february update//

Hi friends & family!

I feel so blessed to be here in Biarritz and things have been working together really well. The transition back into Ywam and now to base staff has been very smooth and it's crazy how quickly this place can feel like home again. 

The January DTS students are leaving for outreach in 2 weeks and it has been awesome to get to know them and serve them in different ways. I can't remember what I said in the last blog post but I have been on the kitchen and hospitality teams. What that looks like throughout the week is usually driving, food shopping, cooking, baking, planning different base events, making welcome cards, as well as staff meetings, base intercession and worship, evangelism, and lots of fun time together as a community. 

{ These pictures are some of the January DTS girls, and another night at sunset! }

So far God has been stretching me in continuing to trust him. To remember that he is a faithful God who will complete the work he started in me. To trust that he will use me how he has made me. How he knows me deeper than I know myself, and knows my desires and dreams- and who better to live my life for and follow no matter what that is going to look like. 

I've been feeling very blessed these last few weeks - Biarritz is a beautiful city to call home for this season. The staff I serve alongside with are also amazing people and I am so blessed to do life with them. Thank you for praying, for being a part of this! If you feel led to support me financially, it is greatly needed as I do have to raise support and pay my staff fees every month- which comes to about $545 CAD. There is a convenient little "Donate" button that should be on the right side of this blog that will go straight to my Paypal account. If you have any questions or want to know more about anything, feel free to email me! {stephaniebweiss@gmail.com} I will update every once and a while specifically about finances and how much I am still in need of. Thank you so much for faithfully reading this blog and supporting me! 

Steph

Rise and Shine

Hello everyone!

     Day 5 here being back in Biarritz, and I couldn't be more thankful. It feels great to be back  re-united with friends and to be a part of this awesome community once again. I have a better idea now of how I am going to be serving as well, which is great. Leah and I were talking as well about me going to Lesvos to help with the refugee crisis with a team, and that looks like it might be closer to May-June. Until then I am going to be helping in practical base ministries, with the kitchen and hospitality teams. I am living on the base with some of the new students for the January DTS, in a room with 2 other staff girls! There is also a separate girls & guys apartment, and a rented place for more DTS students. I think around 4-5 weeks the students will leave for outreach, and the music DTS students will start coming for their school in April! So always lots happening at the base but it really does feel so right for me to be here, to take this time to seek God and his direction. 

     Isaiah 30:21 was written on my welcome card, and it reads: 

"Your own ears will hear him.
    Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
    whether to the right or to the left."

     So very timely as I take this time to seek his face and serve here even as my future is a bit unknown. Thank you for your prayers as they are greatly appreciated. I also found out that as a base we will all be driving to Germany for a Ywam conference in May- I am so stoked for that! All in all, I am very excited for this season on staff with Ywam Biarritz and to see where God leads me.  Pictures coming soon! :)

1 more week!

Hey everybody!

After a 2+ week ordeal, my visa has finally been approved, and my flight is officially booked!! Thank you, Jesus! I will be leaving from Vancouver on February 2nd! I am relieved and happy that I only have one more week to wait. (My suitcase is half packed already!)

Thanks for all your prayers as I take this step and go back to France on volunteer staff. I will continue to update here! 

Steph

2016: A New Direction

Hello friends and family! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas season this year.

I wanted to make this blog post to explain what I am doing these next few months! As you know, I have been going to UFV for a BA in Global Development Studies, and I've officially finished year one. But as the semester came to a close, I really felt like I was suppressing a different calling the Lord has put on my heart. I am passionate about missions and serving further with Youth With a Mission International, and I've been feeling that God is opening this door once again.

That is why I have decided to commit to volunteer staff in Biarritz for 3 months, mid-January to April this year. During these 3 months in France, I will be serving the base in any way needed, and being a part of their various base activities- local outreaches to the city, intercession, worship, etc. I want to be open to what God will speak during this time and where He will direct me after the 3 months. Our Ywam base is actively involved in sending out teams to Greece to help the Syrian refugees, and there is a possibility I could go serve in that way while I am there as well. As all this unfolds I would love for you to be supporting me in prayer as I serve in France and follow the Lord's call on my life. In many ways I have reason to be unsure, I am leaving the security and comfort of university, after my 3 month commitment I will be financially dependent depending on where God leads me, but I can confidently say that Jesus is better than any security or comfort the world can bring, and the act of stepping out and taking these risks is what God wants me to do.

1 Corinthians: 26-29
²⁶ Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy^[a] when God called you. ²⁷ Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. ²⁸ God chose things despised by the world,^[b] things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. ²⁹ As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

As a Jesus follower, you are completely not of this world- and it's one of the most empowering and terrifying things to live out. And I love this verse in Corinthians that speaks on how God doesn't call the powerful or the rich, but in our weakness, his power is made perfect and his grace is sufficient. As I am stepping out in faith and I can't see far into the future, I have faith that God will speak, that He will lead, and whatever that looks like- staying longer with Ywam, going to university, doing a secondary Ywam school- I know that He is good and will provide.

I am so excited to be back in Biarritz, and I will continue to post updates here. Feel free to share this link with anyone who might be interested in reading further updates. You can also subscribe via email if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. 

Thank you to all who will pray for me as I listen and transition into a new season come 2016. Who knows where this year will take me!

Blessings!

Specific Prayer Requests:

That I could receive my visa in good time- no later than Jan 18th.

That I would be able to transition smoothly back to being a part of the base staff!

That I would listen and be open to God's leading.

Back home, an update!

Hi friends, I thought I would write another update since returning home. It feels like I have been home for much longer than I actually have! Getting back into a routine just has that effect on someone I think!

I want to thank you again for supporting me on my DTS, as it was truly a life changing trip. I've been home since the end of June, working at Starbucks and currently getting my level 1 certification as a volleyball referee. I'm also back at UFV for my second semester studying for a BA in Global Development and a minor in French. When I write it down it sounds like a lot, and actually it is a lot. It's been super hard coming home from an amazing God-centered community, and being thrown back into university. At the end of my DTS I was really seeking out if I should stay in France and continue to serve at the base, whether I should pursue some other form of missions, or come home. And to be honest, God calling me to drop everything and move to South Africa would have almost been easier than coming back to Abbotsford, as that is just who He has made me to be. I'm not naturally drawn to be at home, it's not where I'm most comfortable. (Family I do love you.) Sounds cheesy, but I really do love the adventure of being in new places, being free of the responsibilities that home brings. (Don't we all!) But God is still the same God who was with me all throughout my Ywam experience, He is still speaking to me, still teaching me, still challenging me.

As much as I love the aspect of "adventure" in missions and in life, I really do love being in control of my "next step" and knowing where I am going next. That is something God has been teaching me to let go of, being able to listen and obey him step by step. I don't know whether I will finish my degree at UFV, whether I will transfer, whether I will study abroad, whether I will go back to France, etc etc the list goes on. I am learning to deal with my impatient heart, wanting Him to just tell me what to do already! I just know I need to be open-handed and willing to go where He is leading. There is a beautiful verse in Psalms 73 that reads, "Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny." The challenge is trusting that even with the restlesness of my heart, He is still holding my hand, still guiding me. And actually delighting in the process! (Ps 37: 23)

I think for me it's good to have short term goals, as I am just so eager to travel again. I want to finish this semester strong, first of all. I am really eager to get back into missions, but university is a real priviledge as well. I'm not saying univeristy is the be-all-end-all just like going back to Ywam isn't the be-all-end-all. I am just in love with Jesus and wherever He leads I will go! Step by step.

I miss my friends so much! I miss our Monday morning worship and tea, I miss walks into town with Kirsten and Shelby. I miss volleyball with Jesse! I miss the weekend baguette sandwiches! I miss Hanna and her loud hungarian skpe calls in our room, and us all hogging Jean-Pierre (our little heater) in the morning (If he burns out, just kick him and he starts back up). I miss Graham's animal impressions way too much. I even miss one-on-ones with Helena! :) Who couldn't miss our outdoor laundry machine, never really knowing if your clothes will dry, or what setting even dries them?! I miss doing the dishes upstairs, getting locked in the pantry by your "friends", don't get me started on lectures. I'm so thankful for Ywam Biarritz and the community I lived with for 6 months. I could say so much more!

I am praying for another opportunity to go back to Biarritz. At the base they have an awesome outreach during the summer! It focuses on reaching out to the young people in Biarritz during the summer. The high intake of young people that come to party and surf make great opportunities for the base to meet people and share the love of God. I have heard many good things and I'm praying that I will be able to go this summer! I will keep you posted on how that progresses. But I am willing to jump on a flight and head back there in a second. ;)

 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever..

Psalm 136:1

Update

Hi friends,
So, we're finishing week 3 in Ireland, and outreach will be over! We fly back to Biarritz on Saturday, and have a final debrief week there, then I will be heading home.

 

Dublin, where we have been for the last 2 weeks.

 

Hiked here, this was in Rostrevor, and we joined their ywam base for a week of teaching.

 

The balcony of our Dublin apartment, booked with airbnb. Small, 2 rooms for the 6 of us, but really nice.

 

More of Dublin.

So yeah, we spent our first of three weeks in Ireland in Rostrevor, staying with the Ywam base there. It was great, we heard teaching from possibly my favorite speaker to date, Stefan, from South Africa. Enjoyed what he taught and how he spoke so much. It was a great week for our team to sort of refresh and re-connect with Ywam. Great week.

The past week and a half, we have been working with 2 main groups of people. One is with a church called St. Catherines, and with an afterschool homework club.

What is really cool is that we had no plan, and no ministry connections before coming here. I think we got here on a Saturday, and so the next day we went to the nearest church which was St. Catherine's. We tried to make any connections we could to see if any ministries were in need of some people, or anything we could do. We got connected to a guy named Paddie, who was super stoked to have us, as he said they were about to cancel their Kidz Club at the church that afternoon, because they didn't have enough volunteers. So we have helped with that Sunday club on sundays, and it has been good. One of the women that helped Paddie, was helping run this homework club in another part of town, and we got connected to her, and every day for the past week and a half we have been helping kids with homework, and playing around with them with this ministry at this community center. The kids are between grade 2-grade 7ish. They are really great kids and I've really enjoyed spending time with them. It's interesting to see the different types of kids that we have worked with. In Marseille, the children were on the difficult side, and also had the toughest lives, with incredibly big families and very low incomes. The kids usually get married at around 16-17 and start the process all over again. It's sad, but Deborah has an amazing ministry and is changing lives, week by week. In Bosnia, I found the kids hard as well, partly because i had 0 of of the language, and they didn't seem as open as the kids in Marseille, and because they were older and more difficult to connect with personally. The Marseille kids were rambunctious and crazy, but younger and I could communicate with them at least! And now in Dublin, the kids seem very open, super easy to connect with, a lot of them have super bad language and call you and each other all sorts of stuff, but in general they are really good kids.

It's surreal that outreach is almost over, that DTS is almost over. But it has gone pretty slowly for me, which is good, and I'm pretty ready to make the move back home.

Thank you for all your continued support and prayers.

For now, our team could use prayer to finish up strong, and that the last week in Biarritz would be awesome. Also for guidance in my next step, not sure what I am doing after coming back home.

Thanks!

Update

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting in a while! Outreach has been picking up speed these last weeks but I wanted to share some pictures and a quick update as well.

We left Marseille on may 2nd. The last week we helped with a VBS for Roma kids. I am going to miss the people we worked with a lot, they have a special place in my heart because I found Marseille a very difficult missionfield, a place I would never want to be a lifetime missionary in. But the missionaries we met are so amazing and we were so lucky to get to work with them while we were there. 

I had no idea what to expect from Bosnia when we were packing up and getting ready to leave Marseille. We had an overnight stay in Istanbul in our 11 hour layover! But magically we arrived into Sarajevo and I have been loving every minute so far here in Bosnia. 

Its much more relaxed and rural than France and reminds me a lot of Cambodia- Which I love! We arrived during a heat wave and it was 33 degrees! A German missionary who we had been newly connected to met us in the airport and drove us to his home, where his wife and 4 kids (soon 5) live. We stayed in their basement suite. For 3 days we hung out, explored the city, met another ywam team, ate street food, and participated in this family's prayer/worship meetings they run. A very powerful moment I want to share was that there was this woman who had been wanting to come to this fellowship time but hadn't yet. This fellowship time that we attended with other Bosnian Christians was the first one she had come to, because the very same house we were in was where she was held captive in the war in '95. She was very emotional and shared some of her story with the group and it was a powerful moment of her taking a step to overcome her incredibly painful memories, and a great opportunity for others to pray for her. The history here in Bosnia is very real and everyone has been majorly affected by the war, if that makes sense. Its so interesting to hear young and educated people talk about the state that their country is in, with the economy, unemployment, healthcare, you name it. Bosnia got ruined by the war in the nineties. Thankfully God wants to restore hope in this place and we get to be a tiny part of what he is doing.

We took a 6 hour hot sweaty bus ride to Banja luka where we are now. Here we are working with a South African missionary who has been here for 12 years. We are doing practical things around the building like helping clean out storage, and also with an orphanage where we hang out with kids. On Friday nights we run a conversational English class. It has been awesome so far. I love so many things about Bosnia. 

Sunday it was my 19th birthday. I blew out candles on a cake with the fam via Skype! My day was also special here with brownies made for me, a cake, and a cupcake given to me during the church service as everyone sang!

Yeah! So I hope that gives you a good idea of what I'm up to. Here's some pictures.

 

Picnic in Marseille

 

 

One of our last beautiful days in Marseille.

 

 VBS in the last week of Marseille.

 

Skits for the kids! (I was the official photographer)

 

Welcome to Sarajevo.

 

Public transit = those super old trams!

 

Cheap Pekaras (Bakeries) everywhere! You can get a fresh loaf of bread for .75 cents Canadian!

 

The team!

 

Went up to some ruins and had lunch with an awesome view.

 

AMAZING Bosnian food! 

 

I got some beautiful shots of some of the VBS Roma kids but not really allowed to post them on the internet, unfortunately. They were a blast! 

 

 Met some other people who volunteer and fly in from the US to help with this VBS! The left is Hanna on our team.

Yeah, so that's just a few pics of the trip up to now. Thank you for your prayers! Keep our leader, Timo, in your prayers because he's come down with a virus and has been MIA the last few days. He is on the mend though thankfully! 

Thanks everyone