Merry Christmas from Nepal!

Namaste!! One week into our 12-week stay and we're all great, aside from some expected diarrhea and Sarah's wisdom tooth extraction. ;) Nepal is even more beautiful than I remembered..and we're only in Kathmandu!

The apartment we are staying at is a very nice place, located in a quiet part of town, and we have roof access with a great view! We have spent the last 7 days getting settled, getting to know the area and getting acquainted with the neighbors, getting used to the food and currency and new culture, figuring out transportation, trying to learn the language with our little books (yikes), and lots of time worshiping and praying. It has been really fun watching Uriah here..he's in his element with all these new people to get to know and of course everyone loves him!

We were somewhat unsure of what our time here would look like.. Aside from us four students setting Bible-reading goals, we just didn't have any leads, but God is so faithful to guide us! Today, the Lord spoke the same thing to three of us--two of us got an impression while we were doing our Bible readings, and the third was one of our leaders! It was such an encouragement for us. Much of our time here will be strategically praying for the beautiful Nepali people. In addition, we will also likely be attending Banquet House meetings on Thursday, which is fellowship around tea, a clinic for the sick or injured, a teaching, and a hot meal, and we hope to be able to work at a children's home and maybe do some trekking to villages! 

Thank you for praying for our health, for our hearts, and for the Nepali people. We love you guys. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Over & out.

Wait We're Leaving!!!???

-Beautiful View During Our Love Feast!

Its Crazy to think that in 6 days we will be on a plane traveling to Kathmandu, Nepal for our "Outreach Phase" of our Discipleship Training School with YWAM!! Feels like yesterday Kaycee and I arrived here in Capetown!!

"Lecture Phase" Overview

Our "Lecture Phase" has been extremely impacting! Very challenging at times, but challenges are crucial for growing. One of the many things I feel these 3 months have taught me is simply How To Struggle Well. Four months ago I didn't think this DTS was going to benefit me much.... I Was Wrong! This DTS has been so much more than the lectures themselves. I have realized my need to go deeper with God and that He has so much for Kaycee and I. Our marriage has definitely grown a lot. God has revealed tons about how Kaycee and I are to do ministry! There have been tears, laughs, good times, and bad, but I would have not traded these 3 months for anything!!

-Kaycee and I on a really cool hike in Kommetjie,Cape Town

We have been blown away by God's provision for us! Our lecture and outreach fees have been completely paid in full! Such a blessing!! We thank all of you for your prayers and financial support!! We will never be able to express our gratitude to God for placing all of you in our lives!!

Please Please Please continue to pray for us as we travel to Nepal!! (Protection, Favor, Unity, Divine Opportunities, Relationships with ministries and people..etc.) Don't forget to send us your prayer requests as well, as we would love to come alongside you in prayer!!!

We pray you all have an amazing Christmas this year, and look forward to your emails!!!!

uriahandkaycee@gmail.com

Also if you haven't subscribed to our blog yet please do!!! We will update again as soon as we can!!

-Awesome Open Market Called The Biscut Mill.

"Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." -Corrie Ten Boom

Hi again, friends! It's a beautiful day here in Cape Town! This journey we are on, getting to know who God is and discovering ourselves in the process, is so much fun!

Our team of four students and two leaders will be going to Kathmandu, Nepal on December 14, less than one month now! Here are a few facts about the beautiful country: It is a small country, only about 56,827 square miles. It shares borders with India and China. The capitol is Kathmandu. 31 Million people live in Nepal (2012). Most people speak the Nepali language. Currency: Nepalese Rupee. The two major religions are Hinduism and Buddhism, but Christianity is growing very quickly in the country. Nepal is home to Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain!

Our leaders have been busy working on budgets and visas and housing..seems we have a place to stay with hot showers and a heater in each room--I'm happy! We have also been praying together for team unity and for direction on what to do when we get there. There are lots of options in the way of ministry..some that stick out are children's ministry, women's ministry, perhaps treks to unreached villages, and prayer walks. We will be forming a mission statement and leading an hour of intersession for Nepal this week. Your prayers would also be appreciated.

Our school has one last financial deadline this Friday, where the final R20,000 per student is due. Uriah and I are so excited to report we only need a little over $1,000 total! As a school, there is something like $13,000 needed. Will you please just join us all in prayer that finances will be released, and ask God if he might have you give? We totally believe in Jehovah Jireh, The Lord who provides, and we know he wants to include others in our journey. Please feel free to ask questions via email or Facebook, and please subscribe to our blog if you haven't!

Love you all! Be blessed!

"Small things with great love.." -Mother Teresa

We have been here for 8 weeks and Uriah and I are still doing great down here in South Africa! Living in community has been fun for us, as long as we do a good job of making time for ourselves to rest and be together. We have just been busy with everything we told you about in our last post..class, small groups, and outreach. The past four weeks our teachings have been about the Holy Spirit, Cost of Discipleship, Worldview, and Missions. All have been really good teachings.

I, personally, have been really enjoying the journey that we are on, and a couple of the biggest things for me have been an increased desire to know the scriptures, and more awareness of the Holy Spirit at work in me and around me all the time. He has been affirming me on my journey, and confirming some things that I believe, and opening my eyes to some of the giftings that he has given me. Local outreach in Masi has been going really well, too! I have finally learned all the kids' names and I'm getting to know personalities and the kids have become much more comfortable with our team. I really love hanging out with them.

Uriah has been hanging out with a few men during local outreach, and they spend a lot of time talking about Jesus and reading the word. He says he loves that he is entering a story that's been going on for a long time! He is leaning a lot about the culture of South Africa and has an increasing desire to walk the streets and just love on people!! This week was one of Uriah's favorite teaching weeks because the focus was on missions, but also just the simplicity of the beauty of Jesus. He desires to focus more on Jesus and become completely overwhelmed by his love and desire for deeper relationship!

We want to know what's going on with you, too! Please, please email us any time and let us know how you're doing or if we can pray for you. We are having a good time here, but we still miss you back home! Xo-the Stepps

From our last Sunday "Beach day"..group pic

Kite Festival in Muizenberg

View of Cape Town from Table Mountain. Kaycee climbed to the top!!

Jesus is awesome!

What's up, guys?! We have just finished up week three of our DTS Lecture phase! I can't believe how fast it is going.. We have been busy, busy with class, prayer and intercession, worship sessions, meetings, and our first book reading/report.

Week two of our lecture phase, Edwin Fillies, base director at YWAM Muizenberg, spoke on
Reconciliation. We all caught his heart in his teachings, and learned about the power of reconciliation and every Christian's ministry of reconciliation in our families, communities, and nations. We also had a great teaching on the history of South Africa so that we can be more aware as we are out ministering and we know better how to pray.

Terrance French "Cirvant", a spoken word artist, came this week and taught on Identity. It was a really awesome week and I loved hearing all his poems, but it was also a difficult week, because it came with a lot of reflecting on our past and identifying where we started believing lies about ourselves, laying them out on the table, and replacing them with truth. So much healing and our class is growing even closer as a result! I love it/them!

I almost forgot to tell you!!!! Uriah and I found out some really exciting news....WE'RE GOING TO NEPAL FOR OUTREACH!!!

We found out about two weeks ago, and we are getting more and more excited! There are 4 students and 2 leaders going, and we have begun meeting 3x per week in preparation for outreach phase (starting Dec. 15) and doing local team outreaches!

For local outreach we are working at an after school program every Wednesday in Masi. There are 12 children who attend every day after school to eat lunch and do homework and have some fun!

We are so thankful for the opportunity just to be here doing this DTS. Thank you for sending us, guys! We feel so blessed!

Now here are some pictures from our days off or field trips: 

(Warning: You will want to come visit!!)

We climbed to the top of Masi hill to pray...

and saw this....

Went on a double date and saw this from a cave!!...

Took this picture in the same cave... (Wouldn't want to be here with anyone else!)

SAW PENGUINS (and whales and seals and jellyfish)!!!

Went to the beach on our day off to swim and eat ice cream...

And much more:)

More later! XOXO-Kaycee and Uriah

First Post from South Africa!

Hey guys! We can hardly believe it has ONLY been a week since we last posted! Obviously, we made it to South Africa! So far, we completely love it and all of our new friends and the staff for our school and the little bit of time we have spent outside the house! It's been a crazy, wonderful, challenging week already..

First impressions: Two of our male DTS staff were waiting for us at the airport wearing long robes..just to weird us out. (LOL..it didn't work!) South Africans drive on the "wrong" side of the road! So they drove us about 40 minutes through the hills of Cape Town to the house where we will call home for the next 3 months. We are sleeping in a really nice house and they gave Uriah and I the master suite with walk-in closet and bathroom because we're the only married couple staying at this house. We felt guilty because upstairs 7 girls share one bathroom. Yay for being married!! Haha.

Everyone in the school is friendly and sweet! The staff, the students...we're getting to know them quickly because we are living so close, but so far we all get along great! We are representing something like 10 nations here. Jeff Pratt is our teacher this week for our first week of lecture and he has been speaking about God's love and the Father's heart..it has been good. Deep already! We find out outreach location options tomorrow.

For a bit of sad news, Uriah's great-grandfather passed last night. Papa was 94 and he was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago. It was hard to hear the news, but knowing he was in a lot of pain makes it a little easier at first to let him go. Please be praying for us, though, (as well as the rest of the family back home) as we work through all that.

We hope you all are doing well! We're really limited on wifi and data while we're here, so we will probably be updating once every couple weeks or so. Subscribe to us if you haven't to receive notifications when we post. Email us anytime and we'll do our best to respond! Much love, the Stepps

Ready, Set, GO!

Kaycee here! We have said most of our goodbyes, checked off all the stuff on our long to-do lists, and packed our bags. Tomorrow is our departure date..we made it, guys! We would love it if you would subscribe to our blog..simply insert your email address in the space provided in the right margin and this handy dandy little program will email you every time we post an update. Thanks to the Carleigh and Steven Conant, we have a camera and should be able to post some pictures! We love you all, and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for helping us get to this point, and please keep us in your prayers!! The Stepp's are headed to South Africa after one more good night's sleep!!!

We Are Back In Kansas Toto!!

Thanks, Uriah, for the awesome title! ;) We are actually back in Kansas now, set up camp in the house we lived in when we first got married. (Yay!) We finished up our jobs and said our goodbyes back in Edmond, and now we'll spend our last little leg with my family in Sterling. While we're here, Uriah will be helping at Gambino's Pizza, while I help out with the kids.

Here's our family! For those of you who don't know, my parents are fostering six (yes, SIX) children. They're super cute. This picture was taken at the boys' birthday party yesterday! They had so much fun, especially Erik, who had been saving up for a rip stick for a long time and got one as a birthday gift!

We are exactly one month from the beginning of our first big adventure together! I mentioned in our last post that we (Lord willing) leave on September 17th for South Africa! I really don't think it will be real to me until I step on the plane.  :)  We still have a few logistical things to work out, like how we are getting to the airport and getting our car back to my parents house. And what size sheets do we need to buy for the bed we will be sleeping in. Not really important, but it's really the only thing I am worried about. 

Financially speaking, we are only about $5,000 away from our goal! We have all that we need to pay up front, but that $5,000 is the rest of our money needed for outreach. We're still not worrying, but casting our cares on Jesus and leaning on Him, and there is so much freedom there. We have continued to see funds pile up, from just normal, obedient people. People who don't know us or YWAM, or people who maybe don't have extra to give, but they felt led to give anyways. We praise God for his ways that are higher than ours, and thank him for the provision for both the giver and the receiver.

This is kind of a long post. We'll try to post more regularly once we arrive. For now, thank you for coming along with us on our journey! We love you!!

Genesis

Hello! Kaycee here. I work as a nanny for one little girl, and Uriah, my husband of one year, along with his friend, has just started a lawn care/landscaping business that has kept him busy all summer!

If you hadn't heard, we plan to leave on our next great adventure in just 2 short months!!! Couldn't be more excited! Preparation to start our YWAM Discipleship Training School is in full-swing! We fly out to Cape Town, South Africa on September 17th, and our school lasts until March 20th. Between work and spending time with people we love, we've been busily working out all the little things, like what we're going to do with our stuff, and our lease, and our car, what we're going to pack (and what we'll pack it in), and raising support!

We just hit the 50% mark to meeting our goal($15,000), and we just keep getting blown away at how God is providing! Like, my sweet sister in Kansas getting her small group to donate their old stuff and selling it at a garage sale. Then the cost of both of our airfare was donated. And just little donations here and there, and the t-shirt sales..they really add up. People we never expected have generously donated, just to be a part of what God is doing around the world!

 We're finding out (again, but afresh) how trustworthy He is in ALL parts of our lives, and how we can count on Him, even when we take our eyes off Him and start sinking, and even when all we can do in our own power is mess everything up. Apart from anything do or don't do (or do and fail at), He is good, and His grace really is sufficient in our weakness!