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!