Holiday greetings from
the heart of (and hearts in) Africa! At this point, I think the duration of our
time here and the time of the year has really made us miss you more. It doesn’t
help that we’ve been listening to a lot of Christmas music, including I’ll be Home for Christmas, to make up
for the lack of Christmas festivities here. A big thank you to those of you who
managed to send us some decorations! People have asked if we were able to have
any turkey for Thanksgiving and while we were not able to feast on any, we did
have a nice Thanksgiving with our friends. There was still plenty of food, and
I think even more to be thankful for this year. Looking back, God has cared for
us in rich and incredible ways. Despite being rather exhausted from trying to
wrap up all remaining activities at work and school, and days where we would
just like to get on a plane back home, we are so grateful still for the
opportunity to be where we are and to experience the Lord in new ways.
I’m (Garrett) still
trying to slowly learn Kinyarwanda. My favorite phrase so far is “turi kumwe”,
which translated literally means we are together. I like this phrase not only
because it sounds cool, but because the ways in which it is used. Rwandans seem
to have two usages for this phrase: 1) that we understand one another and on
the same page and 2) that in spite of physical separation, we are still
connected. This is great because I think to use this with you can contain both
of these meanings. Being this far from all of you has been one of the most
difficult things that either of us has ever done. Yet, you know why we have
chosen to do this. God’s call trumps all. Also, thanks in large part to an
ever-globally connected world, we have been able to keep connected regardless
of time difference and a distance of thousands of miles. WE ARE TOGETHER, and
we cannot thank you enough for your unrelenting support, prayer, and
encouragement.
I’ll attempt to update
you with all that has happened since our last correspondence which is probably
a lot. I think the biggest news is the ever growing size of our household here.
We now have two dogs Jumu and Itunda (pronounced e-tune-da and means passion
fruit singular). We had a rabbit, Thicket, may he rest in peace. We are
considering getting some chickens, mostly for the fresh eggs. We have also
offered a room to the HOPE intern, Danny, who was going to have to go back his
village in order to not pay rent here in the city. Danny has been a great
worker and it would be a shame to lose him now, especially with some ambitious
plans for the program in 2013. Before acquiring Itunda, we (the two of us and
Jumu) were even able to go on a little retreat to Musanze (which is in the
northwest part of Rwanda), where the volcanos and mountain gorillas are
situated. I (Garrett again) have been playing tennis and ultimate Frisbee as a
way to get exercise. Rachael is continuing to teach tennis lessons and making
use of her Pilates DVD (the only DVD we chose to bring, err what?). Work is
keeping us both busy. Rachael’s students now number eight (she started with
four). With my boss and the country director, Erisa, out of the country
frequently over the last couple of months, I have been all over the place
trying to keeps things in order. You can be praying for HOPE here in Rwanda. It
has been over months since we’ve applied for our NGO re-registration with the
government.We are confident we will be able to obtain it, but it has
been a distraction for the activities of the program and what we are actually
trying to accomplish. We also have some major projects lined up for this coming
year and could use prayer for smooth implementation and blessings on the
outcomes. Rachael has been doing a great job as a teacher, but being a nurse by
profession, she would love to be able to get back to it. Please pray that the
right opportunity is presented to her where her valuable skills could be used
optimally.
We wish you all a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this season be filled with God’s joy and
blessings. We certainly are thankful for the gift of Jesus in our lives. We
hope that at some point we will be able to see you all in person during 2013!
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| Our Sunday guard Assumani with his new bike and Itunda. |
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| The Family |
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| Jumu and Itunda are keeping us busy. |
