Week 4 and 5

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a few weeks since i've updated this. Things have been very busy but it has been such a great couple weeks! We've done several small outreaches in these past few weeks, some at churches and some at high schools. And wow, the Spirit has been moving so strongly! We've been doing the skit of the creation story and then God making man and then how man (or technically woman in this case because I played the human in it) fell away from God because of all these different sins, many of you have probably seen the skit before, it's fairly known in the States. It's to the song “Everything” by Lifehouse. Anyways, people here have never seen this skit before and it has been so powerful! The first time we did it, it was at this high school and the crowd just went ccrraazzyy! They were all yelling and screaming and then clapping and laughing and then crying and GAH, it was intense! Afterwards there were more than 60 students who came to the front who wanted to give their life to Jesus! It was so humbling and so encouraging to see how much the Holy Spirit was working. We were all in shock and then we realized God has given us a powerful tool to show others the relationship that God so desperately wants to have with us and how even when we go through abuse, harships, and doubt, God fights for us and over comes all that sin. The people here are so desperate for someone to look to for their hope and someone to put their trust in that when we show them the unconditional love of Christ, it's such an eye opening and life changing moment. After that first day with seeing their reaction to the skit, we've done it every time we do an outreach. And every single time the Holy Spirit joins us and the people's hearts are touched.. Along with the skit we've had people sharing their testimonies or our group will sing some songs, it has been really great.

So I have a friend who is on a futbol (soccer) team here and he told me how they were having a few matches and he told me to grab my boots and to come join him! I didn't really know what to expect but I grabbed my stuff and we headed out. We had to walk through these villages to get there and we traveled to the bottom of this mountain and there was just this big dirt opening and then like 40 guys!Oh boy. So we begin to just kick the ball around and then we split up into 3 teams and scrimmaged for the following couple hours. It was soooo much fun! I haven't had that much fun in the longest time! I was kind of nervous at first but the guys were so great, it was funny though because well 1- I was the only white person and then 2- I was the only girl... so they were watching every single move that I took! It was just so great though because it was the worst field I have ever seen, if you could even call it a field, and they had no goals, so they just set up rocks, many of them didn't even have shoes, they didn't have pennies to differentiate the teams, but they don't care, they just love the game! I realized that I would really love to use futbol more for ministry and it's something I truly enjoy and is such an effective interest and respect grabber. Haha. (especially with me being white and being a girl! Girls don't play sports here. And they are just fascinated with whites) Anyways it was sooo hot playing and I was so gross and sweaty and then it just started to down pour with rain!! then we just all played in the rain and gosh, it was amazing! Lol.

Then the other day my friend and I went on this run/walk all morning and went into this village and a lot of the kids had never seen a white person before so all the kids just started running after us! My friend who took me is from Rwanda so he was just laughing at me the whole time cause the kids would just latch onto my body and touch my skin and play with my hair and there were just groups and groups of people watching and wanting to touch me, it was so funny. We walked through all these huts and saw all their homes and living situations. It made me realize where I'm staying right now, it's like a luxury to them (even though we have no showers/toilets), they have to walk several miles down this huge mountain just to get a some water! It's basically them living in a mud hut and sleeping on the ground. And yet, these people are more thankful and joyful than anyone I know back in the States.

And then yesterday 4 guys from my group and I took moto's (motorcycle taxi's) into town and then we went for this beautiful hike! When we got to the top we could see all of kigali and the view was breath taking. Again, we had groups of children just following us the whole way up the mountain. They just run up to you and hold your hand all the way up, it's so cute. It was so crazy though, on the way down we met this man and he didn't know us at all but he just invited us into his house and offered us tea and biscuits and to just talk. I was like ehh...sketch? But then my friend whose from here was like oh no, it's totally fine! This is really normal and completely safe. So all of us went in and we had a wonderful time, even though they don't have like anything to offer, they are so giving and so friendly! That would NEVER happen back in the States. After about an hour of a lovely evening we headed out and that was that. It was really neat.

Anyways, there are many many stories I could continue to tell but this is getting long and if you've made it this far and are still reading, I'm impressed! Haha. I haven't even gotten into the teaching for this week but in short we've had lecture on Relationships and then the following week it was on Sin. You'd think they are two decently simple topics but they really made me think and view my friendships and actions in a whole new way! So these past two weeks have been soooo good! I just love it here and i'm having an amazing time. Oh and our team has decided that we're going to Congo for outreach! I don't know details yet but that is our for sure location, so exciting! Prayers for deciding the specific ministries are needed. Thank you all for reading!!

Much love,

Lindsey Dawn