Sick Day

I bit the bullet today and came home to rest. It was a wonderful decision. I'm ok..just think I ate some real funky food last night that didn't agree in a big way, so I pretty much had a sleepless night. Still went to school, but at Chai break, (yes, we have a "break" for that!) I decided I was crazy to stay and try to give energy to my kids when I felt like passing out! My principal is wonderful. He covered my class for over an hour until he found a parent to come in and help out. And before that, he walked me home and carried all my books. Not cause I couldnt' do it myself...just cause he's that much of a great guy...perfect Southern gentleman...except he's from New Zealand/England/NY. :-) I slept for 4 hours, and now I'm on the mend, but still trying to find something that agrees with my stomach. Days like today are when I really miss little things about home. Cheerios, air conditioned (or just the cool, fall weather), TV to cure my boredom. I never miss TV, except on a day like today when I'm even too tired to read. But I decided to get out and get some air and try to find some crackers, so I'm sitting at the coffee shop now and taking advantage of the Internet.

Even though I've felt less than stellar, today was a really good day. It's so neat how just when you need that pick-me-up for whatever reason, God has a way of sending a blessing. During Chai break today, when I was feeling so crummy, and getting ready to leave....one of my students from last year, Gwyn, from the Philippines, knocked on my door and came in with a big grin on his face. He had made me a card last night, for no reason in particular, and he wanted to read it to me. It was a green card, with a red, beaded star on the front. He opened it and read,

 "Dear Miss Griggs, I want to thank you for being my teacher and my friend. Last year, you taught me so much about the Bible and about God and who he is. Now, I really believe in God and I know more about him because of you. I am thankful that God has brought you to my life and my family's life. Thank you for teaching me everything! God Bless you. Then, at the bottom, he drew a picture of me teaching the class, and saying, "God is good, all the time....all the time, God is good."

Of course by the end, I had tears in my eyes, and I gave him a great, big hug.

We really do serve a God who knows all of our needs, big and small, and wants to bless us abundantly! May you know and experience Him today and all of His blessings promised for you.

Just breathe

This week, in Bible, we learned that God is omnipresent. Big word for 4th graders! But they understood. One of my students...Azarias, from Ethiopia, became so excited at the concept that God is all around us. It was precious how he described it to our class...

"Miss Griggs, God is like the air we breathe! We always need air to breathe, and we are always breathing in new oxygen. We can just breathe in God like that, anytime we want to! And sometimes, we just breathe Him in, even when we don't realize it and we don't even know it! We can breathe Him in all the time, and I think God would like that, don't you? I think that's what He wants us to do."

I think Azarias is right. :-) Children really amaze me. How they can just grasp a huge concept, and make it real to all of us. Azarias is the first Christian in his family, and he's learning more about the love of God every day at KICS. When I hear him pray, I get goosebumps. This kid is going to be doing great things for the kingdom someday. Actually, he has already started working, even at 10 years old. I can see the Lord working through this young child to reach others, even his own family. If only we could all receive the kingdom of God with such a childlike faith as Azarias!

If you're feeling overwhelmed today, or frustrated, or tired, or weary....just breathe Him in! He's the air we breathe. Take a deep breath, and let His Spirit enter in!

Goodnight ya'll!

Fall Festival Fun

Today, KICS had its 2nd annual Fall Festival. (I still find it odd calling this season "fall" here...seeing as how it is still 90 degrees in the daytime, and it stays about that year-round. But since the rains have started, it does cool things off at night, so I guess we can call it fall.) The festival was great fun again this year, and an excellent opportunity for outreach into our community. There were families from all over Kigali, all different ethnicities, religions, backgrounds...coming together to enjoy food and snacks and games and costumes from all over the world. It's a beautiful sight seeing a sea of different smiling faces. :-)

Last year, many families who came to our festival, also came to CCR church for the first time. I love the partnership that my school and church have. Many of our board members and leaders at KICS, are also leaders at church, and in the community as well. We hold chapel at the church, PTO meetings, and student assemblies. And "Sunday School" and youth group meets at the school each week. Last night, was "Reggae Night" for the youth at church/school. Only in Africa! :-) I loved walking home last night, and hearing Bob Marley's song being played and drummed as, "No Jesus, no life" instead of "No woman, no cry." :-) Everyone was dressed in black, yellow, red, and green, and sporting their very best dreads. :-) Love it! Reggae music has such a history here, and the youth really resonate with it. I remember hearing it every night as I walked in the village outside of Mombasa. There's something alive about it! The night becomes alive, and the people become united when they hear Marley. Hearing that song last night reminded me of sitting around the bonfire in 2006 at the Benedictine Monastery in Limuru, singing that song with a bunch of Kenyan monks. A memory I will never forget!  Anyway, sorry for rambling....I find the partnership between the schools and churches to be unique here, but in Rwanda, it's not uncommon to have churches and schools who partner with each other. Even government schools that are not at all affiliated with any religion.

I munched on sambusas, pizza rolls, falafels, and shawarmas today, and listened to our kids sing and dance different music from Ireland, India, Tennessee and Bolivia. My students painted pumpkins as their favorite book characters for decorations. They turned out great! Even though we had a huge downpour right as the festival began, and some of the paint washed away, they still looked amazing and I was proud! They wrote character reports to go along with their pumpkins. All in all, it was a great day!

 The Grinch, Horton, and The Cat in the Hat!

Harry Potter, and a hedgehog

 Beautiful ladies!

 Marijke, the pirate

Eyoviel and Azarias

With Joshua, one of my favorite students from last year

Book Review

I read this awesome "story" last weekend, while weaving down and around the bumpy Ugandan roads, and sitting by the shores of Lake Bunyonyi. It was recommended to me by my roommate Kelly, and now I am recommending it to you!

In "A New Kind of Christian," McLaren composes a fictional faith story from many conversations and dialogue between a pastor and his daughter's highschool soccer coach. In writing about these two men's journeys of faith, McLaren raises some great questions for the Church, and all believers today. In this fable, faith becomes a way of life for this pastor, not just a system of beliefs. Conversations become much more important than conversions.

Truth becomes more than just factual accuracy. Truth is contextual. Truth means being in sync with God. Knowing Jesus and loving Him. Not just knowing all the facts. He stresses that reading the Bible should be like a romance...we should allow the Bible to speak to us..it is Living and sharper than a double-edged sword! We should not read it the same each and every time.

I love this quote..."If Christians would take all the energy we put into proving that we're right and others are wrong, and invested that energy in pursuing and doing good, somehow I think that more people would believe we are right."

He makes a point of saying that spreading the gospel "should not be likened to a conquest, or a coercive rational argument, or an emotionally intimidating sales pitch, or an agressive debating contest where we hope to "win", or an imposing crusade..." Amen!

It should be more like a dance! In a dance, no one wins or loses. If both parties agree to dance with one another....you are both listening to the music, and trying to move with it. Asking the other person to dance to "God's dance" can be fun!

Instead of looking at the world with our "Christian goggles" on and saying, Hey, we're right, and you're wrong, so follow us." McLaren offers a better approach: "Here's what I've found. Here's what I've discovered. Here's what I've experienced. Here's what makes sense to me. I'll be glad to share it with you, if you're interested."

Throughout this fable, McLaren also asks some important questions of the Church and our role in missions.

"The church doesn't exist to satisfy the consumer demands of believers; the church exists to equip and mobilize men and women for God's mission in the world."

And what is His mission? I believe it is to go and make disciples of all nations. To love the Lord. To love one another as he has loved us. To be poured out as a living sacrifice. To go and be. To serve and do. To use our hands, our eyes, our feet for Him. To go everywhere and preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words. (St. Francis)

I give this book a grade of an A!

Birthday box

I ate Wheat Thins and orange slices today, thanks to Cindy!...and a whole box of Rasinets, thanks to Mom! My body was SHAKING with all the unwelcome sugar that I fed it, but it tasted great! Packages from home are fun, no matter how old you get. My sweet momma said this was my birthday box, and even included a birthday card. She wrote a sweet note saying that since last year, one box took up to 3 months to arrive, she wanted to be sure that this box arrived before my birthday. So I "celebrated" my birthday with Rasinets today, even though my real birthday is still 2 months away! :) Thanks Mom and Cindy! The treats came at just the right time, when I needed a pick-me-up. Love you!

Lake Bunyonyi

Lake Bunyonyi, in Uganda, has become my favorite "escape to" place in Africa. It's just across the border near Kabale, and less than 3 hours from Kigali. This is my second trip there, (I discovered the place in January), and it will certainly not be my last! If it weren't for the Ugandan visa and the hassle in crossing the border, I'd probably be there once a month. Lake Bunyonyi means "the place of many little birds," and it's surrounded by 29 islands, all unique in their own way. I've stayed on two islands, Itambira and Bushara, and the only way there is by dugout canoe. There's no running water or electricity and everything is solar generated. I love it! We had a short "fall break," (I guess I can call it that even though there's no fall season here!) We had Friday and Monday off school, so I decided to get out of the city. Every now and then I need to be surrounded by creation; and see things that God has carved out with His hands, and man hasn't intervened in them yet. I spent a great weekend swimming in the hippo-free, croc-free, blizharia-free lake! (a rarity here!) The lake is 900 meteres deep, making it the second largest in Africa. It has a HUGE otter population. The food was amazing, cheap, I slept in a tent and geodome, had time to journal, pray and write, and just THINK! My spirit feels refreshed for sure. I'm thankful for a place like this where I can experience peace in nature. It's my Merriewoode of Africa, and I love it!

This is the only pic from January's trip. All the rest are from this weekend. I realized that I didn't post a pic of "Punishment Island." This island, with only one tiny tree, is where the Bakiga people used to leave unmarried pregnant girls. They would paddle them out to this tiny place and leave them to die of hunger or die while trying to swim to the mainland (swimming skills were rare). This practice was to educate the rest of the girls, to show them not to do the same. The only way the woman could escape the island is if a poor man without enough cows to pay the bridewealth went and picked her up to become his wife. Can you believe it!?! This practice got abandoned around 1950, but there are still women living on other islands who were picked from Punishment Island. We met one in January! 

The only mode of transportation. I loved seeing the colorful Kayevu Market where everyone arrived in canoes!

We stayed in this awesome geodome at Byoona Amagara Saturday and Sunday night. It was open so we could lie in bed at have an incredible view of the lake. Byoona Amagara is a not-for-profit place that is dedicated to supporting education and sustainable community development at Lake Bunyonyi. 100% of their proceeds support local programs in sustainable agriculture, indigenous forestry, education and literacy, cross-cultural exchange, and even the development of a new "library" on the island. In January we stayed in a tiny log cabin that I loved as well, but I think I prefer the view in the geodomes. Even though the lizards, frogs, and other critters can enter in, the view is totally worth it!  

I woke up to this!

We rented these dugout canoes for $1 a day, and paddled all over the place.

Enjoying one of the simple things in life....:-)

Our "bathroom"

If you wanted a shower, you ordered it ahead of time, and a man would boil some water over coals for you, and carry it to your tent in a container on his head, and then climb the ladder and pour it in the bucket for you. I just swam in the lake everyday and counted that as my shower. (just like camp days!)

One afternoon we attempted to swim to this far island, called "Sharp's Island." After realizing a storm was brewing, we swam back to the dock. This island is better known as "Leper's Island," because until the 1980's it was a colony of people who suffered from leprosy. In 1931, a missionary named Dr. Sharp established the colony. The rationale behind the "voluntary segregation" was to create a happy community for leprosy sufferers to live in, so more would be attracted to the island, thus removing them from communities where they could infect others. Now, the old hospital is now a boarding school from kids who live on the islands.

We stayed in this tent on Bushara Island Friday night, and then paddled over to Byoona Amagara on Saturday. Bushara Camp is another place that devotes 100% of their profits to local communities, such as orphan-care projects, secondary schools, and agro-foresty. They make some amazing pizza and crayfish avocado here!

"tasty" termites

I'm "trapped" in my classroom right now with about 50 termites who have flown in through window cracks and the big gap under my door! It's rainy season, and today the really hard, long rains have come! Unfortunately, in Africa, this means the termites have arrived as well! The weather can be so odd here during rainy season. At noon today, it was sunny and in the 90's! At 4pm, it was rainy, windy, and in the 50's! The coldest day yet since I've been back! I've actually got a coat on, and my bony little fingers are having a hard time staying warm! But I like it! It reminds me of October weather at home right now (which I really miss). It actually feels like a fall-day here! Makes me happy! And to top it off, my housegirl bought some pumpkins at the market today for us. They aren't near as beautiful or tasty as the pumpkins back home, but they are orange and they at least resemble a pumpkin! Fall is my favorite season...I miss seeing the leaves change colors. Right now, I'll have to make-do with the fake fall bouquet from Ben Franklin that Keith sent to me last year when I was missing the autumn leaves. Now, if only I had some candy corn, and Momma's homemade vegetable soup, this would be a perfect night! And a fire would be nice too! But I'm stuck in my classroom until the rains stop (I may be here a while), fighting these little monsters. I've already killed 36, and their wings are all over the place. It's a pretty hilarious sight right now. I just wish they would stop making that buzzing noise when they fly past my face. Oh! One just landed on my computer. You know the kids in the village here eat termites! They just grab them from the air and gobble them up...tasty protein! In Kenya, they were a delicacy...the kids LOVED rainy season because of the free termite treats! I never ate one "raw," but I did eat a cooked one! It wasn't half-bad either. A little crunchy though. But right now, I don't wanna eat them...just wanna kill them! I'm determined to not let these critters ruin my African autumn night. I'm gonna go look at my Ben Franklin fall bouquet and dream of candy-corns while I grade papers. Goodnight!