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!
