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.

UNC updates

Incase you did not know what was going on with the heels these days...

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