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