Team Reports
December 22nd, 2006
Well, our team has finally arrived in Rwanda! After 3 days of traveling, we are all a bit jet-lagged, but doing well and excited to be here. It's not easy to get everyone to an Internet cafe all at once, so we thought we would send out the first e-mail ourselves to let you know that we have all arrived safely. If you don't hear from us for a few days, don't worry - it may take a few days before any of us are able to make it out to an Internet cafe again. If you know someone in your family who would like to receive this e-mail, please forward it to them since we are only sending it to close family members.
We have just purchased a team cell phone that you may call on Christmas day (or in case of any emergency) if you would like to wish your loved ones a Merry Christmas! Keep in mind that we are 10 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, and 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Here it is: If you are calling from North America dial 011-250-08-519-477. If you don't get through the first time, keep trying!
January 3rd, 2007
We're all loving being here in Rwanda. Just as we're sure all of you are, we're starting to get used to cold bucket showers, toilets that don't flush, food that tastes similar almost every meal (yet is well-cooked and hasn't made any of us sick), very crowded public transportation, and people staring at all of us 'westerners' as we walk down the street. A word we have all learned by now is 'muzungu,' which means, "white person," as we hear it yelled out at all of us so often. It is much cooler here and a lot more expensive than we expected. Yet, the people are wonderful! Language is a barrier, but it doesn't stop people from saying hello and stopping to shake our hands warmly. Kids will often come up and give us a big hug or hold our hands and walk with us for a while, even if they have never met us before. Most of us have willingly given a piece of our hearts away to various children we have met – especially Clemence, who has been staying here at the YWAM base with her father this past week.
Some highlights for these past couple weeks include being invited to a Rwandese engagement party. The first half of the team coming to Rwanda met a girl named Claire at the airport in Kenya, and she invited us to her house on the 24th for her party. We didn't expect such an extravagant ceremony! Here in Rwanda, the wedding ceremony is in three parts over a few years and the engagement is the first part. Kylee got to be in the "wedding party" as Claire's "sister," and looked beautiful in the traditional clothing and jewelry. We saw amazing dancing and singing, ate a fantastic meal, and even saw two cows being given from the groom's side as a present for gaining a daughter in their family.
Four of us were able to visit a small orphanage early in the morning of the 25th and we passed out gifts and played there for several hours, which was such a wonderful way to spend Christmas morning. All of our team went to a bigger orphanage of mostly older kids the next day, bringing gifts and spending some time taking pictures and being shown around the property. On New Year's Eve, most of us went to an American house (through a friend of Brandi's) and spent the last hours of 2006 eating American-style food, fellowshipping with many long-term missionaries in Rwanda, worshipping the Lord and praying for each other.
We have started getting involved with the YWAM AIDS ministry called APRECOM. We've been joining them as they have led support groups and made house visits so far. We will start doing hospital visits this week as well. Janet and Joanna have had an opportunity to preach a short message during the support group times, and we have all heard heart-wrenching testimonies from brave people with HIV who attend the meetings. At one group, we even had our taxi driver join the meeting and he asked for prayer for some really personal requests, while the taxi attendant with him accepted the Lord at the end of the meeting! Our entire taxi (large van) sang praise songs all the way back to the base. Another neat testimony comes from Amanda and Kelly, as they went to a hospital with some guys from the base on their day off, and led eight people to the Lord in the AIDS ward!! God is so faithful!
Apart from APRECOM, we feel God leading many of us to pray into ministering at prisons, working with street kids, widows and orphans, and getting involved with medical clinics and village ministries.
The Lord has been so faithful to us already and we are excited to move ahead with wherever God leads us. Please pray for good health on our team as many are struggling with bad colds and can't work in the AIDS ministries until they are no longer contagious. Brandi specifically has been bedridden for the entire week and we long to see her join us and be in great health again.
January 8th, 2007
This past week we got really involved in many different ministries. We continued with the YWAM AIDS ministry, APRECOM, visiting people’s homes, attending and preaching at support groups and praying with AIDS patients at a local hospital. Before visiting the hospital, we went on a prayer walk and noticed crowds gathering around us. Janet started preaching on the street and the rest of us prayed around the people. About 60 people gathered around to hear the ‘muzungu’ talk, and this was the first time for most of us to be part street preaching and evangelism. One young man was mocking us and asked for prayer as a joke. We laid hands on him and prayed for God to show Himself to this man. No prayers were translated, but when he stood up, his attitude had changed. He talked to our translator and in front of everyone accepted the Lord as his personal savior.
We heard many testimonies during the week – especially from women with HIV. A few of us had the privilege to visit an old compound with free government housing, which supports many families. Recently, the government chose to do new things with the land. So they will be evicting them all at anytime this month. We visited three homes; two were widows supporting six children each, the other was married but very poor with the same number of children. None of these families had any plans after eviction – no homes to go to, no money, no jobs… basically all 19 of these people, along with the many families we didn’t meet, will either be overcrowded into homes of relatives (hopefully) or be forced onto the streets. It is terribly sad. We prayed and encouraged them and will continue to do this.
Homes, school fees, jobs to support their families, and healings are common prayer requests from most of the people we have ministered to with HIV. We are starting to hear more testimonies from the genocide, as well – terrible to read about, but even harder to hear it out of the mouths of survivors. But God is faithful and has good plans for the Rwandese people. We all believe that their tears of pain will be turned into garlands of praise! Our faith for provision and healings has been awakened and most of us are praying for God’s grace and mercy to spill over abundantly in their lives!
This week, many have been part of various ministries. Some have been meeting specific people and following up with them from prayer walks in our community. Janet has been teaching the material on “Destiny” for the past few weeks to a couple American girls here on the base, and Brandi has been helping since recovering from the sicknesses she had been experiencing. Kelly and Amanda preached in a support group, Dan preached in the Assemblies of God church this past Sunday, and Rosanne preached in a women’s ministry of the same church a few days later. Our team had two opportunities to perform the AIDS drama we learned in Makapala and both times were a great success! Dan had a chance to teach and answer questions on HIV/AIDS, which was so needed. (We hope we have more chances to teach what we’ve learned to more groups before we go!)
Yesterday, we were invited to a special ‘Giving Day’ and we joined two long-term missionaries that help run a ministry called Global Family Rescue (GFR), and their staff by handing out 18 cows, many goats, pigs, mattresses, mosquito nets and even five houses (all donated as gifts from American families who support them). They are some of the poorest of the poor in Rwanda and it was such a privilege to be a little part in seeing their joy and giving many a means of supporting their families. The day was very tiring, but it was so fulfilling to see this end of what support from others across the world actually does locally. We will spend a night with these families in their homes next week, and help build one of the houses that was donated. Our team has really grown in unity and health! Thanks for your prayers.
January 15th, 2007
Life in Rwanda continues…along with it, frustration: a lot of waiting, joy, tears, hearing God’s voice, growing in unity, being so hot that we badly burn one day, to being wet, cold and muddy from a sudden downpour of rain the next day. Unfortunately, we had a lice outbreak for the past 2 weeks (Brandi and Tina last week, and Joanna, Cynthia and Brandi (again) this week). We think they might have caught it from riding motos. Erin was our honorary ‘lice victim’ because she was sick and stayed behind from ministry with us, helping us boil our clothes and pick lice out of our hair. Fortunately, it seems the lice have died - may we never see any more remnants of it on our heads again!
In terms of ministry, we continued to join the APRECOM ministry doing home visits and support groups. This week, Kylee and Tara were our guest preachers and they both gave anointed messages! During one of the home visits, our group met a lady named Jaqueline. She was 48 (but looked much older) and has lived with AIDS for 25 years! She lost two children and her husband died in the genocide, so she currently raises 2 teenage daughters alone. She is almost blind, has a tumor in the back of her throat, has a serious foot injury, has no job and is very poor. Yet this woman started testifying how faithful God has been in her life. She started to sing out her praises to the God while we were there and we just started weeping. The presence of God was so strong in this woman’s life and you could feel it in her little, humble home. She challenged us to realize that Jesus is enough… we can look at all her problems and feel overwhelmed with need and our inadequacy to meet any of her needs… hopeless comes to mind… yet, this woman experienced and understood God’s faithfulness and really taught us that He is enough! As a woman with HIV testified in one of the support groups this week, HIV is not the problem… having no hope is the problem.
Other ministry news… A few of us revisited the Mother Theresa orphanage and feel that we would like to do this regularly until we leave Rwanda. Erin got peed on twice that day - once playing with some children near the YWAM base and another holding little babies at the orphanage. Once a month, YWAM invites the community to the base to enjoy a time of worship and fellowship. Dais helped lead worship during that time and our team had a chance to perform the drama ‘Thief’. The music wasn’t working properly so it made performing difficult - yet God still worked through it and it seemed like many were touched. Joanna had an opportunity to visit a group of widows with a different YWAM ministry and she saw God working in huge ways in their lives. One woman was saved last Tuesday and that night had a dream that Jesus healed her and her children of HIV! Another asked for prayer last week for a house as she was being evicted from hers, and God surprised her with a house the next day, which greatly encouraged her and those who prayed with her. Amanda and Kelly have been ministering to a young boy named Eric. They met him on the street and they shared a little of their faith to him. He knew God but couldn’t go to church because he had no shoes, so they felt God prompting them to buy him a pair. They also took him to the base so he could have a shower, and they gave him some new clothes and something to eat. His mom died of AIDS and his father died after the genocide. He lives on the street and Amanda and Kelly are trying to get him into school and involved in a street kids ministry that YWAM hosts. He comes to the base often to visit and they took him to church on Sunday. Both ask for your prayers – he is deeply on their hearts and they feel like moms to him, yet are not sure what they can do now.
Yesterday we joined the missionaries we know with Global Family Rescue and helped dig a foundation for a house that was paid for from an American sponsor. We hiked up the side of a mountain, picked up shovels and hoes and dug up dirt for about an hour and a half. The Rwandese were staring at us and laughing as they looked at the muzungus work, and even though we were not as efficient as they were, we know they were encouraged and that they appreciated our efforts. Unfortunately it started pouring rain, so we were all slipping and sliding down the mountain back to the van. Dirty... cold... wet... hungry… but all of us want to go back and continue with the house when we can.
January 22nd, 2007
This week was a week of harvest. The Lord put many in our path that wanted to receive the Gospel. Kylee and Tara continued meeting with a man named Happy that they met on the road a few weeks ago who was interested in knowing more about heaven. Last Friday, after calling him up, they sat and spoke to him and eventually led him to the Lord. Others of us have started attending a widow ministry with YWAM Rwanda. On Friday, Joanna gave her testimony and Dan shared the Gospel message. Sixty-three widows and one street boy received Jesus as their personal Savior. The leader of this ministry, a 25-year-old Rwandese girl who is filled with wisdom and compassion from God, cried because she knew the women and they had never been willing to accept Christ before. Some of us also went to a hospital on Saturday to feed the sick and pray for them. Dan and Dais led about 14 people to Christ, the majority from Dan preaching on the street corner, and the rest from their hospital beds.
For the APRECOM ministry, our preachers this week were Janet and Tina. Both of these girls gave heartfelt and challenging messages during the support groups. Rosanna also preached at the Assemblies of God church nearby on Monday to a group of prostitutes and widows. Our team will be leading a three-day seminar and preaching about their destinies and identities in God on Sunday next week to this same group of women. A few of us spent over an hour talking with some Muslims we met during a prayer walk earlier this week. Erin, Jack and Dais have a heart for them and will continue to meet with them. Dais had the opportunity to lead a group of long-term missionaries, as well as many from our team, into an intimate time of worship last Saturday night for a few hours. (We just heard that he also got accepted into the School of Worship in Kona! Congrats, Dais!)
On Tuesday, we held a medical clinic and continued to lay the foundation of the house we’ve been building with Global Family Rescue up in a village. Around 50 people were examined and given free medicine (everyone had a terrible case of worms, on top of other sicknesses), and five people received the Lord that afternoon, as well. There is definitely a party in going on in heaven!
With three weeks left, we are getting busier and busier…yet more focused on God than ever. We went to the Genocide Memorial as a team last Thursday and spent a powerful time of prayer over Rwanda that evening. From the surface, it appears that unity between the tribes is going well. However, from personal stories we continue to hear, and even the relationship struggles with the Christians we know on base, there is still a lot of tribal tension. The Memorial is definitely incomplete. There is no mention of reconciliation. One is simply left with a terrible view of the horrors that one tribe inflicted on the other. Brandi noticed a statement they made of themselves: “Rwanda was dead.” Spiritually, most in this country are dead as emotional wounds fester and have not been healed. The Lord gave us amazing promises through Ezekiel 37. We prophesied life into these dead, dry bones through the Spirit and claimed the promise that these two tribes would be one. We’re praying for beauty from the ashes, and believe we will see it during our time here.
We have a few prayer requests as well this week. Rosanna’s dad is very frail and sick and we are praying that he will gain strength and be protected, at least until the time that she can go home to see him again. Amanda and Kelly both ask that you would continue to pray for a home for Eric, the street boy that they have been looking after over the past few weeks.
January 31st, 2007
The countdown is upon us. Two weeks from today we head on a plane back to Hawaii. There are mixed feelings... excitement to go back, coupled with feelings of sadness to leave the wonderful people we've been connected to.
Ministry has been getting busier and more focused. Dan and Rosanne have led a few more medical clinics this week – again set up so they can see patients medically, give out free medicines whenever possible and have ‘counselors’ who share the gospel and pray with everyone who sees the doctors. The first clinic was at a local doctor’s office that we rented for the day and we saw easily around 100 people from the community – sadly still leaving a big crowd behind us as we left. We led over 30 people individually to Christ, so although it was exhausting work, the harvest was again plentiful. The second clinic was in a nearby village, where most of the team helped build a seedbed with GFR. We got to cut logs with machetes, dig holes with our hands for posts and carry down ‘seemly’ light tree trunks to use as the posts for the seedbed. Our doctors treated many patients while all this was going on and the ‘counselors’ led six people to Christ.
Our preachers for the APRECOM support groups this week were Dais and Cynthia. At the widow ministry our team had the joy to give out 5 lb bags of rice to 220 people and also dance the ‘Redeemer’ song for them. Rosanne shared her testimony and Brandi preached and inspiring sermon from Ezekiel 37 – even demonstrating reconciliation between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes with large sticks she taped together. The response was amazing as all the women responded with a desire to move forward as God’s army! Dan had the opportunity to preach on forgiveness at a church this past Sunday. The team shared the ‘Redeemer’ dance and the ‘Thief’ drama and Joanna also shared her testimony during the service.
A small group from our team followed up with the Muslims they met last week – and this time they were requested to come to the Mosque and share with the Muslim leaders and officials about why they were here in Rwanda and what they wanted. Erin and Kylee boldly shared the full Gospel message and everyone listened without interrupting (something that hadn’t happened in previous visits). Seeds were planted and we are praying that God will use His Word to grow in them and to see Him for themselves.
Our team also had an opportunity to share with a group of international students about relationships. These teens were ages 14 to 17 from an English speaking Christian school. Erin, Kelly and Rosanne shared testimonies about various stages of relationships they are in or have been in to encourage these young people to make wise decisions about dating, sex and marriage. Our team also gave an AIDS awareness message by using the AIDS drama and Janet spoke about it. Jack was able to answer some questions that the boys had at the end – basically sharing that they need to pray and ask God about dating and who to date! J
We’ve started a team day where we cancel all scheduled ministry on Thursdays and meet in the morning for ‘God guidance’. God led us to downtown Kigali last Thursday through various words and pictures our team received from Him, and led us to pray in front of the TV station. A reporter watched us pray and took interest in us. He was going to take his TV crew to join us with the widow ministry last week, but he had a change of plans. We remember a word of the Lord we received from God in Makapala that we would be in the media while in Rwanda… so who knows what He still has planned for us in these last few weeks. J
This morning we were able to visit ‘Cards for Africa’ and tour around a place of employment for 30 orphans, with 20 more in a training program. Chris Page heads this missionary-based business as a YWAMer who began it with Gabriel. Perhaps you remember Gabriel’s testimony of how Cards for Africa won second prize from a Newsweek contest while we were together in Kona. Chris shared how this ministry business began, what they are doing now and where God is continuing to lead them in the future. We were all extremely impressed and inspired from his sharing and the variety and quality of cards his orphan employees produce. Most of us bought something, so ask us and we’ll gladly show you what we acquired and point you in the direction of getting any for yourselves or for fundraisers when we see you in Kona.
-Team Rwanda
The Story of Erik:
- Account retold by Amanda Morgan
So this is how it goes.... There was one afternoon where Kelly and myself were sitting at the gas station in Remera, when I saw a young boy who looked about 10 years old. He had on over sized clothes full of dirt and holes and no shoes. There are many street kids who roam the streets; they are all left parentless due to the genocide or AIDS. From the second that I saw him I knew something was different about him, my heart was beating so fast and I knew it was something that the Lord was trying to tell me.
Kelly and I ushered him over to us, and he was very shy- He spoke broken English and we learned that his name was Erik and he was 12 years old. He continued to tell us that he had no Mother because she had passed away a couple of years ago due to AIDS. My heart began to break for this little boy-I felt as if I had nothing to offer him, but I was so wrong. As he ate the cookies we gave him, I started asking him if Erik knew who Jesus was, he said he did, but he couldn't go to church because he had no shoes. From that moment I knew God wanted me to bless him. We bought him some shoes and socks and took him back to our base and gave him a hot shower and food. The Lord kept giving me a heart for this boy; I was starting to feel like his mother. And later on Erik actually began calling me his Mother as I would clean him and his dirty clothes every time he came to the base! I couldn't think about anything else but Erik- I'd pray for him all day long, just hoping that he was okay and that God would protect him and keep him safe.
We were able to get to know him more and more each
and every time he came to visit. We learned more about his past and He told us that his Dad has passed away during the genocide when he was a baby, so his Mom re-married a man who treated Erik very badly and beat him often. When Erik was a little older his Mom passed away from AIDS and left him to live with his abusive stepfather. Afraid and hopeless Erik left his home to live on the streets of Kigali. Erik had been living by himself and the other street kids for close to 4 years. Every night Erik would search for a place to sleep on the street, usually sneaking onto someone's doorstep. Often Erik would get his shoes and money stolen from him. There was a time that he got beat up by the other street kids because they knew that Kelly and myself were helping him.
I knew that I had to do something more than just bring Erik to the base and feed him and give him clothes and toys. I knew God wanted so much more for him than that. So I started to seek God, and ask Him what He wanted to do. I was really tested throughout the whole outreach when it came to Erik. I was trying to get Erik a place to live with a Mother who would take care of him and treat him as her son and not just a house slave as many people do with street kids.
As I looked for someone to help me do this-I was shut down in every way. I couldn't do it by myself because-one, I couldn't speak the language and two, I didn't know the area very well and if I did, who would I talk with?
So, I just kept praying that God would reveal to me what I was to do. I fought with God on this. I pretty much told him I was going to stand and fight for Erik because he belonged to his Creator not the enemy. I told God I wasn't going to leave Rwanda until I knew Erik was in a safe place.
Behind the scene I was freaking out for Erik and fighting with God all the time, but on the outside I just showed Erik love, the love that he hadn't felt in years. We took him out to dinner, to soccer games, and to parties that we had on the base.
It was amazing being able to see the change in Erik, in his eyes. Everything about him was slowly starting to change. Erik had begun to become very close with me and also with a student at the YWAM base; Selassie.
I didn't know at the time, but Selassie would be my answer to prayer. Selassie finally told me that his Mother had been looking for a son to adopt! I was amazed; I was overwhelmed with emotion and happiness for Erik. From that moment on I knew that everything was in God's hands and that He would take care of Erik. He would place Erik in a good home with a Mother who would love him as her own and also a brother and a sister!
Selassie took Kelly and I to his home to meet his Mother. Selassie called her, 'His Queen.' She truly was, Selassie's Mother was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen and a very strong Christian. She hadn't even met Erik yet but she already loved him and was willing to help him and be there for Erik.
God totally worked everything out and it was totally in His timing, which I learned is always the best timing! We took Erik to his new home and he met his new Mom. A couple of days later we went to visit the family and Erik was doing amazing- Selassie's Mom began to tell us how he was acting as if he was the king of the house. He was already going to school and learning better English! Praise God. He is so amazing and totally provided for Erik. We were really able to witness God's love for his children. He had a plan for Erik and part of that plan was played out though us!
GFR:
Global Family Rescue is a non-profit relief organization that provides Rwandan families with relief and support in the aftermath of years of genocide that killed over 1 million innocent people. There are certain families that are involved in this program that are being supported by families in the United States. These Western families help their family in Rwanda with housing, food, school fees and other basic needs.
Our team was able to work on giving days- where the families from the west had sent in extra money for houses, cows, goats, pigs, mosquito nets, and beds. We also worked with GFR t
o build a house for a family and build a seedbed for a community. We were able to hold medical clinics because our team was blessed with two doctors that brought A LOT of medicine! In the medical clinics, one by one the people saw the doctors and received the medicine needed and then right after were sent to the rest of our team for counseling and prayer. We were able to pray with every single person and many came to Christ! GFR was amazing to us, and we were able to bless them in return. We made some awesome relationships with the people involved in the organization, and many of them want us to come back!
THE WIDOWS:
Every week a group of over 400 widows would meet together to hear the word of God. We would preach to them and we also handed out lbs of rice and Keyarwanda Bibles. These woman were amazing, many of them loosing their husbands due to the Genocide or AIDS.
These women LOVE to hug and we hugged each other for probably 45 minutes because there were so many of them! These broken women were slowly becoming whole through 
hearing the word and fellowship with one another. There was a time that Brandi preached about reconciliation and reuniting the two tribes: Hutus and Tutsis. It was amazing, God was totally moving within these women, and they were hungry for more. Each time we went to the visit the widows hundreds of them came to the Lord. Simply amazing!
WE WENT TO A TRADITIONAL ENGAGEMENT CEREMONY:
ORPHANAGES:
We were able to visit a bunch of different orphanages that were pretty close to our base. The first week that we arrived in Rwanda was the week of Christmas and we really felt that the Lord was telling us to bless one of the orphanages, but we didn't know which one. He lead us to one that was so perfect- it was really close to the base in Samaduha and had about 12 children which was amazing. We made the kids bags filled with toys and brought it to them on Christmas morning; they
were so happy. It was so awesome getting to visit them all the time and just play with them.
Going to the orphanages was one of the favorite things our whole team loved doing. There was also a Mother Theresa Orphanage in town. Where our team would go and just help out the women that worked there by changing, playing, and feeding the babies.
Its true, I was. Well, actually, I was detained, but close enough. Here’s the story:
Every Thursday was our free day from scheduled ministry to seek the Lord and ask Him what we should do that day. It was our last Thursday before having to leave. That morning we had intercession and most of us felt that God was leading us into Remera. We always passed through Remera and went to the Internet Cafe there. People knew us there but we never really ministered in Remera. So, we traveled the bumpy road of Samaduha into Remera- when we arrived our whole team kind of split up and just talked with different people and began preaching and ministering to
people. That morning as we were praying we felt God tell us that He would provide translators for us and we should not worry about making arrangements. Dais and I were together and there was about 40 people standing all around us just because we were white and talking to people. A young adult named Owen began talking to us and we asked him if he could translate for us. He began to translate for us and I began to tell the crowd what the bracelets we were wearing meant. We were able to share the gospel using this simple tool and explain that God loves Rwanda so much that He sent us there from across the world to tell them that He loves them and has not forgotten them.As we finished sharing the gospel and began asking people if they needed prayer, I looked behind me and saw a police truck with about 4 men with AK-47s in the back and two of our teammates being pushed into the back seat. They came to Dais and I and told us to get into the back of the truck. As we began driving away, the police continued to collect the rest of our team and told them to get in the back of the truck. I called out to Owen who was translating for us to pray for us.
The police officers took us to the station and we had to sit there for a while until they came and asked us questions about why were there and what we were doing. They told us that if we were going to have a program that we needed to notify the police beforehand. After all of that, they took us back to the gas station that we were at and asked us to return home for the day. We were able to meet back with some of the people we were talking to and lead them to the Lord before taking a taxi back to the base. It was so awesome!
The most intense thing that day was not getting taken away by police but it was actually intercession that morning. God had told us that we were going to have distractions and that our faces would be turned away from the real reason we were there. That's what happened! But, it still didn't stop us!
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Well that's all the adventures and ministries I have for you today. There are many more that you will just have to hear when we get together for coffee or something. I hope you were blessed in hearing about what God did through us in Rwanda. Thanks for taking the time to read!
