We are now in our second week of the GH being open. There have been a lot of cool things happening, as far as just meeting with my leaders and team mates here, having fellowship, reading the bible together, and most importantly, doing the ministry I was called here to do.
I have been teaching drama at the GH as a way to help the students open up, relax, have fun and discover some of their talents. Our theme for this season is inspire. We are hoping to inspire people to find out who they are, who God made them to be, and I feel like this is happening to me also!
Drama club has been going well, we had our first lesson and a bunch of people showed up, and we just screamed, made noises and acted like animals to loosen things up.
Another club that I am a part of with Melissa and Pasha is a ‘Making the Band’ club. We are going to be putting together a band, writing a song, playing the instruments, making a music video and recording the song as well! It is something that has really been catching peoples’ attention! Melissa, Pasha and I taught our first week on Saturday and had so much fun! The students were really into it. We took modern songs and changed them into different styles, starting with happy birthday. We thought that Melissa, pasha and I should go first to show them its ok to be silly and have fun. Melissa did a punk rock version, Pasha did a rap, and I got stuck with a Marilyn Monroe version of happy birthday! We then did Umbrella by Rihanna, which we actually have on video, so maybe I can upload it and you can watch!
One word that Jim and Melissa shared with me was ‘pursue peace’, so that’s what I’ve been doing, and God has really been showing up. I have just had times of joy when I have no reason to be joyful, and moments of God showing up while I’m lying in bed listening to music. I am finding that God is really grabbing my attention here, and I feel at last, like I am home.
I will be the first person to admit that my Christian journey has been tumultuous, and I’m sure my friends would agree. I have hurt people, and been hurt, but I have been moving out in forgiveness, asking God to reveal things to me and I have been repenting for things I didn’t even know I had to repent for!
But it is all for the good, and God is doing a lot.
I am truly blessed by my leaders, Jim and Melissa, and developing a great relationship with them and their three kids. I live with them, so I see them everyday, and they are encouraging, loving, and very including and supportive of my ideas.
I wish I could be in touch more, but I only have dial up Internet, and not enough money to keep going to internet cafes!
There have been lots of students coming to the GH. The first few days were small, but nice enough that I could get a good idea of what would be going on. More and more have been coming though, and a group of Russian teenagers have been coming, sportsmen (wrestlers and swimmers) and one of them is going to be in the 2012 Olympics! God has really opened my heart for them, and already I begin to feel Gods’ prompting to be spending more time with them. The good thing is that they like me too, so it will be easier. The one barrier is that they don’t speak any English, and my Russian is not so fantastic, despite picking up the essentials.
My Russian lessons have been going well, I get taught by my friend Masha, and she has been helping me with grammar and the basics.
There are lots of opportunities here, and it seems like lots of ministries are recruiting, and I feel like everywhere I go people try to get me to do things, so I’ve been practicing saying no! I am here in this time for the GH, and to explore some other avenues too. I should be going out to villages with my friend Jenish in the near future when I get my schedule worked out, working with orphans and homeless too. While back in Belfast I shared my heart for orphanage ministry, which I haven’t had the opportunity to really explore yet, but that is because I am taking my commitment to the GH seriously and not flopping around between ministries. At first it was daunting, I wasn’t sure exactly what my involvement would be a I wanted to kind of ‘do my own thing.’ However, it has been fantastic working with Jim and Melissa, and the students in the GH who come to learn and hopefully learn more than what we teach on the surface. We are there to practice Gods’ love, to just love on them and show them that they matter.
Bishkek is a great city. They have this little vans that people take everywhere (public transport) called Marshutkas. They cost 8 som (the currency here) a ride, which is about 9p/18c! There are always lots of people around, and people selling different things on the street, from food, to old Soviet Union things. It is a dusty place, but there are nice parks here too! Most living accommodation is apartments, and families live together. I have been learning to get around, mostly by foot, so I’ve been doing a lot of walking, probably at least a few miles everyday, which is a nice little bit of exercise! But I am quickly putting holes in my shoes, haha! I am also in desperate need of getting some winter clothes – the heat has died off and its back to weather I am more familiar with! Rain, cold and wind! The other night I was out at my friends and the rain came on, and I was wearing flip flops, after walking home I was drenched due to stepping in many holes in the ground disguised under the puddles in the dark. We continue to loose our electricity for hours on end at different times in the week. So I have gotten used to life without electric and make the most of it when we do have it!
Overall, it has been a fantastic month and a bit. It is my birthday in a few weeks, and my rent is due soon as well, and I don’t have much money! Which is a typical story for me, but nice, because I get to depend on God!
Thanks so much for your support and prayer and I will be in touch with people individually as much as possible.
Please email me if you have any questions about what I am doing here, or just if you want to catch up and chat. I miss you all, and hopefully we’ll speak soon!
Your friend and brother,
Tony Webster.
Dé Máirt, Meán Fómhair 30, 2008
Dé Luain, Meán Fómhair 08, 2008
Here it is folks!
Hey there everyone!
Surely by now you've recieved some sort of news about me in Kyrgyzstan, if not you can read my last blog on www.tonywebster.blogspot.com and it will fill you in!
I am emailing to thank people so much for your continued support, and know that you all individually mean so much to me!
All the ways you've helped, prayer, finances etc. God has been so good!
Well, I am emailing to ask if anyone who supported me would like to do that on a monthly basis?
Now being out in the field full time, and not being able to work, I have to raise all my own money! Right now, my rent is about $100 a month (which is so good, I am renting a room from a family rather than having to find my own place, which saves me a few hundred dollars! and there are other little logistics like FOOD, TRANSPORT,COMMUNICATION etc) all in all, i think about 300-400dollars a month right now, and thats on the high end.
Could you pray and ask G* if supporting me monthly is something you'd like to do? Perhaps you've been thinking about giving to missions, or contributing to missions in your church or something, well here is a good chance!
The ministry I am working with is a student centre where we build relationships, teach clubs (music english art, media etc whatever our giftings are) and just nuruture the students identities and natural giftings in order to utilise them best for the kingdom. I will also be able to branch out in my time here, getting to orphanages, homeless shelters, rehab clinics, getting to see a lot.
Could you please get back to me and let me know how you can help, perhaps you've already given, so theres no pressure, just pray! You can give as little as you want! If everyone gave a few dollars/pounds/whatever your currency, that would be an amazing start eh?
Well get back to me and let me know! There are many ways you can give, cheque, transfer money online etc. It's easy peasy! Just let me know!
Surely by now you've recieved some sort of news about me in Kyrgyzstan, if not you can read my last blog on www.tonywebster.blogspot.com and it will fill you in!
I am emailing to thank people so much for your continued support, and know that you all individually mean so much to me!
All the ways you've helped, prayer, finances etc. God has been so good!
Well, I am emailing to ask if anyone who supported me would like to do that on a monthly basis?
Now being out in the field full time, and not being able to work, I have to raise all my own money! Right now, my rent is about $100 a month (which is so good, I am renting a room from a family rather than having to find my own place, which saves me a few hundred dollars! and there are other little logistics like FOOD, TRANSPORT,COMMUNICATION etc) all in all, i think about 300-400dollars a month right now, and thats on the high end.
Could you pray and ask G* if supporting me monthly is something you'd like to do? Perhaps you've been thinking about giving to missions, or contributing to missions in your church or something, well here is a good chance!
The ministry I am working with is a student centre where we build relationships, teach clubs (music english art, media etc whatever our giftings are) and just nuruture the students identities and natural giftings in order to utilise them best for the kingdom. I will also be able to branch out in my time here, getting to orphanages, homeless shelters, rehab clinics, getting to see a lot.
Could you please get back to me and let me know how you can help, perhaps you've already given, so theres no pressure, just pray! You can give as little as you want! If everyone gave a few dollars/pounds/whatever your currency, that would be an amazing start eh?
Well get back to me and let me know! There are many ways you can give, cheque, transfer money online etc. It's easy peasy! Just let me know!
Dé Luain, Meán Fómhair 01, 2008
What do you see?
It has now been over one week since I got to Kyrgyzstan.
My fingers ache at the joints from all the writing I've been doing. For those of you who do follow my adventures, you will be pleased to know there is a new book in the offing. I have got a nice new computer to write on, and I've got inspiration from this wonderful culture, so why not put it all to good use. I have already wrote my first 30 pages. This book is about a young man, growing and changing, adapting to new culture. Sounds like someone I know right?
Well, every day here brings something new. Just two days ago a local business erupted into flames before my eyes, the electric box popped and fizzled, and a families livlihood was destroyed before my very eyes. The flames grew higher and higher, licking the trees above with its bright red and orange tongue. Had they caught fire who knew how long it would have been until the entire corner turned shades of burnt orange. Thanks to the fast acting Kyrgyz fire men, in their dull red trucks, almost pink, the reds and oranges became a dark and dull cloud of smoke that rested in the air just above the business. Although today it had been replaced and it looks ready to open again. Not so much loss of the livlihood then. Who would have thought one business would have been so easy to replace.
Walking around Kyrgyzstan I notice several things. People stare at me. I would like to think it's because they see something in me, maybe Jesus, when really I know all they are seeing is the mohawk towering above my head (I trimmed it for the wedding) and the small silver balls that adorn my lower lip. Who is this foreigner? And why does he have holes in his face? Simple questions really. I am hoping that looking the way I do will open doors. God gimme this face for a reason right?
The other thing I notice is how no matter how hard I try, I am not satisfied with the ammount of God I experience. I am getting so hungry, so thirsty for more. I can't seem to keep my fingers from flipping through the bible, scrolling out my favourite verses, the words bubbling in my throat until I spill them out. My desire to share is spilling out. I got to share a little bit with a few people I ahve come across. A lady from the bank on the phone, a student in the streets, other 'workers' here that can't believe I am here.
I am surprised that people are surprised that I came here myself, that I wasn't made to, that I don't have much money, just faith and an expectation to see God do his work in this marvellous country.
It is Kyrgyzstan's time. Keep an eye out.
My fingers ache at the joints from all the writing I've been doing. For those of you who do follow my adventures, you will be pleased to know there is a new book in the offing. I have got a nice new computer to write on, and I've got inspiration from this wonderful culture, so why not put it all to good use. I have already wrote my first 30 pages. This book is about a young man, growing and changing, adapting to new culture. Sounds like someone I know right?
Well, every day here brings something new. Just two days ago a local business erupted into flames before my eyes, the electric box popped and fizzled, and a families livlihood was destroyed before my very eyes. The flames grew higher and higher, licking the trees above with its bright red and orange tongue. Had they caught fire who knew how long it would have been until the entire corner turned shades of burnt orange. Thanks to the fast acting Kyrgyz fire men, in their dull red trucks, almost pink, the reds and oranges became a dark and dull cloud of smoke that rested in the air just above the business. Although today it had been replaced and it looks ready to open again. Not so much loss of the livlihood then. Who would have thought one business would have been so easy to replace.
Walking around Kyrgyzstan I notice several things. People stare at me. I would like to think it's because they see something in me, maybe Jesus, when really I know all they are seeing is the mohawk towering above my head (I trimmed it for the wedding) and the small silver balls that adorn my lower lip. Who is this foreigner? And why does he have holes in his face? Simple questions really. I am hoping that looking the way I do will open doors. God gimme this face for a reason right?
The other thing I notice is how no matter how hard I try, I am not satisfied with the ammount of God I experience. I am getting so hungry, so thirsty for more. I can't seem to keep my fingers from flipping through the bible, scrolling out my favourite verses, the words bubbling in my throat until I spill them out. My desire to share is spilling out. I got to share a little bit with a few people I ahve come across. A lady from the bank on the phone, a student in the streets, other 'workers' here that can't believe I am here.
I am surprised that people are surprised that I came here myself, that I wasn't made to, that I don't have much money, just faith and an expectation to see God do his work in this marvellous country.
It is Kyrgyzstan's time. Keep an eye out.
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