"Papa Wanjye"

Last night on my way home from school, Andrew called me and asked me if I could help drive someone to the hospital. This is not that unusual of a request, and often that might just mean they need to go to a local clinic. When I arrived at church I discovered that Jacquline, one of the genocide orphans that the church helps support, was in a very traumatic state. She saw her father being killed during the genocide, when she was about five years old. Every once in awhile, usually during April in the time of mourning, she relives what she saw. It was a pretty sobering experience to go to her home, watch Andrew pick her up and carry her to my car, and drive her to a counseling place. As we drive to the place, Jaquline was wailing in the back seat of my car,”My father, My father, they are killing him, they are killing him, they are cutting him, they will throw him into the river, My father, My father.” I can’t understand any of those words in Kinyarwanda except for “Papa Wanjye(My Father).” Hearing her sob “Papa Wanjye” over and over again will always be something I remember. Her sister, Gloriose, (not a sister by blood, but she is also an orphan who has grown up with her) also witnessed her parents being killed in the genocide, so it is of course very difficult for her to watch. It starts an ugly cycle of each of them reliving the trauma they have been through. This morning Andrew called me and they are borrowing my car to take them back to a medical counseling center as they are both in a bad place again. People all over the world experience from trauma and the post-effects of that. And we should always be praying for them. But today, for me, and hopefully for you, it becomes more personal. Please be praying specifically for Jacquline and Gloriose today.

MORE PICTURES!

Ok, the formatting was taking a VERY long time...so this may not turn out quite as nice, but here are a bunch more pictures! Don't forget to look at the post below as well as I just split the pictures into a few posts! ENJOY!!

AND...now I am adding pictures from Lydia's wedding and dowry ceremony!


Daniella and Nathan and I--all in cultural dress!



















The Wheelers and I at Lydia's introduction!















Other KICS teachers and I at Lydia's introduction (dowry ceremony).







Queen and I, getting ready to serve the table of old men negotiating for Lydia!












I am trying to help the kids to go in the right places, which is funny since it is a cultural ceremony!!













Joella and I at Lydia's Wedding.

















Lydia giving Queen the final instructions before she left for the States!




















The cultural drummers at the dowry ceremony.





















Lydia and her husband on the day of the dowry ceremony.
















Nathan riding his bike! (Yes, he rides his bike in the sitting room! That is where the flat ground is I guess...)










Andrew, Joel, and Annie in the church office.















Nathan's second birthday! (Joel, Annie, Daniella, Nathan, and Joella)















Joella and I enjoying the afternoon!


























New Years is a big deal in Rwanda!! We had an overnight service at church (I was surprisingly awake for being in a church service from 8:00pm until 6:00am that was in a language I couldn't understand!) To the left is the church packed, and below is outside--we projected what was happening inside to a group sitting outside under tents!

















Christmas in Rwanda! Starting from top 1. Christmas lights! Yes, one night as I was driving home with Mushi and Andrew I stopped again and again to try to capture the Christmas spirit in Rwanda. 2. The children huddled around to watch the Jesus Film for Children in Kinyarwanda on Christmas. 3. LOOK! The Church is decorated for Christmas! It made me SO happy. 4. The Children's Ministry on Christmas...being taught the Christmas Story by Queen.




















































My Car broke down (again) on Christmas Eve. I was quite frustrated, but luckily the guys dealt with it for me (picture to the left!) and Queen and I just happily went shopping for the children's ministry (picture below!)
































Baptism!!






















This is me with one of DDC's small groups. They were having a party for someone who had just been baptized!







Joel and I in the office. I love the church office. For real...it is just a wonderful place to be.

















Cows on a Basketball Court!!















My family!! (Everyone except Joel)















The tailoring class at our church. They have two women to one machine, trying to give them a skill to improve their lives. Our church does some awesome things!!

PICTURES!!

The Worship Team at DDC(our church)!











I took Daniella and Nathan to the "fall festival" at KICS (the school I teach at). It was so fun to watch them enjoy the bounce house, food from all different countries and classic carnival games!




The school name surrounded by many of the flags of the nationalities represented at our school.











Family Visit! Luke, Daddy and I walking into KICS.




Here is a picture of my classroom! You can see most of it in this picture. The picture is taken from the door and my desk is in the back to the left in this picture. Momma is showing Shannon (my friend and the first grade teacher) and I the things they brought for the Kindergarteners!








Here is me getting my class in the morning just like I do everyday!










Lori (Wheeler) leads worship for chapel every Wednesday and I am her faithful assistant! These weekly times of leading the students in praising God with her will always be a special memory.







Ok, yes...this is a picture of the little ones napping. But I would like for you to look extra close to see a VERY large "Kindergartener" in the middle of all of them!! Luke was pretty tired after traveling!!!






The next few pictures are all in Mutara (the Eastern Province) where our church (DDC) has planted a new church. We were doing a crusade there while my family was visiting and we all went. (And Daddy preached because Joel had just had his appendix taken out!) This picture is of Queen and I...I hadn't seen anyone from church in about 5 days (which felt liek SO long!)because they had started the crusade while I had to keep working so I was SO happy to see all of them!






My "brothers" and me! From the left: Sunday, Mushi, Me, Andrew, and Tom. God seriosuly has blessed me with an amazing friendships here in Rwanda!!






Yay! Daddy, Momma, and Luke came to visit me!! It really was so neat to be able to show them life here. Thanks again for coming!





The Worship Team praising God in the countryside of Rwanda!












The family enjoying milk inside Peter's (one of DDC's "staff members") mom's home. I simply love this home! I feel SO at peace in this place. I try to visit as often as I can even though it is 3 hours away!

Queen, Tom and I outside Peter's mom's home.

Luke teaching Sunday School! I stayed in the main service this day to watch Daddy and help him find the right verses in Kinyarwanda...so I put Luke in Sunday School!!








Daddy, Luke, and Andrew doing DriveTime Devotions in Rwanda!












Uh-oh! Something happened to my car! But no worries...Daddy will teach me all I need to know!

Time

So today I overheard someone on the phone saying, "But, yes, you are meeting with an American so you must be on time! Please rush."

It made me laugh. True...haha...but it made me laugh. That's the interesting thing when you have meetings with people from all different cultures. I think I am becoming mostly Rwandan in my sense of time though :-)

Other than that today has been a fairly normal day. School happened, we had a meeting about accreditation instead of Kinyarwanda Lessons after school (so that was a little sad), and then I got to talk to my good friend Ashleyne (so that was a highlight!)

I am at the church office now, which is always wonderful and I will soon go home to see if Queen is trying to bake something with our new toaster oven that my mom sent us (thanks again!!).

Basketball Game!!

I just got home from my watching my very first international professional basketball game! It was SO much fun!! It was the Rwandan national team against the Kenyan national team and RWANDA won!! Woohoo! Anyway, it was quite the experience getting into the game as the soccer game was just getting out...so crazy crowds were all around my car that was stuck in traffic that could only go one way because the President's wife was coming to the basketball game! Once I finally got in I had to push my way through a crowd to get in, get a ticket and meet the Wheeler family at the seats down on the floor (which costs 10 dollars, by the way :-). It was so fun to cheer on Rwanda and to just be at a basketball game!!

There's No Place Like Home!

And right now that is Joel and Annie's house in Kigali, Rwanda!!

We moved back into our house a few days ago...and it really is so good to be home. It is raining quite a bit here, so they could not start on our roof. But we are just glad to be home!

In other news...I took my students on their first field trip!! We went with the first graders to Living Water International, a Christian organization helping to build wells for people. It was quite the site to see all my little ones trying to pump water for the first time! It was neat to talk to them about the fact that some kids even their age spend their days carrying water back and forth instead of going to school. It was fun and a good experience for all.

One of my students came in yesterday and just exclaimed, "But, Miss Holladay, I KNOW how to Read!!" He was so excited and it did my heart good.

My internet card is still broken...soo I am just waiting for new cards to come into the country! Who knows when that will be :-(

I am still loving being at the church. We talk about fairly consistently now about how next year it will be exciting for me to be there and not have to give so much time to teaching...you can still be praying for the children's ministry, for volunteers, and for the church building that is in the works (we have just finished paying off the land! Now we are looking at the next steps...)

Hope you are all well :-)

I MOVED!

Well, kind of. My entire family has shifted temporarily because the roof on our house needs to be fixed. Annie's mom loving took us all into our home, so we are now all living a few minutes down the road!

Also, a few bits and pieces of life that I don't think I have ever written about:
- I get to drive Daniella to school every morning and I absolutely love it. We listen to Jana Alayra and enjoy the morning together!
- I just started Kinyarwanda lessons with other teachers from my school...so I am hopeful about that. I want to know the language so badly. Seriously, you could pray that God miraculously speeds up that process!
- My internet card is broken so communication may be a little slower for awhile. (I am currently sitting in the airport using their free internet!)
- We are really going to try to implement more structure into the Sunday School soon, so you could be praying that God will really provide people who are willing to volunteer--this is a big need!
-My Kindergartens did a chapel on Jonah and Rom. 8:38-39 yesterday and they were pretty cute. I had them draw anything they wanted about Rom. 8:38-39 the other day and one of them immediately said, "But Miss Holladay, I don't know about the lips!" I asked her, "of what." She replied, "Of God!" So so funny...they always have great things to say!