Friday, December 05, 2008

Keeping It Real

Camp Gahini was all in all an incredible experience. For a dream like this to come together so quickly and so well, is truly amazing. God was working powerfully through this camp. This camp is unique in the effect it has on people, despite challenges and barriers, such as language, kids were affected and changed in awesome ways. It is humbling to see the ways God can use us despite our inabilities. I never knew what to expect from this experience, I never knew what Africa was like or even how this camp would affect kids better than any other method we could use to help the African people. So I stepped into this adventure trusting that God would take this camp and use it, and he did. My perception of Africa before I came was the pictures most people in North America know, a world vision commercial is all they every see, so they assume that is what Africa is. But this adventure opened my eyes. I realized that it is awesome to give money or support in any way you can; however African kids need more than money. They need opportunity. And that’s what this camp gives. It gives kids opportunity to just have fun, to learn and to feel loved. For us to show kids love and tell them we do what we do because God loves them is a profound concept for them. That is why to me it is important for us to be here. Money is great, but love is a necessity. That’s what we are here to give. It was extremely fun to watch as the kids had fun and learned that they can worship God in whatever they do. I feel that I have learned so much from the kids and from the whole culture in my short time here. I am excited to see where the camp will go in the future. All of us involved have ideas and dreams of what is possible, but none of our dreams can match up to God’s plans. That is why I believe this camp will be powerful for years to come. Caleb Davis

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Speechless

I am speechless daily over the kids that surround us. Yesterday I stood under the shade of a tree and preached about love to a crowd of Blue as they sat on the grass and listened. At one point I wanted to hide behind my translator Georges just to hid the fighting tears as I talked about my love for money. Most of these kids have no understanding about the god of money for they have probably never owned any of their own. I asked them to pray for me and to pray for my country for I dont think I will ever understand simple faith the way that people here in Rwanda understand it. I find myself daily learning from these kids as I see pure joy on their faces. I hope and pray that God will break my heart for these people and for the people that God has put in my life at home. God's love for us is more pure than anything we will ever understand and all He asks of us is to love Him back. I guess in these past weeks that is the message that I have been preaching. These kids have been incredible, as I was speaking about love to them and how much God wants us to love Him and to love each other they began to put their arms around each other. Again I needed to fight back the tears. My best memory of this camp was watching the biggest smiles you could imagine as kids went shooting down the slip n' slide that we set up leading into the lake. Everyday I embrace smiles of children experiencing true joy. I learn so much from these kids and am daily challenged in my life. I know that God has good things in store for this camp and for the people of Rwanda. A couple of days after we arrived our main camp leader and translator Betty told me that weeks previous to our arrival she had been praying for a camp In Gahini and even called all the people she knew trying to organize one. only days before we arrived had she given up on the idea of having a camp for the youth here in Gahini. God knows our hearts, He knows His children and the more we seek Him the more He will put us where He wants us to be whether thats in a job or traveling or school or even living in a foreign land. When we let God's love overtake our lives and lead our steps we are left speechless. -Daniel

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Sea Of Blue

The second week of camp has concluded, it has been a myriad of emotions, chaos and fun! I often walk through this sea of kids wrapped in blue camp Gahini shirts and let the reality of this venture hit me. Just over a year ago it was a dream that God had placed into our hearts and now here we are half way done the first year of camps! It is overwhelming to ponder, the greatness of this God we serve.
This morning I was reading about Elijah and Elisha and how they went for a walk one day and as they came to the Jordan river they hit the water with their robe and it parted, so they could walk across on dry land. This is the God that we serve, the impossible becoming possible, dreams turning to reality. These past two weeks have been an incredible stretching process for the entire team. We have experienced so many trials, whether getting sick physically, dealing with cultural differences or the ever prominent language barrier. It has been such a blessing to watch as each team member takes on the responsibility given them and also continually picks up the slack for those sick or tired or just weary from the cultural differences and needing a break. We have had two camps thus far, each camp having roughly one hundred youth attending. In every camp it has been surreal to see the change in these kids lives, to hear their questions during team devotionals about where God comes from or where He lives. I have loved seeing smiles on their faces and even the tears in their eyes as the last day they walk out of chapel giving hugs and speaking in their broken english, "I shall never forget you". It is these smiles and tears that inspire and encourage us to continue to dream, and to trust that God has big plans not only for our lives but for the lives of each and every kid we have been able to get to know these past couple weeks. One story to leave you with; When we first arrived I was in meetings with the church leaders here in Gahini. As we went over what the camp was going to look like and all of the small details that are involved with starting a project of this magnitude my good friend and the man in charge here spoke up. He told me that this camp is not only our dream but has been their dream as well. The idea of bringing kids out of their day to day lives and letting them be kids for one week, of giving them good memories to replace all of the pain and hurt in their lives and showing them God's grace love and joy. This he said is something that has been needed here for years and is an incredible blessing to this country. Please continue to pray for us as we have two more camps left to go. Jordan

Great Comments

Thanks so much for responding to our blogs and corresponding with us. It is wonderful to hear what you are all thinking... It seems that we often make the mistake of not expressing ourselves to the fullest with each entry. Perhaps we forget about those who haven't the slightest clue of what we are doing and only tell small portions, and perhaps we also keep it too short and brief as we neglect to give our blog the amount of time it demands of us. For this I apologize.
First off, our lack of knowing the blogging world is why we are continuing a blog that was created for a different journey. This is our way of sending our stories home. For those of you more interested in this mission to Rwanda we have not expressed our hearts for this, and our mission statement to the side of the page here is more in regards to the World Faith Tour.
The connection between our last journey and this mission is this; We still have the same heart for seeking out our calling, to live as God would have us live. Our stories are those filled with adventures and excitement. We hope people who read this will be encouraged and possibly inspired to dream.
"Getting back into the Game" hopefully this saying isn't taken so seriously that we can base our theology on it. I find that in many ways we are getting back into something different. I personally don't feel as if I will be a different person in or out of the game. But as we prepared to leave our home and enter into a foreign country, everyday life becomes a little different, almost like a game. Suddenly nothing is familiar, the people treat you differently by our white skin. The prices get hiked up and people try to scam you on the streets. But in no way is this mission, this chance to teach kids, a game. We take this responsibility seriously.
For those of you who have been supporting us. We send you more "thanks". Your prayers have been needed. Your finances have been important. Many of you would know that we have gone through the organization of AYMI, who you sent your checks to. This relationship between AYMI and ourselves has benefited us as a way to keep our finances accountable to someone.
I would like to answer a few good questions asked by Kim;
Q: Is there need in Rwanda? Greater or lesser than Canada?
A: I feel there is a big need in Rwanda and we are here to work towards changing that. I could possibly write a book on the needs of this place and why I came. In the blogs to come I hope that some of the needs are expressed, and any of us are more than willing to share in person our understanding of the situation here in Rwanda. Canada too has a big need, in which we are all responsible for. Personally, I don't know how to measure greater and lesser need. There are many ways to help make Canada a better place, we should all do what we can.
I find it odd being here and hearing how so many people here wish Rwanda could be more like Canada. I often tell them, I wouldn't wish that upon you. Rwanda has many strengths that we don't as Canadians. I often mention to Rwandise that in Canada we often worship money.
Q: Are you fulfilling your desires for adventure?
A: Absolutely! I hope I speak for everyone on the team, its full of ups and downs, mostly ups.
Q: Is the money going towards a Project that is sustainable?
A: We hope so. It is kind of an expensive one-time thing to do here. So far many local leaders have taken an interest in using this program and performing it in smaller scales around the country after we leave. Thus far we are getting closer to setting things in place for next year, to make things better. Our plan is that this camp will be running locally in less than 5 years from now. It seems to be catching on so fast it may be less!
Q: What is it that attracted you to Rwanda?
A: Jordan is the guy who had some dreams and visions of this camp when we were here last year, so we committed to coming back in a year to make it happen.
We hope that our blog has not given you the idea that living 'extreme and going overseas' is hand in hand with obedience and righteousness.
Kenton

Monday, October 27, 2008

Familiar Red Soil

Sitting on a bus in Kenya my nostrals were filled with that very familiar B.O. that can only be found on this continent, Nigel says it is a warm inviting smell, but I am not so sure I agree with him on that one. Warm, and Inviting is how I would describe being back in Rwanda. Someone told us the other day that the first time you meet someone in Africa you are their guest and the second time you are their friend and the 3rd time you are their Brother. So it is such a great feeling coming to a place where I am a friend. It feels incredible to be walking on this familiar red soil that has the power to change lives. Kenya was beautiful and after only a day we got on a bus to Uganda and then here to the peace of Rwanda. (32 hours on a bus later)We got to Gahini Rwanda on Saturday night and were woken early Sunday morning being told that we were doing Sunday School. I have been waiting for a year for this!! The kids were in a huge circle and we jumped into the middle of it and sang songs and laughed. Kenton did the story of Noah getting all the kids to act as animals and again everyone laughed so deeply. It all just seemed to fall into place so fast. From the moment we have arrived we have felt almost as if we are visiting old relatives and as if the work here is second nature. Things seem to be falling into place around us and we daily see the ripples of a hand larger than ours shifting the waters. Thanks for your prayers we need them desparately for if we do things on our own we are destined to fail. Blessings, Dan

Sunday, October 19, 2008

And we're BACK IN THE GAME!!!!

Well I am still pinching myself in the reality that almost a year has gone by since we returned home after our world faith tour. As I pulled my backpack out of the closet and brushed all the dust off to put it to use once again I just had to shake my head. I dont know if I have even looked at that pack since november of last year. Ya maybe it sounds weird to you to dwell so richly over my back pack but you gotta understand that for a world traveller my back pack is like my best friend. he goes everywhere with me. At times he's a burden to carry but he always delivers great prizes like...clean underwear, and socks. well hopfully clean anyway. So I filled her up with all I thought I needed and now we are off. Only a week ago I can recall sitting in the truck at work with the guys, looking at our unfinished house and shaking my head saying "guys, how in the world are we going to do this." At the time we had about 3000 dollars in our budget for the camp and a house that needing the outside to be finished. Now here I am sitting at the computer with my flight only hours away with over $15,000 in our camp budget and a house that's pretty much done on the outside (sorry Daryl, have fun!). People keep telling me that I must be so excited and I just smile and nod and say "ya...excited...I guess" yes I am excited but I suppose its a different kind of excitement. its different than the excitement of going to disneyworld, its kinda like the excitement of swimming with dolphins (cause all of us know what that is like) your excited but nerveous cause anything could happen. so we covet your prayers today and for the next weeks. We have high hopes for this camp and believe that God is going to do amazing things. blessing everyone and we will do our best to keep up posted. please reply if you can commit to praying for us everyday, we would really really love that. Dan

Saturday, January 19, 2008

So, What's Next?

Coming home to Canada and finishing the biggest adventure of our lives felt very melodramatic. Since that day we have accustomed to life in Canada very quickly...almost too quickly. When a person comes home after something like this we must ask ourselves....what next. We can't stop dreaming, now we have to dream bigger. So this is it, the next dream for the lowly world faith travellers, PROJECT RWANDA, We hope to begin in November of 2008 bringing people and materials to begin a camp for youth in Rwanda. the location is already steaked out and now we need you. we need direction and eventually we will need a lot of money. If this is something that interests you please leave a comment with your e-mail and we will be sure to contact you in the next months as things come into place, or please send us an e-mail at one of addresses listed in our profile. Thanks and be blessed and dream big for the God we serve is so much bigger than this little world we live in at such a time as now. Daniel