Wayne's place

shopping, shopping, shopping, and more shopping

2009-08-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Aug 21st 2009

Today was a free day. Simply put do what you want just do it with people to be safe! We all shopped till we dropped. I brought money so I spent it. IT was fun bartering for everything. All cool stuff that will be on display in my home after I get back. I will also have well over 1000 photos for you to view of the trip. We are going to have a joined site for all of us to post our photos. After the shopping we had lunch at the Bourbon coffee house again. I love their coffee! Then we took taxi's to do a little more shopping and then back to the guest house to relax for the rest of the day. I should tell you about the taxi's. They are little 125 motor cycles. YOU ride on the back with your helmet they have for you. They drive pretty nutty here as it is so to jump on the back of one of these is pretty brave! But man was it fun!

Tomorrow we have a group debrief and then after lunch we are going to do some stuff. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow! For now good night and god bless!

Finally an update!

2009-08-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

8-12-2009

Today was a little casual as we had to travel the 3 hours to Kabuye. We got up and were all packed and had eaten breakfast so we could depart by 9am. How ever as things are here the bus and driver were an hour late and of course that set it all back for the day. But as we were told from the beginning that this would happen and we should stay flexible so we did. We played hacky sack and took some photos and hung out.

Once we departed from the Iris we were on our way. And I must say that the drive was amazing. We drove a rural country type road to get here and all along the way was some of the most amazing views of this beautiful country. I was truly mesmerized by it and was lucky to have such a great seat right by a window. We would see kids along the way just walking along the road in their school uniforms and they would wave and yell and scream Matuchpa or white people. They were not yelling it out of disrespect but rather excitement. Over here it is awesome to hear it yelled. We stopped for a bathroom break and when we pulled up all kinds of kids came running out of no wear it seamed. But we quickly realized that the school was right there. The kids were so excited to see us they kind of swarmed us and got very close. It was so nice to see the smiling faces and here them talking over each other. Some of us showed photos of family from back home. I took their photo on my camera and showed them the photos. They were so happy. One girl had her school notebooks with her and I asked her if I could see. She simply said science telling me what subject she was studying. As I flipped through her notebook I could see her notes and sketches of a fulcrum and pulleys. I kept flipping and came across some sketches that led me to believe she was also studying health or anatomy. I thanked her and gave her the book back it was hard to drive off and leave such joy behind. I should note that the rest room was an outhouse that was simply a hole in the floor and with no door. It was not at all clean as there was fecal matter and urine on the floor around the hole. The girls all went to it together and guarded the door way and then us men took our turns. Lisa who has been here 3 times made it clear that it wasn't a bad one!

WE moved on our way stopping at a bridge that looked down onto a rive that flowed from Kagali to Kabuey. This river was were the Hutus tossed the bodies of their Tutsi victims during the genocide. Later we stopped at a water fall and took some more photos. Here we encountered some more kids who danced and sang for us. But then quickly asked for money. For so long people have been coming over here with the understanding that the best thing for these people was to give them money. When the fact is that it is the worst thing you can do. It does not help the long term problem. It only creates a sense of dependency. Non of us gave any money.

Our driver along the way pointed out a catholic church and told us a story through our interpreter. He said that during the genocide there were Hutu and Tutsi's hiding in this church (5000) and when the evil Hutu men came to kill the Tutsi's they ordered the Hutu's there to separate. But they said that these are our friends and we will not. So the evil men killed all of them. This hill and church are know as hero's mountain.

We finally arrived at the St. Jean house. This is were we will be staying for the next 6 days minus 2 nights while we are out in the surrounding towns working. It's a nice place with modest accommodations. My room is a single with a twin bed and a sink. The toilet is down the hall as with the shower. But the view is something to behold. This guest house sits on top of a hill over looking Lake Kivu. As I step out of my room I can one of the most breathtaking views of this gorgeous country. The mountains are all around us and you can see on the other side of the lake there are crops growing and you can hear cows and goats. If you walk around the property it gets no less better. A small gorup of walked down to the lake and just sat there taking it all in until Dave Lee and John Casetto came down. Dave brought his guitar and him and John sang a couple of songs. Then we made the walk back up to the guest house and had a small 30 minutes worship service. What an amazing thing to be worshiping right here in Africa!

Tomorrow we break into 3 teams and venture off into 3 different directions to do the work we came here for. My group will be teaching a Purpose driven life and talking about small groups. The other group will be teaching about HIV/AIDS and dental hygiene. The third group is made up of some of them most amazing teens I have ever met. I want to mention that they range in age from 14 to 18 and are some of the most mature teens I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I am proud that they are my friends and fellow members of my church. They are showing the people of Rwanda how cool it can be to worship god at such a young age. These teens will be visiting homes and hospitals and working with street kids as well as teaching English to some pastors.

Its a full load for all of us and we are all a little nervous I think. But we are all very excited about this opportunity to meet and help such amazing people.

8-14-2009

Yesterday we traveled to Kirinda to meet with some church leaders. There we taught them the purpose driven life. Upon our arrival we met Pastor Prince. He is part of the local church council who works with the PEACE plan. The rest of the men were church leaders form his church and two other churches in the area. We learned that this church was pentecostal and had 3000 members. The first thing we did was introduce our selves one at a time. We all stood up and said a little about us and what we do for work and what we do in the church. Also if we were married and if we had kids. For those of us with pictures we passed them around. After that we asked them to do the same. I should mention that we had a great interpreter named Patrick. Patrick was a born again Christian so it made this all easier to do as he was as involved as the men were. Once we got the introductions out of the way John Cassetto taught the class all while asking us to tell our stories or share what we do that was significant to what he was teaching. For example Stephanie Grant told her story about being saved by a small group all while going through breast cancer. Monica explain how she quit her job to work with the church. The men seem very genuine and very interested. We had lunch with them and at one point they got up to stretch their legs and sang a song. That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

At 3:00 we ended class so that we could go visit the local hospital. I don't think any of could have known what we were walking into. Patrick was as blown away by the deplorable conditions as we were and he is from Rwanda.

There were no viable signs of doctors or nurses anywhere when we first got there. We found them in rooms listing o radios and talking. The hospital administrator was missing as was most of the staff. The stock room has supplies but not much and very little in the line of medicine. AS we moved forward to were the people who were sick were we got a real wake up. There were people who were there for infections that should have been cleared up months ago. One boy was there with a broken leg and had been there for a year for this. Some people were there waiting to see one of the doctors just to find out what was wrong with them. As we moved on we got to the children's wing.

I should tell you that these wings were nothing more than one big open room with about 15 twin size beds crammed in beside each other. There was no privacy at all and the space between beds was so tight that there was not enough room for any more than one person to step in side ways.

The kids were in for different reasons and all were not being treated any better. There were 4 or 5 of them there for sever diarrhea and vomiting. One mother was there with 2 children one was maybe 2 the other was maybe 1. they both had meningitis. The older one looked like she was not going to make it. Even now as I write this I cry. There was this innocent child who would more than likely not survive. We spoke to the mother as we did every one of the patients there. We asked where she came from and how long of a walk it was to get there and how long she had been there. Most of them walked from great distances. Some as much as 12 miles. One women walked for 5 hours with twin babes strapped to her from and her sick 5 year old son tied to her back. The mother with the 2 sick babies told us that she was divorced but now found out she was pregnant and had not eaten in 7 days. You see hospitals here do not feed the people. They are required to bring their own food or have family bring it for them. One women had two kids there one had been burned very badly with hot water. The other seemed to be having a problem with a cyst on it bottom. She told us her husband was far away working and didn't know she was there. And didn't know the babies were hurt. She too had no food. This story continues from bed to bed. And in some cases two to a bed.

The maternity ward was crammed full of women who had just given birth or were waiting to. Some had been bleeding even though she was pregnant. And one had had 2 miscarriages so they told her to stay in bed there until it was time to deliver. She had been there for several months already and was not due till October. One women had lost her baby and was hemridging while sharing a twin bed with a women who had just given birth to a healthy baby. We came across a women who had given birth by c-section that morning and fell into a coma. They placed her in bed and laid her baby beside her and left her them both there. No one was there to tend to the baby! I can only write about this for so long with out being angry and sad. I can not stand myself for turning my back on these people for as long as I have. I have vowed to find a way for work with the PEACE program to make a difference any way I can.

After the hospital we came back to our room at the church dormitory to find it powerless. Here you buy power like buying prepaid minutes for a phone. So we prepaid $5000 franks to get the power put on. The next day we deducted that money from our bill. This dormitory was owned by the church and was so used by some student from a secondary school that was right down the hill. The bathroom was a public bath and was not much at all. There was only one toilet and it was cover in fecal matter. The rest were just holes in the floor. The showers were filthy and the water out of them was no better. The team chose to go with out showers and most chose to wait more than 244 hours for a real bathroom break. After the power was on we got dinner and went to bed but I didn't sleep well at all. My mind was a wash with the hospital I was just in.

The next morning we had breakfast and cleaned up as best we could. We tried very hard to not show our displeasure with the conditions as many of the people lived this every day and they were very gracious to us in any way they could be. After breakfast the men started gathering and as they did Paster Prince lead them in morning dedication through song. They sang 4 songs and then he lead them in prayer. After witch he turned the floor over to us once again. We continued with the class and the sharing of our own personal stories. The seemed very eager to learn more about the small group concept so John stayed with it as long as needed to let them understand it. We spent a good hour or more just on this one piece. Again today they got up to stretch their legs and today when they sang they danced some and really got into the spirit of it. You could really feel god in that room today and you knew that these men were truly men of god. I felt tears of joy coming and found my self fighting them off. Sunday we get to attend church with some local people and that experience will be one of the single greatest services I will ever experience.

As the class was ending I t was my turn to tell my story of how I came back to the church. I told it form the heart and let god do the rest. After we ended we asked them if they had questions and fielded the ones they had. The Pastor Prince stood and thanked us and expressed his gratitude toward us on behalf of the church and the men that were there. (I should mention that there were two women there as well.) then he asked if he and the other leaders could pray for us. Pastor Prince asked one of the men from another church to lead and they prayed a nice prayer. Then we asked them if we could get photos of them so that we could pray for them always. They told us during this time that they learned so very much and were so very grateful for us. Every one of them took the time to shake the had of all 8 of us. I will pray for these men and I will do my best to come back here and see how it works.

We then drove back to the guest house stopping for dinner along the way. Gil met up with us and we talked to him and his wife for about an hour. He explained that they knew the hospital was bad and that it was in need of help and we told him of our success with the class. He also asked us how we felt and told us of plans in place to work on the hospital and how we could fit in with this plan. Gil is a smart man with true conviction and I admire him for it.

After dinner we got back in time for rain and a power outage. It is raining now and I am tired. My emotions are draining me and I need sleep. Good night and please pray for this country that I am falling in love with!

8-19-2009

I haven't written in a while and I am sorry but we have been really busy. On Saturday we spent time playing soccer with some street kids and then I went to Help sew a few curtains. It was a relaxing time and it was inside out of the sun and heat! After that we went to the PEACE office and was told that the field we were playing on was historic. It was in fact famous but for the wrong reason. During the genocide over 14,000 people were killed there. The perpetrators would cut the tendon in the heals of the people so they couldn't run and then take breaks while killing them. After that we went to the Saint Jean Chapel that is part of the guest house we were staying in. This chapel is very large and is a catholic church. During the genocide the priest called people in for safety and after it was full ( 15,000 ) he locked them in and gave the keys to the men doing the killings. They came and killed them all right inside of the church. Until you have come here and stood in such places and prayed you can't not truly understand what it did to this country. To hear a man stand and say that his whole family was killed by the man who lives in his town is sad. But then you hear him say that he has forgiven him! It is a powerful thing and that kind of grace should be contagious.

Sunday we went to church at one of the local churches and man was that amazing. The one we went to was not expecting us They thought we were going to join the regional church as they were celebrating 100 years in Rwanda. Bu the service was great. The music was moving and the people were so gracious and truly glad we were there.

Monday we drove to another village and repeated the training we had done prior. The pastor all gathered and were eager to learn. As we taught our materials they asked questions and were really engaged and fun to share with. After training the first day we did 2 home visits of homes that are trained to be a healthy home. The work these people have done to get their homes up to good standard is amazing and they are truly proud of their work. It was our pleasure to visit them and tell them how great their homes are and how they have worked so hard. We encouraged them to keep up the work. And then prayed.

The next day we finished our training and drove back to the guest house. That brings me up to today. Today we say good by to the wester part of Rwanda and start debriefing and getting ready to come home. We started by going to PEACE island for lunch. ( it was the third time I ate goat.) after we said good by to the friends we have made who work for PEACE here and made the 3 hour ride back to Kagali, had dinner got some snacks and now I am resting. Tomorrow we go on a safari and get to do some vacation type stuff. It's also my birthday. What a great way to celebrate my birthday! Have a great night everyone and thank you all so much for the prayers!

Wayne

Aug 20th, 2009

Today was nothing short of amazing! For starters today is my birthday. We got up at 4:30am and drove 2 hours to Akagera national park. There we went on a real life safari. We saw all kinds of animals and had a great time. Some of the animals we saw were Giraffes, zebras, water buffalo, hippos, monkeys, baboons, eagles, and 3 or 4 different kinds of deer or antelope. We didn't see any elephants or lions but still really enjoyed our selves a lot..

Tonight we are going to dinner and then to see a documentary on children in Rwanda after the Genocide. I am tired and would like to sleep but I can always do that at home.

Aug 11th update.

2009-08-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a little more emotional for all of us. We started our day with a lite breakfast that would be considered a continental breakfast in the states. The banana was incredible! It had so much flavor and was 1/3 the size of the ones we have at home.

After breakfast we went to the P.E.A.C.E. office here in Kagali and met the gang that runs it for saddle back church. We had our orientation and talked about some of the does and don'ts of being here. After we took some photos and then left and made the ten minute drive to the Genocide memorial.

At the memorial we were given a small tour of the 14 mass graves that are there. These graves hold over 250,000 people who were killed during the genocide. After that we moved our selves inside the memorial where they have the whole story laid out in order by time frame. We learned how far back the build up of the ethnic tension went and how the countries that colonized Rwanda set the country up for this incredible act of pure evil.

As we moved through the memorial it became more and more difficult to hole back our emotions. Many of the team were moved to tears as they read stories, saw photos, and watched videos of the genocide it's self. I was chocked up during this part and was really doing ok until I got to a room that was dedicated to the children who were killed as well. This room had photos of children and some had brief information about the child. Things like their age and what foods they liked or what subject in school the did well at. The last thing posted about the child was how the they were killed. Many said slashed by machete but a few were very hard to believe. One 2 year old was killed by being smashed against a wall. And another was stabbed in the eyes and then the head. As I moved through the room reading the stories I really began to have a hard time. My emotions were running away with me. How can anyone do such things to a child? How can this have happened and the world turn its back as it did? How, why, their were just kids. Even now as I sit on my bed writing this I am moved to tears once again. I have read so much about the genocide and watched movies and documentaries and yet today was the first time I truly cried.

After regaining my emotions I moved out side and found a place to sit down and began to write in my journal.

“right now my heart is broken, my mind is screaming, and I am sad and angry and it all happing at once.”

I purchased a necklace at the gift shop. This necklace was hand made by some of the people who were directly effected by the genocide. People like women who were raped by men who were HIV positive and left to suffer for the rest of their lives how long that may be.

After the memorial we all went to lunch and most of had fun conversations but we were all thinking about the memorial. Lunch we trained on our mission work and are ready to leave in the morning to go to the western part of the country to work with the people there. I found out today that I will be teaching the Purpose Driven Life model as well as talking about the value of small groups. The ride tomorrow will be about 3 hours and I am told is amazing view wise. I have also been told that the area we are going is incredible beautiful and yet the poorest people in Rwanda live here. We are not even sure if we will have Internet access so I will update you all as soon as I can.

Thank you all once again for reading.

Wayne

On the ground in Rwanda

2009-08-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

In Rwanda!

So we left Manchester at 2:45A.M. And got on the first plane at 6:00 A.M.. We flew to Washington DC where we got our connecting flight to Ethiopia via a fuel stop in Rome. The first leg of that flight was 8hours and the second leg was 5 and a half. Plus an hour on the ground in Rome that we were not allowed off the plane. From Ethiopia we flew to Kagali in 2 hours. All total it was about 28 hours of traveling. Don't worry though we had great flights that were smooth and incident free. We even had a lot of extra room on the plane to stretch out.

When we arrived at the airport in Kagali we were greeted by Pastor Theophile and his wife, Patrice ( who I have been friend with on face book for some time but had never met), and Jean Pierre from the P.E.A.C.E. Office here in Rwanda. They had some buses and trucks for us and our luggage, and brought us to the Iris guest house. Here we settled in and paid for the rooms and exchanged our US bills to Rwanda currency. I traded $300 for $171,000. It's kind of strange to get that much but things cost some what equivalent from what I can tell.

We went to dinner at Chez Robert and had a great meal. I t was a buffet so I got to try several different things. We had a nice time relaxing and talking. But the night is ending quickly as we are all tired from all the travel

before we went into the restaurant Pastor Theophile took some of us across the street to the Hotel Des Mille Collines. This hotel is the hotel that the movie hotel Rwanda was based on. Durning the genocide the manage of this hotel Paul Rusesabagina used the security of the confines of the hotel to save the lives of 1200 people. If you haven't seen the movie you should take a night and watch it.

Well ok thats it for tonight. I'll up date as often as I can, but for now I would like to get some sleep.

Thank you for reading.

getting close now!

2009-07-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I bet you all though I forgot to post or something nutty like that. No no silly I have been crazy busy getting ready for my trip. Since I last posted a lot has happened.

We got our shots and pills and took care of our travel arrangements from that angle. I got three shots and a series of pills. Plus pills I have to take from the time I leave till four weeks after I get back. But it's not too bad.

Last weekend we got some really good training from Rwanda Bob and Gill. These two guys are the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Both have an incredible amount of knowledge and experience in the country and are leading the whole thing for Saddle back church. We opened up the cafe to anyone interested on Friday night. They spoke and answered some questions. Then on Saturday from 9am till 4pm we had group training. It was incredible. We all learned so much and all have such a good grasp of the plan and how we fit in now. Then on Sunday morning we all were called up on stage to have closing prayer with the whole congregation.

We have been meeting on Thursday nights for a couple of hours for training as well. Today we held a car wash from 11am till 4pm. I wasn't sure what to expect but I said if we make $500 then it was a good day. The weather didn't look like it was going to work in our favor but we prayed and held on and god came through for us as always. No rain till we packed up and we made $700. I got a pretty bad sun burn but I'll survive!

We leave 2 weeks from this morning and are all getting excited. Things are really coming together for all of us. I have stared journaling for the trip already and am enjoying putting my thoughts down in writing. It helps me think things through.

I am putting a photo up that I found on the web. I think, if I read it right, is a photo of the guest house we will be staying at. So for now god bless you all! And watch for updates as we get closer.

Wayne

49 days and counting.

2009-06-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hey gang,

It has been a while since I have written and a lot has happened and things are getting done. Let me start by saying there are alone 49 days till we leave and we still have a lot to cover until then.

We got together as a group and watched Ghost of Rwanda. If you haven't seen this movie you should. It's a documentary done by front line about the 1994 genocide that took place in Rwanda. By the time your done watching you will be sad and angry at how our leaders and the leaders of the world and the United nations all turned their backs on these people. Other great films you can watch are Some Times in April and hotel Rwanda.

We also have been raising more support and doing the things we have needed to to get the money needed. We had our PEACE party and that was fun and we had things set up nice, but it rained on us right as we started getting things going. So we only raised $632. We are having another yard sale next weekend and hopefully that will produce some cash for us.

Last Friday we got shots. What can I say they were shots... I had to get a tetanus, hepatitis A, and Yellow fever shots. I also currently have Typhoid fever pills in my fridge that I have to take one of every other day for 8 days. Then I have Malaria pills that I will need to take as well. Now I am not one of those guys who nothing hurts me and yet I am not a whinny guy as well. But man does my arm hurt. And I have had a head ache for 2 days. This is normal I guess.

Our small group has also started and will be meeting every Thursday night for an hour and a half. Every fourth week we will meet with out those of our group who are not going. This is because we are doing very specific training that they do not need to be there for.

On the weekend of July 19th we are getting some real training from the folks at Saddle back church. There will be a couple of guys at our church who are responsible for the PEACE program on the ground in Rwanda. They will be at the church all weekend to include a special Sunday morning service that week.

I am really getting excited ad nervous too. I cant wait to see the kids there and yet I know how I will feel about their living conditions and the level of poverty they endure every day. I pray that god gives me the strength to deal with it and not show sad emotions in front of them. I wouldn't want them to feel bad about their own situation because of me.

Ok so as we are getting closer I will be putting more updates up here. allot more often!

Small groups and support raising

2009-05-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

Lake Kivu.

Today is Wednesday May 20th. We met last week on Thursday night for the first time as a small group. It was nice to meet Gavin's mom Joanne and Blake's dad Brad. We met at Matt's house (he's our team leader).We got to talk a little about up coming events and things we could do to raise the support we need. We also decided to hold a car wash and the P.E.A.C.E. party. We learned that we still need to raise about $16,000 as a group. It seems like a lot of money but if each person works to their own goals and we pull together as a group we will get there with no problem.

I still have like 500 of the bracelets to get rid of! I am worried at this point that they will be sitting here when I get back from the trip (ha ha). Everything seems to be coming together as planned.

I also got our information sheets for the travel clinic today from Matt. They are simple forms that most doctors offices want you to fill out on your first visit. I am sure they are looking for any reason to not give you a shot or pill. The travel clinic will be were we get our immunizations for the trip. We have decided it will be fun to go as a group. How ever not every one is available at the same time. So Matt and I talked about it some and think if we need to we can split into two groups for this.

Now we can start focusing on our trip it self. Things we will be doing when we get there. As it draws near I am getting some mixed emotions. I am excited and nervous at the same time. The last time I got this feeling I was leaving for basic training back in 1990. All in all I am looking forward to it.

My niece is graduating high school in June and I am planning on going to see her. She graduates on the 5th a Friday night. I am planning on driving up on Thursday after work and driving back Sunday morning in time for a group movie night at the church that night. It will be a long weekend and I will be tired that night but it will all be so very exciting.

I will keep you posted as to how the support events turn out and how our group goal is coming.

Date changes and cheaper airfair!

2009-05-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

The market in Kibuye.

This week we got good news From Lisa one of our trip leaders and the person responsible for coordinating the whole trip. I should add that she is taking on a hugh task by doing what she is doing. Not only is she coordinating our events on the ground in Rwanda with the PEACE office, but she is also finding our flights and a place to stay while we are there, and organizing our training both leader and team members a like. She also is responsible for so much more at the church, like our trade as one booth and the coffee service for Sundays. She rocks! The good news was that our flights just got a lot cheaper. I think it works out to about $400 per person! The down fall is our dates have changed from the 5th of August as a leave date to the 10th of August. This is a not so great as one of our team member can no longer go with us. She has decided to wait and go on a trip in the winter months. She is a great person who is involved with PEACE locally and will be missed in our group while we are there. She said she may still join our small group once a week but was unsure.

Now we have firm dates and flights and know where we are going and have really started to train. This week I watched a documentary style movies that was done on the genocide in 1994 by Frontline. It is called Ghost of Rwanda. It is a good detail of the events leading up to, during , and following the genocide. I have also been reading “Left to Tell, Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust” It is one womens telling of the genocide and living through it.

This week on Thursday night we meet as a Team for small group training and will get into some new areas for us to talk about and to discuss where we are in support raising. I also got our bracelets in this week and need to start selling them. John, Stephanie, and Victoria have all gotten some to start with. I haven't seen or heard form the Guys ( Gavin and Blake ) but I am sure I will.

I mailed out a bunch of Support letters this week and have prayed that god touches the lives of those people who will be opening them. If every one sends just $20 I should be able to raise $1600 witch is what I have left to raise. It would be great if this happened because I could then help my team mates raise their money.

So for this week I am focused on the bracelets and the support letters. All while trying to find more work to do to raise support money.

Rwanda

2009-05-06T05:19:00.001-07:00

On Aug 5th of this year I will be boarding a plan in Boston headed for Rwanda. It is three months a away and I have already started training and preparing for it. This blog is about that trip and the training.

I made the decision to join the mission team about a month ago. It was early April. We had a meeting at the church for anyone interested. By the time the meeting was over I knew I was supposed to go. I turned in my card say yes count me in and headed home knowing I was going to need to raise support money in the $3000 range. When I got home I went to face book and started asking for help. I offered my services up to anyone who needed yard work or anything done. Since then I have painted a kitchen, and raked half a dozen yards, mulched, and even toilet papered a house ( I knew both parties involved and was also the person who cleaned it up) for the right dollar amount. I am still working on support as I still need to raise about $1200.

WE have had several meeting about the trip and our teams have been divided up and named. There are 31 people going on this trip, divided into 5 teams all named for the country we are visiting. I am in Team Akagera. My team mates are great and all very enthusiastic about our mission. We have Matt our team leader, Stephanie and Victoria ( mom and daughter ), Gavin, Blake, Rebekah, John, and myself. Our coach is Pilar who has already traveled to Rwanda once. Her job is to help us along the way.

We will be meeting on Thursday nights to learn about what we will be doing as well as about each other. WE will be doing service projects and team building exercises. We will also be meeting once a month or so as a large group at the church for group training.

I am starting this blog a little late as we have already had two group meetings and one leader meeting. All I got to attend as I am the team leader apprentice.

Our last meeting was this last Sunday. AS teams we now know where we will be in Rwanda and what our mission will be. We will be staying in Kybuye. This town in on the western side of the country right on lake Kivu. If you cross the lake you are in the Congo or Zaire. Our flights will have us going from Boston to London, London to Nairobi, Nairobi to Kigali. From Kigali we will drive almost 4 hours to Kybuye. Total estimates travel time is about 24 hours if you count all the layovers. How ever that will not be an accurate count as we have about 10 hours in London during the day. Yes we are planing a double decker tour of the city. The all day one.

Once we arrive in Kigali we will be there for a couple of days taking some training about the language and customs that we need to be aware of before we make the drive west.

I hope I have not given you too much all at once. I also hope that you will be checking back here and reading my blog. Feel free to email me and ask me questions. I will be trying to write as often as needed to keep you all up to date on whats going on and how things are developing.

I would like to close with this. I still need to raise more support. I am asking everyone I know to help me with such a great cause. Email me and ask e how you can donate any amount of money to help. Or if you see me on a regular basis you can pull me aside and ask. Thank you all for joining me on this journey.