The Success of Camp 09

1^st and 2^nd Weeks of Camp Gahini 09 just went down in History. The simple fact is that camp so far has been a huge success. God brought us here to start something that has become very special. The returning kids from last year have jumped into the program with both feet, ready to do camp all over again, while the first timers are coming in timidly and transitioning into loud competitive team mates that have made life changing decisions.

When you step on the red soil of Africa you are bound to leave a changed person. Even more so when you are prepared early to start Camp Registration, and you open the big green gate and see anywhere between 300 and 400 kids ready and wanting to come in, it begins to feel like a camp for 120 kids seems so small. At that point it doesn't matter what kind of system you use to choose kids; it isn't a great one. You see a lot of kids turn around and walk 30 mins home in hope of making it next year. I can only imagine that the walk home feels a lot longer for many of them. It would be so great to see camps begin all over this area.

For the Kids who do come in it seems as it there is something special in the air. Even mentioning games, going swimming, or keeping their T-shirts has the kids cheering. But before we get to any part of our program the kids burn some of their endless energy the best way they know how; singing, jumping and dancing for Jesus. I often wonder if one of us didn't mention we are late for our first activity how many days straight they could jump and dance and sing. 'Would they skip lunch?' I don't know. (A toss up I imagine)

Our Canadian team + two Floridians have also created an awesome standard for what a team should look like. We are all switching roles to give everyone a chance to be a team leader. Each person has brought something valuable to the table and has demonstrated good leadership for our local leaders in training. I even see smiles on our faces when the sharp painful smell of BO burns through the sinuses during group hugs and dance circles. (don't worry team soon your sense of smell becomes totally destroyed and then it won't be bad at all)

This Camp has been all about huge upsets... We have had several games that the underdogs come through and win it all. In Team games and in Dodge Ball for example Robbie's green team had 5 kids left towards the end against one girl from Steph's Orange team, who pulled through for a huge win. As the camp 'games guy' I have seen the points go all over the place in the last two weeks, but I expect week 3 to be very stable, I expect a very consistent winner. (We'll keep you posted)

*Team Leaders for Week 3 are: Jordan, Daniel, Clinton and Kenno*

Kenno

Head over heels

Africa really has been incredible so far. Our team is gelling, and is already making fun of each other. I almost cried when Stephanie made fun of my back hair tonight…o’k not really cause I knew its just cause she loves me. Everybody tries to make fun of me a lot and apparently my good buddy Nigel gave them all instructions to annoy me as much as possible. I don’t mind though cause everyone who knows me tells me that I feel loved when people make fun of me. (I’m still not too sure if this is the truth or not yet). Today as we made our daily trek down the hill we had an entire fan club of kids follow us; each one trying to hold the hand of one of the “Mzungu’s”. Zach and the team strode majestically hand in hand with the beautiful children. It didn’t take long and I began to hear them starting to sing, “I luv you Jesus dee dow in my hart…” We soon had a whole choir of singing and dancing as we trucked down the hill to find our taxi bus to the city. I was a bit afraid that Carla would try to fit one of the kids in her bag to bring with her but we eventually tore ourselves away from the children to find a bus to the city where we found a whole new adventure. Standing in the bus area it only took minutes for a crowd to gather around to watch the “show” Andrew started singing the Brad Paisley song “when you’re a celebrity” and most of the team joined in. We eventually found a bus to take us on our adventure to Kigali the capital city. It was there that my eyes were opened; I had one those feelings come over me today that only come once every few years and for some people only once ever. Its that warm weird feeling inside that anyone gets when they begin to realize that this could be much more significant than they realize. I don’t know yet if its just being far from home and here in Africa but my eyes have been opened to understand more of where my hearts really at. The climax of my feelings were met earlier today when I walked into the jewellery store to see my prize first hand. Holding it in my hand for the first time sent chills down my spine and I just quivered at the thought of slipping it on. Today I can now proudly say that I am the owner of a calculator watch. That’s right, an authentic 100% plastic calculator watch straight out of the 80’s. I still can’t even sleep for the excitement and head over heels love that is in my heart for my brand new calculator watch here in Rwanda Africa! - Daniel

welcomed with open arms...kinda

After 2 very long days of travel our team finally landed down onto the red soil of Rwanda. We stepped out of the airport and sure enough our Rwandan friend from Canada Eddie was there to greet us. It was so nice to see a familiar face, but we had pretty high anticipation only to find that nobody was there to pick us up from Gahini. After finding public transport out to Gahini we found that there too we were on our own. In fact we have still yet to meet a leader or even an English speaker after 2 full days of being here. We’re starting to get a little bit nervous about this but nonetheless we have no loss of excitement, anticipation and confidence in being here. The team is all very excited to be experiencing the life changing soil of Africa with all its sounds, smells, landscape and mostly the smiles. We covet your prayers now as we prepare for our first camp this week and all of the uncertainties that face us at this time. We know God has brought us here but our hearts cannot help but feel the anxiety of all the unknown factors in play. Thanks to all you troopers who keep us in your prayers. Without the good Lord we are wasting our time and we are surly to fail. Praise Him for He’s worth the pursuit. Even all the way in Africa where we have no English translator, It makes it a lot more interesting this way especially for all our newbies!

The team from Left to right back row. Clint , Andrew, Zac, Dylan, Brett, Robbie

Front row left to right : Daniel, Kalena, Jordan, Gwen, Kenton, Carla, Stephanie.

Be blessed, From Team Rwanda and Limitless Ministries