1 week to go

So I (Rachel) awoke this morning with the realisation that 'this time next week our life in Rwanda will have begun'. Exciting, for sure.  As we sit in the house, furniture-less eating breakfast in camping chairs with our belongings starting to fill suitcases and a few items that we're hoping will stay at parents' homes we are in an unusual place, not yet there but not quite here either. There's still quite a lot (the fiddly bits!) to do Thursday evening and Friday after our short break to the New Forest begins tomorrow, but it'll get done.  I'm so glad that we're going to the New Forest, a place that holds so many joyful memories for us, to relax and enjoy some family time.

It's been a busy few weeks as expected but more so as Gareth found out he had to have a wisdom tooth out the day after his fund-raising ice climb. Wonderfully the dentist was able to get him an appointment with very short notice and no follow up treatment has been needed. And that ice-wall challenge! Gareth did it!

What's more is it has meant we have reached our initial target for fund-raising. At first we had aimed quite low with what our target should be but we were encouraged to aim much higher and we are o blessed and grateful to all friends and family and friends or family who have supported us in raising money for Step-Changers International. Thank you so much.  

Our missionary partner organisation

Our partner organisation is Step-Changers International, a small charity founded by Rachel’s father John Swift in 2009, a charity that Rachel has been involved with as a trustee. The charity will oversee our fundraising efforts and take care of some practical issues, as well as representing a point of contact and a source of prayer support.

Before we leave for Rwanda, we are focusing on fundraising for the charity. With this in mind, Gareth will be doing a sponsored ice wall climb. If you would like to sponsor him, please contact him or visit his Just-Giving page to make a donation:

www.justgiving.com/Gareth-Garland 

Below is a short explanation of the charity's vision:

It’s been said that the world is now a global village, and indeed this seems to be so particularly for those living with all the advantages of the developed world. For the non-tourist focussed traveller there are opportunities and challenges in being brought face-to-face with many struggling situations found in the developing world. It’s likely that most of these situations present localised development issues which are probably not 'on the radar' of the large international charities and NGOs or missionary organisations. Step-Changers International exists therefore to:

Identify and support suitable educational and/ or health related projects which have come to the attention of individuals in their personal contacts with people in developing countries.

· These projects should have been conceived by a local community and already be underway.

· The projects should seek to address hardship and poverty experienced by children by facilitating the provision of and/ or the access to education or health care.

4 weeks until departure

Four weeks from now we shall be sat on an aeroplane bound for Kigali, Rwanda to begin our overseas missions work. It will be a busy time; our eldest daughters will finish their time in their current school and say goodbye to their wonderful friends, we will be continuing to empty the house of our belongings, hoping to find a new home for furniture and toys, Gareth will be finishing his time as the minister at Rickmansworth Baptist Church alongside raising funds to make it all possible, and we'll be spending as much time with loved ones to build memories. Not to mention we need all this to be wrapped up before we go camping in the New Forest in the week before we leave.