Winter Update

Quick Key

I'm sure this is confusing for everyone that doesn't regularly hear YWAM terms so here's a quick key:

YWAM = Youth With A Mission

BCC = Bible Core Course

DTS = Discipleship Training School

We’ve been here in Iceland for over 2 months already! Living here has had its ups and downs, but we love the nature and community we are surrounded with. The YWAM base here doubles as a guesthouse during the summer (kind of like a bed and breakfast…sharing common spaces but private rooms). During the off-season, from about October to the end of April, is when things get updated and fixed if they need to be. So, we have had the opportunity to jump in, with the other two couples living here, to tackle these big projects the best we can. We have had to call in some professional help to replace pipes and build back up some of the showers. I will explain a bit about what we have been practically doing but I will also link a little video we made to show the progress we’ve made so far!

Each room gets an update of paint about every two years or so; this year is that year. The fresh coats make the rooms look brand new. I was doing a lot of prepping and painting rooms to begin with, while James focused on tearing down and rebuilding the shower floors so that they are curbless and graded (if you don’t know what that is, it just means there is no rim to step into the shower, instead the floor just slopes down slightly for the water to flow to the drain). That is what we began with at the start of February. At the end of that month, we were all hit with COVID. And for those of you that don’t know, this was our second time getting it. It was rough…and a little unfair. But we managed :) It actually worked out perfectly that I got sick first while James was fine, and then the exact same day I was feeling better, James crashed and was the last one to catch it.

There are 8 people living on this property. The 2 YWAM base leaders (who also run the guesthouse), another couple from YWAM that is just living here temporarily to work at the guesthouse in the summer, another couple that is just renting, and us. So, the 6 of us that are in YWAM or affiliated with the guesthouse business, are the ones working on these renovation projects. And we had a pretty full schedule in order to get things done before professionals come pour epoxy on the floors and on the walls in the bathroom, and before the guesthouse actually opens in May. When we all got COVID it put us a bit behind schedule, so James and I started helping with more projects. I paused the painting for a little and we started to build up new walls since the old ones had water damage and mold. A plumber came and replaced a lot of the piping throughout the house. And while that was going on he had to turn off the water for a little bit…which ended up being 2 weeks. We took bucket showers from the one faucet that still worked and ended up moving to another building next door soon after. Now, we live in a house with renters above us and we share the bottom floor with the other couple. But it is nice to have running water, no dust, and less noise over here. Back to the project though, when the walls came up, taping and mudding had to be done everywhere. Every screw hole and every seam need a good few coats and sanding before it was ready to paint. It is hard to explain everything that we have been doing because some of it was small things here and there, or even one wall that needed to be put up but took us hours to measure and cut for all the shower pipes and the fans and prepping the wall with cross beams for strength while also to avoid screwing into the fresh pipes from the plumber.

In the middle of all this renovation madness, we had the opportunity to travel to Reykjavík for a conference! (Those of you that don’t know, we live in the East of Iceland. So you can take an hour flight or drive 9ish hours. We decided to fly.). It was put on by a group of YWAMers called “circuit riders”. They travel around to universities and reach out to unbelievers as well as encourage the followers in that area. So, this group that came had been touring Europe for 2.5 months and the grand finale was here in Iceland. They were hosted by a couple of different churches in the Reykjavik area, including Islenska Kristskirkjan, the one that owns the property we live at in the East. We had a wonderful time attending. We worshipped together, did a small downtown outreach/evangelism time, and also some small groups to build each other up. Both of us learned more about the culture we live in and got to meet so many young people on fire for Christ! On Sunday of that weekend, we attended Islenska Kristskirkjan and were overwhelmed with kindness. They translated the message for us, many people walked up to us and asked us questions, and seemed to genuinely want to meet us. We also got a ride back to our host family’s house…so sweet. Ah yes, I forgot to mention…we were hosted by the most wholesome couple. They accepted to host us on short notice, they shared with us traditional Icelandic foods like flatbread and smoked lamb, or skyr (Icelandic yogurt/cheese) with cream and blueberries, which was delicious! They shared stories with us, and the husband told us about when he did his DTS with YWAM in 1989 at Ejyolfsstadir (where we currently live). It was great to hear so much positivity and encouraging words over that weekend.

On a more personal level, I have continued to battle with daily headaches. I have gone to the doctor and a neurologist, and I am currently trying two medications. Thank you for your prayers and keep them coming because some days I really need them. Other than that, James and I are both doing good, we feel like we are growing and learning more about ourselves and our walk with God along with our walk together as a couple. We try to have lots of time for fun and rest throughout the week. We take walks on the beautiful property we live on (it’s quite big…like half the mountain next to us). And sometimes we go to town and eat out for dinner or get ice cream at the local diner (which is supposed to replicate a 1950s diner in the US). On the weekends we try to go hiking (if the weather is nice) and sometimes we go to the pool, which is an outdoor heated pool and hot tub. It’s a great experience, sitting in warm water while it's gently snowing on your face – very Icelandic.

As for our vision here, we would like to start running YWAM schools at some point. But what we have learned is that in YWAM things may seem pretty casual but there are some simple rules to make sure that schools are being led by experienced people. Unfortunately, we are not that experienced i.e., we haven’t staffed a BCC so therefore we cannot run/lead a BCC. We still have the heart and desire to have this school in Iceland and we are praying and reaching out to other bases for a leader to partner with us and run the Bible school.

There are many options for us to do instead, like run a DTS with the help of the base leaders here. Or we could travel to another base to staff a BCC for 3 months and return and host our own. We are keeping our options open and asking the Lord for what the right steps should be.

Here are a few prayer points to keep in mind:

- My health and all the things that come with that

- Our residency permits to stay here longer than 3 months (we have had some difficulty communicating with

them and trying to get a straight answer about how far along they are in the process)

- A leader for the BCC we would like to run or what God’s will is for that

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support, we truly appreciate them all!

Have a blessed day :)

P.S. here is the link to our video, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW81JIloyyc