Sent to Rwanda

I introduced "Joe's One More Drive" last week, for the full story, click here A family at our church here in Rwanda has made it their mission to help abandoned children. Faith and Roger Shaw have 18 children they are currently taking care of...with a little help from some "aunties". The Shaw's are currently in process of developing a fish farm, which, in the future will not only financially sustain their large family, but will help teach the children a trade. More information here. In honor of the life of my friend Joe, who dedicated his life to helping others. I am asking you--my friends and family--to adopt this precious family. You can help in several ways: 1) Pick one or more of the children to shop for. Clothes, underwear, socks and shoes are the greatest need, but we also want the children to have a special toy just for them. We will be collecting the items in Oklahoma and then sending them with someone who will be traveling (it is cheaper and mo...

One of my youth minister's in high school, Russ, had a sign hanging above his door that said, "One More." I asked him what it meant and he explained the ending of the movie Schindler's List. Oskar Schindler is credited with saving 1,100 Jews during World War II. At the end of the movie when the war was declared over, Schindler had to escape and was saying goodbye to all the men, women and children who lives were spared because they were "employed" by him. He looked around and said, "I could have saved one more..." Iszhak Stern says, "Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them." Oskar continues to look around at the things he had, even a pin on his lapel and cries out, "This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this...I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!...

I totally stole the title of this from my friend's facebook status. There are some days that I have to remind myself why I am here and then there are some days that I am hit in the face all day. Today was the second. I woke up thinking it was a normal Wednesday morning. Got ready, sporting my lavender Survive and Thrive t-shirt and brown capris (that are now belted up because I'm losing my American weight). I pretty much have a uniform for Wednesday--a comfy t-shirt and pants that dry easy, because we are heading to the orphanage! I had the honor of delivering a donation that had been made on behalf of a family member who had adopted from this orphanage. So we made a quick stop by the ATM on the way. Upon arriving, I noticed there was a small bus full of mzungus (white people), but was determined to deliver this special donation. We had a good day playing with the kids, but nothing too out of the ordinary. As we ascended the stairs to leave, we noticed all the m...

I'm not giving this a title, because I'm not sure what to call it yet...this is just going to be some stuff that is in my head. Maybe no one will read this and I'm just getting some stuff out of my head and on paper (digital paper..give me a break). It's a little longer than usual, so be patient. I have been sick over the last 8 days--sick in bed. It gave me some time to do some reading, some thinking, some movie-watching and a lot of sleeping. Being sick a million miles away from home stinks. Can I be honest? Well, of course I can, this is my blog. It stinks big time. I got a pretty common bug here, giardia, a crazy micro organism that lives in your small intestines. I included a picture because I think it looks like the thing on the Matrix that they pull out of Neo's belly button. I really wasn't "sick" I just had no energy and just felt really lethargic. I have some other bugs that we will start medicines on once I finish the medicine for the g-...

I was told when I first arrived, "Don't go looking for work, it will find you." That is to say, "Pace yourself." So, one of my intentions for coming is to work with the young girls in the youth group. I am still trying to figure out exactly what that looks like. Moses, the youth minister, and I are still working on it. To get started, Moses wanted me to start a study with the young girls. I prayed over it for several weeks and finally just decided to start announcing it and see who shows up. So tomorrow, I will start with the young girls 12-14 years old and on Wednesday evening, I will have 15-18 years old. Both groups are hosted at my house, which is in the same neighborhood as the church and school. As I have been praying and planning over this study, my roommate looked at me a couple of weeks ago and said, "Want to start a Bible Study at our house?" "Sure," I responded. Just before I left, I had bought a Sheila Walsh study called, ...