Table and D.U.I

For those that have not heard over the new year God blessed us with a wonderful, much needed office space. We are very excited, as now we can keep work, work and home, home….. It’s a small three bedroom house, in a prime location, close to public transport and even with in walking distance from our house. Praise God!!
Much of the month of Jan. we spent cleaning, painting and setting it up. I must say it is really looking good and we feel good about it.
One of the last pieces of office furniture we really needed was a very large table. We are turning the master room into a conference room. I went down to the local (Fundi) carpenter and explained what we needed then negotiated for a good price. All said and done we would be getting our 3m X 1.5m (6ft X 5ft) table in about two weeks time for $200.

It came time to pick it up, so I went down checked it out to make sure it was exactly what I ordered. It looked great! They had to make it in two pieces due to its size and being able to get it into the back room.
I watched as they loaded it into the back of the truck then we headed out. They were going to follow me to the office. About half way to the office I noticed in my rear view mirror the guy was all over the road. I thought to my self, man this guy is either a sucky driver or he is drunk. I began to pray, God please let us make it to the office.The next thing I know the truck is pulled over by a police man on a motor bike. Low and behold the driver was wasted and was in the process of being arrested for D.U.I (driving under the influence). The truck is now going to impounded with everything in it..
I went to the police man praying that he would understand English as I tried to explain to him that the table in the truck was mine and that I had no idea that the driver was drunk. After talking to him for a while I was able to convince him to not confiscate the table but only the truck.
With some help of the locals around enjoying the show being put on by the old drunk Muzee (old man) we removed the table from the truck.Speaking with one of the guys there he told me not to worry, he would phone some one and get another truck to come to take the table the rest of the way.

So there I sat on the side of the main road with my huge table, legs dangling down as the public skeptical for the next 45+min. What could I do?? Get angry? Cry?? I just laughed… thinking, wondering, what is going through every bodies mind… After all it is not every day that you see a Muzungu (white person) just hanging out with furniture on the side of the road in Rwanda.

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.....

Day to Day Miracles

Have you ever been driving down the road and BAM this strange thought pops in your mind?
Like what would happen if all of a sudden one of my wheels falls off? Or what if I am driving real fast and just like that, my steering locks up on me?

These thoughts or ones like them, I am certain have crossed your mind. But we should always thank God for the small miracles. Miracles that we may not even consider as miracles, like getting from point A to point B unharmed, waking up yet another morning with air in our lungs to breath. I am learning to thank God for the day to day routine things in life. I am realizing that with out him holding the world together, the routine things, the simple things that we don’t ever think about would become sheer chaos.

On Monday morning after droping the girls at school, it was time to head out to Rwazza to visit the children again. This time though I had some other things on the agenda as well. I was hoping to also meet with the mayor of the area to share with him about SoZo Ministries Africa and our findings of the exploitation going on in his area involving these children. I had plans to also seek out the head parish priest to discuss some things as well.
The drive up is around two hours. I know it very well, I drive it at least once per week.
If you don’t know already, Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills. This means that every where you drive is up and down mountain sides curving this way and that. At times it can feel much like a roller coaster. The views are breath taking!!

About 5min before reaching the turn off where we go up to see the kids, I noticed that the steering on the car was acting funny. It was getting very loose and there was a lot of play in the steering. Finally I arrived at the junction and started to turn, the car went straight… I came very close to taking out this guy on a bike.
I was able to correct it and get the car to go where I wanted, thinking my Lord what is going on.

After driving another 5min up the mountain side the cars steering completely went out! I had no choice but to stop. I locked up the car and walked back to the main road (the only place to get phone reception). I was able to reach Stella (our program supervisor that stays with the children), to tell her that I was close but would not be able to bring the car up the mountain.

About 45min later she and some of the kids were there to meet me.
To make a long story short…. We were able to get the broken part fixed and five hours later head up the mountain to take Stella and the kids back home.

I know now when I think about it that I have really experienced a miracle and the supernatural protection from God. This could have happened any where along the journey at any given time. With all those sharp turns and ravines I could be sitting at the bottom of one of them if my steering had gone out any where else than where it did.

What a sobering thought! It makes me to give my girls extra hugs and kisses when I see them to let them know that Daddy loves them and never stops thinking about them. It makes me hold my wife extra tight and never want to let her go.

Thank you God for your protection!!! Thank you God for the day to day Miracles you perform that we do not give you the credit for!!! You truly are an awesome God!!!!

Be Real!!!

We all know the Story, it is told around the world.

Jesus Christ is Crucified!!

I can’t imagine one of the longest days of his life on earth. Jesus had gone through so much, he is on the cross nearing his death. He feels the pain, the abandonment of all that were with him. He knows he has to finish it! He already asked two or three times if it were possible to have the cup pass from him. None the less not my will he says but thy will be done. But this does not take away the pain or the suffering that he is now enduring. He knows all to well the price and the pain he must now be put through. All this to reconcile man to the father! So that God may be glorified. At one point it is so much that he cries out “ My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
There you go, true feelings being poured out! Some say at this moment in time Jesus was quoting Psalms 22 (OK maybe). Others say that at that moment in time when Jesus was taking on all the sin of the world his father in heaven being pure and perfect light could not look upon sin so for a brief moment had turned his head. Jesus knowing this, cries out! (well…..)
Or (going out on a limb here) could he just be pouring out his true feelings???

Lets face the truth, we have all been there!! In a time of desperation, pain, abandonment, suffering, frustration, anger, etc. etc. At one time we have made comments like this.
God where are you!!!
God what the hell are doing!!
God I can’t feel you!
God I don’t see you!
I’m sure the list goes on and on!!

Jesus was 100% God but he was also 100% man, when studying his life we can see both. If any one deserves to make such a statement surely it would be him.
In many of today’s Christian circles we are not allowed to voice such true feelings of what the HELL… Instead we need to know all the right refrigerator verses so that when the going gets ruff we can remind our selves and others of the truth and how we need to believe and react to such situations.

I can just imagine after Jesus making such a statement, his followers that were standing by at the foot of the cross coming to him saying. No No Jesus, you shouldn’t say such things. You know that your father is omnipresent, he will never leave you nor forsake you. Don’t worry, when you are weak he is strong! With God all things are possible! For you know the plans he has for you, plans to prosper you not to harm you.

I think that Jesus knew all of these things very well just as many of us do. We know he is always there, we know that he will provide for all our needs according to his riches and glory. But knowing such things does not always take the feelings away! We must be honest and truthful in how we feel in what we are experiencing. I am not saying that we should not know and quote Gods word, what I am saying is there is time and place for it. Let’s be real! Let’s allow others to be real! Some times it enough to know that you are not the only one with such experiences or feelings. Your not going crazy, your not sinning, your just trying to be real. There is encouragement in that.

Lets not hide behind Christianity, we are real people! We can't hide our feelings, sin, struggles, or short comings from the Lord why try to hide them from each other.

Don't believe for a minute that because your Christian you can't have those thoughts. Or how dare you feel that way! Why on earth would you say such a thing!
We are all striving to be like Christ, that means that we are not yet. So we are striving, and while striving we can not be hypocritical but simply show people that we are real and really seeking to be like him "Christ" who was perfect in every way.

Why was it that King David was called a man after God’s own heart? The guy said it like it was. He was extremely transparent extremely real all the time. I encourage you to read through the Psalms. David knew how to be real with God! His cries for intimacy with the Lord are awesome.

Thank you Jesus for another lesson learned by your walk on this earth!

When it rains it pours, boy I tell you I don’t know where to start. How about the need for a new car!!
Two weeks ago we had to pour another $450 in to our car to make it work. It was then that my mechanic, that is a strong Christian “praise God” tells me… “Travis my friend it is time to start praying for a new car, if you continue to take this on those village roads. I don’t know how long it will last..” I told him I would start praying and asked him to join me.
But how can I not drive to see our children in Rwaza, yes I feel they are our children! They are burned on our hearts!!! Sorry kids perhaps we will see you next week. For those of you that have seen the children you know what I mean. For those of you that want to know more about these awesome children, please visit my wife’s Blog.
www.http:travisandastrid.blogspot.com

Today was the day that we were going to go up and start weighing, measuring, and taking much info on each child. This way progress can easily be followed and we can know how to move forward.
When reaching only 30km or 20miles out of Kigali the car breaks again!! So we turned around and by God’s grace made it back to town with no major damage. Now it looks like we are spending another $110 on the car. I guess we can look at the bright side that it happened close to town and not in the village high up on the mountain in the middle of no where. You know what is sad? When this is happening every couple of weeks the bright side does seem so bright anymore.

Please be praying with us that the Lord will provide a new vehicle..

THE LEARNING...

“One thing you should know and one thing you will find out, it is that I live to follow God. My greatest desire in life is to hear his voice and obey. So what does that look like? Come and join mission with me as I try to answer that question.”

You will find this quote on the right side of my Blog, explaining a little bit about my profile.

So what does it look like??? That is a question that the Lord seems to be unfolding in the day to day, nonstop, up in your face life here… It was over five years ago that the Lord began to really put a burning and longing desire to see, have and do the same ministry that he had when he walked on the Earth. A ministry of Wholeness!! Seeing people set free from any and everything that is holding them back from true completeness in God. That would even include death!
I asked the Lord over and over for that anointing to be on the ministry he was giving us. Little did I know what I was asking for, “To walk in Christ shoes!” Do you have any idea just how big those shoes are, and what it Intel’s to have such a walk? Lets say that I am learning a lot.
You know that the word disciple in the bible, it means “to be a learner”… Glory to God, it seems that is all I have been doing lately.
Being here a little after a year I had fell into a dark hole. Depression, and fits of anger rapped it’s hands around me, I could see myself and did not like what I was seeing. Astrid at one time asked me “what is happening to you, I don’t know you?” I couldn’t explain it and couldn’t snap out of it. I had written my resignation letter to God and told him I quit and find some thing else for me to do. Every time I prayed God was quite. It only seemed to keep getting worse. One evening I sat down with my bible and said God this is really it!!! If you don’t tell me some thing now, I am gone!! The Holy spirit spoke very clear then… He said turn to Hebrews chapter12:4. Let me paraphrase for you what it said to me. “Travis shut your mouth and stop wining, you have not resisted to the point of the shedding of your own blood. My Son did, did you not want to walk in his shoes?”

At this word from the Lord, not only was I instantly humbled but began to laugh at the Lords sense of humor. I felt this huge heavy cloud lift off of me and have been free from it since. My eyes have been opened and I can now see when even the slightest thing tries to creep in. Thank you God for that humbling lesson! What a fight though, Holy crap… It’s not for no reason that God’s word says to take every thought captive!!

It has now been over two years here with out leaving for a break. I have found that the conversation about furlough and the need for a break has been ever increasing. I am so tired of the daily battle, trying to get our registration, the going around and around in circles and the hitting of walls. Getting so close only to find out there is another mountain behind the one we just climbed. I find the words drying up, worn out, and exhausted in my vocabulary. I am shorter with Astrid and the kids lately.

I keep thinking to my self, oh if we can just get a break!! So here I am, so focusing on wanting and needing a break and the Lord shows up with another lesson. Praise God this is what I signed up for right???
Oh to be a Learner….

The Lord asks me “Travis, can you minister when you are in pain? Can you minister when no one understands why your doing what your doing? Can you continue to be poured out when you feel dry and thirsty, when there seems to be nothing left? Can you minister in sickness and in death? Can you minister when all you feel like doing is packing up and going home? Can you Minister?” “MY SON DID!!”

Once again I was put in my place! Do I desire a break from the front lines? Do I want to take a rest for a couple of months? You bet I do!! But what I want and what I desire more than any of that, some thing far more valuable than taking a breather from the battle is this.

TO LIVE A LIFE FOLLOWING MY GOD, HEARING HIS VOICE AND OBEYING HIS EVERY COMMAND.

Thank you so much lord for your leading! Thank you for the way that you are teaching me! Thank you for you discipline!
Help me oh Lord to live a life worthy of the calling you have given me.

Your son, Travis

Amen