Prayer Request

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I have a special prayer request. Sandra, one of the girls I used to live with at the Wema orphanage, is in the hospital in critical need of blood. Right now, we're unsure of what's wrong, but she's in a very weak condition. Sandra is 20 now and is only one of 3 Wema girls to have secured a sponsor to attend university in Nairobi. She is studying business. She came home to Mombasa for Christmas and became very ill. Please pray for her health and quick recovery, and pray right now that we find enough donors to donate blood for her. We need about 5 more right now. I'll update you more on how she's doing later on. Thanks for your prayers! I love you all!

Christmas is still Christmas...

1. Even if it's 100 degrees outside.
2. Even if there's no evergreens, only palm trees and banana leaves.
3. Even if you're sleeping on the floor. (It's ok cause Jesus slept in a manger.)
4. Even if there's no running water.
5. Even though I'm about to walk on a white, sandy beach instead of white, crunchy snow.
6. Even if banana "brew" replaces eggnog and hot apple cider.
7. Even if I see camels instead of cars.
8. Even if my "presents" are the presence of those I love around me.
9. Even though roasted goat bones replace candy canes.
10. Even if you have to slaughter your dinner a couple of hours before you eat it. :-( (a sad experience, but a reminder of the precious blood of the Lamb that was slain for us.)

Christmas is still Christmas no matter where you are because the Christmas spirit lives inside our hearts. I know it's soo cheesy and cliche, but it's true! Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas!

I sitting here in a small internet cafe in Moshi, nestled right beneath the breathtaking sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro rising to the sky, capped with patches of snow. It's completely stunning! It's hard to take a good photo though; because of too many clouds....you only see parts of the mountain at a time. But even then, you can tell how colossal it is. I'm grateful for a long Christmas break from school, time to rest and reflect, and spend time with family and friends in Kenya and Tanzania. I've spent the last 2 days around Marangu, "Chagga Land," visiting churches, childrens' homes, waterfalls, and natural swimming pools. :-) And eating nyama choma and "mbege", the local banana brew with Grandma Bibi, and a host of the Oyondi cousins. Tomorrow, I'll travel to Mombasa by bus, and spend Christmas there with the Oyondis and the children at Wema orphange. I can't wait to see their smiling faces! This internet cafe is about to close, but I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, as this will probably be the last chance I get to post before then. As I was reading last night in Isaiah, this verse really jumped out at me. Isaiah 52:7 says, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Jesus brought all these things to us, when He came to earth as a humble baby, born in a lowly manger, for the purpose of dying on the cross for our salvation. And He calls us to serve as He did...bring good news, proclaim peace to all, bring good tidings. I'm remembering this Christmas that He is the giver of all these gifts and more. Let's rejoice that He came to save us, and that our God reigns! May you all have a Christmas full of His Spirit, reigning in your hearts. I have many pictures to post of my experiences and opportunities, but I'll have to wait until I return to Kigali. Thank you all for your love and support, and for your gifts. Through your gifts, I've been able to give so much more and continue the blessings! I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Advent

My kids were in charge of chapel this week, and we decided to have Advent be our theme. Did you know Advent means "coming" or "visit?" It's so nice to be in a room full of kids and not a one of them mention Santa visiting them with tons of presents. (I love Santa, by the way, but it's nice to be able to focus on the coming of Jesus instead!) We lit candles for each theme of hope, peace, joy, love and the Christ candle. (I hope there's no rule against lighting all the Advent candles in one day!) :-) The kids wrote their own prayers that they read outloud. I think they are beautiful, precious reminders of the joy and innocence that exists in children.

Hope

God, thank you for your hope that you give us every day. As we come for chapel this afternoon, fill us with your hope and your light and take all the darkness out of us. We hope that you are blessed by our chapel. We hope you are smiling at us. Help us to continue to hope for you. We hope that if anyone doesn't know you, Jesus, that they learn about you today! We ask this in your name. Amen.

Peace

Loving God, thank you for your peace. Thank you for the peaceful baby Jesus you brought to us on Christmas. Help us to live our lives in peace with everyone, even people we don't like. Fill us with your peace, Jesus, so we can give out peace to everyone everywhere we go. Even when we are in trouble. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Joy

God, we thank you for your joy you give us that is deep inside our hearts. Even when we are sad, we can still have joy because we know you Lord. You are our everlasting joy. Help us to be joyful to everyone this Christmas and remember and prepare our hearts for the baby Jesus to come and bring us joy. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Love

Loving God, we thank you for your gift of love that you gave to us with the baby Jesus. We know He came to earth so he could grow up and die on the cross because he loves us so much. Thank you God. Help us to remember to love each other like you love us. Help us to share all of your love with everyone, even our enemies. We love you so much Jesus. Amen.

I pray that during this Advent season, we can slow down from our busyness and shopping and remember who is coming soon! (And I'm not talking about Santa!) As we all light these candles at church, Lord, help us to shine the light of Jesus in our hearts this Christmas season. Help us to be the light of the world no matter where in this world we are!

I love you all!

Gahaya Links pictures

Chanil weaving her basket with sisal


Ms. Joy explaining the shipping process



Gahaya Links warehouse

Dyeing the sisal (notice what a beautiful color they are dyeing it! :-)

KICS kids with their handmade ornament baskets

Field Trips!

We took our first field trip today to a Rwandan dairy farm! A lot of our kids are "city" kids, so this was a real treat for them to be out in the country, with the red dirt, fresh manure, and odd smells. They had a blast. God gave us beautiful weather, and good memories. We got to see the baby cows, the rebellious teenage cows who run away, and the kids even got to milk a momma cow! We saw the tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouses, and saw the pineapples, oranges and macadamia nuts growing. Did you know that when you plant the macadamia, you have a crop for life?! We saw where the cows "shower", and even got to cut the elephant grass that they eat every day. It looks easier than it was! The only unfortunate thing of the day was when Joshua accidentally fell knee deep in a pile of manure when he turned his head to look at the dogs. :-(But we got him washed off!

Joshua "scaring" away the chickens.

Megan in the greenhouse

Alex, trying his hand at grass cutting.

Lilly milking her first cow.

Orla playing with the teenage cow.

On our way back to KICS, we passed by Gahaya Gifted Hands, also referred to as Gahaya Links. This project started as a humble effort to teach 20 young genocide widows how to weave underneath a tree in the tiny village of Gitarama. With God's blessing, this project has now grown into a large enterprise, that employs over 4,000 weavers across Rwanda, most of them rural women who were widowed by the genocide, teenage orphaned girls, or women whose husbands are in prison charged with genocide-related cases. This project also helps women who are HIV/AIDS positive, by providing them an income, and also a sense of purpose in life. The founders are Joy and Janet, sisters who grew up in a Ugandan refugee camp because their parents had to flee Rwanda in the previous salughter of Tutsis in the 1950's. The sisters managed to beat the odds, and gain a scholarship to attend school, and that was their ticket out of the camp. After coming back to a deserted Rwanda post-genocide (1994), both sisters knew they wanted to remain in their homeland of Rwanda and be a part of helping to rebuild it. And they have. There are many testimonies of weavers who credit this weaving project for saving them. There's Ephigenia, who lost 65 members of her entire family during the genocide, and with them, her hope of life. Gahaya Links came to her village and encouraged her to join their co-op, but it was very difficult for her to interact with the killers of her family, as the remaining Tutsis still had to live in the same villages with the Hutus. After a while, Ephigenia became a master weaver, and her village elected her to be the president of their weaving cooperative. At first, people didn't believe that someone who lost 65 members of her family could successfully lead other Hutus in this co-op. But after spending time weaving with the killers of her family, Ephigenia became the first Rwandan to publicly open her heart to the killer of her family, and forgive him in open Gacaca court. Now, many other women have the courage to step out and forgive, after Ephigenia's example. Through their determination and efforts, Joy and Janet, have secured international partnerships with FairWinds Trading, Starbucks, and even Macy's. Their most famous basket, the agaseke "peace" basket weaves three lines of ethnicity together, one for the Tutsi, Hutu and Twa people of Rwanda. This peace basket is a bestseller of Macy's. Joy and Janet have also been awarded for their dedication to empowering the women of Rwanda by Oprah and the Clintons. We are blessed to be able to visit their center today, as Vanessa, Janet's daughter, is in our class. We were able to see some of the women at work and we even learned how to weave a basket using the grass and the sisal. We saw how they dye the sisal into beautiful, bright colors, and also the warehouse where they keep all the baskets and package them for shipping to the states. It was a fascinating experience today, learning about Gahaya Links' humble beginning, and their bright future ahead. To read more about Joy and Janet's enterprise, go to http://www.gahayalinks.com/ I'll post some pictures tomorrow. The formatting is messing up tonight and my battery is almost dead. Goodnight!

I'm learning

I never knew a lot about the Holy Spirit growing up, except hearing my Grandma talk about him, but it was always hard to follow her stories. :-) I love you Grandma! Right now, this year, this time in Rwanda, God has chosen to teach me so much about His Spirit, and how he moves in us. It's something I had always heard about growing up, but never really grasped how powerful the Holy Spirit really is. He has the power to heal, to totally transform, to renew, to build up beautiful things, and tear down ugly things! He's working in me this year, right now, in ways that I never felt comfortable with letting Him work before. Or maybe I just didn't think I could be used in certain ways. He can do all things! He really can. I keep thinking about that song Momma used to sing to us when we were little. I haven't thought about it in so many years....."He's still working on me. To make me what I ought to be.....How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me." I am sooo thankful tonight that He's still working and teaching me new things every day. I have been so stubborn sometimes (all the time) in certain aspects of my life. Giving Him control of lots of things, but keeping some things strictly in my own possession and control. I won't do it anymore. I told Him today, everything, everything, everything is His. I'm sorry for those of ya'll reading this and you don't have a clue what I am saying. I think this entry is more for me than anyone else. But thanks for reading and for praying with me too. I looked up that song Momma sang us, and found the next verse. It begins..."There really ought to be a sign upon the heart, Don't judge her yet, there's an unfinished part. But I'll be perfect just according to His plan. Fashioned by the Master's loving hands." One of the ways I think God is teaching me about His Spirit right now is through certain books I've been reading. Books that I would never have picked up, but for some reason, I have, and the words have spoken to me. Before our rafting trip, I scanned our library for some random "thinkless" book to take on our 13 hour bus ride to Uganda. I found the perfect travel book to read...and tucked inside one of the yellowish pages was a copy of Psalm 91, neatly typed out. It was comforting. And the Holy Spirit had also put that Psalm on another teacher's heart too last week. Saturday, I went to this random yardsale at the Embassy and picked up another random book for $1. I had heard of this book, a love story that only God could write for two people, and I never bought it in the States...I thought it sounded too cheesy. But God wanted me to find it now and read it right now. I'm so sure about that. On every page there's assurance. I am just amazed at how God loves us and sticks with us even when we're so stubborn for 28 years. I am so stubborn. I feel like I am like a baby Christian again, learning about the Spirit, and giving Him this part of my life I hadn't before. His grace and His love are amazing. He's still working on me! Thank God!

Jinja "Nile" pics

A beautiful tree

We saw the source!

Gorgeous view of Lake Victoria as it goes into the Nile

Whitewater on the Nile

9 daring teachers :-)

Jinja

This picture says it all. Jinja, Uganda is a sleepy little town, where no one is in a hurry. Instead of hassling you like they do in Kigali, the moto drivers just sleep on their bikes and wait for YOU to wake them up. :-) There's a fun laziness about this place, and it reminded me of a small southern town back home. On a Saturday morning families are strolling along Main Street, running errands at the small shops, eating lunch at a cafe, or just sitting outside on wooden benches watching the world pass by. Jinja has that peaceful, "chill" atmosphere to it. But because of its location....nestled on the banks of Lake Victoria, right at the source of the Nile River...Jinja has also earned a reputation for being East Africa's adventure capital. Since KICS is an American International School, we had a couple days off for Thanksgiving, and decided to travel to Jinja to whitewater raft the White Nile. It was an amazing opportunity, an amazing thrill...to be paddling on a river I've only just taught students about back home in America. Or you only see on National Geographic. We read Psalm 91 over and over before we set out. Comforting words. It was an adventure like no other! We paddled 30km, (roughly 19 miles), hit 5 Class V rapids, many IIIs and IVs and somehow maneuvered our raft over a 14 foot waterfall without flipping! That was much to the credit of our awesome guide, Reuben, from New Zealand. But we definitely had our share of wipeouts, but thankfully not too much carnage. :-) We ate fresh pineapple for lunch on the river, saw some stunning birds soaring over, a huge iguana, a monkey, and the other raft even spotted a baby croc! This experience was definitely worth the 26 hours we spent on buses getting us there and back, and the crazy Ugandan border. It was a hoot coming back into Rwanda this morning, having to unload everything from the bus, and seeing policemen apprehending folks for trying to "smuggle" in plastic bags. Haha. Remember, President Kagame outlawed plastic in Rwanda back in '02. He's serious about it too. But I'm thankful he did. When we drove back to Rwanda, the air was fresher, cooler, and you can really breathe! I'm thankful I was able to have this incredible and affordable opportunity, relishing in His beauty and creation He has made for us! Psalm 104: 24-30. More pics are coming...

3 months of thanksgiving

I just realized yesterday that I've been here in Rwanda for 3 months. That's about 90 days. About 2,160 hours. Some of the days have felt much longer than that, and many have flown by so quickly. Most of the time it doesn't seem like it's been 3 months. I'm kept busy with my lovely 4th graders, been able to nuture and love on the kids at Mother Teresa's place, and just soak up and relish in the blessings He gives me each new day! Just being able to spend time thanking Him for bringing me back here to East Africa, for the people He has placed in my midst, for those I love back home who I wish could be here. I have so much to be thankful for, just looking back on these past 90 days.

A couple nights ago, I was privileged to sit under the stars and listen to my guard, Sam, tell of another 3 months. He told me his story...the story of so many here in Rwanda. I'm always curious of the stories, but like war stories, you never want to ask and make someone feel uncomfortable. So I was glad that in 3 months time, Sam felt open enough to share his story. It's all about relationships. And for 3 months in Rwanda back in 1994, relationships were severed across ethnic lines, and even family lines. Sam was 7 when the genocide began. He had a 4 year old brother and a baby sister. His dad was a prominent preacher in the Tutsi community outside of Kigali. Sam clearly remembers the night of April 9, when the "interahamwe" Hutu rebel fighters stormed in his compound, high on dope, wearing their garish costumes and face paint, and were shouting "Kill those Cockroaches!" He vividly remembers the rebels breaking down the door, grabbing his baby sister and throwing her against the wall, and watching her body fall limply to the floor. He remembers standing there frozen for a moment as his mom begged them not to kill her other two children, and she gave the rebels all the money she had. Then he just remembers running out the back, grabbing his 4 yr old brother's hand and just running. After they looted everywhere, they torched the house with his parents inside. Sam just ran, and ran all the way to the top of Mt. Kigali, which was very wild and sparse 15 years ago. There were hyenas and lions, and other wild animals. For 3 months, he and his little brother stayed on that mountain.

It began to rain as we were sitting there talking, and I started to move, but I couldn't. I just kept listening. But my mind was wondering...what did they do on top of Mt. Kigali for 3 months in the rain? 3 months is a long time. 90 days. 2,160 hours. He said he prayed and slept on the grass, and ate the grass too, along with avocados the good Lord provided them. He escaped a few dangerous lions, and many dangerous nights of hunger. Sam said that there was never a time that he thought he would die, because he knew he had to live for his little brother. "I was my brother's keeper," he said. "Against all hope, in hope Abraham believed." And Sam did too. After 3 months, and when the shooting and shouting subsided, they made their way down the mountain and found their home as ashes. His entire family was killed in the genocide, except for one uncle. But Sam declares himself a lucky one. He praises God everyday for His protection, and he knows there was a divine reason why he is still alive today. Some good samaritians paid for a one room hut for the brothers to live in, and Sam cooked meals for them both. A sponsor paid their way through school, until the end of highschool. Sam is 22 now. He has a music "store" in town, he sings in the church choir, and he's saving up to go to university and earn a business degree. We prayed together, and cried together, and sang his favorite hymn, Blessed Assurance. This is Sam's story, his song. And he continues to praise Jesus everyday for his life. When I asked about his feelings now about the genocide and his situation, he turned to one of my favorite verses, Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." We worship a God who delights in miracles! Who has a perfect plan for our lives! I know He has a perfect plan for Sam's life; just as he watched over him as he endured those 3 months on the mountain, he continues to hold Sam and all of us in the palm of His hand. I'm thankful for our guard, Sam, for his faith, and dedication to serving our Lord. This thanksgiving, I'm also thankful for all of you who I love and who bring me encouragement each day, and especially these past 3 months! I thank God for you and it's my prayer you can rest in His presence this week of thanksgiving and know He is Lord!

Sundrop!

They have Sundrop in Rwanda! Just kidding! I sure wish they did though. But I did get a package from home complete with Sundrop, Chex Mix, and Cheez-Its! I waited for quite a while for this special package, and I have to tell you the story! So, I've figured out that the postal system here, although not as blatantly corrupt as the postal service in Kenya, they still have their discreet ways of getting what they want! It's supposed to take a little under one month for a package to arrive from the States. Well, I had been waiting for this special one since the first week of September when it was mailed. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Each week, when our headmaster's wife would come from the post office with a box, I kept thinking it would be my lucky day because I've waited long enough. Nope, not my box. And then I heard stories of missionaries saying they are still waiting on boxes to arrive that were sent last January and last April! Suddenly I didn't feel like complaining anymore. But I did know that there would be contact solution coming in this box, and I desperately needed some, so I wasn't going to lose hope.

We figured out that theres this great big ledger notebook at the post office where they manually write down every single package that arrives in the country. People said that theres a chance if you go down there, they will let you scan through the book, and try to find your name and package. So I went. It started off too well...the man spoke nice English...he was kind and apologized and gladly gave me the book to start thumbing through. Thankfully it only took me about 10-15 minutes to find my name! I jumped for joy! It's me, It's me! Do you have my package? He then sends another man back to this big "package" room. I wait. He brings out a package for a Dutch man. Then a package for a Japanese lady. Then two other boxes for other random people, before I got impatient and asked if I could go back there with him to find my package. He said sure. So I go in this giant room, with absolutely no organization, boxes stacked everywhere and all over the floor, and I start hunting. I notice that it's odd that ALL these boxes are large priority boxes, and most are from the U.S. Hmmm...interesting. There was not even one small box. So finally after only 20 minutes of seraching, I find it! It had a thick layer of dust on it, but thankfully it was intact and hadn't been opened. In the process, I found boxes for 2 missionaries I know that had been waiting since April and July! Crazy! So I take my box out there and sign the paper, and start to walk out.

Thats when things get ugly. The man stops me, and sends another person to guard/block the door. Then, with a sly look on his face, demands that I pay him a "storage" fee of 10,000...which is about $20. I laughed in his face, and told him in Swahili and English that I wasn't paying a bribe, I knew my rights, and I was leaving with my box. They blocked the door. I got firmer and firmer. My face and neck started turning red like it does and I told him how bad he was and that he better let me go now with my box. He started grabbing the box from me. I grabbed it back. We played "tug of war" for a few seconds, then he won and he laughed and said he was hiding my box until I paid the money. He laughed and said, ok, just pay 5,000. I said I refuse to pay any bribe. Let me go. Then I was starting to get so mad a couple tears were coming down. Then I called my headmaster who lives around the corner, and his wife said she would come up there to help. It was almost closing time. They said I had to leave. I said I won't leave until you give me my package. They started to push me out and close the door. I pushed my way back in. They called for their guard with his AK-47 to come and intervene. I said give me my box and I'll leave. Then thankfully, Roberta showed up. They know her and see her face every week. As soon as they saw her, and knew she was the headmaster's wife, they said, ok, just pay us 570, which is $1. We paid it and they brought my box back out from hiding. I was still so angry and red, and just glad to have Roberta there to help at just the right time. It was another fun day at a foreign post office. But it did bring me much joy being able to tell Nicole and others that I actually saw their boxes! Yes! They are there! And I drew them a map of the box room to navigate through and successfully advocate for their packages. Ah, Africa. I love it! All of it! :-) And the Sundrop tasted just as sweet as it would have in September.

Is this the beginning....

of a plague?? I sure hope not. :-) But...for the last 2 days, it seems like the locust are trying to overtake us! Haha. No, but seriously, it's rather disturbing. My kids warned me they come out at the end of October, mid-November when rainy season is at its peak, but I've never seen anything like it. It's a combination of cool, gross, and just plain weird! They are everywhere. Most are tiny locusts, a little longer than your index finger, but some are as big as hotdogs! (I don't know why I just had hotdogs on my mind! Maybe its cause my dad just said he was going to eat at Lee's. Mmm!) The worst is when you are trying to use the bathroom in peace, and they are all over the wall and their little black, beady eyes are rolling around in their head and staring at you. Or when they're all over your classroom windows, so when you go to close the window when you leave, you accidentally smoosh one of them in the window, and locust guts fall in your room. It's just delightful. I'm only joking. I tried to get a picture of a giant one, but it was in the grass, and was camouflaged. When I get a good picture, I'll post it. But until then, let's just pray that Pharoah lets the people go! :-)

Rwanda vs. Zambia

Today was an exciting Saturday! First, Anna Lee and I found this tiny, hidden shop that sells different kinds of food, and as we were browsing the aisles looking for treasures, I looked up and saw a golden bag of Teddy Grahams! (They were really golden, because they were the honey flavored ones.) We both shrieked. It is hilarious the little things that bring you joy living in a foreign country. :-) Of course, when we examined the bag, they weren't the "true" Teddy Grahams, but they still brought us joy. From what we could tell from the package, they were a "Global Brand" of Teddy Grahams, originally produced in Scottsdale, Arizona, then shipped and packaged in India, then on to Rwanda. I don't understand it all , but I was happy I found them on the shelf at Ndolis today. They look weird though..flat bears with big eyes. They look like alien Teddy Grahams and they taste a little funny, but I'm not complaining. Ok, enough about food!

The second reason our Saturday was exciting was I got to attend an international football match between Rwanda and Zambia! We're called the Amavubi, which means Wasps. Before I tell you about the match, I have to tell you about our rat race all around Kigali, trying to find tickets! We were told by our guard and many others that we needed to buy tickets early since it was an international match, because the roads would close later on for the President coming. So we hopped on a moto at 10 this morning and went to the stadium to purchase tickets for everyone. When we got there our moto driver said that we weren't going to be able to buy tickets at the stadium because they didn't sell them there until right before the game started. He told us that government was bad in that way, and that is why there were always stampedes to get in the game right beforehand. Very comforting information! So he takes us down the road to a tiny Rwandatel shack that is supposed to sell tickets. No tickets. We pay our moto driver and he drives away. We went to another Rwandatel shack. No tickets. They send us back to the stadium. It took us about 15 minutes in the blazing sun, then we arrive and the gate police tell us no tickets. Finally a nice man tells us to walk back down the way we just came from to a hotel called Chez Lando where they sell tickets. We walked the 15 minutes back down the road, and finally found the entrance to the hotel, hidden behind a wall of ivy. We walk in, confused and went to reception. Of course the reception lady looked even more confused when we told her we wanted to buy tickets for the game. She sent us to the bar, where we found some men watching a football game on thier small tv. I just knew they would direct us to the right place! They told us to cross the street and go to Ndoli's market (where I found the fake Teddy Grahams), and they assured us we could buy tickets there. We cross over, and of course find people shopping for produce, meat, milk. We come up in there and ask the lady for football tickets, and she looks at us like we are crazy. We are so tired by now, but just laugh at each other and say in unison, "TIA," which means "This is Africa!" We talk about "Tia" a lot. :-) But then some random man in the market tells us to go three shops down to another Rwandatel shop and we will most definitely be able to buy tickets there. And he was right! Finally! We got our tickets, and the man selling them told us we still needed to arrive 2 hours before the match started so we wouldn't have to "push" to get in. Haha. We got there at 2:15 for the 3:30 match, and thankfully, the "pushing" hadn't really started. But they DO pat you down. For real. We had a female police, thank goodness. And they make you turn on your camera and take a picture of the ground to show them that your camera is real and not a bomb. :-) I laughed out loud at that. But I complied anyway.

The stadium was really pretty modern. They totally rebuilt it after the events in 94. Today's was a qualifying match for the African Nations Cup held in Angola. I think Rwanda is already out of the World Cup qualifiers, because we're not very good. From the little I understand about soccer, the winner of today's game was the last team to advance to the Nations Cup from our Group. And in order for Rwanda to advance, we had to win by 2 goals. Sadly, the game ended with a 0-0 tie, which still meant Zambia would advance. Rwanda had many, many shots on goal, but each time they got close they got really excited and overshot it. It was kind of frustrating to see so many near misses. Zambia looked much more controlled. We just seemed to be very excited when we had the ball, and we would kick it far down field, instead of pushing the ball up the field together. One of the hilarious things was watching all the guys on both teams fake injuries. They would fall down just to stop the clock and then lay there writhing in pain. Then the "stretcher" team would run out onto the field carrying a makeshift handheld "stretcher" and clumsily lift the person onto the stretcher and run off the field. Then, as soon as the person was dropped on the sidelines, they would get up and run back out there. It was crazy! But I think I figured out that the rule was if you left the field, it had to be on a stretcher. This happened about 12 times during the course of the game. Of course, each time, that player just wanted a "water" break. They would sip their water on the stretcher, be carried to the sidelines, dropped in the grass, then they would immediately run back out there to play. Hilarious to watch! The atmosphere in the stadium was great..it reminded me of an American football game. There were Rwandans with painted faces and chests, blowing crazy horns, wearing masks, trying to humiliate the other team. Lot of fun to watch! One neat thing at the end to see, was how they release everyone from the stadium. You cannot leave early at all! Not even if your team is losing by a mile! When the President is there, no one is allowed to leave the stadium until he formally leaves with all his people. It's a big, formal process. The policemen have to stop everyone else from leaving. So it took us a while to get out of there. Thank goodness we didn't need to immediately catch a moto. We would have been out of luck. A bunch of us girls walked to Sole Luna cafe afterwards for some great Italian pizza. All in all, a super day! :-)

Rwanda vs. Zambia

Amharo Stadium

An enthusiastic fan :-)

The army band playing for President Kagame

The "mzungu" crowd. Don't make fun of my hat. I was just trying to show my support for the Amavubi! :-)

Be Thou My Vision

I've been humming this great hymn all week. I finally looked up all the verses to it. It's been my prayer this week.

Be thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart.
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night.
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word.
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father, and I thy true son.
Thou in my dwelling, and I with thee one.

Riches I need not, nor man's empty praise.
Thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and thou only, first in my heart.
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won.
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall.
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

Pothole update

Ok, so do you remember pothole #8 in front of our house that I posted about back in Septmeber??? Well, this is an update about what it looks now. Ha! Not much improvement, huh?

Another cute, quick story from my kids today.......
It was raining today when it was sunny outside. One of my girls, Chanil, says, "Ms. Griggs, do you know what we say in Rwanda when it rains when the sun is shining?"....We say that a frog is getting married.

WHAT??? And this whole time in America, we thought it just means a rainbow will appear! Haha! I got a good laugh out of that one. :-)

Hard question

I have very thoughtful students. They are very intelligent too, and inquisitive. I knew that this question would arise out of them sometime during our Bible lessons this year, just not this soon. As you know, we've been studying about how God is omniscient this week, and how He knows everything we need and desire even before we ask Him. He is omnisicent. He knows it all. So during our discussions today, one of my sweet girls, Norah, asks the question..."So if God knows everything and can do anything, then why did he let the genocide happen? Why did he let my grandparents be killed?" Others piped up...yeah, why did God let my auntie be killed, or why did my parents have to flee Rwanda?" I was kind of starting to stumble over what I would tell these 4th graders...this question can be so difficult for adults to understand or comprehend! But 4th graders? I said a quick prayer and said God just speak to me, Help me to answer them in a way that is true that they would understand. And then, almost immediately, another sweet student of mine, Orla, raises her hand and says, "Ms. Griggs, I think it's just like that song we sing during morning worship...He gives and takes away...but blessed be his name." Wow. It gave me chills. That was one of my proudest and most precious moments being a teacher. I just smiled and said, Yes, Orla, you are absolutely right. Blessed be His name! I am learning so much from my students. I'm thankful God chose Orla to teach us today.

Language Lessons

So on top of everything else going on this week...fall festival, report cards, parent conferences, etc... we still had Kinyarwanda languauge lessons after school yesterday. I'm really not complaining! I want to learn more of the language, but practicing Kinyarwanda for a couple hours really does a number to your already-tired brain! Let me tell you a little bit about Kinyarwanda. It's been said that it is the 17th most difficult language in the world to learn. But for English speakers...it becomes the 7th most difficult language! After a few lessons, I can understand this!

I really love learning and studying new languages. I was hopeful my French would improve and be restored from when I learned it in college....but so many people can speak Swahili here, so it's been easy to just speak Swahili. I know what you're thinking...too many languages in one tiny country the size of Maryland! Yes, I know! There are many French speakers due to Rwanda once being colonized by Belgium, and later France. And of course, theres the national Kinyarwanda language. And many of the adults also speak Swahili and perhaps even another tribal language due to their days of exile living in Congo, Uganda, Kenya, or Tanzania. And to complicate matters, now President Kagame has said that his country will no longer speak French, but will instead become an Anglophone country, and beginning this year, schoolchildren will be learning English too! (Apparently there's some bad political blood with the French now...they have even refused French parents to adopt Rwandan orphans.)

So, you basically have your pick of languages, and out of all those, Kinyarwanda is by far the most difficult one! Swahili is really easy...all the words sound exactly like they are spelled, and they easily roll off your tongue. Plus, you can travel to almost anywhere in East Africa, and they will know Swahili. But Kinyarwanda is only spoken here. So I have to admit, I haven't felt this huge desire and need to learn Kinyarwanda, even though I know I really need to learn many phrases just out of respect for the people here since this will be my home for at least a year. It's been a slow learning process thus far!

For example...here are two words....mwiriwe? which means Good afternoon. Yes, you have to say it like a question you are asking them. Then theres, mwiriwe! which is spelled the exact same, but sounds a bit different right there in the middle, and you don't say it like a question. This one means Have a nice day.

Nibyiza is what you say when someone asks you how is everything? Nibyiza means everything is good. But here's how you pronounce it....neebeegeezay! Not at all like it is spelled!

The plural form of you is mwebwe...but you say it like this...mwebgay.

Basically there are no G's in the Kinyarwanda alphabet, but there ARE "G" sounds. Go figure. Also there is no "L" in the alphabet, but again, there are L sounds. All their "Rs" are pronounced as "Ls." Also, most "D's" you don't pronounce, but a few you do. And all "K's" are pronounced with a "ch" sound.

And there's some Kinyarwanda words that totally sound like they belong to another country....like "iki niki." You pronounce it like, "ichi nichi." It means what is this? To me, that sounds like Japanese.

And how about the word, turasubira? Sounds and looks like Spanish to me. But it means See you later. And this word actually sounds just like it's spelled!

The funniest thing to us Americans is the word for "No" which is "Oya." They say it all the time, and we still think they are agreeing with us, and saying, "Oh yeah!" :-)

I love language...I really do. But I need help with this one!

God Knows Me

In our Bible lesson this week, we've been studying about how God is omniscient and what that means. We've marveled at how He knows all the hairs on our head, He has names for all the stars in the sky, and He even knows what we need and desire before we even ask Him! God is cool! Today we wrote acrostic poems with the word Omniscient. Students had to complete the sentence or phrase and list something God knows about them. Some of them were sweet, some were so honest and innocent, and some were just hilarious. The innocence of children is so refreshing! I wanted to share some with you...

God knows that I like otters.
God knows that I like obeying Him. (precious!)
God knows that I like my friend Orla.
God knows that I like Oreos (American kid!)

God knows how I like my eggs cooked.
God knows how I like to milk my cow.
God knows how I manage to forgive myself when I sin. (precious!)

God knows that I will never hate Him.
God knows that I will never steal anything.
God knows that I will never stop respecting my elders.
God knows that I will never be a boy! (written by a girl. :-))
God knows that I will never punch anyone.
God knows that I will never forget him.
God knows that I will never give in to Satan.
God knows that I will never stop loving Him! (Amen!)

God knows when I feel ill.
God konws when I feel immature.
God knows when I feel ignored.
God knows when I feel invisible.
God knows when I feel incouraged. :-)

God knows that I can skateboard down a mountain in New Zealand.
God knows that I can sleep late on Saturdays.
God knows that I sin sometimes because I'm not perfect like Him.
God knows that I can scream. :-)
God knows that I can say, "Yes, God you rock!"
God knows that I can scare my sisters.
God knows that I can stomp on an ant.
God knows that I can seek Him every day.

God knows that I eat Cocopuffs. (American kid!)
God knows that I eat crispy, crunchy chicken.

God knows that I love Irisse and Inah, my sisters.
God knows that I love icecream.
God knows that I love Indiana Jones.

God knows that I have excellent praises for Him.
God knows that I have embarrassed my parents before. (haha!)
God knows that I have everything I need.
And my favorite one....God knows that I have enteligense. :-)

God knows that I am not giving up on being a good Christian.
God knows that I am not really a bad person.
God knows that I am not a burgular.
God knows that I am nice.
God knows that I am never alone because He is with me!
God knows that I am never going to be 1,000 years old like the people in the Bible. (haha!)
God knows that I'm not gonna lie or steal ever again!

God knows where I take my breakfast. (this is the term they use for eating.)
God knows where I take naps.
God knows where I track down the termites and catch them.


Sometimes I need to remind myself that God really does know everything about me, and He still loves me completely and wants to bless me! Psalm 147:5 says.. "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has NO limit." None. Nada. Zero. No limits to his abilities and understanding! :-) What have you been trying to "keep" or "hide" from God lately? Whatever it is...it's really just KEEPING you from Him and enjoying the fullness of His presence!

Be blessed! He knows us and still loves us!

Happy Halloween!

This is the scariest picture I could find to post. I saw this really weird plant in Nyungwe rainforest a few weeks back. How freaky! It looks like a witch's finger or someone coming out of the grave. I would NOT like to grow this plant at home. Still haven't figured out what it is.

Our school had a fall festival today for the entire community. It was great seeing all kinds of fun, creative costumes, and eating food from all over the world! Falafels, samosas, chapatis, crepes, shawarma sandwiches, pizza and more! Yum! Another teacher and I dressed up as "the salt and the light" from Matthew 5:13-14. I know it's cheesy! :-) Here are a few pictures for you! I hope your Halloween was fun and festive! Love you all!

The "Salt"

The "Light"

The Light and the Mosquito Net girl, aka "Ella Jade"

Lazarus, aka Mr. Bryan, 3rd grade teacher

Prayer Request

Can you please pray for our school cook, Leonard, and his wife, Jillian. They are Rwandan, and Leonard is the best cook ever! He can even make burritos! Leonard's wife was just hospitalized this week, with a miscarriage. This is her 2nd one recently, and it's been very traumatic for them. Added to that, they had a child that died at birth 2 years ago. It's been a very painful journey for them, and they need your prayers for physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Thank you for praying for these special people.

Justice?

Discovered this story a few days ago on CNN.com....

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/25/italy.rwanda.arrest/index.html

Before coming here, I knew very little about what actually happened during the genocide in 94. And what I did know, I realize was just what was in our Western media. I'm learning more and more being here and reading up on it.

I'm reading a fabulous historical acocunt now called, "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families." Stories from Rwanda, by Philip Gourevitch. It's amazingly powerful. I can't really fathom what happened. Soo hard to comprehend. Especially when you live in Kigali now and see how nice and "modern" it is. Hard to believe a million people were brutally murdered in 3 months and the whole nation was dead.

Anyway, back to the CNN story....this guy had been living in exile in Italy. My book says there are many, many Rwandans living in exile, even in the U.S! Preachers who gave up their entire congregations to be slaughtered, living in a Texas mansion and driving a Mercedes! As we speak! Other government officials living a lush life in Arkansas or Alabama. Too many stories of those! I don't understand how they can't be extradited and taken back to stand trial? There are still genocide trials being held today, 15 years later. People are still being tried and convicted. It makes me so furious to read what these people did, and hear they are living the "American dream" now. Justice? Huh uh. But what does justice look like for the survivors?

A quote from a survivor in my book reads...."This was a true genocide, and the only correct response is true justice. But Rwanda has the death penalty, and....well, that would just mean a lot more killing."

In other words, a true genocide and true justice are incompatible. Something to think about. It makes me want to ask, then, is the death penalty justifiable for just one killing? 5 killings? I don't know. I also saw the article where the U.S. can't afford the death penalty anymore. Interesting.

I don't know what justice will look like for the survivors that are left here with no families, or no arms....or for those genocidaires livin' it up big time in Texas, driving their Mercedes. But I do believe in His word! 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

Justice will come!

I smell a rat!

Well, since we moved into our cozy abode, we've wanted to try our hand at baking, and figure out how to make some sort of bread, or at least cookies when we are missing home. Each time we've tried to crank our oven up, it will work for 2 minutes, and then the whole place will be filled with heavy, black smoke, and smell like a charred something or other. We couldn't figure it out! We thought, well, maybe it's cause our oven is kind of dirty. Cause you know how little leftover pieces of food that get stuck to the rack can cause it to smoke. So last week, Micah tirelessly cleaned the whole oven, inside and out. It's a tiny oven, but still, its a lot of work. Still didn't work. We thought it must be the wiring. Our crazy and lazy Rwandan landlord came over again and said he fixed it; apparently it WAS the wiring. Now, he said it would work. Nope. It still smoked the whole house through. So today, Mark, one of the administrators of our school, came to see if he could help. He opened the oven, took out the rack, and started taking out the floor piece on the bottom. Then, to his amazement, he found a very large rat's nest with part of a charred rat inside, complete with rat bones, other bones, insulation, and many pieces of trash! Haha! Unbelieveable. I wish I had been there to take a picture before they threw it out. Mark had to open all our windows because he said our house smelled like burnt rat. Glad we now know what that smell was. I could never pinpoint it! Ha! Now, the question is...do we try to make cookies in it this weekend? Or will they smell and taste like burnt rat? Hmmm....

A treasure!

I just love a good deal! All ya'll at home know how much I love shopping at Value Village. It excites me when I find a treasure, and then I have to tell everyone about it! Well, I have to tell ya'll about this good deal I got today! I bought this awesome, sturdy, three-tiered basket today for less than $4 to serve as my nightstand! Now I can keep my Bible, glasses, flashlight, phone, and journal off the dirty concrete floor. I love it! And it really serves its purpose! Thanks for letting me share!

Our God is an AWESOME God!

My kids sang this song today during chapel. 4th grade was in charge of chapel today, and I couldn't be more proud of them! They sang, danced, prayed, and worshipped. They did a skit based on a true missionary story we read in class, when a tribe of Karens in Burma waited 44 years for someone to help them understand God's word, way back in 1795. A long time to be waiting! And they were so eager the whole time...they knew about God, knew of him...had heard his name mentioned before by their ancestors...but that's all they knew. Had to wait 44 years to find out what was so special about Him! This story made me feel a bit guilty...I got to thinking about how I've had a Bible all my life...always known about God, but am I always eager to understand His word? Nope. I'm not. But I wanna be! God is an AWESOME God for sure! He opened the rainy sky and clouds for us, and gave us sunshine so we could have chapel outside today! We sang the song in English and Kinyarwanda. Here's the Kinyarwanda version...it took me about a month to learn! Ha! Kinyarwanda is waaay more difficult than Swahili. Words don't sound like they're spelled!

Imana yacu irahambaye,
Mwijuru no mwisi,
mu bwenge,
mu mbaraga mu rukundo
Imana irahambaye

Our God is AWESOME in any language! :-)

Kids from Gisakura

Kids experiencing with my camera. They LOVE taking pictures! I think they did a great job too!

Nyungwe pics

Amazing!

Kamiranzovu falls

Enjoying the view!

Look close and you can see a monkey in the middle :-)

Entering the forest, tea fields

They tried to pave the road leading to the forest...they might as well have kept it dirt!

The Forest

Waterfalls are probably my most favorite thing on earth. I think they might even top ice cream for me. One of the reasons is because I feel so connected with God through His creation. I think God must of thought of me when he created waterfalls, and that thought makes me smile. :-)Last weekend, I was able to go hiking in Nyungwe Forest with some teachers, and I saw my second "African" waterfall. The first was in Tanzania. And both have taken my breath away like a bowl of ice cream could never do. :-) So refreshing! Makes me think of that verse in John..."Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

The forest was amazing. We spent 5 long hours on bumpy African roads, and I suffered a bout of food poisoning from some bizarre-looking green vegetable soup. (I was just really hungry!) But it was all worth it. On the way, we had views of gorgeous tea fields, deep terraced valleys, and plenty of green trees. (something I've missed in Kigali!) When we got there, we hiked 8 miles into the largest remaining mountain rainforest in Africa! Definitely got rained on, saw some cool monkeys, some weird-looking plant species, and even a black viper snake! Ok, it was only a baby snake, but still, it was only 4 feet away! Not cool! The Rwandan guy who was with us took our arm and hurried us past it, but said we had nothing to fear. Only afterwards did he tell us that if one bites you, and you don't get this special medicine powder from the village, you die within 5 hours. Great. Made us feel a lot better. He actually said he had been bitten before, but this special "powder" saved him. Hmmm....We didn't see any other large animals, but we learned that the government is trying to reintroduce an elephant species in the forest. The last elephant was seen here in 1999, and since 2004, they've tried to introduce other elephants, but poaching is still a serious problem here.

Sunday morning we were supposed to be on the 10am bus back, but time is a relative thing in Africa. That's one of the first things they will tell you when you get here. "Oh, no worries, it's African time!" We ended up waiting 4 hours in Gisakura village by the roadside trying to flag down every bus. I had a blast. I met almost everyone in the village, got soaking wet during a thunderstorm, and ended up having a fantastic time playing and singing with the kids.

I love observing life in an African village. I guess I could write a whole seperate blog about this. I love just watching the action, watching life....the parade of women in brightly colored cloths with babies tied to their backs and carrying loads of something on their heads; young, barechested men hauling entire stalks of banana trees, or huge wooden carts of logs; older men ambling along in their best suits, trying to get down the red clay hill from church; young boys pushing thier homemade "go-carts" made from tire leather and wire, leading it wobbling down the road; others on ancient bicycles, carting milk or water jugs; a group of youngsters chasing run-away pigs or chickens, and swatting and laughing at them; young girls trying to keep up with their mothers, some with babies of their own to carry. Life. I love it!

The day (and the weekend) wasn't what we expected at all, but it turned out to be a wonderful way to spend our Sunday morning! It was one of those times where I was glad that I was able to just be still and know that he is God. And spend time with those He loves! It was a beautiful "un-busy"morning spent drawing pictures, learning new Kinyarwanda songs, and teaching all the kids how to use a digital camera. :-) One precious girl could sing "I will Make you Fishers of Men" in English. She was so proud. That was the only song she knew. A perfect song to know. Eventually, at 1:30, the WHOLE village of men ran out in the middle of the road during the rainstorm to stop the next bus for us...and thankfully they finally let the mzungus on. :-) It was a hilarious, random, and pretty awesome morning. I didn't get to go to church in a building, per se, oh but I had church. I was with the church! And He was with us! Good memories. We finally made it home around late Sunday night, totally exhausted, but fulfilled and refreshed!

I want to apologize for the lack of updates lately...the power has been very unstable all week. They say it's unusual for Kigali, but we've had a few 24 hour periods of no power this week. Don't know what the deal is, but it's all good! :-)

Hope you enjoy the pics! Peace!

Being

I think the way the devil gets at me sometimes is keeping me too busy to spend that QT with my Maker. Too busy, doing good, productive things! But not anything that is as important as spending time with the one who created me. Just being in His presence and letting Him talk to me for a change. I need to do more of that. Stopping. listening, being. I'm doing too much doing! Do you ever feel like that? I think sometimes I'm guilty of mistaking a "busyness" in life, with a true peace in my soul. One thing I'm realizing is that this experience in Rwanda is much different from my experience in Kenya...in many ways. I was so eager to get back to Africa, to the simple life, to God's country (continent), where things were slower and I felt God was somehow closer. But maybe it was just I was closer to Him! I stopped and listened. Sat under coconut trees and learned about life, love, religion, Him! Played...got dirty. Used my hands. Even though I'm teaching here...I'm constantly busy...I need to remember the real reason why I am here. I need to just be. Be in his presence. I was able to be still and listen to Him in Kenya. I need to work on that more here. "You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures evermore." I hope you are basking in His presence today..full of His joy!

Prayer Request

*Update* Baby Paul has just celebrated his third birthday, and has been taken off his meds. He is strong and healthy and doing wonderfully now!

I need you guys to pray for a special little fellow named Paul Thomas Smith. He's the new, infant son (only 3 weeks old) of my dear friend from high school, Lauren. He's back in the PICU with some as-of-yet, unidentified infections...maybe in the brain, but we hope and pray not! His tiny little precious body has undergone too many tests in the last week, and we need to pray for healing and rest for Paul and his parents, Lauren and Brian. Pray for strength for Paul to fight off whatever is attacking him, and energy and peace for Lauren and Brian as they have to be with him, and also their 2 year old son, Jack. Pray for the doctors, that they have knowledge and wisdom about what may be the issue, and the ability to fix it! Pray that God will reign in this situation and we will give Him all the praise, honor and glory! Thank you!

photosynthesis

I never knew I would love teaching Science so much! Science is fun! You get to do fun stuff and be creative. (I still don't like Math, btw!) In 4th grade, we've been studying plants, their life, how they grow, their parts, and of course...how they make their food! We cut up some water bottles and old yogurt cups, and planted all kinds of stuff! It's been fun watching the seeds grow. the bean sprouts really do grow right before your eyes....its amazing! Our corn and watermelon has been pretty successful thus far, but the peppers and tangerines not so successful. Each kid painted their bottle and different seeds. We soaked them in water and got to peel the coating off the beans to see the inner parts. Pretty cool. They also wanted to do an experiement to see what a plant needs to grow properly. So there's one plant that has everything it needs: sunlight, air, water. We denied one plant water, one we put a bag over it and denied it air, and the last one we stuffed it in this dark room so it has no light. They thought it was amazing to watch the plant with no light grow the tallest and the fastest! I thought it was cool too! If you've never done it , try it. It will grow like 10 inches in 3 days...but of course it's not green. It's trying to find the light..phototropism! Anyway, we're having fun with our "garden." This week we learned a cheesy photosynthesis song that I wrote one night at midnight and acted it out with different props and motions. I'll spare you from having to hear it. But it was a success! Science is fun!

I'm thirsty

I lost my orange water bottle yesterday and I've looked for it everywhere. I can't find it anywhere. I miss it. I kept reaching for it today, it wasnt there. Of course, I'll find another one, or it will turn up. But today, I was thirsty. Thirsty in other ways too. It's just been one of those weeks, you know, "those" weeks, where things haven't gone my way at all. Been tired, felt dry inside and out...frustrated... But of course, things have still gone God's way! They always do. I was comforted this morning at devotion when Doug played this song on his guitar, one of my favorite worship songs. I was introduced to this song at YAV orientation in Chicago 3 years ago when I was about to leave for Kenya. It's simple and beautiful, and it filled me up today! Not thirsty anymore! (But I still need to find my water bottle!)

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep.

Come, Lord Jesus, come
Holy Spirit, come
As deep cries out to deep.
Come

Lake Kivu pics

Forgiveness

Last weekend, the Muslim community celebrated Eid, the end of Ramadan, and we celebrated a holiday from school, and a reason to get out of the city and see God's beautiful creation. A few teachers journeyed up and 'round some serious winding mountain roads to the tiny village of Kibuye on lake Kivu. Kibuye suffered the worst casualties during the genocide, with 95% of their population slaughtered, leaving many areas with no witnesses or survivors. You can do a circular walk around the town in less than 2 hours....past the stadium where 10,000 perished, and the church where 5,000 died. Those 5,000 were led to the church by town officials, thinking they were being led to a safe haven, but were sorely deceived. A mob, drunk on banana beer, threw grenades through the building, and a total annihilation took only 3 hours. The church has now been rebuilt, with new stained glass in the broken windows, and new hangings on the altar. We attended Catholic mass there on Sunday, and it was one of the most memorable church services I have ever attended. The sounds of the choir, Tutsis and Hutus alike, singing praises to our God in their shared Kinyarwanda language, was deeply moving. It's only in Christ, that genocide survivors can sit on the same wooden bench each week, and sing hymns together with the people who killed their entire family. If there's ever been a lesson for forgiveness, I think this is it. There's a memorial outside the church to remember the victims. There's many genocide memorials all over Rwanda, some still with bones and skulls and perserved bodies in limestone. But to me, this small church in Kibuye is a more evocative, memorable place than the other ones. Because this church is not a reminder of death....it was made alive again! "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions...it is by grace you have been saved." Thank God for His grace. The rest of Kibuye was just as memorable...a gorgeous view of the hills and islands, looking down the cliff from our Presbyterian guest house....hitching a boat ride to Amharo "Peace" island...waiting three hours for our food to be ready....and singing praises to Him every night, with our fellow musician, Doug. I was thankful for the time away to be reflective. Even though Ramadan is over, I ask you to keep our Muslim brothers and sisters in prayer. Lift them up. One of my professors at CIU told us that if we would commit to praying for the Muslims named Mohammed, Abdullah, Fatima and Khadijah, we would be praying for millions around the world. Enjoy the pics from Kibuye! God bless!

Umuganda Day

In the last 5 years, I've heard there's been many sweeping changes in Kigali, and even the whole of Rwanda. Some are advantageous...(some not so much.) One new idea that President Kagame put into effect is Umuganda Day. Umuganda Day takes place on the last Saturday of every month. This word means "togetherness" or "community." On this morning, until noon, there are no cars or moto bikes out on the roads. All the shops and tiny "dukas" are closed. Everyone stays in their community and works. It's community service day every month! And what is so neat is that all of Rwanda participates...this is a national event, and it actually is effective! I couldn't believe it the first time someone told me about this. I said, no way, that sounds like a good idea, but do people really adhere to it? And they do! It's a day for communities to help one another. It's time to work on a yard project for a widow, or help build a house, or fix something. Rwandans are serious about Umuganda Day. If they catch you out n' about, they will put you to work! I was thinking today... would Umuganda Day work in America? Could people stop their busy lives from 8-12 one Saturday a month to pitch in and help someone. Yeah, I think it could work. Kind of like a Kannapolis Kares Day every month. That would be cool. I know, Renee, at my church would love it! :-)

I've been noticing too, how clean Rwanda is, especially compared to Kenya. I never would have guessed! In 2005, all plastic bags were banned in the entire country. It's even illegal to bring a plastic bag, like a Food Lion bag into the country! They use paper bags at all shops here, but most people bring their own bags from home. When they were cleaning up after the genocide, they found millions of plastic bag remnants all over the place, and the new President just decided to ban them in his attempts to keep Rwanda clean. Wow. Pretty incredible. I'd say, in a way...or in many ways...we are behind in our efforts to protect the environment. (and our communities!) I never would have guessed it would be like this in Rwanda. Makes me think about all the Food Lion bags and Walmart bags I use at home. Not good. Another crazy thing...it's totally illegal to spit outside on the ground! Again, they are trying to keep Rwanda clean. Of course, littering is totally illegal, but spitting? All I can say is that my friend, Keith, wouldn't last a day here. :-)

Found this great verse in Leviticus that reminds me what we are to this earth and what our responsibility is..."The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land." Leviticus 25:23-24

I want to tell you all about my amazing mini-trip to Kibuye town and Lake Kivu last weekend...but right now, my computer is getting severely overheated and making really weird noises, so I'm gonna give it a rest. I'll write more tomorrow with pics too!

student discussions

Every day I am in awe at my students and how much wisdom they already have about their faith. I absolutely love teaching Bible, and love starting each day with prayer. And I can pray with my kids...we can hold hands, we can pray for each other...it's so neat to see and be a part of after teaching in public schools. (Not that I don't love public schools...I do like the challenge of sharing your faith in other creative ways with students....but this is neat to be part of as well!)

The 4th grade Bible curriculum centers around theology...with topics like heaven, hell, angels, salvation, the Holy Spirit...etc. I was thinking at first it would be too difficult and too advanced for 4th graders, and I was wishing I could teach some fun stories in the Old Testment instead, but it's been a joy to hear their thoughts on these topics. I love their enthusiasm and eagerness to share what Jesus means to them. Their thoughts are beautiful and refreshing, and make me smile. And we have been able to integrate many stories too.

This week we were learning about mercy and forgiveness, and how David showed Saul mercy when he could have killed him, but instead just took his spear and water. I had the students write a journal topic about a time when someone else has shown them mercy, and also a time when they've shown mercy to another person. The answers were sweet and thoughtful....but this one in particular made me laugh. (I think I need to review the concept a little more with her!)

"Once I showd mercy to my family when I sorted everyone in my familys clean clothes and poot them in all ther rooms. no one tolld me to do it i was just bored so i did it." :-)

We did another journal on what they already think/know about different topics relating to our Bible curriculum. I am amazed at how mature many of them are in their walk with God. Reading what they write helps me affirm what I know and believe. The innocence of a child is so sweet!

Their thoughts on heaven...

"Heaven is God's wonderful, enchanted home, like a tall white building, and he's making it nice for you and me so when we get there we will feel at home."

Thoughts on God...

"God is the best and most loving Father ever. He's my very best friend, and the most amazing person ever made." Amen to that!

My favorite discussion this week was in Science. We have been planting different types of flowers and plants, and discussing parts of the plant. Yesterday we looked at a grown flower and picked out the different parts....stem, flower, root...etc. We talked about how the roots are underground and you can't see them but they are very important and you don't want to pull them up because the plant will die. One of my girls raised her hand and said, "Ms. Griggs, I think that the roots on a plant are like your heart, because the good stuff is in your heart, and whats in your heart makes you grow closer to God everyday if your heart is right, just like the plant grows taller and taller to reach God every day too." My kids are soo sweet! The presence of God is here for sure, in 4th grade this year!

Funny things...

1. We opened our jar of honey...and found a dead bee!

2. To kill the mouse/rat in our house.... (I hope it's singular, and not plural)....the only thing available is this substance called, "Magic Glue." Tons of mice in this country, but not a darn mousetrap. Go figure! But this mouse glue stuff is crazy. It's basically just strong super glue, but the Rwandans swear by it. It's actually made in China, and on the back, it reads...."Being toxic, this substance is not dangerous and can be safely used in homes." Don't they mean, being "non-toxic?" Not sure. It IS made in China!

Anyway...you delicately spread this stuff on a piece of cardboard....(we found some in our front yard)....then you put some cheese on there and wait. I bet it was hilarious watching us try to spread the stuff....we were stuck all over the place. The Rwandans were right...it did work....but it was not so much fun seeing the poor little mouse stuck to the cardboard, suffering. Sadly, Micah had to drown him. Maybe it would have been better if it had really been toxic. :-(

3. There's these people that have been coming around and "labeling'' all the many potholes in our community. This is no small task. We've heard that it means that sometime in the next decade, they might be fixed....so it's good news! The funny thing is how they label them. They spray paint a white square around all of them, along with a number. But there's some squares that have like 3 or 4 potholes, but they only have one number. It's funny when I'm running, I'll see hole #26, and then hole #39 right beside it. I still haven't figured out their numbering system. Just yesterday, hole #8 was painted right outside our house! Yay! (or is that #8 AND #9???)