RockTheDesert

Romania Journal

Another day is coming to a close in Romania. It's 9:25 pm and we just returned from eating dinner at Emmanuel Church. Roast beef simmered for hours in tomatoes, garlic, onions, parsley - so good! Of course they served rice pilaf, corn, peas, vegetable soup, bread and for dessert, a massive hunk of the best watermelon ever. These church ladies know how to lay out the spread!!

Since this is an e3 training trip for me, I worked with a different team today in a city called Tecuci. A city of about 50,000 with only about 100 known evangelical Christians. I went to an appointment in the morning with a 74-yr old woman named Nadia. She was one of the most animated, full-of-life people I've ever met - she dominated the conversation, in a good way, with stories. She used her hands and her facial expressions just about told the stories! I hardly needed a translator. We were at her house for nearly 3 hours. We shared our testimonies, we shared scriptures for her - "come all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest..." This woman has been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders for a very long time. She also admitted her biggest sin is unforgiveness. She literally could not understand forgiveness of her sins. We prayed for her at the end of our time together. That was the only time I saw her cry. She invited me to come back to Tecuci with my family and to stay at her house...pray for Nadia - we gave her a Bible and we each signed it with a personal message.

The weather changed dramatically today - it was raining when we walked outside to the vans. I had an instant flashback to my previous Romania trip in 2005...That was the year they experienced a 1000 yr flood. Alyssa and I ended up in a village about 2 hours from Galati which had no paved roads, no electricity, no running water. It also had massive amounts of thick, slippery, impossible-to-drive/walk-in mud. One of our nationals assessed the situation, disappeared for a few minutes, then returned with "the village boots" in his arms. Yes. He was thoughtful enough to go knocking on doors, asking to borrow boots that we could wear so we could walk in the mud. Someone else on our team was wearing flipflops - I gave her my tennis shoes to wear and I gingerly slid my feet into the pair of village boots that was handed to me. I lived through the experience, slipping and sliding up impossibly muddy hills, slipping and falling down impossibly muddy hills, pretty much slipping and sliding all day 'til mercifully it was time for the evening meeting...Good times - great memories. Thankfully, there was no need for the village boots today. My crocs were pretty slippery on the sidewalks and I nearly took down the team a few times before regaining my balance, but all in all, the rain wasn't a nuisance.

I won't be able to post pics 'til I get home - no picture card reader on this laptop. I haven't been so great at capturing pictures so far - tomorrow I'm going to concentrate harder on sneaking my camera out at just the right moments. We'll see how that goes.

WCW - Snapshots of Romania

Today is Watercooler Wednesday at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog. Join me and other imaginative bloggers around the watercooler for fun, enlightenment, and entertainment. Click HERE for Randy's post called "When Nature Screams."

My life is all about Missions right now. I'm in the CPC training process with e3 partners ministry. That means that I get to experience on-the-job-training on two separate mission trips. That, in addition to boot camp, will conclude my training process. So, if my blogging is infrequent in the next few months, it's because I'm struggling to find a decent internet connection somewhere in the world.

**Before you continue reading or move on to another blog, please leave a comment and answer these 2 simple questions: have you ever been on a mission trip? if you could go on a mission trip anywhere in the world, where would that be?**

OH YEAH, one more thing, I'd appreciate it a lot if you'd pray for our team from July 11-19. Click HERE for a printable prayer calendar. Thank you!!

I just finished packing for my first training trip. I leave Friday morning at 8am, heading to Romania. I will join the rest of our team at Dulles airport in Washington D.C. We should be in Bucharest at 1:40pm on Saturday. Then we'll board a bus and head north & east to Galati (pronounced Galatz). Alyssa and I went to Galati on our first e3 mission trip 3 years ago. I'm excited to be working with the same church, Emmanuel Christian Church. Check out their website. It's written in Romanian, however, there's a button to click that translates it to English! Pretty high-tech!!

I'm not so excited about the bus ride from Bucharest to Galati. The bus is comfortable enough, but we'll have to stop for dinner about half-way there. Last time, we stopped at "McDonalds." Everything was kinda similar and kinda not. More toward the "not" side.

Galati is located pretty much on the banks of the Danube River. Industrial shipping is a main economy for the area.

Here's a view of the Danube at night - I found this pic using Google - we were nowhere near the Danube after dark - e3 policy!!

An interesting component to our trip in 2005 and to my upcoming trip will be the mobile art team. Ted VanNatta is an artist who sets up his easel in various locations in the villages - near the town square, along a busy road, near a popular market, etc. He draws beautiful depictions of Bible stories while his other team members engage groups of bystanders in spiritual conversations.

Here's a typical afternoon discipleship meeting.
In 2007, the new church was able to build a brand new building and it was immediately filled to over-flow capacity!

Rwanda Stories - In The Red

It seems that from every e3 mission trip I go on, a memorable theme emerges. This time, for me, it was all about God's provision. He is, after all, Jehovah-Jireh, God our Provider. He definitely intended for us to really know that about Him by the end of the week.

Before we left for Rwanda, we knew that our trip was over-budget by over $4000. This was mostly due to out-of-control airline costs which seemed to go up every day before we finally had funds from everyone to purchase them. Also, a few months after setting the final price for the trip, we found out that part of our budget needed to include leaving behind $600 per church site to assist with the cost of putting a roof on a new building. Great. Another $4800 in the red. Dan and I decided that we'd pull that amount out of his support account when we returned home. We were prepared for the trip to be even more in the red due to fluctuating prices and a lot of unknown expenses that we might incur. We knew that God would provide for our needs. He had already provided an incredible team of North Americans and Rwandan ministry partners. We'd had safe travel. All of our luggage arrived with us. These were all small miracles. Then God started to get really creative. He made Toyota Land Cruiser available for Dan to drive which meant that we could cram 6 team members in that vehicle with him and save over $2000 by not having to rent another van. He ended up spending $110 on fuel. That's quite a savings! Somehow, with God's provision, the budget ended up in the black AND we left that additional $4800 for roofs. That was a huge miracle!!  When God provides, He provides generously, abundantly, without holding back, and all for His glory!!

  More on God's provision in my next post...

Philippians 4:19 "You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes." THE MESSAGE BIBLE

Rwanda Stories - Sunday

Our E3 trip to Rwanda is an epic tale of God's faithfulness. God's plans were carried out according to His will and purposes. We were the message-bearers, the servants, the foot-washers, the encouragers, the hill-climbers, the disciple-makers, an eclectic team called together for 10 days of travel, ministry, partnership, and celebration! Each team member was a blessing to the team in various ways throughout the week. From words of encouragement to chocolate and popcorn, to cold medicine, to smiles, to hands clasped in unity, to utter silliness, to despair and fear, everything we brought to the table was ultimately for God's glory and to make His Name known to the Rwandans we encountered.

I was the leader of Team #1. This is a picture of Team #1's Mission Point church site. Our task for the week was relatively simple: share the Gospel with everyone we met while walking throughout the village, invite new Christians to a discipleship meeting in the afternoon, equip the new church with materials and resources to continue the ministry after our team is gone, and help to establish a brand new, baby church by the end of the week!!

The church plans to rent this site until God provides a way for them to buy the land and building...asking price is 1,000,000 rwandan francs - about $2000 US dollars. On Sunday morning, we worshipped at the Mother Church which was several miles away from here. On Sunday afternoon, our team met with the Mother Church Pastor (Charles) and the Missions Point Pastor-in-training (Jean Claude), along with a group of about 50 church members (from the Mother Church) at the Mission Point for a time of prayer walking. We walked over the entire site, praying that God would do a mighty work in this village during our four short days of sharing the Gospel and building His church. By the end of the first day, we were humbled and amazed to see how abundantly God began to answer our prayers!
My two team members, Rachel and Sara, along with their ministry partners Jane & Maureen, are telling the story of Creation and using a 7 ft wide laminated poster to share beautiful, bright pictures which show what God created each day!

The Art of Evangelism

I typed in the word "evangelism" today and was amazed at the number of resources, articles, opinions, definitions, etc. that flooded my screen. This article by Guy Kawasaki, written to a secular, sales-related audience, draws strong parallels (not accidentally) to what Christian evangelism is all about. Here's an excerpt to get you thinking...

The Art of Evangelism

Out of curiosity, I went to SimplyHired, a vertical search engine for jobs, and looked for openings containing the keyword “evangelist.” Amazingly, there were 611 matches--and none were for churches. It seems that “evangelist” is now a secular, mainstream job title. Indeed, the first eight matches were for evangelist jobs at Microsoft--go figure.

As people hit the streets with this title, they need a foundation of the fundamental principles of evangelism. Fulfilling this need is the purpose of today's blog.

1. Create a cause. As the previous blog called “Guy's Golden Touch” explained, the starting point of evangelism is having a great thing to evangelize. A cause seizes the moral high ground. It is a product or service that improves the lives of people, ends bad things, or perpetuates good things. It is not simply an exchange of things/services for money.
2. Love the cause. “Evangelist” isn't simply a job title. It's a way of life. It means that the evangelist totally loves the product and sees it as a way to bring the “good news.” A love of the cause is the second most important determinant of the success of an evangelist--second only to the quality of the cause itself. No matter how great the person, if he doesn't love the cause, he cannot be a good evangelist for it.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article!!

Story behind picture #5

Our church plant was part of The Church of God denomination. We called our church "Avocado Church" because it meets under this avocado tree. They leased this little piece of land for 1 week while we were in town. When the owners of the land saw that North Americans were helping with the church, they upped the price to $35 per month which is beyond the reach of the brand new little church. Before we left town, they had secured a school to rent instead which we felt was a wise decision. The school is only $25 to rent and it includes chairs and with all the rain they have it will be nice to have a roof over their heads. Simon was my translator all week. He's on the far left. He's married and has two adorable kids. Pastor Nathaniel has the wild print shirt on. He's the mother church Pastor. Pastor Hurbert is kneeling down in front. He's the new church Pastor. To Dan's left is Pierre. He was Dan's translator. He's a Nazarene pastor. He loved the work we did all week, so much so, that he's praying about leaving the Nazarene church so that he can start planting churches! The other two guys are Burundi nationals. They knew the neighborhoods and were able to introduce us to people. They also were well trained on the using the Evangecube and when the crowd around us would grow too large for everyone to hear and see, they would pull a group of people around themselves and start a separate presentation. Together we were a great team!

Story behind picture #4

I don't know this little girl's name. I saw her every day at our new church site. You start to recognize people not so much by what they look like, but by what they're wearing, since they tend to wear the same thing many days in a row. She's wearing two of my favorite colors and I couldn't resist capturing her beautiful smile. There are lots of kids in Burundi. Many are able to go to school. Many others can't afford to go to school. So they stay home and help their mom take care of the other children and work in the fields. It wouldn't be uncommon for a young girl, just like this one, to have an infant strapped to her back all day long and be the primary caregiver while her mom is busy working in the fields or running a business. In spite of the challenges, every child whose picture I took had a brilliant smile and child-like joy when I showed them their picture on the screen. They giggled and laughed and pointed and touched the picture on the screen. Taking pictures is something that I've never been great at. I'm usually digging in my purse for my Kodak while the perfect picture moment whizzes by. This time, since I knew I'd be blogging about the photos, I took pictures with great purpose and surprise, surprise, most of the pics came out pretty good!

Story behind picture #2

This is Gertrude. She operates a small fruit & vegetable stand right along the main paved road. We met her first thing on Wednesday morning. I should explain about our method of evangelizing the area. Each day, our team (Dan, Marina, 2 translators, 2 pastors, numerous local Christians) would meet at the proposed church site (under an avocado tree, facing the main road). We would split up into teams of three. My team always included Simon, my translator, and 1 other national. We'd then choose an area to totally saturate with the Gospel presentation. On this particular day, we headed to the lake side of the road. Our turn-off was at a dirt road in between some fruit stands and a bicycle washing station. We decided to stop at the fruit stands. One was manned by an older woman - probably in her late 60's, early 70's. The young woman at the stand next to her was named Gertrude. They both shook our hands and allowed us to share with them. As usual, a crowd quickly gathered around us to see what was going on. I introduced myself and started sharing about the love of God, using my Evangecube. The older woman listened for about 2 minutes then got up and left. Not at all interested. Gertrude, however, listened intently. The crowd kept growing larger - probably 50-75 people kept pressing in and listening. When I asked people to pray for salvation, many people in the crowd prayed out loud, including Gertrude. She had tears in her eyes and seemed to genuinely grasp the free gift of salvation through Christ. The guys on our team started writing down names of people who had prayed with us. Simon shared a discipleship lesson then prayed a prayer of blessing on everyone. I felt compelled to talk individually to Gertrude. She agreed to walk a little way away from her fruit stand. I encouraged her to grow strong in her faith. I gave her some little tracts to read. I urged her to share them with the older woman next to her and with anyone who would listen. I told her that she was an influencer and could make a difference in people's lives by sharing her faith. We then went on with the rest of our day. We had many people pray to receive Christ and shared with over 150 people. At the end of the day, we passed by Gertrude's fruit stand again. I asked her if I could take her picture. She agreed. I showed her the picture on the camera screen. She was surprised, I think, by her image. Most of the Africans I've met in Burundi and Rwanda don't own mirrors and really have no idea what they look like. I think she is beautiful and I pray that God would use her to impact His kingdom. Pray for Gertrude, that her faith would grow strong and that her business would be blessed and that she would have many opportunities to share her faith with others.

Story behind picture #1

This was my fourth trip to Africa. Each time, I am amazed and grateful for the kids that follow us around and listen over and over again to the Gospel presentation. A lot of times they pray out loud with us. And then they pray out loud again at the next presentation. And the next one and the one after that. I hope that they are sincere in praying to receive Christ. The kids in this picture live in a more upscale neighborhood. Some of the houses actually had a concrete floor. Others had a water pump in their courtyard. I was trying to discreetly take a picture of the boy in the center with the red shirt on. He was rolling his homemade toy along the ground as he walked. I looked closely at the toy. The long handle is a skinny tree branch that's relatively straight. A large, round, plastic lid, maybe from a large paint can or bucket is the wheel. It is attached to the branch with an extremely long nail. You can sort of see the nail sticking out on the left side. Kids in all countries have a way of taking ordinary objects and creating ingenious playthings. As I was trying to show the boy how to stand so that I could get a good picture of his toy, all these other kids came running over and wanted to be in the picture. So, instead of zooming in on the toy, I captured the enthusiasm of the moment! Pray for the kids in Burundi. They are hungry both physically and spiritually. We saw a lot of UN vehicles in and around the city. Saw a huge warehouse that said "World Food Programme" on it, yet we encountered numerous people who told us they were very hungry. It was very sobering.

Packing for Burundi

We put the tree away last week. In its place, we've put 4 large suitcases. It's time to start packing for Burundi! Dan and I leave on January 17. My clothes are already packed. I've got a comprehensive packing list sent to me by a seasoned E3 campaigner named Ky whom I met on our last Rwanda campaign. Ky is my hero. If he went on Survivor, he would win.

You can see that Dan has already been working hard on packing the essentials for his trip. M & M's. Tins of butter cookies. Spare pair of underwear.

Click HERE for our Prayer Calendar for this trip. The trip leader is Mike Talley. This trip is Dan's final training trip with E3. After this, assuming he is able to complete the tasks competently, he will be an official full-time E3 Church Planter! No word yet on when my E3 training trips will begin. I anticipate an extremely busy year of music ministry at FNC, combined with at least 2 trips to Africa along with 2 training trips!

Featured Video - Kenya/Rwanda - June '07

Enjoy this video which includes mostly our Kenya trip with a couple of clips of Rwanda mixed in!

The Africans dressed in mostly red are part of the Maasai tribe. They are the cattle owners/herders in Kenya. They are nomadic and still follow ancient tribal customs such as drinking cow's blood. Yuck. They also live in extremely short huts made from dried mud and manure. The Maasai women traditionally build the homes. They are not very tall so they only build the houses as tall as they can reach. Ironically, Maasai men are extremely tall, so they have to hunch way over in in order to move about in their homes. We were blessed to be able to meet with a group of Christian Maasai. We worshiped with them and they let us look inside their homes and allowed us to take pictures of them.

From 53 seconds to 57 seconds, you'll see the green hills of Rwanda. Then from 1:03 to 1:08 you'll catch just a 5 second glimpse of some children in Rwanda.

Going To Burundi

I am going to Burundi in January with E3 Partners. Just signed up last night.
Need I say more?
My post-Christmas to-do-list just grew from 3 non-urgent items to 30 urgent items. Seriously.
I've decided to go on this church-planting campaign not because I have a lot of spare time on my hands; not  because I FEEL like I should go; not because I have $4,000 gathering dust in a drawer, waiting to be spent; not because it's going to help me win "Mother Of The Year"; not because it's the in vogue thing to do...I'm going because I MUST go. It's urgent. There's no guilt associated with this decision. Only confidence that it's what I'm supposed to do. It's a crazy thing, these missions trips we sign up for. Long hours of travel. Challenging roads and accommodations. Sights and smells that are indescribable. But the privilege of watching God at work among His children in Africa - that's also indescribable.
So, I'm going to Burundi.
I am questioning my sanity just a tiny bit more today than when I sent in the application last night.
But that's a good thing. If I could make perfect logical sense of every single decision to be made in my life, then I really wouldn't need God. I could just live my life in a sane, sanitary, safe way. It'd be like driving a 4-door, tan Chevy sedan at 37 mph for the rest of my life. Not bad, not wrong, but, well, sort of boring. I'd rather be in the bright orange Charger with the Duke boys, taking on hell with a squirt gun and living life fully present in each moment with God.

India Church Planting Campaign

My parents-in-law (Ray & Mary) just returned from their first trip to India. Here's an excerpt from their summary letter...The last 10 days in India was a short-term church planting mission with E3 Partners consisting of 21 ordinary people from America to reach out to the Banjara Gypsies near Hanamkonda.  We formed 9 teams and went to over 80 Banjara thandas (villages).  We had a great time; however, it was very tiring and demanding.  We had to get up every day at 4:00 am to get ready to leave at 5:30 a.m. To meet at the Banjara Center for organizing the day's activities and then drive for 2 hours each way to the sites.  The driving was the worst and most dangerous I have ever experienced.  There was no hot water at the hotel, so we had cold showers every morning, and our food for breakfast and lunch was basically what we brought from the U.S.--- granola bars, Vienna sausage, trail mix, etc.  However, we were fortunate that we were able to have dinner each night at a Chinese restaurant (we found Indian food to be too spicy). The good news is, we planted over over 20 new churches and saw over 500 professions of faith in the Banjara thandas.  On the last day there, it was a blessing to see people accept Jesus as the gospel was presented on the edge of Hanamkonda in the shadow of a Mosque.  Some of the ones who received Christ were Muslims.  One Muslim was looking out her door fully clad in the black dress, head cover, and face cover.  Jesus was glorified and the Banjara people were empowered and equipped to continue the work of discipleship and church planting using Proclaimers (solar powered audio New Testament in their language) and other discipleship materials we left behind.  I’ve attached a photo of the Banjara couple that we gave a Proclaimer to so they can have the new believers meet in their hut to listen to the New Testament...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Church Planting

The way I see it, all you need to plant a church is bricks - any size, any shape, possibly some mortar if it's available, and of course, some scaffolding for the hard to reach places!

Actually, we take very seriously the fact that the Church is a body of believers who gather together for worship and community. The church building itself is a bonus. In the rural villages in Africa, people gather for "church" in empty fields, under trees, in front yards or backyards or in the town square or at the top of a hill or in a banana grove...whatever location is within walking distance of "the church" is where they meet.

This is "the church" our team planted. It meets in this grassy green field, right next to the water spigots for the village.

Silly & Not So Silly Stuff

This is Ky. He is a seasoned campaigner. He has the most amazingly comprehensive packing list I've ever seen. Retired firefighter. From California originally. Now lives in Oregon. He was on our trip to Rwanda then continued on to Sudan with Dan and Patricia. While in Rwanda, we had to make our own lunches. We brought loads of peanut butter & jelly & honey. Bread was provided for us. The bread slicer was missing half of its blades. So each loaf of bread went something like - slice, slice, slice, BIG slice, BIG slice, HUMONGOUS slice, slice, slice, GIANT slice, etc. We only had a butter knife to work with and Ky volunteered to cut each thick slice in half. Don't even ask about the crumbs and mangled slices of bread. It wasn't pretty. But when you're hungry, bread is bread, and we appreciated every single misshapen slice.   

I finally finished our Sept/Oct Team Berryman Update newsletter. Click here to see the final product.

Dan is now preparing for his second training trip. This will be E3's first ever church planting campaign in Burundi, January 17-27. He needs to recruit at least 2 more campaigners. Email Dan if you're interested and available those dates. dan.berryman@e3partners.org.

Check out this great website http://www.hisgreatplan.com/. Mike & Mary Wagner are E3 Church Planters and they are very good at what they do. If you've never been on a trip before, you've got to go on at least 1 trip with the Wagners. You'll be hooked!

We are working on setting up dessert parties in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area to give us a chance to share with friends and friends of friends what it is that we've been called to do with E3 Partners Ministry. We'd love to have you join us. Please email Marina at berrymanaz@msn.com if you're interested in attending or hosting. Thanks.

Burundi

Burundi is a little known African country - directly in the center of the continent. It's referred to as "the heart of Africa" and to my surprise, when I looked it up on a world map, it's actually sort of shaped like a heart. Sort of. Or maybe a goat's head. But probably mostly like a heart. You can see from the picture that it's located directly south of Rwanda.

Dan's final training trip will take place in Burundi in January 2008. The first ever E3 trip to Burundi is currently scheduled for January 17-27. According to the promotional flyer, they will be working with 11 or 12 churches to establish new mission churches/cell groups through door-to-door evangelism and evangelistic services in the capital city of Bujumbura. Statistics tell us that less than 5% of the people are born again Christians. Government representatives, including the President, have extended an invitation for E3 to come and evangelize their country.

We all are very excited about this incredible opportunity to share the Gospel in an unreached land. I hope to be able to go with Dan on this very first trip. While in Rwanda in September, we actually met and worked with some wonderful Christian leaders from Burundi. They love & worship God passionately. The pastors/bishops we met will be key leaders on the Burundi campaign. This picture is of Steven with Bishop Independence and Bishop Bosco.

Dan is currently assisting in mobilizing Christians to be a part of this adventure. If you think that this might be the missions trip you've been waiting for, or you know someone who would love to be a part of this, please have them check out the E3 website for more trip details and registration info.

Rwanda Video

Check out this video - it contains brief highlights of our recent trip to Rwanda.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Leaving Sudan

I'm looking forward to seeing Dan and hearing all the details of the trip - I did receive a text message from him - 259 1st time professions of faith in Christ. He said it was the most difficult trip he's been on to date! Thank you to all who have been praying faithfully for him and the team!

This is another forwarded email - this time from Patricia - we met Patricia on our Rwanda trip - she is a CPC with e3partners.

_______________________

Flying home towards Nairobi in our 12 passenger plane. No weight problem on this leg. We have left all of our ministry materials in Sudan. We are all well and have seen the infathomable love of God at work in Sudan.

Yesterday God have me the desire of my heart. When I visited Kormachi in July I met a woman named Maria. She was in the compound of the chief and had more beads on than any of the other women. She had the look of being the Queen Bee. She had the appearance of being in another world very far away and unreachable. It was the face of Maria that motivated me to research, pray and prepare to take the gospel to the most primitive area I had ever traveled to. The Toposa. In Nairobi on our way to Sudan we spent the day with missionaries who had lived 6 years with a similar tribe. They opened their hearts to us and shared all the materials their 6 years of work produced. God supplied all we needed to begin to work with the Toposa of southern Sudan. Did you read about our 5 hours stuck in the mud on the way to Kormachi? Our 1st day we had to turn around. Courageous man of Faith David Kaya was willing to try yet again the following day. The road was such that I had to close my eyes and pray. If you are big on off road driving and mud slides. Sudan will be your cup of tea! Kormachi at last!

After picking up a translator at the school we went immediately to the hut of the chief (his compound of huts). The chief was not there but several women and children, Maria and her close friend were there smoking pipes. Such a hardness on her face. That same expression I had seen before that made me wonder if we would ever be able to bridge the gap. Not all the faces had this hard look. Mostly we found warm welcoming faces.

The afternoon and following trip allowed us the opportunity to visit other compounds but the door did not open again for üs to visit the chief's compound until our final day in Kormachi. We had the awesome opportunity to spend an ünrushed 1 hour with Maria and 5 other women, 2 men and a gaggle of kids. I had an EXCELLENT Toposa translator (huge answered prayer) and was able to tell the stories of God's creation that had been taught to me by the missionaries. FAR from perfect but I soooooo believe God used it for His Glory. I hope you too can take great Joy in this divine opportunity. Most of the adults in that circle prayed a prayer to receive Christ as their Savior. I trust in the Lord with all my heart that He heard those prayers and will continue to draw the people of Kormachi and Kapoeta to Himself with cords of human kindness (Hosea 11:4).

Thank you so much for your prayers. God's Grace has been abundant and overflowing!

God bless you

patricia

Another Sudan Update

Sounds like they wil be leaving for Sudan for Kenya in just a few hours. Received the following update just about an hour ago (4pm Phoenix).

Since it was raining in Sudan, the team had trouble getting through to my phone, but thankfully they were able to reach my friend, Cindy Sherman, when there was a break in the rain.  Thanks to Cindy for the report below. 

Michael Norris reported the following....

Prayer Requests for today:

Major Prayer Request - David Kaya (their leader in Sudan) is now leaving to go home to his family.  His wife, mother-in-law, and 2 of his 4 kids have pneumonia.  He is driving to Kanpala, Uganda and will be traveling with 7 other men (he will be dropping them off in Kajokeij).  The rainy season starts tonight and he will have to cross 58 water crossings to get home.  They expect the journey to take a couple days 

Answered prayers -
They have had no rain until tonight.
They had 6 translators today in Kormachi, which was the exact number they needed!

Prayer request - Moses and Meshach are the new leaders for Kormachi.  Pray for God to lead and direct them as to what their role will be.

The team will begin traveling home tomorrow, but will call from Kenya.

FYI:  Their devotional reading for today is from Acts 20:17-38.

Thanks for keeping these prayer requests and the team in your prayers!

Sudan Update

This is an email that was forwarded to me today.

Status:

They arrived in Kenya Friday morning. with little trouble – and praise God, all the luggage arrived.  They were very excited.

Once in Narobi, they were picked up by Gabriel from ACTS who gave them a ride to a Presbyterian mission where you met up with the rest of their team including Ruth James (HPBC), Patricia Caroon (e3), Ky Azlein  (Oregon), Dan Berryman (e3) and Todd Szalkowski (e3). Their biggest concern was the weight limit, due to the charter flight from Narobi into Sudan, They felt they were way over the weight limit and began resuffling things to get their weight down. They grouped it into necessary luggage and optional luggage.  After arriving at the airport, the airline, African Inland Missions, had five extra passengers for the flight, so they had to take a 32 person plane versus 12 person plane. Unfortunately, they only flew into Loki and then had to transfer to a 12 passenger plane.  They had to wait 2 hours for the other plane, and felt that they would have to leave their optional luggage. But God was faithful, and because the plane had used up enough fuel flying to Loki, the plane’s weight was reduced, and they were able to take all their luggage.  Praise God.

When they flew into Kapoeta Sudan they were supposed to be met by David Kaya, their pastor there.  They arrived in Kapoeta, Sudan late Friday afternoon, but David was no where to be found.  He had to travel quite a distance over very rough roads so there was concern for his safety. In addition, he was supposed to pick them up and take them to their camp.  God again delivered by giving Jonas, the camp manager at Camp Mango, where they were staying a message.  He saw their plane coming in, and felt told by God that he should go pick up the team.  Praise Jesus for his timing!  At 9:30 pm Friday, David and his translators showed up.  They were delayed 4-5 days due to the rough roads. They also had two simultaneous flat tires along the way.  Satan does not what this team to succeed, but God is delivering them through these challenges.

They are all in good health and doing well.  Their translators are amazing.  At one point they had to translate from English to Arabic to Toposa to Dinka in order to communicate with some people.

Here are some praises they shared.

·        They have shared the with 96 people and 39 made professions of faith.

·        They are going to be able to show the Jesus film at the African Inland Church in Kapoeta tonight.

Prayer Requests:

1)      They really need at least 6 more strong Christian translators.

2)      God will continue to lead them to the people that are ready to hear the Gospel.

3)      Specifically pray for Maria in Kormachi, to prepare her heart, because she seems like a key person in Kormachi that can be critical to spreading the Gospel.

4)      Each person on the team is listening to voice of God and obeying.

5)      Pray that the chief in Kormachi will be receptive to them and give them permission to share the Gospel in his village.  They leave tomorrow morning at 7:30am to begin that phase of their mission.

6)      Pray for safe travel on bad roads.

7)      Pray for health and safety for all involved that that Satan will be bound while they do the Lord’s work.

Thanks to everyone involved in praying, sending, and supporting those who hear the call to go to the ends of the earth to share the Lord's message and reach the lost for Christ.

100

On our first day of evangelism we headed down the road to share with anyone and everyone we encountered. After the 1st house, we climbed back up the rocky, muddy cliff and headed back down the dirt road. We probably went 100 yards when we saw a large pile of rocks - large flat pieces all piled up into a rust-colored "seating area." Then we noticed a young man walking toward us. We stopped him and asked if we could share with him. He agreed.  As soon as we started sharing the Gospel, more and more people arrived and wanted to listen. Some sat on the rocks. Others stood. All who listened were convicted by the Holy Spirit and all prayed to receive Christ as their Savior. I shared the discipleship side of the Evangecube. Wrote down names and handed out Gospel tracts. Still others arrived and wanted to listen to the Gospel. A group of school children arrived. They waited patiently while I shared with probably three or four groups of people.

I noticed an older gentleman sitting on the rocks, waiting. He had a walking stick. His clothes were pretty tattered, but not any worse than the rest of the people I saw. I was finally able to walk over and talk to the man. He listened carefully to the Gospel. He prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. He gave us his contact info. He told us he was born in 1907. That man was 100 years old. My translator, Emmanuel, didn't believe him and questioned him about it. The man said that during World War II, he was already married and some of his children were already out of the house. 100. That's old. That's a long time to wait before making the most important, life-changing decision of your life - becoming a follower of Christ, forgiven, set free, reconciled to the Father through the Son, saved and born again. I don't know his story. Maybe he never heard the Gospel before. Maybe he heard it before and rejected it. Maybe he followed a more tribal religion. Maybe while he was young he never thought about eternal things. Maybe he had a mom who was a Christian and he rebelled against "her religion." Maybe he had a good life and didn't need God. Maybe he was a good person and didn't ever feel the need for forgiveness. Maybe God allowed him to live to be 100 so that he could hear the Gospel yet one more time...

New Believers In Sudan

I received this email yesterday from e3 staff in Sudan. Many new believers are being added daily to the kingdom of God. The team referred to at the end of the email is the team that Dan will be a part of from Sept 19-29. Please keep him and the team in your prayers. Thanks!

[begin email]

Adjumani? Wasn’t that a movie? No, I’m thinking of Jumanji, the movie with Robin Williams. Adjumani is the town (village?) where David Kaya has been on an all-Sudanese church planting campaign. I spoke with David this morning and here is what he told me the Lord did.

It’s as if, once again, we walk into the book of Acts. First, allow me to reset the story for you. A man in Adjumani was possessed by a demon, and he caused terrible problems for the villagers by destroying things. The villagers turned to the few believers in the village for help who, in turn, sent a messenger to David’s home church. The church sent a pastor to Adjumani who, through the power of Jesus, delivered the man of his demon(s). Guess what? Just like in the book of Acts, the villagers wanted to follow this Jesus. Hence, these past three days.

When David and his men entered the village and began to go tukel (hut) to tukel, many people made professions of faith in Christ. When they gathered the people together that afternoon many more followed Jesus. Recall, that a family blessed David with a Landcruiser. David learned that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was in the area, and that vehicle draws attention. The LRA is a rebel military group in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. He withdrew from the village that night and slept elsewhere. In the village that same night, the new followers of Jesus worshiped Him and fellowshipped African-style, David’s description. That night the Lord encouraged David to go back to the village the next day.

Go back they did and began to baptize the new believers in the Nile. As darkness fell, they finished baptizing 105 people and were ready to finish the day. Then a wave of villagers came to the river and asked to follow Jesus and be baptized.

[I realize that this sounds so storybook as to be unbelievable, but I’m telling you, this really happened.]

When they finished baptizing them, a second wave appeared asking to follow Jesus and be baptized. Then a third group appeared and were baptized as well.

David was so excited when he shared this story. My favorite thing he said was, “Those demons helped us to open the door.”

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

Thanks for praying and being a part of God’s amazing work.  There is a campaign with U.S. workers leaving tomorrow for another town in Sudan, and David tells me to pray about the rain. It’s rained so much that a dorm at our bible school collapsed and the latrine filled up. Obviously the roads will be terrible.

Back To Normal

Today is a normal day. Both boys went to school. I made breakfast and packed lunches. I'll be doing laundry the rest of the day. I'm thinking of dusting the living room and sorting through the mail. I'll be planning out worship songs for the coming weekend. Grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and Sprouts. Sorting through the mail. Replying to email and phone messages.

Thought I'd share 1 story from Rwanda...although I don't have very many pictures to show yet...Dan forgot his memory card for his camera. So before I left, I gave him the card from my camera so he could take lots of Sudan pics.

I was a Team Lead - Michael was on my team. We each had a ministry partner/translator. We also had a Bishop from Burundi on our team named Independence. He didn't need a translator. We had a group of 9 nationals from the Mother Church in Kibuye join us for daily door-to-door evangelism. On the first day, after training on how to use the Evangecube, we split up into 5 teams and headed out to share the Gospel. Emmanuel was my ministry partner. Jane was Michael's ministry partner. We all went in different directions. I headed down the road, led by two nationals. From the road there was a stunning view of Lake Kivu. I was looking straight ahead, trying to spot some houses to stop at. Suddenly our nationals made a sharp right turn and disappeared off the side of the mountain. Or so I thought. I inched cautiously over to the edge and looked straight down. Realized that there were houses built into the side of the cliffs and all along the path down to the lake. There were narrow, muddy trails weaving back and forth all the way down. Great. Just great. Emmanuel went ahead of me, carrying my water bottle, my backpack, his backpack, and holding my hand the whole way. He was very kind and didn't mind when I stopped to re-group every 10 steps. We reached a house. Went inside. It was a small room. Small table. 1 bench. Very clean. Concrete floor. 2 chairs. There was an older gentleman inside. Probably in his early 70's. Very welcoming. Three more adults showed up and entered the room. They probably saw us (strangers) heading down the trail and were curious about what was going on. Two young boys entered the room. I was able to share the Gospel with the whole group. All of them prayed to receive Christ. I did a short discipleship lesson. Gave them tracts to read and urged them to read the tracts to their families and to pass along the message of Christ to others. One of the young boys turned out to be an orphan. He was 6 years old. This was his grandpa's home. He had come to live here when his parents died. His name was Claude. He followed us around the rest of the week and whenever asked could recite the story of salvation and knew the meaning of all the pictures on the Evangecube. As soon as Dan arrives home (Sept 29), I'll post a picture of Claude. He wore a lime green shirt every day. In the villages, people tend to have only 1 set of clothes. It's pretty easy to remember people day to day because you recognize their clothes. 

 

Finally Home

We made it home...finally. Africa is a really, really long way from home. And it seems to take twice as long to get home. Our luggage did not make it home with us. Which is a much better scenario than not having our luggage make it to Africa with us - which happened to one of our team members. His luggage arrived in Rwanda on the day we were heading back to the USA. I got a knock on my door at 1:45am this morning - 4 suitcases needed to be signed for. I can sleep better now, knowing that our dirty laundry has arrived!

We are grateful for the prayers of friends and family. It was an amazing trip. We all had life-changing moments personally too. That was cool.

Kibuye, Rwanda has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world...it's right on Lake Kivu which is an enormous, blue green body of water. We kept our window open at night and could hear the waves lapping the shore gently. None of the photos I took can truly depict its beauty. Hopefully others on the trip were able to capture the sights and scenery...as soon as those photos are available, I'll start building a new photo album for the trip. For now, I'll just post a few photos and start telling stories tomorrow when I can think coherently!

New Cubes

Guess what we got in the mail last week...

These are pocket-size Evangecubes! Dan ordered 100 of them. So many that they actually came with their own retail display case which we proudly have showcased on the sideboard in the dining room! You can see from the picture that Dan spent some serious time designing his merchandise display.

From left to right you can see the entire story of salvation just by glancing at the display. Jesus on the cross. Soldiers guarding the tomb where Jesus was buried. The miracle of the resurrection. Jesus is the bridge - the way, the truth, the life. Choose God's free gift of salvation. He's waiting to take you by the hand, offer you forgiveness & reconciliation with Him as well as an abundant & eternal life. There's even a basic discipleship lesson on the far right. And of course, you can clip these cubes on your belt right next to your phone and/or pager, you can clamp it on a backpack or purse, and if you're just the simple, no-frills type, you can just carry it in your hand.

These are part of our "arsenal" that we take with us to Rwanda. They are an invaluable evangelism tool. Over the course of the week, we will tell the story of salvation multiple times. And each time we do, it becomes even more ingrained in our hearts and impressed in our minds. It is amazing how God is using this simple tool to make His name known in the most remote places in the world. We are anxiously waiting to board that plane on Wednesday. We are so blessed to be able to share this experience with our sons. They are excited about seeing the place that captured our hearts and for which we are giving up life as we've known it for 21 years in order to be "all in" on this e3 journey.

Rwanda in 5

It's Friday. Normally a busier day than most because of all the weekend prep that goes on. Setting the stage. Designing Easy Worship presentation. Music copied and put on music stands. Worship order finalized and printed. All these tasks are familiar and necessary like dots on i's and crosses on t's. But today, this Friday, I've added a new layer of tasks to be completed. I'm determined to not have a terrible Tuesday the day before we leave. So I'm trying to cross huge chunks of items off my to-do list, starting today. I've got guest musicians scheduled to come in on the Sundays I'm gone so I'm finalizing details with them. I'm burning CDs for the worship team and band. I'm putting together packets of music for both weeks. I'm also building the Easy Worship shows for both weeks. I'm buying batteries and Lay's potato chips (long story). I'm re-confirming availability of band and singers. I'm even putting together a contingency plan in case of catastrophic projector failure. I've got lyric sheets ready to pass out to the congregation and lyrics & music for singers and band. Just in case! 

In just 5 short days, we will board a plane and head to Washington D.C. where we will meet the other members of our North American team of Missionaries to Rwanda. We will then travel to Ethiopia and spend one night before the final leg of our journey which takes us to Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda. After we go through customs, we will be greeted by a welcoming committee of e3 trainers and Rwandan nationals. It's a custom they have of coming to the airport to greet us. Then we'll pile our luggage and supplies and ourselves into 12 passenger Toyota vans which will carry us to the Kibuye region. We will check into a guest house. Get settled. Then get started on the work which we've been called to do.

This is a picture of Kibuye and Lake Kivu. I found it on Joshua and Alyssa's photo blog. Click HERE to go to Joshua and Alyssa's photo blog (BrooksAfrica.blogspot.com). They were in Kibuye in May so you can get an idea of this incredible place where we will be sharing the Gospel. Be sure to check out the ONLINE VIDEO of the entire team ministering in Kibuye. It's very inspiring and hopefully will give you a glimpse of why we are so passionate about Rwanda.

Encounter

OK, something totally cool happened to us on Saturday. We took Michael to work at Chickfila. Decided to swing into Sports Chalet to look for last minute travel items. When we went to start up the car to head toward home, we had a sluggish, "the battery is dying" start. Since my knight-in-shining-armor was with me, disaster was avoided and we were able to head straight over to WalMart to get a new battery. The wait was about an hour. We decided to do some more last minute travel shopping. Travel alarm clocks. Batteries. Vitamins. Etc.

Now, in the past, we had noticed that WalMart had hired some African refugees. We even had spoken to one of them before and he said he was from Sudan. So, today we decided that we should look for someone from Sudan and, if possible, strike up a conversation. We chose Checkstand #15. I just had a feeling that the cashier was from Sudan. There was only one couple ahead of us. They were chatting with the cashier and telling him that they were from South Africa. He mumbled something about Sudan. I was ecstatic. I knew he was from Sudan! When it was our turn, Dan started asking him if he was from Sudan. Dan mentioned that we were traveling to Africa and that he would be in Sudan soon. Well, the cashier not only was from Sudan, he was from the very region, in fact, the very village that Dan will be working in, Kapoeta. We decided that we absolutely had to be-friend him. He has agreed to have dinner with us before we leave so that he can tell us all about Sudan and Kapoeta. We are very excited about this "chance" encounter and I'm sure I'll have much more to post after we have dinner. Pray that we would have a chance to share the Gospel with him and that we would establish a friendship with him and possibly others who've been recently relocated to Phoenix from Africa.

Packing, packing, packing

Today was a packing day. Dan spent 60% of the day packing and re-packing for Africa. He is a very thorough packer. He packs all food items in large ziploc bags. He packs sets of clothes in extra large ziploc bags. We are taking a lot of printed materials - discipleship lessons, tracts, etc. We are taking a lot of Evangecubes. We've got MegaVoices in Kinyarwanda (language in Rwanda). We've got Proclaimers in Kinyarwanda. Since Dan is staying and going on a campaign to Sudan after Rwanda, he is taking packs of tuna and canned fruit and granola bars. We're taking gifts for translators. Gifts for people Dan will be staying with. Toiletries to give to translators. Hand sanitizer. Malaria meds. We've got pens and notebooks. Umbrellas. Mosquito repellent and sunblock. We're taking an extra load of stuff for the team - 6 large jars of peanut butter. 6 large jars of jelly. 5lb jar of honey. 500 sandwich baggies. Dan usually loads a bag as full as possible. Then he stands on the scale with it. He deducts his weight from the total to find the weight of the bag. Packing is a lot of work. But it's also a lot of fun. It's exciting to plan and dream and pray for the trip and for the people we will meet and for the churches that will be planted and for the team members who will receive an immeasurable blessing from the trip and the translators who will be loyal, inseparable friends/ministry partners before the end of the first day.

This is Dan with Jean-Marie, his Ministry Partner in Rwanda in March '07. We are hoping he'll be a part of the September e3 campaign. We've kept in contact via email. I'm excited about seeing him. He was just a part of the August campaign in Rwanda. He is a great translator and a student of the Word and a wonderful co-laborer in God's work!

2 Week Checkup

We leave for Rwanda 2 weeks from today...

I'm already mostly packed.
I know exactly how to pack for Michael & Steven.
Dan packs for himself. That way he can sneak in his stash of candy bars, cans of nuts, fast food condiment packets, etc.

My goal is to be more spiritually prepared this time. We've been asked, as team leads, to be prepared to speak for 20-25 minutes each time we are at a church gathering. That means I'll have to be able to impart spiritual truths to both those we do ministry with and the new converts who gather with us every afternoon and at the church service on Sunday. I am intimidated by this task. I know that God will hold me accountable for the words that I speak. I'm also looking forward to seeing God work in me and through me to make His name known.

I don't want to be like Megaphone Man. When we first moved to Phoenix, we were driving west on Camelback Road toward 16th Street. We were in the left turn lane and had the red light. On the south west corner, I could see a white mini-van with a couple of bored looking teens loitering around it, sitting on the bumper, etc. And I could see a man - youth pastor looking guy - with a megaphone milling about on the street corner. We all rolled down our windows to listen to what he was saying. MM was yelling at every car, every pedestrian, the entire intersection - something about hell, sin, condemnation, burning in hell, repent, repent, be saved, turn from your evil lives...etc...etc. Wow. Now that's real commitment, don't you think??? Actually, I was absolutely mortified that someone could possibly think that yelling into a megaphone could actually produce anything but ridicule, anger, apathy and rolling eyes in the passersby.

My prayer is that God would use me and give me words to speak that glorify Him and encourage & challenge both the believers and the non-believers. No megaphone will be necessary.

2 Calendars and a Video

Download prayer_calendar_rw07c.pdf

Click on the link above to download and print our Rwanda prayer calendar.
We would love to have you partner with us in prayer during our upcoming trip to Rwanda. Dan, Mike, Steve & I will travel to Rwanda on September 5 for an e3 partners church planting campaign.

Dan will then continue on to Sudan for another e3 partners church planting campaign which also happens to be his first training trip. I know that Dan and the entire team would really appreciate your prayers as well. Click on the link below to download and print the Sudan prayer calendar. It's actually a combined calendar - our Rwanda trip back to back with the Sudan trip - since there are 3 people on our Rwanda campaign who will continue on to the Sudan campaign.

Download prayercalendarPatriciaSeptember.doc

And finally, check out this video. It was recorded recently in the area where Dan will be in Sudan.

Deluxe Accommodations

Team Berryman leaves for Rwanda on Sept. 5. We return, minus Dan on Sept. 16. Dan will part ways with us at the end of our trip and head to Sudan for 10 days. The Sudan trip is his first training trip. He has been working with a seasoned e3 church planter for the past month or so, figuring out the forms, logistics, finances, communications, and so much more. He is also working with a church planting coordinator who is in charge of travel and accommodations (among many other things). Now, keep in mind that Sudan has been involved in a Civil War for many years. The area where they will be evangelizing has been mostly bombed out and destroyed. Lots of reminders of death and destruction are everywhere. There are no stores. No hotels. Limited transportation. No roads. But there are people in this area who have never heard the Gospel. Ever. E3 is specifically targeting these groups for evangelism.

This is a picture of the place they will be staying in Sudan. The tent was abandoned by the UN when they pulled out of there. Some of the 12 person team will sleep in the tent. A few of them will sleep in one of the two bldgs. Dan always dreamed of being on "Survivor." Now it looks like his dream is coming true!

More from Sudan

First of all, check out this blog: http://lettersfrompaphos.blogspot.com

Sounds like much prayer is needed in this region. Also evident that God is at work, preparing leaders, raising up His followers to make an impact in Southern Sudan. I am really glad that they are working hand in hand with strategically selected relief organizations to share the Gospel thru acts of compassion/service. Kapoeta is where Dan will be joining an e3 campaign (1st training trip) in September. Anyone interested in being a part of this?????

The following is an excerpt from this blog.

Kapoeta – 238 heard the gospel, 65 made professions of faith 4/4/07

4/17/04

Built for speed reading

Here’s a quarterly report, essentially, on what the Lord has done and is doing with e3 and

Sudan

. First is a list of His work. Second, we have a medical team going to David Kaya’s (Kie-yugh) hometown next week for a clinic/church-planting trip. I’ve attached their prayer calendar as well.

· We have assessed and opened for ministry three main towns in

Eastern Equatoria

: Kapoeta, Chukudum, and Torit. These towns are centers for the Toposa, Didinga, and Latuka tribes. All of which are classified as unreached. Kaya trained over 130 leaders in these towns in church planting and the EvangeCube, and close to 200 people made professions of faith just last month at those trainings.

· We secured a partnership with the International Mission Board’s missionaries in Rumbek, where e3 trained 35 leaders, and led a campaign that resulted in three (possibly 4) new churches.

· We’ve secured a partnership with ALARM ministries in Lietnom to train pastors in church planting and the EvangeCube.

· Started the bible/leadership training school in Kajo Keji with the first 12 students; they are doing great!

· Lead four LDCs near the Sudan/Congo border that resulted in

o 73 leaders trained

o 157 gospel presentations

o 45 professions of faith

· Lead four LDCs in

Juba

(the capital of the south) that resulted in:

o 168 leaders trained

o 157 gospel presentations

o 45 professions of faith

· Lead one LDC in Yei that resulted in:

o 27 leaders trained

o 98 gospel presentations

o 41 professions of faith

The above comes to a total of 433 trained in church-planting and the EvangeCube, and 571 professions of faith in Christ this year.

Upcoming Items that we’d covet your prayer over:

· April 26 – Medical church-planting team leaves for

Sudan

.

· April/May – Working with three donors to purchase a Landcruiser for Kaya

· May 7-8 – Meet with a non-profit partner to nail down details on humanitarian aid projects.

· May 18^th – Meet with another large non-profit that focuses on community development. ($1M+ projects)

· April/May – Meet with a ministry who dug 500 wells around the world in 2006 – hoping to partner with them in

Sudan

.

· May 28-30 – e3 is sponsoring first ever Baptist Conference/Convention in Rumbek.

· May 31 –

US

team departs for church-planting campaign in Torit.

· June 1 – We begin a new session in our bible school in Kajo Keji.

· June/July – Kaya will travel west into a few new towns to assess them for future ministry.

· July – A medical team from

Birmingham

,

AL

will strengthen and encourage the church in Kapoeta.

· Ongoing –

Kapoeta, Sudan

Dan will be going to Kapoeta, Sudan on his first E3 "training" trip. He needs to complete 2 training trips in order to be considered a fully trained E3 staff member. Oh, yeah, he also needs to raise 100% of his financial support. Then it's all official. Right now it looks like he'll be in Sudan from September 19-29. This trip will focus on evangelism, discipleship and church planting in Southern Sudan. Two unreached people groups will be targeted: the Toposa people and the Dadinga people. Northern Sudan is almost totally made of Muslim and they are working to bring Isalm to Southern Sudan.

Dan is very excited about this trip. He'll get a chance to help plan and execute the trip from start to finish. He'll lead a team while he's there and have on-the-job training as a church planter while he's there.

We recently received this letter from an E3 Church Planting Coordinator named Nadine who has just returned from a trip to Sudan. This will help to explain the need for a trip to Sudan, as well as the urgent need to cover this trip and its participants in prayer.

"It was a good trip, but I am left with how do I describe/process Sudan? A country of contrasts. Beauty in the midst of total devastation. Friendly people immersed in severe poverty.  Remnants of war; abandoned tanks dotting the landscape with beautiful mountains as the backdrop,  empty bullet cases laying on the ground, bombed out buildings, and unbelievable worship in a church with a bullet riddled roof.  Naked children next to grass huts happily playing. Children running to us with their little bowls to get rice, only to find out that the packages we brought weren’t rice, they were mosquito nets to save their lives from Malaria. Children joyfully collecting termites to eat, and a 3 day old baby lying on a mat on the dirt ground contentedly with his brother.  Bringing children with measles who would die if we didn’t bring them to a hospital that didn’t have any medicine. (we bought the medicine) Talking about a girl in the village who was just “cut with a knife” to let the poison out because she was sick, only to find out that EVERY one of the nationals from the local church that we were working with had been through the same thing as a child.  Intimidating soldiers giving their life to the Lord and thanking us for coming saying “no one has ever come to talk with them about God before.”  How do I describe a place where the only other vehicles belong to the UN  and yet we felt safe. Or about witnessing to the people about Gods’ love in a village where 28 people were massacred by the LRA last December. I wish you could see the strength and dignity of the Sudanese women or the interest that men had in talking about the things of God.. I think what I want to remember the most is the people of Sudan. So warm and welcoming with beautiful smiles and handshakes for everyone. I want to remember watching the pain in their faces turn to joy as they realized that God hadn’t forgotten about them when they gave their lives to our all powerful Savior. Sure there were “hard things’ about the trip, but all of those things seem insignificant to the privilege of working side by side with the local pastor, (who is appropriately named Victor), knowing that he would be riding his new bicycle, (that we bought him) 3 hours one way to do the follow up for this village. Seeing his dedication that as “soon as the grass grows” he will be building his tukul there and moving his family because “a shepherd has to be with his sheep.”  Sharing the work with the Sudanese Christians is an honor that fades away earthly “conveniences” and brings a realization of shame for ever having thought of them as important. Yes in Sudan there is beauty amongst devastation, but there is also His kingdom shattering the darkness!  Kor Ingles Sudan is a tiny drop on the map of the world, but God’s kingdom broke in there and there are now 256 people in Sudan who turned to the Lord in the midst of their suffering and now have the Hope that only He can give."

An Amazing Letter

This letter is from Kory Lewis, a fellow campaigner who went to Kenya with us. He's in high school and lives in Franklin, TN with his family. He joined the trip at the urging of my father-in-law (long story). I was so encouraged by his words and inspired by the depth of his commitment to Christ and to sharing the Gospel.

Kory is standing on the far right.

Dear Friends,

First, I would like to say how blessed I was to serve with each of you in Nairobi, Kenya. I hope you have fully recovered physically, but I hope you are forever changed spiritually. God was glorified through our work in Kenya. Chris, Julianne, Tina, Lisa, Lucas, Shelley, and Connor: I absolutely loved serving our Lord alongside you guys in Njuno. I love your servant hearts, warm smiles, and encouraging words. Thank you.

As you probably know, I did not fly out of the Nairobi airport with you on June 8th. Instead, I joined up with my Dad and another e3 team to work in Mwanza, Tanzania. Mwanza lies on the shores of Lake Victoria and is a beautiful city. There were large, Granite rock outcroppings scattered throughout the town and outlying areas. The driving was much more laid back in Tanzania, and the economy seemed to be a few decades behind that of Nairobi.

My dad and I worked with another man and his daughter, Steve and Jessica Coffman, in Mayolwa, a small village about 45 minutes outside of Mwanza. The village consisted of about 125 families (about 500 people). A church had been planted in this village back in the year 2000 but had dissolved in 2004 for no apparent reason. It started back up in 2006 but still was not very well established. The church currently meets in a school but has the land and most of the materials to build their own church building because the school is not cooperating very well. The church only had a few regular attenders and had never really reached out to the community, which was spiritually lost.

By the end of the week, we had at least 120 new brothers and sisters in Christ and a well established church. We had about 75 adults and a countless number of kids at the discipleship meeting on the last day. After the discipleship meeting, we played a soccer game next to the school. We bought a soccer ball in town to give to the church on this last day and had invited everyone we came into contact with to come play with us after attending the discipleship meeting. Many of them had never played with a real soccer ball before. We played soccer for about 45 minutes until we Americans had to go. By the time the game ended, there were 200 plus people at the field where we were playing soccer. Just before we left, my dad took the opportunity to speak to them for about 5 minutes. I was astonished to see 13 dollars bring so much joy to an entire village of people and provide such an amazing opportunity to encourage their faith and spread the Gospel.

Over the course of this week, I had the privilege of pointing an 86 year old man to the Lord and leading him in prayer to accept Christ. He had no shirt, only a tattered sport coat, and he said that he could not go to church without a shirt. It really touched me to see the respect he had for the church even though he had never heard the Gospel or even what the church was all about. I was able to give him a shirt the next day and see him raise both hands at the discipleship meeting that day when the pastor asked new believers to raise their hand.

The most exciting story of our week in Tanzania was the transformation of a witch doctor to a Christ follower. Steve and his daughter led a witch doctor to the Lord on the first day. The man said that God had been working on his heart for some time and that now he was ready to make a decision. He prayed to receive Christ with them. My dad and I met with him on the road the third and final day in the village. We started talking to him and discipling him. One of the questions he asked us was: "I have five wives and I know that, Biblically, I should only have one, what do I do?" He also asked, "I am known by all the villages around here as the witch doctor, how do I tell them what I have done?" We talked with him on the road for about an hour and fifteen minutes counseling him helping him see what the Bible says. Just before we left him he said that he was ready to go do the things that we told him to do and that he was ready to go tell everyone he saw about this new life he now has in Christ. He said that some day he wants to be a pastor. We gave him an evangecube and a Bible and encouraged him to share this good news with the world. He came to the discipleship meeting that afternoon and sat on the front row. He had his Bible open and was answering as many questions as he could. Praise the Lord!

God is good. Christianity is not a passive faith. God has called us to serve, to have principle, to build character, and to run toward the roar. So, find your calling and exercise your calling. That way you will have the greatest impact on advancing the Kindom of God and stimulating others to further love and good deeds. Furthermore, you will receive the blessings and heavenly rewards God has for you.

May God bless you for your service. Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)

Steadfast,

Kory Lewis

msgs from dan

Dan is a man of few words. So it only makes sense that he would have a knack for text messaging. His new phone has coverage in Africa but the calls are really expensive. Texting is only about 50 cents per text.

Some recent messages:

"moving day. new room is dirty and dusty. no bathroom in room. still love you."  "Al has arrived. I've a new roomate."  "Conference in burundi, 300+ pastors attended, 1200+ presentations, 300+ conversions in 1hr practice." "had stale crackers & old cheese from my bag for lunch. it was so good." "ouch, that was $100 phone call. but you're worth it." "thank you for the water. did you eat all the tuna." "when is jeff, kelly, and tribe coming to africa with us?"

So, you can tell that Dan is having a fantastic time in Africa, but misses his family and friends. Also, he hid the old hickory farms gift box (at least 2yrs old) instead of throwing it away (my request) and then packed it in his suitcase for a rainy day.

We are counting down the days til he arrives in AZ. Life is not in HD unless Dan is around.

 

Michael's Kenya Photos

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Message from Mike: "I had a fun time there. I was sad that there were millions of people living in the slums. The kids were all really cute. I told my parents that we could adopt one. I liked that people would always smile and wave to us as we drove by. On Monday when we were sharing the Gospel with a woman in the village, she said that she wanted to receive Christ as her Savior. We prayed with her. Later in  the week she came to the victory celebration and gave her testimony. She said that she had been injured when she was younger and her parents took her to a witch doctor. The witch doctor gave her a turban to wear on her head at night. When she wore the turban she would be tormented by demons. The demons would try to molest her and tried to kill her. When she prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior, she felt completely free from the demons. She was really happy and joyful. Someday I hope that I can go back to Africa. I'm really glad that we got to be there as a family. "

Beautiful Feet

Although our feet are aching & covered in mud, they are beautiful in God's sight because they are carrying the Gospel to villages where people are in need of salvation!

Due to our daily schedule, the internet cafe has been closed in the evenings when we return from the field and there is a daily team leader's meeting in the morning right when the cafe opens then we eat breakfast and proceed out to our sites!! So, I apologize for -0- posts this week. Right now, the vans are ready to pull out of the parking lot and I'm upstairs in the cafe, waiting for the internet to come to life. And of course, their "hi-speed connection" is about the speed of dial-up. So, no pictures until we are back home.

All that to say, WE ARE HAVING A FANTASTIC & VERY FRUITFUL time of ministry here in Kenya. The people are beautiful and friendly. In certain areas they are more responsive to the Gospel than in others.

I'm not sure of the final numbers of 1st time professions of faith, but it's in the 100's!! Praise God.

Randy's team was able to speak at 2 schools where over 40 kids prayed to receive Christ after Elizabeth shared the Gospel!

Dan is in Burundi now, meeting with top leaders in the country to discuss evangelizing that nation. Very exciting times.

OK, I've got to run.

More maybe tomorrow - we are heading off to the Masai Tribe for outreach.

Kenya - I Need More Time

Now that we're hours away (about 36) from leaving for Kenya, the panic is starting to set in. I remember this feeling from our last trip. I've got a lot to do to get ready for church on Sunday - rehearsal tomorrow night - charts for the band, worship orders, easy worship schedule, etc. The normal stuff that has to be done by Tuesday night instead of Saturday night!! So, hopefully sometime between 10pm tonight & 10pm tomorrow night, all will come together as it needs to. I know God is in control. And I'm being stretched to the max in all my organizational (or lack of) skills.

We spent the day running errands. Looking for power converters, passport holders, malaria medicine, toiletries, gifts for translators, a new stove, shirts for Steven, Clorox wipes, etc.

So now, the laundry is almost done, the boys are just waiting for clean undershirts & socks to pack. Dan is packed. My stuff is all gathered in a pile, ready to go in the suitcase among all the others stuff we're taking like gifts & Proclaimers & packs of tuna & mixed nuts & zone bars & whatever else we've hunted and gathered today.

I'm looking forward to seeing London during our 12-hour layover on our way to Kenya. And I'm really looking forward to seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. Michael & Steven have no idea how much this will impact their lives forever. I'm praying that God will use them to show others His grace and gift of salvation. And I'm praying that they will be bold to share their faith. And I'm praying for their physical protection. And for their spiritual protection. And for God to renew their faith and make it very real to them. That they would live their lives differently once we get back home. That they would have a personal glimpse of eternity and that it would give them new eyes to see this life we live and help them prioritize their lives with God always, at any cost, at the center.

Kenya 2007 - Let The Packing Begin

I've been informed that there's at least one Kenya Team member who is 99% packed. WOW! That's amazing. We have been talking about packing for a long time. We've dragged all our suitcases into the living room. And we stare at them. And we discuss various packing configurations. And then we turn off the light and walk away. But today, Sunday, May 27, 2007, is Packing Day. We will be up 'til midnight most likely. Packing, and re-packing, and packing some more. But the deed will be done. We might have to make a couple of late-night WalMart runs tonight - it's a family tradition after all.

Dan is staying for nearly 1 month. He has some unique packing challenges. Not sure if he'll be able to wash clothes at any time. I don't remember seeing any laundromats while I was there. The hotel might possibly have laundry service. But I've heard that can be pretty iffy. So, we'll see what he ends up with in his suitases. 

Michael has been working on his 10-day devotional guide. He is very diligent to complete it before going to bed each night. I'm proud of him for being so conscientious. He told me he has a short sermon ready to go, too. It's on John 3:16. I think he'll do great!

Today at the close of the church service, Randy asked the entire Kenya Team to come to the front of the church. All 22 of us stood shoulder to shoulder. Then he asked the entire church to come forward and lay hands on us and pray over us. It was a wonderful time of prayer and commissioning. When Steve Russell prayed, he lifted up his wife & 2 daughters and gave them to God to be used by Him. That's when a lot of people started sniffling and I felt my eyes well up with tears. It was a great moment. I feel such peace about this trip. I can't even begin to imagine what God will do in us and through us during our Epic journey. I know that Fellowship North, as tiny as we are, has some pretty amazing, faithful servants who are giving freely of their time, talent, resources, & prayer in order to see the kindgdom of God advance and multiply.

I will be posting to this blogsite as often as possible while we're in Kenya. So, check back often. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload photos...I think that's a challenge in other countries, so no promises on that one.

I've added a new photo album - photos of our Epic Team from Fellowship North. I've also added a new Typelist - title is Kenya. Check out the documents posted here. In particular, download the prayer calendar and pray with & for us daily...we'd really appreciate it!!

Update from Joshua & Alyssa

Got a text message from Joshua & Alyssa at 9:19pm tonight: "We're in Nairobi (airport) waiting on our plane for Kigali (Rwanda). We're hot, tired, but in good spirits...Pray for us and enlist everyone else you can, too. We luv U." I know they would greatly appreciate any and all prayers offered up on their behalf. They are so excited about their back-to-back trips. I know that God will work mightily both in them and through them and all the others on these trips!!

The following is a devotional that Joshua posted on the Epic forum - I've also included my response...

Matthew 15:11 - "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Psalm 15:1-3 - LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman.

I'll keep this one simple, because the closer I get the proclaiming the Word the more I feel like a child with only simple things to say... The more I realize that I'm ill equipped to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that’s okay because salvation belongs to the Lord. Not one of us will save a soul or fail to do so... It is the Holy Spirit who saves souls. God does not need our help, we go only because He said go. We go to be obedient... And take courage and remember - The battle is already won.

Here is my simple devotional for the scripture above: Let every word be pleasing to the Lord... Let every movement be an offering pleasing to the Lord... Let every look be given to God... Let every breath be worship.... Let your life be the Gospel.... And when you fail to do this, confess and remember that He made you blameless... Preach the Gospel, Preach the Gospel, Preach the Gospel - if necessary, use words (St. Francis of Assisi).

MY RESPONSE Joshua, I love this devotional. It is so simple -- the life we are called to live is not meant to be as complicated as we allow it to become. If we live and move and breathe in the Spirit, then we will live lives that are an offering to God and which please Him immensely. If we look to God continuously, we see His holiness and perfection and we are reminded over and over again of our powerlessness to save souls...this actually takes such a huge burden off of me. Christ died. The price was paid. The gift is free and is offered to all. Those who receive this gift receive Christ not me. Those who reject this gift reject Christ not me. So simple. I pray that we would, as much as possible, be blameless in His sight, so that we can walk in His ways and that our offering of obedience would be pleasing to Him.

Back Where All The Insanity Began...

Tomorrow, Joshua & Alyssa leave for 2 back-to-back missions trips in Africa. First trip is to Rwanda. Back where all the insanity began 1 year ago. They will be in a different part of Rwanda - Kibuye is the name of the city. We've spied on it using Google Earth and it looks really beautiful. They will be part of a team of 27 North Americans. Joshua's cousin & his wife (from St. Louis) will also be on the trip. They have kept in contact with many Rwandans from their previous trip and are excited about reconnecting with them on this trip. At the end of their trip, they will board a plane and join the Fellowship North group in Nairobi, Kenya. It is going to be an amazing couple of weeks for them.

They finished packing over the weekend - - they are my inspiration to not pack all night the night before we leave - - and are trying to prepare themselves spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally for the task ahead. Pray that God gives them physical strength - 20 days is a long time in Africa. Pray that God gives them emotional & mental strength as they will interact with A LOT of people, including 2 different North American teams. Also, Joshua is a Team Leader on both of the trips. Pray most of all that God will continue to pour out his Spirit of conviction, healing, blessing, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and understanding over Africa and in particular the areas where they will be ministering for the next few weeks. Pray that people would have ears that really hear and minds that really understand and hearts that are really broken and in realization of their need for a Savior.

Team Berryman is Wired!

Check out this new magazine cover - we are wired and ready for our trip!! If you'd like to create your own magazine cover, click here! Steven's passport arrived on Saturday. Now all we need to do is get yellow fever shots for the boys. Such fun. I think I'll have Dan take them in. Last time Michael had a shot, now that was a terrible day. I wouldn't be surprised if the doctor retired after that day. I'm pretty sure his entire staff needed counseling. Our FNC Kenya team met on Sunday after church. We will meet weekly until we leave. We practiced sharing the Gospel using an evangecube. We had documents notarized by Debbie Lawson (thanks Debbie!). We prayed together. The trip is fast becoming a reality and it is really exciting to see so many teens "wired" and ready to go!

Kenya Prep

We are getting ready for Kenya 07!

Yesterday afternoon we met with Amber from e3 partners. She lives in Wyoming with her husband Joe and is a Church Planting Coordinator. That means she is a detail-person - exactly what we needed!! Amber works with Church Planters in planning a minimum of 4 trips per year. She also goes on these 4 trips. Her primary areas of ministry so far have been Africa, Costa Rica and Bolivia. Amber is part of the Epic team. David Kaufmann who heads up Epic at e3 is the Church Planter we'll be working with on this trip. Epic is targeted at getting students involved in short term missions trips with e3.

Our entire team from Fellowship North Church came together to start the "countdown" process for our trip. What to bring, what to wear, what not to wear, how to prepare ourselves spiritually and mentally. Vision, mission, overview of the trip. Training on sharing the Gospel. Amber is a rock star when it comes to all this stuff. This was exactly what our team needed at this time. Our fund-raising process is well underway and we're nearly 2/3 funded overall.

Kenya has a population of nearly 34 million people. A little more than 50% of these people are age 15 or younger. Life expectancy is 54 years old.

We've got a lot of cool things planned. Our primary focus will be to work in teams, going hut to hut sharing the Gospel with anyone and everyone who will listen. We will then provide discipleship opportunities for these new believers. We will have evening fellowship meetings at our new church sites. We will be planting 5 new churches in villages on the outskirts of Nairobi. Pastors and leaders have already been trained for these new churches and they are really excited about having us come to help them plant the churches and direct new believers towards them! One day we will have a youth event complete with hired Worship Band. This should be great! We're trying to reach youth unbelievers as well as mobilize youth believers. We'll be working with Pastor Joe Michael whom we met in Dallas at an e3 partners event. Click here to see a short video clip of Pastor Joe Michael! You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of the page then press play. We will be doing outreach 1 day among the Maasai Tribe.   

At the end of our trip, Dan will be staying over a few extra days in order to meet with key leaders in Burundi which is a small country south of Rwanda. This is very exciting because Burundi is open to having the Gospel proclaimed throughout the entire country. So these meetings are initial strategy meetings. A lot will be accomplished and hopefully an e3 presence will soon be established there.

Crazy People

I'm starting to realize that we might be crazy. A special kind of crazy. I remember hearing Erwin McManus speak at a leadership conference and he talked about how missionaries need to be crazy in order to spend their entire life passionately devoted to the cause. I believe this message eventually became his book "The Barbarian Way." He definitely has a point. Lately Dan has been telling people about his new passion in life and how he's leaving his job and evangelizing Africa. He tends to get this look of shock, then disbelief (because, after all, he is a great jokester), then amazement, then the bullying starts or the dismissal and uncomfortable subject change. Very few people have truly understood what it is God is calling him to do. I have to admit that at first I couldn't fully understand. I wanted to understand. I understood intellectually, but I couldn't feel it. I could see the look in his eyes and the fire in his belly was undeniable, but I didn't have the same conviction. But God knew I needed to experience Africa for myself. And I needed to hear Him say 'go.' Not because Dan is going or because of any other reason except that God said 'go.'

We know another couple, actually are related to them. They are also crazy. They are the ones who started all this missionary business within the family. Ray & Mary Berryman. They are constantly travelling the globe, taking every single opportunity possible to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen. And people definitely are listening. They've had the chance to meet heads of state in lots of countries. They've dined with multi-millionaires and with paupers. They've eaten things that shouldn't even be spoken of. They've slept at the Ritz and they've slept under the stars in Africa. They don't do this for themselves. They do it because God also said 'go.' And because of their example and encouragement and prayers, we are headed down a similar path.

Here's an excerpt from their prayer letter for their trip to Spain this coming weekend. Whether you're a prayer warrior or not, I know they would appreciate as much prayer as possible for this outreach.

Mary and I will be traveling to Barcelona, Spain this Thursday, April 12, 2007 to conduct a leadership outreach mission there. We will be working with the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ to reach and disciple top leaders there in Spain. A number of executive outreach meetings and interviews with key leaders have been scheduled, and we will be sharing with them how they can achieve true success in their businesses and in their lives through having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and applying integrity in all they do.    In this once religious Catholic nation, most of the population is now secular and have little interest in hearing about Christianity. However, people are desperately searching for meaning in life at this time as they see unrest and Islam knocking at their door. This sets the stage to have people become more open to seek solutions to their current state of affairs, resulting in a more friendly reception of biblical truths.   This is our first outreach to the leadership in Spain and we are hoping that the hearts of the people will be open to the truths that can transform their nation...As a follow up to these meetings, the new believers and seekers will be connected with existing Christian leaders there to help provide fellowship and discipleship of those that are interested in learning more...

Rwanda - Part 14

Time to do the final wrap...Saturday we shopped. Bought some beautiful fabric to make pillows. Ask me in 1 year if they're made yet. Fancy dinner at a beautiful lodge near the gorilla volcano. Jack Hanna has a home on the golf course. Rumor has it that heads of state and celebrities have all stayed at his place.

Early morning on Sunday we began our long trek back home. At this point, memories were fading fast and it's like time was standing still yet moving forward more rapidly than we could fathom. Weird. We spent some time at the Genocide Museum. Sobering. And Sad. And Maddening. Why didn't the world help these people. Where was I when 1 million innocent people were slaughtered with machetes in cold blood?

Then off to the Kigali Airport. Waiting. Boarded a plane to Nairobi, Kenya. 6-hour layover in Kenya. Not a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The airport had a power outage that lasted for a couple of hours while we were there. We shopped. We ate. We walked. We were too tired to talk. I sent an email to Joshua & Alyssa from an internet cafe. We watched an ER re-run and another show full of violence. Not so nice. Then we finally left at about 11pm. Flew all night to London. Large group of Africans on the plane in the rows in front of us. I thought they were on an organized tourist trip to America. One person appeared to be in charge and kept reassuring them and making sure they were all seated properly. Turns out they were refugees from the Congo all seeking asylum in the U.S.A. They were headed to New York. Parted ways with our group in London. Dan and I ate breakfast at TGI Fridays. A proper English breakfast (I assume) complete with baked beans, sausage, bacon, egg, toast. $4 for an 8 oz bottle of water. On our way to our gate, stopped in at Starbucks for a white chocolate mocha and a frappuccino. Boarded our plane for Washington D.C. Back row. Right next to the only bathroom on the plane. Really long flight. Boring in-flight movie. Went thru customs when we landed. Then we waited for our flight to Phoenix. Made a couple of cell phone calls (finally!) Tried (unsuccessfully) to change our seats (very last row, both middle seats). And then we met Eric. I noticed two Africans sitting in the seats across from us. A young woman and man. I wasn't totally sure if they were together or not. Trying to be friendly, I asked the woman what language her Bible was printed in. I was pretty sure it was a Bible - gold edging on the pages, she had a tiny cross on a chain around her neck. The woman appeared to not understand me at all. Then the young man next to her tried to answer my question. It turns out that he had met her in Ethiopia a few hours earlier when she needed assistance understanding where and when to board the plane headed for Phoenix. Since he was headed for Phoenix, he was appointed to be her unofficial "guardian." I asked him where he was from. I was elated to learn he was from Rwanda. His name was Eric. We managed to exchange contact information before we boarded the plane. We saw each other at the baggage claim carousel in Phoenix. Told him we would call and have him over for dinner.

OK, so tonight, we had Eric over for dinner. I am so happy that God put Eric in our path. I look forward to getting to know him. I'm hoping that I'll pick up some helpful phrases in Kinyarwandan. I hope that we can be a blessing to him as he gets acclimated to life in Phoenix. He is here on a student visa, studying mechanical engineering at ASU. Dan showed him the wonders of our computer, including Google Earth and digital photos. We actually pinpointed his home in Rwanda. Amazing. I hope to post a photo of him in a future post. Forgot to take the photo. For sure next time. Eric speaks Kinyarwandan, French and English and Swahili. He lost many family members in the genocide, including a younger brother. Life is not fair.

So, the journey is told and will probably be re-told many times. And Rwanda will be a part of us forever. I feel like our lives are permanently entwined with this beautiful part of Africa. There are so many more people who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. So many dreams were birthed in this place. We will follow the calling with all our hearts and hopefully mobilize many others to do the same. For Him. Because of Him. It's all about Him.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Rwanda - Part 13

The Unity Goat Project. Designed to provide assistance to the poorest/neediest families in the local church. Each Church Plant pastor decides which families could benefit immediately from a goat. Then goats are distributed accordingly. Each of those families agrees that they will return the offspring of the goat to the church for distribution to another needy family. Etc. Etc. Etc. This could and should go on for a very long time. The cost of each impregnated goat is $25-$30. Each goat typically has twins or triplets. It gets a little complicated. But they have a good system. There is a three-fold value in each goat. First of all, it produces milk which the people can drink. Second, it produces manure which they use for fertilizer. Great idea. Third, they can eventually slaughter it and eat it. I suppose if times were really tough, they could also sell it for cash. I wonder how much a used goat sells for??!!

This trip changed the course of my life. I know that sounds pretty dramatic. But really, our lives will never be the same. On the Tuesday that Dan went back to work, he turned in his resignation letter. That was a pretty big deal. He signed up for a course called Body Builders which is designed to teach you the Biblical way to approach support-raising. I'm attending the course with him. It's in Jacksonville, FL. He has been assigned two mentors through e3...one will mentor him with fundraising, another with becoming a Church Planter. We are both very excited about the process he is embarking on.

And now, moving on to Burundi. Burundi is a small country in Africa directly south of Rwanda. This is a country that is very open to having e3 partners come in and evangelize the entire country. The president is a fully devoted follower of Christ. So, there is a possibility that Dan would become involved in church planting there. I am also praying about becoming involved in e3 partners as a Church Planting Coordinator. This is something that I am actually almost wrestling with. I know that I love being involved in ministry. Up to this point, it's been in music/worship in local churches. I'm wondering what in the world God is up to. Being a missionary wouldn't be so far removed from working in a church. We'd actually work with churches and mobilize groups of people from churches to go on trips. I'm watching and waiting to see God start to orchestrate the details and provide us little glimpses of what the future might hold. Maybe I need to have more blind faith than that. Maybe as I move forward, the road will be invisible. Am I ready for that kind of faith?

Rwanda - Part 12

Friday afternoon we had a celebration service at the New Church Site. It was so much fun. Tons of singing and praising. A challenge from Dan. Final sermon from me! We also received some gifts...the mother church, the new church, each of the pastors & their wives, beautiful tokens of their appreciation. I especially was touched by the carved wooden picture of a shepherd with sheep gathered around him - that was in direct reference to the message I gave one day. Then John Peter (a super cool guy from the mother church who worked with us all week) said he had a gift for us. So we stood up to receive a Rwandan flag on a little stand. Very nice. Then finally, a woman who prayed to receive Christ on Sunday at the mother church, said she had a gift for us. She was standing there holding her young baby in her arms - so we stood up to receive whatever gift she had to give us - I assumed she had something in her hand just underneath the baby - to my amazement and shock, when I reached for her hand, she handed me her baby. I had no idea what to say or do. Then she hugged me and her picture taken with me. Then she took the baby and handed it to Dan and hugged him and had her picture taken with him. Then she took the baby back and sat down. You know, that could have been very awkward. I guess she wanted to give us something of value and maybe her child is the most valuable item she has. Not quite sure what she was thinking but I'd like to think of it as a sweet gesture. Then it was all over. We got in the van for the ride back to the Guest House. The kids, as usual, followed the van, running & racing as far as they could. We saw so many people lining the road that we recognized. I saw Jacqueline, the young woman who asked me to be her spiritual mother. I saw the teenage girl who was an orphan who had many promises broken to her in her young life, yet through Christ she now had new hope and renewed sense of purpose and was determined to share the message of Christ with as many children as she could. There was the man dressed in white who was in charge of disbursing water to villagers at his little water station...now he had received the gift of living water and would no longer thirst. There was the young man dressed in his work clothes - he's a guide at the Gorilla excursion - now he's a follower of Christ and so hungry to learn more about the Bible. He completed all of the discipleship lessons and wanted more. We saw groups of teens and pre-teens and young adults, all with a new-found faith -- this faith and the boldness to now share Christ will hopefully change the course of this entire village for eternity's sake.

We had Pastor Japhet and Pastor John D'Amour in the van with us. We were all pretty quiet on the ride back. So much had transpired. So many miracles. We started the week with a big, green, grassy field. We ended the week with a church - not a building but a living, breathing organism. People who were lost but now were found. People who were blind but now could see. Amazing.

Back at the guest house, we hung out in the gazebo next to our room. Finished up some paperwork. Then went to the celebration wrap-up for the campaign. All the teams along with the pastors and the YWAM kids were there to praise God for His mighty work that week. Each team also was able to present a lot of discipleship materials to the pastors, along with a Proclaimer (suitable for large gatherings) and a smaller, similar device, can't remember its name, (suitable for small gatherings) that had "The Story of God" on it. We also gave them all the contact information we had gathered over the week for all the people who had prayed to receive Christ. Then Robert Mutijima announced that we were also able to give 5-6 impregnated goats to each site as part of the Unity Goat Project.

More on that later.

Rwanda - Part 11

I feel like I'm finally winding down. Maybe. Friday was a wonderful day. It was a full circle day for me. Definitely. We started up the road today. Headed to a part of the banana grove I hadn't seen yet. God kept sending us groups of people to share with. A group of women. A group of men. A new group of kids. A group of field workers heading to work. A woman at her home who invited 2 passersby to join us. A group of women in the middle of the field they were planting. A group of men who were just passing by. Another group of women heading to work. And of course more and more kids. Today was particularly meaningful because of where we were for most of the early afternoon. From about 11am - 1:30pm we were in the middle of several large fields that were being plowed and planted. The first two women we shared with were in the middle of a field. So we joined them there. One woman was completely stooped over. Even when she stood up to greet us she was still bent over at the waist. She was probably in her early 70s. We asked if we could share the story of God using some pictures. They said yes. As I began to share the Evangecube, another woman joined the group. To my amazement, it was the 1st woman I led to Christ on Day 1. She was smiling and encouraging the women to listen to the message. She stayed to listen and was so happy when both of her co-workers prayed to receive Christ. Jane sat down in a pile of dirt to write down their names. I moved to the road. I noticed that John D'Amour was sharing with a group of people. They all prayed to receive Christ. By then another group had gathered around me. Jane and I shared the Cube. They all prayed to receive Christ. Three older men walked by. They stopped to hear the message. They were unbelievably happy to hear it. When I showed them the picture of God's hand reaching down from heaven, they all reached out and shook our hands. They were completely into the message. They all three prayed to receive Christ. And on and on. Finally John D'Amour said it was time to head back to the Church Plant site. I couldn't believe how quickly time had passed. I felt like I had shared the message 'til I was practically hoarse. Yet I wasn't hungry or thirsty and had no sense of what time it might be. I had a surreal moment when I realized that we were living out, in real time, the passage in John 4:34-38. 34" My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." Thank God for the "sowers" who went before me, planting seeds that they maybe thought would never be reaped. I'm talking about missionaries and pastors and evangelists and passionate people who came to this area before me, maybe even martyrs who gave up everything for the cause and now I was having the privilege of reaping the harvest. Unbelievable. It made me realize that every single "no" we had experienced was just another seed that would hopefully be reaped by someone else someday, in God's timing.

We headed back to the church for our celebration service. And it was quite a celebration! Come back tomorrow for the conclusion!!

Rwanda - Part 10

Backtrack to Thursday. Thursday morning we headed down the road instead of up the road. This is the first day that I went into someone's home. We were in a little housing compound - lots of houses fairly close together separated by some common courtyard areas. We crowded into a small, dark "front room." The floor was dirt with rocks everywhere...just like the ground outside. Three women came in to hear the gospel -- all three of them were nursing their babies. As I went through the Evangecube, I started to smell a different kind of smell behind me. I took a quick peek and noticed a large straw nest with several chickens roosting in it. That was different. All three women prayed to receive Christ. That was awesome. Then we moved on. I shared the gospel with an 85 yr old woman who was missing both legs. She had an old, rusting pair of crutches on the mat next to her. She agreed to pray with me for salvation. But then she sort of chickened out and said she couldn't understand my translator's Kinyaranda pronounciation. First time all week we had that excuse. But then her hearing miraculously improved and she again agreed to pray out loud - this time she really did it. Our Church Plant pastor, John D'Amour said that he wanted to use some of the compassion money we gave his church to help this woman.

Early in the afternoon there was a real downpour. It rained for quite a while. We had to take shelter on the porch of the courthouse. Of course, the kids thought this was great fun. We decided to go through the discipleship lessons with everyone who was there. We had probably 20 people going through the various lessons we had. Very cool. Jane kept the kids occupied with the gospel glove. I sort of wished that the kids would have stood in the rain just to rinse them off a little bit. But they either stood with us on the porch or found a banana leaf to cover their head, or a scarf around their waist to drape over their head. Oh well. A lost opportunity to wash off some of the accumulated dirt and dust and grime.

When it finally stopped raining, we gathered for our afternoon meeting. The sermon was from Ephesians 6. Putting on the full armor of God. The kids especially liked this one. But the adults really got it too. I have to thank my good friend Pam for the inspiration to expound on this particular passage. When we left the church site that afternoon, my heart sort of sank to the ground. Only one more day in this beautiful place with these beautiful people. I was overwhelmed with sadness. I don't know if I'll ever see that place again. I hope that I can. But life goes on. The church will hopefully grow deep roots and be able to plant another church someday. They hopefully caught the vision for what could be. They hopefully understand the eternal significance of their decision to follow Christ. They hopefully caught the vision for continuing to share Christ with the people in their village. It's up to God to draw them close to Himself. It's up to God to give them the desire to grow in His knowledge. It's up to God to reveal to them their spiritual gifts with which to serve the body of Christ. It's up to God to convict them and guide their steps. I pray His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Rwanda - Part 9

I need to backtrack to Wednesday. On Wednesday morning our village (Musanze) had "court day." This is when the perpetrators and victims of the genocide get their "day in court." Interesting. When your name appears on the court docket that's your chance to make sure that justice is served. If the person accused of murdering/harming your family sincerely apologizes to you and is repentant, then the person will be forgiven. If the person accused of murdering/harming your family refuses to apologizes and is unrepentant, then the person will go to prison. WOW! Talk about a great metaphor for the kind of forgiveness Christ offers and those who choose to accept it or reject it. We weren't allowed to be in the village until 2pm. In fact, no one is really allowed to be out and about until court is over. So for this morning we were assigned to go to another Mission Point whose village wasn't having "court day." Then in the afternoon we returned to Musanze.

We were with Ana and her team in a village that seemed to be about 30 min. away from our village in the exact opposite direction. The new church site was actually right off of a paved road. There seemed to be a lot more "city" influence in this area. Lots of bicycles, motorcycles, even a couple of cars occasionally. And in my opinion, the spiritual climate was totally different from our village. Jane and I went out with two nationals from the village. Both women were very sweet but extremely shy. One woman had a 3 week old baby strapped to her back. We stopped at a couple of homes and were able to disciple and pray with some women who had prayed to receive Christ earlier in the week. Then we ventured further into the banana plantation and shared with a married couple who were squeezing banana juice into a giant wooden trough. Probably making banana beer. They both prayed to receive Christ. Let me tell you - flies love bananas and banana juice - I struggled with all the flies just a little bit. Then we shared with a woman who prayed to receive Christ earlier in the week yet refused to tell them her name. She also refused to tell me her name. Then we shared with a devout Catholic who I believe knew Christ as her Savior. She had a very sweet, peaceful assurance. Then we reached a huge dry river bed. Went down a steep, sandy embankment, slipping and sliding all the way. Then crossed a bridge made of straw, twigs, and rotting plywood - I almost sat down and refused to go across. Then up the embankment on the other side. We were in yet another part of the banana grove. Came to an old woman sitting on a little grassy knoll outside her house. Shared the gospel with her. She prayed to receive Christ. While I was sharing with her, a young man, maybe in his early 20s came up and listened intently. He also prayed to receive Christ. I went through the last part of the cube with both of them - this is a simple discipleship lesson. I was struck by the thought that I was in the middle of the jungle in a village no one has ever heard of and most people will never see and I will never see these people again. Maybe in heaven we will recognize each other. As we were leaving, the young man started talking to me in limited English. He said he wanted to move to America someday because he had heard life was easy there. Whoa! Back up the bus - time for a little more conversation. I told him that life in America isn't easy. Not by any means. It's a lot more comfortable, but we pay a high price for that comfort. And then we moved on but I kept thinking about life in America and how easy it isn't. Our lives are so complicated. Relationships are mixed up and messed up. We have so many choices. And so many "needs." Life in any village or city is not easy. God promised us that it wouldn't be. Even life with Christ is not easy. But His grace is sufficient for us. He is our Sustainer. He is our Comforter. His mercies are new every morning. Think about the significance of that. He is our Provider. He is our Shelter. We are His children. We can come to Him any time. He offers to carry our burdens for us. We can rest in the shadow of His wings. He lifts us up on wings like eagles. He is listening, watching, waiting, willing, and able. He is everything we need to live this life we've been called to live. We are more than conquerors through Him. Hallelujah! Amen!