We’re back!

Hi Friends and Family!

After a total of 33 hours traveling to LA— We are all back, safe and doing very well!

This trip was amazing and we can’t wait to share the incredible experience with you!

God is doing amazing things in Rwanda– You all should pray about coming with us on the next trip– it was fantastic

Love you all!

Team H – Wednesday

 

 

We have come to the end of the last full day here in Rwanda.  It is now a time for reflection as we process all we have seen and heard.  This is the time in the trip when we try to really take time to soak in what God has taught us and get ready for the transition back into the States.

We are all doing very well except for our poor trip leader, JG.  He has had severe food poisoning, so please keep him in your prayers.  He has been feeling much better today, so hopefully he will feel well enough not to be miserable as he travels back to the States. 

We are at a hotel in Eastern Rwanda overlooking a lake that borders on Tanzania.   We just took a sunset ride (in a van without 4 wheel drive – yikes!) through a national park to see giraffe, zebras, hippos, lots of exotic birds, wart hogs, buffalo, baboons and impalas…it totally resembled the Indiana Jones ride.  It is absolutely incredible to see these animals in their natural environment.  God’s creation speaks of His glory. 

Tomorrow we will have a 3 hour car ride to our shopping destination and the airport.  We will be on a plane tomorrow night!  Can’t wait to see you all!!!

 

Ry, Kyle and Daddy – I’m missing you all very much and can’t wait to see you!!  I was finally able to see all the comments from you all, our family and dear friends.  I didn’t know about the “slack jaw” picture……but now that I know, I thought I’d post a few of my own pictures!!   Well, I tried to get the baboons to wear my UCLA shirt for a picture, but they said, “No!”  (must be USC fans or just busy picking ticks).  I decided to wear my baseball cap instead.   Our team is giving me such a hard time about my interest in the birds…..but once they saw Ryan’s comments, they now understand I must have some good bird pictures.  What you can’t tell from this picture is that the bird is actually taller than Kyle.  It’s huge!!  I’ll see you boys soon.  We’ll post once more during the trip back…… I love you so much!!

CSI Team and friends & family – Thank you for all the words of encouragement and support. The funny thing is that we took this trip thinking we were going to help train these Rwandan pastors about the importance of small groups and the truth is, they’ve trained me!  The depth of their faith, their worship and their relationship to God is like nothing I’ve ever seen.   I’m so grateful that God gave me this opportunity and that Kreg and you guys made it all possible.  Thank you so much.   See you soon.  Love Suz     

HC: TC…I love you!!! I can’t wait for October!

DH, BS  I cannot wait to see you all again.  Thank you for all your sacrifices to make this possible for me.

Baby G – Daddy will be home real soon.

Eastern Rwanda–

This monring we left the city of Kigali for debrief and reflection on all that God has done in the past days here in Rwanda! We are so excited about what God has done and we can’t wait to share with you, our family and friends! It has been an incredible trip of God opening our eyes and hearts to His work here–

We are here in the East of Rwanda on an amazing game reserve– We included a couple pics of the area! We are seeing God’s amazing creation out here, it is an incredible land!

It has been a great day of meeting together as a team and seeing the great land and animals that God created!

Team K- Last day at the church

We spent our last day with our church on a day trip to the north west (near the Congo border) visiting church leaders, seminary students, and high school students. It was a great chance for us to see what God is doing all through out the country. As we traveled outside the city of Kigali children yelled Muzungo and waved everytime they saw us– we waved so much our arms were tired It is in the area of a large volcano so driving on the roads was definite off roading with volcanic rock all over. We spoke to the people, encouraged them in their work for the Lord and their desire to gain more knowledge and wisdom.

The church we have been with for the last 4 days leads their denomination for the country and we were the first PEACE team to visit a church of their denomination, so it meant a lot to them for us to go and support them and the good work they are doing. They currently have 4 churches doing 40 Days of Purpose and their next step is to take 40 Days to the other churches in their denomination, so for us to be there was a great step towards being Purpose Driven. It was amazing to see God at work in these people and their communities, we love being a part of God’s awesome plan for Rwanda!

We had dinner in the home of the pastor and it was fantastic- it was like being with family!

We hope you are well and cant wait to see you!!

Team H – Tuesday

 

Dear Family and Friends,

I’m sorry we won’t be able to write much tonight…….we only have a few minutes to post pictures before the internet cafe closes and we’d like to get as many pictures up as we can!!

Today was spent with some of the Widows and Orphans from the Healing Center.   Their faith is incredible.  These ladies are amazing.,…..they shared their stories of living through the genocide (and all the associated horrors), unknowingly being infected with HIV, losing their spouses, and the discovery that some of their children are HIV positive.   Needless to say, it’s been a very emotional day for all of us.

Tomorrow we leave Kigali and head to Eastern Rwanda.  We will look forward to posting some more tomorrow.  We love you all and miss you like crazy.  We also miss the beauty of drive-through meals.

Love,

Team H

Ry, Ky, and Kreg – How are my sweet boys doing?  Glad to hear from the neighbors that the house is still standing!!!  Not so glad to hear the laundry is piling up.     We thought about giving my UCLA shirt to one of the widows to wear, so that you’d see it every day, someplace in the picture.  Sort of like Flat Jack or Where’s Waldo, but ultimately, we decided against it because it’s too stinky.   Daddy, give those boys some lovies for me please……big hugs and kisses (with no cheek licking…..you know I don’t like that).  Love Mommy.

 

 

 

 

 

Team H – Monday

Thanks for checking our blog!  We are all convinced we will have to come back to this place and bring our families.  Yesterday was the best church service we have ever attended.  The worship lasted for 2 hours and was followed by 2 beautiful dances.  We were moved to tears as soon as we walked in.  God’s presence was definitely felt.  We had a chance to teach them about small groups and the importance of being in God’s family.  I don’t think any of us will ever be satisfied again with 3 songs to a service.  We laughed and cried…but mostly cried. 

A few fun things we noticed at the service were the dancing and jumping.  They do not sit still during their worship time….kart wheels would not be out of the question!  Also, when a Rwandan is moved by something they experience during the service they will walk up to the dancer or singer while they are still performing and put money in their pocket.  So, Travis, be on the lookout for some tips!

Last night after the service we went to the pastor’s house and spent time with his family and neighbors.  It is so different in Rwanda.  They really take seriously the commandment to care for the orphans and the widows.  Every Christian we have met cares for anywhere from 2-8 orphans in addition to their own children.  The pastor’s 5 daughters sang for us and we heard a few testimonies from a few of the “street boys”.   The street boys were orphaned during the genocide.  All of them lost their parents during the war and were left to fend for themselves.  Several of them have spent 13 years or more on the streets.  They are very grateful to the church we are working with because they have provided them with food and shelter…but most importantly love.  They are now all born again Christians.  We were able to give them a soccer ball and it was probably the greatest gift those boys have ever received.  We heard later from our pastor that they stayed up all night playing soccer.

Today we went out to the village where there is a sister church to our host church.  It took us two hours to get there and we all agreed what we saw was what we expected Africa to look like.  Most of the people in the villages literally lived in a one room hut.  The pastor’s brother lives in this village with his 9 children.  He herds about 20 cows for a living and they milk the cow each day for their daily needs.  They don’t have electricity so the milk only lasts for one day.  This particular village just received for The Purpose Driven Life books.  We were able to share testimonies and encourage them to live lives on purpose for Christ.  They felt so loved that we came all the way to their village instead of spending time in a bigger city.  Again the love for Christ was so evident in these people.  Our hope is that we blessed them at least as much as they blessed us. 

We gave gifts to the pastor to give to the village people.  Some of the gifts included candy, soccer balls and Frisbees.  It was a true blessing for us to watch their pastor give these gifts.  He sacrifices so much of his life for them and it was fun to see him give the children little gifts.  They had never seen a frisbee so it was a blast teaching them how to play (even the adults wanted to play).

This trip is really about building relationships with this church since we are the first group to come.  Some of those relationships include our pastor and a few members from the church who interpreted for us.  On our way to and from the village we really had some great conversations with them.  There is already a bit of sadness in our hearts.

SK:  Hi Hon!  Hi Ryan and Kyle!!  How are my Dudes??  I miss you guys so much.  I opened my special package from you – the picture with the banner in the backyard was SO AWESOME and made me cry.  Everyone loved it.   I especially loved Daddy hanging upside down on the monkey bars and Ryan blowing me a kiss.  Kyle’s huge smile brought me such joy.   How in the world did you get Katie to stay there and look at the camera?    Today was the first day that we left the city and went all over Eastern Rwanda.  Everyone was so impressed that I could pick out where we were on the map and that I could keep track of landmarks and such.  I told them it’s because of all my training from my dear husband!!   Once again, the supplies from Daddy saved me.  Today, out in the villages, the “Fresh Bath” wipes were an absolute necessity.    I love you all…….Mommy.

Houtzies:  Thank you for checking out our blog.  I loved your words of encouragement and I have so much to share with you while we’re pretending to hunt for sea glass (and the rest of our crew really does the hunting!)  Love to all the Houtzies.

 RH:  Mom, Dad, Sister and my Brother from another mother.  Thank you for taking care of my family while I am away.  I can not wait to get home and share the incredible things I have seen.

 

Team K- great day!

Muraho Americans!

Amakooroo? We are now officially at home in Rwanda! We are no longer visitors in this wonderful country We had a great day!

We spent the morning with the pastor and his leaders, after that we went to the school on the church campus and wow! There were 200 children in 4 classrooms, they were learning math and writing in 3 languages! They were so excited that we were there- We taught a lesson in the primary classroom (they had never seen crayons and markers)–we played with them during recess. We officially caused a ruckus with balloons and bubbles!

From there we went prayer walking through the local community, meeting people on the paths and going to greet people in their homes- God was with us the whole time- we shared testimonies and experiences! They were so welcoming and excited to have us in their homes. We also walked through the market which was fascinating! 

We then had lunch with the pastors- homemade authenic Rwandan food–yummy!

In the afternoon we hung with the youth- We played volleyball and taught them a lesson out of Matthew- it was so great! They were interested and totally participating!

Great Monday! Tomorrow we head North to visit some churches and a high school to talk with them about PD and small groups we are loving Rwanda, you Muzungos must visit!

Thank you so much for the comments, we love them and we cant wait to see you all and share our stories, the pictures just dont give the experience justice!

We love ya!

 

Team H

There have been so many wonderful things God has been doing in and through our team while here in Rwanda.  We each have been so blessed and our prayer is that we would be just as much of a blessing to the people we are serving.  The hospitality and the warmth from the people here has melted our hearts.  We will never be the same again. 

The first day in Rwanda we spent some time at the Genocide Museum.  This is a very significant time for this country as they spend the months of April through July remembering the loss their nation experienced in 1994.  As we went through the museum it had even more impact on us as many Rwandans were viewing the museum.  There were tears shed by all.  It really gave us a good understand of what this nation has been through.  We must remember what they have gone through in order to reach them where they are now.

Following our time at the museum, the evening was spent at a dinner party at one of the home’s of the church members.  Our meal was an adventure for all of us as there was very little food we could identify.  We learned how to make African tea and we tasted for the first time passion fruit soda.  Above all things, one must know to avoid pink sauces poured over carrot cake. 

The next day was spent prayer walking through the heart of the business square.  We passed the president’s house, the “Hotel Rwanda”, many universities and a few embassys.  We prayed for this country to be a nation of unity and a nation of forgiveness.  In the afternoon, we went to a radio station and shared God’s word to all of Rwanda and five surrounding countries.  From the message shared we know thus far, four people have received Christ.  Even as we left the radio station, a young man was outside with the hope we would say a pray of blessing over him.  He had heard the message and had just prayed to ask Christ to be Lord of his life.  We immediately prayed with him and there wasn’t a dry eye amongst our team.   After this we ate dinner with the pastor who is hosting us.  Another lesson learned, expect for your food to take a few hours to come once you order at a restaurant. 

We love and miss our families dearly.  We can’t wait to come home and share stories.  One thing we know is that God is good! 

A few notes from the team:

SK: KK, RK, KK…Daddy you have no idea how much I appreciate the flash light and how much our whole team appreciates your level of preparedness.  From books to maps to snacks…oh and toilet paper…the whole is team is grateful.  Prepare the guest room…….I love you guys!  (just kidding about the guest room)

RH: DH, BH, GH…..I appreciate all the support and all your sacrificed you made to help prepare me for this trip.  I miss you and I will see you soon!

HC: TC…I love you so much!!!  I can’t stop thinking about how much I want you to come to this place.  God’s presence is really felt and it has been very refreshing.  JH…or “safety sally”  you will have to come to this place one day soon!

Families of SH, TB, and SS:  Unfortunately, they are not with us here at the interenet cafe so we will have to post their notes to you all tomorrow.

 

Team K- Sunday Service

This mornings service was fantastic! An experience we will never forget– The service was 3 hours long, at least 2 hours of worship (singing and dancing) and 1 hour of teaching.  It is amazing how we could understand even though we didnt speak the same language– we couldnt understand the words but we could understand their hearts. The whole atmosphere changes when God is the focus– they worship God with such passion and excitement– It’s such a great reminder that there is so much more to God and His kingdom than just what is in our little circle. It was so fun to think that all day Sunday someone is worshipping God, while people back home were sleeping God was being worshipped here in Rwanda. God is moving in incredible ways all over this world!

We attached some pics of todays church service! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Team K- Saturday

Today we arrived at the church at 9:00 to meet with the women of the church. It was an awesome experience. We first introduced ourselves gave our testimonies and spoke about our church. We then taught on small groups, doing ministry, and being Purpose Driven. 

We brought with us tools to share with the women to educate them and for them to share with the community on health, hygene, malaria, TB, and parasites. The women were so receptive! They wanted to know all about us, the church, and they asked great questions They were so excited about being able to share the health resources with their community and train their friends and family. The biggest sicknesses they deal with are diarhea and malaria.

The women sang for us and danced . . . so great! Hearing the women pray was such an experience talk about truly crying out to God, it was great! It is an incredible experience to see and feel others worshipping in their native language- Seeing the church in another country is amazing–God is working in incredible ways in Rwanda. Please be praying for this church-they are reaching out and telling their community about God in fantastic ways- and He is blessing them!

Everything is going well and we found good internet close to our guest house so we will be able to check the blog and post pics daily– We love your comments! Thank you for them

We hope you are doing well and we love you all!