Boarders DTS - The Beginning

Time flies while you're travelling abroad and it simply couldn't be anymore true here at Eagle Rock near Denver, Colorado. I've only been away for 9 days, yet it feels like months. Life here is good. Comfy beds in dormitories, three tasty meals a day, a beautiful location tucked in the Rockies, 22 other students all striving towards the same goal, and of course, two days a week living it up on the mountains of Colorado snowboarding.

The Beginning. 

It all started with one super sweaty airplane ride into Denver. Thankfully it was only two and a half hours! Meeting up with YWAM staff at the airport, I was quickly on my way into town to the Arvada base to sort out my registration.  Afterwards we loaded up a van and hit the mountain roads till we made it to the Eagle Rock base, my home for the next three months. 

Denver!

Testimonies

A week half full of lessons, introductions, rules, and awkward conversations getting to know each other led us to the start of sharing our testimonies. Our life stories. Full of laughs, smiles and tears. Everyone had their own story that makes them who they are and yet the similarities are evident. What seriously shocked me was the authenticity of everyone and how we ALL opened up completely. Tears welled up and fell from eyes cast down upon the carpeted floor. Voices shook with raw emotion as past wounds surfaced again. With an entire roomful of "strangers" listening, only two days into our time together. These life stories, these struggles, these open wounds brought us together. It stitched us together into one big broken family, and we all knew we were in this together for the long haul. 

Snowboarding.

Which leads us into THREE DAYS STRAIGHT 

of snowboarding! These mountains are huge! Comparable to Whistler and Blackcomb, Breckenridge blew me away with the fact that it has 5 peaks alone! Two days on Keystone and one day on Breck left me with a sore tailbone and an incredibly tired body. My throat was raw from yelling with joy as we tore up these mountains. The thing I love about riding with such a huge group is the range of skill level. I fit somewhere in the middle which leaves me with heaps of room to learn and grow. Already my 180's are getting pretty sick! Day 3 on Breck, we had our first day of helping out with the "Jesus Cookie" ministry. Splitting into teams, we grabbed HEAPS of homemade cookies from these lovely old ladies and hit the mountain, passing bags of cookies to lifties, pass scanners, ski patrol and really anyone we felt who needed a boost. The workers have dubbed the Sunday Cookies as "Jesus Cookies" and we simply just roll with it, blessing people left and right. 

Monday. 

It's been awhile since I've had a Monday, about 8 months in fact. Thus getting sat down after a drive into Denver and doing about 4 hours of lessons sucked. I just suck at sitting, taking notes and paying attention to one voice for so long. For the last 4.5 years and especially the last 2.5 I've been on my feet running. Literally and figuratively. 14 hour work days, outdoor adventures, and  travelling the world have all made it challenging for me to focus on one thing at a time for such a long time (even with breaks). Two more days of lessons have left me with a sore butt and a cramped wrist. Yet the things I've been learning have been mind-blowing. 

Vamos a la X-Games

However as we finished lessons today, I couldn't be more stoked to repack my bag, polish off my snowboard and load up into the vans to head off to ASPEN FOR THE WINTER X-GAMES! The Extreme Games are the apex of Snowboarding and Skiing competition. Drawing around 100,000 people from around the world, Aspen (a town of 3000) gets packed for 5 days straight. Music concerts, free gear, a day on the slopes and one intense competition are lined up for our time here. More importantly though, loving on the people here will be the priority. Whether it be the burly tattooed guy smoking cigarettes or the young teenage punks fighting for their friend's approval. We'll love them all. 

As we're driving out to Aspen, I couldn't be more excited. For the X-Games of course, for the next few months of schooling, for two months abroad on Outreach, and simply just for the future. 

More than anything though, I'm excited to get out of this tight bus, stretch my cramped legs out and have a slice of dirty, greasy pizza.

Channy

Instagram - itsnathanchan

January 21, 2015 - Somewhere along the way to Aspen