Do you remember that neighbor who invited me to church in the first place?  In September of 2010, she started another Bible Study on the book of Ruth.  Ruth left her country of Moab with her Mother-In-Law to Israel.  The question was posed in Bible Study, "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?"  I shared a little about my friends Dave and Suzette and said Rwanda - hands down.

 

Perhaps this is a journey to one of many dreams come true.  Anywhere in the world...Rwanda.

A First Introduction to ANLM in Rwanda

I was first introduced to Africa New Life Ministries through a couple in my Life Group, Dave and Suzette Munson.  They went to Rwanda for the first time in August of 2010 and they posted many pictures while they were there.

I checked Suzette's Facebook page every night hoping to see new pictures from her adventure.  I would gasp and say to my husband, "Oh my - look at this - can you believe this???"  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  I was pulling my children in after school and showing them also.  They didn't seem to really "get it." Having someone I knew personally there made it more real to me than anything I had seen before.

These are some of the pictures Suzette posted on her Facebook page that stuck in my head the most:

Suzette's Caption:  "Athanase and I. He's our boy now. He was a victim of the genocide. His parents were massacred and he was hit in the head with a club and thought he was dead (at age 3). Thrown in a pit with dead bodies. He waited then crawled out of the pit. He has been on the streets ever since BUT he is RADICALLY changed through Christ. I was drawn to him but had no idea about his past. He has been used to change 1000's of lives through his testimony. He was the most notorious kid on the streets and feared amongst the street kids."

Suzette's Caption:  "The line to get most of them there only meal of the day. Many were passing out in class so they decided they had to feed them in order for them to learn. This area is INCREDIBLY poor. "


I commented on this picture how sad it was.  Suzette's response surprised me:  "Its super sad but these kids are the fortunate ones. They get one meal a day and they get to go to school. The ministry is amazing but there are still so many kids unable to get this due to the lack of sponsorship. Its hard to explain what its like here."

This particular picture really stuck out in my mind.  I could see the limitations of her human reach, but I could see her stretching herself as much as she could. And I see them squeezing in as much as they can to get as close to her as possible.  This picture made me wish I was there with her to help pass out the hugs.

A Personal Invitation...to Rwanda?!?!?!

Dave Munson and my husband have been hanging out together Saturday mornings and Dave is teaching Jon to play the guitar.  I had shared with Jon that I wanted to go to Rwanda after Dave and Suzette's first trip, and we thought we might try to go through different credit cards to earn enough points to go.  But, one Saturday, Jon came home and said, "Dave invited us to Rwanda.  Let's go to Rwanda in July.  We have to let Dave know tomorrow."  WHAT?

I immediately clammed up.  Our relationship hasn't been extremely open and this was going to require lots of talking - which does not come easy for us.

The next day we saw them at Life Group and Suzette asked me, "What's going on with your husband?"  I honestly didn't know.

But again, I ponder the power of an invitation. 

Kids and Nail Guns

Joy got to go first.

Glory went second.

Glory helped her brother put on his safety equipment. 

 

Freedom is a very caution kid.  They all took this very seriously!

Jon, YOU totally rock.  I love and appreciate you.

Lounging in the Sun

The day after the snow day, the sun came out and the air was beautiful!  We had the back door open and I found Glory sleeping here in the sunshine.

 

A little later, I found Blondie had joined her. Jesus rocks.

Snow Day

The phone call from NISD came RIGHT BEFORE I was fixing to crawl out of bed, - perfect timing!  It's a snow day!  YAY!

Girls with their little snowman.

 Freedom wanted to try riding his bike in the snow.  It didn't take long for him to change his mind - he said it was a little slippery.

 Girls and Friends.

Glory

Our Street

Our House

Joy's snowball (and awesome friend :)  Beautiful snow-ball Joy!

 

Their ice sculptures - they've been creating these all week as they enjoy and explore the wonders of freezing weather.

Glory's snowball :)  Wow Glo - that's a big one!