Sharing Our Story

Isaac taking a break from time in the OR in Wenatchee.

 It's been a busy time in the states as we prepare to head back to Uganda. Isaac has been hard at work in hospitals doing observations and shadowing doctors while Rachel has been speaking to women's groups. We have both had the opportunity to speak together to different churches, schools, and kids clubs around the area. It has been such a blessing to share what God has been teaching us through stories of our time in Burundi and Uganda.

Rachel speaking in Chehalis to a women's group.

Rachel and Isaac adding a song to their presentation at San Juan Baptist Church.

Isaac at St Peter's Providence Hospital observing.

4th graders at Rainier Christian School praying for us before we presented to their school.

Rachel showing how strong a piece of fabric can be. What a big baby! Isaac thinks that's pretty funny.

Rachel speaking to the Lacey Christian Women's Club

In Aberdeen speaking of God's plan for using broken people.

Praying for Them

 We are having a great time in the USA sharing stories of our home and life in Africa but our hearts are still hurting for those who we love so much in Uganda. Please join us in praying for these precious little ones.

 Miriam lives in the house behind with her grandmother. She is very strong and is very helpful washing the dishes and carrying water. We enjoyed some girl time making a crown and bracelet.

We went to visit these girls at their boarding school. It was great to see their smiling faces as they walked across the lawn to see us. Kauma on the left is in Primary 5 and didn't talk much to us. Standing next to here is Penina who just lost her father in March. She was so excited to visit with family and we encouraged her and gave her a Bible. Mebra, next in line, is her cousin and a great support. She lost her parents back in 2006. She is too old to be in primary school but she is happy for the opportunity to learn at a good school. I visited Able, on the far right, back in 2010 and she is always a cheery girl. It was hard to leave these girls after our visit.

 Ibrahim has a charming demeanor and a great smile. He is willing to try his English and very helpful to translate for me. He struggles with peer pressure which results in smoking and drinking at his young age. His habits saddens his grandmother who has taken him in after his mother died leaving Ibrahim alone.

Mando who is posing with his mother is the brother to Penina. Mando's father passed away in March to HIV-AIDS. The family is still grieving but they were happy to see us. The quilt was my great aunt Louise's













Semeyi on the left is attending boarding school and is a quiet boy but a good student. He was happy to show us around his school.

Denis on the right was happy to see us. He was too old for his class and got into the wrong crowd. Please pray for Denis as he is the eldest brother of Penina and Mando and they are still grieving the loss of their father.

It was such a joy to see Brenda. She was so proud of being in junior high school. She knew that we had traveled far just to visit her and was honored. It was great for me to take a video message of her to her mother the next day. Brenda is a dedicated student and very focused on her studies.

St Paul's Lutheran School

Had a great time sharing at St Paul's Lutheran School in Janesville, Wisconsin a few days ago. It was so fun sharing to students who laughed and enjoyed learning more about Burundi. I talked about animals in East Africa, how I got to Burundi in the first place, how I chat with my best friend Jesus when it gets hard to live so far from my family, and my favorite part...I took my wrap and put a "baby" (the smallest brave kid in the class) on my back.
I was asked to speak 4 times with 3-6th graders in their classrooms. It was fun to watch how excited the teachers were in addition to the students.
It's amazing how excited I get when I start sharing about life over there. I remind myself how much I simply love it!!! Looking forward to going back in December.

Something New

 

We would like to update our contact information and send out our new prayer card to you along with a newsletter full of stories of the last year and a message from the missions organization we have just signed with, Overcomers International. If you would like to receive this mail please respond with your mailing address.

PLEASE NOTE:
New place to send Tax Deductible Donations.

online-

www.OvercomersInt.com there is a paypal at the bottom of the screen

by mail-

Overcomers International

PO Box 26953

Federal Way, WA 98093

Questions about donating?

Call us or call Overcomers and they can answer any questions you might have :) they are very helpful

253-517-3127

The Pull of the Pacific

 Such a great weekend spending time with family and friends. We had our first church speaking engagement and a family get together.

It was so refreshing to be able to hug all my family as many times as I wanted to. My aunt said, "You already hugged me." I told her I was saving up :)

Isaac enjoyed himself playing in the ocean for the first time. He was the feet sinking master.

We had plenty of time to soak up some much needed time in the sun.

Sad moment cure :)

It doesn't matter what country I'm living in. Or how close I am to family and friends. When the sad emotion overwhelms me Crasin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and listening to the Civil Wars always helps :)
Thanks Laura for introducing me to the band of my emotions!!!

Summer Time

What a summer. We have been in the states for a little over a month now and it has been lovely.

Celebrating our wedding, eating too much ice cream (thanks dad), camping, visiting family, canoeing, ski boating and so much more!

Thank you for all your prayers this time of relaxing has been great.

We are starting to gear up on our speaking engagements and preparation for our return to Africa in Dec.

Please let us know if you would love to see us

Grandma, this one's for you!

My father normally gives me a gentle hint about the lack of blog posts, which pushes me to share one or two. But this post here is dedicated to Grandma who clearly informed me that I needed to post something :) Thanks Grandma for keeping me on it.

We are currently living in the US for 5 months before we head back to East Africa. Our lives are in transition currently. After a wonderful going away breakfast we packed up our apartment and put it into 4 different homes of friends who will keep them under beds and in dark closets for a few months. We flew the 2 day journey this time in 5 days, we made some stop overs :)

The first stop was in Kenya. Isaac had fun at the hospital and I went next door for my own enjoyment.

These two were awaiting surgery of their own to make their legs work. We played football (soccer) scooting around the playroom. As you can imagine, they were much better than me at the scooting thing.

The second stop was in Dubai for a forced layover. Our travel agent scored us the deal, thanks man!











Now we are living in Washington. Life here is different and hit me, not like it did the first time with culture shock, but still quite strong for the first 2 weeks.

We are settling now and Isaac is enjoying his time observing local doctors in their work. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. If you are interested in having Isaac and I share our story we are currently putting together our speaking schedule. Please let us know, we'll be here until the beginning of December.
Blessings

Preaching and Not

Isaac has graduated and I have moved off campus but Hope Africa University is still home to us. We both attended Campus Fellowship, a 30 min meeting 4 times a week on campus, while we were living at Hope. Isaac has been invited to preach on a number occasions since he graduated. It was a pleasure to travel with him this time.

Since our visit people from the group have mentioned on multiple occasions that our lives speak louder than our words. They say that our marriage and dating days were something that they have taken notes on. It has been humbling to hear how God is using our lives as a living example to others of the love of Christ.

Cholera

He’s about to die! Our good friend Renson is Kenyan. His father is a FM missionary in Uganda. Now he is studying in Burundi at Hope Africa Univ. And he works at The King’s School in the office.

Renson came to work one Monday morning and went home feeling ill. Within the 15min it took to get to town he fell so ill that he checked himself into a clinic. It wasn’t 10min later that he was unconscious with serious dehydration. Renson had cholera. He would have been dead within the hour but was transferred to the hospital that Isaac works at. Renson now says that he thought he was going to die until he saw Isaac’s face. He said, “I knew Isaac wouldn’t let me die”. There is a limited number of IV drips in the country and hospitals are very frugal with the use of them, they don’t like to give patients more than 4 bags (1/2 liter in each bag). Isaac didn’t listen to protocol and over the 15 hours Renson was in the hospital he used 73 bags!!! At one point he had 3 bags dripping into his arms at one time.

That night we held a staff prayer session to pray for Renson knowing that we could loose him at any moment.

The next day Renson was transferred to a cholera clinic (it was a tent outside where they put many cholera patients together. I learned that it is really easy to treat but also very easy to spread. We went to visit Renson and had to put on special masks and got sprayed with disinfectant. We are thankful to God that Renson was healed. He is fully recovered but we will keep his story with us.

Football Match

Every once and a while the Ugandans and Kenyans who live in Burundi organize a football match. Isaac and I attended this last one. It was fun to cheer on a country that I represent now :)

Post Fire

Since the fire to the public market business hasn’t slowed. It is harder to find what I am looking for and the streets are full of vendors, but people have to eat and so shopping goes on.

The Bats

What is that noise outside my window? Two of the seven houses I lived in this last 8 months had fruit trees that attracted something noisy in the night. I found out that it was fruit bats. These large bats make their migration from the tall trees on the north end of town to the fruit trees in our south end neighborhood. This one I found on the road. Obviously wasn’t playing well with others.

Still Alive

Many Burundians will say, you should be grateful that you are still alive. They then add to their point by stating that many others have gone but you are still here (in a country just out of war this is a huge statement).
Well I am writing yet again the "Still Alive" post on my blog. It has been so many days, weeks or months since I last posted. I need to apologize. Much has happened and I hope that in the next few days I will gather stories and photos to share.
In brief,
I'm still working at The King's School, which now has its own website, http://www.thekingsschool.edu.bi/
Isaac is working at the Van Norman Clinic attached to Hope Africa University. He is also teaching a university level course to midwifes in training.
We spend much of our free time praying and planning for our trip to the states. We are excited to share what God is up to in East Africa and to prepare for the next season God has ahead of us. It will also be great to have chocolate chips, since I ran out just 2 days ago :(