We made it! Yes, our return travels were a bit more eventful than we had planned, but bottom line we made it home, and for that we are very thankful!
I'm sitting here on Friday, three days since our return and I'm guessing like everyone else on the team, I hardly know where to begin processing our time in Rwanda. I'm guessing we'll all have plenty to think and pray about for the next few months. As I am rarely shy for words, I do have a few closing thoughts (I mean you can't end a blog with a "stuck in the airport" entry now can you?!).
Because of my trip I have gained an appreciation for Rwanda.
* THE LAND I knew coming over that Rwanda was called the Land of a Thousand Hills, but until your eyes actually take in the lush beauty of the rolling hills, no picture can prepare you for this landscape.
* GENEROSITY AND HOSPITALITY Whether we were being welcomed into a village home, introduced at a church service, or spoiled at the Guest Home, we were blessed DAILY by the generosity and hospitality of the Rwandan people. While I was at the church service in Kayonza my little sponsor child Maria came and pressed a coin in my hand worth 5 francs. Now from the financial side of things, since 540 francs equal one dollar, by quickly doing the math you realize that 5 francs isn't that much money. But here's the deal-Maria lives in a mud home with no heat and no electricity. Her family has to fetch whatever water they use, and you know this water in no way measures up to our standard of cleanliness. Maria's whole family has one bed that they all share, and one can only guess the number of proper meals they have in one week. Taking all this into account, is it any wonder that this 5 franc coin felt to me like a thousand bucks and felt more valuable to me than most of the gifts I've received? The parable of the widow's mite takes on a whole new meaning to me now.
* SIMPLICITY AND CONTENTMENT I know I can't say I fully understand the Rwandan culture now, but from what I have observed it seems that the Rwandan people are pretty amazing at keeping the main thing the main thing. Compared to the West, their lives are simple and uncomplicated (and without the latest books, video studies, conferences and articles, their faith seems to reflect this as well). I know the temptation is to go over to Rwanda and feel the burden to rescue everyone by throwing some dollars in their direction. The truth is, the Rwandan people are pretty content with what they have, and I think as much as our money blesses them, their mindset and perspective blesses us even more.
(Ok, there's lots more, but since I have plenty more to say, I'll leave it at that =).
Because of my trip to Rwanda I have renewed my appreciation for the US.
I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive that I'd return to the US in the middle of the Christmas craze and would immediately be overwhelmed and frustrated by some of the extravagance of our nation. Now I'm not saying our nation isn't extravagant, but instead of returning and dealing with emotions of frustration and anger, I'm full of thankfulness and appreciation for our country.
* SURFACE THINGS I can't tell you what a joy it is to return to the Christmas decorations, to O Holy Night playing on the local secular station, and to nativity sets and signs of Christ's birth all over the place (if you start looking for the signs, you'll see them everywhere!) I truly can't express how much comfort just the sight of Starbucks brings to my heart. And yes, that may sound superficial, but hey-my heading was SURFACE THINGS, what did you expect? And finally, I do believe, that one of the greatest inventions of ALL TIME is deodorant, and I hope to never take it for granted again as I did all the days preceding my trip!
* CLEAN WATER/ELECTRICITY/WASHING MACHINES etc. Boy have I returned with an enlightened appreciation for some of the basic things we use every day. Simple things like brushing my teeth with sink water fills me with joy (and honestly, I never really thought about that before). After hearing from Juliet just what it takes to wash the clothes of the kids in the Grace Orphanage (and yes, she hand washes each child's clothes every day!), I really don't think I can complain about doing laundry ever again!
* CHURCH I loved experiencing church in Rwanda, joining them in singing the few songs they knew in English, and listening to them pray all at once. At the same time, I can hardly wait to go to my church, to hear the Word preached to my culture, to sing the songs that move my soul, to feel the Spirit move in my heart and the hearts of those around me. In other words, I've missed my church, and it's good to be home!
FINAL FINAL THOUGHTS
Ok, since this has turned into a bit of a book, and I really do need to wrap things up I wanted to end with one more thought. God was so visible in Rwanda, and I've been processing the question of why this is true. The Word tells us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; we know that God is the same in Jerusalem, in Rwanda, and in America. As I've been processing this question, these are the three things I came up with, not definitive by any means, but my thoughts nonetheless.
* Anticipation--While we were in Rwanda we were looking for God everywhere. We woke up anticipating the things He would do, and we had eyes constantly searching for His hand to move.
* Desperation--While we were in Rwanda we put ourselves in places where we couldn't actually accomplish what we needed to without the help of the Lord. We were out of our comfort zone, beyond the reach of our personal giftings, and daily in a place of dependence on God.
* Celebration--While we were in Rwanda we ended every night by sharing the great things the Lord had done during that day. What a blessing it was to hear and celebrate the many stories that were happening simultaneously throughout the day!
Is God the same--Yes! Is He visible in the US--Yes! So for myself, for each of my teammates, and for everyone reading this blog, my prayer for you is this:
-that you find yourself actively anticipating the mighty works of the Lord
-that you constantly challenge yourself to embrace situations that are "bigger than you", where only the Lord can carry you through
-that you have a fellowship of believers with whom you can REGULARLY celebrate the awesome Hand of God in your life
With that, I close. Thank you to all who took the time to read our many words and cover our trip with your prayers. We couldn't have done it without you! And to my team--thanks for everything we shared! I truly believe you are the BEST RWANDA TEAM EVER (and I mean it!=)! ~LM
Friday, December 14, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
OUT OF AFRICA . . . or are we?
I think I might be on the greatest Rwanda missions team ever. I mean we've had cancellation after delay after technical problem, we've lost our day in Kenya, we may not be able to make it to Carnivores, and we've been sitting around the Rwandan airport most of the day now--and we have YET to have a teammate blow a gasket! Instead we've been sitting around playing the "Would You Rather" game and learning about one another. Good Times!
TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY--once we hit the US (wherever we end up) I'm sure you'll be getting some phone calls to let you know when we'll actually be home.
We'll be home soon...ish. =)
TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY--once we hit the US (wherever we end up) I'm sure you'll be getting some phone calls to let you know when we'll actually be home.
We'll be home soon...ish. =)
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Wrapping Up
December 8th
Well, you can tell that things are starting to draw to a close. I think most of us are currently experiencing mixed emotions. We are sad to leave all of our new friends in Africa, but at the same time we eagerly anticipate reuniting with our friends and family in America! Even the weather today reminded us of home! We were supposed to help the youth run a car wash today, but the heavens opened up and poured and poured and poured. In fact it didn’t really stop raining until this evening, so the weather today felt very much like home. Tim, Obed and Elise had ventured to the market just in time to get caught in the rain. By the time they returned, they were a sopping sight to see! There's nothing quite like the African Downpour!
Scott and Maggie were able to meet their new sponsored children today, and that was precious to observe. At one point, we played a little Frank Sinatra, and they pulled out their best swing moves to show their child Shayina. So the rain was pouring, Blue Eyes was crooning, and the Modrall’s were West Coast Swinging! Not bad for a rainy morning!
After our lazy morning in the Guest House waiting for the pouring rain to subside we finally ventured out in the drizzle to the Artisan Market. I’m guessing many of you will profit from this trip—can you say Merry Christmas? We put our bargaining skills to the test and came home with many African treasures.
Tonight we had a kickin’ party at the Guest House! We invited over several of the African New Life staff, Hindurwa put on a concert, and we all tried to “shake our body” as the Africans like to say. We even had BBQ hamburgers for dinner, another treat that reminds us of home. All in all, we had a great night talking and laughing with our new friends in Rwanda. We were sad to see it end (but you can only get away with yelling encore so many times).
The final highlight of the night—three words: Mac Photo Booth. I’m sure this was a “you had to be there” memory (and if you don’t have a Mac you won’t understand), but this memory is one that many of us will not soon forget!
SCHEDULING NOTE: For those who had a copy of our itinerary, there was an error with some of our dates. We are not flying out early tomorrow morning (Sunday), but rather Monday morning. This won’t affect our arrival time back home at all, but we just thought you might like to know. ~LM
Well, you can tell that things are starting to draw to a close. I think most of us are currently experiencing mixed emotions. We are sad to leave all of our new friends in Africa, but at the same time we eagerly anticipate reuniting with our friends and family in America! Even the weather today reminded us of home! We were supposed to help the youth run a car wash today, but the heavens opened up and poured and poured and poured. In fact it didn’t really stop raining until this evening, so the weather today felt very much like home. Tim, Obed and Elise had ventured to the market just in time to get caught in the rain. By the time they returned, they were a sopping sight to see! There's nothing quite like the African Downpour!
Scott and Maggie were able to meet their new sponsored children today, and that was precious to observe. At one point, we played a little Frank Sinatra, and they pulled out their best swing moves to show their child Shayina. So the rain was pouring, Blue Eyes was crooning, and the Modrall’s were West Coast Swinging! Not bad for a rainy morning!
After our lazy morning in the Guest House waiting for the pouring rain to subside we finally ventured out in the drizzle to the Artisan Market. I’m guessing many of you will profit from this trip—can you say Merry Christmas? We put our bargaining skills to the test and came home with many African treasures.
Tonight we had a kickin’ party at the Guest House! We invited over several of the African New Life staff, Hindurwa put on a concert, and we all tried to “shake our body” as the Africans like to say. We even had BBQ hamburgers for dinner, another treat that reminds us of home. All in all, we had a great night talking and laughing with our new friends in Rwanda. We were sad to see it end (but you can only get away with yelling encore so many times).
The final highlight of the night—three words: Mac Photo Booth. I’m sure this was a “you had to be there” memory (and if you don’t have a Mac you won’t understand), but this memory is one that many of us will not soon forget!
SCHEDULING NOTE: For those who had a copy of our itinerary, there was an error with some of our dates. We are not flying out early tomorrow morning (Sunday), but rather Monday morning. This won’t affect our arrival time back home at all, but we just thought you might like to know. ~LM
Animals Animals and more Animals
Tuesday, Dec. 4 – Friday, Dec. 7
First off, I wanted to provide a sort of dictionary of terms to help all of you understand some of the words and phrases you’ll be hearing from your loved ones upon their return.
“Muzungu” – White person
“Muzungu 1” – Tony Morones
“Muzungu 2” – Craig McManus (Though his status has risen and fallen throughout the trip)
“Flapper” – A word or phrase that does not translate well
“Rwandan Squirts” – Traveler’s diarrhea
“T.I.A.” – This is Africa
“7,6,5,4,3,2,1” Combined with a waving hand motion over the eyes – Originally used as a warm-up for the drama team, became a method to try to stop crying
Monday evening – Tuesday – “Game Parks”
While Lynn, Brad, Scott, and Lisa are doing God’s work at the Leadership Conference, the rest of us get to play with the animals! My group drove east towards Tanzania and the Akagara Game Park. Upon arriving and checking in, we headed upstairs for dinner, which turned out to be much more entertaining then expected. They had a buffet set up on two separate tables. One had soup, salad, and dinner rolls. The other had the meat and rice for the main course. Besides Craig, the whole group told our waiter that we only wanted the main course, as there was quite a bit of difference in price if you didn’t want the entire buffet, which included soup, salad, and dessert. So we all approached the buffet and grabbed a roll off the first table. As Americans we expect bread to be included with dinner. Evidently, that’s not the case. When the bill came, we were each charged an additional 2600 Francs, or $5, simply because we had taken bread off of the soup and salad table. And it wasn’t even that good of a roll.
The next morning we headed out to the game park. Over the next hour we took probably hundreds of pictures of some of the most beautiful and exotic creatures on this Earth. We saw warthogs, impalas, water buffalo, zebras, and gigantic giraffes without zoo fences and in their natural habitat. We then returned to the hotel for breakfast and were confronted with a major snag; the van was broken down in the parking lot. While Stephen, our driver, and the hotel mechanics tore apart the dashboard, the rest of us watched a baboon get chased off the roof of the hotel, as well as a family of them stealing food from the garden. The van was eventually fixed and we were able to explore the rest of the park which included hippos taking cover in the coolness of a lake, and monkeys doing tricks just outside our windows. On the drive home we got stuck behind a dump truck that had broken down and was about to slip into a ditch. After 30 minutes, a large enough crowd had gathered that Obed, Craig, and I were able to help them push the truck up the hill and out of the way.
The gorilla group had some pretty awesome adventures of their own. According to Denise, “We had only gone up a little bit when the guide lifted up the canopy and there was the big guy, the silverback. I thought, couldn’t we have started with the babies and worked our way up?” Eventually, the babies as well as their mothers did come around. There were some scary moments as the group would get too close to the young ones and the male silverback would get angry and charge at them. But everyone followed instructions and sat down without making eye contact, which calmed him down. The group came out of it unscathed and with some amazing pictures.
Wednesday, Dec. 5 – The Refugee Camp
If you’re ever in Rwanda drive south from Kigali and just as you see the guy manning the Burundi border checkpoint, take a left and you will arrive at a large refugee camp set up a year ago for Rwandans that had been kicked out of Tanzania. None of us had ever been to this kind of camp so it was very hard to know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised to see how well they were doing. Families were building mud-brick homes, a large school had been built, and they had a medical facility. We found out that eventually this will no longer be a refugee camp but a normal town. Willamette Christian Church had graciously donated $5,000 to buy 8 tons of food to distribute amongst the families. One of the most interesting aspects of this was watching as the heads of each family vote on how to distribute the food fairly. After the decision was made, Karen, from Willamette Christian, made an amazing speech that would have made her church very proud. The people were so kind and thankful, we gave out a bunch of tracts and bibles, and the entire event went incredibly well.
Thursday, Dec. 6 – Reunited
Today we were finally all reunited at the Leadership conference in Ruhengari. From the feedback I received, the staff of ANLM were learning a ton and having a blast. While Brad finished with the Management group, the rest of us watched a soccer game going on across the street. The teams: The Prisoners vs. The Taxi Drivers. The prisoner supporters were very obvious as they were clad in either all orange or all pink. If they were dressed in pink, they had been part of the genocide. We went down to the sideline but had been there only a couple of minutes before the game suddenly ended and we headed for the local market. We all had a blast entertaining the workers simply by our presence, giving out food to the kids, and taking lots of pictures. One of us though, didn’t have as much fun. Craig was walking on a drainage grate and didn’t notice that a section was missing. He fell right in, covering his pants in drainage…stuff…ewww… A few minutes later he was confronted by a shop owner for stepping on his scale. He ended up paying him 20 Francs but because the scale was in kilograms, he still has no idea what he weighs.
Friday, Dec. 7 – Certificates of Achievement
After all of their hard work, the staff of ANLM were each rewarded with a Certificate of Achievement this morning. They were incredibly excited and grateful for all they had learned and everyone came away very happy with how it had gone. As Lynn already mentioned, this is an incredibly wonderful group of people. God has blessed ANLM and through their amazing staff, He will continue to pour blessings on this beautiful country. The hard work is done but the trip is not over. From here we return to our beloved guest house to prepare to return back to America, and to all of you. TLS
First off, I wanted to provide a sort of dictionary of terms to help all of you understand some of the words and phrases you’ll be hearing from your loved ones upon their return.
“Muzungu” – White person
“Muzungu 1” – Tony Morones
“Muzungu 2” – Craig McManus (Though his status has risen and fallen throughout the trip)
“Flapper” – A word or phrase that does not translate well
“Rwandan Squirts” – Traveler’s diarrhea
“T.I.A.” – This is Africa
“7,6,5,4,3,2,1” Combined with a waving hand motion over the eyes – Originally used as a warm-up for the drama team, became a method to try to stop crying
Monday evening – Tuesday – “Game Parks”
While Lynn, Brad, Scott, and Lisa are doing God’s work at the Leadership Conference, the rest of us get to play with the animals! My group drove east towards Tanzania and the Akagara Game Park. Upon arriving and checking in, we headed upstairs for dinner, which turned out to be much more entertaining then expected. They had a buffet set up on two separate tables. One had soup, salad, and dinner rolls. The other had the meat and rice for the main course. Besides Craig, the whole group told our waiter that we only wanted the main course, as there was quite a bit of difference in price if you didn’t want the entire buffet, which included soup, salad, and dessert. So we all approached the buffet and grabbed a roll off the first table. As Americans we expect bread to be included with dinner. Evidently, that’s not the case. When the bill came, we were each charged an additional 2600 Francs, or $5, simply because we had taken bread off of the soup and salad table. And it wasn’t even that good of a roll.
The next morning we headed out to the game park. Over the next hour we took probably hundreds of pictures of some of the most beautiful and exotic creatures on this Earth. We saw warthogs, impalas, water buffalo, zebras, and gigantic giraffes without zoo fences and in their natural habitat. We then returned to the hotel for breakfast and were confronted with a major snag; the van was broken down in the parking lot. While Stephen, our driver, and the hotel mechanics tore apart the dashboard, the rest of us watched a baboon get chased off the roof of the hotel, as well as a family of them stealing food from the garden. The van was eventually fixed and we were able to explore the rest of the park which included hippos taking cover in the coolness of a lake, and monkeys doing tricks just outside our windows. On the drive home we got stuck behind a dump truck that had broken down and was about to slip into a ditch. After 30 minutes, a large enough crowd had gathered that Obed, Craig, and I were able to help them push the truck up the hill and out of the way.
The gorilla group had some pretty awesome adventures of their own. According to Denise, “We had only gone up a little bit when the guide lifted up the canopy and there was the big guy, the silverback. I thought, couldn’t we have started with the babies and worked our way up?” Eventually, the babies as well as their mothers did come around. There were some scary moments as the group would get too close to the young ones and the male silverback would get angry and charge at them. But everyone followed instructions and sat down without making eye contact, which calmed him down. The group came out of it unscathed and with some amazing pictures.
Wednesday, Dec. 5 – The Refugee Camp
If you’re ever in Rwanda drive south from Kigali and just as you see the guy manning the Burundi border checkpoint, take a left and you will arrive at a large refugee camp set up a year ago for Rwandans that had been kicked out of Tanzania. None of us had ever been to this kind of camp so it was very hard to know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised to see how well they were doing. Families were building mud-brick homes, a large school had been built, and they had a medical facility. We found out that eventually this will no longer be a refugee camp but a normal town. Willamette Christian Church had graciously donated $5,000 to buy 8 tons of food to distribute amongst the families. One of the most interesting aspects of this was watching as the heads of each family vote on how to distribute the food fairly. After the decision was made, Karen, from Willamette Christian, made an amazing speech that would have made her church very proud. The people were so kind and thankful, we gave out a bunch of tracts and bibles, and the entire event went incredibly well.
Thursday, Dec. 6 – Reunited
Today we were finally all reunited at the Leadership conference in Ruhengari. From the feedback I received, the staff of ANLM were learning a ton and having a blast. While Brad finished with the Management group, the rest of us watched a soccer game going on across the street. The teams: The Prisoners vs. The Taxi Drivers. The prisoner supporters were very obvious as they were clad in either all orange or all pink. If they were dressed in pink, they had been part of the genocide. We went down to the sideline but had been there only a couple of minutes before the game suddenly ended and we headed for the local market. We all had a blast entertaining the workers simply by our presence, giving out food to the kids, and taking lots of pictures. One of us though, didn’t have as much fun. Craig was walking on a drainage grate and didn’t notice that a section was missing. He fell right in, covering his pants in drainage…stuff…ewww… A few minutes later he was confronted by a shop owner for stepping on his scale. He ended up paying him 20 Francs but because the scale was in kilograms, he still has no idea what he weighs.
Friday, Dec. 7 – Certificates of Achievement
After all of their hard work, the staff of ANLM were each rewarded with a Certificate of Achievement this morning. They were incredibly excited and grateful for all they had learned and everyone came away very happy with how it had gone. As Lynn already mentioned, this is an incredibly wonderful group of people. God has blessed ANLM and through their amazing staff, He will continue to pour blessings on this beautiful country. The hard work is done but the trip is not over. From here we return to our beloved guest house to prepare to return back to America, and to all of you. TLS
Leadership Conference
December 4-7
The last four days a team of four of us (Brad, Lisa, Scott and I) have had the privilege of spending time with the teachers and staff at Africa New Life Ministries. We facilitated a leadership conference, which consisted of a teacher track and a project manager track. This was a very precious time with these top notch leaders. It’s hard to even begin to relay all that the last four days have held, but I’ll try to at least summarize some of the key parts.
Good Ol’ Icebreakers
We started them off with a fun little brain teaser—the Nine Dot Game. Imagine nine dots in three rows of three (in essence forming a square). The challenge is to connect each of these nine dots using only four straight lines—WITHOUT your pen ever leaving the paper and touching each dot only once. If your brain wants to be teased a little bit, I suggest you give the puzzle a shot before reading further. This was the way we introduced the idea of thinking outside the box (a little clue if you’re still working on the puzzle). Oh if only you could have seen these leaders wrestle with this puzzle! This brain teaser quickly became legendary—and forever after we heard the phrase “theeenk owtside da box”.
Scott led another icebreaker where we divided the group into chickens, elephants, monkeys, and dogs. We had them blindfolded and mixed up, then they had to find their herd by making the animal sound. I tell ya, there’s nothing like seeing a group of blindfolded Africans barking like dogs and clucking like chickens. Actually, we found even their animal sounds needed some translation, for I guess in Rwanda their dogs said “bo bo bo”, not “bow wow wow”. I thought they were the monkey group for the longest time! =)
Teacher Track
One of the top highlights of the teacher track can be summed up in one word—“BINGO”. Lisa Hotchkiss did a brilliant job of bringing some new teaching techniques to the Kayonza New Life Academy staff. She began with this concept: there is an appropriate time for play, and there is an appropriate time for learning. But there is ALSO a third category—a time where students can learn by playing and exercising creativity. One of the teachers' favorite tools was addition, subtraction, and multiplication Bingo. Once the teachers understood the concept of the game (as well as the fact that we had prizes for the winners), they were allllll over Bingo! In fact, the word “Bingo” was shouted out the rest of the conference whenever there was even a hint of the need for celebration.
Another fun tool that Lisa brought over was a motorized model of the solar system. WOW—this was quite an eye opening tool! These teachers had never really seen anything like this, in fact some of the basic solar system info (one orbit around the sun is a year, one rotation on the earth’s axis is a day, the fact that there are trillions of other galaxies out there etc.) was brand new to many of these teachers. I had the privilege of talking them through the model in small groups (with some very needed help from Science Man Tim). Oh the questions they had—everything from the simple “are you sure?” question, to questions about life on other planets, different atmospheres, the ozone layer, methods of attaining information, the latest science discoveries, and on and on. It is quite an honor to see discovery and learning take place for the first time.
Manager T rack
Let me just start by saying that Brad REALLY worked the ANLM ministry leaders! While we in the teacher track were off playing Heads up Seven-Up and talking about discipline techniques, Brad was teaching quality principles and practices for process improvement (try saying that 10 times fast!). During the first day Brad had the managers come up with four project goals for the year 2008, and the list they wrote is quite impressive!
*Goal 1—To see the New Life Women and Family Center grow from the 31 students it currently trains, to 100 students in the year 2008.
*Goal 2—To reengineer the communication process for child sponsorship.
*Goal 3—To Implement Small Group Ministry in New Life Bible Church.
*Goal 4—In the year 2008 New Life Academy in Kayonza wants to run a major competency program for its educators.
Day 2 for the manager track was pretty grueling, as Brad kept the managers going from 9-6 (with some room for breaks of course). We were all pretty impressed by Brad’s stamina to stand up and teach complex topics for 9 hours! We have no doubt that he was relying on the Lord’s strength in a major way! During day 2 Brad taught the ministry leaders the basic steps to define, plan, and manage a project. Though it was a long day, when I talked to several ministry leaders, they were overwhelmed with gratitude for the valuable training they had received!
Final Thoughts
Amidst everything, I think one of the biggest highlights for all four of us was having the privilege of getting to know these quality leaders from Africa New Life Ministry! This is really a very blessed team of men and women who love the Lord and love people. They are living out their calling as they carry out the purpose of Africa New Life Ministry—to transform lives by preaching the gospel and acts of compassion. ~LM
The last four days a team of four of us (Brad, Lisa, Scott and I) have had the privilege of spending time with the teachers and staff at Africa New Life Ministries. We facilitated a leadership conference, which consisted of a teacher track and a project manager track. This was a very precious time with these top notch leaders. It’s hard to even begin to relay all that the last four days have held, but I’ll try to at least summarize some of the key parts.
Good Ol’ Icebreakers
We started them off with a fun little brain teaser—the Nine Dot Game. Imagine nine dots in three rows of three (in essence forming a square). The challenge is to connect each of these nine dots using only four straight lines—WITHOUT your pen ever leaving the paper and touching each dot only once. If your brain wants to be teased a little bit, I suggest you give the puzzle a shot before reading further. This was the way we introduced the idea of thinking outside the box (a little clue if you’re still working on the puzzle). Oh if only you could have seen these leaders wrestle with this puzzle! This brain teaser quickly became legendary—and forever after we heard the phrase “theeenk owtside da box”.
Scott led another icebreaker where we divided the group into chickens, elephants, monkeys, and dogs. We had them blindfolded and mixed up, then they had to find their herd by making the animal sound. I tell ya, there’s nothing like seeing a group of blindfolded Africans barking like dogs and clucking like chickens. Actually, we found even their animal sounds needed some translation, for I guess in Rwanda their dogs said “bo bo bo”, not “bow wow wow”. I thought they were the monkey group for the longest time! =)
Teacher Track
One of the top highlights of the teacher track can be summed up in one word—“BINGO”. Lisa Hotchkiss did a brilliant job of bringing some new teaching techniques to the Kayonza New Life Academy staff. She began with this concept: there is an appropriate time for play, and there is an appropriate time for learning. But there is ALSO a third category—a time where students can learn by playing and exercising creativity. One of the teachers' favorite tools was addition, subtraction, and multiplication Bingo. Once the teachers understood the concept of the game (as well as the fact that we had prizes for the winners), they were allllll over Bingo! In fact, the word “Bingo” was shouted out the rest of the conference whenever there was even a hint of the need for celebration.
Another fun tool that Lisa brought over was a motorized model of the solar system. WOW—this was quite an eye opening tool! These teachers had never really seen anything like this, in fact some of the basic solar system info (one orbit around the sun is a year, one rotation on the earth’s axis is a day, the fact that there are trillions of other galaxies out there etc.) was brand new to many of these teachers. I had the privilege of talking them through the model in small groups (with some very needed help from Science Man Tim). Oh the questions they had—everything from the simple “are you sure?” question, to questions about life on other planets, different atmospheres, the ozone layer, methods of attaining information, the latest science discoveries, and on and on. It is quite an honor to see discovery and learning take place for the first time.
Manager T rack
Let me just start by saying that Brad REALLY worked the ANLM ministry leaders! While we in the teacher track were off playing Heads up Seven-Up and talking about discipline techniques, Brad was teaching quality principles and practices for process improvement (try saying that 10 times fast!). During the first day Brad had the managers come up with four project goals for the year 2008, and the list they wrote is quite impressive!
*Goal 1—To see the New Life Women and Family Center grow from the 31 students it currently trains, to 100 students in the year 2008.
*Goal 2—To reengineer the communication process for child sponsorship.
*Goal 3—To Implement Small Group Ministry in New Life Bible Church.
*Goal 4—In the year 2008 New Life Academy in Kayonza wants to run a major competency program for its educators.
Day 2 for the manager track was pretty grueling, as Brad kept the managers going from 9-6 (with some room for breaks of course). We were all pretty impressed by Brad’s stamina to stand up and teach complex topics for 9 hours! We have no doubt that he was relying on the Lord’s strength in a major way! During day 2 Brad taught the ministry leaders the basic steps to define, plan, and manage a project. Though it was a long day, when I talked to several ministry leaders, they were overwhelmed with gratitude for the valuable training they had received!
Final Thoughts
Amidst everything, I think one of the biggest highlights for all four of us was having the privilege of getting to know these quality leaders from Africa New Life Ministry! This is really a very blessed team of men and women who love the Lord and love people. They are living out their calling as they carry out the purpose of Africa New Life Ministry—to transform lives by preaching the gospel and acts of compassion. ~LM
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