Hello everyone, and I hope you're having a great Christmas holiday!
Personally, I'm doing quite well. I finished my last day of doing the PowerPoint at church (until I get back, of course) on Sunday, so now I'm mostly working on my testimony for this coming Sunday. If you'd like to hear it and join the church and my family in prayer for me, I'd love for you to come on out this Sunday, Dec. 30th. Niagara Christian Assembly meets at 10:30am in Niagara District Secondary School. I hope to see you there!
I've got a few items of news over the past week concerning TREK. First of all, I was assured a while ago that the MARK centre would be made a nut-free facility for the duration of my stay. This was confirmed again this week in an email to all the participants not to bring anything that contains nuts when we arrive on Jan. 6th. Thank you for your prayers in this area, and please continue to uphold my health while I'm gone.
Secondly, I've got some information on exactly what will be happening in the two host countries. This is directly from the TREK website:
The Peru team will be teaching English and working with missionaries Otto and Lydia Funk. They are working in Lima and have hosted a TREK team before. The Japan team will be living in Toyota (actual name of city). They will be participating in kids ministry, ESL, and living close to the church.
This is encouraging, and while I'm not sure that kids ministry is right for me, I will do my best if it is required. Please continue to pray that God will send me where I will learn what He thinks is important, and not what I think is important or comfortable.
Thirdly, I've received a list of who will be participating along with short biographies of a few sentences each. There will be 12 of us altogether, 6 going to each location. Now, I'm not one who likes to be the center of attention, but I seem to find myself in a position that I'll stand out for 3 specific reasons. One, because of my allergies and food-related needs. Two, because I'll be the oldest one there. And three, because I'll be the only male.
This last situation seems to be a bit of a shock for the TREK staff as well. They are going to step up recruitment of young men in the future, but for this particular trip it seems that I'll be hanging around with the male staff members more than I would be otherwise. Hanging out with the leaders could be greatly to my benefit if I decide to do more missions down the road, so I'm partly glad for this turn of events. But I am somewhat disappointed that I won't have another guy to form that peer-level, buddy, partner in crime sort of relationship. So please keep me in your prayers in this situation as well. That I will be able to form good relationships with the leaders, my team, and with all the people at TREK so that we can be effective in our labours.
Hope to see you Sunday!
P.S. Please note that you do NOT need a Google account to write comments for my messages. You can use your Google account (or another account on the list) if you wish, or you can choose the nickname option to leave a name of your choosing. You can also leave an anonymous message if you want to be sneaky.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Support Letter
Hello family and friends!
I'm excited to let you know that I have been accepted into the TREK program with MBMS International! I will be involved with the Winter 2008 semester, travelling to either Japan or Peru. I will be gone for a total of 6 months from Jan. 6th until June 30th. Of that time, I will spend 8 weeks training in Abbotsford, BC, followed by 15 weeks on assignment in the host country, and finally 2 more weeks in Abbotsford for debriefing. I will find out my final destination approximately 2 weeks after my arrival in Abbotsford on Jan. 6th (around Jan. 20th).
God has blessed me financially in that I am completely covered at this time! Any donations I receive that are greater than what I need will be used within TREK. So, if you would like to donate to TREK, I have forms that you can fill out and send with your donation to make sure you get a tax receipt for your generosity.
In light of this, the support I am most eager to secure from you in this letter is prayer support. I am nervous about my allergies as well as the difficulties of adjusting to a foreign culture. I am fully expecting this experience to be uncomfortable in the extreme, but I also think that I will learn far more than I would in a comfortable situation. Specific prayer requests that I have at the moment are:
- that I will be effective in the duties I am given both in training and on assignment.
- that I will be able to coordinate with the cooks both in Abbotsford and the assignment country so that I may remain healthy.
- and, last but not least, that my relationship with Jesus will deepen, and that I will learn to depend on Him for all my needs.
If you would like to see what I'm up to, you can email me at david.toews@gmail.com anytime. However, most of my updates will not be mass-emails to you, but posts at http://davidtoews.blogspot.com/ which is my new blog. I am able to post messages and pictures, and you are able to comment back to me. If you want to find out more about TREK or MBMS International, you can check out their website at http://www.mbmsi.org/visit/trek.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support.
David Toews
I'm excited to let you know that I have been accepted into the TREK program with MBMS International! I will be involved with the Winter 2008 semester, travelling to either Japan or Peru. I will be gone for a total of 6 months from Jan. 6th until June 30th. Of that time, I will spend 8 weeks training in Abbotsford, BC, followed by 15 weeks on assignment in the host country, and finally 2 more weeks in Abbotsford for debriefing. I will find out my final destination approximately 2 weeks after my arrival in Abbotsford on Jan. 6th (around Jan. 20th).
God has blessed me financially in that I am completely covered at this time! Any donations I receive that are greater than what I need will be used within TREK. So, if you would like to donate to TREK, I have forms that you can fill out and send with your donation to make sure you get a tax receipt for your generosity.
In light of this, the support I am most eager to secure from you in this letter is prayer support. I am nervous about my allergies as well as the difficulties of adjusting to a foreign culture. I am fully expecting this experience to be uncomfortable in the extreme, but I also think that I will learn far more than I would in a comfortable situation. Specific prayer requests that I have at the moment are:
- that I will be effective in the duties I am given both in training and on assignment.
- that I will be able to coordinate with the cooks both in Abbotsford and the assignment country so that I may remain healthy.
- and, last but not least, that my relationship with Jesus will deepen, and that I will learn to depend on Him for all my needs.
If you would like to see what I'm up to, you can email me at david.toews@gmail.com anytime. However, most of my updates will not be mass-emails to you, but posts at http://davidtoews.blogspot.com/ which is my new blog. I am able to post messages and pictures, and you are able to comment back to me. If you want to find out more about TREK or MBMS International, you can check out their website at http://www.mbmsi.org/visit/trek.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support.
David Toews
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