Rwanda - Day 37 (Africa - Day 153)

I've been missing home a lot more since the team has left, but it's OK.

It's a good thing the weather is so warm...makes me glad to not be home. Rwanda is great, but I don't really feel like I belong here...and West Africa is calling.

I'm working on a new song, which is cool because I've been in a bit of a dry spell. I hope it turns out good.

I just finished reading "God wants to save christians" by Rob Bell (thanks Bryce). It was very interesting.

I love that I'm getting to read. I hope that when I get back to Perth I can keep my life uncluttered enough to still have time for reading.

Rwanda - Day31 (Africa Day 147)

So I am now out of the hospital! 3.5 days was more than enough for me. I'm pretty much all better, operating at about 90%. Thanks everyone for your prayers. I'm very glad to be well again.

I'll be spending the next few weeks working for AEE doing a whole bunch of admin type stuff. Then it's off to Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia with the Storm Harvest team. Yay! I'm pretty excited to be heading to West Africa, it's more than I could have hoped for on this trip. Thanks to the people who have made it possible.

There are some pics up here

Some pics up here and here

Rwanda – Day 26 (Africa – Day 142)

I've been in King Faisal Hospital in Kigali for the past two days with severe food poisoning. It hasn't been very fun :(

Someone died in the ER while I was there, John (the guy who heads up AEE) was quite upset. I found myself praying that God would bring peace and comfort to those who were grieving. Feeling helpless can be very hard to deal with.

King Faisal is a very good hospital though and I feel very fortunate to be in such good hands. The AE nurse was fantastic and I've been very impressed with the staff here. If you have to be hospitalised, Kigali is not a bad place to do it. Although I do look a lot like a prisoner in my bed clothes. Chiz, Sophie and Ryan have all been to visit me which has been lovely.

It looks like I'm going to be discharged tomorrow, which would be really great. I don't really mind being in the hospital but being unwell really is a drag.

It's funny that leading up to the RiverView team coming I'd been eating all sorts of different foods from tiny little shops in Remera, but it wasn't until eating hotel buffet food that I got sick.

Rwanda - Day 20 (Africa - Day 136)

I’ve just come back from visiting the genocide memorial in Kigali. It was a bit rushed so I think the impact was lessened, but it was certainly interesting to learn about the events leading up to the genocide.

Last week we went to a memorial service commemorating the 15 year anniversary of the genocide. I had no idea that bodies are still being found, and this year they buried 160 bodies that have been found this year just in Rwamagana district. The grief is still very raw for some of the families and is was very moving (not to mention a huge honour) to be amongst the crowd as they added the bodies to the mass grave…just under 5000 people are buried there.

Rene, one of the AEE staff lost his entire family in the genocide. He was shorter than the rest of his family and didn’t look like a Tutsi, so he was safe. He still gets very teary talking about it.

On a happier note, when we said goodbye to the kids at the Centre for Champions yesterday they put on a huge production for us. They danced in traditional dress and sang – it was amazing! They also presented us with a gift, a basket they made themselves, representing peace and love. We were told that this is very unusual for them as usually teams will just go in for a day or two, but we stayed a week and really spent a lot of time with the kids forming a relationship. We were so honoured that they wanted to bless us.

Today we’re heading to Gisenyi in the West. I hear it’s very beautiful so I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Africa - Day 132

I'm having a ball with the Aussies in Rwanda!

Internet time is really limited though, because we're so busy. We've done lots of stuff with the Rwandese kids and there's plenty more to come.
The team blog is here

I've managed to upload some pics, they're here

Most memorable moment so far:
Leading "You Are My Strength" (a ballad) at a crusade at the Centre for Champions only to hear electronic drums come out half way through and the song turned reggae, which set the whole place into a dance frenzy...random!

Some Possibilities

I've received an invitation to join Storm Harvest on one of their trips. I don't have the $$$ to go so I'm just putting it out there in case anyone wants to fund it.

Here's some info. You can email me at annette_binks@hotmail.com if you want to help.

Storm Harvest (www.stormharvest.com.au) teams have been travelling in Africa since 2004. God has manadated us to work in 9 African nations with emerging apostles in order to resource their churches in whatever way is most appropriate - so that their churches can become self sustaining and reach out to the community in which the church is found. That sounds really great - but what does it mean?

In Zimbabwe it has meant providing for orphans in a totally collapsed economy ... for years there inflation in the millions of %, and often no food in the shops. The story is on the Storm Harvest Web page. In Zambia it means building community centres which will provide education for children who are not at school, adult literacy classes for unemployed adults, small business training for literate adults and a venue for Bible school to train pastors who - up to now - are ministering without training. In Kenya it meant emergency finanical assistance for accountable churches during the post-election violence; In Ghana it has meant building a school in a slum where the government has not provided basic education; in Nigeria it has meant many tears over corruption and deceit.

Now we are planning our third trip to West Africa. We go to Ghana to build a relationship with an emerging apostle and try to build apostolic vision into two pastors who are stuck in a poverty mentality; we go to Nigeria to work with an emerging Apostle and look at two private education initiatives; we go to Liberia - recently emerged from civil war - with our hearts open to see what God is doing and what we can contribute to help the local churches build the Kingdom of God in a tough place.

What do we get? Quite a number of bills. We pay our own airfares and accomodation; we work 16 hour days with no honorarium - because the people we go to are too poor to provide one; we see poverty and hopelessness at every turn - and speak the riches of Christ and a meaningful life; we talk about the economics of the Kingdom of God to Pastors who want to believe in it, but have been so brutalised by circumstances that they struggle to grasp a different future. We develop vision with the churches that will enable the church to change what they have into what God wants them to have ... we offer what we have and see God do amazing things. Lives change direction ... widows get purpose ... orphans get fed ... the sick are healed ... those who hunger and thirst for God's righteousness get fed .. pastors get vision ... communities get hope.

What does it cost to go?
The trip is 13 nights - accomodation and food allowance is US $50 per day - $650
Air Travel to Lagos and back to wherever home is ... US $800 from Kenya
Air Travel within West Africa between 3 nations US $450

Rwanda - Day 6 (Africa - Day 122)

One last excerpt from "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper:

"If the discontent with your present situation is deep, recurrent, and lasting, and if that discontent grows in Bible-saturated soil, God may be calling you to a new work. If, in your discontent, you long to be holy, to walk a life pleasing to the Lord, and to magnify Christ with your one, brief life, then God may indeed be loosening your roots in order to transplant you to a place and ministry where the deep spiritual ambitions of your soul can be satisfied. It is true that God can be known and enjoyed in every legitimate vocation; but when He deploys you from one place to the next, He offers fresh and deeper drinking at the fountain of His fellowship. God seldom calls us to to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of Him and drink more deeply of His Sustaining Grace."

Before I headed to Mozambique I was thinking that Rwanda would probably a time of processing for me, and I think it is.

I don't want to go back to life the way it was before. I'm looking for more... a way of better serving God and people.