From Nipawin!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately... lol...

I suddenly realized. I've been using facebook more than blogging because suddenly, there are people all over the place here who I have to keep in contact with.

I figure, I'm keeping in contact because I'm communicating! It's like when you always leave the house with your laptop, and then one day, when your wife asks you to bring something, you leave the house with it, get to work and realize, 'Oh, I have that thing, but I left my laptop!'. There's my excuse! lol.

It's been and is busy here in Nipawin, we're in the middle of gearing up for a nifty Christmas! :D I'm also working on a secret in the evenings I don't have youth responsibilities.

Thanks for all the prayer you have all been offering on our behalf. Karina and I are really doing well, and we're really excited to start to become a part of some other kids' lives. We've recently really been seeing His hand at work. Pray that God will move here in Nipawin. People always talk about saving a town, and I think on the most part when we think of that in general, we think of it outside of reality... along the same lines as, 'Wouldn't be nice if we didn't gain weight from food?'

I truly believe though, that if we keep praying, we may in the end be very surprised at what God may do. :P Here's hoping.

Grace and Peace
Our # is 862-5121. Have a grand day!

New News

Well, it seems Karina and I finally have a 'job' somewhere. The somewhere being Nipawin at the Alliance Church there. It's been a busy summer, if not for my mind, then for my body, and then vice versa.

We've been in Prince Albert for the summer. It's been good being with family and friends for a little while since we've been gone for the last few years. Thank you again for those who have been following us, praying for us, sending money or small kitchen appliances. :) We've been very blessed by what you have all done for us.

So, if you're wondering what our current plan is, we're officially starting Oct.1, and until then we'll be somewhere inbetween... Getting ready to move. Crazy. Well, if all works out well, we'll be staying actually above Rhys & Janelle's. It's always nice being near good friends.



Thanks to all of you again!
For those who don't know, our email is jkwith@yahoo.ca (my old one DOES work... in case you're wondering)
Grace and Peace

James & Karina



P.S. The lightning picture Karina took from her parent's house. It was pretty spectacular! :P

Flippity Floop! (it's from Bugs Bunny... I dunno...)

Well, we’re on the mend. Karina and I are still both sick. And both of us are on anti-biotic. I was at the bronchitis level with my 2 month cold. Every time it seemed to go away, it would come back with double the force. Karina’s fighting another infection, but we caught it earlier this time, so it’s expected she’ll be fine in no time. So, as our doctor put it, we’re trying to get a lot of R & R & R & R & R. We’ll see how that works out.

We’re currently at my Karina’s folks house.... We’ve been having a good time catching up and playing croak-anno...(however you spell it). That game that’s a bit like curling but you can do it on your kitchen table? Anyways, it’s still fun. My family came over a couple days back for supper. Karina and I finally attempted Mark & Fee’s AWESOME LEEK & POTATO soup. Sorry... it still excites me. And hey Mark? It turned out pretty good! Lol, the next day we ate up all the leftovers! :)
I’ve been able to practice a little more on the guitar again. I learned a Jon Foreman song of Psalm 23, and I learned Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce. I’ve been excited to have some time to write some more lyrics too. Really I would have been practicing singing at this point but I’m still ridding myself of this cold. The rest is good though.

I have yet to hear about the tour for this spring. I’ve been under the impression that we’ll be coming to PA here, but I haven’t heard anything from up top yet. I’ll fill you all in where we’re going to be going when I find out. Lol, leaders are always the last to know... :D

Oh, while I think of it, thanks everyone in England who put up with us! It was a blast. I really really enjoyed my time there, even though it was really busy at times. We won’t forget your hospitality.

Also, Hello anyone from Rwanda! :) Long time no see!

It’s really weird trying to keep up saying hello to hundreds of people from all around the world. Lol. Oh well. Thank you all for your prayers! I’ll put up a few pics from the last post til the latest pics I have. You all rock!

Grace and Peace

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

We saved the busiest for last....Whew....
This last couple weeks have been definitely the most busy, but in the end, they were also some of the most fun.


We did a lot of RE lessons here. RE stands for religious education. Here kids learn about the 4 major religions right in school. Since they have exams soon on Christianity they said we could come in and just let kids ask us questions. The questions they ask here vary to the extreme. Some will ask questions about humanity or theology, questions about suffering and why God allows it, etc. And some are legitimate, but very cute questions. One of the cutest ones I heard while I was here was, ‘Were Adam and Eve born with the leaves on them?’ Hehehe.

Kids.

The other thing that we have done a lot of here is music. This entire trip overseas we haven’t needed much for our sound system. In Rwanda mostly because we didn’t have power in a lot of the places we went, and here in England because usually they wanted us to kind of team up with what they had. In any case, everything we did we still had a lot of fun doing. But then we got here and we realized that we would be doing concerts... no not the 2000 people jumping all over each other screaming on a giant stage concert, but a concert just the same. So, suddenly all these songs that we had learned from way back to kind of ‘break the ice’ with people became the songs we used most often. Therefore, this last couple weeks has been Music 101 for our team. Going back to where we’ve been and then rapidly trying to learn new stuff and not just play a song to get through it but to have fun playing and play it skilfully. I must say it has been a joy. Some of the songs we’ve recently been doing are: Stars – by Switchfoot, Dead Man – Jars of Clay, Almighty Silence – Tree63, Up and Up – Relient K, I’m Yours – Yfriday (YFriday’s singer dude is the guy who wrote the song ‘Everlasting God’)

Anyways, it’s been a good time though it’s been busy.

The first major concert we did was 1 hour and we had nobody show up when it was time to start. So, we waited and ... we waited... and then a few people came. 2 guys who were biking outside came in, and they stayed for the whole thing. That and two cars of girls showed up. It was a good night, though it had a fair amount of glitches.


Along with the concerts, we went down to one of the pubs that was having an Open Mike time. We did some acoustic songs there! No one threw anything at us. It was nice to be able to present Christianity and music that was nice and fresh...not typical church music that they're used to...like really old words in hymns! Joanna started with one of her songs...there was a stunned silence at the bar. All the men were sitting there sighing. I'm sure I saw one man wipe a tear from his eye. Joanna always sings so beautifully. Then, for the next song, Charis joined Joanna, and Karina and I did two songs. Some of the people there invited Karina and I to come back for a folk festival. We'll see. That would be fun.


The second major concert we did was at the local youth centre and it was 30 mins long. Most of the 50 kids there were not from associated with the church. We had a blast with them. They loved music and we hung around for a bit to play some sports and dance a bit.

The first minor concert was in the school that we had been doing RE lessons all week. We did some music classes there too. (I got to lead the class in playing Eye of the Tiger when I was there... heh heh... go Rocky!) Anyways, we had only 10 minutes and so we did a couple songs and a chalk art. Really one of the big reasons of being there was to publicly say that we were doing one last concert in the church up the road on Friday night. Last night. We started with around 15 people there and by the end there was about 30. We had little groups of kids come in every so often and we really had a blast with them. Some of them were church going kids but others I believe had no connection with the church. Never the less we all had a really good time and we were able to present the gospel clearly. Tabitha did a Christmas/Easter chalk art and did a great job. We also did some dramas and an illusion, and we all had a blast. It was our best program we’ve done this VTI team year. We had a lot of fun with the kids and got to visit afterwards, we did some more songs and at the very end, for the few who were still around, Blair, Dillon, Nathan (with Leo the cat) and myself) publicly for the first time, SANG.
That was fun. :D

My major fear was that with a lot of us tired and sickish and worn down and tired... well you get the idea... that we’d all kind of sputter out instead of finish strong. Indeed, that was where we were heading. But we’ve been talking a lot with the team lately and we told them about our wanting to finish this time overseas with some vigor. To not just drag across the finish line, but to do some kind of triple sow cow across the lovely line at the end (that’s for you fans of figure skating). Anyways, I’m really proud of the team. They really have pulled together extra in this last little while. We appreciate the prayers you’ve been so regularly praying. They have not been in vain.

My hope to for a lot of us to be able to tell you these amazing things we’ve seen in person, though I know I won’t be able to see all of you. Know that we would love to if we had the opportunity.

God has been with us and we’ve seen Him even answering the very simple prayers. And recently, it’s been really fast answers too.

The other day, Nathan misplaced a very important cord for the video camera. He had looked everywhere and couldn't find it. He went home and couldn’t find it and he went to the church where we were and couldn’t find it. Well he left again to go look and then we prayed about it. Well, 10 seconds after we prayed, *ring* Nathan called and he had found it. The same happened Karina and the VTI wallet just a bit a ago. She had looked all the usual places, so I said, (just like my mom always says) ‘Well, let’s pray about it.’ So we prayed, and again, 10 seconds later, Karina had found it.

I know God doesn’t always answer with that kind of ferocious speed, but I know that he is real, he hears and he responds.


Thank you all again for all you’ve been doing there, even when it doesn’t seem like much. It’s a huge thing and we couldn’t have survived without all the prayers you’ve been giving.

Grace and Peace
James & Karina in Sidmouth in their final bout before the home trip. :)

Wha??

So... I'm leaving right away, so I'll give everyone a really quick fill in.

Karina and I took a week off from the team to rest. However, that night when we fell asleep at Mark and Fee's in Clay Cross, Karina woke up with a very high fever. 42.8C or 109F ... that's hot. Anyways, so the paramedics came and they took us away in an Ambulance.

For the next 3-4ish days Mark and/or Fee took me back and forth between the hospital and their home. Visiting hours at the hospital are very strict and so I could only get in between 2-4 and 6-8... The doctors would come in the morning and I wanted to find out what they were doing. The whole ordeal for me was very close to nightmarish. I couldn't rest... think... sleep. I just wanted Karina to get well, and I had to fight to even see her.

Now during this whole thing Karina had some really great talks with people in the hospital. Nurses, Doctors, Patients and random other folks. It was good for her and I think it reminded her a bit of Paul. The way he made the most of wherever he ended up.

Well, 2 days I went to see Karina in the morning... even though we're not allowed... And I mean strictly allowed. The one time, I got in for a little over an hour, but I was warned by about 6 nurses that I shouldn't be there. I really had to fight to stay for the time I did.

The next time was the last day she was in the hospital and my nerves were shot. I remember praying that God would let me get in just so I could be there with her. When I got up to the locked door, I knocked and I saw the nurse at the desk and I knew she was on her way to tell me I couldn't come in, when all of a sudden from the side, a painter walked over and opened the door for me. In I went. I walked straight down the all and by the desk that had 10 nurses, and none of them said anything, and it was almost like none of them saw me.

THen I sat with Karina in the hospital and I was there all day. From the morning till 5ish when they released her. And I never had any warn me. God is awesome... and I know he doesn't always answer in our immediate favor... but that really was a moment that I'm going to cherish for a long long time...

:)

So, since then we've been chillin with Mark and Fee and visiting the Holmgate church and members periodically. It's been a really great time and we're sad to be leaving, but time moves on.

Thank you everyone so so so SO much for your prayers... We can tell you've been praying.

By the way, for those wondering, Karina's problem was one we were previously aware of. She had a bladder infection and she took antibiotics to treat it... THe problem was that the bacteria was resistant to the two kinds that she tried. Thus the infection spread to her kidneys... there was the problem. Now, before anyone freaks out, it's alright. She's good now. lol, she's better than me!

I've still got this lingering head cold that I've had 4 weeks now. I am getting better though. :D

Anyways, I'll throw some pics on here from the last weeks. Thank you all again, and now we're off to Northwich and we're going to meet up with our team! :D

Cheeeese Gromit!

England is nice... but I think I’m gaining weight. Lol. I had my first Wensleydale cheese tonight. Karina and I are in Elpakutype mode... (that’s ‘I’ll pack... You type...’) So, Karina’s packing and I’m typing. It’s now been two weeks since we have arrived here in England. Blair has already bought a Welsh flag. Lol, I’m expecting him to wear it like a cape and start dancing in the streets soon. We’re going to be going to a town tomorrow that’s very close to Wales and he is simply itching with anticipation.

Our first week here, we hit the ground running. We had missed our original flight out of Rwanda and so Karina and I were running around trying to get everything sorted out so we could leave. Eventually it all worked out and we got on the plane, and then we flew to Ethiopia and stayed in the airport overnight before flying to London. *whew* We did RE classes (religious education) from a ‘Christian’ perspective in a few schools. It kept us really busy and we had a great time with the kids. I forgot to mention that the first town we were in was Walsall, and I was there 2 years ago. As such, some of the kids at the school we spent more time in remembered me. It was great! We did a lot of dramas, music, and illusions and testimonies. It felt like a blur most of the time just because we were involved in a lot of things. When we had to leave it felt like we had just got there. We spent Valentine’s Day there and Karina and I got our names made out of wire... along with a lot of hearts... It’s hard to explain it... There was this guy on the street who takes a piece of wire and with some needle-nosed pliers makes a stand with names and designs or whatever kind of thing is going on. Anyways, it was really neat. :)

So, time moved on and we had to say goodbye to all of our friends in Walsall as they dropped us off in Clay Cross. This week we did kind of a DVBS with the kids. Every day we played games, did crafts, dramas, puppets and other things to a space theme. It felt like Star Trek most days. The items we did focused around the journey of Peter throughout the gospels... Fisherman to Disciple to Denying Jesus to Prison for Preaching... He had quite the journey. Mark and Cheryl Sorell from Calgary came to see how we’re doing as a team (they’re our directors). It was a really great week too. I was able to wake up every day excited to see the kids and to hang out with Simon and company. I was on team STARS... lol... I think we came in last on the point system, but we had a lot of fun playing games and learning.

At the end of the week, 4 of the kids from the winning team, ‘The Rockets’ got to cream pie 4 leaders of their choice. Haha, it was a blast. Each day our team members acted out parts of a story about a family that was beamed into space. Karina’s puppet Grandma Ida played Grandma Ida Watt, Dylan played Rick Watt (a typical video game crazed kid who doesn’t want to grow up), Amy played Wendy Watt (the annoying but smart sister), Joanna played Mummy Watt (she loved cleaning things...and one time while she was cleaning the teleporter, she was beamed to an enemy ship because the kids were playing with buttons), and the adorable robot/computer was played by yours truely... Me! I got to wear a tin foil covered box on my head. It was great fun, and we were starting to catch on to our roles when we were done at the end of the week. We had so much fun with the kids. Oh, and we got to wind it all up at the end with Tabitha’s birthday party. We had a lot of cake and I remember there being a really big card for her. She had a good day I think :D.

For our day off, the church rented a big tourist bus and between the church members and our team we easily filled up the bus and then went to the city of York. Turns out York comes from Yorwik... which comes from Jorvik... which is obviously of Viking origin. York, way back in the day was a Roman garrison and then it became a town, and was conquered for a while by the Vikings and I think a while by the Normans too. Everyone fought over it for a while. Apparently, Emperor Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor in York. (look for his statue in one of these pictures...) Anyways, the week we happened to go to York is VIKING week! As such there were a lot more people than normal, shops were all open, and there was so much so see and do. All the guys on my team, other than myself, went and got war wound paint on their faces. And before that the 4 of us guys got our pictures taken in Viking outfits. (Mine is the Beowulf outfit and apparently the helmet I wore was one of the 8 actual helmets from the recent Beowulf movie... Who knew? ^_^ ). It was a great day to take in some new sights and catch up on some history. We eventually came back here and had a good morning and evening service at the church. And now here I am digesting my cheese and crackers.

There are a good number of stories of kids that we have been helping to impact, but my prayer is that it won’t really be our team who encourages or changes people, but that Jesus would be doing that. We can only be here a week at a time, but Jesus will be sticking around long before and after we’ve come. Keep praying that we’ll be able to stay on our feet.

This last week I’ve had a bad head cold. I didn’t actually do very much singing or talking like I normally would. I think I’m just about over it now. I’ve stopped coughing and now I’ve just got a runny nose. I know our whole team must be a bit tired. On that note Karina and I are actually really bushed. We’re going to be (after this coming busy week) going to be taking leave from the team for a bit to let them grow and function on their own for a bit. During that time I’m really going to be trying to get some rest up since I’ve been pretty much toasted since getting ready to leave Rwanda.

Pray that the team will keep going and that they’d be able to really function well without Karina and I there and that they’d be able to help each other grow.
Well, I need to be hitting the hay right away here. Have a great one and sorry it took so long to let you all know what we’ve been up to. We haven’t forgotten about any of you. We just didn’t have a massive amount of time to say ‘hi’. Have a great one!

Grace and Peace

Goodbye, farewell, I'll see you in a while!

So... 5 hours before we leave for the airport.
Our whole team is getting ready to go, and about half of them are in denial. Nathan wants a pizza. He hasn’t changed a whole lot. He says he shaved though...



Last week we were able to go on a Safari. We saw one giraffe, zebras, baboons and hippos. It was a really fun time, but it was really really squishy. We were in a small van, and there was 4 people per row where there would normally just be 3... well, in Canada that is. At one point, Noel, who was doing some camera work in the park there, got out to get a video of a big baboon. All of a sudden the baboon came running at them and the three guys standing in the door of the van started freaking out and were trying to get into the van all at once. Meanwhile, that baboon jumped into the van window in the front. That’s where our tour guide was sitting. She held up her jacket and clubbed the baboon until he hopped back out. They’re really intimidating. Dillon was commenting the other day that as we drove away from the baboon, he said to it, ‘Bad Baboon’... to which the Baboon looked at him and scratched his armpit. Goofy Baboons.
I found out that mosquitoes still really love me here. They know I’m leaving soon so they have been snacking on me more than normal.
I loathe mosquitoes.

Ministry wise this week we haven’t done as much. We’ve been trying to rest... trying being the key word.

Another day... Another sunrise

Here we are again. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to type up some new stuff about what’s going on here. Not because we’re not doing anything, but because there’s always something happening.


Our team tried out some traditional dancing just a few days ago. It was Nanai’s birthday, and he does the teaching so we gave it our best. Lol, good thing too because the next day when we went to a new church down the road from here, the Pastor, for the closing song asked Karina and I to join them dancing. Lol, that was scary. I kept looking over at Dillon and Blair...(get up here) I kept saying with my eyes. They finally started coming up the aisle.... and then the song was done... lol. Dillon is actually not bad at dancing. I think he’s better than I am.
Oh, for those who don’t know what Rwanda’s traditional dance looks like, it reminds me a bit of Spanish dancing... if you don’t know what any dancing looks like.... Think of it as standing in water up to your neck, and shuffling your feet to the right and then swinging your arms to the left and going the other way. I don’t really know how else to explain that. Lol.


By the way, the week of doom is upon us. At least, that’s what Blair calls it. He’s going to be assuming some of my leadership responsibility for a while. Please be praying for both him and for Joanna who’s doing more of Karina’s stuff as well.
About half the team now has had some really cool ministry times just from walking to the bus stops with a bag of bread and giving it to some of the needy people there. At Remara, one of the big bus stops near here are some guys who are missing either both legs or both arms or have other ailments. The other day Dillon saw the guy with no legs begging as they were driving away and he was able to find a simple bag of chips and tossed it out the window where he caught them with much delight. Food seems to be a simple way to bridge into relationships here.


We also have been doing house visitation now. Basically we go to the home of someone who is sick or needy and we pray for them, give them some food and talk with them and their family for a while. It’s a really hard ministry to do, but these people really need hope and love. The one lady I visited with lives near the base here and she doesn’t expect to live longer than this month. She’s HIV+ and she was really scared of what to do. There’s a lot of people here like her.
Please be praying for the team as they help around here with chores and with the different ministries we’re doing. We’re going to be having a big outreach this Friday. We’re going to announce the outreach on the radio. Should be neat!
In any case, there is a jumping spider attacking my foot. Therefore, i’m going to ship off for the moment. Have a great day everyone. Grace and Peace

- James
P.S. Emily says hi to everyone :D

Behold the New Year... Feels pretty much the same...

Ma-rah-ho! (hello)

Well, hello to everyone! Happy New Year! We brought in the New Year over here with the occasional person being sick... usually myself, Karina, Blair or someone with a random headache or stomach flipping. Never the less, we are all on the way up again.
The sun is real bright again here today. And since there hasn’t been any rain for a few days, we’re all hauling a little extra water for cleaning and chores, etc. Yay for some good ol’ hard work.

As much as the water hauling is recreational time for us, we have had a couple times to play soccer. Lol, I don’t think that the people here are necessarily a WHOLE lot better at soccer than us, but they all have so much more energy and endurance. They run, we run.... then they run, and we jog... then they run and we walk... and then we lie the grass exhausted... and they wonder why we tire out so quickly cause they were just getting warmed up.

Our regular weekly ministries have been on hold a little for this week because of the holidays. We’ve been doing kid’s stuff in churches on Sunday. Tomorrow, Sunday, we’re going to be going to two churches. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. We’re going to be absolutely zonked by the end of the day. Church here is usually a minimum of 2.5 hours. The longest we’ve been to here has been about 4 hours. It’s very interesting... ^_^

Anyways, we’re keeping busy over here and we are really thankful for your prayers and encouragement. We were able to talk to a good number of you on Skype. Thanks for that! For those who we can’t talk to face to (proverbial/digital) face, merry new year and thank you all for supporting us with prayers and encouragement and money wise.
Well, farewell for now... :P I’ll get some more pics up soon! :D

Grace and Peace
James

*PS... thanks for everyone who held out chocolate on the Skype videos... it really helps us think about chocolate a lot less.... (note the extreme sarcasm) lol... we’re going to be eating chocolate sometime in England or Canada.... :)