Long night, short sleep, sitting and waiting..

The team has survived a night crossing of the Atlantic. Everyone seems to be in good spirits, in fact some of the younger members are passing the time " hacky sacking". We will be departing shortly for Nairobi. We will try and add new posts with pictures as we are able.

Team 2008 Getting ready to go

Cornerstone Community Church is preparing to send third team to Burundi...

In our ongoing effort to partner with people and ministries in Burundi, we are preparing to send a team of 8 to Africa in early May. The team will be visiting churches, an Aids Resource Centre, schools and families. Our intention is to encourage and support the development and relief work that Doug and Deanna Hiebert have been involved with during the past 4.5 years.

Thanks to Cornerstone for making this possible through the support shown during the fundraising lunch held on April 13. The funds raised will be used to defer the travel, food, accomodations, and ministry costs for the team during their stay.

The team has also been gathering a variety of materials to distribute during their visit. We are planning on taking blankets that were made by Henry and Erna Hubert. We are also taking along clothing, donated by Earth Wares Adventure Apparrel, and a variety of other material goods.

We will try and update this Blog as we have opportunity during our visit.

Pinewood Derby and Community BBQ

Greetings to Cornerstone family around the globe. We plan on using this blog, not only to post updates about our missionaries and travelling members and their families, but as a forum for keeping everyone informed about what is happening at home in Virgil. For example, last Sunday, June 10th, we held two major events following the morning worship service -- a miniature car race and a community BBQ. See three of the BBQ cooks in the photo above.


The miniature car race was called the "Annual Pinewood Derby" and the cars used in the race were designed and built by the children themselves when they met at Cornerstone once a week during the spring months. Chuck Wiens and Kevin Wall organized the preparation time and the race itself with a very helpful group of volunteers -- who helped the children with their project (meeting each Monday evening for several weeks) and the race itself.


On Sunday, three children tied for top honours -- having had the fastest cars. The winners for first place went to Shannon Loewen, Brendan Gillard and Jason Gillard. Congratulations! Due to security and privacy concerns, there will be no photo shown of the children.


Then, at the same time as the Pinewood Derby was going on, Cornerstone hosted a community BBQ. As you will see in the photos at the top and below, there was lots of cooks and, as you can imagine, the food was excellent. Unlike last year, when the temperature was bitter cold, this year the weather was just perfect. As a result, we had lots of people stop by from the neighbourhood to see what was going on.


A good time was had by everyone who attended and, at the end of the day, it was agreed that it had been a great way of reaching out into the local community.

[...]

Christine Wichert's Adventures in Africa

Photo: View from Mt. Songa

IN BUJUMBURA
I just had the great privilege of taking 4 of our Bible School students with me to visit Doug in Burundi and it was a fantastic time of fellowship and ministry. We arrived into Bujumbura on Friday, March 16 and our first team meeting with Doug was on the shores of Lake Tanganika under the tin roof of a gazebo during a torrential rain storm. Deafening, but very refreshing!

Photo:Team time at Doug & Deanna's House

We spent the first few days in Bujumbura and it was especially exciting to meet a dynamic young leader named Onesphore who heads up a ministry called Harvest for Christ, with the vision to raise up quality Christian leaders in the next generation through evangelism and discipleship. We had a couple of chances to share testimonies of Christ's work in our lives at that time, and it was encouraging to know that we are serving the same Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ - despite our vastly different cultural contexts.


IN GITEGA
On Tuesday, March 20, we headed into Gitega, the heart of the country,where Doug and Deanna spent their first 3 years. We had the chance to meet again a couple of days later to play Ultimate Frisbee with some of the youth, as well as watch some other young guys (that Doug had gotten to know) perform traditional Burundian drumming. It was really great to see the friendships that had developed in a relatively short time, and I was reminded of the importance of investing in the lives of others wherever we have opportunity. The impact on someone else's life could be immeasurable.


Photo: The guys joking around with Doug after the drumming performance.

During that time we were actually living and working at an orphanage just outside of Gitega that's run by Youth for Christ. This project is in it's earliest stages and they have 13 orphans currently, with the goal of being able to house 100, Lord willing. Now there are 3 buildings, but they hope to build about 30, including a school and a clinic in addition to more dormitories. We had the joy of playing with the kids quite a lot, but we also chipped in with one of their building projects and joined the local workers in lugging rocks and dumping them into the foundation trenches of their next building. It's all done by hand, of course, according to the strength of each one. I couldn't help but think of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem; restoration is a long slow process, but stone by stone the task will get accomplished if the workers are faithful to work.


Photo: Building the Kingdom, stone by stone

We left Gitega mid-morning on Friday, the 23, but before that we went on an early morning hike up Mount Songa, the highest peak in that area.(See photo top of page.)We joined together with some of the volunteers from the orphanage for the beautiful scenery, some breakfast, and a time of prayer for the needs of the people living and working below us. May God's Kingdom come and His will be done on earth - in Burundi (and Canada!) - as it is in Heaven.

IN KIRUNDO
So, on Friday we drove up to the northern province of Kirundo and on the way made a short rest stop at Mutaho, where the Cornerstone crew had spent some time last year(Feb./06). It was so encouraging to see the gifts that Cornerstone had brought to such a remote and impoverished area and to know that we can reach out to our neighbours around the world. Once in Kirundo, we spent a couple days working with the reforestation project that Brandon Thiessen is supervising and so he joined us for the weekend. Our main job was to hoe the seedlings that had been planted in the last couple years and I was thankful for all that farmwork in my younger years. (Thank-you Froese Farms!) It was actually a refreshing change from my usual work,and yet the locals couldn't stop laughing at us, presumably because they don't usually see "muzungus" doing manual labour. We decided we might as well join the fun and ended up laughing along with them.


Photo: Hoeing "101" with Brandon in Kirundo


IN KIGALI
From Kirundo, we headed up to Kigali, Rwanda on Tuesday, the 27th. Here, we spent some time learning about the history of the genocide in '94 and also some of the programs in place to restore peace and reconciliation in this broken land. It's hard to grasp the magnitude of the suffering in this whole region. It's also incredible to hear testimonies of those who have lost their whole families to the genocide and yet are able to say they've forgiven the killers. This kind of forgiveness is a total miracle and helps me to understand the depth of Christ's love for us, "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..." How can this be?


Photo:Widows and wives of men in prison because of the genocide join together

The 3rd World is another world, that's for sure, and it's hard to know where to begin making a dent in the mountain of need. My prayer for the students and myself before we went is that we would start to have a long-term vision of how to be involved, and I'm encouraged by the faithfulness of the Christian leaders we met at each stop. Like our stonework at the orphanage, may each one of us contribute according to our strength and ability, and step by step, stone by stone the work will get done to the glory of God.

[...]

Hello from The Klassens in Thailand

Photo # 1: Kevin Leading Worship With The Broadway Team

We are in the middle of hosting a team from B.C. right now and things are going very well. We have spent a lot of time in prayer and worship, including with the Broadway team, and we have shared some of the vision that God has given us for the Church in South Thailand.

We will finish a small building project tomorrow which is intended to help out three young boys who don't have very much. We have also had opportunities to reach out to the community with games, crafts and Bible stories.

Photo # 2: Watching the Songkraan Parade on April 13th

Photo # 3: More fun at Water Festival (in the truck of our friend Mos in black and red)

We enjoyed "Songkraan" together, which is a country wide water festival and a celebration of the Thai New Year. Amazingly, the water fight goes on for three days -- which was a lot of fun!

Photo # 4: A Neighbourhood Waterfight In Our Little Front Entrance

Please hold us in your prayers.

Kevin, Karlene, Tyler, Andrew and Jesse

Greetings From Kuwait

Greetings from the Sheane family in Kuwait. We miss all of you very much and wish we could get back to visit more often. We are all doing great. The girls are enjoying home school. Yesterday we were at the beach looking for shells and enjoying the nice breeze and 25 degree C weather. In another month or so it will get very hot again so we are making the most of every opportunity to get out these days.

Things at the church are going well. Easter is always a busy time for ministry. This year we will be having an Easter sunrise service and are expecting more than 2000 to be in attendance.

Naomi is continuing her Beth Moore women's bible study on Wednesday nights. The church service that we began on Sunday nights last year in our home has grown to the point that it has become it's own congregation and next month will start meeting in a new larger meeting hall.

A new pastor will be taking over the leadership of it so we are hoping in the next couple of months to move from where we are currently living to a different area of Kuwait and start another new Sunday evening service. This will mean that the church has 10 services a week!

I was at a conference in Bahrain recently with pastors from all across the Arabian Gulf and heard lots of exciting and encouraging stories of what God is doing in the region. God's word is getting out and lives are being changed. We feel so privileged to be part of what the Lord is doing in the heart of the 10/40 window.

Blessings to everyone at Cornerstone and may God continue to richly bless you all. You are in our hearts and prayers.

Steve, Naomi, Petra , Hillary and Amanda

Stephen Sheane
English Language Congregation
National Evangelical Church in Kuwait
PO Box 80 Safat 13001 Kuwait
011-965-240-7195
www.tlckuwait.com
_______________________________________________________________________
Greetings back to Steve, Naomi and the girls. Happy Easter from all of us at Cornerstone. Know that we think of you all often and miss you but we know that God is blessing the work you are doing. Keep sending us news and photos so that we will be able to keep track of your ministry. This weblog has essentially become an online newsletter. However, you can also print out the main newsletter. Simply follow the link from here to the website and you will find it in PDF format for printing. Wow! All the best. (sc)

The Power of Easter

Easter has always been a special time of year for Christians. What is it all about? Is it about chocolate? Is it about coloured eggs? Is it about bunnies? Or, is there something more?

True, there are chocolate bunnies and there are coloured eggs -- all part of a variety of ethnic traditions. But, most importantly, there is what Christians call the Miracle of Easter.

What is the miracle of Easter? It is the time of year we particularly remember that Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins and rose again four days later so that we might have eternal life. It is a very special story and we invite people to visit with us to find out more.

For those of you in His Service away from home and in far off countries, know that we are thinking about you at this time.

We have a busy weekend planned for Cornerstone. Here is some of what we are planning to do.

Good Friday: April 6, 10:30am, Worship & Communion Service.
Easter Egg Hunt: Saturday, April 7, 10:00am.
Easter Sunday: April 8, 9:00am, Fellowship, pastries & coffee.
Easter Sunday: April 8, 10:45am, Church Easter Celebration Service.

Easter is a special time. Everyone is welcome to visit with us. If you are in the Niagara-on-the-Lake and Virgil area, just come to the church and someone will meet you at the door.

For friends and relatives who are far away and reading this, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to send short or long notes about what you are doing. We can then share those with everyone around the globe. You can also send us photos so we can see what you are doing and we can watch your children grow.

Come join us as we look beyond the bunny...to the Miracle of Easter. For further information on the happenings at Cornerstone, just click on the website link.