I finally got a photo to work..

well, my dad is officially here as of this morning! It was pretty weird seeing him come out of the airport.. he's been very jet leg and is sleeping now (after our insisting). He fell asleep in my english class this morning and my students were giggling :) I'm sure it will be great to have him here though! Hilliary and I are getting really excited to go to Uganda here in a couple days. 

9 people got baptized on Sunday and there was a huge party at our house.. it was pretty fun! We know nearly everyone in the church now and I am going to be very sad to go in a month. 

yesterday we sat in church services for 8 hours! it was perhaps the longest day of my life. Despite the crazy length of time, it was pretty fun. There was a famous singer who made an appearance at the service, as it was a fundraiser to help them buy a church building, and it was really neat to hear his story. He used to be a street boy, spending his days on the hard streets of Africa and with God's help, he has now become one of the most well known musicians in Rwanda! It made his songs about anything being possible with God much more neat to hear..

Well, sorry this post is so random. I usually write everything I want to say in my journal but I forgot it at our house today. Maybe I'll write more later.

PS. This is a picture of our friends Vetarine and his brother Daniel. This is where Vetarine begs everyday outside the taxi park.

our new friend, Vetarine

The past week or so has been filled with really wonderful days and I’m very grateful for them. I was rather convicted about my crummy attitude earlier this week and after spending a lot of time reflecting, reading and praying, I am happy to report that I am doing much better internally.

So what’s been happening with us here lately? The better question would be, what hasn’t happened? There are numerous stories from each individual day, let alone since the last time I blogged. Here’s my favorite:

Perhaps the coolest experience of our past week (and for me, one of my favorite from this whole trip) was hanging out in town with our new friend, Vetarine. He is a 12 year old crippled boy who begs everyday in the taxi park, whom I have absolutely fallen in love with. For the past few weeks, I’ve been remembering to bring fruit or a small snack in my bag every time we go to town so that we might be able to offer him something other than a smile and a handshake. Last week, Hilliary and I decided it’d be really awesome to try and take him out to a meal with us but he politely said that he was too scared ☺ (We’re pretty scary, I know.) Instead, he asked for porridge for his family and we were able to meet his brother and sister who, along with Vetarine, live with their oldest brother because their parents are in a far off village. They said if we came back another day, they’d all come out to eat with us.

Two days ago, we decided to go back to town just to see Vetarine. Upon seeing us get off the bus, a warm smile spread across his face despite his attempts to silently hide it. We asked if he would like to come eat with us somewhere, but he seemed a little embarrassed and motioned that he’d have no way to get there because of his crippled legs. Instead, Hill and I went to a restaurant, came back and we had a small little picnic with our gentle spirited friend and his brothers and sisters. Words can’t adequately describe how I felt sitting there on the curb sharing a meal of tortillas and meatballs with these dirty children whose smiles and laughter could have lit up an entire night sky. We had a lovely time sitting in the sun together, laughing over silly things. Vetarine especially seemed to enjoy himself. Despite being older than his siblings, he is clearly skinnier and his clothes are far worse. He also had scabs on his head, which I learned is most likely from him sleeping in the dirt night after night. Bugs then bite his little head, leaving scabs that then get covered with dirt.

In the midst of laughing together, Vetarine’s brother Daniel realized how much time had past and he hurriedly put Vetarine on his back, to carry him back to the dirt to beg. It made my heart ache watching him go but he still had a large and grateful smile on his gentle face. How can this be the reality of life for a 12 year old child? My mind can’t grasp how much his childhood has been stolen from him by poverty and illness. How can he not have enough time to sit and be a kid because he has to rush back to the red African dirt to crawl around for money? Hilliary are going back today with coloring books, crayons and food to hopefully spend time together allowing these precious individuals to be children if even for a few moments.

Other than this, we have been busier as we’re now teaching counseling and keyboarding, which have both been going very well. It’s also been crazy realizing that nearly all the women we’re teaching crafts to are HIV positive.

Another interesting side-note: we have been hitchhiking to class now because there’s a huge shortage of buses! Don’t worry mom and dad, I’d honestly be 5 times more afraid of hitchhiking in America than here. While waiting on the road yesterday for a bus or for some sort of ride to come our way, the street suddenly filled with police cars and by the time we figured out what was going on, PAUL KAGAME, the PRESIDENT of Rwanda was passing. And get this, as he passed and saw us waving, he waved back! We were rather excited.

Okay, sorry this is so long. I have many more stories but they will have to wait. Thank you all for your continued prayers. God has been listening and answering very faithfully and I continue to ask you for your support in this way.

Soon,
Megs

PS. my blog still won't let me post pictures and I'm really bummed :(

apparently, we are getting fat :)

Over the past two days, Hilliary and I have been told that we are big or fat 5 times! haha. apparently, that's a complement here, although we're wondering why all of the sudden we're getting all these comments because we feel we haven't changed at all.. plus the past few days we've spent about 4 hours each day walking and we haven't been eating that much. who knows how we could have gained weight! they all say that hilliary is bigger than I am though : )

we have finally started teaching crafts to the poor women here although there's been many setbacks with this as well. today we began teaching them how to make necklaces out of newspaper and it's been going really well! if you want one of the necklaces (they look really neat) tell me and I'll buy one for you. Buy a cool necklace and support a poor woman from the church who really needs it!

next week, i'm also going to start teaching a keyboarding class and a counseling class... so by next week we're going to be teaching english, crafts, keyboarding and counseling... woah. i'm really looking forward to this as before we were a bit bored at times but please join me in praying over all these classes.

a few other updates: there has been a bit of a financial strain while we've been here which has been rather frustrating at times. we have been learning how to be content though whether full or hungry. i've been getting a bit crabby more easily lately also, which is frustrating and i hope to keep working on this with God's continued grace and help.

I hope to post more pictures on Monday but for some reason, it won't post them. which is too bad because we have some really great ones! i'll try again though.

prayer requests:
-2 new classes starting this week
-my attitude/emotions. not to get distracted or discouraged by frustration or crabbiness
-financial means for Pastor Bea personally and for Patmos as a whole
-my dad is coming in a little over a week! pray for his preparation in coming and for his time here. we're planning on going to uganda to see the little boy we sponsor. we're all looking forward to this greatly!

miss you all family and friends! thanks for your continued support.. it's appreciated greatly

update... check my facebook for pictures or hilliary's blog!

I have had SO much joy here in Rwanda with my new brothers and sisters in Christ! This morning, I had a pretty long talk with Pastor and Auntie in the prayer room at their house and it was a beautiful time of encouragement for both of us. I felt like I was given some very specific words for Pastor and upon telling them to her, she and Auntie teared up several times. She then proceeded to tell me that the first couple days that we came here, she was praying frequently with a sense from God that He would speak words to me to tell to people here. It’s a wonderful gift that’s being ushered into my spiritual life and I feel a bit like I’m on the verge of something very fresh and new. Apparently Pastor tells Auntie regularly how much she likes us and that if I stayed here with her, she’d train me to become a Pastor. Auntie, also, keeps telling me that she thinks I’m going to be a Pastor.. haha, who knows!

I feel so honored to be able to learn from Pastor Bea and from the people of the church here. Pastor Bea is an immensely generous woman, taking care of all who come to her, even if she doesn’t have the means to do so. As a church, the congregation is walking in obedience to be the hands and feet of Christ and take care of their community and the poor among them even though they don’t have much themselves. I am continually humbled by their reverence for God and for their obvious love for Him and for each other. I hope I can learn as much as I can from them and that I too, will continue to grow to be a woman who uses what I’ve been given to care for others. I’ve been stuck on these verses the past couple days…

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich…you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 8-9

Pastor’s children are also on a 2 week holiday from school and so they are all home now. There’s Lillian (17), Pauleen (16), and Patrick (14). They seem a bit apprehensive of us now but I’m hoping that over the next few weeks, we’ll become good friends. 

Prayer requests:

-Patmos is searching for a church of their own as they currently rent out a tiny room three times a week to use. The whole church fasted and prayed all last week and we are continuing to wait on God to provide. It’s especially difficult because most of the members of the congregation are pretty poor and don’t have much to give. Pray that God would provide and continue to grow Patmos spiritually and financially.

-we’re going back to the psychiatric ward on Monday to talk with the director about volunteering there once a week in the children’s ward. Apparently, it’s the ONLY psychiatric center in the whole entire country of Rwanda! It’s astonishing that this is true, especially with all the trauma that’s happened here. It’s also astonishing that we ended up at the only place in the whole country, given my desire and interest in the psychological state of Rwanda!

I love Rwanda, her joy & her pain

(the first picture is Auntie & Pastor Beatrice on our adventure to South Rwanda, and the 2nd picture is me with a little boy while we were taking a break from English class)

Hilliary and I have been SO busy! Besides teaching English, we’ve been traveling, visiting friends of Pastor, hanging out around Kigali with some of our new friends, and going to a crusade that’s in town this week.

The weather here has been a bit crazy also as it’s been stormy. We loved experiencing our first African rain shower though and went out in the driveway to dance in it.. they thought we were so strange!

We also have had a few opportunities to get out of Kimironko (the area we live in) and see the rest of Kigali and Rwanda. On Sunday, we took a 4 hour bus ride to Butare, the second biggest city in Rwanda to visit Pastor Beatrice’s eldest daughter, Lilian who is there studying. Apparently, we were really close to the Burundi border. On the way there and back, I looked out the window the entire time, lost in thought and in the sights of the Rwandan countryside. So far, I am loving Africa immensely. Time is going by so quickly and I feel that I could easily spend at least a year here. I am loving Africa and her sights, her taste, the smell of her air, the song of praise that exudes vibrantly from the lips of her people, the colors, the simplicity… yet at the same time I am soaking in the pain and the tears, the smells that rise from the sewer and from the water, the sound of despair and pain, the sight of sadness at not being able to provide for your children… it’s all part of Rwanda and I cannot help but love this place and these people.

In talking about the genocide, Pastor Bea told me a little more about her story the other night during the rainstorm. Sadly, her father was stoned to death during the genocide, and her husband was shot after paying the interhamwe (rebels) to shoot him instead of chop him to death with a machete. This left behind Bea with 3 children under the age of 4 to take care of. She said she saw babies ripped out of pregnant women, women raped and tortured sexually, while blood ran down the streets of Rwanda’s hills.. it’s hard to imagine that all this could have happened here. We’re going to the genocide memorial next week..

I’ve also been seeing a lot of crippled and deformed people—especially children. There are many kids whose legs are crippled underneath them and they crawl along the crowded dirt roads using their arms to hold them up. Some of them can’t be more than 10 years old. I cannot imagine how insanely difficult, painful and disturbing it must be to live this way. How are these young children (some with cerebral palsy, spinal bifida, and malnutrition) left completely alone to fend for themselves on the bustling streets of Kigali? Who cares for the least and most vulnerable of society when even the healthy have a difficult time caring for themselves? They go along day to day crawling not more than 12 inches from the dirt, begging with their crippled legs crunched beneath them. Where is their hope in this life? I can’t help but wonder the question aloud. And yet this is only one place in the vast world filled with so much pain… how can God stand it, I wonder? To be able to hear the cries of all the billions of people on earth all at once.. I can’t begin to fathom or understand, yet I also know that I cannot stop God’s praise from flowing from my lips. My soul groans with the painful sights my young eyes have seen, yet because of Jesus, hope will also never leaves my peripheral vision.

The past two days we’ve been going to a part of town called Yamirambo to attend a crusade that’s in town from Muzungu (white) pastors. It was so much fun last night. We stood under the crystal clear stars with two of our new friends from Patmos Church, dancing and singing amidst hundreds of Rwandans in the middle of a soccer field. It was like a huge dance/priase party in the middle of Africa and I loved it! It was also interesting to compare preaching topics and style from white pastors to the preaching from Rwandan pastors.  

Thursday, we’re going to visit the doctor we met at the hospital when we went to help the sick man we found in the road. I am thoroughly looking forward to discussing the psychological state of Rwanda, obstacles that stand in the way to getting medicine and services to the most poor and vulnerable, and how he got to where he is today. I’m SO excited!

prayer requests:

-opportunities for us to serve & help in sustainable ways

-that God would continue to bring wholeness to Rwanda, including the economy

praise!

I'm not sick anymore!! Thanks so much for your prayers... I decided to stop taking anti-diarrhea medicine and a whole bunch of people here were praying for me. Then that very same day, I started to feel better and everyday since I've been improving significantly! 

The picture above is Hilliary's class. She only has about 6 students in her intermediate class while I have nearly 15 beginners! 

I'll write a longer blog on Thursday because I only have a few minutes online today. 

I love my english students!

Yesterday we had our second English test in class. Two of my students, Eric & Roselle, arrived late so I sent them outside to take the test. While I continued teaching, I stole a glance out the window and there was Eric (our hilarious friend who always cracks me up) looking through an English-Kinyagwanda dictionary! I stomped out there and yelled “Bibi Eric!” which means “bad.” Meanwhile, the rest of my class was looking on from the window laughing absolutely hysterically! During the break, I made him a hat that said “I am bad” on it and explained that in America in the olden days, students who were bad had to sit in the corner with dunce hats on. They thought it was real funny and he wore it the rest of the day J My class is so wonderful to be with and I love the fellowship that comes from being with them almost everyday. And I have 13 students now! Woah.

I’ve also still been a bit sick and am having problems with my stomach. Pastor Beatrice and Auntie (the wonderful woman who cooks for us) asked me yesterday what kinds of foods would be good for me to eat. After telling them that meat upsets my stomach and that I wanted bland foods, we showed up to dinner to see a large pot of cow! They assured me that since it wasn’t cooked with oil, but rather with water, that it would make my stomach feel lots better! After taking only a small piece of meat, they proceeded to put the cow’s hip, along with the bone, on my plate telling me that I needed to eat the whole thing to feel better. I ate the whole bowl, and pastor told me I needed even more! Ahh! Then yesterday at breakfast, they poured me a giant bowl of pourage (which is definitely not my favorite food here..) saying that I needed to eat the whole thing! And they tried to have us drink raw eggs also.. we found out they were raw after Hilliary tried to crack it thinking it was hard boiled. Apparently, they drink their eggs here!

On a more serious note, I think I might have a parasite and it is real annoying not feeling my best. Please keep this in your prayers as I really want to get well quickly. And please pray for energy and perseverance to go about our daily activities even if I don’t feel the best.

And mom and dad, don’t worry too much about me being sick! Everyone we live with wanted to rush me to the hospital 2 days ago just for simple diarrhea so if I need to go to the doctor, they’ll definitely take me in a heartbeat J

I was trying to upload the picture of my class and of Eric with his funny hat on but none of the pictures will work.. I'm so bummed :(

eric & his story

Everywhere Hilliary and I go here, we never fail to gather a following of adorable little children. My favorite is when a kid we have never seen, catches a glimpse of us and immediately rushes over to hug our legs with all their might. I LOVE the children here. They brighten my days immensely and whenever I’m with them, I can’t help but think of how precious they must be to God if they are so delightful to me. Every Saturday we spend the morning playing with kids and it’s my favorite day of the week. We taught them a few English games and they taught us some Rwandan ones as well. They loved to pick Hilliary and I ☺
Yesterday was another long church service, but I loved it and it was the first time that I didn’t feel completely uncomfortable. We taught the children the song “Jesus loves me…” and we performed it during the service. I also led two English worship songs, which the congregation seemed to enjoy. During the nearly two hours of music every Sunday, it’s like a huge dance party. The place becomes absolutely alive with dancing, shouting, and joy… I thoroughly enjoy watching the people here worship. Their faces light up and they become like little children who delight at the presence of their Daddy. It’s beautiful.
One of my students Eric hung out with us a bit last night. He’s an ridiculously hilarious 24 year old who is in my English class. He’s especially funny because he doesn’t try to be, but always ends up doing things that make us crack up. He has an especially difficult time pronouncing certain English sounds and tries to copy the motion of our tongues when we speak—his tongue ends up flying all over the place. He is greatly eager to learn English and everyday in class, he raises his hand, and jumps up whenever I call on him even if he doesn’t know the answer! I found out a bit about his life tonight while studying for our first English exam tomorrow..
He came to Kigali from a small village in 1995 after the genocide was over. Both his mother and his father died during the genocide, and as they left behind 10 children, his brothers and sisters sent him to the city to try to find work. Even though he was the oldest, he was only a mere 11 years old when he came to Kigali completely by himself. He used to sleep on the street, spending the days begging and he eventually got into drinking. He randomly met Pastor Beatrice and her brother after peeking into their church one day when he was younger and he’s been with them ever since. He lives with Pastor Bea’s brother, helping around their house by cleaning and cooking during the day, and works as a security guard at night. This leaves him with approximately 2 hours a day to sleep. Despite his hard circumstances, he is seriously one of the most joyful people I have ever met in my 21 years of life. His spirit exudes deep joy and he constantly has a warm and genuine smile spread across his face. He is only one of the beautiful people we’re blessed to be around every single day. I am really beginning to care about the people here..
I’ve also been feeling not so great the past few days and haven’t been able to do all I want to. It’s really not that serious but Beatrice was almost insisting to take me to the hospital yesterday haha! Then her mom Kristine found out last night and immediately burst into our room with a deeply concerned face to pray for me. It was very cute
Prayer requests:
-health so that I may continue to be able to teach and carry out our daily activities.
-For my heart to be open to really experiencing life with the people here. To be able to enter into their joy and their pain and experience it alongside of them.