Rwanda, Rwanda!

Greeting everyone!


We are both sorry that we have not been keeping up on the blog as much as we'd like to! Sometimes Internet is limited! However, we are learning so much and at the same time we are having the time of our lives. Therefore, in this blog we will briefly describe what we have been doing in Rwanda!!!

This last weekend we went into western Rwanda to celebrate Easter. We stayed in a hotel on the side of lake Kivu! It was a nice place to relax and reflect on what the true meaning of Easter is and in addition take time to reflect on the things we have learned about Rwanda and its past genocide. On Sunday we went to church and they asked the Go-Ed students to sing a song for the church. It was so much fun. Seeing how Rwandans celebrates Easter Sunday was very interesting. It was 100% focused on God. This was truly refreshing!

After the service we all went out on the lake. We took a boat to two different Islands. The first one was called Bat Island. On Bat island there are thousands and thousands of bats just flying around. IT WAS AWESOME. Then the second Island, 'Peace Island' there was a volleyball net, we went swimming and there was a monkey you could play with. Jordon loved the monkey so much! But the monkey got a hold of Jordon's shirt that he was not wearing and wanted to put it on. However, when the Jordon tried to get the shirt back from the monkey... the monkey made it very clear that he wanted the shirt! The monkey got mad when Jordon reached for the shirt and the monkey jumped at Jordon scaring him to death! Good thing it was on a leash tied to a tree...

*Yes these little black things are bats. This picture was taken at the highest point on Bat Island.

Last Monday, before leaving lake Kivu we went to a graduation of men and women that completed a reconciliation program while learning how to sew using a sewing machine! It was so encouraging to see an effort to rebuild Rwanda after the genocide.

**These are pictures of us at hotel Mel Collines. (which was the hotel in the the movie Hotel Rwanda) Becca, Jordon and I had a fun night out at the Hotel. We ate at the restaraunt on top which overlooked the entire city of Kigali (the capital of Rwanda) we ate soup and Ice cream, but it was kind of, okay...VERY, expensive! But worth it! Once we were finished we found this awesome place next door. Inside they has singing! We thought it was Karaoke so Jordon and Becca thought they would sing a song. It was so funny. Later we found out it was not Karaoke but it was an actual band performing and they just let Jordon and Becca sing for fun! Everyone thought they were famous and that they should get a record deal. We plan on going there again tonight to say good bye to our new friends! It is going to be sad leaving here.





The last three weeks in Rwanda has been difficult, emotionally challenging, but also so much fun. God has really open Jordon and my eyes and widening our horizon to see things differently. However, if I had to say only ONE thing that I have learned from Rwanda it is that there is HOPE. What Rwanda has been through the last decades is so terribly sad, but they are looking forward onto their future and it is really encouraging. It just blows my mind how wonderful the people are in Rwanda, they are full of love and forgiveness. God is continueing to transform our hearts. I am excited to see what God has in store for the future. Looking back and seeing how difficult it was coming here to Go-Ed I just Praise the Lord that Jordon and I are here. We are here for a purpose. I am so excited to see what the Lord will do with our lives through this experience. I can not say it enough...But thank you for all the prayers and support.

Intro to Our Rwandan Experience

A Glimpse of our Rwandan Experience...So far!

Alright, we are both in Rwanda. This place is amazing; there is a good climate, the land is green and people are very quiet and reserved. There is a place called Bourbon Coffee which is very nice, much like Starbucks, but it is very expensive! We enjoy going to Bourbon and just relaxing sometimes. It can be a good “get away” when we need a little western break from the Muzungu (white traveler) treatment. But to be honest, we could not have it any better here, we have made some friends and we have really enjoyed our class on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution. During our studies we have been able to visit many of the genocide memorials in which we were able to gain more knowledge and recognize the realization of this most tragic event. Here is an excerpt from my journal:
There were several things that left imprints on my heart as I ventured through this memorial museum. The first thing that struck me was the imagery of the machetes, guns and clubs used in the massacre; knowing that the tools that lay within reach of me were weapons that took the lives of men, women and most sadly children. The torture that was described in the journal entries, which expressed one of the most horrifying events in the history of the world, it was described that people were humiliated, tortured, beaten, mutilated, raped, then murdered. As I walked further into this diary of the genocide, I stood face to face with the clothes that were worn by victims at the time of their death, then photos of those who met their fate during this genocide. My stomach began to feel upset and I had to sit down in fear that I was going to vomit. The reality was beginning to hit the surface. These were real people, with real families, and real lives. They each had interests, fears, humor, and personalities each awaiting their future ambitions, goals, and dreams. The blanket of security that families found in each other, friends and their community was ripped away like that of a scab on a healing wound, by the same people which they found their security. I am disgusted and embarrassed by the sinful nature of mankind. I then stepped into a room filled cases that exposed the remains of the innocent. My mind has with drawn once more.

Although, studying the genocide can be extremely depressing it is best to focus on what is happening now in Rwanda. There are many NGO’s that are dealing with the reconciliation of Rwanda. There is one thing that I believe Leah and I have both have seen and that is how God is working through the people here to forgive one another. It is unbelievable the testimony that Rwandans have; here are a group of people that nearly wiped out half of there population due to genocide and the thing we noticed the most 14 years later is FORGIVENESS! It is incredible. Also, the people here are overwhelmingly accepting and nice to us. I have been greeted by children that run at me just to give me a hug, also men and women greet us in the most comforting ways. Today a young boy ran to me and in the little bit of English that he knew he said “May God be with you!” I think there is an ongoing trend here in Africa, and that is the value of people and hospitality that they have here. Leah and I are doing great and we miss everyone back home, but in all honesty we are having the time of our lives and feel that we are exactly where we should be. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Enjoy the photos and until next time Caio!

ETHIOPIA

Salam! That is Amharic for "hello"! For the past month I have had the most amazing opportunity to travel to Ethiopia, the second most impoverished country in Africa. In Ethiopia I taught 9th grade English in Tach Gayint - a small village in the middle of "no where" Ethiopia.
God really used this experience to teach me many different things. One of the the things that I learned was just how BIG our God is! I felt completely overwhelmed once I reached this village and had to figure out why in the world these students even have the desire to learn English. I felt like it was a pointless idea, but as I spoke to the students and the teachers I discovered that it was not only English that they wanted to learn, they wanted to develop their country. This seemed like an impossible thing for me to help with. As I stood on top of one of the mountains and looked down on Tach Gayint and realized how small it actually was and how little I was compared to that. This is when I realized that any change that I was going to bring to this place was going to have to come from God. I taught 2 classes and helped with starting up an English club for the students to develop their English better. Also, I taught computer skills to teacher. That was an experience, many of the teachers did not even know how to double click a mouse. But my friend Scott, another Go-Ed practicum student, helped and together we taught them to surf Encarta- b/c they had no internet! They really loved it once they got it figured out! Also, Scott and I helped with revising papers for some local Food for the Hungry projects. The picture to the top left is me with some of my students.

To the top right there is a picture of a beggar girl that lives on the streets of Addis Ababa- the capital city of Ethiopia. Many of the children are forced by their unemployed parents to beg for money. The children work all day asking anyone for change. I had a difficult time with this because I know that money will not solve there problem because they will just spend it and be righgt back to the same place. So, when I could I offered food to the families. Many times they were very grateful, but there were times when the children would just look at me and continue to beg for money. This was very disappointing. The children were only focused on money, they have been taught to accept only money. Please pray for the children in Ethiopia and all over the world that live difficult lives as these.

In this both of these photos above you can see just a little bit of the wild life in Ethiopia. There are wild camel that just travel in herds and then baboons. I also saw pelicans and hyenas. It was very cool. This was the Africa that everyone talk about when it comes to the scenery and animals. It is beautiful here, but it is very hot and dry. You can probably imagine just how excited I was when I saw all of these animals.

In these next photos, there is just a little bit of the scenery of in Ethiopia. At the left I am standing in the center of the two men, in the middle of a potato farm, directly in the middle of a beautiful valley. You can see the sun peircing through the mountains. On the right, I am standing in the middle in front of the Blue Nile Falls- just like what I imagine The Niagra Falls to look like. Here we saw some university students having a mud fight in the pools of the falls and decided to join them. They welcomed us in without question and we got as muddy as ever!!!

All in all I learned so much about my self and my relationship with God during this month long adventure. God is continually molding my heart and changing me for the better. I am so excited to now be back in Kampala, Uganda with Leah. We have been sharing all of our stories and we are excited to be with eachother again. Tomorrow we both leave for Rwanda, by bus, for 9 hours. It will be long and tiring I am sure, but praise God for this experience.
Continue to pray for both of us and we will try to stay in contact the best we can. Thanks and God Bless!!!