"God is alive and God is Real!"

Every day in my class we start with prayer. We share prayer requests and pray together in various ways, and on this day nothing was really unusual. I asked for them to raise their hand if they had a prayer request and each of them shared their various problems one by one. "I have a headache." (Everyone has had a headache for at least a few weeks now :-)!) "My mom is sick...My grandma is sick...I have a mosquito bite (another common one)..etc etc etc." One little boy raised his hand and shared with the class that he had a stomach ache. Again, this is a fairly normal prayer request for a bunch of 5 and six year olds living in Africa! Well, as soon as the prayer was over, this little boy shouts out--"I have something very exciting to share! I have been healed! My stomach feels better! God has healed my stomach."

This in and of itself was a pretty amazing moment, but later at lunch the story continued. I was on lunch duty so I was sitting under the one tree where I could see the majority of the playground. This little boy comes over and sits near me and quietly says, "My stomach is starting to hurt again..." We talked for a few minutes about what we could do about that...he quickly suggested that he could of course pray and that he was sure God would heal him again.

(You should know that every day in class we also read a Bible story and then I just let them ask questions. A few weeks ago we had been specifically talking about the fact that God was alive.)

So after a few more minutes of quietly playing by me, he just looks up at me and declares, "But Miss Holladay, I just realized, God is real and God is alive! The class was right--God is real and God is alive!"

I was fairly stunned, but I just looked at him and asked him when he realized that. He quickly replied, "I realized it today. I realized it when God healed me today!"

It was a fairly incredible moment of remembering what child like faith really does look like.

Oh, and if you happen to be reading this when it is still Thanksgiving--Happy Thanksgiving. I am thanking God right now for the faith of this little boy and the way it pointed me to God!!

A long delayed post!

It has definitely been MUCH too long since I have updated my blog. Oh my...I would really like to get better at this. Just as much for my sake than anyone else’s. So, since I am trying to update you on a few months of life I am hoping that “a picture’s worth a thousand words” will prove to be true. (OK, some of the pictures I don't have right now...I will add them later.)

1. 1. I bought a car! Yes...I have become that American who moves to a foreign country and buys a car. But I haven’t regretted for one minute that I bought it. I am glad that I experienced trying to get around without a car for a few months, but it has really really positively affected life. And I am able to bless the family I am living with through it as well...It is a stick shift, so learning to drive manual on the back, bumpy, dirt roads of Rwanda with my Rwandan friends(Andrew, full time at the church, was my "driving examiner" and Mushi, also very involved at church, was my "driving instructor"--they are in the picture to the right) will be an experience I will never forget. Here is a picture of me, my car, and some friends time at the church and getting ready to go to a wedding!

2. 2. Yes, I have enjoyed attending a few Rwandan weddings. (They have a few different ceremonies...one of them is basically like a dowry ceremony where the two families bargain the price for the Bride—in these days it is almost like a play--it is very interesting!) At one of the ceremonies my hand in marriage was actually promised to another family (all in good fun, don’t worry)!! Here is a picture of me(dressed in traditional Rwandan clothes) sitting in a little hut before one of the ceremonies.

3. 3. Teaching is still going well. It has its challenges, but I am really am grateful for the opportunity to both teach and learn from these little ones. I won’t post a picture of all the kids on this site, but they are pretty cute. Since I can’t show you them, I will just quote a few of the things that they have said. (In Kindergarten I really could quote EVERYTHING they say...but I will try to remember a few of the good ones.) On the first day of school I was explaining about bathroom emergencies, and one little girl half raised her hand and half shouted out, “But an emergency is when someone is coming to your house and is trying to kill you.” Umm, ok...you are right...that is an emergency...let me think of a different way to explain this. (For the most part, most of the kids really feel like American kids...but every once in awhile something will happen like that and I will remember what vast backgrounds these children have). All of them are always saying hilarious little comments that I can’t remember right now. And then during Bible time they say some of the cutest and most profound things. My favorite so far is when one little girl said, “But, Miss Holladay, how come I always feel Jesus knocking on my heart asking if he can come in and talking with me.” What a beautiful picture of faith and how Christ pursues us. Here is a picture of me in my classroom .

4. 4. My church, Divine Destiny Church (DDC), has planted a church in the eastern province and I have visited a few times. I absolutely love going there. Here is a picture with two of my friends (Queen, who is one of the sisters in the family I live with, and Immanuel who is full time at the church)--we are drinking milk from traditional Rwandan "glasses."

5. 5. I am still loving teaching Sunday School. Sometimes I still feel at a loss about the best way to do Sunday School here but I love singing songs with them and trying to teach through translation sometimes. Here is a picture of me singing Our God is an Awesome God with them in Kinyarwanda!

6. 6. I still absolutely love living with my family. Here is a picture of all of us. They truly feel like family...I can’t tell you what a blessing it is to have such great family and friends here.

Umm, ok...I could keep going. But if a picture really is worth a thousand words, plus all the words I have written I really better stop soon.

I am SO grateful to God for saving Jaime’s (my cousin-in-law...is that what she is called??) life. It was very very difficult for me to be so far from home, especially in the first week or so of this crisis. But God had faithfully reminded me that He knew all of this in advance and that He called me to Rwanda in spite of the fact that at points I just felt like I should get on a plane and be home to support my family. What a great God we serve. It has been neat to be able to pray with people for Jaime and rejoice over the miracles in more than one language!

I also feel very blessed because my mom and dad and Luke will be visiting in about a week!! It will be great to show them my life here and just be with them in this place that has become home.

Ok...I am now going to try to update more often so you don’t have to read another novel!

A Day in the Life of Alyssa

I decided it might be easiest to give you a peek into life here if I just told you about a typical day. Especially now that school has started my days have a fair amount of routine in them, so it is easier to describe them to you!
I wake up every morning at 5:00am and start getting ready for the day. After ironing my clothes (who knew that it would take moving to Africa to make me start ironing!! But not ironing them is simply not an option here.), I usually get my bag ready and fill up my water bottle with the boiled water. When I first moved here I was worried I would accidentally pour myself water that was unboiled, but I very quickly learned where we always put the boiled water. Then I drink a cup of tea (every once in awhile coffee) and have my bread with peanut butter on it. I also get to see Queen briefly every morning as she is up just as early to go to school.
At 6:00am I walk quickly up the small hill that leads to the main road and meet the motorbike driver who has agreed to drive me to school every morning. “Mwaramutse (good morning),” I say. And he replies, “Yego (yes); Amakuru (how are you?).” Ni meza (I’m good) I say back to him…and then we are on our way! The mornings are usually cool in Rwanda, but I always appreciate the 25 minute cool ride to wake me up a bit.
So I usually arrive at school around 6:30 and wait for the guards to realize I am there and come open the gate. I exchange the same greetings with them and move towards my classroom. School starts at 8:00 but I use this time in the morning to do a lot of my preparation. I like arriving early so that I can get back to the church and home earlier.
Around 7:30 kids start arriving and I always have to remind them that they need to wait in their special spot outside the classroom instead of coming in so early. So, from 8:00-3:30 my day is full of 14 little kindergarteners. As the days go by they are getting more and more used to being in school all day and are learning more about the routines of being in school. I really should be writing down the things that they say, because they are all too hilarious but also all too easy to forget!
I usually stay at school until around 4:00. Then my motorbike driver friend comes and picks me up and I always have him drop me at church. I usually walk into the church office ( a small room attached to the church that has become a part of home for me) and greet whoever is there. “Yesu Ishimwe” (Praise Jesus), I say. This is the substitute for hi or how are you if you are greeting a Christian. I usually catch up with whoever is in the office (there is a group of guys that are basically on “staff” even though they cannot be paid) and then see if there is anything I can do to help the church. Sometimes I help with different odds and ends in the office (computer problems, recording data, etc) or sometimes with different children’s programs that are being planned. The worship team practices 3 times a week, so I love those days! I love just sitting and listening to them sing and trying to learn the songs in Kinyarwanda. Almost every day there is also someone in the office that has come to the church to seek help or prayer. So it is always neat to at least greet them and smile. The church has such a great reputation in the community of trying to help people; so, it is cool to see all the people who come for support and hope.
Depending on the day I usually reach home sometime between 6:30-8:30. Then the greeting of my family begins! I love coming home and seeing Daniella, Nathan, and Joella. I seriously miss them even if I don’t see them for one day! I try to greet the kids in both Kinyarwanda and English, so that they keep learning English. Sometimes when I come home they run into my arms and say “inshuti wanje” (my friend) or “nda gukunda” (I love you). But other days when I come home they look at me with a huge smile on their face and say “Nda Kuanz.” Which actually means I am no longer your friend. But whenever they say this to me I pretend to be really sad and start crying, which they think is hilarious. So we have lots of fun!
So for the remainder of the evening I just spend time with them or do various things around the home. Sometimes I try to help with the cooking. I love learning how to cook in Rwanda! I don’t know much yet…but I will get there. Then we eat dinner around 9:00 and I go to bed soon after that!
So…most of that seems pretty normal to me and maybe even boring to read. But I thought for those of you who wanted a peek into life, this would be the best way!

It has been awhile...

Well, it has been quite some time since I have updated my blog. I am not sure what specific story to tell you since it has been so long! Also, sometimes it is hard to remember what I should share because the longer I live here the more life just seems normal!! My weeks and days have felt very full as I have now become a kindergarten teacher. Crazy. I have successfully finished my first week of school (and a week of training). I do feel a little new to this whole world, but overall it is going well. I sort of feel like I am living two different lives (my life at school with quite a few Americans and my life at home/church with all Rwandans), but I think as time goes on I will adjust to living both of those lives. I have 13 Kindergarteners right now, with one coming sometime in the near future, and two coming in January. One of my favorite parts of teaching is the fact that the children are from all over the world. I have a few from Rwanda, a few from America, one from England, one from Tanzania, one from Japan, one from Uganda, and one from somewhere else that I can’t quite remember! That is where they are “from”, but it was pretty funny going around and asking the kids where they are from. One of the Rwandan girls said “Canada!” and one of the American boys said “Africa!” You see, a good number of these kids have lived most of their lives in places that their parents are not from. Some of them weren’t even sure where they from! Anyway, it is fun to think about how to teach these children from all different cultures. One of the highlights of being here is still living with my family. I love coming home at night and just being with them, helping them prepare dinner for guests, or playing with the kids. I am also still really enjoying being a part of my church here. I always stop by the church every day after school and help with little things or just say hi to the people there. Oh! I also really enjoyed going to a Rwandan wedding the other day!! I will have to write more about that later…it was quite the experience. Please continue to be praying for me as I learn to balance teaching and the rest of life!! These first few weeks have been a little long, but I am still doing well.

A Story from the Market

Yesterday I went to the big local market with Annie, Joel's wife. I had been wanting to visit the market for some time so I was really looking forward to this shopping adventure! When we arrived I was pleased to observe ALL the people selling all sorts of food..it really was quite interesting. But, the most interesting part came about 10 minutes into being there. I had been feeling a little bit thirsty, but I thought I would be just fine. All of a sudden I got very dizzy...I said to Annie, "I am feeling very dizzy and a few seconds later I fainted! The next thing I remember is a large group of Rwandan people standing over me and Annie saying "Are you ok?!" over and over again. However, hearing the story from Annie for those few minutes I was passed out is really quite hilarious! She said as I fainted she tried to catch me a little bit. Then a large crowd of Rwandan people immediately surrounded me and started saying things like, "Look! The muzungu (white person) is going to die! Look at her! Look at her!" Meanwhile Annie was trying to yell at them to help her and to back away so that some air could get to me. She asked one of the guys there to try to help hold me up a little bit, but the man was afraid that I would be mad if he touched me, so he wouldn't help. After about a minute I woke up and another man was willing to help me stand up and sit in a chair. Annie ran to get some water and juice, while I sat there in the middle of the market creating quite the scene! They moved me to another little shop outside the main market where I sipped my juice and waited for Joel to come pick me up. Meanwhile, the people that were buying things from this shop kept staring at me, trying to figure out who this strange looking girl was. One customer asked the shopkeeper who I was and he replied, "Inshuti Wanje," which means "my friend" in Kinyarwanda. Since this is one of the phrases I have learned, I smiled and said the same thing back to him. Anyway, it really was quite the experience and I'm sure I provided a great story for everyone to bring home to their family that night! I am feeling stronger as time goes on and am just continuing to drink plenty and rest.

"Snapshots"

After trying for some time, I have decided that my internet connection is simply not fast enough to upload pictures right now. So, instead I will just give you a few "snapshots" of living in Rwanda.

- I visited a church members home and they gave me a gift of a rabbit. Well, I don't actually have it yet. They want it to continue to grow for awhile, then they will invite me back and cook it for me! It was quite an experience for them to grab this rabbit running around their home, pick it up by the ears, hold it out in front of me and have them explain that this was a gift for me. In the midst of translation I actually thought they wanted me to take it from them right then, but we quickly got that detail worked out!

- Riding the motorbikes is one of my new favorite things to do in Rwanda!! Don't worry, I am trying to only ride them in places where there is not as much traffic. There have been times where all I can think of is the song that says "my life is in Your hands!"

- The children I am living with are still very cute and full of energy. One of the only English phrases they know is "Bad Manners!" So, they are constantly running up to me and saying "Bad Manners, Alyssa! Bad Manners!" It makes me laugh every time.

- I am still enjoying the food. For those of you who like the details: Every morning we have bread (with peanut butter or honey etc etc) and tea. Most lunches we have rice, vegetables, and beans or some sort of sauce for the rice. And most dinners (which, by the way, are at around 9:30pm) are fairly similar to lunch often with some kind of cooking banana. A couple times a week we have salad (cabbage, carrots, avocados, cucumbers). The fact that avocados are common here is simply wonderful!! Then we usually have African Tea, which is one of my new favorite things. It is just tea boiled in milk and other spices, but I love it. We also have the treat of FRESH juice a couple times a week!!

- And things are still going well at the church. I have been helping them input a bunch of information that they don't have on the computer yet. (For example, I have started with trying to create a good system for recording all the information for the children who are being sponsored.) This Saturday I will be teaching CLASS 301 (a class about discovering your ministry)! They have done CLASS 101 and 201, but this will be their first 301. So we will see how a four hour class being translated goes!!

Child Sponsorship

Today I met the 32 children who are sponsored to go to school through my church. Joel had some connection with a pastor of a small church in Scotland. So now the members of that church are sponsoring children in the community of my church. They all come to the church once a month and bring their school reports and write letters to their sponsors. It was a very impacting moment to watch them write letters to these people in Scotland. I have become so familiar with child sponsorship on the other side of things, but to see these kids and spend even a few minutes with them really affected me. It was so cool to see it working from one church to another! Half of me wanted to gather all the money and sponsors as fast as possible to send more kids to school, and the other half of me was a bit overwhelmed thinking about the magnitude of children who would love to have a sponsor. My mind raced as I tried to figure out how this could be most effective and how I could help this program to grow. My heart really was affected by these kids...so now I will continue to process and see how I can be helpful to this church that is reaching out to their community in such great ways!!

A Great Birthday in Rwanda!

I am now 21! Thank you to SO many of you who sent me emails or other forms of birthday wishes yesterday. I had a wonderful birthday here. As soon as I woke up the kids started singing happy birthday and saying "Happy Birthday, Alyssa" over and over in their cute Rwandan accents. Later in the morning (after making up some story about why I needed to put on some clothes that could get dirty) one of the girls from the church came in and started marking me with charcoal and saying all sorts of weird things to me. I obviously knew it was a joke, so I was laughing as she was pulling me towards the outside door. Well, as soon as I reached the door, some of the people from the family I am living with jumped out from around the corner, shouted happy birthday, and dumped two HUGE buckets of water on me!! It was very funny, but I don't think the Daniella and Nathan (the kids I am living with) thought so because they got soaked as well! According to them, that is a traditional thing to do on someone's birthday!
So I quickly changed back into dry clothes and left to go to town to pick up a card from my family that I thought someone had left at the front desk of a hotel. So one of the guys from the church went with me to help me find the place. After riding the public taxi for awhile, we got out and walked for quite some time. I thought either it was just really far away, or he was lost. However, when I arrived home I found out that he was just trying to keep me away from the house because they were planning a surprise party for me! I walked in my room and all the people who live in my house and the Wheeler family all surprised me and sang happy birthday! They even had a cake that said "Happy Birthday, Alyssa" on it. So I blew out the candles and we then had an huge Rwandan lunch. It was so fun to celebrate with them.
I decided to go back with the Wheelers and we went to the Bourbon Cafe (almost like a Starbucks) where we relaxed and got on the internet. I ended up just spending the night at the Wheelers last night instead of trying to figure out transportation at night. And now I am sitting at a hotel using their free internet!
Pastor Joel joked the other day that since I am now 21 I am mature enough to start more of my ministry here. He has been very busy with a team that is here through Hope Rwanda (he is the country coordinator) but will be more available to meet and plan in this next week. It has actually been neat to be able to observe what it is like on the other side when a team from America is here for a week or so. It has also been good for me to simply continue to get to know his family and settle into Kigali. Of course, my nature is usually to always be doing something, but I am learning a lot about the value of slowing down!

My first few days in Rwanda

Kigali is treating me well! I just finished my first day at church, and it was simply wonderful. It was SO good to be back in this church that I love so much. I truly do feel at home. During the morning service I stayed during the singing time, then I shared a few words with the church, and then I went into the children's service. There were almost 100 kids in one room of all different ages! So you can pray that we can figure out a way to be able to split up the kids into smaller groups according to their ages. My primary ministry will be in the children's ministry and I am VERY excited about that. They just started a Sunday school about 3 months ago (it is not that common in Rwanda), but they really believe in investing in it. So, it is a wonderful situation to step into! The morning service was about 3-4 hours long, so after coming back to the home to eat lunch, it was about time to go back for the evening service! Their evening service is in both English and Kinyarwanda. So I am really looking forward to being involved in the Sunday school in the mornings and then being able to go to church for myself in the evenings! God really has continued to confirm that this is where he wants me for this year. It is so wonderful to be able to tell people that I am not leaving in a few weeks, but that I am able to stay for a year! They always look shocked. Thank you all for your continued prayers and encouragement. It truly means a lot. I wrote an update on July 4th, but I wasn't able to post it...so I will post that below.

Friday July 4^th

I arrived safely in Kigali!! Around 4:30pm on July 2^nd, I arrived in Kigali and Pastor Joel picked me up at the airport. We went to his home (which is now also my home for these next few weeks!) and ate a meal with his family. His children (Daniella: age 3, Nathan: age 2, and Joella: 8 months) were very excited to see me and immediately began telling me all sorts of things in Kinyarwanda! Daniella and Nathan are always wanting to play, sit in my lap, play with my hair, look at my things, etc etc etc. They really are very cute and it is fun to feel so loved by them.

My room is very nice…with a very comfortable bed, and even mu own outlet to plug things into! I feel very blessed. For these first few days they want for me to just be able to rest and adjust to being in Rwanda. On Monday we will begin to move forward with my time here this year. I really do feel like they have made their home my home. Of course it can still be a little difficult to figure out how I fit into their family routine, but so far it really is going well.

Yesterday I went to the church with Queen (Joel’s sister-in-law who also lives in this house) for worship band practice. It was SO wonderful to just sit in the church and listen to them practice. I just love worshiping God in other countries!!

So…I am looking forward to continuing to get settled in and learn as much of the language as possible! Right now I have to use Joel’s computer any time I want to use the internet, so I am not sure when I will be able to post this…but I thought I could at least write it and then post it once I am able to get connected!

Waiting in London

Well, I have now been in the London airport for nine hours...and counting! My flight continues to be delayed, but honestly it doesn't feel like I have been here that long. I sprung for the internet and have found a wonderful nook that amazingly continues to be open every time I get up and come back again!

Taking off from LAX was a strange experience. In many ways it felt totally normal as I have flown quite a bit back and forth to college. On the other hand, it began to hit me that I was actually leaving to go live in Rwanda for a year. I like saying that--live in Rwanda. I know it is only a year, but it is comforting and exciting to think about attempting to live there instead of just visit. We'll see if I am still saying that a few months from now!

So, I am not entirely sure when I will be arriving in Kigali...but I will get there eventually! I talked to Pastor Joel about my delays and since the church is just across the street from the airport he said he will just watch out his window for the plane to come into Kigali. I'm not sure how he is going to tell from the sky if it is MY plane or not! But, considering the fact that there are only a few flights into Kigali per day, I think it will all work out just fine :-).

I am very new to "blogging," but my cousins told me I should be funny. Unfortunately I don't think I have lived up to their recommendations, but maybe I can blame that on the fact that I haven't slept much! (Although, it seems like if there was anytime I might have something really hilarious to say while blogging it would be in this semi-incoherent state...Oh well.) Anyway, we'll just have to see how it goes. Feel free to check back for updates. I am not sure how often I will be blogging, but I'm sure I will get into a rhythm after awhile.