm nervous, but tonight I felt like the Holy Spirit was doing everything and really speaking through me and giving me the words to say... it was so amazing. Then after all the groups were done, Joyce asked me to stay and pray with Ayumi (the girl who was bawling) and she told me how much those words meant to me and how she felt like God had spoken to her through my story, because her past was so similar, and it was so good to pray with her. WOW.... I still feel totally awestruck with what happened tonight... so amazing, God is so good. Today was seriously the best day I've had at N* yet.. in terms of the Spirit moving and God using me here.... so cool.