Picture attempt

I'm going to attempt to post a picture by emailing it attached to this
email. It might not work.
Also, the main video page is:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=shawncuthilldotcom I add videos
to that page, then assign them to playlists to organize them so you can
watch them all together as a group.

Muharram videos : http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EBBAC84A3BB90856
Muharram pictures: http://bbc.quist.ca/pakistan/muharram/
**Warning: graphic content. Viewer discretion advised**

This is my house!!

Today is the Shia Muslim festival called Muharram. If you are not familiar
with this festival I will let local cultural guru Matt give you a run-down:

Matt here! So, way back in the day Muhammad died, as all men do. After he
died they needed to pick a successor to lead the Muslim community. Most
people wanted Muhammad's friend Abu Bakr to take over. A small group of
people called <em>shi'a</em> wanted Muhammad's nephew, Ali, to take over.
After Abu Bakr another Caliph was chosen. After him there was another and
after <em>that</em> one Ali took over. Unfortunately Ali was martyred
shortly thereafter. The Shi'as were distraught. Since then the Shi'a
people have a tradition of holding a solemn festival to remember his death.
They hit themselves with knives and metal whips on the tenth day of the
Lunar month of Muharram. The culminaion of the whole thing takes place
right outside my door!!

So there you have it. You can also check the wikipedia article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muharram

Watch for *loads* of videos of us attempting to be CNN reporters over the
next little while of the actual festival happening right outside Matt's
front door!!

Re: More Videos

I made a mistake with the link in my last post. Here is the link to the
playlist - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4561D924B1C602F0

More Videos

More videos on the "Pakistan" playlist. Watch them one at a time, or click
"Play all videos" to watch them all together. Here's the link - >
http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=4561D924B1C602F0
Keep checking back for more. Pictures might be a bit more tricky

Tomorrow is the festival with people whipping themselves so I should get
some good ones. Pray for Matt & Ruth as they have such a good rep in a very
needy community (Joseph helps alot too :)

I'm uploading some pictures to my webspace at http://bbc.quist.ca/pakistan/

Also, uploaded a video to YouTube!! ->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfDrI1UMm7Y

I'll post the code here incase I can imbed it:
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie"
value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AfDrI1UMm7Y"></param><embed
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AfDrI1UMm7Y"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"
height="350"></embed></object> (if not this will look like jumbled script)

More soon!

Pakistanization

Hi everyone!! I'm here at Matt & Ruth's place and lovin it. I can't get to
blogger.com or Facebook.com so I'll slowly be uploading pictures and videos.
This morning we took a walk though Kunri. Stopped at the local "Tim Hortons"
for a tea with Matt's very friendly friends. We had breakfast and met an
afghan boy who also gave us free tea. Walking through these streets makes me
realize how unfounded our fears of Mulsims are. May fear never keep us from
bringing light to these people. I brought the MacLeods webcam so if you
catch me on MSN I can give you a tour of their place!!! Videos are being
uploaded as we speak - brb

Vote for Jesse!!!

My friend "Jesse David" has entered the Mix 99.9 contest and is one of the 5 finalists. Please vote for him (help him get played on Toronto radio and help him win 10,000 bucks!) by clicking here selecting "Jesse David - Bloodshed in our streets" and clicking "vote" at the bottom.

Hi from Dubai!!

Hey everybody, it's 3:39AM local Dubai time (6:39PM Toronto time) and I just got in from London, Heathrow. I'll be taking off at 7AM for Karachi! Not much battery power so I'm going to throw this post up and try to find a plug.

Hell-ifax

Well folks I'm writing this from the airport in Halifax. My flight is
delayed from 10:55PM to 1:30AM. Burger King is closed. Not all is lost. Tim
Hortons is open and there's free internet! Yeehaw. If all goes well I'll be
in London tomorrow morning, then on to Dubai, then Karachi. Matt has
mentioned on his blog that the Pakistani government doesn't like blogger, so
I'm attempting to get past them by emailing this blog post. Thanks for your
prayers. Let's hope this works.

Need a title v 26

Pakistan - Day 1 - Muharrum

Seems the first day I arrive in Pakistan there will be a Shia festival called Muharrum. This festival mourns the death of Ali, Muhammads grandson and Shia's flood into the streets to mourn by beating themselves on the back with metal whips!! Click on the picture to enlarge or Click here for more pictures

Wednesday prayer requests - Pakistan!

Hey everybody, just got in the door from 3 days away with Hayley! We stayed at the Corkinview beach house on Point Prim. Today I'm getting all ready for my trip tomorrow to Pakistan!! Please pray as I travel across the world. I will try to check in along the journey so keep checking in. Also pray for my wonderful hosts - Matt & Ruth Cook!. You can tell I'm excited cause I'm overdosing on exclamation points!!!!

Happy Birthday to SimpleGathering.com!!

Today marked the 2nd anniversary of a little website called SimpleGathering.com. Last year we were at 11913 posts and this year that's been doubled to 22031! Users have also increased from 262 to 473. Thanks to everyone their contributions!

Monday's hot topics - Defrocked Volume 2

A fairly heavy topic for us over the past month has been "What happened to you guys?". We have appreciated the prayers and support of many of you during our time at Bridlegrove, and many have been confused as to why things had to end. We have asked ourselves this question as well. Thanks for understanding that things aren't easy to process or explain. Part of the process for us is evaluating what went wrong and taking time to heal. Along with my first post about being "defrocked", I'll attempt to put together a sort of ongoing therapy session over the next few weeks and months to help me deal with some of the trauma.
On the forum, someone even brought this up - click here - and I have gone into a little more detail about why we aren't at Bridlegrove anymore....well we are still members...but...well see for yourself.

Video of the Week - My Rock star sister-in-law

Here is the first video from my rock-star-sister-in-law Cindy Davis.
Does anyone else think she sounds like Jewel? :) Here is Cindy's Myspace with all her awesome songs!! For those who don't know she is married to my rock-star-brother-in-law Ryan - here

Hovind gets 10 years

As I reported back in November Kent Hovind was convicted of 58 counts of tax evasion. Yesterday he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Here is the article with the details

Random Minisitry pics - Derek got baptised!!!

You may remember our friends Maggie & Derek that we asked you to pray about oh so long ago - here. Well recently Derek got baptised!!! Please continue to pray for them as they grow in their faith. Here are the "before" and "after" pictures :)

Wednesday prayer requests - on Friday

alright, this week is bonkers and it's only going to get crazier so here are the wednesday prayer requests!

First - I booked my Pakistan tickets so looks like I'm leaving next Friday!! Wahoooo!!

Also I got an email from my friend Anita who is moving to Kenya for 2 years to help at Rift Valley Academy! Here is Anita's awesome MAC page with all the details.

In Montreal : The Windshiled wiper that got me this room

I'm typing this from a hotel room in Montreal. Got nice and stranded waiting for a flight today. It was my best airplane day ever. Let's review:

1. Flight at 10AM = cancelled
2. Flight at 1PM = cancelled
3. Flight at 3PM = cancelled because windshield wiper is broken on plane.
4. Flight at 4PM = line up and wait to see if name called....full
5. Flight at 5PM = finally boarded, then hear "Sorry the pilots will be one hour late please get off the plane". Get off. Wait. Board at 6PM. Wait. Announcement. Wait. Pilots arrive. Wait. De-ice. Wait. On runway. Take off at 8:15PM. Arrive in Montreal at 9:15PM. Miss connecting flight to PEI. Book flight next day at 3PM to PEI. Get free room at Ramada because of that little windshield wiper.

Did you know that if your flight is cancelled because of "weather" Air Canada won't pay for your room? I was pretty upset about that (considering I had waited, oh all day, for my flight only to be told that I had to pay for a room), so I went to the customer service desk and since my 3PM flight was cancelled for "mechanical" reasons I got a room. So here I am. 1AM. Blogging. Hopefully I'll get on my 3PM flight to PEI tomrrow.

So to review:
1) Weather delays = no room
2) Mechanical delays = free room & meal vouchers!