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For the full context of this story, check out our posts tagged as Kigali. Or, if you already know, but want to get caught up on “Update 1“ or Update 2…

Bible Marathon

Saturday, June 12
Today was the day that we were to hold our Bible marathon with the English-speaking college students. It was such an awesome experience to have it with the college students for they said that it was such an encouragement for them. We started at 9am and ended at 1pm. There were a lot of college students who came out to join the Bible marathon and these students were very excited to be there. It has been a good fun filled relaxed day for the team. Although we relaxed today, we know that tomorrow, our schedule is looking really full.

Church Service in Rwanda

Sunday, June 13
Church this morning was just so beautiful. The worship, the drama, the sermon, and the people. It was an experience that we would never forget. All the things that we planned for were multiplied more than we had expected. Pastor Charles gave the sermon message and it was straight to the heart. God knows what He is doing, and we are just leaving it up to Him to use the team as His tool to glorify His kingdom.

We attended two of their services, the first one was in English and the second one was in Kinyarwanda. After the service we attended the youth fun day and Noelle was put into the fashion show. It was so great just to laugh and relax with the people here. They are real friendly and just so genuine.

Pray For Health

Although we been having such a great time, some of the team members in the group are coming down with a sickness. Michael has been having some sinus problems and it has not gone away yet. Dr. G is getting a little more exhausted and his body is not feeling too great. Dori has not been able to hold down her food and is having to stay back from the activities we have planned. Fray has been having a skin reaction to something and David has been having an upset stomach with the medicine that we are taking. I just want to ask everyone to pray for our team members and their health. We know that these are just obstacles to stop us from sharing the Good News, but it will not stop us.

For the full context of this story, check out our posts tagged as Kigali. Or, if you already know, but want to get caught up on “Update 1“…

More Safe Arrivals

Last night, before the team headed to bed, Dr. Tom and Bonnie Kopp arrived to the guesthouse. It was great to know that they had arrived safely, even though they had complications with their luggage at the airport. After meeting with the Kopps, the team headed off to bed to get some rest for the next day.

The Dream Center

Our first activity in the morning was to go visit the women’s ministry at the Dream Center. We were picked up by our driver George, who is a very good driver on these crazy streets!

When we arrived at the Dream Center, we were able to greet the women, share testamonies, perform our skit, and give a message. The message this time was given by Dori Halsey, which seemed appropriate as she is a woman who has a great heart for God. For those who may not know Dori, she helped with the cataloguing of the Kigali books. She has helped in so many ways and it was an awesome surprise to know that she wanted to join the team.

The Skit

Right before Dori gave her message to the women, the team performed the skit. This skit had been prepared in Portland and directed by Noelle. She has been such a great director, giving the character roles to those who would fit the characters. Michael had been chosen to be Satan and he did such a great job of being evil. Dr. G had been given the role of Jesus. All the other team members were just the other demons needed in the play. After performing this play twice, once to the kids and the second to the women, we realized that it had been effective in the different ministries. Because it had been so effective, Fred suggested that the team continue performing the skit whereever we go and to all the different ministries.

Genocide Sites

As I mentioned yesterday, we went to one of the memorial genocide sites. Today we visited another memorial. Visiting there with the translators and tour guides has been hard on us all to take in all the information and graphic pictures of what happened in Rwanda. It is a different experience watching a documentary and feeling for the people compared to actually walking on the grounds of the places where people have been murdered. Although it has been tough during those memorial sites, the team has learned and understood more about the people here in Rwanda. They have been hurting for too long and now they need some healing. The team has the mission of healing the people through our messages of hope. The hope that God has not forgotten them and that they are loved by Him. This has been another good day for us.

For the full context of this story, check out our posts tagged as Kigali.

Safe Arrival In Rwanda

The Multnomah Kigali Konvey team has finally made it to Rwanda, Africa and had met Fred Katagwa at the airport. But before we had arrived in Kigali, we had taken a long journey from Portland to Washington D.C to London to Kenya and then finally to our destination. It has been such an experience to go on this journey together and learn new things together. Like Dr. G says, “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes”. We have been taking risks, traveling in London and touring that city when we had our 14-hour layover there. It was fun just being in that city. But that city alone was not the only one that impressed us. When we got to Kigali, the hosts of Africa New Life guesthouse, the driver, the translators and all who we have encountered have welcomed us wholeheartedly. It was just like returning home.

New Friends & Worship

This morning, our first activity was to go to the dream house and share God’s love to the streetkids. The experience there and the kids there are so amazing. Everyone wanted to be around us, everyone wanted to know our name, and most of all they really loved cameras and taking pictures. When we got there we were able to see how the streetkids worshipped and how they lived. Their way of worship was so amazing. They jumped with genuine joy for God, with only the bongos for beat and people to sing the lyrics for them to repeat. While we were there with the streetkids, we were able to put on our drama skit, share some testimonies, and Dr. G gave a message on the parable of the sower. Just being around these kids have really made all of us realize how little these kids do not have but how real their love is for God. It has been such an eye opener for all of us and I know that our lives will continue to change as we stay here in Kigali.

Stay Tuned For More Updates

After visiting the streetkids, we came back to the guesthouse for lunch and pretty soon we will be going to the Rwanda genocide memorial site. This will be very emotional, I know it, but it will be helpful for us to know how far the people of Rwanda have come after that incident.

Just In Time For 15,000

Last Friday (March 19th) at 10:20 a.m. the 15,000th book was entered in to the library database. And, probably in honor of Dr. Garry Friesen who’s been running the program, the final book was “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis!

Now Go Comment and Share

The Oregonian Photos taken by one of their staff photographers turned out really well too. Be sure to go to the story on OregonLive to comment and share it via the buttons at the bottom of the article.

Or, share it via the share buttons at the bottom of this post!

We’d also like to thank writer Nancy Haught, photographer Brent Wojahn, and their editors for doing such a great write-up to bring attention to this very important story!