Tom's Work

Tom continues to assist the city officials here in Kigali. He has been working on 8 projects redeveloping about 1000 acres in the city. He has found the city staff to be hard working and very ethical (he has also found many cultural differences which will need to be a subject of future commentary!) They are committed to see their country and their city thrive and improve especially after all they have been through in regards to the genocide 14 years ago. Just last night he had a meeting with the mayor in which he was able to share with her about the book of Nehimiah and how Rwandans are similar to the exiles from Jerusalem. They prayed together in her office and discussed the progress of the city. Tom has a wonderful opportunity here to influence leaders and to help set up procedures in this fast growing city. Also, Last Sunday Tom was asked to preach at one of the Rwandan churches. He was able to share his testimony and again about the refugees coming back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah. He even received a letter from a gentleman in the audience that had been a refugee for 40 years and had recently come back to Rwanda. There are so many stories of broken lives that God is renewing. Rwanda is a place where God is changing lives and changing a country that is trying to follow Him. It is exciting to see!

School

Now that summer is past we are in full swing into our school schedule.The kids are attending KICS which stands for Kigali International Community School along with 200 other students. It is about 20 minutes from our home, they teach from an American curriculum and the students are from all over the world. A few days before school started. I (Lori) was asked to teach 3rd grade until the regular teacher arrives later in October. I have students from England, Swedan, Italy, Holland, Russia, Rwandan, Uganda and the Philippines. I am enjoying my students and this experience has renewed my love for teaching. Since it is a Christian school we can openly talk about God and pray daily. The 3rd day of school two of the children asked about the existance of God and about evolution. They said their parents did not believe in God. What a great opportunity I have to share from the Bible and to show the love of Jesus to these wonderful children. Hannah and Zack are enjoying their school experience as well. They have made friends with many students and they like their teachers. We are very proud at how well they have adjusted to their new school and to life in Rwanda!

A Dog Accident

We also enjoyed visiting some missionary friends who live a few hours north of Kigali. We enjoyed spending time with their family and and seeing the hospital they are overseeing. The highlight of the trip though was when we helped the missionary family take their dog from Kigali to their house. Keep in mind that we have a very small Toyota sedan and their dog was a very large German Shepherd. Basically, the dog sat on the kids for two hours. We were told earlier that the dog was very well fed. As you can imagine, the dog had as accident all over the back seat. We drew quite a crowd as we stopped to clean it up.When we arrived to the nearest town to their home we were greeted by an amublance to take us on the one hour dirt road. We were quite a spectacle with four white people, with a large dog (there are not many dogs in Rwanda) in an ambulance. It was a day our family will always remember.

Vacation Bible School

Hannah, Zachary and I (Lori) were able to be part of a Vacation Bible School with the church we visited with the Saddleback team in June. We enjoyed seeing some of the same street boys we had previously met. We helped a Canadian team do this vaccation bible school. The kids did great helping with the activities and even got to help serve lunch. The street boys watched movies, made t shirts and played games. we also gave them a meal of rice, vegitables, fuits, and beans. It was very humbling sitting amongst these boys who we knew had no home, no parents or no food for their next meal. It is sometimes hard to know how to process these kinds of situations.