Rwanda in 5 Minutes!

We've been home a little over a week now and the thoughts of Rwanda are still all around us. We greet each other with a hearty "Muraho" and use "Yego" for yes and "Oy-ya" for No. We're still grimacing over thoughts of the "squatty potty" and smiling over thoughts of the wonderful family we shared this adventure with... The Lim's.

We're also very grateful for Pastor Skip and his wife Laura (and children) for being in Rwanda at the same time and leading us through our first international mission trip.

Having said all that... I've composed a little video for you that gives you a taste of what we did in Rwanda (sans Safari)... more pictures to come... I hope you enjoy!

Kelly
ps - You WILL want to turn off the music on our blog page before starting the Rwanda video. The music is at the side of this blog page. Thanks!

Home - Safe & Sound

Hi everyone, after 37 hours of straight travel and flights to Entabbe (Uganda), Brussels, London, Chicago, and finally to Orange County... we're home. I'll email more about our travel experience later (which was not bad - just long). Today and the rest of the weekend we're just resting at home, reacclimating to the time, and spending time as just the four of us once again. We had a wonderful life changing experience and we'll write more later.
Thanks for checking in on us! Love, Kelly & Family

Wednesday - Safari Day & Family Update

From Sammie for Mrs. Howie's Class:

Today I went on a safari and I saw a babboon on the roof of our hotel. A babboon is like a big monkey/gorilla. If you saw one on the roof you'd be really scared. If your Mom and Dad told you what it would do to you, you'd be really scared. On the safari I saw more than 20 babboons! And I saw hippo's! Tell you more tomorrow! Sammie

From Taylor for Mrs. Cunningham's Class:

Today we went to a beautiful game lodge. We also went on a saffari. On the saffari I saw baboons, hippo's, impala's (a gazel like animal), and a bunch of birds. I will show you the pcitres when I get Back! See Ya! Taylor

The Akagera Game Lodge - What an experience

Today we left our hotel in Kigali and drove for about 2 hours into the landscape of what you'd probably imagine Africa to look like. Kigali was much more tropical. Along the way we saw whole villages constructing a drain for the terrential rain that has come each day we've been here. Many people yelled what sounded like "bazooka" at our van... which our driver says means foreigner.

After checking into the lodge, Sammie immediately spotted a baboon. We're told that they come out very frequently and will actually come and try to get food out of your hands or pockets. More on that later. We brought our driver, Emmanuel, down to the safari stop, hired a guide and setoff to see what we could see in the late afternoon. As the kids both mentioned... we saw many baboons! We also saw impalla, many birds, and a few hippo heads. Our scrapbook is going to be tremendous from this trip.

Tomorrow we'll do one more safari drive, and then make our way back to Kigali to start our long journey home. I don't know if we'll get to make an update to you all tomorrow, so please don't panic if you don't see one! We'll probably write again on Saturday.

Love you all!
Kelly & Eric

Tuesday - Both Taylor & Sammie's updates, and Our update as well

From Taylor for Mrs. Cunningham's Class:

Everything has been fun here including seeing all the kids smiles. Today we finished up with the church and they gave us a bunch of beautiful handmade gifts. With the kids today we made crosses with pipe cleaners and I took tons of pictures of the children. Tomorrow we are going to Akagara Game Lodge to go on a Safari. I am looking forward to it and I'll take a lot of pictures of the animals to show you.
See you soon, Taylor

From Sammie for Mrs. Howie's Class:
Today I got to sleep in and normally I have to be there at 8:15. Everybody else went to the Genocide Memorial. A Genocide is like a war where a lot of people get killed. I slept in until 9:15. I swallowed my Maleria pills on my first try both times. After lunch at the Bourbon Cafe we went to teach to kids about Jesus and do a craft with them, like making a cross. My Mom played a game where it made it sound like it was raining and then it really DID start to rain. It started raining very hard after we helped the kids. It rained so hard that we had to go in the van! We saw this kid by the trunk and when it started pouring the little boy was still there, he looked drenched! And then we got to in the church and it was all dry. In the Church we got to sing a song, and the Pastor said goodbye and gave my sister and I little purses, and gave my Dad a beautiful carved wood with two praying hands, and they gave my Mom a basket. And at the end, everyone shaked hands and we all said goodbye and hugged each other very hard. If you had blond hair, like me, your hair would be touched a million times. After Church we went to pick up Caroline and Jade and then we went to a place called "New Cactus" for dinner. And they mostly serve pizza there. Then we went back to the hotel called "The Impala." Tomorrow we are going to the Akagara Hotel and there will be lots of animals there and a pool there. We might get to go in the pool, but it might be too dirty! The End. Sammie

The Final Day in Kigali...


As you can imagine today was very emotional, and action packed. It only takes a second to see from the updates the girls provided that we did a great many things.

The morning started with our group going to the Genocide Memorial to see how this city has remembered the 100 days of Genocide in Rwanda in 1994. It was a moving experience for the adults where the pictures of the victims on the walls, look very much like the people we've encountered during our time here. It also brought home the realization that there is an age gap very apparent here with the lack of teenagers. We also found out that 300,000 orphans were left behind in this country and many families that we met are not only raising their own children but many of these orphans as well.

After lunch we were able to do our final VBS (Vacation Bible School) with the children of the church. It was an action packed hour of songs, stories and crafts. From the end of the hour hugs and smiles it was apparent that they loved our time with them as much as we loved being there.

The children were they ushered away so Amanda and I could meet with the Women of the church (they are considered women because they are married). Eric attended this one hour meeting with us to show support, while John waited out the rainstorm in the van with our children. The women asked us what advice we had for them because they felt many burdens. We did our best to encourage them as women, not as Rwandan women. We counselled them to really try and talk with their husbands, create a partnership were responsibilities for child-rearing were shared, where they prayed about their needs, and continued to be loving to their families. Our message must have really struck a cord because at the end of the hour the women were crying and hugging us over and over. They made Amanda and I a traditional smock to wear as a thank you gift. It was an emotional hour to say the least, but one I will never forget. I don't feel like any sort of expert. My world is so different from there's. The only differences I felt were in distance because their needs emotionally are the same as mine. They put us on a pedestal that felt so overwhelming...

Lastly, Pastor Osee held a special church service to say thank you to our families. There was singing, dancing, praying, and many tears. Pastor Osee was a difficult man to read, however it was obvious today that we were an answered prayer to him. He cried very hard, and hugged us closely. This is NOT typical for a Rwandan man. I don't think I've ever felt so appreciated in my life, and in my mind all I did was show up! Maybe that's the lesson in this whole experience, showing up in another person's life may be exactly the blessing they need. In the bible it says you will be blessed to be a blessing to others. This certainly is how I feel. Many gifts were exchanged at the end of the service, many hugs and joyful tears. Words barely suffice to explain how I feel today.

At dinner John, Amanda, Eric and I recapped our time of Mission with the church and relaxed a bit. We laughed so hard thinking of all the obstacles we overcame along the way to Rwanda, but they didn't stop us from getting here. Tomorrow we shall travel to the Akagera Game Lodge to write our report for Saddleback, go on a few "game drives" to see the African animals, and soak in this experience.

Thank you for following us on our journey. Talk to you tomorrow!

Kelly

Monday - update 2 From Kelly

You're probably wondering why there are two posts from us today, however Taylor and Sammie's school returned from Spring Break today and we promised their teachers that we'd provide a daily update from them both during this week that school has restarted.

We just now returned to the hotel and it's 10:30pm. It's been a highly meaningful day for the adults in the group and a pretty easy one for the children. The only event the children needed to attend with us today was rained out. And when I say rain I mean buckets pouring down like you've never seen before! But, Africa is prepared and it dries very quickly here. People do not stop working, they just take a break until it's merely sprinkling and then back to work again.

Eric and I, along with Amanda and John started our day rushing to the church to meet with the leadership there. Upon arriving we immediatly were driven to a local official's office. I believe he was the deputy-cell director for a sub-section of Kigali. This man had people waiting to see him lined up on a bench in the hallway just like you'd see in any other office in America. I was never able to catch his name as he didn't really make an effort to make it clear. Pastor Osee and our interpreter told this official why were were in Kigali and how Saddleback Church has partenered with his church (and all of Rwanda) to support the PEACE initiave in the country. We asked for an overview of his cell (over 30K people live there), over 40% unemployment, and a lack of educational resources for his community as well. We could tell that he was asking our interpreter what kind of money we'd be contributing to their community. We had to make it clear that we were not there to give him money. We were there to work through the church to promote the vision of the PEACE plan to which the church is committed and his government as well. We explained that his President Kigami and our Pastor Rick Warren were working from the top down and their programs will trickle down to the cell level. However, it's also up to the cell leaders to work on improvement in their cells from the ground level. Working together, they will meet in the middle. As this was a very interesting meeting were were excited to promote the vision of Pastor Osee's church to this local leader, and then walk back to Osee's church.

The second meeting of the day was with the lay church leaders, and what they call small groups. We were very suprised to find that the small groups here are NOT at all what we call them in the US. The Burton's and the Lim's split the 6 groups in half and met with them to hear what this church is trying to accomplish at this level. The people hear have a big heart for their community, but as you can imagine, they are trying to eat an elephant of problems all at once. Each of us, as couples, described Saddleback's small groups and ministries... because there are differences. The differences we described elicited some excited looks from many, however it's difficult to tell exactly how much was understood.

The last stop today was a muddy walk from the church to another local leader, a sub-leader to the deputy we met earlier. By the time we arrived, after walking through a mixed home and mud-hut neighborhood, it was dark. This leader repeated the same issues we've been hearing since our first conversation, and also had an expectation of financial support. Again, we were clear at explaining our purpose for being there and for supporting his community through programs at Pastor Osee's church. On the way back from this meeting, while walking in the muddy road in the dark, I asked one of the other Pastor's from the church, Tito... if our visit and our information brought information they were expecting to hear. He answered with a chuckle and said simply our information was timely. :)

Tomorrow our team here will visit the Genocide Memorial, continue VBS at the church for the children (rain or shine), and have one final meeting with the women of the church. That will be the end of our mission work here as well. On Wednesday we have a day to debrief, write our report to Saddleback church, and go on Game Drives in Akagera.

Until tomorrow... Bless you all!
Kelly

Monday update 1 - from Sammie & Taylor for their classrooms

For Mrs. Howie's class from Sammie -
If you imagined Rwanda, it wouldn't seam like you imagined it, because there are buildings and hotels.
Every morning we go to the breakfast place and their drinks are very good. I have to take Malaria pills every day and the juice drink here helps me, the water in England did not because you could taste the pill.
The children in Africa are very nice and they are not afraid of us. But I'm a little afraid about speaking to them.
When I look out of my window by my bed I can see all the mud huts. They look like houses that are almost underground. People lay their laundry out on clips to dry. We see kids playing out there sometimes. And I got a souvenir giraffe named "giraffee."
The people on our team here are Caroline (and she is 19), Jade (and she is 19), Ollyvia (9 years old), Ellysa (11 yrs), Allyson (13 yrs), Madeleine (12 yrs), Baer (10 years), Taylor (10 yrs), Amanda & John, Laura & Skip, and Mom & Dad.
* And only tell Abby that I miss Abby very much. (But please don't tell the whole class.)
Sammie

For Mrs. Cunningham's class from Taylor - Africa is prettier than you would think and everyone is so happy. All the people in the church are always smiling and giving us hugs. Our hotel is nicer than I thought it would be because it is like a mini apartment. There are many nice people in our group including 4 other girls. It has rained every day but it stops with ease. I am missing school but having fun here. There is a lot of pretty and unique artwork including the cute earrings I got.
It is sad to think, when I look out my hotel window, that there are other people living in huts when we can afford to live in a nice place. The huts are made of mud and extra pieces of metal and it's amazing that the people always have a smile on their face. I feel proud that I get to do this and I cannot wait to see you again. See ya! Taylor

Another Incredible Day in Rwanda

Today was a big day for our PEACE team here in Rwanda. Being Sunday, we participated in the regular church service this morning. Of the three hour service, we were given one hour to speak to the congregation.

It is difficult to communicate in words what it feels like to be among such committed Christians who have only crude walls, an uneven dirt floor, no doors, and only the vision of a roof to be completed some day when the financing is available. Despite the lack of physical things, this church is well organized, well led, and well attended for a community of this size. The potential is very evident and we are understanding more clearly why Saddleback leadership has chosen Rwanda to pilot a nation-wide implementation of the PEACE plan.

There were several hundred people in attendance at the service, including visitors from a few neighboring communities - Americans (or anyone white) are still not a very regular site in this country.

The first portion of the service was led by Pastor Osee and he tought on the 1st Purpose for our lives - To Worship God. It was incredible to see the curriculum developed at our church in the US, so very far from here, being taught and embraced by the Rwandans. As with each of the times we have met with the church members, we were greeted very warmly. The second portion of the service was about an hour of worship - led mostly by the various choirs. The music was wonderful and we enjoyed trying to sing along very much. The emotion on some of the faces in the choir was very powerful - knowing what happened here not so long ago you can almost read the minds of those still hurting. The final hour was ours and we filled it with a few songs sung by our children (they did fantastic), a few dances by the Lim family (Ohana style), and then a short "talk" as the Rwandan's like to say by John and me.

I am obviously not a Pastor and probably have as much to learn about God and the Bible as many of the church members, but with God's blessing and wisdom I was able to find the right words. Both John and I reinforced Pastor Osee's message on Worship and also spoke about the importance of Small Groups (they call them Cells) as they work to build their church and surrounding community. God was definitely present!

In the afternoon the ladies worked with the Children and this time it was more than 100 kids ranging in age from walking to pre-teen. John and I were in the church meeting with the church leaders and from the sound of things outside the children obviously had a great time. On our drive back to the main road, children ran along side the van, wearing their new crosses around their neck (that was the craft for today). The smiles are so big and they are so excited to be near our team.

John and I were waiting for the peace pipe to come out as we sat down with the church leaders. If you can imagine the scene from Dances with Wolves when Kevin Costner sits down with the Chief and his council it was pretty much like that. Communication is somewhat slow as we work through a combination of interpreter and leaders who speak some English. As in our earlier discussions there was a very comfortable atmosphere, laughter, and much common ground. We learned a lot about their needs and we did our best to answer questions they had about Saddleback, the PEACE plan, and our visit. They view us as experts and that is a bit difficult, but we know that God is working through us and trust that we are saying the right things.

As Kelly has said before it is really difficult to share all of our feelings in this format. I can tell you that this is a beautiful country, with a wonderful people, and understanding the horrible things that happened hear with the world watching is very difficult to take in when you are sitting face-to-face with people that you would gladly call friend at home. I am very encouraged by how well organized they are, how detailed their plans for continued development are, and how high the spirits are despite significant poverty and all that goes with it. We have been blessed to be here with our new Rwandan friends.

This update is gettting long quickly, so I think I'll stop here for today. We are off to meet with community leaders in the morning and will be meeting with the six "cells" or small groups in the afternoon. Please continue to pray for us as there is much work left to be completed.

God Bless,

Eric