You may recognize Kevin. He lived across the street from me last year in Gacundezi and his mother prepared many of my meals. It was great to see him and his family again! His father is a leader of the Muslim church in Gacundezi and one of the strongest leaders in the community. I was blessed to have an hour or so to have tea and speak with him while here.

Meet John, he his an instructor at both Phoenix Seminary and Southwestern Bible School as well as the lead pastor at West Greenway Bible Church. He did an incredible job providing some biblical training to 15 or so pastors who represented roughly 25 local churches. John has a lot of fantastic initiatives he is planning on engaging once back in the states. I consider it a blessing to have served with him and I gained a friendship with an amazing man of God in the process! Check out his thoughts from the trip on his blog!

We spent several afternoons going into the community and making home visits. We learned more about the families we strived to serve in an intensely intimate environment. It is humbling being welcomed by these families. They face unbelievable challenges on a day to day basis, and yet, they are perhaps the most hospitable people I’ve ever met. We as westerners have a lot to learn.

This is one of the mothers of a child sponsored by the community to community project. She also was given materials from the training Vicki provided for mothers in Rwanda, equipping and organizing them to pray together, consistently, and fervently for their children, the school, and the community. The results were amazing and encouraging and I’m eager to see how this grows.

An image taken during the Mom’s in Touch training. Vicki led the mothers through an example of the programs prayer stucture. This image was taken when the mothers praying together during a breakout session. It was a powerful time!

This was one of my favorite images from the trip. Again, taken during the prayer time of the mothers training.

Vicki leading her training. By this point nearly 30 mothers were there.

Nothing particularly important about this image, other than its representation of a primary tool of transport. Really, I just liked the image

Meet Vestine, one of the programs sponsored through the community to community program. This program provides healthcare as well as school supplies and other various needs.

During our home visits the neighborhood children quickly surrounded us ‘muzungus’ and it was virtually impossible to get a picture with less than 20 kids. I crept away to get this one. I love the joy in the kids, yet that is equally met with a sadness of the state that most are living.

No caption necessary.

Many people live in homes built with mud, coated with concrete, and topped with a tin roof. This hut is indicative of the other common construction. While most no longer live in these huts (some do), it is still around and often used for livestock.

This carving was at the house of one of the business partners of the multiple initiatives the team is working on, including a travel lodge in the game park.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 31st, 2010 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Photography, Rwanda, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.