Rwanda was amazing! I don’t even know where to begin to tell you about it, so I am going to put in a few of my journal excerpts and a bunch of photos. Hopefully that will give you a taste of my African experience!
July 16: What a dream to be in Africa! There are the lovely things - the smell, the tropical fruit, the people, the heat - and the not so lovely - politics, scandal, scary food and water. The camp prep is going well. Yesterday I went shopping for supplies and got to watch while the paint was mixed to the exact shade of purple... by hand! 
July 18: It is so beautiful here! I am sitting at the bottom of the school buildings looking down into the valley. The hills are so lush and green and go on forever. It is hard to imagine the bloodshed and horror that they have seen.... It is good to have the team here. I really like our team - I am especially thankful for Kellie and Mary - and I am excited about everything... except that everything that we do, the closer we get to the end!
July 24 (excerpt from camp lesson):Patience: Kwihangana How much patience should we show to others?
“May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other.”
Romans 15:5a
July 19: Today we went to the village where the houses are being built. It was very surreal. It felt very uncomfortable all us white people in a big bus trucking up there
like we were on a safari of some sort. One of the most humbling things in the world for me was to have a brick I was carrying taken away from me by a girl, half my size, no shoes, covered in dust and dressed in rags...
July 23: Every time I am in the big group I feel overwhelmed. All these precious kids singing and dancing. My heart almost doesn’t have room for all of it. God, expand my heart... Today the morning went really well. The afternoon felt like I was beating my head against a wall. It was so frustrating! Kids stealing beads - the energy level skyhigh. It’s a crazy feeling to be on the other side of the world and have it feel normal... life is still life. I still get frustrated and kids are still just kids!July 31: It was good to see the kids again (camp reunion) but sad, because it is the last time. The rematch football game was this evening... intense!
There was this little boy, I think his name was Vittoire, and he broke my heart. So thin. His eyes were so cloudy. By himself. All alone, just wanting to be part of the excitement. When I asked his name he kind of smile. And I almost cried. I gave him a fruit bar. I probably wasn’t supposed to (I didn’t have enough for everyone) but how could I not? The look on his face did me in. As he left he grabbed my hand and said goodbye. It is so hard to let go of these kids and leave them at God’s feet... I know one fruit bar won’t make much of a difference. God hold onto him... Tonight Jen and I rode on the motos to the coffee shop. We had a great time! On the way there my moto almost didn’t make it up one of the hills and the 
driver basically had to walk it up! I love it here - it makes me feel more than I’ve felt before; there is so much pain and yet there is still so much joy.
August 1: Widows - I don’t even have the words... One of them was my age. Raped at 17 and forced to live with her rapist... all with AIDS. I don’t know what to say.August 5: Last night was amazing. The drumming and dancing was incredible. It really feels like we’ve made friends here. Today was difficult - saying goodbye. Especially saying goodbye to the widows. It is almost incomprehensible to me that
some of those ladies may not be around when we come back. God keep them. It has been such a wonderful time in Rwanda. So many amazing people! I hope I get to come back.
And Now?
I wrote in my last journal entry in Rwanda that I hope I get to go back, and it seems that I might actually get to! I am tentatively planning to go back in the new year to further explore some options that came up for future work there, and the possibility of combining that with my studies at SFU. Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated as I look in to these exciting opportunities.
