Bonjour!

I have arrived. It was a long trip but I finally made it to Kigali International airport around 9 Saturday night Rwandan time. It began at Dullus International Airport outside of Washington DC from there it was almost an 8 hour flight to Brussels Belgium and after a 3 hour lay over another 7 hour flight straight to Kigali. After saying Goodbye to Dad at the entrance to the security check point I found myself racing though many emotions. I felt excited and nervous, confident but a little scared, unsure of what in the world I was doing, yet sure that I was where God wanted me. I was headed to Africa. I stepped out of the plane to feel the rush of warm air hit my skin. I smelled chocolate in the air and thought this place smells really good but quickly realized it was probably the dessert from my airplane dinner that decided to jump of the spoon and rest itself on my shirt. After walking down the stairs and across the open pavement to the airport, I waited in a long customs line, grabbed my baggage, and met Brad and Kiki Burnfield. Here were my missionaries that I had talked to once on the phone and several emails and finally got to meet them in person. They are great. Oh and they are Taylor grads...what are the chances?? So after getting to their home we sat and shared our favorite stories from college. We talked about old Taylor traditions, friends, people we knew, and everything we loved about going to TU. I was tired and it was time for bed. The next morning came very quickly as we woke up at 7 a.m. to head over to Kigali Christian School where Y.F.C. was having the last day of a leadership conference for all the ministry leaders through out Rwanda. After being introduced to the director of Rwanda Youth For Christ, Jean Baptiste, He introduced me to the whole group of about 50 ministry leaders and had me share what I was going to be doing for the next 3 months. As I spoke in English he translated it to the language of Kinyarawanda which I found was the dialect that most people speak along with French. I can not understand what anyone says here. Even people that I meet that can speak broken English are hard to understand. I sat and listened to a man named David Kidalli from south Africa speak about leadership in ministry which was great because he spoke English and it was in a very pleasant British Accent. Then we had a Church which included communion and then it was time for a group picture and Lunch. Lunch was great. It consisted of the usual Rwandan food of rice beans and potatoes, but we also had peas and chicken liver, washed down with a coke. After lunch we had the normal Sunday afternoon of rest and relaxation which was much needed and highly anticipated. That night we went out to dinner and it was the Burnfields and I along with David Kidalli and this wonderful family named the Changs that I met which I have to take a few sentences to talk about. The Changs were staying in Rwanda for about two weeks and arrived a few days before I did. They were 1 month in on an 8 month educational adventure that will take their 3 boys through pretty much half the world including parts of Africa, eastern, and western Europe. They are great. It has been a joy getting to know them. We were blessed to have them take us all out to dinner for Indian food in downtown Kigali. It was fantastic as we ate food and talked about life in Rwanda along with the boys favorite activities and food that they missed back home. I was tired and day 1 was over. Do not worry I will not make every blog this detailed but I just started writing and kept going. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. It is such a blessing to have. You are missed.