Here is 2025 !
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Hello everyone!
First of all: Happy New Year 2025! May the God of peace accompany you every second and may you see His action in your lives!
My last newsletter was in June 2024, at which point the year had already been quite intense and difficult, but it hadn’t said its last word.
I have to say that I’m finding it hard to start tiping this letter. What can I tell you that’s interesting? I feel like I’ve been put in the spin cycle of the washing machine; it’s good because it cleans, but it also shakes!
I recently read a letter from a close friend who shared her difficulty in finding the right words about the last few months. She decided to share more of her heart and thoughts and less of her “accomplishments” so to speak. I really liked this letter and it encouraged me to do something similar.
Time flies and never stops! It’s crazy … I ask myself a lot of questions about this passing of time. Somehow, it scares me because I have the impression that I’m constantly busy but that I’m not “accomplishing anything tangible”. It’s as if I’m trying to move forward in a wind blowing so hard that I’m barely stading… It’s easy to always be busy, to not have a minute and constantly be doing something.
I’ve had this passage from the Bible stuck in my head for almost two years now:
I know it’s easy for me to immerse myself in work. There’s always more to do if you want to work! But sometimes I lose my sense of priorities: my relationship with God. What is God asking me to do? Have I taken the time to listen to him, to follow him? What do I have to give up? I’m learning that life isn’t about exhausting yourself doing “good things” to earn something, but rather about stopping and asking God what do you want me to do? Jesus said, “I do only what I see my Father do” (John 5:19), so I try to learn from Him. It’s difficult, frustrating at times, because I’d like things to go faster…!
And at the same time it frees me from expectations (my own, those of society, of people around me, …) having God as my guide, as my teacher, shows me the right way. This year, God has given me only two mottos: Connection (in the sense of relationship) and have fun! 2024 has been a very difficult year for me emotionally, and I feel that God wants to bring me back to joy. And since the beginning of January, I’ve been feeling this flow of joy within me. That way I used to have, a long time ago, of marvelling at everything, rejoicing in the little things and finding the world fun… I need to rediscover that part of me that I’d put aside to be serious and responsible… or rather to appear serious and responsible.
Until I better understand the lesson God is trying to teach me, I’ll give you a quick summary of the end of 2024 and the good news for 2025!
Project Dance Paris 2024 was excellent! We had some magnificent dancers on stage, with incredible energy and overflowing joy!
Once again, I was delighted with every moment! Seeing the dancers having fun, giving all they had on stage and connecting with each other… it fills my heart with gratitude. Not to mention the impact they had on passers-by. As always, some were moved to tears, and came to talk to the dancers, who listened and prayed for them. Dance is a powerful instrument in the hands of the Lord, thanks to the obedience of each and every one of us!
Another thing I particularly liked was that we had participants from 4 corners of the world: Germany, Australia, the United States, Martinique and Switzerland! The mix of cultures and styles was a delight!
Needless to say, I’m ready for Project Dance Paris 2025!
After a busy spring and month of July, I needed a rest… I spent the rest of the summer with family and friends. A much-needed rest to prepare for the busy start of the new school year!
We started the new school year at the base, and then I went to do the grape harvest. Some of my friends do it every year, and I wanted to give it a try. It was a very interesting experience, but one I don’t intend to repeat.
Then a new discipleship training school ( DTS ) started up. I had to restart the kitchen because we still hadn’t found a full-time volunteer for the position. But this time I got everyone involved! Every team member who didn’t work in the school was in the kitchen once or twice a week. This meant that I didn’t have to spend my life in the kitchen, and that I could manage the rest, the stocks, the shopping, etc.; intense but manageable… Then I found myself in charge of welcoming a large group, and a lot of changes and adaptations were necessary… I held out for the duration of their stay, but I exhausted myself… again! Would I never learn? When they left, I was spent. I immediately communicated my condition to the rest of the leadership team. It took me two weeks to recover… thank goodness the team was there! One staff member offered to help me with stock management and passing on information to the various “cooks”: a relief ! Others took my cooking days duties to give me time to recover.
I love this team and the way we help each other. I was already moved by this when our dear Zabulon left, and it’s something that has stayed with me… it’s a reassuring feeling to know that I can let go and that others will be there to make up for what needs to be done.
It tells me “you’re not alone and you don’t have to stand alone”.
During this time, God also did some deep work with me. I attended a few weeks of DTS classes, either as a translator or as an auditor. I translated David Lawrence’s week on destiny by design and attended the week on the father’s heart of God with Pierre Granga and on the glory of God with Florence maréchal. These three weeks were catalysts for victories in my life! Strongholds I wasn’t even aware of have fallen, and I feel a great change in my position in and towards the world. I know a new season is opening up before me, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store!
And what about 2025?
I’m writing to you from the United States, where I’ve been for two weeks now and will be there until February 10!
It’s a real joy to be back in this place full of artists and arts! I feel so blessed to be here! I’m overwhelmed with joy, emotion and gratitude!
Once again I’m helping out with Underground, a show telling the story of 3 slaves escaping from a plantation in the southern USA to Canada to be free. It’s such a powerful show that I cry just watching the rehearsals. The dancers are magnificent, the music is intense and the story is so powerful!
One thing I didn’t tell you, and which greatly influenced my next announcement, was that in July I lost my grandmother. In some ways, it was a good thing because she wanted to leave, but at the same time, it was hard to say goodbye to her. But God organized this departure with great care… I had often asked him to let me say goodbye (with all my travels, I’m always afraid that one of my grandparents will leave while I’m far away). The day before, my brother and I were with her, laughing and goofing around. She was peaceful and happy to see us. Then, the next day, she left in her sleep. With my dad, my stepmother and my brother, we were able to gather around her. And to say goodbye one last time…
I spent a lot of time with my grandmother when I was little and over the years. She had lived in Africa for many years and passed on her love of the continent to me. She was also a globe-trotter, traveling the world, marvelling at its beauty, and she passed that on to me too… In short, she had a great influence on my life…
I’m going to MADAGASCAR!
In a way, thanks to my grandmother, or rather my dad, who wanted to share with my brother and me a little bit of the money she left behind when she left. Not mountains of gold coins like Buck Picsou, but enough to buy me a plane ticket.
I thought long and hard about whether this was what I should use the money for, and then I thought about everything my grandmother had given me over the years, and it became obvious.This will be my first trip to Africa.
It also just so happened that this autumn’s Discipleship Training School team is doing its practical phase over there. So I’m definitely not going alone. I’ll be traveling with Christiane (who’s with me in the USA) and Sarah, another staff member from the school who we’ll be meeting with in France.
The reason for my trip: Project Dance Madagascar!
It’s the first time that Project Dance will take place in an African country! It’s so cool!
So I’m going there to help the team already in place there. The idea is to serve them by bringing them my experience and the digital resources we have thanks to Project Dance Paris.
Ways to support me
If you’d like to be part of my support team, to make an impact in the lives of so many people I’m lucky enough to meet and serve:
Please write to me or simply donate in any of these ways.
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26 Avenue Marc Urtin,
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