Hello from Rwanda!
My team and I have safely arrived in the Village of Kizirakome. It’s about 3 hours east of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
Rwanda is a clean and beautiful country! The village of Kizirakome fits right in! We live on a gently sloping hill overlooking a beautiful valley of farm country! It’s absolutely gorgeous!
Our host is a pastor who we call Pastor Fatier. She pastors a church known as IHC or International Healing Center. We have three bedrooms to split between the team, we have bucket showers, but best of all… A squatty potty with a toilet!!! It’s a great place.
Pastier Fatier has a son named Bashir (Basheer) who is 19 and a daughter named Vanessa who is 3. Age gaps like this are common in Africa. Our ministry so far looks like we’ll be speaking almost every day aside from Monday (our day off). Well also be doing hospital and children’s ministry.
Also, if you have not heard, Lsquad suffered an unfortunate loss this Christmas Eve..
Each squad is given two squad coaches. They are a married couple brought in to give us council and guide us as we grow through this year. Our wonderful coaches are Jim and Sammye Campbell. They are first time coaches.
On Christmas Eve morning, Jim suffered from heart complications and went home to The Father. This was a sudden and hard time for us but especially for his wife Sammye.
Jim will be missed dearly by Lsquad. We love him SO MUCH!
It’s hard to think that we saw him at the beginning of December as healthy as possible, and he suddenly passed away.
This is a hard time for many people impacted by Jim’s life. Sammye has stepped down to settle into her new life and whatever plans the Lord has for her and her children. As a squad we completely understand and support Sammye in her decision. We love her dearly and she’ll always be special to me and the squad.
Prayer for Sammye and her family would be incredibly appreciated.
Also, here are some things to pray for
Ministry:
For spiritual guidance for our team
That our messages would impact the local church for the glory of the Father
God would be glorified through our ministry
The words we speak through our messages (and life in general) would uplift God and the community.
For the team:
This month will mark our 5th month together. We have hit the next barrier to cross as we continue to work through life with each other. We need intentionality and depth to our relationships. It’s easy to be surfacey and not get close to each other like we have the opportunity to do this year.
This is the last stretch of fundraising for our squad! Our final deadline is March 1st! And for our team, 5 out of 7 of us are still praising God that He’ll provide for our fundraising. We will have limited wifi access for the next two months so our ability to fundraise will be severely limited. Pray God would continue to provide for us like He has and will!
as a team we have been asking A LOT of questions about Christianity and what we believe. This is a great opportunity to grow in our faith and develop a close relationship with Jesus Christ. This is also an area we must be careful in. Pray God would guide our discussions and that his absolute truths would be revealed to us as we ask more questions. Also pray that anything that is not true would be brought to light and that everyone would have open ears and hearts to the truth!
For me:
Pray that God would give me clarity in the questions we ask about our beliefs. A lot of the ideas being presented aren’t exactly what I grew up believing! They question many of the fundamental beliefs I have about my relationship with Jesus, the Bible and the character of God. Pray that Gods truth would be revealed beyond and above our own wishes and beliefs of what we want God to be. Pray that I would have an open mind and an open heart to the truth.
Please pray for my physical health. As far as Africa goes, my team and I have been remarkably healthy. However, I have been sick twice since we’ve come to Rwanda. Praise God, the sickness hasn’t lasted for more than a couple hours (usually nausea and an upset stomach). But I won’t take my health for granted. God has protected us thus far and continue praying that He would intervene in our bodies for us.
Pray that I would stay focused on the present, this month and last, I have struggled with basically daydreaming about life when we return home. I’ve also been a little worried about funding. This is our home stretch and i’m a little under $4,000 away from being fully funded. I know God has it but this month AND next we do and probably will continue to have poor internet access. So pray God would give me endurance, trust and longevity.
Above everything else! Please pray that I would continue to pursue every area of growth God has for me. Pray that I would step boldly into my identity in Christ, that I would step boldly into the man God has made me. That I would pursue patience and peace. I would choose wisdom and discernment and that God would use the remaining 7 months of my Race to the absolute best possible and I would help in whatever ways I can in that process.
We have very limited internet access this month! So friends: Do me a solid and share this blog like CRAZY!!! It’s very helpful ANNND it’s easy ;).
Love you guys 🙂
