Ten Talents International Blog

Mike made it home safely. He did miss one connection en route, but they were able to reschedule him & thankfully kept him on schedule for the rest of his flights. The other good news is that we have recieved our “letter of collaboration” from the district we operate in in Kigali. This is something we have been waiting for so we can move to our next step for our in-country registration as an NGO. Next we move our paperwork to the immigration office for our approval, which we hope will not be far off. Pray with us!

Before Mike left he had two volunteers from the US arrive in Rwanda. These two college students are going to spend a few weeks giving their time to work with the kids at the Home of Innocence. One of them is actually Rwandan and can help with translation, and they both will be helping with teaching english, making sure we have current information on sponsored children, and otherwise helping however they can. What a blessing- thank you!

Our most recent newsletter went out last week. If you are not receiving our newsletters you may sign up to do so here on our website. http://www.tentalentsint.org/involved/join-our-list.cgi In this issue of our newsletter we are asking for people to join our support team for our family. Our desire is that our monthly support would increase enough for us to be able to afford to take our whole family to work in Rwanda for an extended length of time. Please take a few minutes to read our newsletter & keep us in your prayers.

We are so thankful for the many people who are a part of the work of Ten Talents International. Whether it is through your financial support, your prayers for us, or by telling people about our work, we would not exist without you! You allow God to use you & what a wonderful thing happens both in you & others when this happens!

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas wish for you is that you are able to focus on your blessings- most especially your loved ones and the greatest gift that was given to us in Jesus. A savior!

God Bless You,
Lisa

P.S. I will post pictures from Mike’s trip soon!

Michael is in the air now, on his way back home to the US. We pray for all of his flight connections to happen smoothly this time! They had the Christmas party for all of the TTI sponsored children on Saturday, and this is what Mike said about it, “had a great time at the Christmas party for sponsored children. All of the sponsored children were there and got gifts, sang songs, ate good food including meat(very big deal), and opened christmas gifts from their sponsors. Wish you could have been here.” A few days before he had given the children who live in the Home of Innocence their gifts and he said it was so fun to watch them open them- they were so excited to get their new clothes!

Another day Mike said he “went up to the Acres of Hope today. God has blessed us with an amazing piece of property. I am excited to see what it will look like in a few years. More than that, only God knows the lives that will be changed on those 7 1/2 acres.” Amen!

Also Mike has been using his time there to work on getting our registration completed in the country. We have been working on that for well over a year now and encountered many delays & requests for more information & to “come back tomorrow”. Mike had a meeting with the mayor of the community we are located in and he felt it went well. The mayor said that he wants this completed & we really feel like things are coming to a close with this finally! Mike said today he “was told by the Mayor of Kicukiro district that the letter of colaboration will be ready to pick up on Wednesday. Ngoga will pick it up because I am heading home tonight ”

We want to say “thank you” to all our sponsors who gave so that the children could have a wonderful celebration of Christmas & Christ! I have had many Rwandans tell me that for them, most of the time, Christmas is nothing. Meaning, they are too busy just trying to make it from day to day, and Christmas is just another day. If they are lucky then they will get to have a large meal (maybe even meat- for many they only get meat once or twice a year, Christmas being one of those times). To get gifts at Christmas is unheard of as well. So, thank you for helping to make this Christmas one these children will remember forever, and for helping us show them the love of Christ in practical ways.

I will post pictures on the blog after Mike gets back home. Thank you for your prayers for his safe & swift return- we are very excited to have him back with us again!

God Bless You,
Lisa

Here is an update from Mike from a few days ago-
“Yesterday [Saturday] was full and productive. I went to the office where we had Centerday. Christine, Michael, and Peter were there too [children who are from the Faith Home we opened in 2003- they are now in secondary school]. Christine helped me translate and gather missing info from kids in the At Risk program, while Michael and Peter help Ngoga lead the TTI Children’s choir. They have been meeting about three times each week while school is out. I will try to record them and bring home a copy. It was great to see some of the kids that were helped back in 2003/2004 ministering to kids being helped right now. That is the way it should be. I look forward to seeing that more in the future.”

Mike has been spending the days this week working on getting some business accomplished, trying to get closer to getting our organization registered in the country. Mike, Christine, and Maureen (the Home of Innocence house mom) also went shopping for the children to give them gifts at the Christmas party this Saturday (not one of Mike’s highlights- he hates shopping!)

Please continue to pray for his time there to be productive and effective. I am praying for God to open doors that no one can shut & to give him favor. That God would bless the work of our hands.

We are also getting ready to send out our next Ten Talents newsletter. In there our request is going to be for more people to support our family. The support we have coming in right now is not enough for us to afford to spend any time in Rwanda (as a family). What Mike is doing right now we feel needs to continue and we need to be there to help it happen. Please agree with me in prayer for God to use this letter we are sending out to touch hearts and for God to use his people to provide for his work.

Thank you for praying with us & for caring for the children of Rwanda!
God Bless You,
Lisa

Mike has made it safely to Rwanda now. Unfortunately, getting there safely involved an actual 42 hours of traveling! His connecting flight in Chicago was delayed 3 hours, which caused all of his remaining flights to be changed and he even had to be re-routed through 2 additional countries! Someone told me be glad it was just him & not the whole family- yes, that would have really been a nightmare! But he did finally make it to Rwanda Friday morning, and, miracle of miracles, his luggage did too!
Saturday all the sponsored children will be at the TTI office for “center day”. Mike will get to be there with them and visit with them. The Christmas party for the children will be next Saturday.

Please continue to keep Mike in your prayers as this “short” trip has become even “shorter” now & he has many things he would like to accomplish while he is there. Pray for God to bring him resources, to open doors, and to do great things!

Thank you!
Blessings,
Lisa