First Christmas together

To begin with, I wish you a Merry Christmas!
We had a good time here. With great food, gifts ... Yesterday we spent the day at the beach. It was cool.
The 25th, Louise and I were at Kings Park and we watched a movie and took this picture.

I like to spend time with her. It is full of life, she loves God, she is servanthearted, athletic, loves adventure, is compassionate, loves helping people ...
Today we were on the penguin island. Island on which there are penguins! :-) (We saw one). To get there, you can either take a ferry or walk the 700m which separates it from the main island (which is Australia). We chose the walk option and in some places the water came up to half my belly. But it was fun and very beautiful on the island! To do with those who come to visit me.
Next week will be my last week in the accounts office. For after this, my primary health care school begins. You can pray that all the students will receive their visas to enter Australia.
And finally, I wish you a good end of the year.

Plans for 2010

On one hand the countdown is ticking and on the other the counter is increasing. It's been 10 days that I'm going out with Louise and we had good times together. We went to Kings Park, on the banks of the river, shopping for Christmas ... We get to know each other better. It's a great time.
Thank you for praying for God's direction in our relationship and also for Louise's back. Two weeks ago she got injured while swimming in the waves and the pain is still not gone.
The countdown to the start of my school of introduction to primary health care in coming to an end. In two weeks we will have our first meeting to get to know each other and then the lectures will begin! :-)
During 12 weeks we will have lectures in Perth and then the 12 next weeks we will put into practice, in Mexico City, everything that was learned. A small group will also teach in India.
At the end of the school (IPHC) I will return to Switzerland for about 2 months for the wedding of Stéphane and Anne-Gabrielle (June) and Philip and Amélie (August). After this time in Switzerland, I will return to Perth. This program involves a lot of travelling, and therefore costs. If you want to participate with me in this project, please contact me by email jwyssblog@gmail.com and I will give you details on how you can do it. Prayers and finances are welcomed.
I wish you a Merry Christmas!

Girlfriend

Not the usual thing, my last post date two weeks ago! There are two explanations for this. The first is that I spent the end of last week in the house of my leader and I had no internet access. But it was cool to have a home for myself for a few days and have quiet evenings with friends. The second reason is that the students had to pay their outreach fees. So from Monday to Thursday I have never left the office before 9pm. And Friday evening, I sang in the choir in the park. It was cool, I enjoyed it a lot (I hope I will have some pictures).
But there is also something else that has happened this week. I asked Louise if she would like to become my girlfriend and she said yes, so since Thursday we are dating! :-) So this is a new and exciting saison in my life.

THANK YOU!

I still enjoy a lot the branches of chocolate that I received in Switzerland (and my house mates too :-))
My leader and his family just left on holidays for a few weeks therefore I have the privilege of housekeeping for a few days. It will be strange to be alone in a house :-) But it will also mean that there will be more work and we are heading towards a busier period because students must pay their outreach fees. But we will manage it. We are two working full time (the other very is experienced) and two others who come when they can.
Speaking of finances, I would like to thank all those who support me, you also reap the fruits of what I sow, because without you I could not do what I do.
I wish you a good period of Advent!

Hope

What to tell about this week ... Each morning, the leaders and potential future leaders were given a very good teaching from Jim Stier. It was really interesting. He spent much time talking about hope, something which he believes is most important that a leader must pass on.
Ah yes, last week we started rehearsing for the Christmas choir. Friday 11.12.09 we will sing in a park of the city. It is now several years that the city invites us to animate Carols by candle lights and the trustee usually gives a speech.
In 6 weeks my IPHC (introduction to primary health care) will start. Have I already written that I received my visa? Currently there are 10 students and guess what, we're all from different nations!

Australian generosity

This week I have experienced the generosity of Australia. With a friend, we went for a bike tour along the River. Halfway I noticed my rear tire was losing air. After walking a while, we stopped by a house to ask if they have a pump. He had one, even a compressor! But after several tests we had to submit to the obvious that we needed for repair. But we didn't have the equipment necessary. To our surprise, the gentleman offered me his bike to use. After discussion it was accepted. Then I went back on his bike (which was much better than the one a friend lent me) and left the other there.
Monday evening we returned with tools to repair. The repair was done quickly and we had a good chat with the gentleman and his wife. Before we got home, my tire was flat again :-( So we walked the last stretch. During the second repair I found the culprit, a needle (plant).
That's how I have been blessed by the generosity of this man this week. It must be said that he was also blessed with a plate of Swiss chocolate! :-)

NLM

This week has been full. We had the meeting of the leaders of the bases YWAM Australia. And alongside that, there were various workshops that we could choose. It was interesting to hear what goes on in or out off other parts of Australia. For example, teams have been in areas affected by the tsunami in the Pacific and the earthquake in Indonesia. Or next year a ship will sail up the east coast to mobilize people and then will provide medical assistance in Papua New Guinea. Or sea containers converted into offices ...
For our base an invitation was given to attend the next Megacity which will be next year in Mexico City. Invitation which I send to you too. You can participate by bringing a team or by informing the responsible for the missionary journeys of your church that there is an opportunity to go to Mexico City or to pray for this city. More info on www.megacities.org.au. Or you can ask questions on jwyssblog@gmail.com.
I also have a good and bad news. The good is that I got my student visa to do the school of primary health care which will start in January. The bad news is that my computer is not booting anymore since last week.

I also have another invitation to send you. If the fact of coming to visit me is not a good enough excuse to come and experience Australia and spend part your the winter in our summer, then in January we will celebrate the 25 years of YWAM Perth and the 50 years of YWAM International! That should be a good enough reason to come here! :-) More info on celebrations.ywamperth.org.au

We are grew!

This week has been fairly busy. Wednesday evening we had an OpenMic (different people from the base performing songs and dances.) Then we had 24 hours of worship to end the 40 days of fasting and prayer for new properties. The 40 days and 24 hours were divided among all persons on the base. So to finish these 40 days, everyone brought something to eat (there was so much food!) and then we had a time of worship all together. During these 40 days we saw also finances come in for the new properties. For more info, you can have a look here: http://www.ywamperth.org.au/pressing_on

YWAM Perth 1985

YWAM Perth 2008

That is why we need more space.

Do you ever wonder why some Australian wore hats like that?

Personally I found them a bit ridiculous, but now I can understand why. The flies started coming out! And here a small movement of the head is not enough to scare them, but you almost need the push them with the hand so that they leave for 1 second! They come in the mouth, eyes, nose ... So I can understand that after a while you can get fed up and that we delegate the job to cork hanging from a string.

Beginning today and for a week, we host the NLM (National Leaders Meeting). It's the leaders of YWAM bases of Australia who are meeting and in addition to these meetings there are conference open to everyone of YWAM. That means that about sixty additional people will be at the base.

Eat

Thursday evening, as every Thursday, we went out into the streets to meet people. With my partner, we prayed and the word "eat" came to my mind. We thought we would have the opportunity to feed someone. So we started. To start we wanted to talk with an old gentleman, but he was afraid (I must say that my partner had my hight and is bigger then me). Then we talked with two Japanese, one Australian who was repairing a window and finally we spent a moment talking with a young Korean couple. They had questions and were interested in going to church, so we gave them a Bible. The next morning, while reading John 4:32 I realized that we had given spiritual food to the Korean couple. Otherwise, this week I: - Took a course on how to raise financial support - Taught how to play jass to a Malagasy and a Canadian - went to the beach with a girl friend and a guy who was here for three days to renew his visa - worked in accounts - Read some of the Bible outside - Played volleyball - Went to church - Meeting the son of a friend of my parents - ...

My computer

I am writing this message from my computer! A friend got it to reboot with Windows XP (whereas before it had Vista), but at least I can reuse it. That's cool. My friend spent many hours to repair it.

Yesterday it was 37°C! In two days we've taken a good ten degrees on the head, it was surprising.
If you've seen people walk barefoot today it is that they may know one of my former ComDTS students. Indeed it is his birthday and he is almost always barefoot, so in his honor, we are about twenty around the world to walk barefoot today. In this photo, I'm going to church.
Thursday we went evangelize in Perth with the new students. With my partner, we explored the site and then we met a Zambian and a person from Hong Kong. It was a good start.

I received my certificate!

It could be one reason why we will eat fondue tonight (we need to take advantage before summer comes back). Yes, so on Friday I received my BLS certificate (Basic Leadership School) school that I followed over the last 2 years. And Thursday, I was accepted to the IPHC (Introduction to primary health care), school I am going to start in January.
The new schools have finished their first week of classes, right now they are out to see a little bit of Australia. A lot of them love to play volleyball, so during the lunch break, we have fun playing it! :-)
Tuesday evening, with the whole base, we had dinner at the riverside. It was a good opportunity to get to know new students. I have to meet many more of them and learn their names, but those I have met are very cool.
I am looking forward to knowing the outcome of tonight's game of the Swiss soccer team.

Transition week

That's how I would describe this past week for me personally and for the base. Indeed, Monday the new schools will start and therefor a whole new group of students is arriving. All schools merge, there should be about 130 of them.
And for my part the transition was between holiday / Switzerland and accounting / Australia. Transition which happened well, even if the mornings were a little difficult (my body had the feeling of rising at midnight :-)). I have the impression that it is much more than a week that I'm here.

Tuesday night I had my birthday table (the people of the base really liked the little chocolate (thank you Pa and Ma!)). So I have invited 7 friends to my table. Everyone sang our traditional birthday song. And after eating the cake, some came to see the documentary "More than chocolate and cheese" (it's worth it to see).
Friday I also had to transit from right to left on the road, going to the bank. But by mowing the lawn, it does not change :-)

Shoes

If only these shoes could talk! They would have things to tell. They walked beaches of Australia, they took a bath in the sewer of Jcity, they went to remote villages of Thailand, they climbed the hills of the Himalayas, they spent hours in the air and now they have finished their race in beautiful Switzerland.

But back to my vacation that are finishing now. In this last week I could go visit a lot of people (but unfortunately not all that I wanted, I hope I can do it next year) and had good quality time.
For my birthday, I went to say hello to my former work colleagues (it was cool to see them :-)) and then I was surprised to have dinner with the whole family and almost the entire extended family. It was good. And I could eat the best ice cream in the world! :-)

Bern

On that 20.09.2009, which is not as special for the U.S. (09.20.2009), I'm writing in the house in which I grew up.

I spent a few days in Bern to visit various people (sister and family, grandmother, aunts and family, childhood friend and family) and I also met my first niece that I had not yet met. She is energetic and wants to explore everything. I could even baby-sitte her during the first hours I saw her :-)

I redid a little bike in Bern, it's cool!

It appears that the BLS (Basic Leadership School, the school that I just finished) is beloved in Bern, they have trains and flags with it :-) And also, I just realized that the day I made these pictures is when I was supposed to receive my diploma, but as I'm on vacation, I'll receive it later.

That day has also been special because, after having heard about him and been in email contact for 2 years, I met Raphael. Two years ago, he also started the BLS, but in New Zealand and found my blog. Since then I saw his photo in Bangkok, he met (in Jerusalem) someone with whom I went to J-city, Chad, Cameroon and Australia, and I met a couple of protugese and dutch that knows him! :-) So then, we spent an afternoon together in the beautiful city of Bern.

A week in the Alps

This week's vacation has begun with a few days in the mountains with my parents. It was very relaxing with hikkings, thermal baths, naps, games, good food ... We also had the chance to see the installation of a new chairlift. They used a helicopter with two stacked rotors. The heaviest element it lifted weighed 4 tons!

Here is a short video of lifting that seems so easy.

I also put some pictures here.

The same person in a different culture ...

Then I spent almost three days, also in the Alps, with people from my church. We had fun in the pool, walked, did archery and watched two films. A good time to reconnect and we were spoiled at the hotel (hotel Crea).

Celebrations ...

Yes exactly, celebrations, is the word! Since my arrival in Switzerland, the celebrations do not stop! They seem to have purposely put all of them this weekend so I can join all :-)
But before Switzerland, last Sunday, the leader of my DTS invited me with 3 more to eat brownies that he backed at there home. It was an opportunity to get to know more their little girl (aged 2-3 months) and the others people present. It was a beautiful evening.
Wednesday night was their first of two commissioning nights. This quarter there will be two, because three schools will complete their theoretical phase in South Africa after the conference of the university of the nations.
Then, Thursday was the departure for Switzerland. The flights went well. I got to know a little bit some of the passengers. In Geneva, my nephew and my parents welcomed me, first celebration. Then we went to get my driving license, say hello to my older brother and my little brother. After that, by bringing back my nephew, I saw for the first time my second niece and saw my sister in law. It was fun to see everyone there.
Saturday started with my first visit to the YWAM base in Lausanne. There, I met YWAMers from Perth and we had a teleconference with our director who is in South Africa. After this time, it was the turn of the celebrations of the 45 years of the "Flambeaux" (boy scouts). A very good time with great reunion and the first meeting with the fiancee of my best friend. And to end this day, there was the first evening of the celebration of the 40 years of YWAM Switzerland.
Sunday I had the privilege of attending the first service of my church in their new house. It was celebrated with a drink. Then I was invited by a couple from the church. A good opportunity to reconnect with them and to hear a little of what they experienced during those two years. And during the evening was the second celebration of 40 years of YWAM Switzerland. It was nice to see the whole cathedral full and also to meet many different people, including my future sister in law (a first for me (a second sister in law, but the first time I met her :-))).
Voila, then, these first three days were filled with celebrations of diffenrent kind and first encounter with 3 importante girls (for my two brothers and my best friend). It was also an opportunity to reconnect with flavors and familiar images that I love. Tomorrow I leave for a few days in the mountains with my parents. This will be more restfull.

Fruits

I will still very quickly write a message from Perth.
For my DTS outreach, we went to Japan and this weekend came the first Japanese staff to our base. In fact it is a couple and she is from Japan. But the best thing is that they are here because two years ago, we met them at a concert in which he played an instrument. And since then they have been interested in coming to Perth. So they will be here for 1 year. It's really cool to see more fruit after so long!
Today I had my last BLS class.

Last homeworks for the BLS

Yes, today I made my last duty for the BLS training I followed over the last two years. The graduation ceremony will happen during my holidays. Holidays which will begin in a few days! :-)
During my last day in the kitchen, I was able to observe a principle of leadership that I read in the book for which I made the report (Courageous leaders). The principle is to have a over whole objective and not lose sight even if circumstances change. And this is what happened on Friday. Our objective was to prepare food for all the tables for lunch. We shad 4 left to do when I wanted to put 4 plates of pasta in the warmer. Unfortunately, I took it badly and they all fell on the ground. Fortunately only one lid opened and we were able to recover the other three dishes (for 24 persons). So now we had again 5 tables to provide food for. And there I was impressed by the calm of the leader, she went to see what else we could do. And so, after hurrying up, we could provide food for everyone! :-)
Saturday was a beautiful day. In the morning we had breakfast with the staffs and students of Compassion DTS 2008 and 2009. Everything was prepared on the BBQ (grill) pancakes, bacon, hash brown, fried eggs, French toast and eggs in a hole. It was really cool. Then I could mow the lawn for the first time wearing a T-shirt! :-) (For us it's still winter). And in the evening there was a birthday party during which we did games and eat good homemade ice cream cakes.
Voila, the next message will be from Switzerland or maybe from somewhere on the way to Switzerland.

Planning my holidays

The planning for my holiday is all happening. Between the 40 years YWAM Lausanne, the 45 years of Flambeaux (boy scouts) Lausanne, the weekend with the Stami (home church), time in the mountains with my parents, visiting people in Bern and Lausanne (of course), I will not get bored and I'm looking forward to it a lot!
About being bored, I didn't get bored this week! Indeed both DTS and the school of music in mission (SOMM) will leave the base two weeks earlier to go to a conference of the University of he nations in Cape Town (www.uofnworkshop.com) and Wednesday was the dead line for them to pay for their outreach, thus there was much more work for us in the office account. Thursday it was chocolate selling day for our property found (we do it once a month during the winter).
Tuesday evening, I could go and play volleyball in the sports hall with the sports DTS. They lacked a player, so they asked me. I had a lot of fun, despite the defeat, a defeat that was very short (23-25, 26-28; didn't have enough time to finish the third set).
Ah yes, the plane tickets are purchased and I will be in Switzerland from 04.09.09 to 25.09.09. So my birthday will be in Switzerland and I'll probably also celebrate it in Perth! :-)

Holidays

Yes, in less than 3 weeks I'll be on holiday and I will go to Switzerland! So between the 05.09 and the 23.09 (dates may change slightly depending on the airline ticket that I will get), if you are in Switzerland and want to see me, let me know quickly because my agenda has already started to get filled. I am looking forward to seeing you again after almost 2 years for most of you, the Swiss who read me.
This Friday, in the cuisine, I learned to make fried rice (for lunch). And for dinner we made pizzas. Many pizzas! Around 150 pizzas. Now I understand why this is not a meal that we often get! :-)
Tonight, as I went out of the house to go to dinner, I saw a couple who looked towards our house. They told immediately me that there was a cane with her ducklings that were trying to get under our fence. Indeed, the ducklings were on the other side, but the cane couldn't make it. Finally she succeeded and we had a cane with her 6 or 7 ducklings crossing our backyard one behind the other. A unique sight!

White Sauce

For the English blog, the race to be the first to write a comment (beside me) is still on. Who will win it?

This week, I learned how to prepare a white sauce! :-) For the month of August, as part of BLS, every Friday I will serve in the kitchen. And that's where I learned how to prepare a white sauce (for 64 people :-))

Thursday evening, we had a very fruitful discussion with a Nepali studying in Perth. He answered many questions about politics, the culture, geography ... of his country. I am trying to write down what the project in Nepal might look like. Therefor this discussion was very useful. It is a brand new area for me to do the planning of a project like this. It's a new challenge.

I have good news and one that I hope will get better! The first is that two people said they'd support me financially every month! And the second is that my laptop has restarted a second time and that we could save my data. I hope that I will soon be able to write that it is repaired (because since then it has not restarted).
This weekend, I did not bake a cake (actually, the lemon one has been much appreciated!) but I have mowed the lawn (for those who have forgotten what my house looks like)

future

Where to start with?
I had a busy week, but full of good news. Due to the push for finance, in the office of accounting, we had more work, but also we could also hear all the good news how God provided through other people. Other good news are, my new passport has already arrived (and now also my identity card) and my laptop started during one evening (but hasn't started anymore since then :-/).
Some asked me how my personal financial situation is. Currently I have some people who support me and I still have some savings from before my DTS, which will not last forever, so I need more partners to support me.
Perhaps you have noticed the picture of the title of the blog has changed a few weeks ago. It shows people of the country of the summit of the world, where I feel called to get involved in the longer term, by providing medical assistance. The how and when is yet to be defined exactly, but to start with, in January, I'm going to do the IPHC (Introduction to primary Health Care) school. A 6 months school, here in Perth. And then I will return to Switzerland for the wedding of my brother.
On a different note, last night we had a "dance party" and, among other things, we were taught a few swing steps. It was great fun! :-)

A step of faith

Now I know why in my last message I wrote about faith. Monday morning, after our time of worship as the whole base, our director told us the situation in which a large number of staff is. Many of us are late in paying their monthly fees. It should be noted, for those who do not know how YWAM works, that each staff (even the leaders) is responsible for finding sponsors to finance its expenses. So we have no salary. It is a principle that God has placed at the heart of the founder of YWAM from the beginning, 49 years ago (the 50th is next year! :-)). In that way, we can always be dependent on God for our support and include more people in our mission. By supporting us, you also have a heritage in the nations, because without you we could not do anything.

So Monday, the director gave us the strategies that the leaders have set in place to see the debt disappear by 29 September 2009. Here are some of them, every morning from 7am to 8am, people who still have a debt and those who want to join (the director said she will participate as well) come together to pray and at 3.15pm, all the base stops to spend a moment in prayer. And that until all the dept is cleared. It is a step of faith that our leaders have made to move this mountain, and we will all strive to achieve it! Thank you for supporting us in prayer and if you also have at heart to support me financially, I am gladly sending you the details, please send an email to jwyssblog@gmail.com.
All this implies that there is more to do in accounts, but it is a pleasure to see all this money come and hear how God provides!
Today, with three Swiss and the boyfriend of one of them we ate a fondue (it is the season for us) while listening to traditional Swiss music! :-) It was also cool.
And we had an engagement party, it was also cool! During one of the games, we had to create the wedding clothes of the future newlyweds with toilet paper and my team won! (I was one of the model)
Pastry side, tomorrow I will try to bake the lemon cake and if it works, I will bring it to the office for people who come to bring money or ask questions or take the money or say hello or, in fact for everyone :-)

madeleines

Yesterday I tried a new recipe (also from my mom). This time, it was chocolate madeleines. Guess where the chocolate was? :-) But they were still good (although if I forget the salt). They were then eaten while watching the movie, the "patriot" (Rahel He, do you remember who is the main actor in this movie? :-)). We were 16 people from 12 different countries and 5 continents! Incredible! But it is something that often happens here. It is very multicultural.
Wednesday, I sent my passport to be renewed. A matter of prayer that everything will work out well.
Walking to the base for dinner, I told myself that it didn't feel like being the tour de France season with our cool weather and rain. In my memory, season of the tour de France is synonymous with heat, sun, beach ... It was then that I remembered the theme of the month of the church in which I have been going since my return to Australia. The theme is: faith and take a step of faith is often against our feelings, against what we believe to be capable of doing. If you have an experience of a step of faith that you want to share, you can do it in a comment.
I hope you are also in the process of watching the Tour de France which is currently on the roads of Switzerland! Switzerland is beautiful! :-)

Cake

The first cake I made in Australia is currently in the oven (I hope it will be good :-)). I used Swiss baking powder, that my mom sent with the recipe for her famous chocolate cake, so it should be good :-) Wednesday, I helped bake brownies (they should have staid longer in the oven, but the taste was good).
My culinary experiences are only a part of what happened this week. Friday, I spent the day with the Megacities ministry. As part of my BLS training, every Friday we go to another ministry to broaden our experience. A rotation takes place every month. Since I staffed DTS' most of my time, this is only the second that I do, but I should still do 2 more before the end of the school.
Speaking about end of school, I also had two meetings with a leader of the base about my future. I will tell you more about it when it will be more advanced. But I am very grateful if you carry it in your prayers.
Now, I took the cake out of the oven, but at the first glance, all the chocolate chips are located in the bottom of the cake :-/ Was the dough too liquid?

A new step for the blog

Friends are currently watching "planet earth", so it's difficult to concentrate. It's incredible to see the creativity of God! I love watching movies of nature.
This week there were not many people at the base. But the program was no less busy during the day. Every morning we had BLS (Basic Leadership School), which is my last quarter (the 8th). The afternoon I was at the office of accounting and during the evenings, now that I no more staffing, were free. I must get used to have so much free time again.
Thursday evening we had box day for a guy living in the house. It was very funny!
New students are now arriving. This quarter will see the largest number of students for a quarter of July, we will have between 110 and 120 students.
The new step for the blog is this, so that my English friends can follow my adventures, a translation will be available here: www.JWyssEng.blogspot.com. If you have a good idea of how to easily translate the blog, let it me know at jwyssblog@gmail.com