Here I am back in Scotland again. We arrived on Sunday afternoon after a long 25 hours of traveling. It is good to be back and am now trying to readjust to COLD temperatures, which I don't think I'm succeeding at.
Leaving Rwanda was very bittersweet. It was hard to say good-bye to friends and a country and its people I have grown to love, but at the same time I was very excited about going home. I knew God had us there for just the right amount of time and was very much at peace about leaving.
I will be leaving Scotland on Monday the 22nd to go and visit a friend in London before heading back to the States on the 26th. Later this morning my Mom will be arriving to finish off my stay with me, so I'm pretty excited about that!
I hope everyone is well and enjoying their New Year.
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
I apologize in the delay for an update, the past couple weeks have been a bit rough so I was needing some time to kind of process what had and what was going on.
Backtracking a few weeks to St Cuthbert's way our five day 100 km trek from Melrose, Scotland to Holy Island in Lindisfarne, England. Starting out I was pretty pumped. I was excited to be able to be outside, enjoy God's creation, have long talks with people and spend some good alone time with just me and God. All of that sounded great in theory but wasn't exactly how it went. When ever you have that much time by yourself I have found is not all that great. And for me it was only magnified when I came down a bad case of the flu the night preceding the third day. I will be honest, I was miserable having to continue trekking and climbing hills/mountains when I hardly had energy to even stand. One of the guys carried my pack, along with his. One of the girls linked arms with me to help me walk, more like help me stand, and was by myside for most of the day. This was a hard lesson in humility for me! The remainder of the trek was still a struggle since I was still quite weak and had many different emotions running through my mind, ones I never knew even existed. The last day when crossing the sand flats to our destination on Holy Island, exhaustion took over and I felt no emotion as to what we had just accomplished. Looking back, I don't think I put that week in the category of a good time, it was actually quite difficult, but God got me through, more like He carried me because, there are points during the trek that I blacked out and don't even remember, and how I got to the final destination while being so sick, is beyond me.
So now the stories continues to where we are going for outreach. We figured out just a few days ago that we will be going to the country of Rwanda in Africa. I'm trying to maintain a sense of reality, knowing that I have no idea what the people of Rwanda have had to live through. Never in my life have I seen the sights they have seen nor heard the cries they have heard. Nor have I ever had to live in the extreme poverty they have had to live in. This is not by any means going to be easy, probably one of the most difficult times I have experienced in my life. Please be in prayer for our team as we prepare for Rwanda and as live there for seven weeks. Also be in prayer for the people of Rwanda, they have had to suffer much through war, genocide and AIDS.
Today we will be on our way out in just a couple hours. We are heading up North to spend nine days on the Islands of Lewis and Iona. Iona is the birthplace of Christianity here in the U.K. While on Iona we will be doing some trekking across the island, and while on Lewis we will be involved in some church services next Sunday. I'm looking forward to a few days of relaxing since we are all feeling a bit tired right now. One thing I'm excited about is that on our way back we will be stopping in Loch Ness..... I've always wanted to see that place so it will be quite fun I'm sure, I'll let you know if I see any strange sightings...... :)
Quick update.....
We still do not know where we will be going for outreach (in six weeks) but do have a couple of invitations. One is in the Philippines the other is in Rwanda, we are just waiting to hear back from Rwanda to see if they have room for our whole team. Neither one of these are for sure, for we know God could point us in a totally different direction. Please continue to be in prayer for us as we seek God's heart for our upcoming outreach.
Blessings,
Tonya
It was another amazing week that we just had. God has been doing some pretty cool stuff here as He has been preparing us for outreach and the ministries we have become involved with here in Scotland.
Last Thursday we were at the "Beacon" in Glasgow, which is a drop in center (soup kitchen) for the homeless and addicts, which really brought back memories to my Amsterdam days. We helped serve a meal and just hung out with the people and loved them. So many faces with such a look of despair. People who society has forgotten about or have chosen to ignore. But at times, showing these individuals some dignity and love, they're lives can be restored. Please pray for us as we serve at the Beacon that we will have open hearts and open minds so that we will be able to share God's love with them in a truly genuine way. (and a side note with that prayer request, that I'll be able to understand them through their thick accent!)
Saturday we had beautiful weather yet again as we set out on another venture or team building, confidence building and risk taking. We were again up in the Highlands but this time in the rushing water of a gorge. We hiked, swam and climbed up a river, through the river. Which at times was a little tricky with the strong current and large boulders but was a ton of fun. We climbed up a couple waterfalls and did some cliff jumping. We were all a little worn out at the end of the day, but it was well worth it.
Today we are heading out for two weeks to North Umbria England where we will be doing a five day trek, walking/hiking about 15 miles a day. We will also be having some teaching time a few days before and a few days after. So here again please pray for us for safe travels and hiking. Also for my ankle, the gorge walking on Saturday made it flare up some more so please pray that it will be ok during the trek.
next update won't be for about two weeks since I will have no internet access while we are in England.
God bless,
Tonya
The infinite beauty of God's creation
It is not uncommon for it to be warm and sunny at the base of Ben Lomond and then to be near blizzard like conditions at the summit of the mountain, thankfully that was not the case yesterday. We set out yesterday morning to climb this beautiful manroe mountain. It was some of the most majestic scenery I have ever seen! It was hard work making it to the summit but the view and the 70 degree temps were well worth all the effort. Over each hill/peak we climbed there was one more majestic view to be seen. It was a surreal feeling and felt at times like I was in a movie. There are honestly no words or pictures to do justice the beauty of this land. I was reminded of a part of a verse in Psalm 27 where it says, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. That is the closest that I can come to describing the scenery.
Coming back down the mountain we encountered some pretty rugged terrain, which made it a little bit more difficult and tricky since I had twisted my ankle about two thirds of the way up. With my family we kind of have an ongoing joke that if someone is going to get hurt or get some sort of strange illness, it will be me. So please pray that my ankle will make a quick and full recovery. I would like to emphasize the quick because in a week we will be starting our six day trek in North umberland, England.
So yesterday I had to keep reminding myself why I chose this particular ywam base to do my training. I chose this one because I wanted to be challenged on more than just one level, more than just being challenged spiritually. Throughout history Christians have endured persecution, refugees have had to flee their homelands, travel many miles to seek safety in a foreign land. The apostle Paul went on many long journeys, many of them not pleasant, to spread the word of Salvation and of Jesus Christ. I know I will never fully understand what all these people have had to endure, but I felt I needed to at least try to understand just a part of it. Yesterday I began to get a glimpse of it. Even though it was frustrating that I had gotten hurt, I knew it was helping me see the bigger picture.
