Getting ready!

As I write Katy and I are sitting in Kaldis in Huntsville discussing our trip. We are both VERY excited about leaving but have a lot to do between now and Monday! Ag! I cannot wait to see my friends and just to be in Rwanda, to smell the smells, see the mountains and feel the nice breeze (and to leave the Texas heat behind!). Please pray for safe travel and for my awesome parents who in their typical manner, worry about their baby girl! To quote my mom, "I won't sleep for 7 weeks." Please also pray for our budgeting skills and finances while we are there. Our hope is to be able to meet the needs of others that will arise while we are there. Whether it be bibles, sewing machines, sponsorship for new children, or the school our desire is to help as much as we can. Please also pray for Wayne, our One27 director as he balances running a non-profit organization, having to help us from home while we are overseas and care for his family. Another prayer for me would be that I will be able to be bold and fervent in pursuing the creation of the ladies' bible studies. Katy and I both have a tremendous heart for this aspect of our mission, we feel that this is something that is desperately desired and needed among the women. Katy has done an amazing job with the lessons and we both cannot wait to start.

Africa is...

"AFRICA is amazing. Africa is a million and one things. It is a land of contradictions, and a land of great controversy. Africa is more diverse than any other place on the planet. It has experienced the greatest combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill. It is plagued with individuals who are hurting, dirty and dying. It is plagued with rich leaders. It is strong, joyful and resilient. Africa is filled to the brim with song, dance and soccer. It fills your lungs with life with every burnt breath. It fills your eyes with tears with every sight. The sun blazes, the rain pours. It has more sky than your eyes could possibly take in. Africa is humbling. Africa rips the heart out of your chest and buries it in the rich red soil, knowing that you will someday return, to see the growth. And there is no doubt it will grow. Africa is dangerous, welcoming and addictive. It is prosperous. It is poor. It is all too overwhelming. Africa knows the value of friendship. Time is not money in Africa. And money goes a long way. Africa holds a mirror up to your soul - letting you see all your selfish desires, and not letting go, until you're completely broken."
(stolen from Katy's blog...but is my experince exactly..this is why I cannot stay away.)

Today God has broken me and humbled me once again. I am AMAZED at His people, His ways of connecting us are unthinkable, He never does things the same way twice. I stand in awe of Him.

My friend Monica came to give me a donation for my trip. She told me that a very close friend of hers passed away just days ago in a car accident. Josh was a servant of Christ who had been on multiple mission trips, the most recent I believe, to Kenya. At his funeral Monica said that they showed video clips and pictures of his life and one just completely struck her. It was Josh surrounded by a crowd of Kenyan children. She said she immediately thought of me. (Yes, I was holding back a well of tears at this point as she was talking;) She made a generous donation to the trip in honor of Josh's life. He was 26 years old. (Not coincidence that we were the same age I think!) I hope that like Josh, I will have a legacy to leave on this earth some day. We have no idea how the simple actions of our lives can effect eternity.
Humbled by His grace and mercy today,
Mel :)

More and more...

I am overwhelmed and deeply humbled...again! My ticket has been paid for in full, and the money for expenses while I am there is continuing to come in. I am so excited about the prospect of taking some extra cash to buy Bibles and give away to those in need while I am there. Those who have given so generously are making the way for that to happen. God is definitely working through His people, I just feel lucky to get to see it again and again. This past Sunday my close friends Chase and Maria' had thier baby girl Ellie. As I was visiting with them and looking at that precious little life, it made me think about all the good things our Father in Heaven has to give us. Amongst so much pain and hurt, there is also so much good. We serve a gracious and compassionate God and I needed to be reminded of that. I had my last class of the semester last night at DTS and my professor told us (as we were studying the book of Judges--yeek! ;) that yes, God demands our holiness and it grieves him when we are not living as He desires BUT that we need to communicate to the world that as much as He is just and full of wrath against sin, He is also merciful and kind and loves in a way we cannot even fathom. In these few weeks leading up to the trip, He is teaching me so much in such a very short time. I am thankful that He is continually revealing who He truly is to me. There are so many false understandings and untrue versions of who He is out there--basically lies (that I used to believe too) about His identity. I believe there is a need for truth. It is sweet freedom to really know and understand in our hearts His grace. I can only hope to bring that to my Rwandan friends, I want them to know the freedom of God's grace and to help show them His face as I have been shown it too.
In His grace,
Melissa

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people of his very own, eager to do what is good." ~Titus 2:11-14

He Will Provide!

Soooo...GREAT news! I was suprised by my fellow co-workers and friends at TWCA on Friday with a HUGE donation for the trip. Apparently, unbenkonst to me, Chandel was the mastermind behind the entire thing. I had absolutley no clue as to what was going on until we all met in the hallway (kids too) and she gave me the check. I was SO humbeled needless to say, and I kind of babbled a few words of thanks and stood there with a look of huh? on my face. Chandel had a bake sale and got other teachers and parents to make stuff. I even asked if she needed my help! I was completely suprised. Back in January when Katy and Wayne and I started planning, I was unsure about going again, not that I did not want to go, just that financially I could not see the plan. But, I just decided that I was truly going to trust God. Not say, yeah I trust you, but turn right around and stress and worry over it. My friends taught me that He provides, all we have to do is trust. I feel like I should, after 5 trips, have learned this in my heart, I knew it in my mind but until I acted like it, I really did not trust. It's silly how long it took me to learn this, like most things with faith, it takes me a while to "get it".

Amahoro ibane namwe (Peace be with you)

& Imana ibahe umugisha. (God bless you)!