Elevation Project Update
As I look back at 2012, I’m amazed at how much has changed! I started this year having just decided to formally return to Youth Unlimited to manage The Elevation Project, and have ended the year as Director of The Elevation Project. I had no idea what a big change this transition would be! It’s brought huge challenges— chairing intercontinental Skype conference calls, having more knowledge of the deep challenges and hurts faced by both my Rwandan and Canadian friends and colleagues, and being responsible for backing up my ideas with the needed funding. It has also brought so much joy— working with an wonderful team of Canadians and Rwandans, meeting and learning from incredible people, and having the opportunity to share my small bit of knowledge with people who are eager to be a part of God’s healing work in this broken world.
More and more, I am excited and profoundly humbled to be a part of Youth Unlimited and The Elevation Project. You can read more about the specifics of what The Elevation Project is up to in the first edition of The Elevation Project Update by clicking here to download it, but I’d like to share with you one of the reasons I’m honoured to do the work that I do— I get to know some of the most amazing people! Like Blaise, a Rwandan young person that studied at Rwanda Youth for Christ in 2012, and who we worked with this summer when we travelled to Rwanda.
Blaise is an orphan. His immediate family was killed in the genocide when he was a small boy, and the various neighbors and relatives that took him in afterwards have all, one by one, died as well. Blaise has faced so many challenges. The kind of challenges that would cause many of us to become hardened and bitter and to throw up our hands in disgust at life, and yet he is still one of the brightest, shiniest people I know! You know the kind of person I mean— someone who is able to light up a room with their smile and bring joy to almost any situation by saying a sincere, encouraging word.
When Blaise found out that someone from Vancouver was going to be visiting Kigali, he decided that he was going to write individualized greeting cards, in English (not his mother tongue!) for every single person from our 2012 trip team, and send them back to Vancouver with the visitor. Not only were we blessed to be able to work with Blaise this summer, but he continues to encourage us from the other side of the globe!
If it wasn’t for the work I do with The Elevation Project, I wouldn’t have met Blaise, and he is just one example of the many inspiring people, both Rwandan and Canadian, that I get to rub shoulders with on a regular basis. What a blessing!
Thank you for being a part of making The Elevation Project possible. I hope that by reading my updates, it becomes a blessing in your life as well!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and all of God’s best for 2013.
Prayer Points
As I look back at 2012, I’m amazed at how much has changed! I started this year having just decided to formally return to Youth Unlimited to manage The Elevation Project, and have ended the year as Director of The Elevation Project. I had no idea what a big change this transition would be! It’s brought huge challenges— chairing intercontinental Skype conference calls, having more knowledge of the deep challenges and hurts faced by both my Rwandan and Canadian friends and colleagues, and being responsible for backing up my ideas with the needed funding. It has also brought so much joy— working with an wonderful team of Canadians and Rwandans, meeting and learning from incredible people, and having the opportunity to share my small bit of knowledge with people who are eager to be a part of God’s healing work in this broken world.
More and more, I am excited and profoundly humbled to be a part of Youth Unlimited and The Elevation Project. You can read more about the specifics of what The Elevation Project is up to in the first edition of The Elevation Project Update by clicking here to download it, but I’d like to share with you one of the reasons I’m honoured to do the work that I do— I get to know some of the most amazing people! Like Blaise, a Rwandan young person that studied at Rwanda Youth for Christ in 2012, and who we worked with this summer when we travelled to Rwanda.
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| One of my favourite photos from our time in Rwanda of Blaise with some of the other 2012 trip participants playing a game. |
Blaise is an orphan. His immediate family was killed in the genocide when he was a small boy, and the various neighbors and relatives that took him in afterwards have all, one by one, died as well. Blaise has faced so many challenges. The kind of challenges that would cause many of us to become hardened and bitter and to throw up our hands in disgust at life, and yet he is still one of the brightest, shiniest people I know! You know the kind of person I mean— someone who is able to light up a room with their smile and bring joy to almost any situation by saying a sincere, encouraging word.
When Blaise found out that someone from Vancouver was going to be visiting Kigali, he decided that he was going to write individualized greeting cards, in English (not his mother tongue!) for every single person from our 2012 trip team, and send them back to Vancouver with the visitor. Not only were we blessed to be able to work with Blaise this summer, but he continues to encourage us from the other side of the globe!
If it wasn’t for the work I do with The Elevation Project, I wouldn’t have met Blaise, and he is just one example of the many inspiring people, both Rwandan and Canadian, that I get to rub shoulders with on a regular basis. What a blessing!
Thank you for being a part of making The Elevation Project possible. I hope that by reading my updates, it becomes a blessing in your life as well!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and all of God’s best for 2013.
** If you are interested in Year End Giving,
please click here for a giving form, or here to give online. **
please click here for a giving form, or here to give online. **
Prayer Points
- For a Canadian team member and a Rwandan colleague who both have close family members fighting cancer.
- Pray that we can match up all the students on the sponsorship program with sponsors in 2013.
- For good dreams, plans, and wisdom as I Direct The Elevation Project into another year of growth & change.
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