Mirrory Chrissmas!

Merry Christmas!
Behold.... our team is halfway through Christmas day. We spent this morning in a Church service and this afternoon we’re helping out with getting Christmas Dinner all ready for the newly arrived YWAM team from Hawaii. This last week we have been doing the typical ministries with widows, street kids and the different chores and tasks around the base. On the weekend though, we did some outreaches for the community here. We rented a projector and after doing some testimonies, illusions, dramas, music and then after all was said and done, we played a movie (to which Sylvan translated all the way through as well as presented the gospel throughout and near the end of the movie. The first night we played Narnia, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe... the second night we watched the second half of the Ten Commandments... (yes, the old ten commandments). Over 100 people showed up each night, and it was cool to see God work there. In total, there were at least 35 people who accepted Christ over those two nights.


This last Sunday there was a big YWAM thing for the supporters of this Training Centre. We made a Rwandan/Canadian band for the night and we played a bunch of songs and Tabitha did the ‘I Celebrate the Day’ chalk art at the end. (It’s the chalk art with the Cross and the Manger talking about how at Christmas we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, who was born in order to die, so that one day we could ask Him to save our lives)



Our team had our own Christmas here just before REAL Christmas, and we gave each other some gifts. That was special. Karina got me a dagger. :D We made cookies (chocolate chip , and peanut butter squares) and stuffing, mashed potatoes, and some chicken...Chicken is a little different here. They are smaller and tougher. But it was all really wonderful, especially with the gravy!!



We hope it rains soon. It’s been dry here, and our allergies have been giving us a little grief... Health-wise, we’re starting to adjust to the climate and chores...but our food still does some strange things to our digestion. Nothing is constant yet. I’m sure that will get better with time.


It’s interesting being here at the YWAM base. There are a lot of Rwandese people who are used to us. And we are used to them being used to us. So, when we go out of the YWAM base on a walk somewhere, I somewhat feel surprised that the people on the street STILL come up to us and point, and stare saying “MAZUNGU!” Even though Karina has braided hair, she still sticks out like a sore thumb. At least people really appreciate seeing her braided hair.



Anyways, merry christmas everyone! Have a grand day of eating the poor turkeys... or ham... or beef.. or ... ice cream. Run for the hills ice cream! :) And come to Rwanda... there's not enough ice cream here...

We had peanut butter today... it was beautiful!

I think I lost 1 litre of sweat yesterday...Whooo!

Well, the last few days have been really busy and exciting. We have been doing ministry with Street Kids, Widows, and HIV victims... as well as whoever else shows up in these locations. It was a bit difficult starting off because we weren’t really sure what to be doing... What the expectations are. Now we know a lot more of them.

1) Repeating songs is not only encouraged, but it is preferred! (not like Canada!)
2) People are quite willing to listen about the Bible, Jesus, and preaching is often encouraged
3) People like different EQ (sound) settings... (you thought we like loud music in Canada!)

There have been others too, but those are the first that come to mind. The other day, Karina, myself and 4 others (I think) were going into the hills nearby to work with HIV victims and along the way we saw some large tents with goats and cows nearby. Karina took a picture of the goats and off we went. Very shortly after we were stopped by a very agitated soldier. Turns out, the tents were part of the army airbase area, and when they saw a camera, they started freaking out. He tried to stop the vehicle, but nobody saw him, and our driver didn’t see him either. So he had to go and grab a bicycle and chase down our taxi van. When he caught up with us, they brought us back to the road by the base and then they took all our cameras to make sure we hadn’t been spying for the French or the Germans. We were there for a good hour sitting in the van while all this was sorted out. Meanwhile we entertained a group of kids that were so excited to be visiting with some Mazoongoos! Lol, it was quite the experience!



We just were at the slummish area of Kigali again last night. There are some street kids there who have been chosen to play soccer. While they do however, they get to learn about Jesus and the Bible and they disciple those who want to follow Jesus. Their soccer cheer is, ‘1, 2, 3, JESUS!’ Very cool. Anyways, while we wait for them to finish practice (2 hours), we whipped out the guitar and instantly there was 20 people there. Granted in the end, there was more people there the first time, just because of the time of day... but there was still a lot of people and we had so much fun singing songs and talking, doing illusions and we even brought out a couple puppets too!

The area we are in is called Samadooha, and it’s the last stop for the buses in this part of down. Nothing like long bus rides home!
We have been trying to find the right adapter for a transformer we got to use for our sound system. However, most of the ministries we’ve done so far have had no power, and have been in places that people like us (if we were tourists) would never go. As such, we hear, ‘Mazoongoos!’ Everywhere we go... (it means White man...) and yes, they even call Nathan a Mazoongoo. Hehe.



Oh, yesterday, I was helping whack weeds out here. The tool I used is a little shorter than a golf club, but angled the same way... straight all the way down, with a crook at the end. Only that the metal is flat and wide with a sharp end at the bottom. Almost like a Machete. Anyways, I was out whacking stuff and the people kept commenting as they walked by. One told me I should be wearing gloves. Lol. Anyways, soon there was a group of 5 kids. They were having a grand time watching me swinging away. All of a sudden while I was swinging, I lost my grip on this weed whacker! It went flying straight up. I covered my head, ducked and went running. It landed harmlessly a few feet from me. One of the boys who had been watching just started to laugh, and laugh, and then he picked up a piece of grass and acted out what I had just did. Swinging and then losing my grip on it and then running away with my hands on my head, and then they laughed all over again. Lol, kids are funny. And I think they think I am. :)

There is a graduation for the students this afternoon, and so this morning we are going to be helping them get
ready, and this afternoon, they’ve asked us to lead the music worship. :D It’s going to be fun!



Therefore, I’m off to get ready, and oh, we’re going to be at one of the biggest churches in the area. Apparently 300 people is a little church... so we’ll see what happens! Thanks for your prayers and we are doing well. There’s the occasional sickish person and the occasional weary weary day. Everyone says Hi to everyone at home!

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The graduation was good! We had an amazing time leading music with them. lol, they just LOVE to sing and dance and cheer. It was really fun. The downside is that some of the students are going to be gone now... They're done the communications course here.

Today though is still going to be busy. There's a church nearby that Sylvan's brother is getting married in today and they want us to bring the whole sound system over on foot and do a drama and maybe a song! lol, we'll see what happens with that!

Jembe's not a Jembe here anymore!

Yesterday, our team went and visited the Rwanda Genocide Memorial. It was a trying experience for everyone, and feelings were a bit mixed. It was a really good thing for our team even if it was hard to go through.

Over 1 000 000 people died in three months.

Yet despite all the evil that took place here not very long ago, the country has changed a lot. Sylvan, one of our hosts here, came to Kigali (the capital) one year after all these things happened. He was completely overwhelmed with what He saw. The system was gone, and it was everyone for themselves kind of thing. But in the time that has gone, people have changed. People have turned from a lot of the hatred that was consuming them for so long.

When we were driving yesterday, we saw at least 5 vehicles with Christian slogans... Phrases like, God is Love, Praise God, Jesus loves You... things like that... It was really cool to see how much healing has taken place and to see what is going to happen.


Most of our team now is over the travelling tiredness. Joanna was wandering around yesterday and the day before giggling at nearly anything that was normal or mildly amusing. She wanted people to know she hasn’t lost her sense of humour.

We actually have had some sun here once in a while, and we had a quick thunderstorm yesterday evening. The weather can change very quickly, though it’s not likely we’d ever get snow or anything here. The coldest it gets seems to about 15 degrees Celsius and it seems to usually be between 20 and 30. Not bad for winter! :)
There about 1 000 000 people living in the capital today. And they tend to live a lot closer to the tops of the mountains than the valleys. I know how most of the world lives in the valleys between mountains and hills... here they kind of live along them. I suppose the rainy seasons have something to do with that.



We are looking forward to going into town for a few hours today... I still want to find a jembe... and it seems Cody, from Rhys and Janelle’s GAP team this summer had a similar experience in a shop. He asked to see the jembes and they brought a garden hoe out to him. He was surprised and was like, ‘no a jembe I can drum on...’ ‘How are you going to drum with a hoe?’ was basically the reply he got. They still laugh alot about things like that here! :)

Everyone from the team says hello, and some should be able to send some emails today.
From F&F65, thank you all for your prayers and for your love!
Grace and Peace
- James

finally... internet...

Well, it’s now 12:11am on the 4th in London right now... but we’re not in London anymore. Currently we’re halfway to Ethiopia from England where we will have a short layover and then continue to Rwanda. Roughly, it has been 24 hours since we have left Calgary and a good number of us are tired...
Lol, for the few who have never really gone flying before, I decided to see what they thought about this ‘flying’ stuff. They seem to share my opinion. Fun.... but wow... it’s a lot of sitting.
I and I think a continually higher number of the team are getting really excited about going to Rwanda. There’s a lot that we aren’t sure what to expect. Things like ‘rainy season’ come to mind. And being that I’ve never been in Africa ever before, it’s a completely new experience for me.
I am sure though that is where God would have us be right now. After the letdown of the Mumbai thing not working out, I wondered what God might do, and I certainly didn’t expect Rwanda. But I’m very excited though. Rhys, who was on my team for the last two years, spent the last bit of time on VTI in the same location as we are flying towards right now. He really was excited to see what God is doing there and what He did through the members of Rhys’ team. I am looking forward to the same.
As far as I understand, a very large part of our diet there is going to consist of rice and beans. Lol, I remember having similar meals in Costa Rica. It was kind of a staple meal.
Now, before I forget, on the way we have been running into different people associated with Rwanda. For example, the first flight Karina and i were on , we met a Christian brother who works with a sort of humanitarian aid organization in Africa, and as such has spent a considerable amount of time in Rwanda and many other countries. He was very excited about our going there and wanted us to know that we would really love the people there.
Then when we were in England, Joanna was visiting with an American guy who also does a lot of work with humanitarian aid. He was travelling, at least at the time, with the Rwanda ambassador to the UN, and so he quickly whisked us over to meet him.
We had a great talk with them both, and when they found out that we do some music, this guy from the UN wanted to hear something. Rhys, just yesterday was teaching us some kinyarwandan songs and so we sang for him, ‘I will love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.’
It was really cool, and I think it also encouraged all of our team, and helped to get some who were less than really excited to start realizing that this is going to be a great experience.

In any case, thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and for reading this. I’ll do my best to let you know what we are up to. I’m excited for what Jesus will do in not only the people we wish to serve,, but also in our very team. I love seeing God show us time and time and time again that He is worth trusting and He is the only one who in the end will never let us down.
With much love and greetings from everyone here in the stuffy plane,
James Witherow



We are now safely in Rwanda at the YWAM base. And nope, we didn’t lose any luggage... though I was quite worried for a while. I’ll fill you in more about what it’s like here soon. [and it is rainy season by the way]...

Wheee!


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I'll send more news soon... almost another day has gone by. I'll post some pics too... But what I will say now is that we all slept good but some woke up a little confused.
Blair watched as Dillon was wrestling with his mosquito netting... He was trying to sleep while he was holding it up with his hand....
Dillon also tried shaving this morning with his toothpaste... The Rwandans probably think we're a little loopy.
Also... I found out very quickly that a hand drum, what I call a jembe (that's Swahilli)... in Kinyarwandan means a garden hoe. So I said I wanted to go into town a buy a jembe for our music... they just looked at me like I was from the moon and pointed out the window at a lady gardening... 'That's a jembe...' was all they said, and then we all had a good laugh.

Anyways, fare thee well for now!