Regeneration Outreach Montreux Switzerland Week 2

The rains finally subsided and we had an amazing second week of outreach at the Montreux Jazz Festival. 

Sunday, July 13, we had a Gospel event in the early afternoon on our main stage at the Festival. Our team shared music, Korean dances and drumming. Dustin rode a few unis and he and the pastor to the Parliament of Switzerland gave powerful messages about salvation in Jesus.

The week continued with many great conversations and opportunities to pray with people. We both had the amazing privilege of introducing someone to a relationship with Jesus!  At least 3 other adults raised their hands indicating decisions to follow Jesus during Dustin's last program, as well!  Please pray that they will all continue in their new walk with God, growing in their understanding of the deep love our Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God (I John 3:1). 

Along with the performances, our team blessed kids at the festival with balloons, face paint, games and stories. The hospitality team served cookies and drinks to passersby and drinks and sandwiches to vendors. This was an especially neat ministry since sometimes vendors are less than pleased to hear our message of God's love repeatedly each night and they sometimes complain about our music. We want to show them it is the greatest message ever told that will change their eternity if they open their hearts to God.

It was great to see our Syrian friend Jamal who was the inspiration for the RefugeRide. Taking our lead, he has done bike rides around Switzerland to also raise funds and awareness for Syrian refugees and plans to do more this year. Please pray that he will continue to open his heart to God and also for his family and friends in Syria who are living in incomprehensible circumstances.

All in all our team was able to pray with 25 people who surrendered their lives to Jesus during this outreach! Thousands heard the truth and we know God is at work in those seeds scattered.

Dustin and Jamal.

The 2014 Regeneration team!

Dustin and a new brother in Christ!

Luzanne's amazing ribbon dance lighting up the skies!

Katie and family we have connected with the past 3 years at the festival.

Beautiful Korean dance!

Uni art.

Regenerating the world's second largest jazz festival

This is our 5th year joining YWAM Lausanne Switzerland for their summer Regeneration outreach in Montreux at the 2nd largest annual jazz festival in the world.  This YWAM team is so inspiring, with hearts passionate to love and serve people in creative ways that point them to Jesus the Savior!

Our first week here was unusually cold and rainy, making the UniShow on our outdoor stages impossible.  The bands were able to play under small shelters and since we couldn't do our performance, we had the opportunity to just pray and talk with people under umbrellas and rain ponchos.  Many festival attendees told us they noticed the joy our team had even in the rain.

While dodging rain drops under a leaky tent canopy, Katie prayed with a young lady about to study fashion in Paris for God to work in her life and change her from the inside out.  The girl was visibly moved and didn't realize you could talk to God anywhere like that.  She said she hoped this would start a big change in her life.  We pray so too!

Others were not so ready to hear about God's love.  One guy told Katie her machine (pointing to his head) was not working if she believes all that about God.  Other girls said it's too narrow minded to believe in just one God.  We find that people have a reaction when we share about Jesus.  Some are excited to hear and others reject it strongly.  Sadly we know it's not us they are rejecting but God.

But we are encouraged to keep sharing boldly because we know that God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4).  Thanks for praying with us for the many seeds planted to take root and grow into transformed lives in Jesus!

The sun is coming and the UniShow with it so stay tuned for more exciting stories of God at work!

Warming up, all set and ready to go until...

...the rains came.

Wet and rainy stage.

Katie's mom in 1972 and Katie in 2014 at the YWAM Lausanne base, YWAM's first training center!

Unicyclists of North America Unite!

Dustin only missed one National Unicycle Convention from 1985-2002!  Then after 12 years off with a busy performing schedule, timing finally worked out for him to re-enter the competitive world at the 2014 North American Unicycling Convention and Championships in our own back yard, Minneapolis.  And I must say he made quite a showing for himself!

I have never seen him compete before except for Ride The Lobster stage race in Nova Scotia Canada in 2008.  So it was amazing to watch him tear up the track with amazing form and speed, negotiate the uni slalom with quick, angled ease and cruise on the big wheel with complete control. 

He placed first or second in almost every race, both in his age group and in overall expert male.  Even with so many years off and little recent training, Dustin had an amazing come back!

This was my first ever NAUCC to attend and compete in. Since learning to ride 8 years ago and only in this last year actually spending time on the uni, my goal has been to just try to stay up and not get hurt.  It was a good challenge to push myself to pick up my speed and work on technique a bit.  I was pretty excited to come in 3rd in the marathon and 1st in the 800 meter both in my age group!  Dustin was a great coach, helping and cheering me along and he even said he's proud of me. :)

By the end of the busy week, we both competed on unicycles in a marathon, 10k, time trial, criterium, 100m, 400m, 800m, obstacle course and Dustin also did the walk-the-wheel and one-footed race. 

It was really great to reconnect with and meet other unicyclists from around the country.  A special treat was seeing 58 year old David White who also spent much of last year successfully unicycling across the United States.  It was something close to therapeutic to share "war stories" of life unicycling the roads of America with someone who has been there, too.

All the ribbons and metals are great and come with a sense of accomplishment but they will soon go in a storage box.  More important than the awards are the ministry opportunities God presented this week.  We had many chances to share with people how God can use unicycling to make a global impact and share the hope we have in Him.

We all find it hard to believe that we crossed the USA on unis in 2013.  The Kelms with the inspiring David White.

Katie finishing the marathon!

Dustin and Candido battling it out.

Dustin making it look easy on the track.

Criterium start, heat 4.

Dustin's race of the criterium was a clinic!

Katie got first place in her first track race!

Katie's awards.

Dustin wore holes in the podium.

Dustin's awards.  Ribbons for age group and medals for Expert Class.