We're Back

We arrived home safely on Sunday morning, July 20. We had safe travel, once again enjoying the "luxury" of Ethiopian Airlines and the fine cuisine they provide in very frequent intervals. We are amazed by the work that God did in our lives through our time in Rwanda. Thank you for your prayers and support while we were gone. Hopefully we'll have some pictures up here soon, so if you're still reading our blog you can check back and see some of what we did and experienced in Rwanda.

We're Still Alive

We've been so busy that we haven't had the time to update the blog, but we are all doing well as we come to the end of our time here in Rwanda. We have seen God work in amazing ways over the last 12 days. 

The festival concluded well, the estimated number of people at the festival is somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000 people over the 4 days. It was neat to see our team work together with the Rwandans to serve God and share his love in song, dance, and personal testimony. As preparation for the festival we spent a lot of time in the villages surrounding Kayonza visiting people in their homes and sharing both our life stories and the gospel. 

We have been partnering with the Medical Team for the last two days at the clinics in Kayonza. God is moving in amazing ways through the clinics. Around 300 people have been seen in the last two days with a few more days of clinics to go. Pray that God would continue to give the medical providers wisdom, the support people grace and patience, and that he would multiply our time so that we can provide care to as many people as possible. Pray also for the spiritual ministry to these people who need to know our Savior so much more than the physical care they so desperately need. 

We also had a tree removed at the mission house specifically so we could play baseball tonight with the boys from the Kanombe Boys Home, one of the orphanages run by Africa New Life Ministries. 

After the clinic tomorrow we will travel to the Akagera Game Park for two nights for a safari and debrief time. 

God has blessed us in amazing ways during this trip, even though we would love more time in Rwanda we are excited to come home and share with you all that God has done through us in Rwanda. 

Keeping busy

Muraho!

We have been busy since we last posted. On Tuesday we spent the day in Kayonza. We ate lunch on the shore of Lake Jambo, it was a nice opportunity to enjoy the beauty of Rwanda. We spent the afternoon at New Life Junior Academy. We sang for them, did a skit on love, and Tina did an excellent job sharing her testimony. After our presentation we spent the remainder of the afternoon playing with the children.

On Wednesday we spent the day in prayer and fasting in preparation for the Hope Rwanda Festival which began today. It was a neat exercise in sacrifice and we had precious times of prayer and worship as a team while we fasted. We also really enjoyed our dinner meal as we broke our fast.

Today was the first day of the Hope Rwanda Festival. We spent the early afternoon visiting the villages that surround the town of Kayonza inviting people to the festival this evening. We had many opportunities to step outside of our comfort zones to share God's love and our life stories with the people of Rwanda. The attendance at the festival tonight far surpassed expectations. There were so many there that the people were overflowing into the street and causing a traffic jam. There were at least 1,500 people at a festival, with an estimated more than 300 who came forward to accept Christ. We are looking forward to seeing what God does during the next 3 days of the festival.

Please be in prayer for the festival, for our health and stamina, and for continued opportunities to share God's love.Please also be in prayer for the medical team as they leave Friday morning to join us here in Rwanda.

We love and miss you all. We are praying for you and we appreciate your prayers for us.

There is Something Today in the House of the Lord

Muraho!

Sunday morning we worshipped at the English service at New Life Bible Church. We led the congregation in a song as a part of the service. Sunday afternoon we led a large portion of the youth service. We led the youth in 5 songs, Haley and Alyssa danced a beautiful dance to Jeremy Camp's song "My Desire," Carley shared her testimony, and Tim preached on what it means to be a disciple of God. After that the youth of New Life Bible Church led us in worship, the way young Rwandans do it.

Today we went to the Dream Center and participated in the feeding program for the street children. It was a wonderful time of feeding young boys, playing games with them, and just giving them some of the love that they are so hungry for. We were also able to give all of them new shirts and still have more left to give away later. We were also able to lead the boys in their devotion time with songs, a skit, and James' testimony. This afternoon we spent some time at the Genocide Memorial here in Kigali.

Tomorrow we will go to the school at Kayonza.

Everyone sends their love. Thank you for your prayers, we can already see how God is moving here in Rwanda.

We're Here!

We arrived safely here in Kigali a couple of hours ago after a long journey. We slept in strange positions, dined on "airplane delicacies," made new friends from around the world, saw a John Bon Jovi look alike at the airport in Kigali, and all our luggage got here safely. And yes, we're all taking our malaria pills.


Dwight would like to share a thought about a cat, DH, and his mother, but the connection between those three things has escaped him. Stay tuned for further details...

Time to Go!

We're leaving tomorrow morning and we are all very excited! Please pray that the Lord grants us safe and smooth travel. We'll update you from Rwanda as soon as we are able!