Day #11 ~ Goodbye Byumba!

Today was a day of saying good-bye to the good friends we love in The Kageyo Parish in Byumba. I gave the kids one of my Bio cards from St. Jude. Promoting St. Jude in Africa!

We met with Pastor Sam to recap the week. I saw, Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I here for? in Kinyarwandan. How cool is that!?

One last shot...

We had lunch with the sweetest family, the mother is Pastor Sam's children's teacher. The two daughters are simply adorable and will go to Kigali with us this afternoon. They have always wanted to, "come to America," so today they will visit the American Embassy. It is, after all, American soil! They squealed watching all of the hustle and bustle while approaching Kigali. It is VERY different than their Byumba village.

Beautiful flowers picked from their garden ~ they gave each of us some to take with us.

She is one of the few kids I saw with hair! Once she starts school (next year) her head will be shaved; a mandatory part of the school uniform.

Our drive to Kigali was pretty uneventful. We were soooooo excited to go to The Bourbon Cafe for dinner. It's Rwanda's answer to Starbucks and serves Western food (at Western prices) even ice cream!!!!

Tomorrow we will head to the game park for some fun!

Day #10 ~ Church in Byumba

Sunday morning church this morning was quite the experience for me. Pastor Sam and students welcome church goers to church with drums. In lieu of ringing bells, you hear the pounding of African drums!

The church was past capacity with over 1,000 people

A little breakfast

Kristeenuh, Brehent, Justeenee and Mayleenduh gave the sermon today. We talked about how God has blessed our lives and offered words of encouragement. There is a very good reason that I am not a public speaker... and it was very difficult for me to stand up there and try to say something meaningful. Thankfully I had time to think before each sentence uttered as Pastor Sam was translating. I shared my journey of faith and learning that God is always there for us regardless of circumstances. I talked about my cancer diagnosis and treatment and how the isolation gave me the chance to grow closer to Him.

After church many of the mothers handed me their babies. Literally, just smiled and handed me their daughters and sons! Talk about feeling humbled!

And they tied them on my back ~ African style!

We spent the evening SLEEPING and relaxing. It was so nice to have a free afternoon as our days and nights have been so jam packed. I wouldn't have changed a thing. Thank you God for sending me to Rwanda!

Day #9 ~ Byumba ~ Kids

A very full and fun day today! Tonight I was in the van by myself. It was cold and I was enjoying a little bit of quiet. Pastor Sam opened the door and said, "Mayleenduh... are you in here alone." I replied, "Yes." He said, "Wrong answer, Mayleenduh. You are never alone. God is with you!" I laughed and laughed. The man has a point!

This is my favorite picture of the trip... a sea of happy Rwandan kids!

Today we spent the day with over 350 children (many orphans) from Byumba. Kristen and I led songs, made beaded necklaces, colored and played outside. The kids sang and danced, red poetry (in English), played soccer and ran us all ragged!

These children are sponsored by Compassion International. They receive school uniforms and many school fees are also paid for.

Singing...

They colored pictures. We weren't prepared for the masses! We passed out 1 crayon to each child... and it wasn't long before they were all swapping with one another. No whining, no complaining... just sharing and enjoying a simple activity. The simplest of things bring such joy!

Some of the youngest...

We were very blessed to have the sun shine when we needed it... and the rain when we were (mostly) inside...

We passed out stickers and assumed they would know to put them on their sweaters or papers... and laughed out loud when they all sported them on their foreheads!

I love this shot... he's "snapping," my picture too!

We ate lunch at a church members house. She has twin sons (in the center) who dream of coming to America!

We passed out packages of biscuits and "bombo" (candy) to all of the kids. They lined up from youngest to oldest, all said thank you and then sat back down and waited until every last child received their treat. Such manners! I absolutely love that it is Rwandan culture that when food is made available, the youngest always eats first. This is so that the youngest have the best chance to grow.

At night we showed, The Jesus Film outside. The film is the most viewed Evangelistic movie in history and is distributed through Campus Crusade for Christ. It took a lot of patience and creative technical suaveness to get the film to run... with the help of a generator (which blew several times...) and the kids showed up in droves to watch it. It was nearly 10:00 at night when the film ended. The kids walked home in pairs... some over 2 hours... to go home for the night. They will return in the morning.

We all had to laugh... the kids ran around chanting, "Kris-teen-uh, Just-een-y- May-leen-duh!" and following us everywhere. At one point our driver / bodyguard / translator grabbed a stick and literally shoed them away! I had kids on my back, on both legs, holding both hands... saying, "May-leen-duh.... May-leen-duh..." CLASSIC!