Sent to Rwanda

In my opinion, and of course this is my opinion because this is my blog, but I believe that the general church-going population believes that as a missionary, I am always on this mountaintop spiritual "high". That I am always seeking God because I have moved so far from home and my family. Let me dispel this rumor, this is not true. Just like in America, my spiritual walk has peaks, valleys and plateaus. There are times when I see God working and moving in such tangible ways that I sit back and worship and praise His name. I pray so fervently that I become physically tired. Our team takes time to pray every week for various things, but always seeks God's guidance and leadership over us. And there are times when I see a situation and I pray real hard and I don't see God moving and I look to the sky and ask, "Where are you? Creator of the universe, who can make all things happen and controls the movement of every star, why aren't you moving in THIS situatio...

This morning at our Christmas service at Christ's Church in Rwanda, I cried a little. I listened to Moses, our youth minister, read the story of baby Jesus and how King Herod wanted to kill him and I cried a little. I looked around the room and watched as one of our team members had quite a few family members fly in from America and I cried a little. I sat on a row with my roommate and our 3 grown up girls who live with us and I cried a little. I watched as those 3 girls praised the Savior of the world with everything they had within them and I cried a little. As a member of the choir, I sang a song about feeling Jesus in my bones and not being able to hold it in and I smiled the widest smile of the day! My life is so very different that 1 year ago, 2 years ago and goodness knows 3 years ago and we aren't even going to 4 years ago! But isn't that how it should be? Each year we can smile and know that we are different people because of a Savior who came to the w...

I haven't written about those cutie babies in a while, so I figured it is time. I call them babies, but they are really babies up to little kiddos. Someone posted on facebook the other day something to the effect "People frustrate me when they say, 'I'm not ready to adopt'. Do you think the children out there were ready to be orphans?" I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to visit the local orphanage and get to love on the babies. Some people don't like the word "orphanage", I guess it's no longer politically correct, so maybe I should call it--place for babies who don't have a mom or dad. It has been a roller coaster of emotion over the last few years--visiting the place for babies who don't have a mom or dad for the first time is overwhelming. The reality of babies who don't have moms and dads for whatever reason and looking into their little eyes is a tough one. Even tougher is seeing a special needs child, knowing th...

First, may I say sorry for not writing in so long. I've been going 90 to nothing and decided to take a little breather. I sent an email recently about the new young women's project (which we are still needing funding for...www.duhugurane.org). In addition to this work, there has been some extra  things going on that I wanted to share about. When I returned, I found a roommate and a house pretty quickly. The roommate was set before I left and the house kind of found us. I have questioned why this house, it's a little too big for just the 2 of us and was completely empty when we moved in. Recently, we were challenged at church to pray for an area--our property, a neighborhood, city, etc. I choose to pray outloud for my compound. (All of our houses are surrounded by a wall and gate and are called "compounds".) I don't know why, it was just on my heart. Around the time these prayers began, we started looking for one more roommate to help with expenses. A reall...

Wow. It seems like yesterday I was driving around Oklahoma seeing family and friends, drinking Dr. Pepper and eating loads of Mexican food! So let me update you on what has been going on for those who don't follow my every move on Facebook. This is a long one…so grab your coffee and let's go... I jumped right back into work right away, but with a new approach. While in the states, I kept hearing the same message from speakers and mentors: See where God is working and find how you can be the hands and feet, not the other way around. I realized that I'm not supposed to do something, then try and figure out how God fits in. I know, this may be common sense to you, but I'm a little slow and new to this missionary thing. =) Also, I want to get really focused on where my times goes. There are so many good things to be involved in, but I really want to be focused on doing something really well. So you may be asking…where is your focus going? During the month o...

Coming back to Rwanda is like coming back to school after a summer break. Everyone has new clothes, new hairdos, and new gadgets to show off. But there is one thing that doesn't change. Every time I return to Rwanda I always look for one familiar face...Fanny. Fanny is one of the employees on our ROC--school and church property. She has been here since my first trip 3 years ago. She is by far one of the sweetest, most gentle souls I've ever met. Sidebar: The cultural norm here to greet another female is to embrace and touch one cheek with yours, then the other, then back to the original side and sometimes you get this...(in my opinion) a weak, limp hug. I like a good bear hug when I've been gone for awhile. That big squeeze that might cause you both to fall straight over! When I saw Fanny for the first time last week, she gave me a bear hug! It's good to be back!

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!” ~Jack Kerouac