Almost there....

Hello sweet friends and family! Just wanted to let you know that your prayers have covered us and we are just hours away from Kigali! We are exhausted and dirty but so excited to arrive. Lisa and I are actually looking forward to that cold shower and lumpy mattress at our beloved Ligue (compound where we are staying). We hope to update more tomorrow! Keep praying!
We love you!

Melissa

Today's the day!!!!

As I am sitting on my bedroom floor surrounded by luggage and stuff that clearly needs to still be packed :) , I can't believe this day is finally here!!! I remember the day that Melissa and I decided we were going to go back to Rwanda this summer and it seems like just yesterday! So much planning and preparing have gone into this trip, but it's been so amazing to see how God has provided more than we could have ever imagined!! Which only reassures us that this is what God has called us to do. I can't wait to see all God has in store for us while we are in Africa!

Our flight leaves this afternoon at 4:30 and we would love your prayers for our safety as we travel to Rwanda! We will arrive in Rwanda Wednesday, July 1, I think at midnight, Rwanda is 8 hours ahead of central time.

We are hoping to be able to update this blog as much as we can! Thank you to all of you who have supported us and are praying for us! Your prayers and support mean the world to us and we are truly blessed to be able to do this!

Blessings,
Lisa

Psalm 96:2-4
Sing to the Lord, praise his name, proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all people. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise!

It's About That Time...

Mel here:

Wow! I cannot believe we leave in less than a month. Lisa and I are so excited to say the least. We both have seen God working through people (of all sizes;)to make this trip possible. Matthew you are an inspiration my little friend! Thank you for following your heart, we love you! Thank you to everyone who has given time, lifted up prayers, donated money, clothing, or who have just listened to what we long to see God do in Rwanda this summer. You are eternally blessing everyone we will come in contact with!

Earlier Lisa wrote about her Sunday School students learning the story of Jesus feeding the multitude in Luke 9. That same Sunday, I went to Church Project and heard Jason talk on the very same passage. Coincidence? I think not! :) He made a point that has been stuck in my brain recently. After a long day of teaching the disciples saw that the people were in need of food. They asked Jesus to send the crowd away to look for something to eat in the surrounding villages. Jesus replied in verse 13, "You give them something to eat." Simple.

Why are God's people suffering in the world today? Always a hard thing for me to grasp, especially when it comes to children...but the point was made that it's not because God doesn't care about them. He does care, far more than I understand. People are suffering today because God's people aren't doing anything about it. I am the hands and feet of Jesus on earth and Lisa and I both feel that you are too. Thank you for being obedient to the call of Christ to reach out to His people in Rwanda and right where you live.

Specific prayers:
1. safe travel
2. tying up loose ends at home (shots, pills, supplies, etc.)
3. God's specific purposes for the trip to be revealed
4. That God would go before us and prepare the way

Da gu kunda! (Love you!)

Mel

39 days.....

So...Melissa and I have pretty much started a countdown until we leave! We are getting more and more excited as it gets closer for us to leave! We have been absolutely blown away by the support we have received from our family and friends! It has been unbelievable and we are overwhelmed and so grateful! So thank you to all of you who have supported us and continue to support us through prayer! It means the world to us!

Now for story time! :) There's a little boy named Matthew (he is in Melissa's Kindergarten class and I know him and his family from church) who has such a heart for those in need. When he found out that Melissa and I would be going to Africa he wanted to come with us and didn't really understand why he couldn't. He even asked his mom to ask Melissa and I if he could go with us! Pretty adorable!!! His mom suggested that since he can't go with us that maybe he could do something to help us with our trip, so he decided to have a lemonade stand and give us the money to help kids in need in Rwanda! He invited all his friends from school and church, and set up his lemonade stand at the end of his driveway. Melissa and I went by and it was so awesome, he did such a great job! In the span of about 2 hours Matthew raised over $600 for us to take to Africa!!!! When Matthew told us how much he had raised Melissa and I were both speechless and couldn't believe it! What a perfect reminder of John 6:9-13 about the little boy who only had 5 pieces of bread and 2 small fish...but even though that was all he had, he gave it to Jesus and Jesus fed 5,000 people! Matthew started out with just a lemonade stand, and God provided us with the funds that will be able to help so many kids who are in need! Thank you Matthew for all your hard work and for caring for the children in Rwanda, we can't wait to come back and show you how the money you raised helped kids just like you!











Story number 2! :) Our sweet friend Jamie has a furniture store here in The Woodlands called The Collection. Jamie met with Melissa and I after she heard we were going back to Rwanda this summer and knew that she wanted to help us! She decided that they will be donating 15% of all purchases for the week of May 24-May 29th to our trip. The donations will be used to purchase Bibles and other supplies to help children and churches in need. The Collection has beautiful home furnishings and accessories and is located on Woodlands Pkwy in the shopping center across from Carlton Woods Dr.
Here is the ad that will be running in The Villager next week! Thank you Jamie for all your hard work on this, we appreciate you more than we could say!



So, as you can see, God has definitely been providing for us in such awesome ways!
Please continue to pray for us as we take care of the details of this trip and that God will continue to prepare us and our hearts!

Blessings,
Lisa

Can't Wait!

Muraho friends!

So Lisa has gently reminded me that I need to be posting on our blog :) Sooo...FINALLY I have a moment to sit and type a little bit. I too am very excited to be going back to Rwanda for what amazingly will be my 6th trip. I feel so blessed and slightly unworthy to be given the opportunity once again to travel to the country that has truly stolen my heart! Lisa and I talk about the trip almost everyday and keep saying, "I want to be there now!" We are excited to see the details of the trip and our mission upon arriving in Kigali unfold over the next couple of months. We have even been trying to brush up on our Kinyarwandan, the native language. As I reflect on past trips and think about this one, God has made it clear that now is the time to truly press into Him and seek his purposes and desires for this mission. One of our prayer needs would first and foremost be that Lisa and I would long to see God be glorified and to see His kingdom grow in all that we do before, during and after our time in Africa. It is easy at this point to get caught up in the excitement of preparations and also the business of life in the U.S. Please pray that God will be in the midst of the details and planning stage and that He will begin to prepare our hearts and those of the Rwandese people we have been given the job to love and serve. Lisa and I both believe that prayer is what will drive the trip and we cannot begin to prepare without it. We thank all of you who have shared your excitement and support for us, we feel tremendously blessed by each of you!
Imana igue umagisha (God bless you),
Melissa :)

T-shirts are in!!!

Our t-shirts are in!!

We are selling t-shirts for $25! All the money we raise from the t-shirts will go to help those in Rwanda while we are there. When we have been there in the past there were times we were able to help different church's and school's by providing them with the funds to provide a roof for a church and for one school we were able to provide them with concrete for their flooring. So it's things like that, that we are hoping to do again with the money we are raising from selling the t-shirts! If you would like one, let us know! We are out of small's but have some medium, large's and x-larges left. p.s. they are SUPER soft! :) so even if we don't have your size you can totally still wear it to bed! It's THAT comfortable!

So...I work with some pretty fabulous people (in the top right corner)! They have all been so supportive and encouraging and as you can see...all bought a t-shirt!

I have been pretty overwhelmed by the support that has already been shown to Melissa and I and for our trip to Africa, and by some people that I don't even know who have bought a t-shirt just because they want to support us or telling us that they will daily be praying for us and by friends who live states away. It's so awesome and so encouraging to know that people are already praying for us and our time in Rwanda. So thank you to all of you who have already bought a t-shirt or have already started praying for us!

Ok, I think that's it for now! Just wanted to let you all know about the t-shirts!

~Lisa

OMG OMG OMG!!!

Ahhh! I am so excited to say that Melissa and I are going back to Rwanda this summer and we are so pumped! Right before Christmas we started talking about it and really praying about it and that God would just make it known to us if that's what he wanted of us this summer. Melissa and I both have taken time to really pray about it on our own and together and we really feel that this is where God is calling us back to this summer!

We are still in the beginning stages of all the planning and preparation but we wanted to share this with you and ask for you to pray for us as we begin the planning process of it all and we would love for you to walk through this with us! We are looking at going the beginning of July. We will keep you guys updated when we nail down specific dates, but that's what were looking at!

We know God has big things planned and we can't even begin to tell you how honored and excited we are that God has chosen us to do this! The picture above is of our very first "Africa meeting" and when we decided for sure we were going to do this! At that time we were thinking of going in June...but that has changed now to July, that's why the picture has the June calendar.

We will keep you guys as updated as we can through this blog with pictures and videos, and Melissa and I will both be blogging on this! We love you all...thanks for sharing in this with us!

In Christ,

Lisa

~Psalm 96:2-4~

Sing praise to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the people. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise!