“Inshuti, Inshuti, You have to come, Mom is sick and she needs you. Please come.” The pleas came from 5 young children, I’d met about a month prior in the streets, when they first came running and shouting, “Umuzungu!” and proceeding to ask for food. Since that time, I had seen the children at least weekly when I would ride into the city for errands. After the first time we went and bought bread and milk together and sat down...
Haven’t you always just loved the Good Samaritan? Each and every time I have heard this story as told by Jesus in Luke 10, my heart is full of joy for the deeds of the Samaritan; but I must admit a great deal of disdain for the Priest and the Levite. I find it easy to feel contempt for them as they walked past this poor man in need simply turning away. I suppose, that you, like I have, have...
• I admit, I seem to have a magnetism for street boys. Something about those little bare feet caked with dried dirt, their soiled clothes, affinity for picking trash, and their forlorn looks calls to my heart. • Most of my encounters with these little guys leads only to only a few moments shared of kind words and simple gifts, of something to eat, and maybe sandals to wear; but once in a while a relationship is born. • I met him...
Have you ever had someone walk into your life, and almost instantly you know you will be changed because of this encounter? I still do not know all that this little boy has instigated in my life and mission, but I know he is the beginning of something. He has certainly drawn me into the circle of street children and has me researching and learning as to what can be done. I was walking home from language study when I...
I hope I never tire of the experience of children seeing a white person up close for the first time. Any given day as I walk through rural Rwandan villages, I have both children and adults yell out, “Muzungu! Muzungu!” [white person!] Children often come running in a group and hug me, yell the only English word(s) they know, or dare each other to touch me. Mothers will call for their children to come look at or touch the Muzungu....
Thank you so very much for being a part of Love Alive International. Whether through prayer support, emotional encouragement, or financial contribution, you are an integral part of sharing Christ’s love. I arrived here in Rwanda on January 18 and spent the first week in Cyangugu, Rwanda, a southern region on the borders of the Congo and Burundi. This area is largely cut off from the rest of Rwanda and far from the capital. I have since come near the capital...
Rwanda Gifts. ...
I hiked up a steep red dirt hill, cut off from the main road. This is the same half-mile hill that over 600 elementary students trek each day as they walk over 2 miles to get to school. There are only 6 teachers for all 600 students. Each teacher instructs a class of 50 students in one classroom from 7 am until noon. When those students are released at midday the next group of 300 students arrives,...
Please Send Books Who would have ever thought that I would teach a construction class?!?!!? Yet here I was in Rural Rwanda telling a class full of eager young men what building materials in America are like. They wanted to know how building was different in America. Mind you they have not a single book for 300 students, nor a computer nor TV, so their ideas about the Western world are very limited. No, actually we didn’t build out...
Dear Friends, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the mission work I am setting out to do in Rwanda, Africa. As many of you know, I have established a non-profit organization: Love Alive International Inc., and will be leaving for Africa January 16, 2013. I am thrilled with the opportunity that lies before me. Since my two trips and more than 2 months in Africa in 2011, I have been praying about and preparing to return on...