Mini-Update: December 2011

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." ~ James 1:27







Hello Anchor Friends! December is almost over but there has been SO much going on with AOH this month. First of all...PRAISE GOD for the support we received to host the Christmas party! We were able to send the full amount budgeted in time to prepare a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth with the children of AOH. We are anxiously awaiting a full update on how this event turned out. We have also received many donations to help with the 2012 school fees for the kids. God is providing abundantly in this area and we are trusting him for every need! Thank you for all your prayers and faithful support monetarily and through words of encouragement. You are a blessing! Stay tuned in January as we will be launching the new website--yea!! We have also chosen a new logo and are excited to use it!

We hope each of you had a wonderful time of fellowship with family and friends during this Christmas season. If you feel so led to sponsor a child to go to school in 2012 it can be done for a mere $50 which includes fees, books and uniforms for the entire year! Email us for more info!

Blessings and Joy,

Melissa
melissa@africaanchor.org

Africa Anchor of Hope: Update November 2011

Hey everyone! We wanted to give you a brief update on what is happening with AOH these days! We recently met with our board and are soon to be replacing the old website with the new! We will let you know as soon as that is up and running. We believe this will make communication much easier and really let people know what we are all about. This is a huge step for the ministry. Our prayer is that we would find more support in all areas and keep you all more informed. Each of us lead very busy lives but it is our desire to be more accountable with communication and exactly what is taking place from month to month and what your generous giving and prayer specifically support in Rwanda. We hope to begin a newsletter soon too! Lisa and I will also be selling T-shirts to help with some of the financial needs and to get the word out about AOH. We know that the Lord is in control and trust His provision for these 65 precious children...He ALWAYS provides, even if it doesn't look like what we expect. Below is a letter from Sarah, founder of AOH regarding upcoming needs. We would love it if you have a few minutes to read and pray for our kids! Thank you again!

Blessings and Joy,

Melissa



Hello Anchor of Hope Friends~

We are excited to take a moment to write you about how our children are doing and the news of Anchor of Hope. As the year comes to an end we are at a time of assessment regarding the progress of our children in school. After receiving the reports of all 65 children we have 65% of them succeeding well and 35% that need improvement. Three children recently took the National Exam that is required prior to entering high school and we are waiting to receive their results from this. Seven children are in the top 4% of their class. We are very proud of them and are excited to see how many of them are improving. They are improving not only in school, but they have also improved greatly in their behavior.

We all know that we are rapidly approaching the Christmas season. We have always been able to offer a special Christmas party to our kids and we hope to do the same this year. This year will be a little different as we now have 65 children who will all gather together with at least one of their parents or guardians. We will also invite some government officials. Our staff has put many wonderful ideas together for this to be a joyous day for the kids.

One week after Christmas the kids will start their new academic year. This is the time that all school fees are due as well as the time for school materials to be purchased. We try to make sure all our kids have the basic necessities they need to start the new year well.

Proposed Christmas Budget: $4,375

This includes a shirt, pants, and pair of shoes for each child; renting the facility for the party, food and drink, transportation, an Anchor of Hope t-shirt, and a musician to sing for the party.

Proposed 2012 School Budget: $7,035

This includes school fees, 2 school uniforms, and materials for the year for 65 children.



As God lays it on your heart, we would ask you to consider giving to one or both of these upcoming financial needs. We look forward to the opportunities the new year holds for these kids and Anchor of Hope. Our Rwandan Director was recently visiting some of the children and their families and sent these words from them:

“We are very thankful to God who made AOH, and who inspired its members with the Holy-spirit’s agape and wisdom. We thank you from the bottom of our heart for what AOH people are doing for us. This is a huge support, affection and friendship we never had before and we pray God to give much power to AOH to allow its people to help others as well as those who are desperately in need like us”.



We have recently moved to a new office that is less expensive and wanted to include some pictures~ Please open the attached document with these photos.


Please continue to pray for Anchor of Hope as we strive to move forward to the places God is directing. Thank you for your love for the people of Rwanda as well as your passion to help others. May God bless you this Christmas season and throughout the new year.

In His love,

Sarah Sebazungu

Anchor of Hope

Home

"His calling, our privilege...serving others in Christ."




We are back! Wow, what an absolutely incredible trip it was! As we reflect upon the last few weeks, it is so exciting to see how God's hand was at work in all that Lisa and I were able to accomplish through Africa Anchor of Hope in Rwanda. We visited over 60 children in their homes around the city and ALL OVER the countryside, took tons of pictures and interviews, talked with multiple parents and caretakers, worked in the Anchor office, developed stronger relationships with our in country staff, visited many dear friends and returned with a fire and strong desire to pursue our passion for loving the children of this beautiful country.





As always saying goodbye was rough. We are not sure when we will be able to return next but we rest in the promise that the Lord does know and that He is not through with either of us yet! I have personally been overwhelmed by His grace in working out every detail of the trip and in how much our friends and family have supported us. Very soon Lisa and I will get our pictures up on Facebook and AOH is working on a new website where we can post more photos and videos. Please stay tuned for the exciting things that will be happening this year with AOH. If you feel led to support one of these precious kids you see or just to the ministry in general please contact Lisa or myself. We would also love the opportunity to meet with you one on one to share stories and details of the trip and more about this organization. Again, thank you for your love for us but more so for the precious children of Rwanda.





Imana igue umagisha (God bless you),

Melissa and Lisa






We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure... ~Hebrews 6:19a

Coming to an end...

Hello!
Well...it has been a few days since we have posted and we finally have some time to update you! We have been so thankful that we have been so busy! Since our time here was short we have been praying that we would have full days and be able to get done what we felt like God was calling us here to do. Like Melissa said in an earlier post we were able to visit about 65 of our Anchor of Hope children in their homes or at school, get updates on them, pictures and video to take back home. These kids are absolutely precious! The 3 full days that we spent visiting the children in their homes was emotionally hard, seeing how little they have and after talking to some of their families there are so many more needs...it can get overwhelming. We had some sweet moments of just spending time in prayer with these families, trusting and knowing that God will provide.

Last week we were also able to visit the school that Melissa and I taught in last summer, it was fun to see the kids and teachers again and spend time with them.
We have also been able to spend the last two sundays worshipping at Pastor Esron's church! We have been so blessed by his family and he and his wife, Kezia, always take such good care of us while we are here!

The next few days will be busy as we wrap things up here. Tomorrow we will work in the AOH office, Wednesday and Thursday we will be at the Non-Profit exhibition that is taking place here in Kigali. We are excited that AOH will be at this and be able to share more about our ministry! We fly out Thursday evening at 8pm...Kigali time.

We have said good-bye to the AOH kids, never easy, and we will spend the next few days saying good-bye to our sweet friends here. Please pray for us over the next few days as we finish the last few things.

We are so thankful for the time we have had here! Like every time...we have mixed feelings about leaving. Not ready to say good bye to our friends here, but also miss our friends and family back home.

Thank you again for all of your support! We have been so blessed by you all! Your emails, texts...even though we can't text back, and facebook messages! We are so thankful for each of you!

"It's my purpose to ascribe all the greatness of my God, I'm yours and you are mine, I reflect the light you shine. I was made for such a time as this..." - John Sherrill

Love you all,
Lisa & Melissa

The Focus of His Love

"Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Etiquette is the good and acceptable form of manners in a given culture. Never have a superior attitude as you compare cultures. Everyone is precious to Jesus. Each is the focus of His love."

Yesterday Lisa and I went out to the countryside to meet the remaining 10 children sponsored by AOH. It was yet another incredible day! We visited many homes, some situated on the side of a mountain! We walked up and down steep paths and through farm land to visit the homes of about 8 of the 10 we met that day. Like the other two days, we were agian humbled to see the conditions in which they lived but were met with smiles and thanks. We are tiered but after we met the last child we now feel that the task God had designed for us here in this short time is coming to a close. We have met over 60 kids and visited over 20 homes since we arrived. However, we still have a lot to do before we leave Rwanda. Tonight we will have a meeting with the AOH staff in Kigali and then tomorrow will go to the market to buy supplies for Saturday when we will meet with the Kigali children again. We are busy girls but are loving it! Please keep up the prayers and thank you so much for followingt the blog, it means so much to us!


For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- Eph 1:4,5

The Journey Together...

"The best that God's people have to offer is ourselves. Only when we put ourselves in direct, personal relationship with the people of God in the hard places do we begin to understand their needs and accompany them in the pilgrimage of faith...It is no longer the rich stepping down to help the poor but brothers and sisters in Christ stepping across th journey with one another." ~Daniel Rickett


Yesterday was another incredible day...it was exhausting, dirty and emotinally draining but Lisa and I have been once again humbled. We left Kigali at 8am yesterday and visited 20 children in thier homes traking pictures and interviews and listening to their needs and struggles. The looks on the faces of the kids as we entered their homes was priceless. Some were very shy and some ran at us with smiles and hugs. It was difficult to see the poverty that they lived in but this was overcome by the amount of joy that was felt. Over and over the families and kids thanked AOH and even said that we were like family to them. We walkied all over the countryside and even got to see the land that could possibly be the furture home of an AOH facility. It was dark before we returned to the city but our take on the day was that it was incredible! Tomorrow we will go out and do the same and meet with the reamining 20 kids. Please pray for endurance and strength for us! We are so very thankful for the staff here in Kigali, they work extremely hard and are incredible with these children and thier families. We feel so blessed to have them! Thank you for the prayers and please don't stop, we are seeing God's hand and provision daily here in Rwanda!!!

:) Mel and Lisa

Muraho!

Hello!
What a fun day we had today! Melissa and I walked to AOH this morning to meet the kids and mother's as they came to get their food that AOH supplies them with! We spent time playing with the kids and then sat in on a Bible Study taught by Kezia that she did with the mothers of the children. Cannot say enough how wonderful Kezia and Moses are with the families, they have such great relationships with all of them! Then Melissa and I were able to share and encourage the mothers and children, such a blessing for us to do. Moses asked the children if they would like to say anything...this was absolutely precious. They thanked AOH for all it does for them, supplying school fees, food and the knowledge to know Jesus. Pretty sure Melissa and I were both tearing up at this point. I can't say how amazing it is to hear straight from them how much AOH has done and continues to do for them. We had so much fun! We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out and talking with a few of the children! We even had mandazi and fanta for lunch!!!

Tomorrow we will go to church at Esron's church, we are really excited to see old friends there and spend time with them tomorrow! Then we will hit the ground running again on monday and tuesday visiting more AOH kids in their homes!

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragment, they mean the world to us!

Love you all!
Lisa

Muraho!

Hello! Lisa and I have had a busy past few days...Thursday we vistited the homes of 18 of our AOH kids around Kigali getting video, interviews, updates, and meeting families and care takers. We went non-stop from 8am to 6pm walking in and out of villages and driving all over the city! It was physically and emotinally draining but a truly awesome experience to see the faces of the kids as we entered their homes. We even surprised one boy by showing up at his school! I wish I could tell the stories about our experiences at each one of our visits but we will have to bring those back and share in person...there were so many! Today we went to the market to buy rice and beans to hand out to the children and their families tomorrow at the AOH office. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again and getting to hang out with the kids. Monday and Tuesday of next week we will hit the road again to visit the AOH kids in the more rural areas of Rwanda. God never fails to give us the strength and protection we need to serve Him here. Please pray that we will persevere in this and that our time will continue to be fruitful here in Rwanda. There is an overwhelming amount of need and it is difficult to not get discouraged so please also pray that we will be able to be the hands and feet of Christ the best that we can. We are trusting Him to lead us throughout this trip and are incredibly thankful for the prayers and words of support from home. More to come!
Imama igue umagisha (God bless you),
Melissa and Lisa

We are here!

We have arrived! It was a long journey (with not just crying but screaming babies on the plane ;)but we made it safely, bags and all! We praise God for the travel mercies and all He did for us along the way...shout out to the Continental lady at IAH for helping us rearrange the weight in our bags and for secretly letting our overweight luggage pass! We know that God was in every detail of our journey here and we praise Him!

We are fully settled in at the Ligue (our home for the next two weeks) and have caught up on our rest and are ready to hit the ground running tomorrow. We have met with Moses our AOH area director and friend to discuss our plan of action for the next few days. Tomorrow and Friday we will travel around Kigali meeting with our original 25 children in their homes. We will visit, get video interviews and pictures. It will be a long few days but we are very excited to see everyone! Saturday we will meet with the children and families at the AOH office to distribute this month's food supply and fellowship together. Sunday we will go to church with our friend pastor Esron (whom we have partnered with in ministry in the past) and see old friends.

Thank you for all the prayers and words of encouragement...we are beyond excited to see how God will work through this trip! Please specifically pray that our time will be fruitful and for safe travel tomorrow and Friday. We hope that we will be able to meet with as many of the 25 as possible in these next few days. Please also pray for our friends Moses and Kezia as they make the preparations and arrangements for our time here. Thank you again and keep following for more updates!

Da ga kunda (We love you!)
Lisa and Melissa

Almost time...

Be still, and KNOW that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in ALL the earth.
-Paslm 46:10

Well...tomorrow at this time we will be on our way to Africa! Like Melissa said in an earlier post, we have some tight connections so please pray that we make those, that we don't get lost in the airports because that's pretty possible :) and that ALL our luggage makes it, too!

We are so excited and so grateful to have this opportunity and can't wait to be there! We have been so overwhelmed by all of your support, and are so thankful for all your prayers and encouraging words to us! We KNOW God has called us back to Rwanda for the next few weeks and are so excited to see all that God has in store and the amazing things He is going to do! Can't wait to see our little Anchor of Hope kiddo's!

Thanks again for your support...we love you all!
~Lisa

"Whatever the circumstances, whatever the call, whatever the duty, whatever the price, whatever the sacrifice- His strength will be your strength in your hour of need." Billy Graham

T minus 5 Days!

Muraho inshute! (Hello friend!) Lisa and I are furiously making our preparations for our journey to Rwanda in less than a week! There never seems to be enough time to get ready but we are greatly anticipating our rapidly approaching departure on Monday, June 6th. We are asking for prayer for the last minute details we need to get in order and for the preparations being made in Rwanda too. Please pray for safe and efficient travel (we have some tight connections, will change planes and are navigating unfamiliar airports this time) and for our continued safety and health now and while we are there. It is looking like Lisa and I will be very busy and will hit the ground running when we arrive. We are excited by this but pray that we are trusting in God's power to accomplish His plan for the trip and not our own. We want to thank all of our friends and family who have encouraged and supported us so far. I am always amazed at how God works through each of you to bring something like this together to further the Kingdom and to serve His children. You are a blessing in the lives of people half way around the world!

If you are reading this and think, wait...what?! Lisa and Melissa are going to Africa again this summer?! (I seem to be getting that response ;) Please read the last post. God has opened a door to serve and Lisa and I are running through it! Thanks again! Murabeho!

:) Mel

Leaving in Three Weeks!

Hello blog followers! It's that time again...time for Melissa and Lisa to go to Rwanda! We will leave June 6th and return June 23rd. Aggh!!

Wow. We are in shock but yes, we are going and yes, we leave in three weeks!! So here's the scoop. As many of you know last summer Lisa and I traveled to Kigali, Rwanda to serve and to encourage believers and ended up spending a lot of our time volunteering with our friends from Africa Anchor of Hope during our stay. Anchor of Hope is a Christian non-profit aid organization established as an official NGO in Rwanda who specifically seeks to minister to children who are orphaned or come from families too poor to care for their needs. AOH is doing this by partnering with Christians in Rwanda who have pledged to love and care for these children as God provides. When Lisa and I returned home from our trip in 2010 we both knew our hearts and lives would be forever connected to these children and to this ministry. We wanted to do more!

That said, last fall our longtime pals Sarah Sebazungu and Heather Clark who began Anchor of Hope asked us to serve on their board. We were thrilled that God brought each of us together to serve Christ and the people of Rwanda! For many years AOH has cared for 25 young boys and girls and their families providing them with school fees, uniforms, books, meals and health care and has now grown to be able to serve 40 more school children from very rural and poor families beginning this year. It has been so exciting to see things grow!

This summer AOH has prayerfully decided to send Lisa and I to Rwanda on an accountability and administrative trip to meet and encourage the 40 new children and their families. Our goal will be to travel to the student's homes and schools outside Kigali getting video interviews, pictures, and further information needed to begin the process of developing a child sponsorship program through AOH. In addition, we plan to meet with and encourage AOH employees, look at land outside the city that the organization hopes to purchase and use to build a larger facility one day, and to hang out with and check up on the 25 children in Kigali. Lisa and I also hope to visit and encourage old friends who we have partnered with in ministry on past trips while we are there.

To provide for the costs of this trip AOH is trying to raise $6,000. As an organization we feel that it is important to send representatives from this side of the world for many reasons. We feel that it is imperative to keep the utmost transparency in our accountability system as well as work with and support our local leaders in these new ministry opportunities. We would like to ask you to consider whether God might be laying on your heart to give a one time gift to Anchor of Hope to help us with these expenses. If you believe God is leading you to give please send donations to:

Africa Anchor of Hope
6001 Huntington Dr.
Tyler, TX 75703

Ultimately we are trusting for the Lord to provide and to use us to serve these children. We greatly welcome your prayers and believe in its incredible power! If you are led to pray now please specifically pray 1) that God would prepare our hearts to serve the people of Rwanda 2) and that we will trust in his hand to provide for every detail of the trip during this short planning time! We want to thank you in advance for your prayers and for partnering with Lisa and I on this mission.

Murakoze! (Thank you!)
Lisa and Melissa