Last Week of Outreach

February 11 – 16, 2012 (Day 48 - 53)

On Saturday (Day 48), we prayed for the bride and the groom’s original design. First we prayed for the bride and then for the couple together. After lunch we all got dressed in our traditional Rwandan dresses that were leopard print (or leo-pard, as Franzi says). We were a bit late to the church but we were able to sit through the church service. Then, everyone headed to the reception. We had Fanta drinks and saw some more traditional Rwandan dances like what we had seen when we were in Butare. It was getting a bit late so after we were able to have some delicious cake and give the bride her gift, everyone except Immaculee headed back to the base.

On Sunday (Day 49), instead of going to church we had our own little church service as a team. We sang worship songs, prayed, finished our affirmations of each other and then Richard preached. Afterwards, we had communion as a team. We then went back out to the restaurant that we had been going to every Sunday for lunch. Olivier and Michael (who the leaders had been teaching the DTS with) came along. At night, we watched ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement’ and ‘The Blind Side’.

On Monday (Day 50), it was our last rest day of outreach. In the morning, Laura, Rebecca, Franzi, and Bianca went back to the market. On the way there and back they were able to ride on motorcycles, which is the Rwandan taxi service. Today, most people did their last load of laundry and just relaxed. At night, everyone except Ashley and Kaitlin went to Immaculee’s sister’s house for dinner. Ashley hadn’t slept well and Kaitlin was sick so they stayed back and watched Princess Diaries 2 all over again. Everyone said that the dinner went very well. The only thing was is that the team got back at 11:30pm, but Richard and Immaculee said that they wouldn’t have to start working at the preschool until 10am, instead of 7:40am.

On Tuesday (Day 51), it was Valentine’s Day. The team went to the preschool for the morning. We had thought that we would be doing practical work again but the preschool expressed their need for us to come back. After lunch, Richard called us down to the dining hall for a ‘special meeting’. We sat around in a circle as Immaculee began to talk about God’s love for us. Then, she handed out roses for everyone, and then brought out cake for us. But, she told Ashley to wait to cut the cake because ‘God might give us a bigger surprise than a cake’. Then, Bella from Butare came out of another room carrying another cake. We were all so excited to see Bella again and she told us that there was ANOTHER cake waiting for us in the next room. We sat around together and ate cake until we had to get back to the preschool. Tuesday night we watched the movies ‘Inception’ and ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’ in the lounge.

On Wednesday (Day 52), we had a morning of debrief. We prepared for the week of debrief at the oval and talked about our experiences with outreach. We also had our second cake. After lunch, we packed and cleaned our rooms. At night, we watched ‘The Princess Diaries’ and ‘Crazy, Stupid Love’.

On Thursday (LEAVING DAY), we finished the cleaning and packing. At tea time, we had an early lunch and ate our final cake from Bella. Bella also surprised us again when she came all the way back from Butare to see us again. She brought us all Rwandan tea as an expression of her love. At lunchtime, we said our goodbyes at the base and left with Olivier, Noel and Immaculee’s sisters to the airport. We had touchdown in Uganda and had a six hour layover in Ethiopia. We are expecting to be back in England tomorrow at 7am.

Thank you for anyone who has supported us through finances or prayer to help us come on this outreach. A lot of people on the team have had people donate to their DTS and they wouldn’t have been able to come without their help.

May the force be with you, always, Immaculee’s Babies

YWAM Arise and Shine School

February 6 – 10, 2012 (Day 43 – 47)

On Monday (Day 43), it was our rest day. In the afternoon, Immaculee’s sister offered to take us girls back to the market. We finished up buying souvenirs and gifts for others. Otherwise, most people were able to sleep or do more laundry.

On Tuesday (Day 44), we start out very early to work for the YWAM preschool. Franzi and Taryn are with the youngest class, the two year olds. Sarah and Ashley are with the middle class, which is age 3 and Bianca and Kaitlin are with the 4 and 5 year olds. Rebecca and Peter had not been assigned to classes so Peter was helping David (the leader of the preschool) in the office and Rebecca came up to the top class. On the first day in the classes, we were only there to help settle the kids down and observe the teacher to see what we could help with the next day. The youngest class mostly spent time singing songs together but the two older classes had lessons from the Bible and worked on math. There was a time for a relatively good snack and playing outside with the kids. After lunch, we all went back to our classes and helped the teachers prepare for the next day. Mostly, we were writing in their homework and in-class assignments and writing them up for the next day.

On Wednesday (Day 45), we all worked at the preschool again. The kids are super cute but very excited all of the time. Since it was our second day, we were able to lead activities. There is a section of the day called morning circle. And that is when the kids pray for the people who are sick, sing songs, update the calendar and update the weather. In the upper class, Bianca led the kids in the song ‘Who is the King of the Jungle’, while Kaitlin led the calendar and weather update. Our favourite times are before class and during snack break. Then, we are able to play on the playground with all of the kids. During class, we were all able to see the first rainstorm in Rwanda… which made everybody very excited. In the days after, the air was so much cooler and not as humid. Instead of working on the kid’s homework in the afternoon, there was a worship and prayer time at the YWAM base with all of the Arise and Shine staff. Afterwards, David had organized a volleyball game which was the nursery school vs. the primary school. I think that the primary school won.

On Thursday (Day 46), it was our third day working with the preschool. We had all gotten into a pretty good routine now, but our biggest struggles are always making sure that the kids quiet down for the teacher during class. After lunch, we helped our teachers write out the weekly homework and classwork for the kids. They sometimes use a photocopier at the school, but for the most part every single assignment for every kid needs to be handwritten by the teacher. For example, in the upper class, there are 28 kids who have 3 separate notebooks each. That’s over 80 notebooks that the teacher has to write separate assignments in. So the fact that our team is there is a huge help to them.

On Friday (Day 47), it was our last day with the kids. At the end of the day in the upper class, the teacher allowed us to have time to take pictures with the kids. After lunch, we were supposed to clean the bathrooms downstairs, but as we were carrying water to clean it we found it already clean and finished. So we were able to have an extra-long break after today. When we were saying goodbye to our teachers, they had handmade us all cards with blessings and verses for us. And although the week was very exhausting, we were very sad to say goodbye to all the kids. This whole week our leaders (Richard, Immaculee, and Laura) were teaching the current YWAM Rwanda DTS about freedom. They all prepared talks of topics like fear, injustice and unforgiveness for the DTS and spent the evenings praying for original designs and strongholds. Friday night, our outreach team watched 'The Book of Eli' with the rest of the base. Quite a gory-ish movie but very shocking... That night, we also saw the dresses that we would wear to the wedding the next day. At first, we all had different traditional Rwandan gowns, but two of the dresses were incomplete. So, instead we are planning on wearing leopard print dresses.

A last prayer request (as there is only going to be one more blog post after this and then we’ll be back on the oval) is still health. A number of us have been sick in different ways and a few of us have had to miss duties because of them. So although we’re in the last week, we would still appreciate your prayers for our health and safety.

Cheerio, Immaculee’s Babies

Zion Temple Celebration Church Week

February 1 – 5 (Day 38 – Day 42)

On Wednesday (Day 38), we were planning on working with Zion Temple Celebration Church that day, but it was unexpectedly a national holiday. So instead, we had team time in the morning. We had worship, devotionals, and prepared for the next day when we would be at the school. We also debriefed the week in Butare. After lunch, we all had time to prepare the teachings that we would share with the schools.

On Thursday (Day 39), we found out that our school trip was re-scheduled for Friday. So on Thursday we went to the church for their weekly intercession meeting. Kaitlin and Bianca talked about the main issues and prayer requests for North America and Europe. Then, Peter shortly preached on YWAM’s main intercession principles and led them into intercession for North America and Europe. Then in the evening, we went to another church meeting where Peter and Rebecca shared their testimonies.

On Friday (Day 40), we went to the school that was set up by Zion Temple. We split into different groups and went to the classes. Laura, Kaitlin and Peter went to the oldest classes where Peter shared a testimony, Kaitlin mixed her testimony with a bit of teaching and Laura talked to them briefly about hearing the voice of God. Ashley, Sarah, Franzi and Bianca went in two separate young classes and played games and songs with them. And Immaculee and Richard went to the middle class. Rebecca, unfortunately, was back at the base sick and Taryn was on work duty. In the afternoon, we went to the choir’s rehearsal and sang a song with them for Sunday’s service.

On Saturday (Day 42), we went to a meeting with the youth pastor concerning that night’s youth meeting. Basically, we just shared a bit of who we all were and what we had experienced at DTS and in Rwanda. Afterwards, we went to the hotel which the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ was based off of during the genocide in 1994 and had lunch there. It was a very nice hotel and was a bit like a resort. There was lots of artwork everywhere. After lunch, Laura and Kaitlin went back to the base. Laura had work duty and Kaitlin was feeling a bit sick. The others went to a bank to pull out more money and then headed to the youth meeting. The meeting started very late because of the 5 weddings that were happening. But Peter was still able to preach his message before the team had to leave for dinner.

On Sunday (Day 43), we went back to Zion Temple for the church service. We didn’t preach in this service but Taryn was able to sing one of her songs ‘My Exceeding Joy’ and the team sang ‘Your Beautiful’ with the choir joining in on the chorus. Then, we performed the drama ‘The Wall’, which was very well received by the church. After the church service, at least 30 people were given the chance and accepted Jesus. The pastor had led a very passionate service with breaking down walls. After church, Laura and Immaculee went to visit different people while the rest of the team went back to the Italian restaurant for lunch. After that, we debriefed the week we had spent with Zion Temple.

Some of our prayer requests still include health. Several different people have felt ill this week from just a day to several. Please pray for health and safety within the team.

Live long and prosper, Immaculee’s Babies

Starting the New Week

January 28 – 31, 2012 (Day 34 – 37)

On Saturday (Day 34), the outreach team, Olivier, Noel and Immaculee’s niece went on a safari in eastern Rwanda. We left the base at 5am and drove in a private taxi to the national park. When we got there, everyone was covered in red dust. We picked up a tour guide and set off on a six hour ride. We got to see warthogs, impalas, giraffes, baboons, water buffalos, hippos, monkeys, and zebras. Everyone was super exhausted by the end of the bumpy ride and happy to see the base again. That night, most people had to shower (red dust everywhere) and go to bed early.

On Sunday (Day 35), we were able to sleep in before church. We went to Immaculee’s church, Zion Temple Celebration Church. It’s the church that we will be working with for this week. After the church service, we went out for lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant. Except for Immaculee, who went to some friend’s house that she hadn’t seen in very long time.

On Monday (Day 36), it was our rest day. This week, it’s laundry and cleaning day to us. Most people slept or sat in the sun.

On Tuesday (Day 37), we had a meeting with one of the pastors of Zion Temple Celebration Church. We were introduced to the history of the church through the story of one of the pastor’s call to Rwanda. He had wanted to go to Australia for school but God kept on speaking to him about going to Rwanda to start ministries. Finally, a blind man from the Congo came and found him. He told the pastor his name, his father’s name and everything that he couldn’t have known. Then he said that God wanted him to go to Rwanda. And if he didn’t go, he would die. Then we talked about what we would be doing for the rest of the week. We will be doing the church’s meetings on Tuesday (tonight), Thursday, and Friday. And we’ll be doing a youth meeting on Saturday and working in the church’s school. In the afternoon, we went to one of the church’s weekly meetings. There, the choir performed some songs before our team went up. The team as a whole performed ‘My Redeemer Lives’, which the church was quite excited about. Then, Rebecca and Taryn performed ‘Psalm 23’ as a duet.

Some prayer requests are health and communication. A few of the team members have gotten quite sick since arriving in Rwanda. Also, we’ve been having a few issues with miscommunication with what we are to do. So please be praying for communication among our team and with the people that we’re working with.

Peace out, Immaculee’s Babies

A Week in Butare

January 21 – 27, 2012 (Day 27 – Day 33)

On Saturday (Day 27), we drove for three hours to the southern part of Rwanda called Butare. While on the bus, we had a stretch brake and picked up a woman who needed a short ride. While she was in the car, Immaculee was speaking to her in Rwandan. By the end of the ride when the woman got out, she had accepted Jesus.  When we got to the children's centre called "Let the Little Children Come to Me", we were welcomed by Bella. We had a chance to quickly settle in before the children of the project presented to us some songs and traditional African dances. After lunch, Taryn and Bianca shared their testimonies concerning the father heart of God and faith. Then Peter did a short sermon on children singing joyfully for Jesus. Afterwards, there was an opportunity for the children to accept Jesus. Seven children, ranging from 8 to 15, accepted Jesus. Then we prayed for healing for those who were sick. When they had left, some of the neighbourhood kids came to see all of the Muzungos (white people) and we played with them until the sun went down. Then we had debrief and prepared for the coming week when we would be ministering to the children's parents.

On Sunday (Day 28), we were given fancy traditional Rwandan dresses to wear to church. Taryn gave the short message on fixing our eyes on Jesus during trouble and Kaitlin and Sarah shared their testimonies. Then Immaculee gave the long sermon on how important it is to pray about the name to give your children and God redeems all things. Then there was an opportunity for those who had cursed their children and called them bad names to repent and bless their children. Then two people came to the front and wanted to accept Jesus. To end, there was a general prayer for healing.

On Monday (Day 29), it was a rest day. So most people rested, slept or prepared for the next three days.

On Tuesday (Day 30), we were planning to start the ministry at 9am. However, there was a meeting for the whole town. The governor was coming to make a speech and there was mandatory attendance. So while the mothers were at the meeting, we had team time. We affirmed a few people and worshipped. The meeting took five hours but the women said that they wanted to listen to what they had come so far for. So Taryn spoke on the topic of the father heart of God and wove her own testimony into it. We had planned to go to some of the women's houses in the afternoon but since they didn't leave until 5pm (originally supposed to be 1:30pm), we decided to leave it for the day.

On Wednesday (Day 31), Peter started with his sermon on the bridegroom and bride relationship between us and Jesus. He was supposed to go Monday but we decided to move him to Wednesday as the women were tired the day before. After the break, Kaitlin shared a testimony from the DTS about God revealing his love for her to sum up the theme of Monday, which was love from Jesus. Then we shifted into the theme of a believer`s authority and Sarah shared her testimony on taking authority over fear and anxiety. Then Laura taught on the believer`s authority and used examples from her own testimony. Then we prayed for some specific people who wanted healing. Then, in the afternoon, we visited two homes. We split up into two groups. The first group (Immaculee, Laura, Kaitlin, Ashley, Rebecca) went to a woman`s house and was able to hear her heart on what she had been learning with us. She especially liked the testimonies that we had shared. And at the end we were able to pray for her. The other team (Richard, Bella, Franzi, Sarah, Bianca, Peter, Taryn) went to another woman`s house and prayed for different illnesses that the household was feeling.

On Thursday (Day 32), it was our last day with the women. Bianca started with a teaching on God`s forgiveness and read out of John and the story of the adulterous women who is supposed to be stoned. Then Franzi spoke on identity and how we don`t do anything to earn what Jesus did but we are still worthy in him. Then Ashley shared her testimony on always being very stressed and anxious and then moving to have more peace.  Then Kaitlin spoke on identity and how things like fear and shame aren`t a part of us and the blessings that Jesus gave us. Both Franzi and Kaitlin were able to use their own life testimonies to share the teaching. Then there was an opportunity for the women to share their testimonies. A few of them shared testimonies of the genocide or about their own family lives. One woman said that before that day (because it was her first day), she didn`t know that white people struggled with the same things that they did. There was a guy there who also became a Christian. Then the women danced and sang for us as a goodbye. And we took many pictures with them. Later in the afternoon, the children from the project came back and danced for us again. Then we prepared for half of the team to leave to pray for someone off of the compound. There was a man who Bella knew that had both of his first two wives die during childbirth with the child. And his third wife was pregnant again and they asked us to come pray for them. However, when we prayed as a team, half of the team felt that they should stay and pray at the centre for the people who were going. So when the first team (Immaculee, Bianca, Laura, Peter, Bella, Leonard) left, the second team (Richard, Taryn, Kaitlin, Rebecca, Ashley, Sarah, Franzi) started to intercede on their behalf. When the first team got there, they went into the prayer room with the couple and started to pray for them and the baby. When they entered the house, Laura had a bad feeling concerning the mom and the baby. But when they left, the feeling was gone. Sarah and Kaitlin did a very good job at interceding through worship. Although the others might not have appreciated their voices, they persevered as martyrs for Jesus. Even though they were faced with much opposition and jeering, they continued to sing at the top of their lungs. After dinner, Bella washed all of our feet and painted some of our toe nails.

On Friday (Day 33), we had a huge breakfast waiting for us from Bella. There were crepes, omelettes, samosas, fruit salad, cereal, biscuits, and fresh juice. All week, Bella had been feeding us so well but we were all surprised that morning. After breakfast, there was a very emotional goodbye with Bella and the staff at the centre. Before we had arrived, Bella felt that this was a group that had to be mothered. And every day, she made us delicious, huge meals, gave us good breakfasts, had a stock of water, braided our hair, gave us hugs and always made sure our needs were met. So saying goodbye was hard, but we had to get back to Kigali and the YWAM base. When we got back, most of us washed clothes, had showers and unpacked all of our bags. Such a good week but we were all so excited to see the YWAM Rwanda base again.

Some prayer requests are health and homesickness. The malaria pills are still giving us headaches and stomach aches. And we are starting to get close to the end of our outreach. So please pray that we wouldn't be distracted.

Adios amigos, Immaculee's Babies