The Ministry side. Nov.8th

I realize that I havn't talked much about the ministry that's going on here because you kind of have to be careful about what you say on the Internet, but your probably interested about what God is doing out here. And he's doing a lot!
Our Church has been through a real loop in the last couple of weeks because our Senior had cancer in his brain, so people have been adjusting to keep the church functioning. It's actually been really cool because that is the type of thing that really brings the body together in prayer. I've never seen a church come together in so much prayer. He's had a succesfull surgery and is on the mend right now. Please pray for him.

I was lucky enough to visit the prisons and help distribute supplies to the babies who's mothers are in jail. It seems that a lot of maids that come and work for Kuwaiti families get thrown into prison for stealing or trying to run away from their sponser family. I won't get into to much detail but there is a lot of corruption here and people don't get the same rights as in Canada and a lot of the prisoners don't have a fighting chance even though there isn't much for incriminating evidence. It's a shady system.

I've been getting involved with a group of people who are tent-makers and do a lot of street ministry. They all have amazing testimonies of God healing people. I went with a couple of them ito the city and they took me to store where through prayer God healed two members of the staff. They welcomed us and asked us to pray for them, then they brought out their manager and he told us he was having leg pain so we prayed for him and he said he felt a cold sensation in his leg. I havn't been back to check up on it but I believe God has healed him. Through this group and a seminar called Encounter God has revealed a lot to me over the last few weeks. Each day it seems he has more for to learn, sometimes it feels like to much to handle but my faith is getting stronger each week.

Getting Settled, Oct. 25, 2010

Alright so first things first; I love the spray hoses mounted next to all the toilets! Never have to worry about doing a good job at wiping anymore. That's one of the inventions out here that I would like to see in the west. Another one would be Soap-soccer, which I did for my birthday. Basically you get a big slip and slide with inflatable walls and goal posts and load it up with dish soap. That was probably the funnest game ever! A bunch of people from the church took me out for my birthday.

Two weeks ago we had a nice patch of cooler days. Yep it went all the way down to 37 in the afternoons! Sounds hot, but it was a welcome change, but it's back into the 40s now. So I was talking with Nathan (the guy I live with) about the best way to describe Kuwait to all of you back home. This is what we came up with, "If you want to know what Kuwait is like; take a sandbox, put a Rolls Royce in it, have construction tape all around, and let your cat use it as a litter box." That description is Kuwait to a T.

Anyways, it's been really crazy around the Church for a while. About three weeks ago our Senior Pastor Jerry was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Since then he has been for surgery, and on the mend. It sounds terrible, and it is, but at the same time I have never seen a Church come together so strongly in prayer and fasting. It's really united all the members in a new way with this common prayer weighing on everyone's hearts. So my mentor has been up to his eyeballs taking over the senior pastors position and still trying to do his own job at the same time. But we are all quite confident that God will heal Pastor Jerry.

The smog on the coastline has really cleared up in the last few weeks enabling us to really see far out over the ocean, which is really nice because it actually displays some of the beauty of this city. The gulf street which runs around the whole city along the gulf is beautiful. There are lots of cool restaraunts with awesome architecture. Well I've got to get to work now, but I'll try to have another post soon.

In Kuwait, Sep. 26 2010

Wow! I'm actually here. I walked out of the airport at 11pm in the pitch black and BOOM, it's still 35c outside! ok... wonder what it's like in the day.... Needless to say it's smokin hot here but I'm getting used to that now. Palm trees are nearly the only vegitation out here, there are few other kinds of shrubs but not much. It's really sandy everywhere (no grass). The buildings are really cool, I've put up a couple pictures on facebook just of the view from my house. I havn't really explored the city too much but the villa's look really really nice and there are tons of luxory cars everywhere. They don't recomend swimming in the ocean because of pollution, but TLC (the Lighthouse Church) where I'm working is just across the street from the ocean so I get to see that everyday which is pretty cool. The Church compound is really beatiful because they actually water plants, trees, and grass.
Dave, Becky, and Nathan Peacock, who are my new family, are extremely nice and make me feel very comfortable. I live in one of the Church's villas, where the basement is set up for Church services as well as the main floor. We live on the 2nd floor, so it's kind of like living in a bungalow, and another pastor's family lives above us but I hardly ever see them. There are ton's of services, worship practices, and meetings always coming and going in the house, but it does quiet down nicely at night.
TLC has grown in the last 4 years from 6 services to 26 at the moment thus the need to run out of the villas like mine. I think there are 5 different villas. I've met most of the pastoral staff by now and can see why the Church is growing. This place if filled with people who love to praise God with their lives. There are like 60 different nations represented here which is really cool because I get to join in worshiping God with styles that I've never seen before.
Right now I'm working with Pastor Kieth, from the Phillipeans, with the worship and media ministry. I'm also working with Pastor Mark, from the States, with the young adults ministry. Mark is new here also and we're building this ministry up from scratch. So this is pretty sweet cause I get to see how a ministry program is built.
I'm playing drums in one of the services that is really energetic. People dancing, singing, blowing horns and stuff. So that was really fun. Also, I'm going to be playing hockey! The last sport I was expecting to play in the desert. There is only one hockey rink in the whole city but one of the pastors has invited me to play.... So I'll show em how it's done in Canada.

Burton

First Blog

Hey all, I've never made a blog before or even had the patience to read someone else's blog so forgive me if I'm doing this wrong.

Anyways, I'm so excited to go to Kuwait. I've heard lots of positive feedback about my mentor Harvey and I'm super pumped to be working in a Church that is growing at fast pace. Sorry to be leaving you all behind in the Tundra (for those who live in Calgary) but I'm going to the total opposite. I've heard that it gets into the high 50's during July and August! Crazy, but I think I'm made for that kind of Climate anyways.

So for now, I'm just fundraising and working for the summer trying to get my funds in place. Please pray for me!