Home in Scotland

Well I am back in Scotland. The trip to Rwanda was amazing and great and difficult! God used us in so many incredible ways. To see more stories you can look at our xanga page www.xanga.com/cwdts . We tried to keep that updated while we were gone. The students are almost all gone now, and the house is quiet. Now is time for rest and random work! Ill have to post some pics soon!
God Bless!

Off To Rwanda!!!

We are leaving in an hour and a half for the airport. First we fly to London Heathrow then to Kenya, then to Kigali in Rwanda!!! Its so exciting!! it almost feels not real! We are going to have brunch here in a minute. I cannot wait to get to the heat and get my hair braided! And do ministry off course as well!
Anyway I will try to keep this updated!! Thanks everyone for your prayers! God Bless!!
cherie signing off

Rwanda

I sent out my newsletters a week ago, so I hope most of you have them. Well in 10 days I am heading to Rwanda. It is so crazy to think about it. It is coming up fast. We had a guy, Ed, come give us a bit of an orientation about Rwanda. He lived there for a couple years. Well it was so intense hearing about it. Well for anyone that doesnt know a genocide took place there in 1994. It was the Hutu tribe trying to kill off the Tutsi tribe. The entire world sat back as it happened. Ed had been living in Uganda when it happened and they met Tusti refugees and he said the stories were unimaginable. He only told us one and I was almost bawling. A lady had a baby and the Hutu men took the baby and chopped of its arms then handed the baby back and said 'Now he will never hold a weapon'. That was just one story. Ed told us about some of the women at the YWAM base there. Oh my word, their stories are amazing. Everyone is affected by it still. When we go we will be helping with many different programs. Teaching the widows skills so they can earn a living for their kids. Many of them have aids. There is just so much need there. We are going, but we are going with Gods love. We are not going as westerners with our noses turned up. We are going there and we are going to serve them. Whatever we can do to serve them.
We watched Hotel Rwanda last night. I had never seen it. Ive never had such sorrow in my life. Watching it with the view of we will be there in 10 days was extremely hard. I was so ashamed of my country. After the movie was over the room of 12 people was completely silent.

Im really excited to be there. I hope this post hasnt been too harsh. At the same moment Ed told us there is a lot of reconciliation happening there. God is doing good work and there is forgiveness all around. Its really amazing to hear.

Alone Time

The students have been gone now for a week and a half. It is really quite sad, being alone in this giant house. I do have two other girls living here and an outreach team is here but still! Ive realized more and more how extraverted I really am! I find when no one is around I start to feel sick, like the flu. But when people are around I dont notice it. How odd eh! When I was back home I could do a full day of 10 hours working, get home shattered (or as they say here knackered) but then pick of the phone ready to do something with friends. Just ask my mom and dad they can verify it! They call me the social butterfly. I just love people, as Myers Briggs puts extraversion, I get my engery from being around other people. And personally the more people the better:) Not too many though. About 6 or 7 is a perfect number. This current school has the perfect amount of crazy extraverts for me to hang out, so life can seem wonderful just by hanging out!
I have a really sad story I need to share... about two weeks ago I was taking a picture of this great sign I made for my neice, Sarah Maes, 2nd birthday... well I was placing it on something and doing a timer. not the greatest idea when you are dead tired. I went to pick it up and knocked it off the ledge and it fell face down with the lens open on the ground. I cringed so hard. So it will not close, and it will nto fully open. It is stuck in the middle. It tried to close but there is somethin in its way I guess. Im planning on taking it to a shop so see if they can fix it but Im sure it will cost more than it is worth. Which is not cool, I have had so much inspiration to take pictures and I cant. We have these giant mushrooms in our backyard and the leaves are all around them and it is so beautiful but no, I have nothing to take a picture with! Although now that I dont have a camera I have been noticing some really sweet cameras, my eye is now open to see them!
Last night Terran and Naomi came and took me out for dinner! it was really sweet to see them. It has been a really long time, I think close to 3 or 4 years since I have seen them. Good to catch up on stuff!
Anyway, I must be off. God Bless all!

Ben Lomond

Yesterday we did a hill climb up in the Scottish Highlands. It was the most gorgeous day. I could not believe how blessed we were. It was a good hike. Hard of course but enjoyable with company. Today I am definitly sore, but honestly the beauty of it all was worth the pain today:)
So here are some pictures:)

This is higher up on the path, Krista is walkin behind me, you can see Loch Lomond way in the back.

This was our 3 stop, amazing how far you can go in such a small time, it feels any way! We were so close to the top here but didnt even know it!

CWDTS September 2006 on the top of Ben Lomond. Ok so the peoples names... back row left to right...Dan D, Tim, Amy, Kenton, behind in red is Matthew, the Daniel and Sean... front row left to right is Krista, Tonya, me, Sarah, Veronica and John... yaya

Quenching my thirst at the top... Loch Lomond behind me... and the Scottish Highlands...

Chilling at the top... my great hiking boots have done me well:)

CWDTS September 2006

Well it has started. Another 5 months. BRING IT ON! Yes the students have arrived and are now into their second week of school... I dont have tons of pictures... but here are some good ones I thought you might all like. By the way, they are a blast, I am doing good. Besides a wee cold.

Random Update:)

Well it is a year since I came back to staff. And two years since my I came for my dts. Time flies eh. The novelty has worn off a wee bit. It doesnt suddenly hit me that I am actually living in Scotland. But that is okay. Currently we are doing airport pick ups. This is one of my favorite times of the school. The first meeting, and on a side note there are TWO Starbucks in the airport.... which is a bonus. Im really excited for this school to start, its gonna be good!
On another note a couple days ago Gary, John, Veronica and myself headed out to Loch Lomond to find a hill to climb. I had been getting in shape by walkin up the stairs two at a time, I dont think it helped much:) It was a beautiful cloudy/rainy day. We went up a path and only realized 2 hours in that it was a hill path, it was a one valley walk. But we had gotten a few hills in so it was good.
Today we had amazing weather, it was sunny! When I woke up this morning the clouds were out and there was no sun, but by mid morning the sun was fighting to see Paisley and it won. The clouds usually win, but not this time! It was wonderful and beautiful. I really do love Scotland.

Myself, Veronica, John and Gary at the end:) We finally saw the van!

John and Veronica walking up the hill:)

This just couldnt be passed up to take a picture off, yes it is a slug on a turd

Behind is the Munroe we normally climb with the students called The Cobbler. You cant see the peak we climb to because of the clouds.

Here I am alone at Stanely House. This giant house all to myself. I cant help but sing All By Myself at the top of my lungs. The neighbors must love me(especially since I cant sing on tune:)! But it is great. For the past 8 months I have had an idea in my mind. It has finally come kinda of finally done, so here it is, the quaint street Stanely House is at the top of... in four varieing seasons...

A long time coming

im sorry im sorry! i know I havent written forever! I have just been lacking inspiration! I dont know what to write anymore! haha.
Things are good, life is good, people are good. But life is busy. Two of our teams here left yesterday for outreach. Kenya and Morocco. I cannot believe it, last time i wrote was the day the students started the school and now they are on the last leg! Ack. They are really great people though! Crazy for sure. They have even created their own accent as a school. Although it is really only 6 out of nine that acutally use it. But when they use it, they use it. Hmm now how can i describe, well it is not american or canadian... it leans toward Russian, but with a latino twist. Very intruiging indeed! But yes.
Well here are some pictures of the teams... i miss them already:<

This is the Kenya team...

And this is the Morocco team...

Time again for yet another school to start. Dang it is just so busy! We have a week of meetings, then the students begin to arrive.

Well I would like to leave you with this....

Just because I think it is beautiful! Its the Paisley Abbey in the background.

Another Chapter Begins

This last week has been great. On tuesday I got to go out with my parents and Jamie for my birthday. Although the plate I ordered wasnt that great I still had fun. Then I opened gifts which were all wonderful! And got to eat my chocolate bar cake....hmmmm. Then after I headed to College and Career with some friends. It was great, at the end they all prayed for me. Then on Wednesday I had a birthday dinner with all of my friends at Red Robin. Three tried to buy me dinner but then my boss ended up paying for it! After we headed to a friends and watched movies. It was a good last night in Abbotsford.

I was so thankful my flight only flew out at 540pm! I had all day to do last minute things. But i was pretty much ready. Jamie came and said goodbye, and I drove his scooter a bit. Then Mom and I headed to Vancouver. We stopped at a Starbucks for an hour. That was really nice. I dont like saying goodbye. Its not cool anymore.

Now I am back in Scotland. It feels good to be back. I had a wonderful sleep on 15 hours last night, in my amazing double bed with a fluffy duvet. Oh its was beautiful. My flights werent the greatest, both delayed, so tons of waiting. I came into a house filled with students although it still feels empty. I guess that is just what happens in such a big house! Everyone is quite wary of each other since they just met, interesting to watch thats for sure.

The sun is out at the moment in Scotland, althought to me the weather is still chilly. But beautiful. I believe I will go out and take pictures, because my camera is finally fixed!

Almost over

Really my vacation is almost over. I have been in Canada for the past 4 and a half weeks now. Ive loved every second. I tend to be really busy, then not so busy. Then really busy again. I got a chance to go to Vancouver Island to go to an after wedding and see some friends! That was a blast! I also went with my parenst to Princeton to see my brother and his family! So great to see them too. Ive also been working. I actually really like that. I love people so the bits I work are really good. Im not over worked so I enjoy it more. Im a people pleaser, so the job fits perfectly! The weather has been beautiful! So hot and sunny. I love it. Although I hurt my finger the other day. I jammed it playing football...american football. I caught the ball with my finger straight into it. I think it is sprained, It is quite gross actually! Today I can bend it a bit!

I am really excited to go back to Scotland though too. When I get back a new school with be starting and its gonna be a flurry of activity! yay! But this time away has definitly been a blessing as well.
Alright now to leave you with some pictures!!! My camera had broken in December and I finally got it fixed, wow it feels so goood to have an awesome camera again!

A Canadian Goose! Yes beautiful!

This is at Manning Park. Man these lil critters love my camera! it was really funny

My wonderful darling neice Sarah Mae. Oh isnt she just so adorable!

Half of the family in princeton!

This is my trip to the island, Patrick, Jeremy and I found a bear! It was a cool bear. So we decided to take pictures with hit.

Kelsi, Kev n myself hanging out:)

This is a group of us at Whiterock. It was beautiful. And even though it was cloudy I got a burn. Gorgeous. Eating fish n chips... hehe

well i hope you enjoyed! cheers!

Fun with the Stewarts!

Oh wow this has to be fast! I have sooo much to do! I just downloaded all my pictures from the past 4 days to show all of you! I had an awesome time with all the Stewarts. It was great to see them all again! We went to Dundee, Perth, and St Andrews, they were busy days! We even got a 5 course scottish dinner! it wasnt too terrible! hahah no it was really great. We even Ceilidh danced after which was awesome! So filling though, the food i mean! Every day was a busy day. Thankfully the sun stayed out for most of hte time. My trip back into Paisley it rained. Too bad. And i had to walk. But oh well! hahah ok enjoy the pics

This is a peacock at Scone Palace near Perth, there were lots of them! Such beautiful creatures. This one was showing off...

This is baby sheep season! oh they are soo cute, we drove past them a few times and finally stopped to get pictures, so adorable!

Dundee, they have penguins! hahah.... they are fake.... except im real

This is where the boat Discovery that was stuck in the antarctic was built, Dundee. Brad and Chris walkin up the steps

this was supposed to be only Heidi and I since the first one she had closed her eyes!

well it wont let me do anymore pics... so soon! love you all!!

Beautiful Days

Well the last couple days have actually been quite wonderful. The house is filling again. John and Julie got back from visitin home in North America. I did an outreach night with Bri at Elim Church. It was for women, a dinner with food from all around the world. Represented by the people who attend the church! So we had Ghana, Switzerland, Turkey, North America and of course Scotland. Which was made up of Neeps, Tattis and Haggis! For North America we had to make the puddins which in American means desserts! I made Naniamo bars as well as Orange jello salad and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Bri made apple pie, Buckeyes and another lady made pumpkin pie and brownies! They all were a huge success! Especially the Naniamo bars! It was great! A lady even asked for the recipe! Well we were sitting with this one girl who was related to the pastor and Bri and I were telling her about our missions trips. It kinda hit me then. I take all my travelling for granted! So i decided to share some stories

It is so weird because going back to Morocco for the second time, I had this confidence. My French isnt that great but it was enough to get me by. Buying stuff was so easy. In Marrakech you walk out into the Medina and immediatly are bombarded by men offereing stuff to you, as well as women coming up and grabbing your hands. You have to be so focussed on your destination. If you give the slightest acknowledgement to them they jump all over it and, with most tourists, will end up getting money! Some are snake charmers, others are with monkies and some funky looking guys just dressed up. It is so draining going out in a day! You focus so hard not to get taken over!
There was this boy in Essaouira, I had seen him the first year I was there. He was handicapped, I think only physically. He was in a wheelchair and had a tilted head and his hands were curled. But he would sell paintings. This year after a day of prayer I decided to buy a painting from him. They were draw with his mom, but i bet someone must have helped him. He actually spoke quite good english, he had a lock box on his lil table on his wheelchair wher eyou put the money... you had to have exact change. It was really crazy!

Spain was really cool. Santiago De Compostella was my favorite city. We would go to this park close by and sit and watch people. The park was filled with old men! It was so intruiging! They would walk arm in arm, like in groups of five chattering away! It was so beautiful.

Different cultures are so interesting. I thank God I get to expierence a few.

Love you all!

The airport! yay! dad kept drinkin my coffee he was soo tired! hahah 

Eating scones:) 

Dad n I in Starbucks:) dads looking at maps, of course! I finally got my north, and south down to pat! The road here are not in a cross pattern, they are squigly everywhere, so it is terribly hard to keep your bearings everywhere, but im getting there! 

Glasgow... the west endish area... far from the city center, road the tube for the first time in Glasgow! wow is it old! 

The dinner I cooked for mom and Dad... the great chef i have become! haha 

Mom taught me to crochet... hahah my next project... make a blanket! thatll pass the time! 

Mom and Dad in the Great Hall at Stirling Castle... neat eh! 

Stirling Castle, this is the Royal Chapel, where King James VI was baptised as a baby! 

Mom and Dad in Stirling, ahh they are so darling:) 

Kim and I coloring Precious Moments 

Do you love it? I want one!  

Mom and Dad at the Museum of Transport in Glasgow... Dad loves it, they had and old steam engine! 

Glasgow, west end Uni in the backgroud 

Edinburgh castle view 

Mom and Dad walking in the park in Ediburgh 

Time with Mom and Dad

Well they arent gone yet... which is awesome. I thought I might blog a bit while they are here. Mom and Dad are walking to the grocery store while i sleep in...:) Well it has been wonderful having them here! I have seen some really cool museums and such with them that I would have never done on my own! We have gone to Glasgow three days, and Edinburgh one day, and Stirling on day. The only problem with Edinburgh was that it snowed and we were on a hill in a castle that didnt have much roofing! So it was cold! And of course today the day we do nothing is beautifully sunny and gorgeous! oh well... I thought I would post some pictures, now these arent that great because they are with my camera, which is half broken. Mom and Dads camera have better ones!

More More...

I have found my knitch! Im making movie galore! I love it, I use a pretty crappy program but I am still loving it. Ive made three full ones. They are only about 10 minutes each but it takes hours! I have a new appreciation for the behind the scenes people in movies. But the videos I have made are all about this past DTS. Oh so many memories. My next one is about outreach but i have to wait 3 weeks before I can get some of the clips i need...
In the meantime my parents are coming in 4 days!!! ack im so excited! Its going to be so much fun! I have so many ideas, but i need to wait and see what they want to do. Then all the Stewarts!!! Oh i am so stoked!
Alright need to get back to my video! Cheers all!
God Bless
cherie

Work, Work

Well it has been awhile, no one probably reads this anymore! I have decided not to neglect this poor blog any longer! My xanga is fading as well... Although not much in my life is exciting at the moment!
It really is like i work in an office. 10-4. It is great, hahah I guess. I stare at the computor screen alot. Sometimes I go do cleaning. But it has been our mission after our 10 days of prayer to start getting more involved in the community as well as getting the word out about our base! We never get Scots here anymore! It is really amazing, because we were invited to come put up a booth at a Church in glasgow! So we are doing that this sunday. I have been putting together a video for people to kind of get the feel of what it is like. But after spending 7 hours preparing it something went wrong...ugh! I went back to work on it this morning and all the files are like missing. Well they need to be uploaded again into the program! So all my editing is gone. Only on some though. But that was a lot of work. Now to start again. Oh well at least I enjoy it!
The house is quite quiet now! We have three of us girls living here. The rest are in the States visiting home. Three weeks and my parents come visit!!!! Then 2 after that and I get to see my first Scottish wedding, then the next day my sister her husband and his parents are all coming here! and i get to stay with them! Oh im sooo excited. Right after that i head home! Its really great becuase I now know so many people along the west coast! I would love to go visit them all! 3 in Oregon, 1 in Washington! Even 3 in the Lower Mainland of BC. Dang... I have a new thing I am trying to do. I want to meet a person from every state. I have got 13 down I believe. But the conditions are that it needs to be for two weeks or more. I even say that it needs to be YWAM. But maybe not, that can be decided if need be. Ok let me recap where i know people... Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Texas, Missouri, Wisconson, Ohio, Illinios (that one is iffy), Tenessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska.... ok I think that is everyone! yup 13... sweet... next DTS Ill know more! hahah Ah i love meeting new people. It getting harder to keep on saying good bye though. Sigh. oh well... Alright I am off to work! Cheers mates

Outreach Pictures!

I finally had time to post some pics. I hope you enjoy, they are not in order sorry! cheers

The End of our 90km hike!

Me n the boys on the beach in Morocco

In London Town

Santiago De Compostella Cathedral. Where the disciple James is buried

An early morning during the hike, it was beautiful

7 Weeks Later

Outreach is officially over. I arrived back into Paisley this afternoon. Im exhausted. We spent the night in the Stansted airport, I actually slept about 5 hours surprisingly! We had spent the day in London. Well first off before I talk abotu outreach I would like to thank everyone who sent me something! I was so excited to find soooo much mail here waiting for me! Family I love all the gifts...and I loved reading all the newsletters makes me feel a lil closer to home! I had a mini christmas up in my room. I put on christmas music and everything. It was awesome.

Alright so outreach. Wow looking back is odd, I havent processed it yet. It was hard, hard to lead four guys with another girl leader. So the beginning. We started out in Gibralter. Oh my an amazing place. So beautiful and the people were amazing. We were shown hospitality I had never dreamed of. We worked with the local Catholic church. It was really interesting because I had never really know much about Catholosism but this church had recently had a Revival Rennual. We worked with the youth group. Some fun kids. We also spoke at the school to 16-18 year old girls. It was a religion class but its main focus was Christianity so we spoke about our walk with God. Most girls were not Christian. I think we had quite an impact on them, we were told they never ask questions but they were firing them off quite hard. There was even a Muslim girl who normally is excused from the class because she is muslim but she decided to stay and listen to us. We started out by handing out flowers that had lil verses on them telling them they are beautiful in Gods sight. They all let out "awwws". The guys were a big hit.

The next place was Morocco. There was mostly prayer. We stayed in Essaouira for 7 days and just prayed, handed out money and food to beggars and hung out with some of our old friends we had met last year. I loved being back there but it was nice to leave after 10 days. It is very spritiually waring there.

Then into Spain! We went quite all over! Madrid was first. We stayed at the YWAM base there. This was over Christmas and New Years so we had quite a bit of time off. I enjoyed seeing the centre of Madrid, very beautiful. We also painted some of the rooms for the base, just to help them out.

Next after a lot of prayer we decided to go to Santiago De Compostela. Jules knew about an ancient Celtic trek that was 90km long. So low and behold we did it! With full packs! But thankfully we had decided to pack light and left most of our stuff in Madrid to pick up later. Santiago is a beautiful city. Awesome people. I felt so welcome there. We met another Missions Organization that owned a coffee shop so that was really cool. Alright now the hike, it was hard. Definitly not easy. I got really bad blisters and every was exhausted. But we pulled through, we even had some good laughing times. The scenery was breathtaking. It did not look like Spain at all. Finesterra was the last town, it was quaint, light house on the west coast. Hundreds of years ago pilgrames would walk there from southern spain and come to this shore and burn their clothes. So we each burned some of our clothes. It was fun:)

The last week was spent in Seville. We had some awesome prayer there but it was only two days and we flew out. Now Im back. Debrief weeks starts on Monday then Graduation on Friday. I cannot believe its so close to over! Thank you everyone for your prayers, please continue to pray for renewing strength! Love you all! God Bless

The rain in spain fall mainly in the plain!

Its that time once again. To say goodbye. My life is full of goodbyes. Some happy others sad. I feel like I say goodbye to people leaving more than myself leaving. Maybe that is because I am now a fixture in Stanely House. We are leaving in about 2 hours for the train station in paisley where we will head over to the Prestwick Airport. Our flight leaves at 1645pm and heads right over to Murcia, Spain. I believe we arrive at 2045. or so. We will, God willing, find a hostel! Then the next day we bus over to Gibralter!
Now I have no idea how much I will be able to check email or post so ya.This may be goodbye for a time! thankfully Chase is taking his laptop! So i can put my pictures on him computor and post them! Oh and we will be in Morocco from the 8th-18th and I dont think I will check my xanga or anything:S YWAMese is on here to much and i dont have time to unywamese it! hahaha! But please pray for me and my team, for safe travel, random meetings to witness, umm unity! that is a big one, and health too. Also for Jules and myself as leaders and also when we go into Morocco, im not looking forward to feeling the way i felt last year with the men there. Please pray for protection over us! Ahhh thank you everyone! Im going to miss you all so much, although most I miss already! #
To sign off I left a few pics of our teams:) enjoy!

Greece, Turkey, Isreal Team

Spain Team

September DTS 2005

God Bless!!!!

Waiting for the warmth

Wow its been way too long. Seriously. Ive gotten so hooked on my xanga which has background pics and music. But there I post really short. See here I guess I can post longer. But by now noone checks this blog cuz i havent written in it for so long! IM SORRY!
Now catchup time. Oh dear this may take awhile. Ok lets see. This past month has been our last of lectures. We went over to West Kilbride to the base Seamill there. We had a week of lectures. It was great. Such a beautiful place. I got to watch the sunset one night set over the mountains on the Isle of Aaron. Wow amazing. I should show a picture ok here just a sec

Ok there. So gorgoeus eh! Alright so ya, this week was kind of our culture shock and such time. I missed three of the days cuz one was my day off then two I had this new staff training meeting. It was for people all across YWAM Scotland. It was really cool. The first day we met in Stirling had learned stuff and presented stuff from other bases and prayed for them as well. Hung out with people building relationships. It was really cool. Today was here at Stanely and we did more of the same. I really enjoyed learning about each base! I had no idea what they did, dang God is doing some amazing work in Scotland. Using some amazing people too. Then the National Leadership Team came and ate a huge feast...an English Lady made us a Thanksgiving dinner.Oh it was good. Then the NLT guys all prayed for us... It was really really cool.

That has been my last two days. Oh wait last night I went over to the Killingsworths for one of their birthdays and we had another huge turkey dinner! Oh so good. Watched some Napolian Dynamite as well. hahah Oh and I had some sparkling champagne too. It wasnt too terrible, although it was some cheap sugary stuff. It was festive! hahah

Now outreach! We leave in 4 days! Monday the 28th! So I will let you know our plan oh and before I forget...our school has an outreach xanga! it is www.xanga.com/cwdts we will be updating it was we travel! Both teams. anyway...ok So first we are flying into Murcia....we dotn know where we are staying yet there. The next day we are taking a bus into Gibralter. Its really cool because that was the original place. The very first one mentioned in prayer and it is the most open and has tons for us to do. We even have places to stay for free which is so amazing. We will be there for about 1o days then we will be getting on a ferry down to Morocco! We will be in Morocco for 8 or 9 days. We will be in Essaouira . Oh and just to let you know I probable wotn be able to check this while I am there. So in Essaouira we will be visiting our old friends. Maybe doing some construction or so. now after we leave morocco we are unsure! We are still waiting to hear from two YWAM bases. in Madrid and Bilboa. Madrid looks promising but we are not sure! We are following Gods voice!

Alright I need to be off! Thanks for all the prayers! Sorry for the lack of writing!

cheers

cherie

Time for something new

ahhh Im sorry! Its been forever since I posted. We went away for a week then had guests here and stuff so things have been soo crazy! Well we have decided on outreach. I am going to Spain! We are flying into Murcia which is on the east Coast...then going down to Malaga....we are thinking of going into Morocco but still praying about it. Jules and I are leading this team then John is leading a team into Athens and pilgramaging down into israel. Itll be great.

Hmmm other things....our trip to Iona was alright. Not the best. It rained a ton! so horrible. The place is so beautiful in the sun. Then we headed up to Lewis which was also quite rainy. But still great. We stayed at Moraig McPails house. Her husband is normally our speaker when we go there but he past away a coupel months ago! Moraig being her amazing self still had us there...all 12 of us! Dear Lady. They are amazing ppl...

I thought i would post some pictures of Iona....it is just too beautiful to pass up! Things are going good....lil stressful but not bad...Im tired and this weekend I got almost no sleep...Woke up at 5am on morn and 7 the other to say goodbye to some friends....
enjooy the pics!

The Group of us on Martyr's Beach

Aint it just gorgeous!!!!

cheers love you all

cherie

Beautiful

I have to admit that none of these are my own photography! The first couple are from an amazing photographer who was a student in the May school. Alex. If you want to see more of his pictures you can go to his xanga, www.xanga.com/Tweirdisted ya they are amazing. He went to Kenya on his outreach and wow they are like right out of National Geographic! Which is his dream:) Then the last one is Jacquelines, a student in my school. I just really liked hers!

Stanely House, my home. This is taken across the resevoir. Alex did edit out all the other houses but ya it is beautiful
Im actually not sure exactly where this is taken, im sure on one of the islands in Scotland. Amazing photography!

Alright I decided to post some Kenya ones, just to get a feel. Ah they are amazing. Enjoy.

This is back in good ole England. This in on the beach at Ross Sands in Northumbria. Beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed all my colorful photos:) cheers

cherie

My Job

I have a lot going through my mind today. Good things. Ive been thinking about my job. What is my job? Im a missionary. What do i do? I equipp young people to go out into all nations and tell about Jesus. Im 19. The people Im in charge of are mostly older than I. Why am I so far away doing something so crazy at a young age? Cuz I felt God calling me. Sometimes it felt wierd that he would call me to do this, but its days like today I feel encouraged. I am here doing God's Will and seeing the changes I make in peoples lives, not only that. I am growing in my relationship with God amazingly. I see him in every day life. It is what I have been searching for for so long. Yet the question comes up in my mind, "Why do I have to be in Scotland to find that?". It was like I was blind in Abbotsford and could not search God the right way. I dont know.

While I am here I am meeting amazing people from all over the world. The Netherlands, Germany, North Carolina, Illinios, California, Ohio, Texas, ummm....Oregon, oh man the list could go on! So yes, I love it, it is hard leaving them but its one of the facts of life at the same time. Things change.

Today was an intense day. Really for being a missionary its takes a lot of time. I dont really have my own life! I had lecture with the students from pretty much 730am -1230pm then had 45 min then had lunch during a base staff meeting which started at 115 and went to 345! wow now it is my time:) and I am writing in my blog and watching videos I made yesterday:)

Alright I am off, to see more pictures you can go to www.xanga.com/sunshineglorydays
cheers
cherie

Ceilidh

Wow, this weekend has just flown by! So crazy busy! The house has been super loud. The May DTS is made of all extraverts while our school is mainly introverts....so adding the others is quite surprising, but nice for me! I have people that are like me here now! hahah We had a speaker Chris Brown for Wed and Thurs then on friday we watched a video series. The great and awesome "Roots n Fruits of Pride" by Floyed McClung. Ahhhh good times. Those are some intense times. It was really good though.

All day friday was getting ready for the May schools graduations. We helped clean the rooms, make the food and set up everything. Then all the girls locked their doors to their rooms so they could primp for at least an hour:) The graduation was wonderful! Mel, the German Staffer, made lasagna. It was delicious. The decorations were beautiful too! Then we all moved into the lecture hall and watched a video one of the girls made. Ahhh it made me almost cry, all these memories they had. Then they got their certificates and said blessings over each student. Oh man there was one girl, Michele, after she got her blessing she did this funny dance back to her seat, it involved flayling arms and jumping...well she was wearing these knited shoes and ummm our floor is wood...she totally slipped and fell on her side. It was something you would see on Funniest Home Videos...Ah we burst out laughing. She was ok. hahah

Later one we had a Ceilidh, now for those of you who dont know what that is....its a Scottish themed night...type thing...it is like a Barn dance. Like its a night for stories, games, and the most popular...dancing. There is an announcer too! And you dance to bagpipes! Oh wow is it funny! There is a dance called the Canadian Barn dance...but its totally scottish! hahah Another dance is called the Virginia Wheel...I like that one. With almost all of them you get a partner and go around in a circle doing the steps, it is great fun. This is my third one and I still suck at it! Although I finally mastered the parts where you had to waltz!!!! I was so proud of myself, although most of hte times it was because I let the guy lead:) I got some wonderful pictures...so i lied....I have some wondeful video footage...which I cant show on here...I have one alright picture:)


This is the last dance of the night I forget what it is called but everyone stands a two lines and the top people spin 16 times then each go to the opposite sex and spin then spin each other then the next people they spin with then spin each other....you can kinda get the picture...Wow do you get dizzy!!! but ya...dang! It was some good times though!

It was sad to see that this was everyones last night together, one girl left this morning and the rest leave on monday. It is hard to say good bye. Alright I better be off...i slept in till 1230 this morn! yes!
cheers
cherie

Bitter Sweet

I am back at Stanely! This is the biggest bitter sweet time ever. Let me try and shed some light on my life. First the good. There is a May school that is just finishing up here, well half of their team just arrived back from Kenya! So last night was like a giant party, the loudness was huge! Every one yelling and laughing all the way until midnight. It was great.

Now the down side. We have a thing in YWAM called IWAC....meaning It Will Always Change. Last night was one of those times. Phil, the male DTS staff member, decided to leave and focus on starting his family. He is engaged. It was painful for everyone, students and staff alike. So we had a meeting with the students which was hard but amazing at the same time. We were able to bless Phil and release him. Then as we are finishing praying, the Kenya team arrives with volumes!

That was the bitter-sweet. Very odd night, very odd day in fact. I would like to ask for prayer for our entire base. It has been a hard hit but God is working in it. You know that verse, rejoice in the times of sorrow. This is it. It is so hard to see Phil leave. Not cool at all. Also there are now 6 guys without a mentor, they were all really close to Phil and it was extremely hard for them to see him go.

Alright now my trip. The trek was great. God blessed us majorly with sun every day! Three of the days is was supposed to rain a lot! It was hard. St Cuthberts 100km hike (62 miles) . It hurt, I had forgotten how painful it was. The last 2 km is over sand and I was actually limpy quite badly by then. We passed some of the most beautiful places in all of the UK. So here I would like to show them, I am not the best photographer but I tried!

Ahhh this one is great. Well almost all of our 6 guys went out in the first couple weeks and bought expensive kilts. And decided the trek was the perfect time to wear them! (even in England...oh that didnt go over too well) Well this is about 30 minutes into our hike when we come acroos our first beautiful field. Boaz and Chase just jumped at the invitation and here they are frolicking in the beautiful fields.

Ahhhh the highest point of all the hike! ahhh great time. It was soo cold! Alright let me explain everyone. Chase is on the left stopping the bagpipes to point and laugh at Daniel down below. Phil thinks he is cool being tall, Jane is just laughing histarically holding Stephs leg, where Steph feels like a beauty queen. I think im all tough and stuff while Micah does the old primary school peace behind my head. Bjorn is like "I really dont know these people" while Boaz is "Hey look at me Im a Dutch man in a Kilt!!! argggg". Front row left we have Daniel and I really dont knowo what he is doing. Bending down...all I can think is that he is laughing so hard he keeled over. Then Jacqueline is being her pretty little self smiling away. Then last but not least is Duncan, being his wild self and a umm rebel! hahaha Ah what a great school eh!

These are the signs we followed every day. Ah it was hard to find them once in awhile but they were cute. We lost them about 4 times! ahh not cool!

Alright these pics are taking forever maybe ill post more later! Everyone have a great day and my glasses are bugging the heck out of me right now so I am off to put contacts in!

Cheers

cherie

Alright

Alright,
At the moment, we are waiting, waiting, and um ya waiting. We were supposed to leave an hour ago! ahh. We are heading off to England yay...well not yet. We are heading down to Melrose to start are great 100km hike down to England! yay. Tim is our speaker this year! ya Tim, he was ours last year as well, fun guy:) haha Just thought i would give a heads up that I will not be blogging or anything for 10 days! Have a great 10 days, ill have to catch up on all xangas and such after!!!! byes
cheers
cherie