Thursday May 6, 2010...Finally have Internet again!!:)

It had been awhile since we had access to the internet....we had maybe 5 minutes for a bit on Wednesday and that was it so we have a lot to catch up on!!!

Gary wrote on Sunday night that we were with Honoline and Clemence (these are girls that were on tour with Jackson) at a coffee shop hanging out!! We had a great time with those girls..they are so fun and sweet!

Monday morning we woke up very bright and early and headed to Pastor Leo's childrens home way into the mountains called Kibilra Childrens' Center...we had to drive about 2.5 hours north west. Wow..what beautiful country we saw..so green and lush with mountains and so many hills..absolutely amazing! When we drove onto the property we were greeted to 450 children in the field below all cheering for us...then as we drove up the road we were greeted with girls and boys in traditional dance outfits performing for us..it was amazing they were so cute and full of energy. We were then escorted to the playing field where they did some more dancing and singing for us. Gary spoke to them for a few minutes and then we bought them all pop and gave them some soccer balls which they were so grateful for. These are children who have lost there parents and are living with relatives or friends and walk up to 5 miles to come to school.

Pastor Leo loves them all so much and the school is being built bit by bit!! Then a long but beautiful drive back to Kigali. We got home quite late so we had dinner with pastor and his wife and then basically chilled!!

Tuesday morning we headed to Gisimba Memorial Center bright and early! We arrived at about 9:00 and were greeted by Damas the founder of Gisimba and Ildephonse the head master or something like that. We had a nice visit with them for awhile and then Damas had to leave cause his son was sick. Ildephonse took us for a tour of the orphanage and we met alot of people that knew Jackson and remember him well! The children were so cute and loved to be hugged and loved. We gave the children a bunch of soccer balls and some other gifts. We then went back to the office and then took Ildephonse out for a great lunch just up the road. He's an amazing man and we enjoyed sharing our lives with each other..he's got such a great vision and heart for Gisimba and the children!! He needs much prayer. Later in the afternoon we got a taxi back to Leo's house to get ready for the evening. Gary had to tell the taxi driver how to get home ...he's getting to know the area pretty well!

That evening Gary spoke at Pastor Leo's church and I got picked up by Nadine's bro-in-law and father to go for a visit at Papa's house! We met Gary close to his home and he joined us!! We had a great visit..took lots of pictures and then Felix drove us home!

Wednesday morning we got up early again and went to a great coffee shop called Bourbon downtown where we were meeting up with a guy named Steve who is a property manager and business partner of Yvonne Nsenga! That's where we got 5 minutes on the internet!! We had such a good visit with Steve ...he shared his dreams and business plans! He knows the Nsenga's cousins so took us over to visit with Christine and her son Richmond! We felt connected to them right away and enjoyed a great visit!! Then Steve took us around to some areas of Kigali that are being developed and shared the plans for the city with us. I must say we love Kigali...it is such a beautiful city I am going to miss it!! We went to a compound of homes that Steve manages and as we drove up to a house there was a family just getting ready to move in. Turns out that the family is from Colorado Springs..the Millers.. he is a doctor and they have 3 little boys. We had actually been told about this doctor from the Nsenga's before we left cause he had dinner with them recently. We toured the house...it was really nice....I could live there!!:)

We then toured a beautiful new office building that Steve was also manager over! We then met Pastor Leo and Pastor Aaron for lunch at a very nice hotel restaurant!! I'm sure I have gained so much weight on this trip...thought I would starve but we have been eating constantly!!

We returned home and got ready to go and teach at the church...me teaching the women and Gary the men! It went pretty good!!

So this brings us up to today...this morning we toured the Genocide Memorial...very emotional...!! Felix and Denise met us there and took us to pick up their Dad and we went to the property where Denises' and Nadine's Mom and family were buried after the genocide...all in all a very emotional day!! We felt honored that they would want to take us there!

After that we stopped at a market and then met Pastor Leo at Bourbon coffee shop for lunch!

Pastor Leo kept laughing at me cause whenever his phone would ring it would be someone looking for Karen....he said next time I come to town they will have to put out the red carpet!! So funny!!

Then off to the airport where we met up with Chantel and Charity (Nsenga cousins) it was so nice to meet them and here we are in Kampala. When we got to the hotel we thought we were booked at we found out the reservations had not been made so we had to find another hotel...it's all good!!!

See you all soon! God has allowed us to experience the most amazing trip and meet incredible people...we have been blessed!!!

Greetings from Aroma's Cafe in Kigali Rwanda!

This is our internet connection point so we are catching up on our life in Africa so far. It is now Sunday evening. What a day.

We got in yesterday at about 4:45 PM and went to Pastor Leo's house. He has a very nice house in a nice neighbourhood. Kigali is very different from Kampala Uganda. It is much cleaner and more progressive, much less corrupt. Both have an amazing future. We enjoyed a good dinner with Pastor and his wife. We got into our room and crawled into our little mosquito net home and had an OK sleep. (Hot and lots of noises around). We jumped out of bed because my cell phone moved ahead an hour so we thought it was 7:17 when it was actually 6:17. We were racing into the kitchen and nobody was there! Church started at 8:00. The first service was French/English so my interpreter translated into French. The Church was about 1/5 full, maybe 400 people. It was great. The second service packed out, about 2100 people, it was amazing. A decent response at the alter and amazing worship (of course, we are in Rwanda) Passionately pursuing the presence. We took Pastor Leo out for lunch to Heaven restaurant (an american owned business) with great american food. We then had a little snooze and headed out to deliver the gifts that were sent from Canada to family in Kigali. We stopped in at a family home and the little kids came running out yelling, "Mazungo's" or (white people) they couldn't believe their good fortune. It was a fun 23 minutes, because we had two young ladies waiting here at Aroma's coffee shop. So that is the day, almost over. Looking forward to the tent again.

Blessings and thanks for the prayers!

It is Saturday morning and we are getting ready to travel to Rwanda today. We are not sure how much internet access we will have once in Rwanda. We are staying at Pastor Leo's house and it will be different than what we have here. We did find out that we are being charged $10 per day for our internet usage, oops! We will negotiate the price after the fact.

We will try and keep up with this as much as possible but we know we will be very busy meeting people, seeing the different ministries and just getting a sense of Rwanda.

Thanks for continuing to pray for us, our health is good, ( a few minor upsets) and our spirits are strong.

Friday May 7, 2010

Today was a very busy full day!! This morning we were picked up by Chris and Steve of Compassion Country office and headed over to Makerere University and met with seven students of the LDP group (leadership development program). We spent a wonder couple of hours speaking with them, having lunch together, saw our first monkey in Africa, (on campus) took pictures and hugged and said goodbye, but our hearts will never be the same again after that experience. These are students who have come from near impossible situations to get into university, but have worked their way through many hurdles to be sponsored to university. But not only are they doing u school work, they have LDP courses plus they must have involvement in a local church. They are incredible students who will be great leaders one day! Very impressive. Karen and I were so touched and moved. What amazing fruit from Compassion investments.

After that we raced back to the hotel to get changed to be part of the march for Kampala from the Watoto Church down the the Makerere Full Gospel Church. It was a couple of kilometers with probably 2000 people marching. It was pretty amazing. I was interviewed by this white guy who turns out to work for public radio in Washington DC. He is here working on another story but saw this march and was wondering what we were marching for. It was pretty cool. We then ended up back on the sports field and under the tent for one last long service and then over to Bob and Sharon Wager's house for dinner and the balance of the evening. We are exhausted and will go to sleep fast tonight.

I don't know if I missed anything but I will add it tomorrow if we remember anything.

Blessings

Let's try this again for Thursday May 6, 2010

Today was conference day....we enjoyed some great speakers and met some more great people! We had lunch at the Makera church and enjoyed matooke with beef stew/ plantain/ and a great fruit salad...fruit is amazing here!! I stayed at the bible school and did some administrative things with a dear saint Velma Freeman - she actually help start Glad Tidings in Chilliwack way back in the day and she has ministered in Africa alot! We had a good chat with Pastor Leo from Kigali and we are so looking forward to spending more time with him! It's been a great day...God is so good!!

Thursday May 6, 2010

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Our day started out early this morning as we headed to the Compassion Offices to have a tour and join the staff for devotions. There were about 30 people there ...Gary led the devotions, Rod shared, and I said a few things. We then had a tour of all the departments of Compassion Uganda country offices. Very exciting work happening here and we are so blessed to be able to get to know them and share in there vision!

We then left to visit a project in a very poor part of Kampala. The children were from 3 - to end of high school. The kids were so awesome...they sang to us and welcomed us....it was pretty emotional. We met all the staff and then went on some home visits. Wow..so sad the conditions these children live in. The positive thing was that the mom's or grandma's had projects going where they could make money to provide the family. The homes were homes that had Compassion sponsored kids..we saw first hand what a difference it makes in these childrens lives! All the little children kept calling after us...Musungo...they were so cute!

This evening we went to a birthday party for our new friend Mary...her husband and Rod are very close friends and he put on a party for her!! Fun times!