I'm Going Home!

(Goodbye)
Bellos Beach, Oahu -->

My last Post was at the Beginning of SBS and this post is at the End. Pretty lame on my part , I am sorry guys and girls who read in disappointment of my commitment to continual updates.

This is our last week of class. We are studying the Book of Revelation. First time reading it was this week. Pretty intimidating until you understand the Original writing context.

I am going home soon. almost 3 years ago I became a Christian had my life flipped upside

down literally and have been in YWAM ever since. Some of my family still is not "saved" and my church at homes knows me as the guy in missions. Time to change that. I have a burden in my heart for my family. I am tired of hearing other people tell me "God has his hand on your family" and not being able to be there for it. I may be dumb in some ways to want to be involved but its my family and I am so excited to go home and be a part of what God is doing. He is closing the door here for me at Honolulu. If I can give a 2 year commitment to the mission field, young people, and the lost. I can give 6 months commitment to my Family. Im excited Im nervous Im scared Im ready Im confident. I know where God wants me. I am grounded in Faith Deeper than I thought I ever could be. I am more patient than usual and Willing to serve in any way possible. Time to come home. Time to see the Faithfulness of God in my family and see his hand instead of hear about it. I am so thankful for my church at home. To give to a young kid who in some ways is bold but also blind. I praise God that people can see his character in me even when I cannot. Thank you all of you for your prayers that moved mountains in my life and for those who labors long hours of the day spending your lives to financially support those on the field. What you guys is seen in Heaven and rewarded greatly. It truly is the concept of laying down your life for a friend in my opinion. To put your vision and dreams into the hands of others an work and slave a job to see it come to pass. Praise God. Because you know what. for 6 months I will do that. and I also know

of the Joy it brings. It is unexplainable!

Goodbye Hawaii with beautiful majestic sunsets and beaches. Goodbye friends that I have gone so deep with and experienced life in so many ways that will maybe never happen again. Goodbye Paradise in more ways than one.

Hello Home, family, friends, hello exact place where God wants me!

-Nick Triola

<-- Hartville, Ohio

(Hello)

SBS has begun

Dear All,
Today is awesome, we had our first day of lecture for the School of Biblical Study Core Course. Most people in YWAM refer to it as SBS Core. Its a 3 month inductive Bible study going through some books of both the old and new testament.

Its exciting to learn how deep you can go with God and his word. But also at the same time its mind boggling and leaves you in a place where you must trust in Faith that God is who he says he is. So amazing. I look at this school as a win win situation because as I get confused I go to the Lord and he gives me revelation on what I am learning and also Daily we are learning powerful truths in the word. So no matter how difficult the Lord is there to show you new things.
I am incredibly blessed to be in this place. Think about it. How often do you get the opportunity to live in Hawaii the Paradise of the WORLD and at the same time study the living word of God in depth for 3 months straight and that is your only job. It is a blessing ladies and gentlemen. And I am so thankful to God and all who support me in this time.
For where I am at in my life this is perfect. To become a student again and focus on the word. I grew up not really reading the bible and when I got saved I was told you should read it everyday. Those are two extremes. It has been a constant struggle for me to read the bible continually and now is a time to dive in.
The analogy of a tree and its branches and roots is used I guess. The roots must grow for the tree to grow. These next 3 months are a time to expand the roots and foundation.

Schedule for is pretty busy when I'm not in class I'm studying and doing homework. I remember last year I was living on base when this school was going on. We always made fun of the students because they were like hermit crabs hiding in their rooms studying. And after one day I feel like I'm beginning to understand it!

Before I finish up though some of my goals for this school are to:
Go deeper with the Lord not only in head knowledge but also in my heart
Spiritually see God in new ways
Figure out the next step after SBS
Use this as a tool in leadership and discipleship and evangelism
be a light in Hawaii during this time
Soak up all the school itself has like a sponge
Be challenged and stretched in new ways mostly academically

This last picture is of one of the beaches here in Hawaii its called Lanikai its where a lot of post card photos are taken. This will hopefully be one of my study spots!






Until next time

Nick Triola

Little Kids

On Wednesday we all had our community outreaches to different places. The group I am a part of goes to an elementary school every Wednesday to help tutor little kids. This was my first time to be at the school and man was it fun. I got to work with 1st graders for about 2 hours. We got to help them with reading and writing, and also cutting and gluing. Oh man do I miss the days of cut and glue! The days when you wore shoes on the wrong feet and had no idea, had a booger hanging out of your nose and could of cared less.

It was honestly a lot of fun and very rewarding to be able to invest in these little kids. At first I was kind of thinking okay you know all that I am going to do is help them and then leave and that's the end of it. And I kind of had this attitude of like am I really going to help them at all? But about half way through our time of being in class. We had one project where the kids were supposed to draw their family and then color the pictures in and write sentences about the pictures. I'll be honest, those kids could draw! I was really surprised at how quick and easy it was for them. Anyways, At one point this kid was drawing himself and his brother and he gave himself a sword in one hand. And so when I saw that drawing I was like hey can I draw you a sword in the other hand? At first he didn't want to let me but then he said okay sure. So I drew this cool looking sword. Then a couple students gathered around and said "Draw me one draw me one" And so I ended up drawing about 6 more swords, 2 battle axes, a couple shields, a dagger, a couple knights will full gear and a samurai sword. The drawings were not even good, but to them they were amazing! One kid said he was going to go home and show his mom what I drew for him.

I found a common ground to relate to these kids and they were all so excited about my drawings. It was so awesome! As soon as I finished drawing for them it was time to leave and as we were walking out the doors a few little kids came and held my hand and wanted to walk with me as I left. So I had to tell them no and that I would see them next week. They all wanted hugs and said goodbye the entire way down the hall. It was the cutest thing ever.

It was so amazing to be able to invest in these kids that will someday be leaders and teachers and parents and make an impact on this world.

Don't get me wrong some of them were a pain in the butt. 2 of them were fighting during reading punching and tackling each other, another kid was running out into the hall and then falling on purpose to see how far he could skid on the floor. Others were running from end to end of the room constantly. And it was hard to keep them under control, but it was worth it and fun!

I am really looking forward to going back next week even though I will have new class. I was asked by our contact to go and work with kindergarten kids. I told her Heck Ya! Even better! So all that to say, I love little kids and I think we as people have a lot to learn from them as well. To see their Faith and Trust in us as adults even if they don't know us well is really a parallel to Child Like faith in God. How much more should we trust God and we know him very intimately. I encourage us all to take time out of busy days and try and invest in others. Little kids at Elementary school or even our neighbor next door. it is worth it and you will be more than blessed by stepping out!

-Nick

DTS SEPTEMBER 2009!

Aloha Everyone! Mahalo for reading my blog hope you enjoy,

Okay so I have been here in YWAM Honolulu for a solid month now and I am so excited for what God is doing. I am currently staffing DTS and the students have been here for 1 week. Us as staff have been together for 3 weeks now meeting and praying and getting to know one another and it has been amazing. 

To commend these students. They are all hungry for God and they are all in a place in their lives where they are learning how to get intimant with the Lord and they are also learning how to fully surrender to him. 

They are also very honest and open and bold and when you ask any of them a question they get real and don't hold back. it is so awesome!

I feel like all these staff here are my friends and I can truly trust each of them. We as staff are raising the bar as far as seeking God. We have strong acountability and we are seeking God hard and running to him daily! God is using our fire for him and he is pouring it onto the students! 

Personally I am in a place where God is my best friend, he is my everything, he is my identity and my passion he is consuming me to the depths. 

I invite the Lord to everything I do and try and include him in the little things. 

I am learning how to REST. Normally I am a busy man and don't know how to say no but i am learning how to say nope!

one thing God told me as a leader is, "Seek me hard and passionately and as you do that bring these students along side.

the past 2 months that i got to spend at home God showed me my pride, fear, insecurity and he is working me through each of those things daily. I feel like i am so much stronger in my character and identity. I feel like a true man of God and I am happy with who God made me to be. I feel so strong in the Lord that no matter what Life brings me and God will conquer!

 And whats cool is last night the lord re assured my heart and said to me "Nick, there is no circumstance that this life can bring that will keep me from loving and pursuing you" 

How great is our God you guys? 

His love is a powerful thing. I pray that you would catch fire for him and let your life be only about glorifying God and thats it! 

- Nick Triola 

Pray for Dave

Please Pray for Dave.

Dave is a guy I met in downtown Honolulu living on the streets, homeless. He is 50 years old now and has 2 college degrees, one in pre-medical and the other in communications. He was happily married and his wife left him out of the blue, and because of this tragedy he turned to alcohol to heal the pain or so he thought. Now because of his addiction to alcohol he is homeless in Hawaii and is having a very difficult time getting back on his feet. His plan is to get a house of residence to apply for jobs. Once that happens he wants to go back to school and continue his journey for Truth. He is what we would call a skeptic, hes a very smart guy. Very intellectual and sometimes thinking is his biggest weakness because he does it too much. He's very cautious about Christianity so he is studying it in depth.

Cool thing about Dave is, The Lord is after him. He has a counselor she is a Christian lady and he tells me stories all the time about how she gives him the gospel and answers his questions all the time. She told him once that she would do what ever she could to help lead him to the Lord no matter what. Also Dave gets visits from the Salvation Army crew. They have brought him bibles, books and share with him 2 times a week usually. They pray with him all the time and try and help lead him closer to the Lord each week. He also attends AA meetings for alcoholics. This a Christian based organization, they have this 10 steps thing or 12 steps thing I forget how many. But Dave always shares with me where he is at. Side note, all the steps in this program are one by one leading each person closer to God. For example one of the steps is "Believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of this World" so all the other steps are Gospel based. And Dave has me, not anyone special, a random kid fro Hartville Ohio who loves Jesus and tries to live in Obedience as much as he can.

Every Friday Night Since April we go do street evangelism and I am leading it with this guy Will. Every Friday night I visit Dave and sit and talk and just love him.
The first few times I really wanted to preach to him but the Lord said just wait. I was getting very impatient but the Lord kept saying "Just Listen" so I did a very difficult thing and held my tongue didn't interrupt and just listened. So finally one night the Lord was telling me to wait and so I was. The next thing I know Dave finished his sentence and we both sat in awkward silence for about a whole minute both staring at the pavement. And Dave looked me in the eyes and said "Why are you here? Why do you come every Friday and share with me? whats your story?" And then I realized, Wow God good idea on the waiting thing. I took it from there, Told him my testimony, why I do what I do. We talked about college and he thought it was crazy that I am 21 and not in college. And i just kind of told him a little bit about not needing a degree for security of my life and how God never opened a door for it nor did he ever speak for me to go. Dave thought that was abosutely insane but i think it was good thing that he learned that about God.

I remember one Friday night just sitting there with Dave and we were talking about stupid stuff and I got fed up with that. I was tired of talking about useless stuff, spending every friday night just talking about nothing. And this boldness of the Lord came over me and I began just preaching to Dave. I remember sitting there getting so fired up, I was swinging my arms and almost yelling and I was shaking because I could feel the presence of the Lord on me. I was telling Dave truly why I come out every friday night. I told him about hell and about Gods love and sin and everything in the Gospel. It was so awesome. I have never had that happen to me before during evangelism but after it was over I felt so good. Like I had all this stuff stored up in my heart and I needed to share it with Dave. He listened to every word and was blown away at how a kid my age could be teaching him about life. No glory to me at all please dont think im trying to build myself up. God has been giving me a Huge heart for Dave.

The last conversation Dave and I had, he still has some doctrine issues and theology to work out before he believes fully in jesus as lord. Which is fine because I don't want him to pray a prayer and then continue with his life, I want the Lord to save him, so he can do what ever he needs to learn about God.

The last question he did have for me is this. "Nick, the Faith you have in what you believe is amazing, deep down I want that SO SO Bad, but how do I know that If I ask Jesus to come into my life he really will?" I will leave this question for those of you that read this, how would you respond?

Dave is still not Saved but he is on a journey to finding God in a REAL way, please pray for him. I am proclaiming and declaring his salavation In the name of Jesus Christ, please do the same with me and intercede for Dave.

APRIL DTS

The Date today is June 2nd. It's been too long and Im back to write again.

So far DTS staffing has been awesome. It has been a giant bundle of emotions and experiences. Sometimes its really easy, hard, fun, stressful, boring, relaxed, busy, challenging, a breeze, energizing. It is the most fun thing I have ever done. To look at it in real terms, my full time job is loving God and helping others know and Love him. Being available at any time of the day for anything that they may need. Someone to talk to, someone to pay for their food, someone to pray with, someone to laugh at, someone to vent to, someone to seek the Lord with, someone to just talk or just hang out with. I get a chance to seek God and also help others seek him and know him in a powerful way.

The Winter DTS teams have arrived today from outreach so we have a very crowded base right now. The returning school is awesome and had an amazing trip and the school I am staffing right now is in a place of growth and revelation with God. So seeing these two groups merge the next few days will interesting and im sure a lot of fun.

We have had some amazing speakers come through and just really pour TRUTH into all of us. It has been so amazing for me. I feel like I am learning more now than I did in my DTS, which is a good thing I think. The way the Lord is challenging me to live out what I say I believe has been difficult but yet awesome!

So as far as the DTS goes. This group of students is very unique. 90% of them grew up in a Christian home and have known the Lord from childhood. But they have had the pressure of life and lies of the enemy weigh them down to a place of believing but not knowing God. So now the Lord is fully redeeming them back to their original design. They are being redeemed from all the lies of satan and beginning to believe and know God in a way that they will never run scared again. Its awesome to see and its such a blessing to be apart of.

Pretty soon they are going to be leaving to Fiji, India and Nepal, and China. And then I will be headed home to work and raise support and just serve in any way. This next month is going to be extremely busy and crazy but man will it be awesome for the students. Its going to take a lot out of us staff but it will be so worth it. So we are going to finish our lecture phase with a Bang and really see the Lord work and reign in all our lives.

- Nick Triola

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

ATTENTION EVERYONE!
This is the time for me to live out what God has called me to do. In a few days I will officially be a YWAM Honolulu DTS Staff. I will be a Leader to young people some older than me and some younger, and we will grow in the Lord together, seek God together, pray together, succeed together, fail together. I have been waiting patiently so long for this day. Literally I have been waiting 561 for this time to come. Day one of my DTS in Salem, Oregon I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life. I have to be honest when I say I am freaking excited. My goal with this goal is as follows. I want to hit the ground running. I want to prayerfully enter this time of Leadership. As I have been praying into this time of my life the lord has spoken a few powerful leadership things for me. First thing is that I want a servants heart. I want to serve above all else. I want to see the students from Gods eyes and serve them as much as I can and any way possible. The next thing is a heart of compassion. I want Gods heart for these students. I want to be broken to tears over these students. Because thats how much God loves us. His love for us moves mountains in our lives. his love never runs dry it never fades and it is always there. And God has radical eternal plans for these students. He has called them to YWAM Honolulu to seek him and grow in him and it is my responsibility to lead them. God wants to use this group of people to shake the nations up for Jesus. He wants to bring his heavens down into this evil planet and stirr us for his kingdom, with these students. These students have passion to be released, they have dreams, goals, visions, desires to be released. They have so much ahead of them and I am here for them and solely them. This April DTS is not about me its about these students. Students who have made sacrifices to come. These students are leaving their family they are leaving their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends and jobs and careers and security. They are leaving it all behind for Jesus. And I get to be their leader. What a privelige it is to be here and staff. I dont care what troubles come my way, what kinds of attacks come my way the Lord will endure WITH ME. And together God and I can do anything. Phillpians 4:13 has changed my life. It says " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and I say to you full heartedly that I can and will do all things that God calls me to do. God has called me to be a Leader of this DTS and be a staff and pour into these kids, God has called me to serve them and love them and have his heart for them. So anything less of that is Disobedience to me. I write this note to ask you to pray for me. Your prayers will give me heavenly strength, heavenly boldness, courage, peace, joy, patience, etc... So please keep me in your prayers as I serve as a Staff.

- Nick Triola