God's Shaping An Insane Adventure

"...let us go on and take the adventure that shall fall to us."

~Queen Susan in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

A month from yesterday I depart American soil for Rwandan soil!

This has been a crazy adventure and I haven’t even left home yet!

One of the wild things about this trip is how little by little it is turning into something I never imagined it looking like. There was a point where I thought I would arrive in Rwanda with little to no plans or connections, not because I wanted it to be that way, but because at a time God hadn’t revealed much to me. He made it clear I was supposed to go, but other than that he didn’t show me much.

While there is still a lot I don’t know God has blessed me with putting into place pieces and relationships beyond what I could have dreamed. There are moments where I still find myself panicking because I am unclear on this or that, but God continues to remind me he is bigger. God has been faithful to reveal exactly what I need to know when I need to know it. I find great peace in knowing that isn’t going to change. If there is a piece to this trip I don’t know than God probably has reason for not revealing it to me yet.

What I do know is I couldn’t have developed a more exciting trip on my own. God is providing opportunities to dive deeper into my passions and use the gifts he has placed inside of me. It is no secret God has gifted me with a deep love for children. I am insanely passionate about seeing children know they are loved and valued, not only by other humans, but by God. As I began to press deeper into pursuing a calling to travel to Rwanda and to dream about doing ministry there I honestly couldn’t see how that passion would, practically, fit in so I didn’t really explore it much.

Then God surprised me with mind-blowing opportunities.

The first piece of my trip will be working with the Vineyard Church in Rwanda to establish and build up their children’s ministry. There are three Vineyards in Rwanda, all of which are in or around the capital city of Kigali. What began as an inquiry to see if I could visit their church and meet members of their community to learn from, blossomed into an opportunity to use my gifts, resources, and passions to partner with them in seeing children enter into the Kingdom of God.

I didn’t see that coming!

There is much I don’t know about this and would love your prayers to surround this portion of my trip. My understanding is their children’s ministries are very new and they lack the resources/knowledge to develop them. They have asked me to help them with this: to lead a training regarding how to begin/develop a children’s ministry. I have battled insane feelings of inadequacies in this. I don’t feel qualified to teach on this subject and have a fear of public speaking. I might be passionate, but qualified to teach I don't know. In that, though, God has continued to bring me back to when He called Moses. I find myself saying and asking the same things Moses did. Who am I? What if? And God continues to gently remind me “I will be with you”.

A close similarity to Moses and I is the fear of speaking. Spoken words have never come naturally for me. I prefer written word much more. Satan has bound me in fear of speaking out loud for most of my life. Yeah, I was that kid in school who “faked” sick when I knew I had to speak up in front of class.

Fortunately, God began to free me of this bondage when I went to Uganda. I came home and spoke in front of a large group of people. And I LOVED it! God broke some chains that day. All that to say though, I still get fearful and say the same things Moses did in Exodus 4: “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I have never been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” (vs 10).

God continues to respond to me in much the same way he did Moses: “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decided whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” (vs 11;12)

All that to say, while I am nervous about doing a training about something I don’t feel qualified to train about, even though I am passionate about it, I do find peace knowing God is with me. He will provide exactly what I need, the words and knowledge.

I would love to ask you to be praying about this specific piece of the trip.. Please pray about the preparations as well as the actually training. I want to do what God wants me to do, not just what I think is the best thing. Wisdom in this would be great! I am nervous about stepping into a culture I do not know to do a training. What might work in America to build a children’s ministry may or may not work there, practically and culturally. I want to have wisdom and sensitivity in this. Ultimately, I want to be able to play a role in the children of Rwanda knowing they are so deeply loved by God and to become rooted in their identity coming from Him. Prayers for the specific ways and words to do this would be appreciated!

The second part of my trip will be with the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) Base in Kigali. Again, I don’t know a lot about this piece, but am so excited about it. What I do know is I will be leading another training here with the leaders of their school. While terrified I am also so excited about this! I have been in communication with the leaders of the YWAM Base and am beyond grateful for this connection. They have already welcomed me into their family with open arms. They have agreed to teach me and partner with me in what God is doing. They have also welcomed me to spend a few days staying in their home. I cannot wait to see what this will look like, even though a little nervous.

Recently, I have struggled with the fact that I am going to Rwanda alone. It wasn’t what I had planned to happen and from the very beginning I told God I wouldn’t go if it meant going alone. Yeah, God challenged that and apparently decided that wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen! Through communication with the YWAM family it has become evident I won’t be doing this alone. They have encouraged me greatly in this. I might be physically leaving home alone, but between those of you praying for me and the people/families God has already begun to connect me with in Rwanda I am not doing this alone.

The second month of my trip is still a little unknown which I am surprisingly okay with. I know I will be spending time with my friends in Rwanda who God used to start me down this journey when we met in Uganda. One is a pastor and I am excited to spend a few days at his church. The other is a leader in an organization that does community development and I am hoping to spend time with this organization learning from them. I am not sure how much time will be spent with them or if I will return to YWAM or the Vineyard during this last month. I am open to what doors God opens and where He leads.

My hope is to also do some traveling around Rwanda, specifically to the south. There is a coffee farm called Huye Mountain Coffee which does tours which I would be thrilled to get to do. I have become fascinated with the coffee bean process and would thoroughly enjoy it. Since I knew I was going to Rwanda this was one of the things I had hoped to figure out! There are also multiple genocide memorial/museum sites in this same general area of Rwanda which I hope to visit.

The last week of my trip will include taking a bus to Kampala, Uganda. This piece scares me the most because of my fears of getting into Uganda without a yellow fever vaccination. My travel doctor doesn’t seem to be worried about it at all yet Satan continues to pile on the fear in this area of the trip. Please join me in praying about this! I just can’t seem to shake the fear and need God’s peace of mind so much!

While I am not completely sure how long I will be in Uganda, I will be there for sure to visit the Vineyard in Kampala. It was there, in 2014, that I built some pretty wonderful relationships. I sponsor a boy there who I am thrilled to get to see again and have other friends I look forward to also seeing again. If opportunity allows I will also take a journey to Jinja, Uganda.

Then on August 29th I fly out of Entebbe, Uganda to come home!

What a crazy adventure it will be!!

While I have mentioned a few prayer requests above here are a few more. :)

-Courage: yeah for everything! Ha! Specifically to continue to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to praying for people, teaching, sharing Jesus, or simply figuring out public transportation!

-Trust: another one that doesn’t need much explanation =) I just want to stand strong in trusting Jesus~

-Wisdom: to know what God is doing and what he is leading me to do; for what to teach and how; how to spend my time and resources; what is most important for me to spend my time on before I go; WHAT TO PACK!! (and how much of certain things like bug spray and sunscreen! eek!)

-Health: please pray for God’s protection over my health. Satan has tried to scare me regarding my health now before I go, as well as while I am there. I fear getting sickness of any kind while there. I fear my lupus causing joint/skin problems or fatigue. I also fear the lack of yellow fever vaccination. It is ridiculous how much Satan has used that to scary me.

-Relationships: please be praying for the relationships I already have in Rwanda as well as those he has yet to connect me with. Please pray for his kingdom to be in the center of those and that real, heart conversations will be able to be had. I cannot wait to hear stories and dreams from those he places in my path.

I have said it many times, but wont stop saying it: THANK YOU!!

Lewis, C.S. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1950. Print