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
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
A Little Fragmented II
Before I begin here are a couple personal messages to some of our loved ones:
Cindy – Mike 143
Craig – Megan 4569 and kids
Li – Jordan 123 <3 Li
Brad – Niki I love you
Lulu – Hink pink
Denise – ily-jjdfb and apd
Maggie and Scott – Next destination, Red Robin!
Karen – 789-wool and lambs
Don’t worry, I will be putting more up in the next post.
So if you haven’t read Lynn’s previous post, the last few days have been rather difficult to document in one solid piece. We have split into a couple different groups and luckily your two bloggers have been able to document what each part of the team is doing. This post covers my (Tim’s) perspective from Saturday-Monday. Lynn’s version is just below it and is an awesome read.
Saturday, Dec. 1st
After a great beginning, the Men’s Conference continued throughout the day today. It began with a sermon from our very own Scott Modrall, who has been renamed “Pastor Scott.” He told the story of Saul/Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark. He used it to show how important both mentoring and being mentored to is. From here, the breakout sessions began. My role in the conference was official photographer, time keeper, and messenger. What this actually means is a lot of running down stairs and riding elevators, specifically during the breakouts. But, because of a combination of this and a lack of Taco Bell, hopefully I’ve lost a few pounds on this trip. While I ran around each of the leaders delivered a different, but important message. Brad focused on modernity and how it will affect Rwanda. His intense passion for the subject was absolutely palpable. Scott continued his message about mentoring and provided some specific advice on ways to go about it. What I personally enjoyed about his session was his focus on honesty with ourselves and one another. Tony focused on the idea of “Vision,” and had the men write a eulogy for themselves. This exercise forced them to focus on what was most important to them and what they were doing to build God’s kingdom. Craig spoke on purity, using examples of his testimony from the night before. Like last night, his sessions had an interesting response due to the subject matter he was discussing. But, in time, each group began to feel more comfortable and open and fully recognized the importance of pure thoughts and actions. According to Craig, “We dealt Satan a mighty blow today. If they put into practice even a tenth of what they learned, there will be a major change.” It was an incredibly successful and well-received conference that will undoubtedly have an impact on those who participated in it.
Also, the last members of our team finally arrived this evening! Though they got here a week after the rest of us Lisa and Gloria will be a huge contribution to the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, we did have our first lost bag as Lisa’s personal luggage didn’t make it. But being that today is Tuesday I’m happy to announce that they did eventually arrive, where it’s been this whole time, we’ll never know…
Sunday, Dec. 2nd
Today we went on some home visits for our sponsored kids in Kigali. What’s interesting about these visits is the contrast between the different homes and families. Karen’s little girl sang a song for us while the rest of the neighborhood kids played and posed for pictures outside. It was impossible to not have a smile on your face and we all came away very happy that we could bring that much joy to a family. The visit to my sponsor child, Patrick, had a much different feel. His poor mother takes care of him and his four brothers and sisters all day in a tiny house that could best be described as a sauna. He sleeps on a thin piece of foam on an incredibly small bed with all of his siblings in the same room as their bucket toilet. In the midst of the heat his baby sister rarely stopped screaming. Needless to say it was an overwhelming experience. For me, it was very sobering and helped me to realize why Africa New Life exists and why we’re here. The reason for this trip is to bring joy to kids that truly need it. Everything else is a bonus.
Speaking of bonuses, we were given the opportunity to attend the women of the family center’s graduation from the program. Throughout the year they learn a trade like hairdressing or sewing that will enable them to get a job to support themselves. Lisa had the privilege of delivering the keynote address as well as passing out their certificates. What a way to spend your first day in Rwanda!
Monday, Dec. 3rd
As Lynn talked about, the Kigali Sponsored Children’s event was amazing. The most touching moment for me had to be when I met my mother’s new sponsor child, Eric. I set up this sponsorship for her only a few days ago so it was an amazing treat to be able to introduce myself as the son of his brand new sponsor. What made this even better was that my child, Patick, was there as well. Upon meeting each other my translator, who is also the guy who watches over Eric, explained to them that they are now brothers because they are connected through their sponsors. This means that they must look out for each other. They ended up hanging out the rest of the day. It’s hard to explain just how cool this was for me. I went there expecting to hang out with my two sponsor kids. Instead, I ended up with two brothers.
From here we split up all over the place. I will tell those stories on the next posting but here are some previews: $5 dinner rolls, angry silverback gorillas, and an intense rooftop chase. Stay tuned…TLS
Cindy – Mike 143
Craig – Megan 4569 and kids
Li – Jordan 123 <3 Li
Brad – Niki I love you
Lulu – Hink pink
Denise – ily-jjdfb and apd
Maggie and Scott – Next destination, Red Robin!
Karen – 789-wool and lambs
Don’t worry, I will be putting more up in the next post.
So if you haven’t read Lynn’s previous post, the last few days have been rather difficult to document in one solid piece. We have split into a couple different groups and luckily your two bloggers have been able to document what each part of the team is doing. This post covers my (Tim’s) perspective from Saturday-Monday. Lynn’s version is just below it and is an awesome read.
Saturday, Dec. 1st
After a great beginning, the Men’s Conference continued throughout the day today. It began with a sermon from our very own Scott Modrall, who has been renamed “Pastor Scott.” He told the story of Saul/Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark. He used it to show how important both mentoring and being mentored to is. From here, the breakout sessions began. My role in the conference was official photographer, time keeper, and messenger. What this actually means is a lot of running down stairs and riding elevators, specifically during the breakouts. But, because of a combination of this and a lack of Taco Bell, hopefully I’ve lost a few pounds on this trip. While I ran around each of the leaders delivered a different, but important message. Brad focused on modernity and how it will affect Rwanda. His intense passion for the subject was absolutely palpable. Scott continued his message about mentoring and provided some specific advice on ways to go about it. What I personally enjoyed about his session was his focus on honesty with ourselves and one another. Tony focused on the idea of “Vision,” and had the men write a eulogy for themselves. This exercise forced them to focus on what was most important to them and what they were doing to build God’s kingdom. Craig spoke on purity, using examples of his testimony from the night before. Like last night, his sessions had an interesting response due to the subject matter he was discussing. But, in time, each group began to feel more comfortable and open and fully recognized the importance of pure thoughts and actions. According to Craig, “We dealt Satan a mighty blow today. If they put into practice even a tenth of what they learned, there will be a major change.” It was an incredibly successful and well-received conference that will undoubtedly have an impact on those who participated in it.
Also, the last members of our team finally arrived this evening! Though they got here a week after the rest of us Lisa and Gloria will be a huge contribution to the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, we did have our first lost bag as Lisa’s personal luggage didn’t make it. But being that today is Tuesday I’m happy to announce that they did eventually arrive, where it’s been this whole time, we’ll never know…
Sunday, Dec. 2nd
Today we went on some home visits for our sponsored kids in Kigali. What’s interesting about these visits is the contrast between the different homes and families. Karen’s little girl sang a song for us while the rest of the neighborhood kids played and posed for pictures outside. It was impossible to not have a smile on your face and we all came away very happy that we could bring that much joy to a family. The visit to my sponsor child, Patrick, had a much different feel. His poor mother takes care of him and his four brothers and sisters all day in a tiny house that could best be described as a sauna. He sleeps on a thin piece of foam on an incredibly small bed with all of his siblings in the same room as their bucket toilet. In the midst of the heat his baby sister rarely stopped screaming. Needless to say it was an overwhelming experience. For me, it was very sobering and helped me to realize why Africa New Life exists and why we’re here. The reason for this trip is to bring joy to kids that truly need it. Everything else is a bonus.
Speaking of bonuses, we were given the opportunity to attend the women of the family center’s graduation from the program. Throughout the year they learn a trade like hairdressing or sewing that will enable them to get a job to support themselves. Lisa had the privilege of delivering the keynote address as well as passing out their certificates. What a way to spend your first day in Rwanda!
Monday, Dec. 3rd
As Lynn talked about, the Kigali Sponsored Children’s event was amazing. The most touching moment for me had to be when I met my mother’s new sponsor child, Eric. I set up this sponsorship for her only a few days ago so it was an amazing treat to be able to introduce myself as the son of his brand new sponsor. What made this even better was that my child, Patick, was there as well. Upon meeting each other my translator, who is also the guy who watches over Eric, explained to them that they are now brothers because they are connected through their sponsors. This means that they must look out for each other. They ended up hanging out the rest of the day. It’s hard to explain just how cool this was for me. I went there expecting to hang out with my two sponsor kids. Instead, I ended up with two brothers.
From here we split up all over the place. I will tell those stories on the next posting but here are some previews: $5 dinner rolls, angry silverback gorillas, and an intense rooftop chase. Stay tuned…TLS
Monday, December 3, 2007
A little Fragmented
This post starts with a warning. Though the beginning of our trip consisted of a lot of group activities, we have now split into three separate groups, so these posts may be a little fragmented. It is Monday as I'm writing this, but I'll try to go back and catch up on at least my perspective of the last few days. Don't worry, I think you, our faithful readers, are more than intelligent enough to keep everything straight!
Ok, where were we...ahhh yes, we were still back on Saturday.
Dec. 1st. Today was the conference day for men and women. The men were at it all day, and left bright and early in the morning all dressed up and looking spiffy! I've tried to talk a few of them into bringing the "slacks, suits, and ties" look back into church, but they didn't seem too keen on the idea. =) From what I heard about the conference, it was very powerful as the men in Rwanda were challenged in areas of purity, accountability, mentorship and more. I'll let Tim give you the full blown report on the men's conference as he is our leading male blogger. The women had a half-day conference as well today. I felt honored to be able to speak to the beautiful women of Rwanda about the riches of their identity in Christ (using Ephesians 1). As I looked out at the women, I was amazed to think that so many of these women are my sisters and I will have an eternity to get to know them (and without a language barrier praise the Lord!). What really touched me was when another team member of mine, Maggie Modrall, shared her testimony with the women. Because of all the pain Rwandans have been through, as a general rule Rwandans don't open up much but rather place protective walls around their hearts. The church is trying to change this--for there is plenty in the Bible about carrying each other's burdens, confessing our sins to one another, comforting others in their sorrows, etc. So when Maggie got up and was brave enough to basically bare her soul as she told her story, these women were truly touched! I hope her example of vulnerablity will have a lasting impression on these women! Then Florence spoke to the women and challenged her women to be instruments of grace as God designed them to be. I think we all returned from the conferences exhausted, but extremely blessed and humbled to be used for Kingdom building purposes!
Sun, Dec. 2nd
Ok now this entry has to start with a little bit of a confession. I was knocked down with a fever on Sunday, so my thoughts on that day are a little foggy (thus my description might be a little short). Hopefully Tim can fill in a bit or get someone from the team to fill in bits and pieces that I have dropped. Some of us piled into a van and headed out for the beautiful hour drive back to Kayonza to go to church. Once there, we had a time of worship and then it was time for our own Scott Modrall to preach. He preached a wonderful sermon on the story of Namaan, which was followed by some more singing and dancing. *Now let's take a moment to say preparedness is next to godliness...or is that cleanliness...* ANYWAY, apparently there was supposed to be another speaker that morning, but he had not arrived. They asked Scott to preach again, and with about 5 minutes to prepare he pulled out a full sermon on the relationship between Peter and Jesus. We were all pretty impressed, let me tell ya! I think it's safe to say that with everything they had that morning, that was the longest church service I've ever been in. It ran about 3 hours when all was said and done--another striking difference from what most of us experience in America. After this, we had a tour of the Kayonza school and saw all the wonderful things they are doing with the children there. We were grateful to have time for a few more village home visits before heading back to Kigali. There was a graduation at the Women's Center that many from our team went to Sunday evening. I'll have to let Tim take that one as by this time I was flat on my back in bed.
Mon, Dec. 3rd
In case you were wondering, I woke up today without a fever-praise the Lord! I am incredibly thankful becaue I really didn't want to miss out on the day's activities. Today we had another amazing day surrounded by the beautiful Rwandan children. It was our sponsored kids Christmas party day! Now I have to say, though the children's choir sang a Christmas song for us, and we have received reports from home saying it's snowing, I have to tell you that it's hard to feel "Christmasy" when it's 80 degrees outside. Ahh well, I suppose there's due time for that when we return to the States. I can't tell you what a joy it was to see these precious children walking around at this party wearing name tags with their sponsor's name(s) on it. We recognized so many names from our churches--the Friesens, the Schweins, the Campbells, the Dumlers, the Rettmanns, the Fidanzos, the Allisons, the Goodmans, and on and on it went. We were blessed to be able to see these children face to face, and give them a hug and teach them a fun hand-shake, and take their pictures, and tell them that we know their sponsor. I hope you know these children really do care about their sponsors. I can't count how many kids came up asking if I knew their sponsor--they just wanted to have some sort of connection with the peopole who have impacted their lives in such a tangible way! Every "yes I know your sponsor" answer brought a light to their eyes and an immediate smile to their face! During this time we heard from the children's choir, performed our own drama, heard some testimonies, ran some game stations, passed out Christmas party cake, and once again tried out our African dancing skills (and I do think I'm improving slightly with practice...emphasis on the word slightly). Needless to say-to the sponsors the children all send their love; they are praying for you, and they are so thankful that you have blessed them so greatly.
And now, we are a team of three--one group is heading over to hike up and see the gorillas, some are headed out to the Akagera game park, and the true servants...er, I mean the rest of us who will be running the Leadership conference are here at the guest house.
PHEW--If you have read thus far well done. That was a long post--but hey, we've caught up..at least from my perspective of things. Stay tuned for more from Tim! ~LM
Ok, where were we...ahhh yes, we were still back on Saturday.
Dec. 1st. Today was the conference day for men and women. The men were at it all day, and left bright and early in the morning all dressed up and looking spiffy! I've tried to talk a few of them into bringing the "slacks, suits, and ties" look back into church, but they didn't seem too keen on the idea. =) From what I heard about the conference, it was very powerful as the men in Rwanda were challenged in areas of purity, accountability, mentorship and more. I'll let Tim give you the full blown report on the men's conference as he is our leading male blogger. The women had a half-day conference as well today. I felt honored to be able to speak to the beautiful women of Rwanda about the riches of their identity in Christ (using Ephesians 1). As I looked out at the women, I was amazed to think that so many of these women are my sisters and I will have an eternity to get to know them (and without a language barrier praise the Lord!). What really touched me was when another team member of mine, Maggie Modrall, shared her testimony with the women. Because of all the pain Rwandans have been through, as a general rule Rwandans don't open up much but rather place protective walls around their hearts. The church is trying to change this--for there is plenty in the Bible about carrying each other's burdens, confessing our sins to one another, comforting others in their sorrows, etc. So when Maggie got up and was brave enough to basically bare her soul as she told her story, these women were truly touched! I hope her example of vulnerablity will have a lasting impression on these women! Then Florence spoke to the women and challenged her women to be instruments of grace as God designed them to be. I think we all returned from the conferences exhausted, but extremely blessed and humbled to be used for Kingdom building purposes!
Sun, Dec. 2nd
Ok now this entry has to start with a little bit of a confession. I was knocked down with a fever on Sunday, so my thoughts on that day are a little foggy (thus my description might be a little short). Hopefully Tim can fill in a bit or get someone from the team to fill in bits and pieces that I have dropped. Some of us piled into a van and headed out for the beautiful hour drive back to Kayonza to go to church. Once there, we had a time of worship and then it was time for our own Scott Modrall to preach. He preached a wonderful sermon on the story of Namaan, which was followed by some more singing and dancing. *Now let's take a moment to say preparedness is next to godliness...or is that cleanliness...* ANYWAY, apparently there was supposed to be another speaker that morning, but he had not arrived. They asked Scott to preach again, and with about 5 minutes to prepare he pulled out a full sermon on the relationship between Peter and Jesus. We were all pretty impressed, let me tell ya! I think it's safe to say that with everything they had that morning, that was the longest church service I've ever been in. It ran about 3 hours when all was said and done--another striking difference from what most of us experience in America. After this, we had a tour of the Kayonza school and saw all the wonderful things they are doing with the children there. We were grateful to have time for a few more village home visits before heading back to Kigali. There was a graduation at the Women's Center that many from our team went to Sunday evening. I'll have to let Tim take that one as by this time I was flat on my back in bed.
Mon, Dec. 3rd
In case you were wondering, I woke up today without a fever-praise the Lord! I am incredibly thankful becaue I really didn't want to miss out on the day's activities. Today we had another amazing day surrounded by the beautiful Rwandan children. It was our sponsored kids Christmas party day! Now I have to say, though the children's choir sang a Christmas song for us, and we have received reports from home saying it's snowing, I have to tell you that it's hard to feel "Christmasy" when it's 80 degrees outside. Ahh well, I suppose there's due time for that when we return to the States. I can't tell you what a joy it was to see these precious children walking around at this party wearing name tags with their sponsor's name(s) on it. We recognized so many names from our churches--the Friesens, the Schweins, the Campbells, the Dumlers, the Rettmanns, the Fidanzos, the Allisons, the Goodmans, and on and on it went. We were blessed to be able to see these children face to face, and give them a hug and teach them a fun hand-shake, and take their pictures, and tell them that we know their sponsor. I hope you know these children really do care about their sponsors. I can't count how many kids came up asking if I knew their sponsor--they just wanted to have some sort of connection with the peopole who have impacted their lives in such a tangible way! Every "yes I know your sponsor" answer brought a light to their eyes and an immediate smile to their face! During this time we heard from the children's choir, performed our own drama, heard some testimonies, ran some game stations, passed out Christmas party cake, and once again tried out our African dancing skills (and I do think I'm improving slightly with practice...emphasis on the word slightly). Needless to say-to the sponsors the children all send their love; they are praying for you, and they are so thankful that you have blessed them so greatly.
And now, we are a team of three--one group is heading over to hike up and see the gorillas, some are headed out to the Akagera game park, and the true servants...er, I mean the rest of us who will be running the Leadership conference are here at the guest house.
PHEW--If you have read thus far well done. That was a long post--but hey, we've caught up..at least from my perspective of things. Stay tuned for more from Tim! ~LM
Sunday, December 2, 2007
To Market To Market
Friday, Nov. 30th, 2007
I think we have packed so many experiences into our time in Rwanda, that it’s hard to believe we only left one week ago today! Each day here includes more people to meet, more stories to hear, more children to hug, and more adventures to be had. Today was one of the more relaxing days in the trip. Well, I guess that’s true for the women at least. The men started their conference tonight, so I know they spent plenty of time in prayer and preparation for this evening. But we’ll get to that in due time.
Today I had my first experience shopping at the nearby market. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what I experienced. I’ll try my best to describe it. Try to imagine a Costco. Do you have a picture of that in your mind? Now take the roof down a good twenty feet or so, and in every side aisle imagine tall shelves down the center (thus cutting your walking space in less than half). Now cram every inch of all the possible shelving full of wood carvings and baskets and fabrics and drums and fruit and vegetables and toiletries and bags and sewing machines and kitchen items and shoes and…(the list truly goes on and on). Imagine rows and rows and rows of these aisles. Add some heat, a few hundred beautiful African people (who really can’t raise their hand if they’re SURE), the slight feeling that you are like an animal on display at the zoo, top it off with a foreign language and viola! You now have a tiny glimpse of what our market adventures entailed! It was actually pretty fun to experience something so…well I guess “foreign” is the best word. We got to practice our bargaining skills and our Kinya-Rwandan verbiage (basically consisting of the word “oiya” which means no). Boy, were we thankful to have Obed and Jackie (one of the cooks at the Guest House) with us to guide us through the entire Market process.
We also got to enjoy our first stuck in the mud experience today. I say enjoy because it really was quite entertaining to see some of our men out pushing the van out of the mud. The tires were squealin’, the mud was flying, but in the end the brawn of our men saved the day.
As I mentioned above, the men kicked off their men’s conference tonight. As I am not a man I will defer this description to our favorite male blogger—Timothy Keene.
Thanks Lynn (I feel like I should be wearing a suit and some clever graphic has just appeared in the corner of the screen). The opening night of the men’s conference proved to be an incredibly powerful evening. Charles Buregeya (the man behind the vision that is African New Life Ministries) delivered an amazing sermon about men’s roles in society. Craig then shared his testimony which helped the audience to get an idea of how the next day was going to go. In Rwandan culture many issues are thought of as taboo and are therefore rarely discussed. That was not the goal of this conference. Craig focused on purity and the struggle both he and most Christians have with it. It was an intense beginning to an undoubtedly intense conference. And now to Lynn in sports! (Well not actually sports but fun girlie activities).
Thanks Tim. Let me just say that when the men are away, the women do play! The women on the team were in for a special treat tonight. We went over to the Esther Home, a place built for young adult women who are sponsored while pursuing university. Despite the difference in countries and culture, this was a true Girls Night Out! And let me just say that on our team, LuLu knows how to bring the party. She got us all learning names, and playing games—we even tried playing the game “telephone” which takes on a whole other life when there are two languages in the mix. These beautiful young women, ranging in age from 17-26, performed a traditional Rwandan dance for us. After this they taught…or attempted to teach us the dance. I couldn’t exactly say that this was a huge confidence builder as far as our dancing skills, but we had plenty to laugh about together and had a blast giving it a shot. When asked to teach them a traditional American dance (gulp), the best we could come up with was the Electric Slide, the Macarena (which by name alone surely can’t be American), the John Travolta disco finger point, and the YMCA. Ahhh well, so traditional dancing isn’t America’s strong suit. We LOVED our time with the Esther home women! Each girl in this house is unique and beautiful in their own special way. We’re thinking a future team should definitely arrange an Esther House slumber party! LM & TLS
I think we have packed so many experiences into our time in Rwanda, that it’s hard to believe we only left one week ago today! Each day here includes more people to meet, more stories to hear, more children to hug, and more adventures to be had. Today was one of the more relaxing days in the trip. Well, I guess that’s true for the women at least. The men started their conference tonight, so I know they spent plenty of time in prayer and preparation for this evening. But we’ll get to that in due time.
Today I had my first experience shopping at the nearby market. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what I experienced. I’ll try my best to describe it. Try to imagine a Costco. Do you have a picture of that in your mind? Now take the roof down a good twenty feet or so, and in every side aisle imagine tall shelves down the center (thus cutting your walking space in less than half). Now cram every inch of all the possible shelving full of wood carvings and baskets and fabrics and drums and fruit and vegetables and toiletries and bags and sewing machines and kitchen items and shoes and…(the list truly goes on and on). Imagine rows and rows and rows of these aisles. Add some heat, a few hundred beautiful African people (who really can’t raise their hand if they’re SURE), the slight feeling that you are like an animal on display at the zoo, top it off with a foreign language and viola! You now have a tiny glimpse of what our market adventures entailed! It was actually pretty fun to experience something so…well I guess “foreign” is the best word. We got to practice our bargaining skills and our Kinya-Rwandan verbiage (basically consisting of the word “oiya” which means no). Boy, were we thankful to have Obed and Jackie (one of the cooks at the Guest House) with us to guide us through the entire Market process.
We also got to enjoy our first stuck in the mud experience today. I say enjoy because it really was quite entertaining to see some of our men out pushing the van out of the mud. The tires were squealin’, the mud was flying, but in the end the brawn of our men saved the day.
As I mentioned above, the men kicked off their men’s conference tonight. As I am not a man I will defer this description to our favorite male blogger—Timothy Keene.
Thanks Lynn (I feel like I should be wearing a suit and some clever graphic has just appeared in the corner of the screen). The opening night of the men’s conference proved to be an incredibly powerful evening. Charles Buregeya (the man behind the vision that is African New Life Ministries) delivered an amazing sermon about men’s roles in society. Craig then shared his testimony which helped the audience to get an idea of how the next day was going to go. In Rwandan culture many issues are thought of as taboo and are therefore rarely discussed. That was not the goal of this conference. Craig focused on purity and the struggle both he and most Christians have with it. It was an intense beginning to an undoubtedly intense conference. And now to Lynn in sports! (Well not actually sports but fun girlie activities).
Thanks Tim. Let me just say that when the men are away, the women do play! The women on the team were in for a special treat tonight. We went over to the Esther Home, a place built for young adult women who are sponsored while pursuing university. Despite the difference in countries and culture, this was a true Girls Night Out! And let me just say that on our team, LuLu knows how to bring the party. She got us all learning names, and playing games—we even tried playing the game “telephone” which takes on a whole other life when there are two languages in the mix. These beautiful young women, ranging in age from 17-26, performed a traditional Rwandan dance for us. After this they taught…or attempted to teach us the dance. I couldn’t exactly say that this was a huge confidence builder as far as our dancing skills, but we had plenty to laugh about together and had a blast giving it a shot. When asked to teach them a traditional American dance (gulp), the best we could come up with was the Electric Slide, the Macarena (which by name alone surely can’t be American), the John Travolta disco finger point, and the YMCA. Ahhh well, so traditional dancing isn’t America’s strong suit. We LOVED our time with the Esther home women! Each girl in this house is unique and beautiful in their own special way. We’re thinking a future team should definitely arrange an Esther House slumber party! LM & TLS
Feats of Strength
Thursday, November 29
Today we spent the morning at the Dream Center with the street kids. These are boys who have no real homes and at times have to steal to survive. Half don’t have shoes. Some only have a single T-shirt which they wear as pants. They are as young as 5 or 6 years old. And today was their day to party. We had only expected 125 or so but by the time we got done with worship and had moved outside the crowd had probably grown to around 400. After some songs and an awesome drama performance, the kids decided to put on a show for us. A group of guys with an age range of probably 10 years spent the next 20 minutes showing off their amazing gymnastics skills. According to Denise, “They could be future Cirque de Soleil members.” We then had them do cartwheel races (every kid there could do a perfect cartwheel, I hurt myself every time I try and that’s daily) as well as a footrace against the “Muzungus” (white people). This entire morning was absolutely fantastic. I really can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. But at the same time, it was impossible to not have watery eyes after thinking about what these kids go through every day. Just the fact that one of the main reasons they were excited to be there was because they actually got a meal with a Fanta that day.
The rest of the day was much lighter. A group of us went to the local market where we had quite an adventure. Here’s what happened. Denise points out a cool decorative spear set. The person manning the booth say it’s 9,000 Rwandan Francs (about $18). Jackie (our amazing guide/mission home cook), tells me to offer 4,000. They ignore me. I offer 6,000 and Obed okays it. I tell Jackie and she gets mad and takes it out of my hands. She returns to the booth and demands that they give me back 2,000. They do. Ten minutes later I notice that a few angry looking young men are following us around. It turns out the owner is mad and wants 1,000 more. Finally, after some arguing Jackie tells me to give it to them. She claims she did it just to make some noise. And this is why we love Jackie. While, the evening was very calm for me, Lynn had quite a night and here she is to tell you all about it. TLS
Thank you Tim. One of the main things I was looking forward to on this trip was the chance to meet with Florence and her Women’s Leadership Team. We jam packed a small office with myself, Florence and about 14 of her leaders—it was toasty warm let me tell ya! I shared a little bit of my story and my passion for leadership, and I encouraged them as they are just at the beginning stages of their ministry. Then they pelted me with questions. How do you plan your events, what things do you look for in choosing a leader, how do you handle a group when one person dominates the conversation, what things do you do with women at your church, and on and on. Though our countries and cultures are very different, though our churches are filled with different nationalities, there are definitely some characteristics and qualities in women that are universal and transcend the miles. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with these precious African women! And though the original plan was to meet for an hour and a half, you didn’t hear me complaining that we were together for over three! LM
Today we spent the morning at the Dream Center with the street kids. These are boys who have no real homes and at times have to steal to survive. Half don’t have shoes. Some only have a single T-shirt which they wear as pants. They are as young as 5 or 6 years old. And today was their day to party. We had only expected 125 or so but by the time we got done with worship and had moved outside the crowd had probably grown to around 400. After some songs and an awesome drama performance, the kids decided to put on a show for us. A group of guys with an age range of probably 10 years spent the next 20 minutes showing off their amazing gymnastics skills. According to Denise, “They could be future Cirque de Soleil members.” We then had them do cartwheel races (every kid there could do a perfect cartwheel, I hurt myself every time I try and that’s daily) as well as a footrace against the “Muzungus” (white people). This entire morning was absolutely fantastic. I really can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. But at the same time, it was impossible to not have watery eyes after thinking about what these kids go through every day. Just the fact that one of the main reasons they were excited to be there was because they actually got a meal with a Fanta that day.
The rest of the day was much lighter. A group of us went to the local market where we had quite an adventure. Here’s what happened. Denise points out a cool decorative spear set. The person manning the booth say it’s 9,000 Rwandan Francs (about $18). Jackie (our amazing guide/mission home cook), tells me to offer 4,000. They ignore me. I offer 6,000 and Obed okays it. I tell Jackie and she gets mad and takes it out of my hands. She returns to the booth and demands that they give me back 2,000. They do. Ten minutes later I notice that a few angry looking young men are following us around. It turns out the owner is mad and wants 1,000 more. Finally, after some arguing Jackie tells me to give it to them. She claims she did it just to make some noise. And this is why we love Jackie. While, the evening was very calm for me, Lynn had quite a night and here she is to tell you all about it. TLS
Thank you Tim. One of the main things I was looking forward to on this trip was the chance to meet with Florence and her Women’s Leadership Team. We jam packed a small office with myself, Florence and about 14 of her leaders—it was toasty warm let me tell ya! I shared a little bit of my story and my passion for leadership, and I encouraged them as they are just at the beginning stages of their ministry. Then they pelted me with questions. How do you plan your events, what things do you look for in choosing a leader, how do you handle a group when one person dominates the conversation, what things do you do with women at your church, and on and on. Though our countries and cultures are very different, though our churches are filled with different nationalities, there are definitely some characteristics and qualities in women that are universal and transcend the miles. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with these precious African women! And though the original plan was to meet for an hour and a half, you didn’t hear me complaining that we were together for over three! LM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
