Rwanda update

Well, I promised you that my next post would be an update on rwanda.....so, I'm gonna start by just posting the newsletter that I sent out before Christmas break. For those of you who didn't get this newsletter, I'm really sorry but that means I either dont have you on my address list, and if so you should give me our address. Or you are among those friends of mine in Europe to whom I must honestly say that I havent sent one yet. I was meaning to do it while I was home for the break, but I forgot that break was busier than expected at times and at other times I just had that feeling of "i'd like to just sit and do nothing" that i havent been able to have at OC and had forgotten what it felt like. Not a good excuse, I know. But I will get those letters to you before I get the second one out!
anyway, for those of you who actually check this post, here is the letter:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,


This past summer, I spent approximately 5 weeks in Kigali, Rwanda on a Let’s Start Talking (LST) trip. If you are not familiar with LST it typically sends out teams of three to six people to many different countries in the world to provide one-to-one English conversation with people. To generate conversation, we read from an easy-to-read version of the Bible with them, in the hope that they will be led to Christ.

In Rwanda, that approach got changed up a bit. Through the missionary, Dave Jenkins, we were able to work with Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). The dean of students there required that we teach all of his students taking English classes, which would not be possible with one-on-one lessons. So we ended up teaching classes of twenty to forty students. We were split into groups of three and each group had a weekly schedule.

We would start off the class session with some activities to warm them up and to get them speaking English. We played name games, riddles, English expressions, etc. After this warm up, we handed out as many LST books as we had, and started reading from the lesson. Then we picked out 2 or 3 volunteers to read the lesson. This helped them with pronunciation, but also let the Word sink in more. We then asked them questions, had them define simple terms in their own words and let them ask us questions. When we felt like we had covered the basics to help them understand the story and they were starting to become more interested in the depth, we broke up into small groups. Each teacher sat with a group of 5-10 students and talked about the lesson in more depth. Students asked questions about the story as well as things not related to it. We encouraged them to answer each others questions in order to get a discussion going and not merely a dialogue for the others to listen to. They asked us questions not only about the story, but about the whole Bible, religion in general, America and our lives. We in turn asked them the same questions and had wonderful conversations with them, getting to know their faith, their cultures, their families and their lives.

We got to know the students pretty well during school hours, but we also enjoyed our time with them outside of school hours, in order to build up our relationships with them as much as possible. In between classes we often hung out on the school grounds to continue to chat with our students and others that we did not meet in class. We also invited those students who seemed particularly interested in our beliefs to have an individual Bible study with us. Some of us walked down the shopping street with our students and went to their homes to meet their families. We also joined some at their churches to tighten our bonds and to get to know churches in Rwanda better.

This coming summer, I will return to Kigali with a Quail Springs Church of Christ campaign group. Quail Spring sponsors David and Jana Jenkins, as well as many other missionaries world wide. They have decided to send a team to every one of their mission sites in order to help with God’s work in those places and form closer bonds with the missionaries, the church and the people who need to hear the Gospel.

Bryan and Holly Hixson are serving as the sponsors for this work. Their two daughters, Alexis and Grace, will join with the mission work as well. Our campaign will look similar to the LST project I did last summer. We will work with a university and teach English through the Bible in their classes. Additionally, we will have one-on-one tutoring sessions through the Gospels so we can more easily form bonds and share our faith with our students. We will also serve orphans one day a week and we will have a few days to travel as a group and learn more about the country and culture.

Our expense for this campaign is $3500 each. God is already showing His provision by providing the first $1500. That means I only have $2000 left to raise. I need to have half of my funds raised by February 15, and the balance by April 15. This money will go to plane tickets, on site transportation, training, housing, food, some vaccinations, work materials, and resources for our service projects. In order for me to be able to go and do this work for the Lord, I will need both spiritual and financial help. If you would like to share in this ministry, but cannot help me financially, I would appreciate prayers. If you can help financially, donations can be sent to Quail Springs Church of Christ, Attention: Rwanda GO Team-MB, 14401 N. May, Oklahoma City, OK, 73134. I have included addressed envelopes for your convenience. If you send a check, please include the following memo: Rwanda GO Team - MB. All contributions are tax deductible.

I have created a blog website where I will be posting information on how my life is going. I plan on having a Rwanda update every two weeks or so where I will give information on how things our going with my fundraising, training and other preparation. I will also add photos and videos from last summer’s campaign. I hope you check it out and add a little comment here and there. Here is the site: http://randaslife.blogspot.com/.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! Have a blessed time with friends and family.

In Him,
Imana ishimwe! (‘Praise God’ in Kinyarwandan)


Next time I'll post an update on whats been going on with Rwanda so far this semester.
I'll let ya go for now cuz I've already given ya a lot to read!