december 2011
God seems to be on the move here @ ywam dunham and it is weird to think we will be leaving for a year and a half as of March 2012. If you haven’t heard about this, feel free to contact us and we’ll fill you in. But yes...God is on the move and it seems quite hard not to be involved with all He is doing. We actually haven’t tried to «start» or «do» anything new but it seems like He is just opening doors in front of us and we cannot but walk through them. His favor seems to be present, which sometimes gives a bit of a hectic rhythm to it all. So our hands are in various pots at the moment, whether it’s seeing to the pioneering of various 2nd level schools, or working on launching a café ministry, it’s all out and crazy!
All of this confirms various words we have received from God related to the growth of ywam dunham. Gabriel has recently shared that the sense of expectation and urgency he had on his heart when he first arrived at ywam dunham (7 yrs ago), to see this place live again, is once again on his heart. There is a sense that God now wants to take us further and grow us. It’s exciting!
moving on | june 2011
Taking the time to backtrack sometimes make you realize how much has gone on over the span of just a few months. The boys are of course marking every day of our lives in such an extravagant way...seeing them grow and change is a mysterious and precious adventure. January 2011 marked the beginning of the 6th arts & music DTS, the last in which we would be actively involved. It has been a good year (just like wine) and we are thrilled to welcome back the 5 teams that left for outreach in late April. They will bring back stories from Thailand, Tahiti, Italy, Brazil & Argentina.
Gabriel has been teaching in various YWAM schools and other events over the last 3 months and every time, it is a rich experience in learning and discovering. Everywhere he goes, people seem grateful for his message.
Rebecca has been deepening her passion and skills for music as she has been taking voice lessons as well as singing with a friend guitar-player from Dunham. One thing lead to another and she now has her own little duo called La Cançao (the song in Portuguese). They have already performed 2 gigs here in Dunham and were booked for 2 more during their sound check. Fun! They sound real good and it’s a joy to see Rebecca so stunning and comfortable when she sings!
As far as photography, our summer is somehow getting filled with various engagements. From May to September, we’ll be spending many of our weekends at weddings, creatively capturing the essence and the overflow of those days filled with love.
We are currently all in Dunham...which feels really good. After Rebecca was gone for 8 days to the Dominican Republic where she participated in a YWAM meeting as a member of the Canadian Leadership Team, Gabriel had his share of traveling, visiting 3 of our 5 outreach teams to Rome, Brasilia (Br) and Mendoza (Arg). A very intense summer awaits us but if we can manage to squeeze in a few climbing trips, tennis games and chill out times at the beach, we should have lots of fun!
colourful season | october 2010
It is almost that time of the year where we celebrate Mikael’s (Gabriel’s brother) birthday...but this year, he is in Sweden. Nevertheless, this season for us always marks a time of rest, refreshment and peace. We go at it most of the year, and it is during the months of September to December that we usually slow down and live on a different rhythm. A week after the 50th, Gabriel spoke on the Compassion DTS in Dunham, sharing some of his life experience with regards to what it means to fear the Lord. We then enjoyed 2 weeks of holidays, spending the first one in Montreal and Ottawa. Whilst in Montreal, we got initiated to climbing, a sport we would like to start practising together. Intense, challenging and FUN! In Ottawa, we mostly hung out with friends as well as visiting a bit of the city. The following week flew by but we still got to enjoy deep rest; our boys are absolutely mind-blowing. They allow us to sleep in till 9.30am most mornings...since they have each other, they play and hang out in their cribs and even fall back to sleep sometimes. On Friday October 15, Gabriel jumped on a plane to go teach on the fear of the Lord at a DTS in France - www.ywam7.com. He had a wonderful week, re-unting with old friends as well as meeting many new ones; lots of revelation & transformation...both for him and the crew there. During that time, Rebecca jumped on a car, along with the boys and her father and they visited her grandparents in Nova Scotia, whom had never seen their great grandchildren...it was a nice surprise. We are now all re-united and we are so thankful for the gift of life and Truth who allows us to feast in abundance. On top of all of this, Rebecca has also been in 2 10 km races this summer and fall. She has discovered a new passion and has excelled in both races. It has been a good way for her to get back in shape as she had gained more than 70 pounds (32 kg) with the pregnancy. Way to go Rebecca!
september = 50
September was all geared on hosting one of the 40some 50th celebration for YWAM Intl. We welcomed over 300 people in our good old gym for the first evening celebrations. Around 180 YWAMers from Easter Canada and North Eastern USA joined us for the few days (September 15-19). It was wonderful to host our beloved founders, Loren & Darlene Cunningham, as well as the YWAM Dunham founders, Carol & Uli Kortsch and many others from the old days! The highlight was definitely the simple but deep connections we had with one another, spending time as a family, remembering our history, understanding our position and dreaming about the future. We met many wonderful people and ideas were born during that time. Rebecca did a most amazing work at co-ordinating the team who headed up the event. They had been preparing this event for about a year and have all put so much effort in making it excellent and fun! You can read a full report of the event at www.ywam50.com. We will also put pictures and videos on www.jemdunham50.com
the summer of our boys’ first year
It has been quite the ride. The arts & music dts finished super well and we had a lovely graduation celebration. Everyone is back home, pursuing God’s call on their lives. Exciting. Several will be coming back to staff the next DTS which is always fun! We then had a week to rest so we jumped in our car, along with Gabriel’s family, and headed down to Rockport, MA, for a few days of rest at the beach. Good foods, good people, good times. Back in Dunham, Gabriel jumped right into the 3 weeks of craziness with Camp Mammouth and this year marked the beginning of a wonderful partnership between YWAM and 2 other organizations, all of this to help under-privileged kids to come at camp and have a blast. Over the 2 weeks of camp, we had about 60 kids come and many of them, who had never met Jesus, had significant and transforming encounters with him. Amazing! It was then birthday and celebration time with Gabriel turning 27...oh so young...and the boys turning 1...oh so very young...and us celebrating our 4th anniversary! Mingled in all those celebrations, we hit the road once more with our new car, Fée (Hyundai Santa Fe) and drove a total of 4632 km, in order to attend our YWAM national conference, which was of course amazing - YWAM Canada is such a cool family! 30 minutes before arriving home on our way back, the timing belt on our newly acquired car broke. We had to be towed home and we were helped by the most amazing stranger ever who took us all in with his big pick up truck. It was quite the adventure as well as a huge financial stretch which we are still recuperating from.
going everywhere | spring 2010
Gabriel jumped on an airplane mid-may to go visit teams in India and France and within a week of his return, we were all on airplanes, going to Mexico City to visit another team. It was the boys’ first «Go» trip and we had a blast. Taco stands and hot pizza, on fire churches and hospitable families, our time there was epic. It was good to see our team and meet with each individual, go out in the streets with them and bring light and joy to this colourful but needy city. A very significant discovery for travelling with babies was the kidcoes’s wonderful baby tents, the peapods. The boys love sleeping in those and they’re just so useful. If you have young ones and need to travel, we highly recommend it! In mid-June, Gabriel was off to Salt Lake City where he shot a wedding and re-united with some old friends - very good times. You can see pictures on his photography website at www.fotto.ca. He then flew up up north, to Fort McMurray, where the YWAM’s Canadian Leadership Team was meeting for a week. To finish it off, he met his brother Nathaniel in Calgary where they spent a wonderful weekend, hiking the Rockies and eating out. Check out some of the pictures in our photography section.
back in the web | april 2010
It was a hot and sticky evening; pizza and a movie had been the program. Gabriel had fallen asleep in minutes but Rebecca, for whom nights had been a little more complicated with the advanced pregnency, was having a really hard time sleeping. Finally, at 2am, she decided to get out of bed. The sensation of the cold floor felt good, but seconds later, she was standing in a puddle of water. The light was turned on: «Gabriel...Gabriel...I either peed myself or my waters broke!» Rushing out of bed, Gabriel quickly looked and realized that the latter was true...the babies were on their way! He then panicked...walked back and forth in the bedroom and fell on the bed, passed out! Or so did Rebecca think. It was just a joke...and it set the tone for the next few hours. While Gabriel was packing for the hospital, Rebecca called some relatives and friends, facebooked a little and enjoyed the beginning of this new adventure. Eventually, the time came for them to leave. Just before getting in the car, they realized the contractions were only minutes apart...they’re was not much time left. 45 minutes...that’s all the time it took for Gabriel to drive from Dunham to the hospital in Montreal...all of that while Rebecca was being expressive on the back seat.
A few more hours passed and at 6:37am, Mathys Yael was born. His brother, Florian Kenzo, followed 2 minutes after him.
They are now 8 months and we are finally able to take some time to write an update. We’re back in the web.
a new season | summer 09
Getting married, 3 years ago, was the best thing we ever did! It has been a good season and we are so thankful for every single moment. Things are about to shift as we are expecting our first 2 babies! Some time in August or September, we will welcome in our family 2 little boys; they will be our sons!
Finding out we were expecting a baby last January brought quite a hype to our lives; it’s such an awesome thing to think we’ll be able to share with someone else the deep intimacy we have built over the years! And now that we have just discovered there would be 2, it’s even more thrilling!
amdts | january to june 09
14 countries, 19 students, 9 staff...and 12 guys, 16 girls (that was quite the change from our less than 10% male presence in previous DTS’)! 11 weeks of lectures from speakers of all ages, women and men from different backgrounds and denominations, life transforming application times, snow fights, girls nights, boys nights, foosball tournaments, a trip to new york city, visa miracles, money miracles, renewed vision, long hours of doing dishes, cleaning, working, heating the house, touring in highschools, going to india, russia, cameroon, turkey, nepal, mongolia, hong kong and C., partying, loving one another, asking forgiveness to one another, loving more, getting to know God in all of this...and making Him known! It’s been very good...to say the least.
www.gabrielphotographe.com
Gabriel has been offering his photography services for weddings, portraits and events. It is still a slow start but he’s encouraged with the 4 weddings he shot last summer and this spring. Still no contracts for portraits or events but whenever he gets the chance, he does some, just for fun.
If you would like to receive our biannual newsletter, please e-mail us
