In the beginning...

So when and where did this call to Rwanda start? Well...God had this planned for me before I was born and in hindsight I can see His hand all over the details of my life calling me and preparing me to live radically for Him. In 2002, I went to Kenya for a month and Africa began to capture my heart. The next year I went to Zimbabwe for three weeks. It was then that I realized that my love for Africa was more than just feelings, it was a call.

November 30th, 2005 was a day that changed me forever. I had been asking the Lord for clarity in my call to Africa. Africa is huge and I wanted God's direction to a specific place. During a chapel service at Elim Bible Institute God spoke to me with more clarity then ever before. He lead me to the passage in Ezekiel 37 about the Valley of Dry Bones. Then He gave me visions of the bones in Rwanda from the genecide in 1994. Then He brought to mind a song with the words... "you see dry bones but I see an army." With all these pieces in my mind the call came clearly. "Valerie, you see dry bones in Rwanda but I see an army. I want you to go there and I want to use you to breathe my life into those bones and raise up my army in Rwanda."

I could never have imagined how that day would forever change my life. Within nine days of receiveing my call to Rwanda I found out that one of my college teachers was taking students on a trip to Uganda and Rwanda! So in the summer of 2006 I traveled to Uganda and Rwanda for two weeks. This served to confirm my call to Rwanda. I remember arriving in Rwanda and being overcome by the emotion that I was home!