my life belongs to Him: love

Showing posts with label love. Show all posts

Monday, March 17, 2014

Rwanda: The day I fell in love with the schools

Let me preface this by saying I want to move to Rwanda and teach math. That's how my day went. :)

Today was a great day! It has just been so fun to see how the Lord is moving through Africa New Life and all the ministries it has started in Rwanda.

We spent the morning at New Life Christian Academy where we took a tour. We saw some of the dormitories where some of the children stay. We saw the 8-10 year old dorms where 17 girls or boys have one house mother who keeps them in line. Such a big job for those sweet ladies. Next, we saw some classrooms where the precious "Baby Angels" class sang us the songs they were learning. I definitely had some tears going on. Last, we were able to serve the children their lunch, which was a blast seeing how kids are the same everywhere no matter what country. Teenage boys tried to hide their plate under the table to get an extra one. Stuff I would totally see at work...made me laugh.

Cafeteria and meeting room for New Life Church - Kayonza

Precious Baby Angels Class

They have notebooks in Rwanda too. :)

New Life Christian High School can't wait to see it when I go back!

Kitchen and cafeteria

How they make rice and beans #legit

One of the dormitories

We also got to meet some of the teachers. One of the 3rd grade teachers is 24 years old like me and his name is Moses. It's always cool to meet people similar to yourself, but from very different backgrounds.

After our school tours, we went on a Hope Visit. A Hope Visit is for children who are not yet sponsored, but are on the waiting list. We bring them some food, soap and cooking oil, and sit down to chat with them for a little while. Grace, one of the high school seniors on the trip, decided to sponsor Rahema after meeting her and her parents.

Lura Jane (Grace's Mom), Grace, Rahema, Janet (Rahema's Mom), Wilson (Rahems's Dad)

This is why we're here. We want as many children getting an education as possible through sponsorship. Janet (Rahema's mom) said that she is so excited because Rahema has opportunities now that weren't available to her. It was so great to be a part of this today. Grace has a beautiful heart for Jesus and in turn a love and compassion for people.

Lastly, we went to the clinic in Kayonza, where the medical team served last week and a new team is serving this week. They had pediatric, gynecological, general, wound, and men's care. It was a well oiled machine, so they could see as many patients as possible. It has been really fun chatting with these people since Saturday.

The people waiting to see the medical team

We stopped by the New Life sewing center where the ladies make bags, jewelry, and clothing. Shopping here is supporting the ministries and these ladies livelihood, so of course I shopped...duh. :)

Overall, a pretty fabulous day. Grace Bible Church is going back in June to train the teachers in Kayonza, so I am seriously considering coming back. It's been 2 days, and my heart has been captured by the land of a thousand hills.

You might like Rwanda: Part 1.

Baby goats are everywhere in Rwanda

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Rwanda: Part 1

I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe from the beginning…

We left Houston around noon on Friday, got on a 3.5 hour flight to Newark, sat for 1 hour, got on a 7.5 hour flight to Brussels, sat for 4 hours, got on our 8 hour flight to Kigali, and this is where we stopped. That’s 24 hours people. Woah.

Roommate Love!

And we're off!!!

GUYS...That's NYC. I LOVE window seats!

When in Belgium...Eat a waffle. There's icing INSIDE!

Amanda and Grace like waffles too.

This guy was CRAY. He would FALL into his seat which almost pushed the seat into my forehead EVERY SINGLE TIME. 8 hours of this guy + super tired = Lincee and I laughing A LOT!

They brought us ice cream. Best surprise EVER after traveling for 23 hours. Good job Brussels Air!

Needless to say we were majorly exhausted when arriving, and our internal clocks were very messed up. *weirdest feeling ever* BUT we made it safe and sound with no delayed or canceled flights. Thank you Jesus!

We ate some delicious food and climbed into the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in (or maybe I was just tired…). BTW 8 full hours of uninterrupted sleep is magic.

This morning we went to the English service at New Life Bible Church. NLFB is pastored by Charles Mugisha who is the president and founder of Africa New Life. Unfortunately, he is elsewhere in Rwanda, so we didn’t have the privilege of meeting him yet. BUT his brother Pastor Fred brought the Word this morning about restoring the actions and attitudes we had when we first fell in love with Jesus.

Some great things from the day:

The music was absolutely beautiful at the English service.
Pastor Fred brought the kids up to the front and had them say their memory verse for the week. About 15 kids had memorized something, and it was so great to hear children quoting the Word of God.
We stayed for the Kinyarwandan service, and we sang Bless the Lord. So moving.
We had delicious brunch at a restaurant called Heaven, and I went shopping at the gift shop (surprise, surprise).
We drove past the president’s house (that I’m not allowed to take a picture of…it’s against the LAW. Oh and you cant take pictures of the military either.), the US Embassy, lots of other embassies, and Hotel Des Mille Collines (the hotel from Hotel Rwanda).
We met some of the Africa New Life staff. Eugene Mogisha is the Programs Director, John is our driver, and Yvonne is the Missions Director.
Eugene and his family told us about the different ministries that Africa New Life has started. I’m excited to see some of them this week!
Yvonne is a special woman. She is a graduate of the Esther home. She was 1 of 15 chosen out of 100 applicants to receive a scholarship to go to college and live in the Esther Home. The Esther Home is their home while they are in college and there is a strict house mother who makes sure they are staying on top of their studies. Now Yvonne works for ANL and gets to hang with us all week.
John also has a cool story. His family left to Uganda when he was young to get away from the genocide happening in Rwanda, and he returned to join the military when he was 14 years old. Brings some perspective to us in the US who have never been in such desperate times where they will let anyone willing to fight to restore your home country.

Loved worshipping together

Brunch!

Me, Amanda, Lura Jane, Ann, Yvonne, McKenzie
Grace, Lincee, Natalie and Jude

Hotel Rwanda, where many were saved during the genocide 20 years ago

The Egyptian Consulate

The Kigali Genocide Memorial was definitely the toughest activity of the day. It was very important for us to see the history before we serve and interact with the people this week. Seeing the hatred, political corruption, and destructive propaganda that lead to horrible atrocities broke my spirit. Seeing the mass graves (basically 8-10 giant concrete covers), that they continue to add to as they find more bodies, brought uncontrollable sobbing. One of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know how people cope with things like this if they don’t know the true healing and redemptive power found through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Even though this afternoon was tough, I’m excited to continue to see how the Lord has brought restoration to a country that had been destroyed.

Important and tough

To end a little happier… There are teams staying with us from Little Rock and Los Angeles that are doing medical missions in Kayonza. Natalie is our trip leader and she has an adopted son, Jude, who is one and gets to hang out with us while we are here too. PRECIOUS!!

PS. To those of you who care, my blood sugars have been good, and I carry snacks everywhere. Just in case.

Random fact of the day: $1 = 680 francs or $10 = 6,800 francs or $100 = 68,000 francs
We might be doing some math problems in class with this when I return. You know...for funzies. #mathteacherprobs

Seriously. This was the view at the guest house.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Weddings!

Dresses, flowers, food, cake, love. Weddings are something that girls just adore. We're obsessed with them. TLC has so many shows about the dress and competing for the greatest honeymoon. We eat it up. But what is a wedding really all about?

So many dear friends have gotten married recently and on the other side of the spectrum many dear friends' marriages are struggling. All these weddings have got me thinking about the significance that they hold. Are we just having a party to celebrate the beginning of a relationship that will end in a few short years? Or do our friends really mean the words that they say "for better or worse," "in sickness and in health," "for richer or poorer?"

But instead of wondering and worrying about what the future might hold for my friends, I have turned to prayer for them. I believe so deeply that this is the greatest gift we can give our friends for their weddings--the commitment to pray for them regularly.

All that being said, I had the opportunity to be a part of a very special wedding a month ago. The second roomie got married to a wonderful man of God. I am so excited for them and their ability to share the love of Jesus together.

The sweet couple at their shower!

My favorite part of events...CAKE!

Love this!

The Bachelorette

Such a special day

Roomie Bridesmaids

CAKE!

I love weddings, but they always make me more aware of the fact that I am single-and have been for awhile. But the Lord has given me encouragement this summer. I know He has me in this season of life for a reason. He wants to stretch and grow me to be more effective for His kingdom. I need to take this time to become more like Him instead of having a single life pity party. Not always easy, but I know He has someone special for me when the time is right. In the meantime I need to pray for that future unknown person too.

I am so thankful my life belongs to Him.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Who knew that sisters could be cool?!

SO I pretty much have the coolest sister on the planet.

If you know me or my family, you probably know that if I'm not at my apartment or at school, I am probably with my family or my sister. I love spending time with her and going to her volleyball games and band concerts. I'm so proud of her accomplishments! She got an outstanding camper at band camp today! :) She is a MUCH better flute player than I ever was in junior high.

I was looking through pictures of our vacation and a dear friend has been playing with my blog design so I decided to share some sister pictures with you. Here goes...