The Count Down is On!!!

Hard to believe, but I am 37 days from coming home for a visit!! I think my mom has already started sleeping at the airport waiting for me to return. All I have to say is that I am really looking forward to coming home to see familiar faces, friends, and family. I am looking forward to the blessing of being around those who really know me and have known me for a long time. I am looking forward to being able to sit across the table with my best friends and being able to have a conversation instead of a delayed skype phone conversation, which often ends in one of us being disconnected. As much as I will be excited to return back to my home in Rwanda, right now all I can think about is just coming home for a little while. See you in December!

I want to be a tree...

"But blesses is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~Jeremiah 17:7-8

Combining Two Teams.

I really adore my friend George. We work together often. Like me, he also has boys who he coaches. He has three age groups he works with, young (7-10 years old), middle (11-15 years old), and old (16-25 years old). He is a man of great influence who at this point does not have a job, but goes to school and does full time ministry all the time. I always joke that he does have a job, he is a young life leader in the making, and doesn't even know it. Anyways, George and I have been partnering on several occasions to do joint practices, training sessions, games, etc. Just last week we decided to combine my team with his middle aged boys for a match versus another team. It was really fun to see my boys planning with others and actually doing well. I think they would admit that they even enjoyed it as well.

X-Men.

There is this once a month community holiday called Umaganda. Simply put, once a month no one is allowed to go anywhere or drive until noon. After noon you can do whatever you want, but before noon you are required to help serve your community by doing whatever projects your neighbors and community need help with. This past Saturday was Umaganda and so therefore there was no soccer camp in the morning, but instead of just playing in the afternoon, we decided to set up the projector, set the movie on French with English subtitles, and showed the boys the movie X-Men. They seemed to have a really good time.

Sweet Friends.

There are two individuals specifically that I seem to spend a lot of my time with. They are my friends Justin and Amy. Already we have had some pretty fond memories and laughs together. Just the other night we decided to go out to dinner, which is our typical "social event of the week" which is what Justin likes to call it. I am very thankful and blessed by my sweet friends. I really would not know what to do with out them.

Bandaid.

It was yet another fun filled day for me. My boys club soccer team played my KICS school team. I have been working with both teams, so we organized a game between the two. This is their second time to play each other. Interestingly enough for the last several matches whenever my boys get hurt, bummed, or bruised they often ask for "cream." I am always so confused on exactly what they are asking for. This time I came prepared for any injuries, medical kit and all. So, as predicted one of my boys received a gash to his leg, which shin guards would have protected if he had any. He immediately asked me to put something on it. Usually I have nothing to give them, but this time with my med kit ready I was able to pull out an alcohol pad and a bandaid. Coming from America I just assumed he knew what those things were, so I just started handing them to him. After a few minutes pause I noticed he was still holding the pad and bandaid just blankly staring at them. Long story short, he had no clue was they were nor how to even apply a bandaid. I asked him if he had any clue what it was or how to use it, he just shook his head. We all kind of laughed and then I showed him how.

Soccer Camp.

For the last several Saturdays and hopefully for many more to come, a group of us including three Americans and the rest Rwandans have been putting on a soccer camp from 7-2 in the afternoon that serves a bunch of Rwandan boys ages 5-23. The original connection was my friend George. For the last year George has been giving up three nights a week literally on no salary (he currently does not have a job and is not being sponsored to work with kids) to go and play soccer with a bunch of street boys from the Kycuiro area. He is absolutely a Young Life leader in the making and doesn't even know it. George's sole purpose for getting together with these boys is to just hangout with them, build relationships with them, and share Christ with them, but with so many boys (40+), in the last few months, he has begun to start to see that this is bigger then what he can handle. After meeting the YL Africa country director in September, George started praying for people to help him and to come along side him to help with all these boys he continues to take on. Within in only a few weeks after George started noticing this need that our friend Kent came up with the idea to hold a camp every Saturday morning for Rwandan boys where we would do training, play games, meet with the boys in small groups, and share a devotional. It was pretty unbelieveable because also within a month this camp had started to take place to serve not just George's many boys but also my twelve or so as well. Also, George's prayer for more people to help him was definitely answered. It is no longer George who is working with these boys, but every Saturday around eight to twelve men have begun to help all of which come from several different denominations and local churches. I think between the group of us leaders there is probably six different churches and denominations taking part. The grounds are also owned by Youth for Christ, so as it seems everyone is working together and really doing something meaningful for this group of boys.

800 Girls!!!

Also, I wanted to share with you about my day yesterday. It was a bit unbelievable to say the least. For over two months now my friend Emerthe has been asking me to speak to some girls at King David's Academy on sexual health and how to honor God with their bodies. Her main reason/concern in having me come talk to them was that many of the girls at school had been having sex and/or getting pregnant and having to leave school. I have been putting it off with so much going on at school and actually had to cancel twice. Well, yesterday we finally went and literally I had hardly planned because I spent my entire week planning for school and that morning from 6:30-2 coaching a soccer camp. I also thought there would only be able 30 girls there, so we could just have a conversational discussion about the subjects instead of me sitting in front of them like a lecturer. I had also brought a tin of cookies for the girls thinking it would only be a small group of us. Well... with only a tin of cookies, my bible, and no notes in hand, I showed up and walked into this huge hall to 800 girls!!!!!!!!!!! My mouth dropped and the only thing I said to Emerethe was "oh my gosh there is a lot of girls" to which she responded "oh yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you." I was shocked, unprepared, and feeling a slight sense of "what in the world did I get myself into".... I seriously just stopped in my tracks and started praying. It was all I could do because there was no way I was going to get through this meeting as a guest health teacher speaker on my own thoughts and planning. Thankfully, I can report that I did make it through and I do think the girls were interested and learned. It was a sweet time where I was able to share a bit of my story with them and my mistakes. I was also able to share with them from 2 Corinthians where it says your body is a temple and how as girls they have value. I also was able to share not only my heart, but also the little knowledge I know from teaching health and sexual reproduction. It was pretty unbelievable all around, but I think what was most shocking was the little they actually knew on their bodies and how it works. Yet, their lack of knowledge on the subject does not surprise me with it being slightly culturally taboo for parents to really talk about these matters with their children, most of the girls living at a boarding school hundreds of miles from parents and relatives, and most importantly because health education is not seen as valuable here and so there is literally NO sex education in schools. No one is telling them the simple things that could really help them value themselves, say no and/or be safe, as well how how to just simple honor and take care of their bodies for the Lord. Again... crazy. It was a pretty amazing time though and I really felt blessed to be there, to a share, and felt a desperate need for God to really speak..... it was just an unbelievable time.