Operation Christmas Child

 

I grew up looking forward to stuffing full these bright red and green boxes every year at Christmas time! My home church, First Pres, has always participated in this amazing ministry for as long as I can remember. I remember helping sort the boxes with another church at the distribution center in Boone. And last year I was so elated to hear that boxes from First Pres were actually being sent to Rwanda!

 

When I was a young girl, helping create and sort these fun boxes, and bring them to church, I never imagined that I would have the privilege to give a box to a child someday. It was such a blessing last week to help OCC volunteers from all over the US, distribute these bright red and green tokens of love to special Rwandese children.

 

The group spent a week all over the countryside delivering these gifts wrapped in love. I was able to join them for one city distribution at one of my student's churches, where her Mom is the pastor. She had invited the children from the neighboring slums to come and receive a box.

 

They showed up in their very best Sunday dresses and slacks, with their parents also dressed in their very best. They prayed for us. They blessed us. They wanted to sing for us. They were the ones being a blessing. We were just giving them a box. They were the ones that gave us the blessing. Hearing the kids speak of how thankful they were to know that people cared and loved them all over the world was precious. Hearing their songs of joy and gratitude upon receiving their first Bible was priceless!

 

I wish I had more pics to share with you, but I was too busy helping the kids unwrap their boxes and sharing in their joy! It was fun to see their faces when they opened the boxes; some were elated, and others were too overwhelmed to know what to do! It was cute.

 

It was a gift!

 

Thank you for making Christmas come to Rwanda this May. Thank you all who continue packing these colorful boxes each year to send all over the world! It's way more than just a box. They bring encouragement and the love of Jesus to all the kids who receive one! 

 

New Years in Zambia!

 Ok, so I'm only 5 months late in posting these. That's not that bad, right? :) I still wanted to share with you the BEAUTY that is Africa, in all her splendor! After spending Christmas at home in Kigali, I enjoyed a wonderful solo-camping journey throughout Zambia, and just marveled at the greatness of Victoria Falls! And it wasn't even high season either! I can't imagine how vast the falls are during high season! I got to experience the falls from both the Zimbabwe and the Zambian sides...totally different views! I braved the hippos and crocs and rafted the class 5 Zambezi River...spectacular! And also spent a few nights camping out in the bush in Botswana, and Lake Kariba. I felt like I was in Swiss Family Robinson, with the zebras and impalas coming right up to me! I was completely in awe and reminded of the beauty the Lord has created for us to enjoy.to.the.fullest! We serve such an artful and creative Lord! I was so thankful for this time of rest and experiencing His creation while totally immersed in it!

 

 

My quiet breakfast and writing space overlooking Lake Kariba

I spent a few nights in this fun cabin at the lake...I could live here forever!

I think zebras show that God has a sense of humor!

My scariest "Beware of Crocs" face!

 

 

The zebras were never able to spike the volleyball back. Oh well! :)

 

A family of lions in the road in Chobe park, Botswana

Hungry, hungry hippo!

 

I loved waking up to the zebras right outside my tent!

This little fella' loved helping me make my soup in the afternoons, and then he loved licking the bowl even more!

Staff Retreat...I'm so late in posting these pics!

 

I wanted to share some pictures with you from our staff retreat a few months back....forgive my tardiness in posting! :)

 

We broke tradition for our staff retreat this year, and stayed around Kigali and surrounding areas, instead of venturing to Lake Kivu. But we enjoyed two days of visiting and learning more about some local ministry opportunities where we can serve, and also take our students for service learning opportunities. We visited the Africa Transformation Network's farm outside the city, and learned about "Farming God's Way." It's an interesting, yet successful way farming technique that has proven profitable here, and also is making disciples of many of the young farmers here. David Reeves, a dad of one of my students instructed us on the techniques. Really interesting, even though I have no clue about farming! You can read more about these techniques here:

 

http://www.farming-gods-way.org/

 

They actually just had a training at a farm in Marion, North Carolina a few months ago!

 

 

Next, we visited Roger and Faith Shaw's Lakeside Fish Farm and Children's Home in the surrounding village. Roger and Faith have a story that is so inspiring and a testimony to what your life can look like when you really surrender everything to Christ. They have taken in and adopted so many children, and Roger has taken risk after risk as an entrepreneur, to help provide for their growing family, and the entire community as well. But in hearing their story, of how they met, and what the Lord took them from, and how He built the family they have today...it is such a humbling and divine story, knit together by the Lord for sure!

 

Drop by their website  www.ishimwe.org  and read about their ministries in Rwanda.

 

Ishimwe means "Give thanks to God" in Kinyarwanda.

 

Faith with the twins they adopted, after they were born 3 months premature, and a young mother left them in her care. Today, the twins are almost 2 years old and healthy and thriving!

 

 

 

Finally, we visited the Cards From Africa training centre. I've been here many times before, and it's always a blessing to watch these skillful artists piece together the most beautiful holiday cards! They have grown so much just in the 5 years I've been here, and now they produce a wide range of greeting cards for many different occasion, and they can ship worldwide! I've sent many of their cards home for Christmas and birthdays before. They are stunningly beautiful and so creative! You can visit their website here to have a look and even purchase the cards.

 

www.cardsfromafrica.com

 

They begin by making the paper from hand, and hanging it to dry in the sun.

Rinsing the excess pulp.

 

Washing the paper again

 

Hanging it to dry

 

 

Creating and pasting the intricate designs and details for each unique card.

 

Visit www.cardsfromafrica.com to see and purchase the final products!

Easter fun!

 

Each year, it's become a tradition for the students in my neighborhood to come over to dye Easter eggs, hear the Resurrection Story, and go on a hunt! It's a day we all look forward to, and many of my former students will begin asking about it in January...just to make sure. :) It's fun for me too, because I have so many fond memories of dyeing eggs when I was young....and a little bit older too! There's not been many Easters where I haven't dyed eggs! It's such a fun tradition and a way to be creative and make art! I love seeing the girls' creative juices come to life and seeing the beautiful things they can create. The hunt was hilarious this year! Joy got out in front and found almost all of them, nestled in the guava trees. I love these girls, and feel like they are my own. :)

 

 

 

On Sunday, after church, I enjoyed a feast at my Pastor's house. I think you remember me telling you many stories of precious Gloria Ishimwe. She just turned 2, and she is so full of life! I see the Light of Christ shining bright in this child all the time. It was a joy to watch her hunt for eggs, explore, and then give all of her candy away! Seriously, what two year old gives their candy away? I believe Gloria knows how truly blessed she is. I don't have any pics of sweet Moses, the other baby the Shrecks are fostering and hoping to adopt. But he is also thriving now and very healthy. We are praying that someday they will be able to travel with these babies outside of Rwanda.

 

 

Ni Muzima!

Ni Muzima! Ni Muzima! I heard this phrase again and again on Sunday from the swells of tiny children who walked the long road to Sunday School. He lives! He lives! is what they were proclaiming to me. Ni Muzima!

 

I love that these children know in their hearts the Risen Lord. They know already that the God who made them, loves them, and is alive in them! And He gives us fullness of life. Abundant life!

 

I was so privileged on this Easter Sunday to teach these children, and the crowds of friends they brought with them. Together we reenacted the Resurrection, and through a translator, 3 of these children prayed to accept Jesus in their hearts for the first time. They wanted His life to be present in them. What a joy it was to celebrate the Resurrection in their hearts!

 

Rwanda is alive today. Rwanda knows this fullness of life. God has redeemed and restored. He has resurrected Rwanda, from dry bones to full life.

 

April 7 marked the 20th anniversary of the darkest day in this country's history, when the 100 days' genocide claimed over 800,000 lives. 20 years since the three months when evil reigned in these hills. 10,000 were slaughtered on my precious hill, underneath my school, my house, my church.

 

Rwanda remembers this month. They remember the pain by sharing together and being in community this month.

 

But they also rejoice because of the Resurrection. He is alive in Rwanda! The Resurrection is not just an event that took place 2,000 years ago or 20 years ago here. The Resurrection is a person...Jesus Christ is alive in this country today! And I thank God at how He has taken Rwanda and made beautiful things from ashes, from dust and dry bones.

 

I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

 

Breathe into these slain, that they may live.

 

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I'm going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from them.

 

I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live!

 

~from Ezekiel 37

Back to Kenya!

 

Kenya was my first African home, back in 2006, and she's never left my heart. I'm in love with Kenya still! I hadn't been able to travel back there since 2010, so I was estatic to find out I was able to go to the International Christian Educator's Conference this year! I spent a few balmy days on the coast, enduring the 100+ degree heat, but cool and breezy ocean nights in Mombasa! I was thrilled to visit my family there and some of the kids from the orphanage too (sorry, no pics of the kids!)

 

We hugged and shared stories, reminisced and cried. It was joyful and it was emotional. I remembered the rugged dirt paths leading up to the church, the smells from Kiembieni village, the chicken coop, the hut where Paul and I played bottlecap checkers while waiting for the downpours to stop. And the many, many smiles from the mamas grilling viazis on the roadside, and the kids playing in the street! 

 

That year was the year I learned how to "be" and not just "do." I learned how to be present for people and to listen well to people. I learned how to sit still and listen to the rain, and hear what God was telling my heart.

 

I also learned how to climb a coconut tree and make passion fruit juice from scratch. (Neither one I have mastered yet though!)

 

I learned to be a teacher, a mom to 18 girls, a cook, and a nurse.

 

I learned about Muhammed and Islam. I learned that Muslims can outpray and outgive most Christians anyday.

 

I learned that Jesus shows up in the most random of places...like dirt piles and empty soccer fields, and underneath bridges where prostitutes live. 

 

I learned what it was like to live with someone with HIV-AIDS, and to have them die in your arms.

 

 I learned how to be needy that year, and to let others care for me. 

 

 

That was the year I learned that Jesus rested too, and it was ok to retreat sometimes. I learned to walk slow that year, and watch as life happened on the roadside.

 

I learned to open my senses, which in turn, opened my eyes to what God was doing, and where He was already present, so I could join Him there.

 

I learned that Muslims wanted peace too, just like Christians, and they knew more about Jesus than I realized. 

 

I learned that poverty exists everywhere, even in my own heart.

 

I learned that no matter where we're from, or how we were raised, we all have the same core needs, and our laughter and tears are the same. 

 

I look back on that volunteer year in Kenya as the year I chose to be obedient and accept God's calling for my life. And I never want to turn back. It was good to remember and revisit the lessons I had learned during my time in Kenya. I need to revisit them more often! 

 

 

I spent so many mornings running in this sand, and letting the wind carry my worries away!

 

My Kenyan sister, Eddah, is expecting a baby soon!

 

My other sister, Catherine, just had a baby recently! He was precious. I got to visit them in Nairobi before the conference.

 

I missed Kenyan food! Delicious Nyama Choma, Sukuma Wiki, and Ugali!

 

From Nairobi, I met up with the other teachers and we journeyed up to the Great Rift Valley to Rift Valley Academy, nestled on the ridgeline. The school has such a rich history, and has served so many missionary families for over a century! My former headmaster, Mr. Maxwell, graduated from RVA.

 

 

No trip to Kenya would be complete without a "selfie" with the Maasai tribal dancers, right? :)