I hope this entry finds everyone doing well back home on this Thanksgiving weekend. We have been busy making final preparations for Rwanda. Its hard to believe and very exciting that the time has now come for departure. We leave tomorrow afternoon from Glasgow here in Scotland, and will be having a couple hour lay over in both London and Kenya before arriving at our final destination in Kigali, Rwanda Monday morning.
I'm extremely excited to journey down this road God has called us, and feel extremely blessed to be able to serve in this way. As I have said before we will be helping the widows in the area by purchasing goats and or chickens to help supply food and a source of income for them. The YWAM base that we will be staying at and working with runs many different ministries in the area so we will be involved in most of those, from working with orphans, widows, schools and those suffering from AIDS. We are going to be encountering a lot of heavy, situations, sights and stories that we have never experienced in our lives. Please pray that we will have both the physical and emotional strength to be able to see past the poverty, sickness and despair and to be able to see how God is working in this country despite those. Just a side note, if you have not seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda" I would encourage you to see it, you will have a better understanding of what this country has been through in the past, and the people who we will be working with, what they have been through.
Well, this is going to be my last update for seven weeks since I will not have internet access while in Rwanda however, there is another website blog you can go to for updates about our whole team, which will be updated everyday or every few days. Our leaders will be in communication with the base here in Scotland and they will be posting the updates. You can find those at www.xanga.com/cwdts
Prayer requests;
*safety during traveling to and from Rwanda as well as while we are there
*health (this is a huge one, we are going to be out in the community so there are no guarantees of proper sanitation,
also medial facilities are not what they are in the States.)
*physical and emotional strength
*for my family back home that they will be able to survive the Holidays without my presence..... :)
*for unity within our team
*for the orphans, widows and children we will be ministering to
*the people of Rwanda for continued healing from the past and reconciliation.
* for God's guidance and our openness and willingness to listen.
* financial provisions
*the list could go on but its hard to say exact prayer requests since many we will not know of until we arrive in Rwanda.
I would also like to thank all of you for ALL your support, I have been so completely blessed by all of you! Know that you are part of this ministry both here in Scotland and in Rwanda, none of this would have been possible if I didn't have such supportive family, friends and church helping provide for the financial needs and continued prayer!
FYI......We will be leaving Rwanda on January 13 and arriving back in Scotland on the 14th so there will be an update posted after that.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
In Christ,
Tonya
The countdown has begun, exactly two weeks until we leave for Rwanda. I am getting quite excited and am pretty much ready to jump on the plane right now.
This past Friday we were able to hear more about Rwanda first hand from a gentleman who has spent quite a bit of time there since the genocide of 1994. We learned a bit more about the culture, the survivors and victims of the genocide and AIDS. He shared with us some of their stories, many of which were hard to even listen to because of the horrors they have lived through. These are the people we will be serving along side of at the ywam base and out in the community. I wish I could tell you more about what we will be doing but until we are actually there, its hard to say. The need is so enormous that all of our team could each be serving in different areas. The base helps support over 200 widows, they run a couple schools, work with the orphans and street children, run different ministries for AIDS victims, as well as have different building projects they are working on. Our time there will be busy, it will be emotionally and physically exhausting. As I am writing this I'm already feeling the difficulty of having to say good-bye to these people and this country I don't even know yet. I think of the children who have lost both parents and are fending for their lives and their younger siblings lives each day. I think of the widows who have watched their husbands and children killed before their eyes. I think of the widows who are dying of AIDS and can not take care of their own children. I think of the children who are dying of AIDS, who have experienced more pain and sickness than any of us will ever have to experience. The widows who have no source of income to even provide for their children's basic needs. These are the people we will be sharing life with as we serve them in as many ways as we possibly can. We are wanting to help feed the hungry, aid in the care of the sick, play with and love the children, teach basic life skills to the youth, help supply a source of income for the widows.
We are praying and trusting that God will provide the extra necessary funds for us to help the people of Rwanda. The money will be going directly into the community to buy food, school supplies, building supplies, possibly for chickens and sewing machines for the widows.
If you are interested in being part of this ministry, you can make checks out to First Baptist Church **please keep the memo line blank!!**
and send them in my name to
33207 Cord Trail NE, Cambridge, MN 55008
Please keep us in your prayers for HEALTH, SAFETY, and for SUFFICIENT STRENGTH for each day. Also very importantly please pray for the people of Rwanda, they have had to live through and endure so much.
In Christ,
Tonya
