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!