Cards from Africa

Well after the excitement of last week, and my new baby. I thought i should post some pics from my time in Rwanda.

So my last day there the DTS team moved from theplace we had been working with over to the YWAM base in Kigali. One of the guys on staff has this ministry called Cards from Africa. It's located just down the road from the YWAM base so I walked down there right before i had to go to the airport.
This little guy followed me all the way down there holding my hand. It was really cool once i got there. They have this nice building where all the youth work.

Their mission is to employ orphaned youth of Rwanda, and teach them about business and to give them fair wages. Our YWAM base in California sent me with 50$ so that we could sell some cards in our storefront, and hopefully continue supporting them. They had worship music playing as there were probably about 30 youth sitting at 6 tables working on cards. They make all of their cards from recycled paper. You can actually see on their web page how they make the paper.

Once i got their i asked them if i could take some pictures of them working. It was fun going around and taking their pictures. Some of them were shy as i started taking their picture. Then i would show them their picture on the back of my camera and their faces would light up. It was a really good time. And a great last day in Rwanda. I'll post some other stuff tomorrow...

Our new baby....

So we got a new baby and her name is Taylor. She is made out of sweet sitka spruce and sapele wood. She's a beauty...and here are some sweet pictures of her...


So it was such a good deal. It all started this morning. I just got back from Rwanda on Wednesday night. Yesterday was kind of a blur and so i thought i'd call my friend Jeremy and see what he was up to, maybe go and catch up at Starbucks. He didn't answer, but called back and told me he had amazing news. That he was at the guitar store and that i needed to come see this guitar.

So apparently the first time i called he was talking to the guitar store guy...his name is butch. Jeremy was in the middle of telling butch that the guitar would be perfect for me and then i was calling him. So i went down and looked at it. It was really nice. It was on sale for a really good price. So I came home and talked to lori about it. You can read about the conversation on her blog here. i'm definitely going to have to take her out somewhere nice or something like that.

I've been wanting a nicer guitar for a couple of years now. I had been playing a samick for a while. Then when me and lori got married i've been playing her samick which was a little bit better than mine. It had a pickup and was a cutaway. But you could tell in the sound that it wasn't the most expensive guitar. But it has served us faithfully over the years. We've used it for a ton of worship times. It's been to mexico, and canada. It's gone lot's of places. I'm so excited for this new guitar. I thank jesus for this sweet new guitar and the blessing it's going to be.

So thank you jesus for the sweet new guitar.

In Rwanda

So we have been super busy. As i stated in our last post. We left our house at 7:00 am on Friday and got to Kigali, Rwanda on Friday at about 11:00 am. We were pretty tired but i figured the best way to beat jet lag, was to not rest at all. So on Friday afternoon i went with all the guys on the team and we played football(or soccer) with a bunch of street boys. We played for about 2 hours.

Saturday we went and changed money and then went to a church that has about 50 orphans at it. It was pretty cool. Saturday afternoon, we went and baptized a bunch of people. Brandon and Cindy, two of our staff got in the water and baptized some local people with one of the local pastors.

Sunday we went to church and it was a great time. In the afternoon we had a time of intercession with the students.

Today we drove about an hour and went and visted a aids clinic. We spoke on hope and tried to encourage the people. We gave them our lunches as they had nothing to eat. We then went up the street and the girls on our team played against the local girls. We got smoked 4-1.

Lori sent me an email and told me that both of our cars broke down. So we need prayer for that. Hopefully it all works out ok. I have taken some pretty good pictures of the people of Rwanda. It is amazing here. It is nothing like what preconcieved ideas of it are. We are going on Wednesday to see some sights. I don't think it's going to be a very exciting day. We are going to try and go to the hotel mecolines, and some other memorials.

Talk soon

Heading to Rwanda

So today is my last day here before I head to Rwanda. I'm leaving tomorrow at 7:00 to drive up to San Jose. Then begins the crazy journey of flights. We leave San jose at 12:00 noon and get to Minneapolis at 5:44 pm. Then we leave Minneapolis at 9:30pm and get to Amsterdam on Thursday morning at 10:00. We then have to spend the whole day in Amsterdam until 9:00pm when we get to Nairobe at 6:30 on Friday morning. Then we have to wait until 10:00 to catch our flight from Nairobe to Kigali.

So once i get to Rwanda and hopefully not super tired. I'm going to be working with the DTS while I'm there and partnering with them. We are going to be working with a local church that has ministry that works with the local street kids.
I'm looking forward to our time there. It should be really good. We are also going to be working with the church there. The DTS and possibly me are going to be speaking at a conference there and praying for people. We can't wait to see what God is going to do during this time. This is a picture of some of the local street kids. Please be praying for my time there, and for Lori and Eli as they are going to be staying home. I hate traveling and being away from them. Please also be praying for my time with the DTS, and that i can speak into their lives and encourage them while we are there.