Week # 2

so 2 weeks down in the BEAUTIFUL country of Rwanda! It is an amazing country and one i hope to return to at some point!

This week we began teaching English for a class of students. Every morning we begin teaching at 10:30 and have a varied lesson from day to day. The class lasts for about 2 hours. Every student has a varying range of English knowledge and so it proves difficult to make a lesson plan for all of the students but it is a lot of fun. Something of a challenge. I do enjoy it though. Seems like I am the lead teacher. Thanks to my mom's ability to teach ESL for her ministry in New Jersey.

in the afternoons our team has the opportunity to travel to orphanages and play with all the little kiddos or visit different NGO's within the city. There is such a need here for people to just love other people and it is always a joy to hold/hug a child. these visits can sometimes we a little frustrating because people do not always receive us well but God is working in mighty ways here in Rwanda.

On the weekends we have the opportunity to travel to a rural church out side of the city and visit the people/kids. The past weekend we went to Gagatara church, which is a brand new little church starting in a small little village about 2 hours outside of Kigali! When we arrived, we had to walk to the church. People here love to walk and so we walk A LOT! As we got closer to the church we saw a massive rush of children running toward us....not even gonna lie...about 200 kids ran down this hill straight for us...it was the most heart warming sight you have ever seen. God knows exactly what we all needed after a tough week of things not working out.

African are not the best at telling you what you will doing before you actually need to do it. so when we arrived at the church they told us we were in charge of all of the kids and to put on a VBS. Our first thought was WOW...that is a lot of kids to handle. So we busted out bubbles and cameras to keep the kids entertained for like an hour. Then we had a lesson and taught them "Jesus, Loves Me". It was an awesome time. That night we were supposed to be showing the Jesus Film, so we took our stuff and went to drop it off at the hostel we were staying at before returning to watch the film.

At the film, I had about 20-30 kids around me at all times. They were all so adorable and I wanted to take each and every one of them home with me but obviously I could not. A little boy climbed into my lap and fell asleep within minutes. Many of these children just need someone to love them! So I am here to love all of them that I can! I just wish I could do more for them at times! God is going to take care of them when I can't!

After the film we headed to the Pastor's house for a home cooked meal! Mind you it was like 10 at night, we hadn't eaten in about 12 hours! Although, we get into the house and sit down...right across from me is a HUGE spider and it freaked me out! First of all there was no electricity in the town, which meant that I had to view it by candle light. It was HUGE and we were in the house for about 2 hours! They really like taking a long time to prepare the food! Once the food came, it was in a bowl heaped FULL of food. Let's just say the food won that night and I could not finish my meal! The meals here consist of a small piece of meat, potatos, cabbage, beans, rice and some other things I can't pronounce...at least these are the main food items you can see...although in small doses.

Once the meal was finished we sang songs and prayed then departed for our hostel. We went to bed quickly because it was late and we had been up for several hours already! ONLY TO BE AWOKEN IN THE EARLY MORNING BY A HOWLING CAT! It was so loud...it sounded like someone was killing it! It was not a pleasant noise to wake up to at all! That night though...I heard things running around the halls of the outdoor hostel...not altogether settling cause we did not know what lived in the area.

It was a pleasant church service and about 3 and 1/2 hours long again! Once again I had 20-30 kids sitting around me at all times! It was amazing, my heart was so very happy by all the kids!

Our ride back was difficult because the man next to me was actually sweating on me! I moved my arm away at one time and there were droplets of sweat on my arm! It was not a good feeling! The buses here are packed full to the hilt and then some! So it was a pretty tough ride back! I got sick on the bus and could not wait to get back to our compound!

This update does not give our experiences any justice but it is nice to at least let all of you know what is going on in Rwanda! Can't wait until I can tell you stories in person...hope all of you are well!