It's Friday Already? October 2,2009

I can't believe it's Friday!
These days have been a whirl wind of wonderful activity! I'll try to summerize: Wed. Tamara, Shelly and I were invited to a school and there we made mud to make hand prints of the little children. They were a bit reluctant to get their hand dirty but we all had the opportunity to file to the water barrel for a quick wash-up so no problem. The program included visiting 3 rooms of children where we sang and taught Jesus Loves Me and made crowns complete with a crowning ceremony where we spoke of how special they are to God. I was amazed to see the English alphabet written on the board and hear some of the children practice saying "My name Is....." in English! English is taught in all classrooms now and they were so pleased to practice it with us!
From the school we were joined with Pastor Mike and rushed off to a church where he preached on forgiveness. We are so loved by the church people. They like to hear us try to speak in their language too. Our brothers and sisters of Rwanda greet you! We as guests, are treated so sweetly, given the seats of honor up front and I just can't tell you in words what a joy it is to hear their singing! I did get a recording of some of it to bring home.
I had an opportunity to "visit" with our driver and share the gospel, encourage him in his language study, and compliment his "good driving" skills. He is the one who gave me a gift last year which was very unexpected. He was a "very good driver" and that compliment went a long way I'm guessing. I asked him with the help of a dear older man named Pastor Clement if he was a believer. I'll have to write more about it later but just need to state here that the pictures in certain tracts I had were really helpful!
We have lunch at Kabuga most every day.
This day, Tamara and I headed out to a church that Joshua and Evelyn would remember from last year. We were expecting 120children to do the crowns but had to lay that aside as the church wasw packed with 400 plus kids! We had to "wing it." The gentlemen of the radio station from last year was also there to greet us too. It was a wonderful time, both remembering when I was there last year and seeing so many of the children who remembered JOSHUA! We got so many sweet hugs and many practiced their English skills "my name is ....."

Thursday, Oct. 1
I was asked to go with Pastor Mike to another church this am. This time I wanted to be prepared for what I learned the day before could happen......be asked to speak also. So I studied Steve L.'s foundation lesson 1 and made notes all the while praying that should I be called upon to speak God would help me to speak what He wanted! Tom was our interpreter once again and a very good one! The lesson I gave introduced the Bible as trut from God not just thoughts from people in the USA! It is hard to put into words how wonderful it is to be received by the pastors, and people of the churches here.
In the afternoon we went to the ERM office and meet with a large group of the widows and orphans. There were so many more than last year it was overwhelming. I was going to set up interviews with a few to record their stories. That happened but for only 4! Then John and I were whisked away to another church. We were to be the guests at Tom's church for the evening.....actually we were to be the featured speakers. Tom stated he could "supplement."!
So John ajusted to the idea that he'd be preaching and I was so grateful to still have the notes I took with me from the morning "talk"! OH, it was just a wonderful time! Pastor Augustine, Tom's pastor had had to leave for schooling in Uganda on Sunday so we were only able to see him a short time. It was this evening we also decided where most of our Bibles should go also. This church is one of the poorest in Kigali and so many of the people had no Bible. They were so grateful!

Friday
All were at Kabuga today but before I got there, Kristi and I went shopping. I had a project in mind for the ladies involving flannel but also needed Calcium tabs. For the past two nights my left foot had cramped up ......weird! Last night had been the worst yet, ever actually! I thought I might pass out, almost threw up, from the pain of it's contortions.....just weird! (Yes, this year my body has been a source of some troubling things....just more opportunity to cry out to the Lord for His healing and also, learning more sympathy for others in pain!) I think now how easy it was for me to go into the Pharmacia to purchase the necessary help. So many here are not able to do that.
Today I worked hard at learning to pronounce the names of the ladies at the center. I took pictures and wrote out their names in the way they sounded so I would say them correctly. We have 3 babies at the center and another on the way. So we made baby blankets instead of the project I had been thinking about for the ladies in prison. Jeanie, last year, had purchased lots of rotary cutters so I had two learning how to square up the fabric and cut "more, faster!" It was a wonderful day of getting to know them much better. We heard the hum of the machines rolling along today! It was good! They are making lots of shirts for team orders and also learning how to use those machines. Godbett is skilled on the serger. There were only a few minor problems with certain machines today, and it was very clear that they are feeling more comfortable using them!
Steve L. and Mike presented their discipleship materials, studies today. Please pray that these pastors who serve the largest church here would be open to them. It is so important......"rightly dividing the Word of truth......"
There is so much more to tell.....It's raining really hard right now. It's been drought conditions.....It is supposed to be the raining season.....I guess it really is......now.
In His Love,
Debbie