Thursday, January 10, 2013

Hello friends!

          Happy New Year! I pray that this year is full of blessings but more than anything I pray that you get to know God more. 
God blessed me so much during this Christmas break, I ended up spending Christmas in Austria with one of my best friends Nicole. and her family. It was a great time, I was very blessed by them. They even took me to Italy and Slovenia! Later on we went to Switzerland and spent new years there with one of Nicole's friends. I got to see the beautiful Konstanz, the town where my friend Klaus lives in. Then, after a LONG trip we made it back to Sweden. 
So, it's a new year and wow it's full of many new things for me. To start it out, I have to cook my own meals now, pay rent and work hands on in ministry. As I mentioned before in one of my updates, I decided to stay as staff for 3 months in YWAM Restenäs, Sweden. What I didn't mention is what I will be doing. I will be working with hospitality and with what they call the mobilization team or UMU team. This is what the mobilization team is all about: 

"We are YWAM Restenäs “on wheels” with a desire to see young Swedes rise up and become more passionate for Jesus and their world. We are working in churches, youth groups, conferences, camps and schools.  We do teachings, worship, seminars and have opportunities for joining Missions programs.

Our desire is to work together with others so we can see a greater discipleship of youth in Sweden and beyond."

          I will be working with youth! Organizing youth meetings, making sure that everyone knows what we have been doing and promoting our ministry. I'm very excited for these next three months. I am very glad I chose this base for this season. I admire very much the way the leaders lead. It is definitively a good place to learn about how to run ministry. I actually have the honor to be discipled by one of the members of the leadership team. 

         I'm having a great time with God. He has been re-teaching me to receive His love, and to walk as His beautiful princess and daughter. This is why I don't doubt that He will take care of every single one of my needs. Thanks to all who have been praying for me. I got two families supporting me! I have enough to pay for the rent of my room. Please keep on praying for more supporters, I still need money to buy food and pay for insurance. I will not starve for this month though, I have enough to buy food for now. 

         Once again feel free to talk to me on FB or email me, I would love to talk, tell you about my day and answer any questions. Even better, pray for me! 

If you want to check out more information about the mobile team click here. 

Blessings, 

Steph

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Hey guys!

Christmas break is here! I know you are just as excited as I am. Unfortunately I won't be able to spend Christmas in Honduras. It's sad since my grandma is very sick; please keep her in your prayers. She is the reason why my family is Christian, she is a strong woman of God and she is also my role model. 

Being far away from home is not going to be as bad as I thought it would be. If you are wondering what city is the one in the picture it is LONDON! I had bought a roundtrip ticket from London to Sweden, and I didn't want to waste it. I will be here until the 18th. I am here with my dear friend Laura Conley, with whom I had the honor to spend most of my high school years with. She is awesome. The first time we were here she showed me London in a day. This time we have more time to enjoy and visit the places I didn't get to see before. We visited a mall and went to a church service at St.Paul's Cathedral. 

Where am I spending Christmas and new years then? I will be going to Austria! I met these amazing two girls in Sweden, they invited me to celebrate Christmas with them. I will be living a true Austrian Christmas! God blessed me with amazing two friends and with trips that I would have never imagined to happen! I will post pictures of our adventures together. :) 

Please keep praying so that I may get supporters to help me continue doing missionary work. I need 400 USD a month, to be able to stay in Sweden. I know the miracle can happen! Pray, pray, pray. ^^

Monday, December 10, 2012

Dear Friend,

         Greetings from the land of Sweden. The purpose of this letter is to inform you about my recent endeavors. First of all I would like to apologize for not writing in the past months. I was caught in the life of a busy college student writing research papers. As I had promised before, if you wish to read my paper about Pornography as an Addiction, send me an email or write me on Facebook.

 My classmates and my staff for the past 3 months

My life has turned around completely. My future sounded splendid. I wanted to be Stephanie, the cool person that is a photographer and makes awesome videos. However, being in Sweden has helped me understand myself. More than learning about myself, I have come to see a clearer picture of who I actually am rather than who I would like to be. I guess God does that to you, He shows you, you. He knew all along that I wasn't really gifted in video or photography. Of course I can develop these abilities, but that would separate me of the gifts God actually gave me.
         What I want to tell you is that I have decided to no longer pursue a degree in Communications with YWAM. I knew it all along that I had chosen this path to tell myself that I do have a specific direction in life. I tried to take control of my life again after I had promised God to let him lead me. During this time in Sweden He has revealed two gifts that he has given me, leadership and singing worship. He wants me to deal with the one I am more insecure about, worship.
       I have always loved to sing, I enjoy it so much. When I first started to follow Jesus, worship was my favorite part of it all. I have always compared myself to others who always get chosen to sing worship, and who I think have more to offer than I do. Deep inside, I have always wanted to lead a worship time. I became very good at pushing that dream aside, even after some people said they liked my voice. In the past year God has been asking me to take courage and sing. I have ignored this about three times, until last week where God mentioned it again through a friend I had recently met. I finally got the point, God wants me to learn about worship.
       I have decided to take the School of Worship here in Sweden in April. Which means I have three months where I have nothing to do. I have prayed about it and for the moment I feel God wants me to stay as short term staff during that time. He wants me to learn from the leaders here. I have had friends pray over me and through them God has confirmed that He wants me to stay. To do this I need monthly supporters. People who are willing to help me follow the new path God has set for me. In order to stay I need 400 american dollars a month. This could be two people who support me with 200 dollars a month, four people who support me with 100 dollars a month or even small monthly donations would work. To stay I need to prove to the leaders that I have friends who are committed to sending this money to me, monthly. I ask you to please pray about this, ask God if He wants you to bless me. I can assure you it will be a blessing for you as well.

       There is a long beautiful story to how I have come to all of these conclusions about my life. I invite you to ask me about how God revealed this to me. There are SO many things, and it all happened in less than a week. I am truly amazed on how much he really knows me. Please pray for me since I am still insecure about worship, but I am taking this step because God has spoken and I want to obey.

with love,
      
Stephanie

P.S: My email is stephzepeda92@gmail.com. Feel free to write, and ask. Enjoy the pictures!

Aaah!

Aren't we funny!?

Runaway!!

Friday, September 21, 2012

I remember the last week before we had to go out on outreach in Mexico. I was missing $2,500 in order to go and I had about $150. To be honest, at that moment it was very hard to see how everyone was walking around happily because it seemed so easy for them to pay for the trip.  I just stood there kind of happy. I knew in my heart that God was going to give me the money I needed to leave, but I felt a huge pressure over me. Doubt had taken control over me. I was selling bracelets and hot chocolate to raise money, which got me some $100; this was still nothing compared to what I needed to get.  It wasn't until I got to the point were I had to accept that I had done what I could; the results were in God’s hands, it is better if I don’t worry about it. Two days before the trip, I got the surprise; my friend gave me $1,400! I started crying and giving thanks to God. When I saw the bill that was the exact amount of money I needed and, I ended up going to outreach with my friends with extra money in my pocket. God was faithful…

“God what is going on? Why haven’t you given me the money I need, if you know that what I want to do, I do it for you?  It is time for me to go to Sweden, what is going on?” Yes, this has been going through my mind all this week. It has been 4 days since I had to leave and I still need about 5,000 dollars. In my other trips I have arrived at my destiny just in time; money came in all at once and didn't have to worry as much. That was not the plan God had for me on this trip.  He has me waiting because he wants to teach me something and I need to find out what it is.

Today in the morning I found out what I had to learn. I remembered that my plans are no longer MY plans. As much as I try to do the things the way I want them to work out, it is not going to happen that way unless it is the way God has it planned. His plan in my life is stronger. He wants me to surrender my plans to Him, and that I may know that I don’t need to call them MY plans but OUR plans.  He wants complete surrender and trust to know that no matter what, everything will be for my good. He will provide! J That is why I love having Him in my life! :D He is still faithful...

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I am so thankful for all the moments I have been able to share with you all, even if it has been only for a little bit. God has seriously blown my mind with the places He has taken me and by all the people I have had the honor to share my life with. 

          As many of you know, God has planted a seed in my heart to be a missionary who travels the world. During my last mission’s trip in Ensenada, Mexico, I asked God to show me something that breaks His heart and that I would have a passion to work with as a ministry. During our “Justice week” the topic of “Sex Trafficking” came up. Our teachers showed us a video of a little girl being sold and forced to sleep with older men. She also told us that Pornography is a huge reason why there is sexual abuse and also why the sex trafficking business is so successful. Just hearing this hurt my heart so much, especially because I have close friends who have been victims of sexual abuse. As I thought about this it made me angry and frustrated. How come something, that to most of the people in our society seems harmless, is a factor that causes pain to many women and children all over the world? It has become a personal matter now that my friends have been victims. 

         What is my next step? What am I supposed to do about this? I don't feel comfortable just sitting around when there is something I can do about it. As I explained in my previous letters, I want to study Communications with the missionary "University of the Nations". I am praying that in September, God provides money for me to go to Restenäs, Sweden, to take a school/class called "School of Communication Foundations" (Which is part of my career plan.) During this time I will learn how to communicate those ideas and passions to all the different audiences in the World. I will also have to do a research project, where I want to investigate about how Pornography affects Sexual Abuse and Sex Trafficking, but most importantly I will also express God's heart in the matter. By the end of my time in Sweden, I will share with you my entire research project. The main idea with all this is that everyone knows about this topic. I am eventually planning on starting a movement; I will inform you about what God has told me to do when the time is right. 

         This is my plan for the next 3 months; please pray that God provides me with finances and direction with this project I want to start. Thank you in advance for your prayers, please pray for me as much as you can! I always feel comfort when I know people are praying for me.

God bless ya'll

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

       

       It's always great when God gives you this amazing desire. A desire that you didn't expect you would ever have. As a matter of fact one of the things you said before was " I don't ever want to be a missionary" or " I don't want to go to Mexico". This is how I realize that my life is not my own it belongs to someone else who has a higher purpose for me.
       I cannot complain about the events that have happened in my life, things have gone better than I thought they would. Even the things that were not handled the right way, He has made them work out for my good. He knows I need to learn to trust, to love and to depend only on His affections for me. He knows my deepest desires in a way that I might not even understand. He feels my daily pain and gives me His hand and tells me "dance with me, I love and I won't ever let you down." As I dance with Him tears keep falling down my face, my heart is still in pain but His hands are holding me. I trust His hands, in them I feel secure, I feel peace, love and most importantly I feel fulfilled. Why wouldn't I give Him all I am? Why wouldn't I give Him my life to take care of? Why not let Him make my decisions, take my anxiety, my pain? In His hands my life is secure; no matter what my circumstances are, He takes my burdens and tells me that He will carry them. He is my lover, that is His name for me when I seek Him in the secret place where we enjoy each other. I am His Chiquita, and He is my lover.


"I belong to my beloved,
    and his desire is for me."

                         Song of Songs 7:10

Friday, May 4, 2012

Hey!

I just wanted to share something that I wrote on my journal during my Discipleship Training School. For those who were there, during the Tim Pratt week = intense week.  This is me talking to God. 

"Today I discovered how desperate I am for you. My heart started crying and tears wanted to come out. Telling me about the desperation I have for you. My mind tried to understand the reason for this. Deep inside of me I thought I knew. You showed me...you. 

My heart cried for the times my mind dared to think that you are not good. How could such thoughts com out of my mind? My heart aches and cries when I remember all the mornings I spent being angry at you for things my mind cannot understand. Your goodness and your love for me, Lover, how could I deny? You have rescued me from the paths of destruction. My mind is too small to understand how jealous you are for me. The way you want me just breaks me. 

My deceitful mind didn't understand why tears were falling down my face. As I tried to stop the tears from falling, one of them forced its way out. That is when I finally believed my own words when I tell you I love you. I love you more than I imagined. I want it to be like this and even better for the rest of my life. 

Today my heart gave birth to a tear that told my mind that I am desperate for you." 

Jesus you are the love I need, the air I breathe, you are my love and my life, Always Forever