Back in Gunnison - Long Overdue Update

God has been blowing me away lately. He has definitely been releasing His Spirit in Gunnison in a totally new way. My church, Community Church of Gunnison, put on a Big Tent Revival event for 4 consecutive nights in September. It was fantastic to see how many people came out for dinner, fellowship, and raw worship. I loved how free I felt (and sensed the same for many others) to praise and worship the Lord in a setting different than our standard pews.

Since then, I've felt God's Spirit move drastically in my small group. I feel that we are all coming more alive in Him and are sensing His presence and what He desires for our time together. This is so exciting for me because last year, before YWAM, our group never felt "deep." I loved the girls in it, but it was always very surface level conversation about what we were reading, but we never deepened our times together to Experience God.

I am also super excited for wonderful reunions with Sisi and Corlize (both friends from Kona) in the next couple of months. While I was out in Kona debriefing in June, I really felt that God wanted me to invite Sisi to Colorado for Christmas. She was very excited by the idea, so we went forward with plans. Now, we have extended our plan to include a trip to Kansas City for the OneThing Conference (hosted by IHOP - International House of Prayer) at the end of December. Ericka Smiley (also from my DTS) is going to meet us there and we already feel that God is preparing a time for us to be His princesses :) God even had a wonderful "royalty" coat at the front of the rack at the thrift store when I went to look for something warm for Sisi to wear while she is here visiting. I love Him so much!

My reunion with Corlize will come in January. She's invited me to come visit her in South Africa when she goes back home for awhile. God has spoken to both of us that this will be a time of healing and redemption of Africa in my heart. I am so blessed to have her open her life back home to me in part of the healing process that God desires in my heart! God has told me that He wants me to travel again and even confirmed it by providing a wonderful (nearly new) rolling suitcase set at the thrift store for an incredible price. I feel so loved and provided for!

AND God has been speaking to me more about Portraits of Papa, the children's book that He put in my heart last October during my DTS. I was praying fervently a couple of weeks ago that He would break down the wall that went up preventing me from hearing his guidance as I move forward with this dream. He brought my attention to an incredible "story" of scripture that I found online weeks before titled "The Best Dad in the Universe." I read the whole thing out loud and then was flooded with ideas of how God wants me to word parts of Portraits of Papa. While I was in Kona in June I felt inspired to create a set of paintings called "because He love me." I never painted them, but I feel that God is incorporating that idea into Portraits of Papa.

As of now, each page is going to start with "My Papa loves me so much that..." and then I describe some wonderful, incredible, beautiful way that Papa shows his love to me through His creation. I am so excited about this! The very next day I was meeting with one of my clients for work, and we got talking about my plans when my job is done in a few weeks. I shared about my book and he said, "Sounds great. Write it, bring it to me, I edit it for you, and my publishing company will publish it." WOW - thanks GOD!

So that is a quick update of my life in the past few weeks. I am so glad that God called me back to Gunnison to be part of this monumental time for our city. His Spirit is alive and moving big time! I am here offering myself to be used for His Glory and bringing His Kingdom to the heart of all those in the Gunnison valley :)

Life Update - Sunny Gunny Summer

I have been really bad about updating my blog. So, here is a quick overview of my life since I last wrote in June.

I found a really cute alley house to rent in Gunnison and moved in the beginning of July. I am living by myself and it has been great! I was hesitant at first because I had been so lonely in Rwanda, and I didn't want to isolate myself from people when I was back in Gunnison. Instead it has been a place of rest and relaxation. AND I have some amazing quiet times here worshiping, reading my Bible, praying, and just resting in God's arms.

Then in mid-July, I hit the road with my wonderful friend, Gabby Rose, for a road trip through Utah, Nevada, Oregon, California, and then back home. We had a incredible time checking out more of God's great creation on our 10 day, 3,0000 mile adventure! Here are a couple of pictures from that trip:

Crater Lake National Park, Southern Oregon The coast off Northern California



Ready for a night out in Las Vegas Hanging out with John, a friend from college


When I got back from my trip with Gabby, I started working again with the Go To Guide Telephone Directory. I do advertisement sales for them here in Gunnison and in Montrose. I really love all the people I work with. My job also gives me great opportunities to meet new people in the Gunnison valley. I continue to pray that God opens doors for me during my work day to share His love and hope and encouragement with the people He places in front of me.

So a couple of days after I started, a dear friend of mine and her husband were heading to Lake Powell. They had invited me three years in a row and I had never been able to make it. I had already declined again for this year, and at the last minute, I called Mariah up and asked if I the invitation was still open. I was making an uncharacteristic decision taking days off of work my first week back, but I just couldn't pass this one up.

God blessed our time in Lake Powell. I was able to get to know Mariah's new husband, Christian, and spend an incredible weekend in awe of God's creation of the red rocks of Lake Powell (and their beautiful reflections on the water). The stars at night were one of my highlights - especially the night I woke up at 4am and sat in worship as the stars from the sky were mirrored off the still waters of the lake. That was one of the most beautiful things God has ever shown me.


When I got back home, I was ready to make my house more beautiful. Jessi, my sister, came over last week to help with some landscaping. We laid down weed-block, moved rocks, planted some hearty perennials, and made a little oasis in my alley. Since last weekend I planted a few more plants, put down more rocks, and brought 2 bright blue chairs from my parents house to use at my "spool" table. It is so great to have a place to sit outside for meals or sipping wine with friends.


So, God continues to reveal to me the beauty of His creation. Last week when I drove to Montrose for ad sales, God gave me an incredible show in the sky. It had just rained really hard when a saw a double rainbow in the sky. Then, it looked as if the clouds were on fire. The sun was just setting and casting incredible colors on the clouds just above the road. I was in such awe! I blasted the song "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin over and over as I watched God's hand at work in the sky. WOW! Thank you, Lord!
So, here I am starting my fourth week back at work and loving life. God is also preparing me for my next big challenge - writing, illustrating and publishing one (at least) children's book. More on that in future blogs.

Thanks for reading : )

Rested and Ready...

I have been home in the States for 5 weeks now. Time has flown by. I've spent some quality time at my parent's house in Montrose, CO (just an hour west of Gunnison), time in Longmont with my grandma and friends there, a few days with some college friends and their adorable kids in Pagosa Springs, and of course time visiting friends in Gunnison. Oh yeah, I also made a week-long trip to Kona, Hawaii to debrief with my school leaders and process my time in Rwanda.

So, after all of that, I feel comfortable declaring my next step. I will be moving back to Gunnison and taking up my old position with the Go To Guide Telephone Directory as a Sales Rep. I am excited to get to know some more people in Gunnison and am praying for meaningful time with my clients. Last year before I left for Hawaii, I sold ads for the Go To Guide to our Montrose clients. I had incredible conversations with several of our clients about my missions adventure which led to deeper conversations and even sharing of testimonies. I am praying that God will arrange similar meetings with my clients this year. It makes such a difference in my day when I can relate and discuss with people on a deeper level beyond the business talk.

I will also be committing time to my artwork again. I haven't painted at all since last summer and only did a couple small pastels while I was in Hawaii. So, I am hoping and praying for a great place to rent in Gunnison that has room for a full fledged art studio! God has been giving me ideas about the next pieces to create, so I am ready to jump in!

That's it for now. I am going to Gunnison tomorrow to look at a couple of rentals, so please pray with me that one will work for me :) Hopefully my next post will be from my new home.

I don't have any pictures to post from the last 5 weeks because my camera was malfunctioning and spending some time getting some TLC from the manufacturer in Connecticut (thank goodness I decided to purchase insurance when I bought the camera last year).

Good-bye Rwanda - Hello Colorado

I've been back home in Colorado for two weeks now. It has been so great to see my friends and family again. So far I haven't experienced very much reverse culture shock, but I just read it usually doesn't set in for a couple of weeks after returning home. I will keep you updated on how and when the reverse culture shock affects me.

My time in Rwanda was very challenging in many ways. After my team went home in March, I struggled with loneliness and homesickness. The ministry time was good, but going back home in the afternoons I was often lonely and I found myself longing for friends and a social life outside my housemates.

A few weeks before returning home, I met Ruthie and her husband, Craig, a wonderful couple from Canada. Ruthie and I had many great conversations and adventures in Kigali. Here is a pic of Ruthie, Immaculee (my housemate and friend) and I after we went for a little pampering of manicures and pedicures. :)

My sister came to visit my final week in Rwanda. She and I had a great time hanging out. I loved taking her around to see what my life had been for the previous 4 months. We stayed up late each night talking and catching up on the nearly 9 months since I had seen her.

Here are some pictures from the final week I was in Rwanda. My sister and I chipped in (with some support from Community Church of Gunnison) to take my photography students on a safari - quite possibly the only one they will every go on.

Here is our class on the safari and also at their graduation celebration at our house the week I went home. The pictures on the wall are the students' work (my sister brought over a printer and frames for the ministry so we could display our students' peices)


This is Emanwel from the Mango Tree Church in Kanombe.

A couple days before I left, my housemates, my sister and I took a huge load of clothes out to a church in a village just outside the city. The people we so blessed and excited to receive this gift of clothing (thanks DTS students for leaving things behind so we could pass them on to others in need and thanks to my sister to bringing donations from family and friends back at home)!

Getting ready to head back to the States

I got my return tickets back to the states two days ago. I can’t believe I will be going home in two short weeks. I am very excited to see all my family and friends again. I’ve had several dreams recently about being back in CO, so it will be nice to be there in reality. I am realizing that I am going to miss Rwanda. For nearly a month after the team left in March, I really didn’t enjoy my time here. I was very homesick and lonely. I found things to busy myself with, but life just wasn’t fun.

God helped me through that time, and now the sun shines brighter. He has given me a new appreciation for Rwanda, the people here, and my everyday experiences. Just in the last two weeks, I have made two new friends – one from Canada and the other from Rwanda. I have had wonderful conversations with both of these new friends! It has been so nice to have people with whom I can openly communicate. :) Hanging out with them has also gotten me out of the house and into new places.

My relationships with the students in our photography classes are also growing. A couple of days ago we had such a wonderful time of laughter together! I taught them how to use the self-timer on their cameras, so we made a game out of it. Set the timer and everyone has to run across the room to sit on the couch before the picture is taken! I haven’t told them yet, but during the game, I had the video recording on my camera. :) It will be so fun to watch the video clip together and laugh all over again.

A few weeks ago I really struggled to think about what I would miss when I left Rwanda. But God has been working on my heart and I realize there are many things I will miss and many people too.

I will post a farewell Rwanda message in the next couple of weeks (complete with pics from my sister's visit).

Teaching Photography - Ministry

Gabby and I started up our first arts ministry here in Rwanda a couple of weeks ago. We are teaching photography to 10 students (9 young adults ages 19 to 32 and one pastor who claimed his age to be "old").

We are having a great time together learning the basics of camera operation, how to hold a camera, different shooting modes, deleting pics, uploading pics to a computer, etc. Next week, I will teach the students some basics of photographic composition - this is where the real art comes in! I love teaching and seeing the excitement the students have for learning.

We meet every morning Monday through Friday from 8:30 to noon. Our classroom is the living room at a house that some young film makers use as their office/studio/home. Their business is called Almond Tree Films - you can check out their blog and see that our photography workshop is profiles on the main page!

Ok, back to talking about the photo classes. The first two days we each took a turn sharing about our life, family, and goals for the course. After getting to know each other a bit, we started teaching with the cameras. The first 30 -45 minutes are spent praying and discussing verses. Tuesday, we read Romans 12 which sparked a wonderful discussion about forgiveness. It was very fitting because Wednesday started the 100 days of remembrance of the genocide that took place in Rwanda 16 years ago.

We began watching a film documentary, Long Coat, directed by one of the men working with Almond Tree Films Rwanda. After watching the film, Eduarad (Edward) shared his testimony with us and how he lived through the genocide and later had to deal with the shame of being of the tribe who did the killing.

Here is an excerpt of the film that I found online:

Long Coat (dir. Edourad Bamporiki) is the tale of a genocide survivor and the son of a killer, and the problems and pressures they face in the attempt to put the past behind them. The narrative is simple, but cleverly constructed around an old coat and its mysterious, ominous presence.

We are taking a one week break from the classes, to observe the remembrance period (many people take the first week off of work to spend with family, attend memorial events, etc). On Wednesday there was an event in the main soccer stadium here in Kigali. I would estimate about 20,000 people showed up for the evening of remembering the lives of the people who lost their lives, listening to music with messages of God's hope through the death and despair.

The end of the evening we watched a film called "We are all Rwandans." Here is info from a blog dedicated to this short film based on a true story.

"In 1997, three years after the Rwandan genocide, a large refugee camp was disbanded over the border between Rwanda and Zaire (now the Congo), causing a mass repatriation of genocide refugees and rebels back into Rwanda.

A group of rebels bent on destabilizing the new government infiltrated the north, an area called Kibuye, and carried out massacres, mostly against Tutsis.

On the night of 18th March 1997 they raided Nyange Secondary school in the North West of the country. The rebels surrounded the school dining hall and classes when all students were doing their night studies. Students in class 6 were made to lie down and asked to separate themselves into two groups: Hutu and Tutsi.

They refused.

This is the story of those students - whose refusal to separate cost many of them their lives, and who have recently been honoured as national heroes ten years after their deaths."

Anyway, I recommend anyone to watch these films because I believe they truly represent the aftermath of the genocide 16 years ago. It looks like there are other films made which have similar story lines - As We Forgive is another documentary. It was meant to be shown on Wednesday, but technical difficulties prevented its showing.

The remembrance gathering on Wednesday was a somber event. So many people in attendance lived through the genocide and many witnessed their own family members brutal killings. Various sounds and images throughout the triggered serious trauma in several of the people in the stadium. This was expected and first aid teams were on site to care for the people reliving the past. Their screams brought tears to my eyes as I thought how much it still hurts God seeing his children in the agony of reliving the times during the genocide. I can't even fathom how many screams God listened to during the 100 days of killing. Thankfully, my mind is unable to comprehend such pain and grief. I praise God for that. And at the same time I have compassion for the people who lived through such an incredibly ugly time in Rwanda's history.

Well, that is it for now. I need to get home for lunch. Too much internet time makes my brain hurt :)

Thank you to everyone who is reading these blogs. I pray that my experiences teach you more of how you can trust God in a wonderful adventure in your own life.

Love you!

Official Graduation Video

This is my official Graduation Video from Compassion DTS 2009 - 2010! With wonderful words of encouragement from some of my friends. :) Click on the link to check out the video posted on YouTube :)

DTS Graduate!

Well, I have officially been done with my DTS for one week! The six month program was wonderful - I definitely had challenges along the way. The time here in Rwanda was especially difficult for me (I hadn't anticipated community living would be so hard), but I have learned tons and am grateful that God brought me through that season.

Since I stayed here in Rwanda, I wasn't present at the school graduation back in Kona yesterday. I missed seeing all the other students from my school, but have been looking through my pics from the lecture phase so I feel like I just saw them recently.

It has been nice to take some time to rest in the past week. I've been able to sleep in, spend some time sorting through tons of pictures on my computer, and best of all, read, read, read. The house is so much quieter now that there are only 5 of us instead of the previous 19. One of my housemates is a 2 1/2 year old, so I can't say that it is entirely full of peace and quiet. Hero, the little guy, is really cute though. He is at the stage where he wants everyone to see what he is doing. I love hearing, "Logan, look. Look, Logan." So cute!

The next 3 1/2 months for me are still somewhat unplanned. Gabby and I will be teaching art and photography so people without jobs and little hope can have a skill to help them earn money. We are still praying and looking for a location to hold the training sessions. Margret and Gabby have a long term goal of having a center with lots of buildings, gardens, prayer rooms, etc. The steps in the meantime will unfold in God's time.

We are also looking for funding for the Compassion Tranformation Center ministry. We have money to pay for rent for the house we will all be living in and will be responsible for paying for the rest of our own expenses. As far as ministry, we will be needing more money for supplies, and possibly renting a building to hold the training sessions. We also need money to help get a business started for the people once we train them so they can continue on.

The University of the Nations in Kona has set up a link for online donations. All donations are also tax deductible. Please consider helping out this ministry we will be starting to empower the people of Rwanda.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=10564100

Next week, Gabby, Margret, Immaculee, Hero and I plan to head south for a few days to Burundi (the neighboring country). We all want a little vacation and can combine it with a wonderful ministry opportunity. There is a hospital prison there that Gabby and the DTS team last year visited. Apparently, it is a hospital that keeps its patients as "prisoners" if they can't pay their bill. We would like to visit them, praying for them, teaching them to paint, and taking their pictures. Right now I am brainstorming ways to sell the art they create to raise the money needed to get out of the hospital. I am sure there will be more about this in the future.

Here is a blurb from the team who visited last year:

We went to a hospital and were informed once we got there that the hospital is more of a prison for a lot of the people in there. In Burundi if you can’t afford to pay your hospital fees, you are not allowed to leave until you are able to pay or someone else pays for you. A lot of the people who are in that situation are kids who have no chance of raising that kind of money (many owe debts of over $200 US), so the situation is incredibly heavy and many of them are living without hope. We got to play and pray with some of those kids and our hearts were broken for them.

Well, I think that is all I have to update for now. Prayer requests: financial provision for the rest of the people I will be working with. God blessed me with a tax refund this year, so my needs for the next couple of months are met. Please pray for a facility that we can use to set up our ministry. On a more personal note, please pray for my parents back home in Colorado - their need is also a financial one.

Thank you for your support and prayers. God bless! Imana ibahe umugisha

Fun days in Rwanda! PREACHING and SAFARI

Last week was great! We all packed overnight bags and headed Up Country to do ministry in a town a few hours north of Kigali. When we got to Nyagatare we found out that we were leading an all-day conference for a group of pastors and young people from the area. I had been preparing a sermon on how big God is, so I was asked to speak for the first 2 hours of the conference. It was great! Due to scheduling, it turned out that I only spoke for one hour, but I believe that even through the huge numbers and braining numbing information I shared, God was working in people's hearts. AND I had the best day of outreach so far. It was really wonderful teaching people about God in a way that I understand (mathematically). :)

Then, the next day, we all woke up early for a wonderful surprise! The taxi (18 passenger van) was taking our team on a safari! Wooohooo! Here are some of the pictures I took on the voyage. We saw such incredible creations, and I was continually in awe of how creative God was when we created all the animals of the earth. There were lots of zebras, hippos, giraffes, impala, gazelle, baboon, water buffalo, willdabeast, beautiful butterflies, and wart hogs. It was so incredible!

RWANDA! With Pics :)

Hello my wonderful friends and family. I thank you for checking my blog on occasion to be involved with the wonderful adventure God has called me to. Here are some pictures from the last 7 weeks here in Rwanda. I have some videos that I will try to add to the blog another time - I just realized my uploading of videos has caused the internet connection at the whole internet cafe run really slow for the last 30 minutes. Ooops :)


OK, so here is a very fun story from last week :)

The team woke up early to leave the house at 6:30 ready for an adventure. We all walked up the hill to catch a taxi - God was watching over us. A few people even climbed out of the taxi to make room for our whole group to travel in the same one (side note - the taxis here are vans with seats for 18 people plus the driver). We rode in the taxi for about 40 minutes out into the country side. It was so beautiful to see all of the hills outside of the city.

So when we got out of the taxi, we each hopped on to the back of a bicycle and went for a ride - well, they were actually taxis. Talk about a rough job - I can't imagine riding a bike with a person on the back of it. It was really fun for me as I didn't have to do any work pedaling the bike - so I just laughed the whole time :)

After the bike ride, we started walking to the church. We were told it was a bit of a hike. When I was totally sweaty and getting tired (about 30 minutes in) I found out the church was still a ways away. It took us an hour and a half to walk (up a mountain) to the church. So, more laughter as we drenched all of our Sunday church clothes during the hike.

The service was more laughter as we danced and worshiped God with some new found friends in a village church on the top of a mountain. After service the pastor invited our team to his house for a wonderful lunch. He fed us sooooo well because he knew how much energy it takes to walk up and down the mountain. I think my plate was 5 whole potatoes, 3 cups of beans and 3 cups of rice with 2 pieces of meat (maybe goat). I did my best but left 3 uneaten potatoes on my plate. The pastor is also a farmer, so the beans and potatoes he served us were from his own garden. Delicious :)

After church our team leader decided to have some fun with us. He picked leaves off a plant that we were walking by and told us each to eat a piece of it. I was one of the first and must have had a funny look on my face because some of the other students didn't even want to try it. I tried to tell them that it just tasted minty, but it really wasn't very good. The joke came a few seconds later with the super spicy aftertaste. A few of the students ran for water jugs and spit the remainder of the leaf on the ground attempting to save themselves from the fiery flavor. The locals on the side of the road just laughed at the muzungu (white people) eating the spicy leaves. Ahh, nothing like laughter to bring people together.

So, we continued walking. It was much quicker down the mountain that on our trip up. Unfortunately, it wasn't quick enough. The clouds opened and poured rain on our heads. Lots of rain plus dirt trails equal, yep, you guessed it, MUD. hahaha. So, more laughter as I watched my teammates slip and slide down the mountain with a few of them ending up on the butts. :)

Oh, what a wonderful day of joy and laughter!

Half Way Point in DTS Outreach

It has been 6 weeks since my team stepped foot on foreign soil. It is hard for me to believe so much time has gone by.

We have been living in Rwanda for 4 weeks already and it is beginning to feel more like home. We have a local shop where we buy our milk, eggs, and bread each day. We also have an internet cafe that we use every Monday on our day off. We are learning which taxis (buses) take us to ministry, certain restaurants and into the downtown area. I have also learned how to count to 10 in kinyarwanda and I have learned a few other words that are helpful in everyday conversations with people we meet along the way. I am very excited to continue learning and picking up more of the language.

As far as the ministries we've been doing here, things are going well. Our team of 15 people is divided into three teams of 5. Each team goes to one ministry for three days each week and then we rotate the ministry locations the next week. The two ministies we've been working with so far is a group of street kids in the downtown area. They go to an organization run by the Catholic church during the day and we go teach them English and do a Bible study time with them. They love when we come! They start up school next week, so this will be our last week working with them. It has been such a joy. :) The other group we work with is a church on the outskirts of Kigali. We are helping them build a new church - so we carry amatafari (bricks) and cement (cement). I have even learned how to carry containers of wet cement on my head. I still have to balance it with one hand, but I am hoping to gain better balance and be handsfree soon:)

Living in one house with 19 people has been wonderful and challenging at the same time. It is never boring to be home, but it is rarely quiet either. It reminds me of when I would have dinner parties at my house back in Gunnison. The difference is that the "guests" never go home.

I will write more another week. It is time to head out to dinner. We are going back to the authentic Italian restaurant for more delicious pizza. It's our day off and so we are going to live it up.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support. :)

Outreach Overview Update - First three weeks

Update written Jan 4, 2010

Wow, it has been a whirlwind of three weeks since I left Kona, Hawaii. My team and I have experienced several trials already and are becoming much stronger through it. We hold on to the belief that God has everything in control even if we can’t or don’t recognize it at times. We have also shared incredible times of closeness with the Lord through prayer, worship, and experiencing more of the world that He created.

To start, our leaders, a married couple from Rwanda, did not receive their visas to go to Belgium and France. Two other students, one from Russia and the other from the Marshall Islands, also didn’t receive their visas and would follow us to Europe two days later.

So, with news for our leaders unable to enter Europe meant the day before our team left Wes, the other student leader, and myself, were told that we were going to be leading the team until our “real” leaders could meet us. At that point they really thought they would only be one week behind us and would meet us in France. The short notice was very difficult for me, because as you may know, I definitely am a girl with a plan. So, now to be responsible for 13 other students was very nerve-wracking for me. I spent the entire last day in Hawaii preparing as best as I could, though I couldn’t foresee the challenges ahead.

After a bit of a mix-up of flights, the initial team made it safely to Belgium and was greeted at the airport by two of the wonderful staff from the YWAM Brussels base. Frankwin and Richt were very patient with us as we stumbled through buses and metros jet-lagged and carrying 2 big checked bags each plus all of our pillows carry-on bags and even a few blankets. We were quite a site, I am sure :)

We settled into our apartment (3 bedrooms) and 1 bathroom on the 4th floor of the YWAM building. Mikaela, one of the other students, and I actually stayed at a family’s home about 15 minutes walk away. We were saving the third bedroom in the apartment for Gabby and Margret assuming they would get their visas soon and come meet us.

I enjoyed staying separate from the team because it gave me a chance to rest and have more quiet time. The down side is that I really didn’t feel like I was connecting with the team on a personal level. Much of their hanging out and getting to know each other took place after Mikaela and I left to go to bed at night.

The first night in Brussels we had the opportunity to go to an English speaking church’s fundraiser dinner just down the street. So the team decided to push our jet-lag aside (11hour difference) and head out for an evening of new experiences. This was the beginning of outreach! We had a great time though we all left before it was over – some of us were literally about to fall asleep on the tables.

The first week in Belgium consisted of times of open worship – singing, dancing, painting – in public plazas and in the metro station. We also attended a few church services where we did our skits (very rough as we hadn’t practiced them much yet) and a few of the team members shared their testimonies. We experienced an African church, Pilipino church, and a Brazilian church all in one day. It was such a fun, multi-cultural experience that I hadn’t even anticipated.

The second week we had planned to go to the south of France and join a different YWAM base and do outreach for the poor people in the area. Unfortunately, when we went to buy train tickets, they were twice as much as we had planned for ($450 per person). So, we went to God in prayer to find out what He wanted us to do.

We all felt that He was asking us to stay in Brussels and use the café area on the first floor of the building as a 24-hour prayer and worship room. I felt that God was asking the team to pray and worship all through Christmas day, so it was decided that we would start at midnight on Christmas Eve and continue until 8am the following Monday. We had big plans - eighty straight hours of prayer for Belgium and worship to the God. We signed up for 2-hour shift to lead the intercession and worship times, and each person committed to be in the room at least 10 hours for each 24-hour period. It was incredible to feel the presence of God so heavy on our souls!

We finished out the time with lots of sniffles and hoarse voices. I guess the cold weather took its toll on our bodies that had grown so used to the warm weather of Hawaii. Overall, we were so rewarded for listening to the voice of God and staying in Belgium for a time of intense prayer and worship. In our discussion after the final hour, the majority of the team voiced how much more faith they have in prayer after such a wonderful time. I had experienced God in a very intimate way and enjoyed a wonderful time of resting in His presence.

My time in Belgium was like a crazy rollercoaster ride. I was on a high one minute praising God and plummeting out of control the next – unable to bear making one more decision for the team. I realize that I haven been operating on my own strength. I really don’t think I know, what it means to have God carry me, or my burdens. Maybe I’ve been there in the past, but right now I can’t remember how to do it.

So, one prayer request would be that I would learn to operate in God’s strength and not out of my own. I was crumbling under the stress of being the leader of the group and having all of the students come to me for answers to questions that I didn’t know. I don’t even feel like a student most of the time because I am always worrying about something or taking care of details that the rest of the team is totally unaware of. Things are getting better now because of a Word our leaders back in Hawaii received from God.

Right before we left Belgium, our school leaders and team leaders decided it would be wise to have one more student step up as a leader until our leaders can meet us. This transition has helped me a lot in my stress levels. I still have a lot to learn in how to operate as a team of leaders.

Unfortunately in this role of leader, I have become aware of my control-freak-ness. Yuck! I want people to do things my way and am not as open to other people’s thoughts and ideas as I thought I would be. Well, I guess that is another prayer request - no more control-freak-ness. :)

So, I guess that brings me to Rwanda! This is really where our hearts have longed to be the whole time. When we stepped off the plane and were greeted with smiling faces we were so relieved and felt at home. One of Margret’s best friends, Immaculee, is staying with us here in Rwanda in a 5-bedroom house that we are renting. It is a great house and very homey! We are all learning how to adjust to the high water pressure, which causes leaky faucets and toilets if we aren’t careful. Sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor just a few inches from the next person is also a bit of an adjustment from my huge bedroom back in Gunnison.

Kigali, the capital city is absolutely beautiful. After visiting Sierra Leone a year and a half ago, I anticipated Rwanda to look much the same – trash everywhere, very run down, and overtaken by poverty. Kigali, is anything but that. The city is well manicured with trees and plants along the side of the road, there are sidewalks along the main roads (which are paved), there are signs on the side of the road for taxi stops, and there are even metal trash cans permanently placed along the sidewalks and streets. Needless to say, the Rwandans know how to make their city beautiful. Now, there are still areas of poverty where the children are wearing filthy clothing and look as though they haven’t bathed in a week. Overall, though, the people of Kigali, take pride in making their city safe and beautiful.

On the down side of things, nearly the whole team came down with a stomach flu – one girl got it in Belgium before we left and so we think it was passed to the rest of the team. It may have also been increased by the change of water and food here. Though we are taking precautions to boil the water we drink and wash dishes with, Immaculee said that most people still get sick when they come. I was struck down on Friday afternoon and spent some time in the bathroom that evening. Not much fun. But now we are all healthy and well.

Yesterday all of the team was feeling better and made it to church at the Zion Temple. It was great to get out and enjoy our first African church service! The mayor of Kigali and one of the ladies on the parliament were at the service and spoke a bit about the politics of Kigali and Rwanda. It was so amazing to hear them praying that all they want is for God to have his will within the governmental sector. We also found out that this is an election year, so we will spend some more time praying for the next set of people to step into the political seats here.

This afternoon we are all heading to the Memorial for the Genocide. I am sure it will be a very emotional time the rest of the team and me. Immaculee will also be going with us, and though she is Rwandan, she has never been to the memorial. I suppose when you live through something so tragic, you don’t want to relive it all at a memorial. We will all be praying for her through such a difficult time.

This week we will jump into some ministry time. I don’t know exactly what we will be doing, but I do think that a visit to an orphanage is planned for sometime this week. I am very anxious to get the ministry started that I emailed about in the last letter, the Compassion Transformation Center. We are praying that our leaders will be able to join us soon. This CTC is really their dream received from God, so we will follow God’s guidance for other ministry opportunities until they can join us.

I do have one more thing to tell you all about. As I mentioned in an earlier update, I have accepted the opportunity to stay here in Rwanda with our leaders until July working to further establish the CTC ministry. I am very excited about this and really feel that this is where God is calling me.

When July rolls around and I head back to the States, I plan make Hawaii my home for a more permanent time. I am going to be making a two-year commitment to the campus in Kona. The leaders of my school, Dawn and Pieter Heres, have asked me to come and be a staff member with them. This opportunity is what I have been dreaming of since last April. Even before I knew where I was going to do my DTS, I knew that I wanted to be in Hawaii staffing after my DTS finished.

As a staff member, I will work with the DTS schools for 3 months in Kona, then lead a team somewhere in the world for three months. The other 6 months of the year, I will be staffing on the Kona, Hawaii base in some other aspect. I have been asked by the couple who oversees the Mission Builders Program (the volunteer program I worked with last March) to staff with her. In addition to staffing, I would also be receiving continued discipleship training through bible studies, small groups, etc. So, I will be serving and learning at the same time – two of my favorite things!

One of the amazing aspects of Youth with a Mission is that no one within the organization receives salary. This keeps the fees down for the students who come in for training and keeps more money going out into the mission field. In addition, financial support is a great way for other people to get involved in the mission field even if they do not feel that is their direct calling.

As I mentioned in a previous email, I am looking for a support team to make all of this possible for me. I have figured my monthly expenses starting in March to be $900. Those expenses include everything: lodging, food, personal expenses, health insurance, cell phone bill, and student loan repayment. I don’t have any specific number of supporters I need, but let’s say people felt called to give $75. That would mean 12 wonderful people could join this experience with me.

I envision my supporters as the group of people who get to share in the victories and cry with me during the hard times. Equally, I want to share in the victories of my supporters lives and cry with them. I will personally communicate with my supporters at least one time per month catching up on their life and filling them in on events in my life. I truly envision the relationship as a team effort – and I just happened to be the hand out doing God’s work during this time.

So, now I request that you take this idea to God and ask if He wants you to join my support team and if so how much He wants you to give each month. I am looking to build relationships with my supporters so a commitment of at least one year would be great! If you receive a “thumbs up” from God, please email me back so I can share more about the support team and you can share how I can support you.

It is such a joy to include you all in this journey that God has called me to! I can’t wait to tell you about all the adventures of the next few weeks. Stay tuned to the long email novels from Logan. More are surely to come :)

Thank you for your prayers and support!