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

Not a fan of goodbyes...

I have never been good at saying goodbyes, and saying goodbye to our sweet friends here in Rwanda is especially hard, BUT...Melissa and I are so very thankful for the relationships God has allowed us to have here! We have been so blessed by each person we have come into contact with.

We have had a great last few days! Yesterday we were able to go to Anchor of Hope one last time to spend time with the kids and say goodbye. Its hard leaving them but at the same time so encouraging knowing that they are being well taken care of! I cant say enough good things about the ministry that Anchor of Hope does and the way the staff there loves and cares for each child! Knowing they are given a meal a day and loved and taken care of makes it a little easier to leave. They are such precious children and I know they hold a special place in mine and Melissa's heart. If you would like to know more about the ministry of Anchor of Hope you can visit their website at www.africaanchor.org

Last night we went to our favorite place here, Sola Luna, for dinner with Esron and his precious family! They have been so great to us and taken such great care of us since we have been here! Melissa and I call Esron and his wife, Kezia, our Africa Mom and Dad! :)

We leave for the airport in about an hour...will fly to Nairobi and then don't leave for London until 11:00 tonight. We arrive in London early in the morning and then will arrive in Houston around 2:30 in the afternoon on Thursday!

We can't say enough how much all of your prayers and support have meant to us since we have been here! God has done such amazing things and we can't wait to share more with you! Our lives and hearts have been forever changed and we thank you for the love and support you have shown us through this! We will be updating more with pictures and video when we get home and can't wait to show you how God has moved in the people here through you!

Thanks again and we will see you in Texas! :)

Blessings!
Lisa

Home Soon

Today was one of our last days in Rwanda! :( We have such mixed emotions but know these last days are some of the most precious here. This afternoon Esron, Wayne, Lisa and I visited an E Free church plant in Ruhengeri and a man named Pastor Peter. We were able to chat with a few church members, including two primary school teachers. They work at a government school across the street and one has 35 kids in her class!! Agh! Lisa and I presented the church with Bible and prayed together. It is only about a year old and they are facing many struggles.

Next we got a really cool opportunity to visit the police academy of Rwanda and chat with the commander there. He is a Christian and we were able to visit and pray with him. It was really exciting to see a high raking government official who fears the Lord and who wants to pray for his country. Lisa and I left a few Bibles for a few of the cadets. Esron is hoping this will be the beginning of more partnerships within the church.

Tomorrow we pack, head to AOH to say bye to the kids, and then out to eat at our favorite pizza place Sole Luna with Esron and his family. Please be praying for safe travel as we begin our journey home on Wednesday.
Imana igue umagisha (God bless you!)
Melissa

A Sunday in Rwanda...

It has been an awesome day! This morning was such a gift...we left Kigali at the crack of dawn and drove to Muhari (small village in Eastern Rwanda) to visit an E Free church plant that has only been around for about a year. It was in a VERY remote area, literally on top of a mountain! The view from this tent of a church (they don't have funds for the actual building yet, it's basically sticks and a tarp)was INCREDIBLE. Only God could have given us the experience we had today! Lisa and I were able to present 15 bibles to the pastor. His wife has been ill for 5 months and doctors cannot tell them why, he had tears in his eyes as he told us about it. We had the opportunity to pray with her before we left.The people in the church were PRECIOUS and so welcoming to us. It humbled me! We also got to see the church in Kabuga again and visit with the beloved Pastor Thomas. It was a great Sunday!

:) Urabeho!
Melissa

Not ready...

It is always a battle between wanting so badly to stay here and looking forward to returning home! Lisa and I are SO torn...we love Rwanda so much! This trip has been incredible thus far and God has done and will continue to do amazing things here. Yesterday was a great day...long and tiring but worthwhile. Pastor Esron, Wayne, Lisa and our sweet driver Ellie and I left at 6:30 am and drove north up into the mountains to Gisenyi making several stops along the way. The Rwandan countryside is absolutely gorgeous and I can never get enough of the cool mountain breezes and smell of eucalyptus trees! We stopped first at a trade school for young men and women that is run by the Evangelical Free Church of Rwanda (of which Esron is the president). The girls were learning to sew and boys where learning to be mechanics, etc. It was good to see how they are learning a trade to help keep rise above the poverty and make a living for themselves. We then traveled the rockiest "volcano road" as we have named them, I have ever traveled in my life :) to an E Free School in the mountains. The remote area means there are very few schools nearby that students can attend, so it's a pretty big deal that this one has been established...they are praying to add even more advanced classes so that the government will allow them to stay open. The area near the school is also where our dear friend Esron and his wife Kezia grew up. He told us how at 7 years old he had to walk close to 6 miles for water to carry back to his house twice a day! The line at the well was so long as we passed it and I was sure it had to have been more than 6 miles. Esron also described his trek to school everyday as a young boy and took us down the road he and Kezia used to flee during the genocide in '94. The people in this area are so determined and school is so important to them...we were in awe. The land is also steep and incredibly rocky from the volcano, yet the people use what they have and diligently farm the land. After an absolutely adventurous day, Esron took us to the beautiful lake Kivu which is steps away from Congo. We could see it from the lake.

Today has been restful. Lisa and I went to Anchor of Hope to visit and give some Bibles to the kids and begin our goodbyes. It's so hard! Tomorrow we travel East to visit an E Free church plant and then Monday to possibly visit with a youth HIV/AIDS club. Tuesday we pack and visit AOH one last time, then leave Wednesday around 1:30pm. Please pray that these last days will be completely surrendered to the Lord and that Lisa and I can say goodbye in the best way possible. Thank you so much again!
Da ga kunda,
Melissa

In a Nutshell...

The past few days as usual have been great here in Kigali. Lisa and I went to our friend Pastor Esron's church on Sunday and were able to get some much needed rest in the afternoon. Today we went back to Anchor of Hope to help the kids study for exams, have lunch together and hang out again. We were there all day and had a blast! We are planning to do the same tomorrow and then will go out to Remera to visit the nursery school one last time to say our farewells. We are planning to travel north on Thursday to visit a school then north east on Sunday to visit a recent CEER church plant. Saturday we will travel to visit a women's ministry at a church plant though we are not sure exactly where yet. As you can see our time here is slipping away quickly! Please pray for fruit to be planted and opportunities for service to be clear for us during these last days. Thank you all SO much for following us and for praying. We can feel them for sure!

Da ga kunda,
Melissa

Great Saturday!

Today was so exciting! Lisa and I finished up our time teaching at Remera Nursery and Primary school on Friday and had a jammed packed day today! This morning we led a women's Bible study for the ladies in Remera on the characteristics of God. Afterward we went to AOH to hang with the kids again and have lunch. We then went back to Remera to work with the ladies during their craft time. It was pretty hilarious watching two Mzungus (white girls) make beads for necklaces! We did our best! The women sell them to help support their ministry. We prayed and sang together and had a great time. Lisa and I are so amazed at how God has opened up so many different opportunities for ministry here in Rwanda. We cannot wait to see what he does in this last full week. We plan on volunteering with AOH next week some and will be traveling all over the country visiting churches. We are pumped! Thank you again for your prayers.

:) Melissa