Back to reality... (Well, almost!)

We are officially back in the capitol of Kigali, and have finished our service!  We stopped this morning in Rubengera to visit an orphanage, and had so much being welcomed by the kids with a song and little dance.  We met a beautiful 2 month baby named Alice, who was found in the forest abandoned!  By the grace of God this baby was found, and what a beautiful little face she had.  We also connected with several other children of course, and talked with the nuns and "father" of the orphanage.  This orphanage was more of a group home setting, and there was a nun as the mother figure in each dorm home.  There was one father figure of the orphanage who basically was in charge.  With Pastor Leonidus by our side, we presented gifts to the children and had fun sharing what a frisbee was used for.  There's always fun to be held with children!

We finally made it to Kigali after a long bus ride, and had an interesting dinner at a nearby indian restaurant.  It was nice to get some flavor in our meals.  We are all getting ready to go to bed, because we have to leave Kigali at 5 am tomorrow!  Tomorrow is our rest and relaxation day, and we are journeying to east Rwanda to go to the safari park, Akagira.  I am so excited to see giraffes and elephants and live my dream of going on an African safari!!! We will be spending the night at the park (in a hotel, not with the wild animals,) and then the next morning coming back to Kigali for a day of shopping and hopefully church.  These are going to be pretty straightforward and relaxing days, so I think this will be the last blog post until post trip.  Please be praying for safe travels and we will see ya'll back in the states!!!!!

Rubengera!

We just returned from the village of Rubengera, and had a fun day similar to yesterday!  We hung out at two different soccer fields and had friendly matches, and of course were swarmed by dozens of children.  Today was a little different because some of the smaller children had never seen white people before, and were scared of us!  I felt so bad, there was the cutest little girl who was terrified of me. I felt like a big white monster.  Hopefully we made a good impression!  We also visited two homes in Rubengera, and Julianna, Elizabeth, Joe and myself went to a woman named Esther's home.  Esther was a PEACE community trainer had some great feedback for us.  She had such an overwhelming love for the Lord, I love being in fellowship with women like her.  We also got to visit Pastor Leonidus' house, where his daughter just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl two days ago.  Such joy knowing how welcome we are in their home!  Today was a pretty relaxing and soccer filled day, so not too many details to report.  This is our last night in Kibuye, and we will trek back to Kigali tomorrow morning, stopping at an orphanage in Rubengera first.  Thank the Lord for our moments here in Kibuye.  I am so sad to be leaving this beautiful country side, but I know His purpose for us has been fulfilled here.

Kirinda

Muraho! We just got back from the village of Kirinda, and what a lovely day it was.  The road there was quite rocky...and that's an understatement...but totally worth the 2 1/2 hour bumpy drive!  We were welcomed with swarming children at the boarding school, and walked up to the church where the sunday school greeted us.  We sat on the stage as the pastor taught a short lesson, and the children prepared a song for us.  Such beautiful little voices!  Four of the girls began a dance, and then pulled us up to dance along with them!!! What a site to be seen, eleven muzungu trying to dance like Rwandans.  Including little Kyle in the middle showing off his robot dance.  We just laughed our little hearts away, and were so blessed to be included.  We then had the opportunity to tour the actual school, but children were busy in their classrooms taking their exams.  It was a charming school though, and the best part - the breath taking landscape. I will never get used to the beauty here, it really is the most lush country imaginable.  We continued on a little nature walk to enjoy the Lord's creation, and then approached the soccer field.  There's always fellowship to be had at a soccer field in Africa!  Children were everywhere, and it got a little claustrophobic, especially when I was lovingly mauled by children playing with my long hair.  The soccer match was a success as always, and the team Travis and Ryan were on won!  (Muzungu good luck!) We presented the school with jerseys, several soccer balls, and two practice goals, and the appreciation was immense.  They exchanged a token of their gratitude as well - the children's bible the pastor had taught from that morning.  It's in kinyarwanda and such a special posession that will go back to Saddleback's children's ministry.  What an amazing gift! Last night we were praying for a light hearted day, and thank God that is what He gave us! Beautiful people, beautiful country.
Tristen and Ginny left for Kigali tonight, because Tristen got a meeting with an important person to further her adoption process for Friday morning!!!! I'm not exactly sure who the meeting is with, but I know he is some sort of general and basically has the end say to approve the adoption.  Ginny accompanied her for a support system, and we will be meeting up with them in Kigali on Friday.  Please be praying for Tristen and her future little boy!!! Pray for patience in God's timing, we know that His plan is best!!!!

(By the way, this was all written last night but the internet went down! So Kirinda was on Wednesday)

Sunday school seminar, soccer training, & hospital visit!

Lots to report, lots to pray about.  Yesterday and today we spent training over 30 Rwandan pastors and sunday school teachers about the effectiveness of sunday school.  Yesterday we focused on the value of a child and why a children's ministry is important.  We shared the five purposes of why a child needs to be involved - to know christ, share christ, serve christ, etc. They responded really well and seemed to know a lot of what we said, but the expansion on the ideas was beneficial.  Today we shared how to have a children's ministry, including games, songs, crafts, prayer etc.  Elizabeth was creative with natural resources and came up with imaginative ideas to incorporate in their classrooms when paper resources are unavailable.  The pastors were extremely grateful for our knowledge!

We have continued our soccer training in the afternoons, and it's been so much fun!  Joe, Travis, Kreg, Kyle and Ryan took the lead yesterday with teaching the coaches and referees different drills, and ending with a game or two.  I got to play today, and by NO means am I good at soccer, but it was so much fun trying to keep up!  I know the coaches are appreciative of Joe's teaching and our participation.

Now I write all of this with a heavy heart, because some of us just returned from the hospital visit. It's hard to explain my emotions right now, but I can tell you it was intense.  We walked through the different wards of the hospital and prayer walked.  We then went back and prayed with about ten specific patients, and it's a scene I will never forget.  We prayed over a woman whose name means hope, and who was dying of skin cancer.  Literally dying in front of my eyes as I held her hand and begged the Lord for strength and comfort.  She was skin and bones, with no life in her eyes.  But she thanked us for our words, and we walked away forever changed.  Kreg said that same woman was in that same bed just last year.  She's a fighter and a survivor.  Inspiring, to say the least.

I ask you for prayers of encouragement right now.  For all the patients we encountered, that the Lord would bring rest and peace of mind.  For our team, that we would hold strong to our hope in the Lord.  That our spirits would not be discouraged, and our smiles twice as bright.

Tomorrow we head out to Kirinda, to continue our soccer outreach, children's ministry, and school visits.  Keep the prayers comin, ya'll are great!!!!!

Joe teaching at the seminar

Our audience

Soccer ball!

Tacky AYSO players...hehe

Kreg and Tristen at the field

Showing my skills...

Go Travis!

Noelle and Elizabeth teaching games to children

Beauty, as always!

Soccer festival, church, & peace island!

What fun we've been having! So much laughter has been in the air lately, and smiles are contagious!  Yesterday we partnered with the ICC (Inner Church Council) and put on a soccer festival here in Kibuye.  Different churches came with their teams, including a team of street kids, to battle for the title of champion. The street kids team ended up winning, with Travis and Ryan by their side!  So much fun to watch them on the field, Travis was a champ.  Kyle played as well, and tore up the field on the green team.  In the final match with the white team vs the yellow team, Kreg joined the yellow team with our translator Tom!  The game was intense, but the white team eventually stole the victory title with penalty kicks (Travis and Ryan scored!)  The festival was such a success, and so much fun to hangout with the hundred or so adorable children.

The rest of the day was available for relaxation, and I ended up sleeping for over ten hours yesterday! Most of the team hung out with kids, and Noelle and Joe even shared the purpose driven book with a boy!  Sleep was needed and since the girls finally got hot water, showers were sounding like a lovely idea.  We all caught up on sleep and prayed about where God would lead us to go to church the next day!

This morning we split into three teams and went to worship the Lord with the people of Rwanda!  We all had different experiences but enjoyed our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Kibuye.  The worship was amazing and full with joy; it was the type of music that entered your heart forcing you to dance!  The Holy Spirit was truly present in these people's lives, it was incredible to see their love for Christ.  They were truly grateful for the white visitors, and the church Noelle, Elizabeth, Travis and Tristen visited had never seen a white person before!  We experienced such humility and humbleness today in these churches.  Thank you Jesus for allowing us to worship you with our new friends!

After our three hour church service, we decided to take some time off and go out on the lake to visit Peace Island and the bats on Napoleon Island.  On Napoleon Island, there were wild bulls, and a bull tried to head butt me!  Great times....? The water was insanely choppy, we might have had some near capsizing experiences.  In general, we had so much fun hiking and taking pictures (as you will see..) what a great time to enjoy the Lord's beautiful creation!

Tomorrow we will be teaching a Sunday School seminar to thirty Rwandan pastors, focusing on the value of a child and why sunday school is important.  Please be praying for Him to guide us.  We don't want it to be our words, we want Him to take over our voice.  Prayers are appreciated!!!!!


LOVE LOVE LOVE FROM KIBUYE!!!!!