Home Safe and Sound

Hello Friends and Family!

Team Rwanda 2008 is home safe and sound!  We arrived in Dallas at 3:45 today.  I can't thank you enough for all the prayers and support you provided us these past few weeks.  We made many wonderful relationships and I can't wait to tell you stories and post pictures.  Our internet connection started out strong but then became increasingly complicated--so I wasn't able to post as often as I would have liked, but I plan on doing some post-trip storytelling.

Thanks again for all your support!
-Katie

A Twin Update

I have continued to have many opportunities to learn more about the endeavors of my twin readers. I just realized that I have not shared their names yet. The older is named Jean Dideiu Bukuru, and the younger is named Jidier Botoyi. In Rwanda, the "last name" is given at birth and is what the mother feels in her heart when they first look at the baby. But for twins, the first one born is always given the name Bukuru and the second one is always Botoyi. I have no idea what the names would be for triplets. :-)

Yesterday, we got the wonderful opportunity to go out into Kigali and have lunch with the twins. In addition to crops, the twins work with a group that goes to hospitals and visits orphans and widows and those infected with HIV. They pray with them and see how they can help them get jobs when they leave the hospital. We ate at the home of a woman with AIDS who was helped by them and now lives a very hopeful life. It was a traditional African meal, and it was delicious.

While we ate and talked, I learned that they also help sell greeting cards that are made locally from banana leaves. The profits go to help starving families here in Rwanda. Jean Dideiu told me that they didn't want to just beg for money but wanted to provide a service, which is a very refreshing attitude here. I will be bringing some back with me so that people at church will have a chance to help out if they want to.

I'm attaching a picture of me and another reader, John Baptiste. He is currently in a preaching school and is enjoying the opportunity to improve his English. I don't have a picture with the twins yet, but I will get one soon.

-Chuck

Nathan's notorious nine

Meet Joseph, Jackson, Kwizera, Jules, Osward, Cedrick, Innocent Ntwali, Dady, and Innocent Ndayisaba. All of my readers are young men whose ages range from 16 – 26, with varying vocations and backgrounds. One is an electrician in Kigali. Several are secondary school (high school) students that will soon graduate and possibly attend a university. Another is a former security guard and now is a head trainer of local Kigali security guards for mental and physical endurance. Most are from Rwanda and some from the Congo. Several of my readers are quite educated in social sciences from school, so we've had some interesting discussions on Rwanda/US higher education, economics, employment, and even the two candidates for US President. I was even asked to compare them to Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame, but I dodged that one! In the picture is Cedrick and Innocent Ntwali who attend together.

 

The violence and having lost many or all of their family members in the 1994 genocide is one thing most young Rwandans have in common, as they represent the young children that survived and are growing up to become adults. However, there are many hopeful and positive lessons in light of the tragedy. Osward taught me an ultimate example of forgiveness. A long story short, he and his surviving siblings found his parent's killer in prison to pray with him, forgave him, and now they have adopted him as part of their family since the killer's family was also killed. Oswald smiled as he told this story, explaining God's love and showing forgiveness is the only way for the country to re-unite together.

 

Nathan

Uno, Soda, and Snakes, oh my!!

Last night we had our second LST party. The parties are meant to connect our readers with people from the church in hopes that they will begin to feel comfortable and welcome in the church building. We also use the party as another opportunity for readers to practice their English with people other than us. LST suggests that you plan your party around a theme, but we decided to go with a simple game party instead. Originally, we thought most of our readers would be business women who have very limited free time. We didn't know if our readers would even have time to attend a party. We did not expect to have so many young readers. After spending a week here we realized that an kind of party would go over very well with the younger readers.

We started the party with a very lively game of "Take A Hike." This is a great icebreaker game because it gets people up and moving around. It also helps the players learn different facts about each other including things they have in common. Did I mention that our large group of young readers is primarily male? Try to imagine 50+ young adults running around the room fighting each other for chairs. It was quite humorous.

Next, we broke the large group into 3 smaller groups and moved them through a rotation of game stations consisting of Bunko, Uno, and a paper airplane throwing contest. Everyone was so wound up from running around in the first game that when we split them up into groups they all raced to their stations as fast as they could. At this point, they must have thought that the entire party would be a competition. I was in charge of the refreshments. We had a table of cookies and bottles of coke, fanta, and sprite. When one group came down for freshmen's they were chanting "soda and snakes, snakes, snakes!" I said, "snakes, why are you talking about snakes?!" I quickly realized they meant SNACKS. Many things seem to get lost in translation... fortunately, I have not consumed any snakes while in Rwanda.

My favorite part of the party was the airplane throwing contest. Katie works for Southwest Airlines (my personal airline of choice). She brought some inflatable airplanes that you wear on top of your head. As part of the airplane throwing contest the thrower was required to wear the airplane on his or her head as he tossed his paper airplane over the balcony towards the target. It was hilarious! The hat went over very well.

I spent most of the party running around taking pictures. Most people would ask me to take their picture. Gildas asked me to take his picture and he posed very seriously, which I think is a cultural thing. Holly mentioned that the people here are taught to make serious faces when they have their picture made. As Americans, it seems we have our picture made so often that the goal has become to look as weird as possible in photographs (perhaps this is not the case for everyone... I am speaking from my own experience!). I asked Gildas if he would smile for another picture and he did. I showed Erin the picture and asked her which she liked better. She chose the smiling picture and replied, "You look like President Kagame when you smile." Gildas seemed VERY pleased by her conclusion and proceed to smile for the remainder of the party.

-Emily

My Intelligence is Pregnancy

On Thursday, as Jean-Boscoe, my 5 p.m. reader, was leaving, he turned to me with a bright look in his eyes and a big smile on his face and said "Teacher, thanks to you, my intelligence is pregnancy!" I think somewhere, somehow, though a little lost in translation, this was meant to be a complement about how he was learning.

Our reading sessions are going well. We usually start out with just simple conversation, I ask how their day is going and we talk about Rwandan or American culture or customs. Then, it's on to the lesson. With some readers, we can do two or even three lessons in each session depending on their level of English and their understanding of the Bible. A couple of times, we haven't even opened the workbook, but instead have just talked about the Bible and God.

From Jean-Boscoe (a 50-year old father of 8 who lost several family members in the Genocide), to Francine (whose husband works for the Belgian embassy) to David (an orphan who had to dropout of secondary school because it was too expensive), to Eric (a computer-technology student who amazes me with his questions), each of my eleven readers has such a distinct story.

I'm so blessed to be here these two weeks. For me, my heart for these people is pregnancy. Here's a picture of me with Francine.

-Katie

Better late than never...

Our Internet wasn't working at the house last night, and it could be that we have scarce access for awhile. I know what you're thinking. "How is this going to affect the contest?" Well, you're just going to have to write a lot and be extra funny, because our posts probably won't come as regularly.



In my last post I mentioned the twins that are starting an agriculture company. A couple of days ago, they took me out to the farms they're working with. They are building greenhouses and experimenting with crops to see which seeds have the best results. I was hoping to have pictures from the field trip, but that is not possible at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to get them up later.



Next week we will all go to lunch with the twins. Another of my readers invited all of us to his house one morning next week. There have been so many cultural experiences we have been able to have, as well as many relationships formed. The people here continue to amaze me.



That's all for now. Hopefully our Internet will work tonight and we'll all be able to write more. If not, we'll write when we can.

Meet Topista

Greetings. It is time for a state-of-the-mission-trip address. We all wanted you to meet our Chief of Staff, Topista. If you haven't been reading the blog, maybe you think we have been "roughing it" here in Africa. I will give you a debriefing on the current status of things.

 

Topista has been tending to our every need while at home during the trip. Seeing as how we leave the house at 7am and come home around 7:30pm, the days have been busy so this is appreciated even more. Since I arrived Saturday, we've had waffles, crepes, fresh fruit, cinnamon rolls, passion fruit juice and coffee for breakfast ready for devouring as soon as we can get to the table. Every night when we arrive home from church, a Topista-esque dinner is ready. We have had Mexican tortillas w/ fresh guacamole, pasta, meat casserole, mixed veggies, pizza and other cuisines. Not to mention a whole china bar stocked with cookies, bananas, and other fine goodies. She and another helper promptly clean up afterwards. Topista also washes our clothes daily if needed and returns them ironed. Finally, she sleeps. We think.

 

Topista lives at the Jenkins household and has assisted them for thirteen years in Uganda and Rwanda. Doug Jenkins and his family also reside as missionaries in Kigali, and Doug is the pastor at Christ's Church in Rwanda. They are currently on furlough in the US, so we are enjoying their large and comfortable house during the trip. Topista's favorite food to cook is potroast and her favorite food to eat is motikas, green banana-like fruits grown in this region. In fact, her favorite thing to do is cook. So, we decided to make sacrifices and let her enjoy herself in practicing her hobby. She is Ugandan and speaks fluent Lugandan and English.

 

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to spite all of you at home with no on-site 24/7 cook/cleaner/launderer/cheerleader. We are so thankful to the Jenkins for the use of their house and to Topista for taking care of us. The trip has been wonderful so far, and God is rewarding us in all kinds of unexpected ways. My next post will be about all of my reader buddies I have made this week!  -Nathan

 

 

These are a few of my favorite things...

One of my favorite things about international travel it the constant sense of your own vulnerability. What better way to be reminded of my need to constantly rely on God? He is blessing us in so many ways, most notably through our readers. Each reading session is as different as the individuals we are working with. We are able to share the truth of God, learn about the culture, and build friendships that we will remember for perhaps the rest of our lives. I'm having trouble remembering what I've ever done to deserve such blessings. Thankfully, God doesn't work that way!

In recognition of my love of adventure and surprise I'd like to make a short list of things I've experienced thus far:
1. Avocados the size of small child
2. A ginormous lilac bush that is as aromatic as it is large
3. Beautiful handmade baskets for about $8
4. Waking up at 4:30am to a flooded bedroom floor (and suitcase)
5. Baby sized bananas that are VERY sweet
6. Leaving my purse at a restaurant and finding in the exact same place I left it 2 hours later (God is good).
7. Having a Rwandan friend pray that God will wrap His arms around me.
8. Fabulous 4th of July celebration at the American Embassy
9. Poisonous black fuzzy caterpillars
10. Learning that Moses's (youth minister) grandfather had 45 children (that he knows of)
11. Never ending source of chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, banana bread, pizza, waffles, tostadas... etc. made by a brilliant Ugandan woman.

Hola from Rwanda

No, we’re not teaching Spanish, but we did just have Mexican food for dinner tonight! Seriously, our cook, Tapista, is amazing! I think this precious Ugandan woman made the best guacamole I’ve ever tasted! The avocados here are the size of your face—and they’re perfect! Add in some fresh limes, onions and tomatoes, and OLE, we’re having a Rwandan Fiesta!

In other news from Kimihururla Hill (say it with me “kim-mee-hoo-roo-la” (this is the name of the hill where we live (did you know Rwanda is known as the “land of 1,000 hills?))), the mosquito net has been hung by my bed with care with the hopes that mosquitoes won’t soon be there! And, Tapista made homemade cinnamon rolls that we’ll have for breakfast. Did I mention that we had an amazing goat cheese pizza and vegetable ravioli for dinner on Sunday night and Bar-B-Que at the missionary potluck on Sunday? And waffles for breakfast today? Seriously people, we are spoiled! I just may stay here!

So today was our first day of teaching English. I’m not going to lie, I had a bit of “first day of school” jitters, but this time I’m the teacher! My first two readers no-showed, so I used that time to look over the lessons once again and have a little quiet time. But then this afternoon, I did five sessions back-to-back. My readers come from many different backgrounds. David is 19, homeless, and was orphaned in the genocide in 1994. Eric has great English and is working to improve his English for secondary school. I’m reading with two women named Francine. “Cooking Francine” is 30 years old, cooks for a family, and giggles with every other word. Our reading sessions consist of a LOT of laughter and a little bit of French.. If I lived here, we would totally be dear friends! “Belgian Francine” is 39, her husband works for the Belgian embassy, and she primarily speaks French. For once in my life, my decision to study French rather than Spanish is finally paying off! Chuck and I even traded readers tonight after his session with “Jean Bosco” was lost in translation. This man is going to eat my French lunch! He talks so fast—I can hardly keep up! I really love reading with these kind people. Their smiles, their gentle laughter and their kind eyes have already captured my heart.

Yesterday, we had a great afternoon playing volleyball with our readers and members from the church. I sat on the sidelines and played with the neighborhood kids. Everyone received a “God loves you” sticker, and we played tag, red rover, and “duck, duck goose. Have you ever tried to explain the difference between a duck and a goose to seven-year-olds who don’t speak your language? It involves the “quack” and “honk” sounds and is a guaranteed way to make new friends. These children were so precious!

I guess that’s all for tonight. I tried to upload pictures, but the internet here thinks otherwise. Thanks for all the prayers—God is doing might things! Tune in Wednesday for further adventures—we’re taking turns posting each night to make the reader comment contest is fair and square. So if you like what you read, be sure and leave a comment of at least 5 words!

A failed agronomist

The day started with some excellent waffles from Topista, the Jenkin's cook.  This woman has been absolutely heavenly to us throughout our stay here.  She makes our breakfasts and dinners every day, with many wonderful American dishes.  In fact, when we got back to the house, we had some wonderful mexican food waiting for us as good as what we get back home (which is saying something when you live in Texas).

Today was the first day of reading sessions for Nathan and Katie.  After some no-shows in the morning, we had a delightfully busy afternoon.  Katie's knowledge of French was a huge help with several of the readers as that is the second most prevalent language here in Rwanda (behind Kinyarwandan). 

I am reading with a set of twin guys in their early 30s.  They are 2 out of 14 children in their family.  There is also a set of twin girls among their siblings.  One is a physics teacher and the other works in agriculture.  They are planning a business together where they will go teach people around Kigali better ways to farm their lands to maximize their crops.  Today they were asking if I knew anything about genetically modified seeds.  Unfortunately, my two summers of selling peaches on the side of the road did not qualify me as an agronomist.  They are going to take me to see a greenhouse run by one of their sisters tomorrow.  At the end of the reading session, they told me how they are in the process of converting their entire family to Christianity.

I wanted to post some videos of reading sessions, but the internet connection here isn't cooperating with me.  So here's a picture of Katie being overwhelmed by 4 readers at once on her first day.  Enjoy! :-)

-Chuck

Mwamba sawa sawa

Greetings from Kigali. I am writing this after a full day of church, a luncheon with other local missionaries, and a party back at church for our reading partners.

 

Little did you know that our LST team also doubles as a praise & worship team. After practicing almost three (3) hours yesterday and again this morning, our team along with a handful of Rwandans sang in front of the church this morning. That must have been left out of my debriefing agenda. We sang familiar songs like "How Great the Fathers Love for us." We also sang, or tried to sing, new songs in Kinyarwandan and Swahili. Mwamba sawa sawa means "Things are getting better" followed by something else meaning "The Lord is on my side." We enjoyed the singing and even learned some new Rwandan vocabulary. I think.

 

This evening, we hosted a party at church for our readers and other members of Christ's Church of Rwanda. We played really-get-to-know-you games, volleyball, basketball, and futbol. It was a lot of fun. The picture is my group in the "human knot" where we all adjoined each others' right and left hands, then tried to untangle without letting go. Sounds weird but you'll understand if you have played and everyone had fun. My facial expression is one of agony and not gazing into Chuck's eyes.

 

Thank you for your support and comments on this post.

--Nathan

 

 

Who's the coooolest LSTer in Rwanda???

In the spirit of friendly American competition, and in an effort to combat homesickness and culture shock the Prestoncrest 3 LST team would like to announce the 1st annual blog comment contest. This is about quantity and quality, so there will be prizes awarded to the most humorous comment on each post. Here are the rules:

1. The winner will be determined by an overall average of comments per post from this day forward.
2. The comment winner will be established by the other three LST workers (those not authoring the post).
3. No overt negativity allowed.
4. All posts must be a minimum of five words.
5. Haikus are like the daily double on Jeopardy.
6. Anonymous posts do not qualify.
7. Each individual is only allowed one comment per post.
8. Comments will be accepted until Tuesday, July 22nd at 11:59pm.

We (Katie, Nathan, Chuck and Emily) would like to thank you in advance for your contribution to the success of this contest. Not only will your participation be handsomely rewarded, but will contribute to the mental well-being and health of all persons on our team. GOD BLESS YOU!

P.S. - comments made on this post will not count towards the contest... but by all means... comment away.

I Bless the Rains Down in Africa

In the words of the eighties band Toto, I bless the rains down in Africa! 

I'm sitting at the dining room table after having a tasty dinner of pizza, green beans, and spaghetti listening to the sounds of a gentle rain falling here in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa.

Nathan and I arrived safe and sound and right on time today--flights went well.  I would recommend Ethiopian Airlines over Shuttle America by United any day.  

We were thrilled to have all our bags arrive with us and it was great to hug Emily, Erin and Chuck at the airport.  We immediately went to "Bourbon Coffee" for lunch--a local Starbucks-like restaurant where we saw the British Ambassador.  

Then, it was off to the local craft market where we were able to participate in one of my favorite ministries--the ministry of economic stimulus i.e. shopping. The artisans are willing to haggle, even with us "muzungus" (white people). 

After about an hour at the craft market, we went to the church building for praise team practice.  We sang in kinyarwandan and in swahili as well as english. It was a good time and all these activities certainly helped keep us awake.

We arrived at the house where Tapista, the Jenkins' cook, had set out our dinner. She's adorable and I think she is definitely going to be a huge blessing on our trip.  

Tomorrow, we're going to church in the morning, then a missionary potluck fellowship for lunch, then we're having a sports party tomorrow afternoon to introduce our readers to some of the members at the church.  

More news then!

Love, Katie

Meet Erin Estep (second from the left)

Erin is fun and outgoing...tall athletic build...enjoys crying at movies and taking long walks through the city of Kigali. Her one vice is hazelnut coffee (nobody is perfect). She is a member at North Richland Hills Church of Christ and has been in Rwanda for 4 weeks with Let's Start Talking.

p.s. - her twin brother, Phil, is on the far right. I'm sure notice the resemblance. : ) He is a Rwandese exchange student at Oklahoma Christian, and our faithful tour guide. We love him!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

New friends... this photo was taken inside a dorm room at Kigali Institute of Education.

More Kigali Experience

Yesterday (July 1) was Independence Day in Rwanda. As a result, we
didn't have any readers and took the opportunity to get to know Kigali
a little bit better. We had a local Rwandan to show us around. We saw
the local mall, the "wal-mart" of Kigali, a high school, and then one
of the universities. It was a lot of fun, and we got to hang out with
some of the college students for awhile.

After a few no-shows the first day, we had a pretty full schedule
today. I had 9 or 10 readers, and there were many good discussions.
The English skills of my readers vary greatly, but it seems like the
sessions are helping all of them improve in some way. We get to say a
lot of prayers with them. They are just so amazingly nice and
welcoming here.

Chuck Stevens

Reading with Chuck

This is a photo of Chuck working with one of his readers. Our work site is on the 2nd floor of the church building. We have one large room with a balcony just outside. We assigned Chuck to work outside because his voice is too loud and the room as a bit of an echo. : )

He's an LST veteran, so really he's showing us the ropes.

-Emily

Our first days

Emily and I arrived on Saturday at about 12:30 (7 hours ahead of
Dallas time). We got a quick tour and nice meal, then almost
immediately went to the praise team practice for the Sunday morning
worship service. It was amazing getting to sing in both English and
Kinyarwandan in front of the church, which had about 150 that morning.

We have a very comfortable setup here in the missionary's house. All
of our meals have been great, and we're not really in need of anything.

We have had our first reading sessions today. They were both inspiring
and sobering. One of my readers lost his entire family to the
genocide. He is a student at the university and spends his free time
teaching children, visiting people at the hospital, and praying.

It is incredibly beautiful here. We are so glad to be here and can't
wait to meet the rest of our readers.

Chuck Stevens

Lost in Translation

We've completed our first day with readers in Kigali, Rwanda. Our day starts as a driver comes to pick us up from the missionaries' home which is about 15 min. from our work site. On Sunday and car came to the gate and honked, so like the good workers we are we followed directions and got in the car with the driver assuming he would take us to the church for worship. He did not. Instead, he took us to the Hixson's house located near the church. Unfortunately, in our jet-lagged state neither Chuck nor I knew where to go or how to communicate with our driver that we were in the wrong place. Did I mention I left the cell phone at the house (classic Emily style)? Just then, Bryan Hixson (missionary) drove around the corner to our rescue. When he saw the driver that we assumed he had hired Bryan exclaimed, "Who's that guy?" Apparently the original driver had to leave the country and had this other fellow drive in his place. It was all very humorous.

This morning we almost made it to the church as scheduled. I had noticed our driver was driving VERY SLOW. Other cars were whipping around us honking to inform us that our speed was inadequate. I was suspicious at this point. As we drove up the hill to the church the driver randomly came to a stop and then looked at us as if to say "ok, get out now." We pointed up the hill, so he put the car (which had died) in reverse...rolled backwards...turned a bit and then stopped. He turned around once more and very sheepishly said, "Problem", as he pointed to the hood of the car. I was impressed as that was the only English word he had said thus far. Thank God for the blessing of legs and feet. We walked the final 2 blocks up to the church and "randomly" happened to run into a fellow worker form North Richland Hills Church of Christ. God seems to be taking great care of us while making many allowances for laughter in the mean time.

We started out our morning with Psalm 121, and good meditation and prayer verse. It is a huge blessing to remember the Creator of the Universe is protecting us while we are so far from familiar things.

Our reading sessions went well. The readers seem to be very motivated to learn and discuss the bible. Many of them are young men. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will work powerfully through us in each of our reading sessions. The sessions start at 8am and end at 7pm. We have a 30 minute lunch break at which time we walk across the street to a school where a meal is prepared for us and other volunteers and church workers.

Bryan and Holly Hixson have told us many stories of how the genocide in Rwanda has altered so many lives. Many of our readers lost family members, and some lost their entire family. If you are interested in reading about the genocide, I'd suggest "Left to Tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza. I know Katie is reading the book, and Bryan Hixson offered me his copy to read.

We are very blessed to be here!

-Emily

p.s. - I tried to upload a photo of Chuck and his reader without any luck. : ( I'll try again later.

Chuck and Emily arrive in one piece...

This is going to be short, and sweet... because I am both. The flight was great (considering the trip was 18 hrs start to finish). We didn't lose any luggage or have any flight complications. I'm glad we're here and give God thanks for watching over us. We will be attending church a 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, while those of you who live in Texas will be sound asleep as we are 7 hours ahead of Texas time.

Please continue to pray for us. I'm already looking forward to the rest of our team's arrival!

-Emily

This is a test as well, since I am definitely an amateur blogger!

 

The 1st leg of the Prestoncrest 3 team leaves for DC tonight and for Rwanda in the morning. Safe travels and God's blessings to Chuck & Emily! - Nathan

Meet the Team

Here's our Let's Start Talking Team:  Nathan, Emily, Katie, Chuck.

Keep us in your prayers!

Rwanda 2008

We will be serving on a Lets Start Talking (LST) campaign to Kigali , Rwanda from Jun 27 – July 20. LST is a Christian organization based outside of Fort Worth, TX aimed in using English conversation classes as a Bible study method in non-English speaking countries. LST has been training and sending teams all over the world for twenty-five years in more than fifty countries.

In Rwanda , we will work with local missionaries Bryan and Holly Hixson in teaming up with selected individuals who would like to improve their English conversational skills through reading the Bible. Every day we will meet with these people and help them practice their English, while using the Gospel of Luke as the textbook so that they will also read about Jesus. I understand many of these readers have a very basic understanding of God and His son Jesus and are anxious to learn much more.

Rwanda is a tiny, landlocked country in central Africa nestled between Uganda , Tanzania , Burundi , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . You might be familiar with the ethnic genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994, when almost one million Rwandese were slaughtered. This occurred as the sons and daughters of the formerly-exiled Tutsi group rebelled against the dominant ethnic group Hutus and formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The killing finally ended as the Hutu regime was overthrown in July 1994. This period of violence has long ended and Rwanda is a much safer country today, but the natives of this country have experienced much pain and suffering that is still evident today.

We are sure to interact with many that were affected by that dark period. We believe God’s peace and healing power is the only ultimate remedy for the families and survivors of this violence, and we look forward to hearing their personal stories and sharing God’s love and saving grace. In addition, I believe our team will be providing a great service to the Rwandans who would like to improve their English-speaking skills to excel in today’s global environment.

We sincerely covet your thoughts and prayers as our team prepares for this trip, and for our safety and success. Please pray for the Rwandan Christians and adults I will be reading with even before I have met them, as I know God is already working on their heart and mine. Our trip will be successful only with God’s blessings. We expect the trip to be challenging but extremely rewarding and that our faith will be strengthened. More importantly, we hope to be helpful to our new Rwandan friends by helping them learn English and studying God’s word.