Introducing My Big Brother... Eric

This is my big brother Byishimo Eric. Byishimo means "happy" and that is exactly what Eric is! He is part of Les and Yvonne's family though he does have his own biological parents. He is still just as much their son too.

Eric loves to worship and he spent lots of time teaching me Kinyarwanda songs. He was such a great help to me, translating for me, and helping me find my way around. I am so grateful that God has brought him into my life to be my brother!

I learned so much from him too. He has such a sweet spirit and he is always so thankful! I think he is always excited about something and I love that about him. He really has the joy of the Lord all over him. He has been through plenty of tough times but he is so full of the life of God that it is contagious.

You will probably hear me mention Eric many times in the future because he is a really important part of the ministry. That is one of my favorite things about the ministry that we have in Rwanda, there are many national Rwandans on our team! That is really important!

Introducing My Rwandan Family

I think sometimes people get confused about who is who when I am talking about all my precious family in Rwanda...so I am going to be introducing all of you to them one by one!

When I speak of my Rwandan family I am talking about those who I lived with and loved for the last two months of my trip to Rwanda. They are also the precious family that I will be going back to when I return. I did spend the first four months in a different area working at a boy's home and all of those boys are like brothers to me too but God has really joined my heart with my family in Kanombe and surrounding areas. It is a special connection and a special love that I can not even find words for!

Let me start by introducing my favorite missionary friends, Les and Yvonne Parr. Actually they are much more than friends...they are family too! They have been so amazing to me and have accepted me as part of their family and part of the ministry that God has entrusted to them.

In 2005, God called me to Rwanda and I remember feeling like "okay God how are you going to pull this one off?" I had absolutly no connections to Rwanda. I did not know anyone there and even the mission organization that I assumed I would work with had no missionaries serving in Rwanda. Well.... He totally knew what He was doing, as always! I was a student at Elim Bible Institute and was planning on joining a professor of mine on a trip to Uganda. So I am thinking "okay I am called to Rwanda but I am going to Uganda? What are You doing here God?" Well, nine days after God called me to Rwanda I was sitting in a class when my professor announced that not only would we be going to Uganda but we would be travelling to Rwanda to visit some missionaries there for a few days. You guessed it... Les and Yvonne were those missionaries that we went to visit.

I did get to meet them for a few brief moments right before they left to go to Rwanda and I will never forget the connection I felt with them. I just knew that God was connecting our hearts.

I will also never forget the feeling I had when we finally arrived at their house in Rwanda in the summer of 2006. "HOME!!!" That was all I could think as tears rolled down my face..."I'm home!"

So that is how I met Les and Yvonne. God has been knitting our hearts together ever since that day and I can hardly wait to see what He will do with us in the future! They are currently in the process of starting a non profit organization called "A Voice For Rwanda" and I am so excited to be able to be a part of it! There is so much that I could say about them but really all you need to know is that they love God with all their hearts and they love the people of Rwanda with all their hearts too! By the way in Rwanda they go by Mama Muto and Papa Muto, just so you know if I ever refer to them that way:)

And hey you can check out their blog too! http://www.avoiceforrwanda.blogspot.com/

Christmas

Christmas has been interesting this year. I am so happy and blessed to be able to spend time with my family here in America! I know that I will not be able to be here every Christmas from this year on so I am trying to make the most of it. But I tell you what, this whole having two families on opposite sides of the globe if difficult, to say the least. I love being with my American family but I am missing my Rwandan family at the same time. Oh my...

I did get to call my Rwandan family on Christmas. I tried to call them all afternoon on Christmas Eve but the lines were busy I guess. So I decided to stay up late and call them at midnight, which was seven o'clock on Christmas morning in Rwanda! It was so great to hear all their voices! They were so excited and I could hardly understand them because they were all trying to talk to me at the same time. My little brother, Ntwari, asked me if he could sing a song for me and he sang me a very spirited version of Trading My Sorrows (I sent them a cd of English worship songs.). So precious! My sister, Christine, keep tellling me that there were dishes for me to wash:) I used to always come up to her when we were washing dishes and say "Ndashaka gufasha" which means "I want to help." My older brother Eric even ran down the street in his "jammies" to take the phone to the church so that I could talk to the pastors and my sister Alice who was helping to get ready for the Christmas service. What a blessing to be able to talk with the pastors of my church! I love them so much and this is the first I have been able to talk to them on the phone.

It was a phone call filled with much laughter and many tears! How my heart longs to see all their precious faces again! Thank you Lord for letting me have them in my life!

It's been a long time!

Wow! I have not written here for quite a long time. I started this blog for when I was in Rwanda and now here I am back in America and it has been months since I have written. Sorry, if you were someone who checked my blog to see what was going on.

Anyway...I am going to give it another shot. I really want to be able to keep up with this as well as sending out my emails to keep in touch with everyone here in America while I am in Rwanda. Yes for those who did not know...I am going back! I don't know exactly when but I am trusting God that it will be in May or at least the very beginning of June! So you can pray for that too! I trust that God know what is best but for now I feel like this is the time frame He has given me. I just keep trusting!

So I am going to start now with writing in this blog and that way I will not forget to write in it when I get back to Rwanda. That is the plan. Can't wait to be back there and I know I will have lots of new stories to share with all of you.

God Bless!