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It has been two weeks since we returned form Rwanda. While it is good to be home as we missed our family and friends (not to mention a properly working blow dryer!), there are many things we miss about Rwanda and the people there - the beautiful green hills, the passion of Rwandan believers for sharing Christ,their exuberant worship, their capacity to trust God for great things,and thier open hearts and easy hospitality. And all of us miss the many new friends we made in Rwanda. In particular, we miss Goreth or as we know her, Gogo. Gogo was our guide and interpreter and was with us every day all day long. She handled logistics for us as well as interpreted whenever needed, whether with a woman at the Dream Center or when one of us was speaking to a group. She is amazing in many ways and we learned much from our time with her. She trusts God unreservedly and has enormous compassion for others. Personally, of all I miss in Rwanda, I miss my time with my new Rwandan sister and friend, Gogo, the most.

After the holidays, our team would like to invite you to join us on Saturday, January 14 for A Taste of Rwanda. We will share pictures and stories from our trip as well as some tea and coffee that we brought back with us. To find out more, visit the Immanuel Website at www.immanuelbible.net.

Thank you for the many prayers and all the support.

Bethany

It's Thursday morning and our days have been so full and exciting. Yesterday when we did the hand treatment for the ladies, it was so wonderful to see the excitement on their faces and the love for us. We were so blessed to be able to take their hands and massage them and pray for them. These ladies work very hard with their hands and sew very beautiful things. They study hard at their trade and also are taught the Bible.

After we met with the ladies, we had a party for our sponsored children. I haven't sponsored a child yet, but I had the very great privilege of bring gift to other people's sponsored children. They were so happy and excited and very grateful. We were so blessed that we could do just a small service for them that they received as something huge.

Today we will be visiting the school that Immanuel Christian School partners with. It is a very beautiful day and we are all energized. Someone will write a message about the school tonight.

Linda Parker

Hand in Hand

This afternoon we had the privilege of doing Mary Kay Satin Hands with the women in ANLM's sewing program. There are 73 women in this program. The aim of which is to provide these women with a marketable trade.
Our goal today was to pray over their hands, the tools of their trade. We pampered them with the Satin Hands treatment, praying over them and their hands while massaging in the lotion. After doing the Satin Hands, we presented them with homemade tote bags (stitched by members of the team and a few others) stuffed with gifts for them.

Smiles were in abundance, hands were softened, and hearts were warmed.

An Amazing Day in Africa

We are at the end of a long day but it has been an amazing one. Yesterday after picking up Beverly and Enid in Kayonza, we traveled another 2 hours to Akagera Game Park and spent the night at the game lodge there. We woke early to head out on safari at 6am. We saw plenty of African animals - giraffe, zebra, bamboons, monkeys, warthogs (or as we liked to call them, Pumba), antelope, and even a hippo. But what was really amazing was the breath-taking scenery. It is hard to describe the beauty of the African countryside. The beauty of God's creation was everywhere.

After a hearty breakfast, we headed to Kageyo, the refugee city about an hour from the game park. We were greeted by the pastor of the African New Life Bible church there, Pastor Francis. FIrst we met with sponsored children we had brought gifts for and then visited with more of the children there. Then we met and worshipped with the women of Kageyo and three of our women, Enid, Linda and Lisa, shared their stories of how thy came to Christ and the difference He has made in their lives. As they shared, it was somewhat surprising but encouraging to see how the women there identified with so much of our stories. Our lives may be different, but we all have problems and struggles some of which are universal.

The women of Kageyo were so grateful and happy to have us share with them and worship with them. We were all touched and blessed and wished we could have had more time with them. But with a hard 3-hour bus ride back to Kigali, we had to leave sooner than we wanted.

Tonight as we reflected on the last day and had devotions, we looked at 2 Corinthians 5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight. Our devotion encouraged us to follow God one step at a time, walking by faith not sight, trusting God to open up the way before us. This has certainly been true of our trip and especially the trip out to Kageyo. We have been walking one step at a time and God has been faithful every step.

Bethany

Visiting Sifa's Grandmother

Yesterday Enid and I (Beverly) had the amazing privilege of meeting Sifa's grandmother. There really are not words to express the range of emotion that we shared. There was incredible joy as we embraced and met for the first time. There were many tears and hugs as the three women whose hearts had been bonded across two continents through their love and compassion for a little girl met for the very first time. "JaJa" was so excited to know everything about her Sifa. As we shared stories, greetings, photos and video of Sifa the excitement and joy expressed needed no interpreter; however in the midst of her joy, she still longs to see her Sifa again.

It is so hard to put into words what a special honor it was to meet this precious woman who has done her best to care for Sifa so sacrificially. :) ( I will post photos when we return)

Dream Children

Yesterday we had the opportunity to spend part of the morning with the Dream Children (street children). Every Monday and Thursday Africa New Life feeds the boys a breakfast of porridge, they have devotions and they play games. We were able to help pass out the porridge to the boys, their faces lit up when we gave them the mugs. After breakfast was over devotions began with singing, the boys filled the room with music praising God. We then introduced ourselves to the boys and shared a bible story, testimonies and songs on the ukelele (compliments of Kirsten). We had a time of sharing with them asking us questions about ourselves and our lives. They in turn shared some songs and testimonies with us. It was wonderful to be able to share in the lives of the Dream Children.

Ariel

Rocking the Runway in Rwanda

Here is the post "from tomorrow" as promised by Kirsten...

We had a wonderful Sabbath today. We started our day with an early breakfast and a drive through the beautiful countryside to Kayonza. We worshipped at New Life Bible Church in Kayonza. What a treat it was to fellowship with other believers and to witness their joy as they praised God. Deshua and Lynn W. shared their testimonies with the congregation and Enid encouraged all of us as she shared from the story of the demon possessed man from Luke 8.

This evening was the final night of the women's conference. It was an exciting evening praising God and being reminded of the value we have as women. Bethany, Kirsten, Ariel, and I rocked the runway as we participated in the fashion show at the conference. Hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon - I haven't seen them yet, but I've been told they exist. The general consensus is that this was the best night of the conference.

To top the night off some of us received dance lessons with traditional Rwandan baskets on our heads. Once again, I haven't seen pictures, but I'm sure we looked graceful and talented.

Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us. Tomorrow we will spend the morning at the Dream Center with the Dream Children (street boys) and drive to Akagera in the afternoon. On Tuesday we will spend time in Kageyo. Please pray for our travel through the country tomorrow and our time with those we will interact with. I'm not sure we'll have the ability to blog tomorrow evening so you might not hear from us until Tuesday evening.

-Kara