Dear Family and Friends!
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| The View from our Back Porch! |
Hello,
how are you? We again hope this letter finds you are doing well, and that you
are still surrounded by loving family, supportive friends and delicious food!
We are writing you now having got back from Scotland after a year of serving as
Charity workers within Abernethy Adventure Centre: Ardeonaig. In short, the
last year of our lives was been such a wonderful adventure! We worked,
traveled, canoed, flew, climbed, and loved on the people at our centre and
beyond.
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| Matthew and Robert Burns At the "Birks of Aberfeldy" |
In our previous letter to you, we
described what a typical day-to-day would look like for us and while some of it
was correct, it was also so much more! Matthew
was a vital part of our kitchen and house team, but he also spent a decent
amount of time on the maintenance crew and during the last half of our year, as
a part-time outdoor instructor. Professionally, Matthew led our centre’s visitors
through such activities as Archery, Gorge-walking, hlll-walking and group
challenges. While helping in other departments, Matthew was admired for his work-ethic
and attention to detail (whenever something needed deep cleaning, everyone was begging
for Matthew to be on their team!).
Cynthia
quickly was able to jump in and support the house and kitchen
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| Cynthia Cooking in our Kitchen |
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| Harry Potter Birthday Party |
When
not working, we loved to get to know people and love of them as God does. For
Matthew, this looked like telling ridiculously punny jokes, giving art lessons,
and participating in outdoor activities. For Cynthia, this involved cooking
their favorite sweet, writing them a card, or throwing ridiculously themed
birthday parties (Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Harry Potter
to name a few). As a unit, we frequently had people up for a meal at our home
to get away from the centre; our favorites were 3 garlic pasta and fajitas with
homemade pico de gallo. We also were
involved in our small local church serving in whatever capacity was needed. After leaving Scotland, we even got the chance
to travel Europe for a month and we were able to share those same skills across
the countries of France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
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| Our Scottish Parents; Brian and Isabel |
When
we left for Scotland, we knew that going over there was going to be wonderfully
difficult. While overseas, we experienced moments of pure joy but we also
mourned when tragedy struck home and we were on another continent, BUT GOD WAS/IS
FAITHFUL. Through it all, we were constantly blessed by how God loved us and
used us to love on others. We were surrounded by people who loved us, blessed
financially by nearly complete strangers and we got to travel and see so much
more of God’s beautiful creation.
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| Florence, Italy |
What’s next you might ask? Starting this fall, Matthew is
taking classes at Great Basin College in Elko, Nevada to get his Post-Baccalaureate
Elementary Teaching Credential, and he will be substitute teaching on the side.
Come this January, we will be moving up to Elko, and Cynthia will be finding a
job and searching for opportunities in her field to show God’s love.
So again, we say THANK YOU. Thank you for your Support and Friendship. Thank you for your prayers and financial gifts, And thank you for being there. As we embark on our next adventure, we will try to keep you updated on what is going on in our lives.
We will leave you for now with a Scottish Blessing:
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine upon your window pane.
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near to you and
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you
May there always be work for your hands to do.
Till the Next Adventure....
Love, Matthew and Cynthia Shedd
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