Ten Talents International Blog

As we are here in the dry season it appears that water does not run very frequently- at least not frequently enough for a home of six people (4 of them being Americans who are used to having easy access to water)! We ran out of water again on Sunday morning ("ugh!" was my reaction). I have been hoping & praying & waiting, thinking that the water would run again to our water tank on Tuesday night, like it did last week. But there again I was using a "western" mindset- that things should run on a regular schedule. Someone from the water/electric company stopped by our place on Monday and said they would make sure we had water on Monday night or Tuesday, but here we are on Wednesday morning and no water. Living without running water is very challenging for me, and certainly extra work. Again, we do not have it as hard as much of the population here. We took our jerri cans yesterday to the public pump and filled them with water for our household use. But we did not have to hand carry them back to our place (or carry them on our head!) as most people have to, since we have a vehicle. Mike even got into the experience by working the pump to fill some of the cans (I will try to post a picture here). Is God trying to make it easier for me to be ready to go back to the US? ("I want a shower! Washing my hair in a pot of warm water is not a treat!") :) I don't know- but I would certainly appreciate your prayers for our water tank to be filled soon!

We got a CD with illustrations of how the architect sees the development of our property looking once all the buildings are in place. We can't wait to show you these at our banquet. Please save the date on your calendar for that night (September 27th at the Hilton in Vancouver, Washington). We will have our Rwanda national director, Simon Peter Ngoga, with us to share his story of being a genocide survivor, a former street child, and now his passion for helping the children who are still on the streets in Rwanda.

We have found an office space to rent that is not far from our property. This will enable us to set up the neccessary office equipment (computer, printer, etc.) that Ngoga will need to use here, as well as enable our family to not have to haul back and forth between the US & Rwanda things that we need while we stay here.

Please continue to pray for the progress of Ten Talents International here in Rwanda. We have not been able to do the needed paperwork to get registered here because we are waiting on God's provision for the required funds (a lawyer has to be paid to draw up the papers). We are also waiting on the Lord for the funds to begin phase 1 of building on the Acres of Hope, including putting in a well there. What a blessing it will be for the people of the community to have easier access to fresh water. Last year at our banquet our theme was from Isaiah 49:10, "They will neither hunger nor thrist, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water." We believe this promise of God's protection and provision for the Acres of Hope as well as for us personally!

Thank you to so many of you who are believing with us, keeping us in your prayers, and sharing our heart's calling with us. We are indebted to you!
God Bless You,
Lisa & family

Just yesterday morning I woke up & realized it was the 14th- which meant that we are almost half way through the month- which means that we only have a little over two weeks left here. How did that make me feel? Panicked! ;) We still have so much we want to get done in what is now very little time! Mike is working this week on the ANLM Dream Center Chapel- he is helping them get the stairs done. He did have his meeting with the lawyer about establishing TTI as an NGO here. Of course the NGO process requires money to pay the lawyer for his time, so nothing has been set in motion for that quite yet.

On Saturday we were back over to visit the Acres of Hope. We had two more boys from the Faith Home come to visit us, Michael and Jean Claude. We took them to see the property. They are all amazed at how big it is. We talked to some of the neighbors who had gathered around us there. We told them about our plans for putting in a well there that will provide water for the community, so they don't have to make the long walk like they do now. We asked them to pray for us to find water there. We asked one of them, a grandma at least, if she had a church to go to, but she said the closest one is too far away to walk. When we talked about maybe having a church there, Michael, Jean Claude, and Christine (also from the Faith Home) all got excited. Jean Claude said he would preach the word, Michael would play the keyboard, and Christine said she would lead worship. I get excited too when I think about some of our kids, former street children, working with us in ministry someday. It would not surprise me in the least, in fact I can see it in my mind's eye. We prayed there with them. We did not have Simon Ngoga with us during this time, so Michael (from the Faith Home) was interpreting for us with the neighbors. He did a great job!

We had a very Africa experience this last week- we ran out of water on Sunday morning. (You see everyone here has a large water tank & although we are connected to city water, that water only runs at certain times & fills your tank then, and you live off that reserve tank of water.)Thank God this house collects rain water (though it may be dirty & in an underground tank), and thank God for a portable water purifier Mike has so we were able to have enough clean water to drink, cook, wash dishes. But still, not having easy access to water was a definite hardship- especially with 6 people in the house. As I carefully measured out & used water, or had to choose not to use water for certain things (washing clothes for instance), I had to think about the many people you see everyday here who are carrying jerry cans of water back to their homes, and that is the only water they have. They will boil it if they have enough for drinking and cooking, but many times they do not. I am constantly amazed at how hard the people here work. Carrying heavy loads (on their head most of the time it seems), walking long distances (in flip flops usually). It has been said to me several times that life is hard here, and hopefully you can understand some of what I am talking about. We (our family) has things easy compared to so many (a vehicle to take us places, running water, a water purifier). Let me also say I was praising God when the city water started running on Tuesday night & our water tank began to refill!

Thank you for praying for us and for the country of Rwanda. Now is the time for Rwanda. Now is the time for a move of God on a people who are ready to receive. Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest field. And pray for the provision for the work God would have us do. We will be faithful to do it.

Together with you in Christ,
Lisa, Mike, KaLia, Nate (and Michael & Christine)

As we have entered our last month here- it is hard to believe. There are still many things we would like to accomplish in these last few weeks. We continue to pray for God to provide for the Home of Innocence on the Acres of Hope and would like nothing better than to be able to begin construction before we leave on August 1st. On Wednesday Mike & Simon (Ngoga) will meet with a lawyer who should be able to help with the paperwork required to get Ten Talents International registered as a foreign NGO (charity) here. He already met with one lawyer, but the person wanted an unreasonable amount, so this second lawyer has been recommended to us from the church. Yesterday Mike & Simon went to visit a site where a ministry called Living Water is digging a well. Hopefully we will soon be able to post pictures of this type of project for you to see. We will want a well on the Acres of Hope. One of the stipulations (besides the cost for digging the well) is that once the well is dug, water must be freely available to the surrounding community. This suits us just fine, as we want to provide water. (Currently, the man who lives on the property and is watering our trees for us has to walk down a steep hill & back up again, a distance of about two miles, to haul water, as do many others who live in the ares surrounding the property.) Perhaps God will put it on someone's heart to finance the cost of the well.

Last Thursday we picked up two boys from the Faith Home (Sprian & Peter) as well as Christine (formerly in the Faith Home, now in secondary school). The boys had a long weekend because of Friday being a holiday, and Christine's school is out for the rest of July. We enjoyed having our sweet kids with us last weekend (a treat for Nate and KaLia as well). We took them to see the ANLM Esther Home (named after one of the girls from the Faith Home, a home for young women in university), the ANLM Dream Center property (where the feeding program for street children is held now- Peter came to the second feeding program ever held and was brought off the streets that day, 4 years ago now). We also took them to the Acres of Hope. It seemed very fitting for these kids to be there, in these humble beginnings, and to pray for what God would do there. I am sure that seeds were planted that day. Towards the end of the weekend one of the boys told us that he would want to give us something, to thank us, but that he sees that we already have things so he said that he prays heaven for us. We responded that the one thing we would like would be for him to pray for God to enable us to bring more kids off the streets- because there are still many more kids who are out there on the streets waiting for a home. For him to pray that for us would make us happy, and we told him that we know God hears his prayers.

It was hard to send the boys back on Sunday, but they have exams this week and had to go. All the kids in the Faith Home would appreciate our prayers for them to do well on their exams this week. These exams determine who passes to the next grade level, as well as their ranking in class. Many of our kids are continually at the top of their class, and strongly desire to do well.

I always have to thank you for your prayers for us. I know God has been very gracious to us this whole time because of so many lifting us up in prayer. I am reminded of an old hymn,
'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know "Thus saith the Lord."
That's what we do and the life we receive in return is so very sweet (not always easy) but very sweet.

Trusting God for great things in the days to come!
Lisa

Hebrews 10:23-24, 35-36, 11:1
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Sorry for the long delay in updating here. We moved on Friday into our new place (staying in a house we are renting instead of the Missionary Guest House). We do not have internet access yet at our new place. And you are going to have to bear with me, but several people have asked to see pictures of our new place, so I am going to post pictures here. (Plus this is for those of you who may be wondering if we are staying in a hut or not.) We thank God for the blessing of this great place to stay (even though it is very dusty here- as we are fully into the dry season & have a well traveled dirt road in front of our place)!

The kids room...

My favorite part of the house, the back patio looks out on the private & lovely back yard
(and the kids with the dog, Nora, whom they have been having lots of fun with) the sitting area and dining area...

The kitchen... and that is all I can post right now, as the internet connection is too slow!

Mike has received the plans drawn up for the Acres of Hope. It is great to be able to look and see plans and envision what the Lord would have us do there (4 homes for children, a missionary guest house with conference center, a mechanics & wood shop, and more). We are continuing to look into our options for getting Ten Talents International registered here in the country. I titled this "Liberation Day" because this week there are two holidays this week, Independence Day is July 1st and Liberation Day is July 4th (when the capital city was "liberated" from those who were orchestrating the genocide in 1994). Let's pray for the spiritual liberation of this country, for God to move in a mighty way in this country.

We want to just take a moment to remember why we're doing what we're doing- that there is a real need to take care of these street children, the "least of these". On Thursday Mike visited the feeding program for street children. Once there he came across a teenager (18) who had a very serious cut on his arm. Two days prior, someone had taken a piece of glass and slashed this young man's arm. The wound was very deep. Mike took him, along with some others in leadership at the feeding program, to the local clinic. However, the clinic confirmed that it was too serious for them to deal with, that he needed to go on to the hospital to be stitched up. They had someone trustworthy that they sent on with the young man, along with some funds for the care he needed.

The danger that this teenager faced on the street is the same as what faces many other kids living on the streets. Besides the other troubles of finding something to eat, where to sleep, and more, nighttime can be perilous, as they are open to attacks and abuse. It does not have to be this way, and it should not. We are following what we believe is God's call to take care of these children, his children. We can not simply turn away, but we choose to see the situation with open eyes and open our hearts to what God would have us do. Please pray with us that others would do likewise, and respond to God's call to put their own resources (talents) to work.

Thank you for your prayers for our family also, we are all well. We will be moving from the place we have been staying at (to a different home), the end of this month. God has been very good to take care of us. When I was praying for our next place to stay I was reminded of the verse in the Bible, "He gently leads those with young". I have stood on that as a promise and have seen God show himself faithful.

This week Mike was able to meet with the architect and tomorrow will be picking up the preliminary drawings to check. We are also wanting to get the necessary travel visa from the US Embassy for Simon Peter Ngoga (He has been helping us since Mike first went to look for property in Rwanda. Mike also knew him before that because Simon used to work for Africa New Life with the street children). Simon is a treasure and has a wonderful testimony of what God has done in his life. We want him to make a visit to the US so he can be with us for our annual TTI banquet (September 27th). He has submitted the application to the US Embassy, and they have now asked for more documentation. We pray that God will provide the way for Simon to come visit the US to share in his unique way the needs here in Rwanda.

We are continuing to check into how we might register TTI here as a foreign NGO (non-governmental organization). The government is in the process of changing the rules surrounding that, so they are not registering any new NGO's right now. We will see what God does in that regard.


We are thankful for the opportunity to be here and to just be available to however God directs. We truly consider all of you to be our partners with us in this endeavor. We appreciate you and are thankful for you also.

God Bless You,
Lisa