Greetings from Rwanda

The team enjoyed a full day of ministry today and are ready for bed. The morning was spent at The Church of the Blessed Mango Tree where the team led Sunday School, sang songs to the church, and shared testimonies. Everyone enjoyed experiencing the engaging service. The afternoon was spent at a village built for the widows of the genocide and their children. The teams' hearts were touched by their kindness and generosity, and many got to go into homes and visit personally with survivors and their children. This evening the team watched the documentary As We Forgive in preparation for tomorrow, when we'll be visiting the village where the documentary was filmed.



We still have a few students who are feeling sick, and they would greatly appreciate your prayers. Some are adjusting better to the time difference than others, but all seem genuinely excited about all that they are experiencing.



Thank you again for your prayers and support!

Destiny and Flexibility

I have met 15 of my team members. Each of them brings a different sense of energy and insight and I am looking forward to serving with them and learning from them. I will meet the final 6 at the airport in the morning. Excited that through fb have alreaded connected with three of them so we will be able to pick up where we left off.



I was amazed at some of the stories team members shared on how they ended up applying for the trip. Our team leader, Dr. Corsini shared that there were 700 applicants for this trip. I was speechless, no mistaking it that God had a plan for me to be on the trip. He shared the first trip had 300 applicants so the response was amazing. Overwhelmed. This trip to Rwanda is part of my destiny. God's providence that I go, learn, experience and testify to what has happened.



Flexibility

The behavior most needed for this trip is flexibility. We have already seen the plans change and have been told they will change by the hour. I am excited about what we have been told that if even a portion comes to fruition it will be amazing. Currently we will have an opportunity to visit a windows village, orphanage and villages outside of Kilgali.



Our main purpose is to be witnesses for the western world to tell of what is happening in Rwanda as the west has in general chosen to overlook them. Pray that I will be a good listener, that my words would bring comfort and that I would be sensitive to when I should just be silent and be emotionally available just by sitting, providing a hug, holding a hand, whatever seems appropriate.



Flight Plans

For those who want to track my travels below is my flight plan:



Friday Nov. 11th - Washington Dulles, Ethiopian Air 501 departs 11:00 am est and lands in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Nov 12th 7:45 am Central African Time (6 hrs ahead)



Nov 12th - Addis Ababa Ethiopian Air 807 departs 10:50 am cat and lands in Kigali, Rwanda at 12:20 pm cat



Nov 19th - Kigali,Rwanda Ethiopian Air 806 departs 4:00 pm cat and lands in Addis Ababa at 7:30 pm



Nov 19th - Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Air 500 departs 10:15 pm and lands in Washington Dulles on Nov 20th at 7:40 am



Nov 20th - Washington Dulles USAir 2285 departs 1:40 pm and lands in Charlotte at 3:06 and then USAir 1017 departs for WPB at 4:25 pm and will be home 6:21 pm on Sunday night if all goes as planned

Bags Packed – First Leg Washington DC

It seems like yesterday I was asking people to pray about the trip and God clearing 3 hurdles for me to be part of this trip. Overwhelmed by the encouraging words, calls and prayers.

I am thankful I go covered in your prayers. Expecting God to break my heart in new ways this trip so I would be “wrecked” as Russell prayed at my party Saturday. I go with anticipation and expectation that God is going to show up in ways I would have never imagined.

Spiritual warfare is a fact. I have sensed the last few days pure exhaustion and heaviness of heart. Committed to keeping up with my Esther study and staying in God’s word no matter what.

I meet half of the team Wednesday night. Pray that we connect and quickly unite in one mind and spirit.

Thankful God goes before us, behind us and hems us in.

Community and Cycling

Blessed to be part of many communities in West Palm Beach. Last year about this time I started cycling at Velocity. Blake was one of the owners and at that time part of my First Impressions Team and he invited me to try Velocity.

Spinning aka “cycling” had been part of my life when I lived in NJ but from the first time I walked into Velocity I felt community. Over this past year I have met wonderful people and have formed a sense of community.

This past weekend people came up to me and gave me money for supplies, medical advice etc to ensure I was ready for Rwanda. The owners Chris and Blake came to my graduation party this weekend and gave me the t-shirt pictured.

Rwanda is in need of community. They are trying to put their communities back together with those who murdered being brought in to help rebuild the houses of those they killed. Community is hard.

Chris in addition to being an owner is also one of my favorite instructors and he is always reminding us in class that we are a team and we need to use the energy in the room to keep us going. We are teammates for the sole purpose of pulling each other through the class. Regardless of where you live, you have the opportunity to be part of the community of Rwanda. We have the responsibility to live out what community should be so we model that for the world. We are to work together, regardless the odds, regardless the circumstances. We are a team.

I have packed the t-shirt and look forward to giving it to someone who is in need of encouragement. In cycling you are in a peloton and you take turns leading to allow everyone the opportunity to rest. I hope to share that vision and bring back that persons picture, post it in Velocity to inspire us. When we ride, we have a team member in Rwanda that is counting on us to encourage them and do our part demonstrating community where we live. We are one community when we are of like mind even though we are on the other side of the world.

Peripety and Prayer

Peripety

Studying the book of Esther with my life group this fall is just what God had planned as part of my preparation for Rwanda. I had chosen the study prior to knowing about the trip. No surprise, God knew.
One of the concepts we have studied in Esther is peripety; it is defined as sudden change/reversal of events. Outside of Esther, one of the greatest examples of this concept is the resurrection story.

Luke 24:1-8 says:
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" asked the men. "He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” And they remembered His words.

This passage came to mind as today I was honored with a graduation party. I received a priceless gift that was hand crafted by Gerry Jamison (see picture). As I was admiring his workmanship I noticed the three nails that stuck out on the cross. Unlike other crosses we see, Jesus is not on this cross. There are just the three nails to remind us of the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins but He IS Risen… he is no longer on the cross, he is no longer dead. He is alive!

The work of reconciliation in Rwanda is an example of peripety. Bishop John Rucyahana shares in Bishop of Rwanda the following: With God all things are possible. We are moving beyond the first encounters of victims and perpetrators to a place where people can worship and attend church together. They can sing in the same choirs, shop in the same markets, play together on the same sports teams, and work next to each other on the job…. If they can afford to forgive, why can’t the world forgive?

It is through the power of Jesus Christ that the root of the genocide – hatred has turned to reconciliation. Satan may seek to kill and destroy but Jesus was able to conquer death and it in that fact that we have hope. The power of the cross is the only way to true reconciliation. Bringing people to true repentance and forgiveness can only come through the supernatural power of Christ.

Standing in the Gap

Today I was overwhelmed by the love of those whom God has placed in my life over the past five years. Some I have known the entire time I have been in West Palm Beach, and others I have just met in the last few months. The common thread is they are all people I take delight in and for some reason they seem to like me back which I am grateful.

At the end of the celebration for completing my masters in Pastoral Counseling, I was covered in prayer for my trip to Rwanda. There were many tears shed and the heavy burden on my heart for the people of Rwanda was no longer my burden alone, others now share the burden. Knowing that people will be standing in the gap for me and praying on my behalf, for Rwanda and for the team is such a comfort.

Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. “

Rivers of Tears

While many wonder if I am getting excited for my trip, I must tell the truth. A heavy heart and what I sense as oppression overshadow my excitement. I am reminded that I am going to a country that for years Satan ruled through the leaders that was capped by the genocide. Satan does not like the fact the country is trying to reconcile; he is not pleased. He is not delighted that people would come to help people learn skills to teach and to apply as it relates to reconciliation and forgiveness.

My heart grows heavy as I am reading the Bishop of Rwanda. Reading about the plans that were put in place and how other countries helped prime Rwanda for the genocide made me ill. Reading the gruesome stories on how man became part of Satan’s army – at times demon possessed nearly put me over the edge. Many times I had to put the book down and pray that God would remove the visuals from my mind. I was crying the other night and found the tears were for those who suffered, for those who cannot escape the images because there is no book to put down, it is what they lived. They say 4 of 5 children in Rwanda lived through the genocide and saw the blood shed. Lives are forever changed bringing many psychological issues and physical issues as a result.

What kind of human would boil a baby in oil, shoot a baby in the chest sitting on his mothers lap before he kills her, leads parishioners to what they thought was safety to only be a death trap? The brutality was extreme and that is what makes reconciliation tough, as it isn’t so easy to forgive. There is far worse that was done to children would break your heart. I hold on to the fact they are with Jesus now and they do not recall any of that pain or horror they experienced.

The Bishop says in the book “shedding miles of tears before one is able to forgive. To repent of such cruelty requires divine motivation and divine presence to attempt it. To repent of such demonic cruelty requires the cross of Jesus right in the middle of it.”

Pray for protection – both spiritual and physical, for health and for safety. I am thankful my God is Jehovah Nissi – he goes before me in battle. I sense the battle has started and I am asking you to join me in fighting through prayer for Team Rwanda.

Warrior Princess

Prayer Warrior

Prayer has never been one of my “spiritual gifts”. While we are all called to prayer as believers it isn’t one of my natural giftings. This past month God has made it clear; I need to become vigilante in my prayer life. That I need to be intentional and I need to be modeling for others what it means to petition God and to come with expectation that He has much to tell me if I will take the time to listen!

I am a Warrior Princess, as Beth Moore would say based on our Esther Study. It’s high time I take that role seriously as it relates to prayer.

Knowing our team is coming from around the US and we will not connect as whole team until we arrive at the airport on the 11th I was concerned. God was whispering in my ear to reach out and take the initiative to seek out prayer requests from the team.

Reading the requests of the team validated the fact much prayer is needed. Many on the team are under huge spiritual attack and warfare is occurring in their homes, their churches and among their immediate family.

Satan loves to distract and use lies to cause division. My heartbreaks but I know the prayer of the righteous avail much. So I am praying and I am using face book to send them updates as I pray so that they would be reminded someone has their back. I have sent the requests to the team so they too are praying.

God has much to teach me about prayer. Pray for me that I would continue to be diligent, intentional and nothing would get in my way that would keep me from carving out time to pray.

Rwanda

As I boarded the plan today for Kentucky, I finally had the chance to start reading the book I am required to read for Rwanda – The Bishop of Rwanda by John Rucyahana. The last team spent time with Bishop Rucayhana and we hope to have the same honor.

I am only about a quarter of the way through as he recounts the history of Rwanda from its’ colonial rulers as well as where the divisions began and why between the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s. It is mind boggling what man will do to keep power and how the human mind can be conditioned to do things counter to what makes sense.

In the introduction he answered the question “Where was God?” His response: Man has free will, and God will, not override it. Sometimes evil has its day because men have so turned themselves over to it. But even then, God does not abandon them. God waits to perform a miracle.

He goes on to say: God has always used the broken, and He is using this broken nation to manifest His grace and power. He is taking the brokenness caused evil and using it for a greater purpose – a greater purpose – a greater reconciliation in a nation that the world had not only given up on, but had given over to the devil, and its own evil.

Gungor’s Song “Beautiful Things” is a reminder that God has a bigger purpose for our lives than we may ever know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uumI-PdeZzY&feature=related

Remembrance Beads

Remembering

When I started school 2 years ago, I was studying the life of Paul with my college women. One of the weeks focused on what it was like to grow up in a Hebrew home, specifically that of an orthodox Jew to better understand Paul (who at that time was Saul).

The Shema was the portion of the Torah (known to us as Deuteronomy 6:4-9) “Hear,O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

The Mesusah was the container for the Shema. Many believe the doorpost was the location for the Shema to be put literally and figuratively as it was hard to miss . It would cause the Jewish people to be reminded of God and all He had done for His people every time they went in and out of their home at a minimum.

Knowing school was going to be more challenging than I could imagine, I decided I would need my own version of a Mesusah to remind me of God’s faithfulness and provision throughout school. I decided to create a bracelet that would have a bead for each class. Every bead would remind me of God’s faithfulness as the bracelet became fuller and fuller!

My first bead was the Bible to celebrate being accepted into school. My first class bead was the pink ribbon as the woman we were caring for passed away my last week of school. I wanted to honor her and be reminded of the supernatural strength God gave me to manage her care, school and work.

Thursday night after I hit the upload button on my last paper for school, I added the last two beads. Overwhelming to look at the bracelet as all the stories and events that occurred the last two years come rushing back. So easy to forget all the tears, struggles and doubt that God overcame on my behalf. My Mesusah bracelet is a testimony of God’s provision.



Rwanda
3 weeks from now I will be halfway through my mission trip to Rwanda. I am just shy of my fundraising goal. I am in need of $230 to hit my goal of $3800. If you are interested in supporting my trip, you can click on the link on the left side of my blog.

We just found out the airlines can’t fly us on November 10th to Rwanda as issues with the flight so we are delayed until November 11th. The silver lining is for those of us who are not on campus we now have a day to bond before we fly. God’s way is best and it appears He is preparing us to deal with what lies ahead by giving us a day to bond as a team.

We have been asked to read the book The Bishop of Rwanda, by John Rucyahana http://books.google.com/books/about/The_bishop_of_Rwanda.html?id=h9ABo3Uzd7kC as we will be working with him on our trip so excited to understand how he has begun to bring reconciliation to his country.

Hurdles

95 weeks and 4 days of school have passed. Beyond my comprehension that in two days I will have earned my Masters Degree. God has done much heavy lifting in my life these past two years. 13 hurdles representing classes and surgery. Every hurdle has been cleared not by me, but by God. 12 cleared with the last one to go this Friday. Grateful, humbled and speechless.

Amazed that God had already chosen the best graduation present - a trip to the continent of Africa. The one place on earth I have longed to visit. Going to Africa and getting to use the skills that I have worked so hard to learn and employ these last two years is what God's economy looks like.

The two beads pictured above represent the final hurdles of school. The bird represents class 12 and the butterfly cameo my masters degree. Beyond comprehension by end of day Friday they will both be on my "shema" bracelet (more details on this next post).

Daily I grow encouraged knowing that my God can do far more than I could ever hope or dream is able to bring reconciliation to the country of Rwanda. A month from now I will be in Rwanda sharing love, wisdom, encouragement and hope. Wondering why I a so blessed to take this journey. Thankful He will be with me clearing one hurdle at a time.

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." 1 Peter 3:15

35 Days Until Rwanda

Checking things off the list, achieving goals, seeing countdowns go to Zero make me happy. I am less than two weeks away from having a M.A. in Pastoral counseling. Speechless!

Even harder to comprehend is 35 days from now I will be in transit to Rwanda! Would you believe the Avis shuttle driver I met the other week was from Uganda? What was a man from Uganda doing in Kentucky is what I wanted to know but we didn't have that much time. In my spare time (LOL) I have been trying to get a handle on the countries neighboring Rwanda. When he said Uganda I knew he was a neighbor. He taught me a word in swahili Nafurahi kukuona - "nice to meet you." I was struck by his kindness and desire to help me. I don't believe they speak swahili, I have a word! He also gave me a movie to watch before I went. When school is over on October 15th I will be renting Sometime in April. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBAB1d8Gfg8




Yellow Fever Shot

I remembered getting a card for to record shots when I went to Peru 4 years ago. I pulled our the card to see what shots I had and would you believe I had my yellow fever shot? It is good for 10 years so I am good! I haven't been in town long enough to call my doctor to see what other shots he wants me to have. Personal goal this week - call the doctor. Reading this makes you my accountability to get that consultation regarding shots. Feel free to ask me when you see me if I called the doctor.