BuRunDi

Upon from my return from Kenya, I woke up early the next morning for a 6 hour bus ride down to Bujumbora, Burundi where I would spend a week visiting and working down at the YFC office there. I also brought along my two friends Jenny and Liz to go down and help at the orphanage that we were going to be working at.
After getting stuck at the Burundi boarder for two hours because our bus broke down, we finally made it to be happily greeted by 3 yfc workers. Two were staff members names Esther and Eve and the third was an American volunteer names Jackie. They took us to the rainbow center where we would be sleeping for the week which was an orphanage and guest house all wrapped into one. We ate dinner and talked to with Jackie for awhile until the country director Freddy showed up to to say hello.
We had a wonderful week there working and seeing the sites of Burundi including a very short step into the DRC(that a separate story in itself). Burundi is a very small but wonderful country that was in the midst of a civil war just like Rwanda's.It is Rwanda's sister country and they were once the same before splitting in colonization. While Rwanda's story has become well know, Burundi's story of conflict has become some what forgotten and as a country it is far underdeveloped compared Rwanda. While Rwanda's war lasted a few months Burundi's war has gone on for over ten years and officially ended in 2005. Now they still to this day have not come to full peace as there is still an active rebel group but had not seen a major attack since 2005.
The second night we were There we were sitting having dinner at the rainbow center and talking with a YWAM group from Northern Ireland doing their ministry in Burundi when we heard what we thought was something like fireworks. We realized quickly that it was not so when shortly after the sounds of machine gun fire rang through our ears. One of the guards ran in to tell us to come look outside. We ran out to see the red light of missile grenades flying through the air in different directions along with the flash of white light as they landed in the hills. After spending some time in prayer for peoples safety and for the country we sat and listened to the sounds of gunfire and exploding bombs until we fell to sleep.
The fighting continued through the night and the next morning we came to find out that the rebel group had decided to make their biggest attack in 3 years. We were never really in to much danger where we were because their attack was for the most part a political statement as they spent most of their time trying to bomb the presidents compound in Bujumbora. After breakfast we packed up our things and our friends Basco and Eve (yfc staff) took us and Jackie two hours east through the mountains and the most dangerous road in the country (only really at night) to a town called Gitega where we would be doing our work at the orphanage. Kinda funny but on the way in we bought grilled corn on the cob from boys as they ran beside our bus winding through the hills so we decided to do it again as we headed across to Gitega. We enjoyed it so much that every time we took that road (which was 4 time in the week there) we would enjoy the snack of a little grilled corn on the cob to satisfy our appetite.
We spent some time working at this yfc orphanage in Gitega. We spent most of our time doing physical education activities with the kids since this was quite the need at the moment and tried to teach some of the staff at the school there so they could continue to do this activities with the kids. Their were 23 kids at the orphanage between the ages of like 5 and 12. It was a wonderful experience to spend some time just having fun and loving on some pretty spectacular children.
Once back in Bujumbora, we had one final big dinner put on by Freddy with the yfc staff my group and the YWAM team since they were going to be spending some of their time working with yfc. We had a wonderful dinner that began with a traditional Burundian drum concert and some traditional foods and ending in splendid fellowship.
The next morning we packed up our things...went to one of the local churches and headed home.

Its Been So Long (Uganda, Kenya, and back)

Hey everyone. I am sorry it has been so long since I have written a blog update. I have been a away from a computer for the last couple of weeks and have not had the chance to update you on life here in Africa for me. Well I guess it is almost over since I will leaving in a little over a week. I will try and keep this blog short even though there is so much to share with you. The last three weeks have taken me to many different places including Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi.
A group of friends and I took a trip that began by spending a couple days in Uganda where we were in the city of Kampala. While we were there we spent one day and white water rafted down the Nile river, which was amazing. It is supposed to be tied with the Zambieze river as the number one place in the world to go white water rafting. After uganda we took another long 6 hour bus ride into Kenya to a town on Lake Victoria. While we were in a market there we saw a rush of people leaving and did not think anything of it but when we went to head back to our car we saw like 5 guys standing around it and our driver argueing with them. He told us to rush into the car and said that new word had gotten out about the elections and people were started to riot and the guys around our car kept trying to steal our luggage. It was pretty crazy for a little as we were trying to get to our night train to Nairobi with people rushing out of buildings and leaving their cars to get back to there homes. We got to the train station with no real problem after that headed for nairobi.
We woke up the next morning to find out that we could not make it the whole way to the center of town because some people from Kibera slum (One of the worlds largest slums) had broken the track in protest. We had to stop at the Kibera station to meet our driver and head into town. We went into town and spent 3 days in Nairobi experiencing as much of the city as we could. after our 3 days there be got on another over night train to the coast and Mombasa Kenya.
We woke up the next morning to find our train sitting in the middle of no where and not moving. we had come to find that there was another problem with the tracks and that the train could not go any farther. They told us that we would have to wait 2 hours for busses to come and pick everyone up and take us the rest of the way to Mombasa. so we sat and waiting for what seemed like forever in the hot African heat and sun waiting for the buses to come. When they did we all loaded up on and made the 2 hour trek the rest of the way to mombasa. once we got to mombasa we made are way to the hotel that we were staying at spent the next couple of days relaxing on the beautiful white beaches of Kenya.
We spent a few days in Mombasa Kenya and then flew back home to Kigali Rwanda. We got in late at night went to bed and I woke up early the next morning to grab a bus to Busimbora Burundi to spend a week working with yfc down there. So that was my week and a half in Uganda and Kenya well at least that was a short summary with many other great stories in between. It was great to get a chance to do some traveling while I was over to experience some other parts of Africa. My time in Burundi was awesome but will wait to share about that story in another blog. Now that I am back in Rwanda it is unbelievable to think that I only have one more week here and then I fly home. I am definantly torn in my feelings about going home. A part of me wished my time here was longer but another part of me looks forward to life back in the states.

The Latest

Friends,
Two Months in a one more to go. I can not believe it has gone so quickly. Well It has been another good week. I am not sure what all I should write about. After School Clubs finished up this week as the kids are now on their semester ending break till mid April. Wednesday I went to the street kids ministry I have been involved with. While we were there Some of the kids are really good at doing acrobatics so they spent some time showing us their skills and helped to attract a crowd for us before we began to speak. There was probably a crowd of about 50 people waiting in anticipation for what I was going to say that day. As I began to talk, as soon as the name of Jesus came from my mouth over half the people gave a groan and walked away. By the end there was probably a solid group of 10- 15 kids who were willing and ready to admit to God that they were sinners and they wanted his forgiveness. Praise God and what a blessing that was. God does pretty amazing things. It is ever more amazing because I find myself only seeing how weak I am at standing up and sharing the gospel to a group of people. I just don't see it as a natural strength of mine and He still carries me and works through that weakness. It amazes me that in my inability to share the Gospel, God Still shares the gospel and brings people to his kingdom. That is the power of God and the power that we can have through Him. He still shows His love and he still shows His grace and this is the life that we live through Him. In what we can not do, God can do and this is the Power of God through us to live a life that is beyond ourselves.
I have been helping Luke, The husband of the family that I have been living with, who is also the facilities manager of Rwanda YFC write a business plan for the center that we have here. They have two large multi purpose halls here and a dormitory, they are in the process of building a new office building, and they have plans for a new guest house and restaurant that will all be able to be used to generate income as people can come and use them and stay here. So he has been trying to write a business plan for the center and I have been spending some time working with him and using the little bit of knowledge that I have to help him. Although It was been some long hours of work it has been good and I have enjoyed being able to help out and be a part of it.
Last weekend I spent a day and went with some friends to a game park near the border of Tanzania to go on a safari. We got to see a lot of animals including Giraffe, Zebra, Impala, Hippos, water buffalo, monkeys, and baboons. It was a lot of fun and we were driving around and we came up to this group of Baboons chillin on the side of the road. We stopped to take some pictures, hang out and watch them. They were pretty friendly as they jumped around on the car and everything. So we decided to take some pictures with them. As one was sitting on the hood of the car I went to stand next to it to get a picture...(As soon as I get the picture it will be added to this page) Anyways I was standing there and I looked back at it and As soon as I did I saw its long arms stretched out as if it was going to give me a hug or probably something a little less friendly so I quickly moved and it just kept chasing me so I decided to throw my water bottle in its direction to divert its attention and thankfully it worked and I was safe. I would have not enjoyed wrestling with a baboon and it would not have enjoyed losing to me. So after that fiasco ended we were all outside the truck and we happened to leave one of the doors open and all of a sudden another baboon was running towards the truck and jumped in the door. He was in the truck for no more then like 10 seconds and as quickly as he jumped in there he was out with a full loaf of bread that we were saving to eat for lunch. He just sat their on the side the road taunting us as he snacked on OUR loaf of bread. What a joke. Well he better have enjoyed it. It was a fun day and that was for sure a highlight.
I hope that everyone is doing well. Life here has been great with many blessings and challenges. It has been amazing to see God at work in Rwanda and to be a small part of it. I am in the office right now with some of our Rwandan staff on a Saturday because parents are coming to get report cards and they are listen to music that is on the office computer and we are all jamming to Jack Johnson. They have no idea what it is but they love it. This is life at the moment.

Street Kids Ministries

Okay, Let me tell you an update on a couple ministries that I have had the opportunity to get involved with while I have been here. Saturdays I have been going to this soccer camp that gives street kids the opportunity to learn learn and play soccer as well as receive the opportunity to learn the word of God and hear the Gospel. I have really enjoyed it and it is an activity that I really look forward too. It is run by my friend Kent and my Friend Jenny also helps out a lot. He has like a hand full of Rwandan coaches who work to teach the kids. These guys are all really fun hang out with and play soccer with. We work with the kids all morning and then in the afternoon the coaches play against each other and then we eat lunch and have a time of fellowship and devotion with ourselves. This last week I started using some of my soccer knowledge to help with training some of the kids that want to be goal keepers and it was a lot of fun getting back into the keeper mindset and I loved teaching them some drills and not having to do any of it myself. This ministry that Kent is doing is a great one as he works with a limit of around 100 kids from age 7 or 8 to around 16 each Saturday.

On Wednesdays I usually go to hang out and speak to another group of street kids with a guy from Youth For Christ. When I say kids I mean their age range is from like 9 or 10 to almost 25. So it is a very diverse age group. This past week we used some of your money that was graciously given to buy some food for each one of the kids. As all of them live on the streets, a couple attend school, a few have parents, but non of them have stable shelter to live in or daily food to eat. They spend their days begging or stealing money so that they can eat or buy drugs and alchohol to ease the life that they live. This past Wednesday was an untraditional day as there was a small group of guys so we just decided to sit and listen to them. So prompted by some questions from us we just sat and listened to their needs, physical and spiritual. Most of them were physical like food, money, or a place to live but some were spiritual. We just let them open up about their lives and we just listened. Then we talked about ways that we could better help them and meet their needs and how the guys who work with them on a daily basis care and love them and want to encourage them to want to go back to school or try and make money from a job instead of trying to steal it. It is the men who are like 18-25 who are the hardest to know how to help. Next week we will share another meal with them.

Well this is a very big weekend. I want to wish everyone a happy Easter as we take a special time to think and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we enjoy our Easter basket for those who get one and our Easter egg hunt lets look beyond that to the saving Grace of Christ through his death and resurrection. It takes me back to the church musical we would have every year that I was in a couple times playing a crippled boy or something...maybe my mom can remember, who was also a wonderful singer in the choir. Anyways has they would all stand and sing "HE'S ALIVE, HE'S ALIVE". Lets praise God, He's Alive.

This is also the first weekend of the national tourney and I want to say that this is one of my favorite times of the year, though I am disappointed because I will probably not be able to watch any of the games being I have not seen any tv in over a month and the games will mostly be in the middle of the night here, but if anyone wants to tivo the games for me it would be very appreciated upon my return. Go Heels.

Rwandese Slumber Party and Youth Conference

This week in Rwanda was a busy one. On Tuesday we started our after school clubs which I had been working on getting together for the last couple weeks. Then on Thursday I joined two YFC workers and a pastor and headed north to a village where they were going to have an evangelism training weekend. It turned out to be basically a small youth conference with high school aged kids from some of the surrounding villages. Each day they had a morning session and an afternoon session. It was hard for me to understand much of what they were talking about because it was not in English but I was able to have some of It translated to me. They would talk for about 2 hours at a time and I was amazed that the kids could even sit there for that long. I was the only "Muzungu" as we are called or English speaking "white person" there so I could not understand much of anything unless one of the YFC workers would translate it for me.
So, Whats this slumber party thing about? Well, I think this was really funny, but Thursday night it came time for us to go to bed and one of the local pastors was taking us to the place where we would rest our heads for the night. I had been told about all of the possibly sleeping situations before I had left but as we walked into the little house there was a mattress on the floor in the one corner of the room. It was probably a little smaller then a double and there were 5 of us that were looking for a place to sleep. The pastor then said that I was going to sleep in another room. this room was very small and had just enough room for a single mattress and a small table. This is great!, I thought, as I get to have a room and mattress all to myself, but then quickly realized that one of my the other Rwandan YFC workers was going to join me. As I looked at the mattress and the both of us I realized that this was going to be a very cozy night sharing a single mattress with another man. As he quickly got ready for bed and hopped under the covers I contemplated my option of sleeping on the dirt covered cement floor and decided that I would get more sleep spooning with another man on a single mattess then sleeping on the floor. As I began getting into the bed he asked me a somewhat akward question in his broken English. "Have you ever done this before?" he asked. As I hesitated for a second making sure I fully understood what he meant by the question, I chuckled and replied "no, This is my first time for something quite like this". I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I tried to fall asleep, feeling is body snuggled up next to mine.
The next day after a pretty restless night, It was time for another session. This mornings topic happened to be entitled in English, "Worth the Wait". And let me tell you it was quite an interesting one. As they kept talking, from what I can understand, It basically turned into a sex education/ HIV prevention course as kids here do not get any education on these topics and their are so many things that they do not understand about their bodies and their feelings and what exactly is right and wrong with how to handle it. Students had so many questions and probably could have asked questions all day. It was then my turn to speak and I spent my time encouraging them with the things we had talked about all morning, sharing my testimony, and encouraging them to share the gospel and love of Christ by developing deep, loving relationships with their peers.
That afternoon the two YFC workers and I spent our time visiting an S.O.S. Orphanage and then drove through a Congo refugee camp. They were both very interesting experiences especially getting the chance to drive through a Congo refugee camp. After that I put myself on a bus and made the trip back to Kigali.
The week was finished by a wonderful Saturday at a soccer ministry working with street kids that I have been involved with. We spent the day teaching kids soccer skills, doing drills, playing games as well as sharing the gospel with them. That has been the last week in Africa for me. It has turned out to be one of my favorites even if it did mean sharing a single bed with another man. Thank you for reading, praying, and caring. Thank you for the work that you are helping to do while I am here.

UNC defeats Duke 76-68

Pumped about this
I wish I could have watched it

Whats UP

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted a new blog but the last week has been flying by. In this post I just wanted to give you little visual to a small part of what has been going on here in Rwanda.

This is a just a great view of the country side.
I have been working with a street kids ministry and this is me speaking to some of the kids that we work with. It is a great ministry that I really enjoy being a part of look forward to How God is going to use me when spending time with them.
Along with this ministry I have continued to visit YFC clubs in different schools in the area and speak to high school kids.Work at ECK is going well. I have been doing a lot of work to get after school programs started. They will start Tuesday of this week.
Here is another picture of some of the street kids in our ministry.
Village Kids

I am over 1 month in and for the most part it has been flying by. It is hard to process everything that I have been experiencing sometimes, but it is a blessing to know that He is using me here right now and for the next couple months here in Africa.

CommUnity

OK so I got called out by Nate Miller the other day on skype that although he really enjoyed reading my blogs I think he said I was trying to hard to make them sound good. Well I guess I am going to keep trying at least for your (the reader's) benefit. I mean, I know some people who can write really well and you hang on every word that they are saying. I am not one of those people. So thank you again for hang'n in there with these blogs. I have learned a lot this week of the blessing and necessity of community. There is so much that I am learning and so many ways that I am being challenged here but I have realized the importance of being in community with others as a crucial aspect in our spiritual walk. I have been exposed to the blessings of being a part of a community with friends and family whom support each other, challenge each other, and encourage each other to better followers of Jesus Christ. I think community is a necessity and a crucial aspect of our faith. It has been great hanging on to that through this blog. For those who read this and leave comments, use it to support each other as well. Friends keep encouraging, challenging, and most importantly loving each other. (Community)
This week has been good. Along with the on going work here at ECK, Tuesday I was supposed to speak at a school in the afternoon but we could not get to the school because the roads where closed by President Bush. Oh, whom I did not get to meet. I guess I should have tried to get a job at the U.S. Embassy. Any ways back to more important things. I went to one of the local colleges of education and met with a YFC group. I got to meet, spend time with, and talk to some college students about ways that they can be active in their faith there at their school and with their freinds. On Wednesday I spent the afternoon working with another street kids ministry. It is to describe feeling that you have when you meet kids from the age of 8 or 9 to young men in their late teens who sleep in streets, under bridges, and abandoned buildings. who do not have parents, spending the night trying to get drunk or high off of drugs or drinking glue so that they can get sleep at night, spending the days begging and stealing food and money for their drugs. (that might not be a sentence) We are working to get them into school, get them food, and share the love of Christ.
After a great week of work I realized Thursday night as I was going to bed that I had lost my camera somewhere that day. This is was definantly a very disappointing realization and I am not sure what I am going to do. Hopefully some how I can get a hold of another camera for the next 2 1/2 months. Pray that I can get another camera. So for now there will not be anymore pictures to upload on this blog.
Please say a prayer for a container that we need to get with some computers in it to start a computer lab here at the school. It has been delayed a long time and It would be really helpful if I can help to get things set up while I am here. Thank you Thank you again for taking the time to read this blog and for your continual prayers.
PEACE

Moving Mountains and More

I moved mountains on Thursday and when I say this I mean I literally moved to a different mountain. It is the next one over from where I was living. I moved from Kibagabaga to Kininya. I now live with a Rwandan family, Rongin works at the school and he has a wife and little baby girl. I am a little more outside of town and It has more of rural setting. The living arrangements are different as well and a little more realistic to how some people are living here. There is no running water. They get their water a quater mile from their house and it must be boiled to drink. The bathroom is a whole in the ground outside,They do not have a kitchen and they cook over a little coal stove. You get clean from taking some water from a bucket and splashing it on your self and this will be life for at least the next 3 weeks. The two biggest frustrations right now are trying to get around town and to work everyday because I have to walk to the main road and try to get a motorcycle taxi and communication is difficult. Communication is tough with my family that I am living with and all I can do at night is read. So I do a lot of it, which has been a challenge because I love spending time with people and I do not love to read. This is just life here and the family that I live with seems to be very content and living comfortably although it only makes me realize the many blessings that I have.
It was a really good weekend.
On Saturday I went and worked with this ministry that spends time with a community of homeless boys. They get together and teach them soccer, try and meet some of their physical needs like food and water, as well as share the love and gospel of Jesus with them. This is a ministry that I will be able to get involved with on a regular basis while I am here. It was a great experience as I watched and learned how they reach out to these boys and how I will be able to help and get involved. Saturday evening I was able to attend part of an African wedding reception with the Brad and Kiki and then I went to Jenny's house. Jenny is an American who teaches at a school here whom I met here through soccer and I was able to meet and hang out with some of her friends who are living and working here in Kigali. Sunday I attended my host family's church and we were there from 8-12...really long service. After we got home from church I decided to take a walk and after 3 hrs of walking I made it to the center of the city and decide it would be best to take a moto taxi back home. It was a fun adventure but I do not think I will be doing that again. So work at the school is going well. My primary work for the next two weeks will be getting some after school programs up and running so that they can begin in early March. God is doing amazing things and using people to reach out to the needs in Rwanda and I pumped just to be a small part of that for the next three months. Continue to pray for the school and its growth, The people and children here in Rwanda and for those in the south who are still recovering from the recent earthquakes.

Our President, G.W. Bush is coming on Tuesday. This is pretty exciting and has been the talk as of lately. He will be here to dedicate the new U.S. Embassy along with visit the Genocide museum... etc. I am trying my best to meet him...I mean he should want to meet every U.S. citizen that is living and working in Rwanda, Right? It will not happen but I can try.
Ephesians 5:15
Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

African Baby Showers and Football

So the other day I was invited to a party in celebration of a families baby who is the director of Y.F.C in Rwanda, Jean Babtiste, and as the party was supposed to start at 2:30 and I arrived late which in one circle might be considered normal for me and a fault of mine. I showed up at almost 3 and found myself to be the first arrived guest. So after about 15 minutes of chatting with the director the rest of the party showed up. I did feel pretty out of place being the only non African person their and not understanding any of the Kinyarwandan language they were speaking. It was time to eat so I grabbed my small plate of rice, potatoes, vegetables, and bit a meat which turned out to be goat and began eating. As I was finished J.B. told me that I needed to try another kind of meat that he said would be more tender and enjoyable. As I looked at it I knew that this did not look like normal meat and when asking him what it was he said, "It is good, just try it". So I put a piece in my mouth and began chewing. It was tender and chewy and kinda had a burnt taste. It was not the worst thing in the world but something I did not feel like eating more of. After many attempts at persuading him to tell me what it was he finally said, "Oh, the meat, It is just goat intestines". And I said "Oh, Ok, Its pretty good". He then went on to explain the delicacy that goat meat is and I did not eat another mostly because I was so full. The party went on with speeches from some guests and the hosts and then we finished up with singing and dancing which I for the most part awkwardly watched in amazement as people sang songs and dance. It was very entertaining.
I also had the opportunity last week to play soccer with some guys who work for different NGO'S or Embassies in Kigali. They called themselves Muzungu United which stands for white man because everyone on the team was white. There were guys from all over including Russia, Germany, France, and America. We played a Rwandan team on this field that was all dirt except for one side had a skinny 40 ft patch of grass that had not been cut in a long time and was about 2ft tall with mounds of ant hills situated in it. It was a different experience from the pitch I was used too playing on in the states but it was a very fun time even in a 4-3 loss.

Happy Valentines Day to all.

Broken

"You hear O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; You encourage them, and you listen to their cry. Defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more". Psalm 10:17-18
I had the opportunity to visit the Genocide Museum in Kigali last week. It was quite an experience that I find hard to put into words. I was able to get a much better understanding of the history of this country though and the events that taken place. When we first started the museum they showed us a bunch of mass graves that held over 250,000 thousand people that were part of the million that died as a result of the Genocide. It is really hard to comprehend that many deaths in such a short period of time. As you begin to get a glimpse into what happened back in 94, the injustice, and how people have dealt with it since, or lack there of, it does make it easier to put together the pieces of where the state of this country is at. As I have learned about what has happened in Rwanda and what has happened and is happening in other countries in Africa, I realize more and more just how Broken a world it is that we live in. It his hard to comprehend and relate to the possibility that anyone I see over the age of maybe 25 or 30 has seen their family or friends killed or has killed someone. It has been interesting to slowly hear stories of how people had to watch their brothers, sisters, parents, husbands, and wives get killed. There is still so much to learn about the needs of this country. It is poor just like most of Africa and I live in the city which is supposed to be developed and have not even reached the villages yet. The effects of Genocide play a huge part in its development. People are not educated and there are not enough jobs. My gatekeeper or watchman at the house leaves his wife and kids from the village in Northern Rwanda so that he can get a job here earning a couple bucks a day to provide for his family.Everyone comes from the villages to try and find a job. Orphans, widows, and poverty are a part of life and it only gets worse. Children need educated for change and that is the true blessing of this school and the kids that get to go to it.

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.

Departure Date

This will be very short but I do want to say that my plane ticket was bought last week and I am on a plane to Rwanda on Friday February 1st. A little later then I would have thought but not to bad. It is actually here.