NIKO: to conquer, to overcome

My NIKO team
Originally uploaded by Nikocrash.

Well, I survived! Two weeks ago I went to Scotland where I staffed a NIKO. NIKO is Greek for: to conquer, to overcome; and that is just what happened. The NIKO is 4 1/2 days or so of intense teambuilding, surrendering rights, and servant hood- which is experienced in an extreme way of being in the great outdoors and facing different challenges! These challenges take place in all spheres of our lives: physical (as there is a lot of physical challenges and lots of hiking and things like that), mental & emotional (many things to overcome inside), and spiritual (we are challenged to go deeper in our relationships with God, both on an individual level and as the body of Christ). These 4 1/2 days feel much longer then they are, but are such an amazing time of growing and stretching and learning; we leave changed, even as staff!
This picture is of the team I was, what we call, a shadow for. We were with this group nearly all the time and had many great conversations and we learned together- and most of all we had so much fun doing all of it together! We were an international team (even our small part of the larger group)- we were from America (Me), Scotland, South Africa, New Zealand, and England and then my shadow partner (fellow staff) who was from Sweden!
I hope to share more in a later entry, but God's hand of protection was with us and we were kept safe through all the challenges and were kept safe in spite of the rain and cold temperatures, snow, sleet, and hail that also visited us, as well as high winds that seemed to plow over many big trees! God took people from many backgrounds and many places and joined our hearts together for this time and managed to catch our attention in many ways! He showed us more of Himself... or maybe we were just looking for Him more and found Him out there on the rolling, boggy, hills of Scotland!