It is Better to Give than Receive....

Ah Christmas holidays were approaching and we had high hopes that we just might be able to spend them with our friends and family in Europe and the States. Unfortunately it did not work out that way!! So with the holidays coming so rapidly, a little bummed, we decided we will have to make it work again here. It seemed that none of us were really in the Christmas mood though, at least I know I was not…

We decided that on top of having a little something as a family. We would do something really big for some other people who are part of our lives. We wanted to bless others by giving them something they never really had. A real Christmas!! Baptist one of our workers

Isabelle one of our workers

Tachienne one of our workers

Thank you Cornerstone Church

Stella who is on Staff with SoZo Ministries Africa as a volunteer and whom I might add is our right arm in the care for the Children in Rwaza is an Orphan her self. She has really become part of our family and we deeply wanted to bless her beyond measure. Her birthday just so happens to also be on Christmas day. Praise God, double whammy!!
It was awesome to see her so excited! In the morning we had a family Christmas celebration and in the night we threw her a birthday party with some of her friends.

The day after Christmas we loaded up the family and with the help of an awesome YWAM team from Hawaii we went up to Ruhengeri where we had rented this hall to have a big Christmas party for our kids in Rwaza. After dropping the team and the family off to prepare the room the taxi driver and I went up the mountain to pick the kids. I think the photos can tell the rest of the story!!Children arriving and playing games

Everyone gets a gift..Oh the the Smiles....You would see her smile if she had not lost all those teethEveryone get new cloths!!Friendships are made...Our friend Erin explains how the gifts came from her church in California
We told them about Christ and about the Holy Spirit. They all wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior and also asked for the Holy spirit to come to be imparted to them.What followed was some great food..It was a very long day and many of the little ones were knocked out by the end..

It was a great day, we took the kids back up the mountain and said our good byes. On the way up they were all singing a made up song that goes something like this. "come and see, come and see, and I will show you the good things that are happening on Rwaza hill".
All of the joy and laughter brought tears to my eyes. This is what these kids deserve!!

As if it cant get any better, while we are packing up and getting ready to go, this white guy approaches Stella and is asking her many questions about who we are and what we are doing.
Quickly and briefly she shares, he then starts asking how he could give a donation to us. Stella then directed him to me. He appeared to me as a nice middle age white European and introduced himself as Marco. He proceeded to tell me that he was just in Rwanda for a week as a tourist and would like to give a donation to our ministry for what we our doing for these children.
After disappearing for a short moment he comes back and puts in my hand a large amount of Euro's. Very shocked I thanked him and we both went our separate ways.

Thank you Marco for your very generous gift to our ministry and most of all to the precious children of Rwanda. Who every you are may God bless you and keep you, may he show him self to you in a mighty way.

I want to thank all of you in the many parts of the world that have really made this Christmas a very, very special time for so many people here in Rwanda. It has been unforgettable for my family and I and we don't know how to thank you enough!!
Special thanks to: Cornerstone Church in California, Klass & Ria, Evelien & Dirk, Julia, Aaron & Kendra.
Also to those that I know that have sent things this way to bless us and others. they have not arrived yet but thank you in advance. It is fun to think that our Christmas will be continuing on through the next few weeks. God Bless you!!!!

I have truly seen this holiday season that is more blessed to give than to receive!!!!

Shaking hands with the witch

AH, it was time to go see our kids in Rwaza again, an event that we always look up to.
The only thing Nani & Zoey don't like about it is that it takes us two hours to get there.

Bonana (3 years old) This little girl can join my family any time... She is so silly and climbs like a monkey all over me.

Doggy pile on Papa Nani

Silly circle with every one screaming in Kin-Rwandan (smile, smile, Oh Goodness)
Nani & Zoey playing marbles with some of the kids


Little did I know how different this trip was going to be! After being there for a while all of a sudden This very old woman with wrinkles all over her face comes walking in. She acted as if she owned the place. Walking up to me and grabbing my hand as if to greet me, she rambled on in on in Kin-Rwandan giggling and laughing the whole time. She did the same to Astrid and Stella.
Then ran off giggling, singing, and dancing with all the kids. Her presents was very unpleasant, something about her was eerie.
What was even stranger was I knew I had seen her some where before and more than once.
who was this strange woman? When she arrived the first thought that flashed in my head was, oh, a witch.... Odd I know, but then after talking with Astrid and Stella they had the exact same thought.
It was getting late and time for us to head back to Kigali. We prayed and broke off any curses that may have been tried to be put on us.
While driving home I could not get that womans face out of my mind. It was haunting me, where the hec did I see her before. Then It dawned on me, a week prior to this visit when going to bed I was woken up abruptly with a image of this very old wrinkly African womans face. she had evil eyes and this eerie smile and laugh. this had happened on two different nights. I realized that is who this woman is.... Oh Boy!!!
It was raining very hard as we were trying to make it back to Kigali. Rounding a corner all of a sudden we saw a huge mud slide in the middle of the road. We had no choice in slowing down or trying to stop so BAM we kept going.... Thank God we made it through with no real damage to the car. But boy did it get muddy. About five minutes after that lighting hit directly in front of the car with a huge crash. Again no damage done, except I had to change my shorts when getting home.
Praise God we made it home safely! Later that night we got a phone call from Stella, she told us she was talking with the kids. Asking them if they knew the old woman, they said yes they knew her and confirmed that she was a witch and lived near by in the community.

I am beginning to get a real picture of what or should I say who we are dealing with in the battle for these children. But I don't think he realizes who he is dealing with!!!!
FOR GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN ME THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD....

Thank you Lord for who you are in my life, and thank you for your hand upon my family and the ministry you have given us.....