Ten Talents International Blog

Thank you for your prayers- the meeting Mike had today went great! He said, "It couldn't have gone better". The vice-mayor is a Christian & they made a really good connection. When she heard about what TTI wants to do, it completely resonated with her & she said that she would do whatever she could to help us. She is going to do what she can to help us get registered & said it shouldn't be a problem at all. She said her passion is for those street kids & that helping them has been a dream of hers for a long time.

All's we can say is - Praise God!!!!
And thank you!
Lisa

Last week we were contacted because the vice-mayor of Kigali, Rwanda is going to be in Portland this weekend. She is coming to observe the Luis Palau CityFest because they are considering bringing that to Kigali (very cool). One of our friends who works with Africa New Life Ministries is setting up appointments for her to meet with different ministries. We thank God for this opportunity to introduce her to Ten Talents International, and maybe even build a relationship that could help us down the road with getting registered in Rwanda as a charity there. The vice-mayor is a high government position and we are very blessed to have this time to meet with her. Please keep this meeting in your prayers, it will be Friday afternoon (August 22nd). Pray for God to bless the meeting and use it for His glory and to further His kingdom work. We pray also that Luis Palau would come to Rwanda, sharing the gospel message of hope with more people! Now is the time!

Another exciting opportunity is for those of you who would like to participate in the work happening in Rwanda. Our next team is scheduled for November 1st. We have an informational meeting coming up on August 31st (Sunday) at 4pm at Heritage Church in Hazel Dell (Vancouver, Washington). Visit http://www.heritagenorthwest.org/ for directions. Those of you who have been reading this blog should know that we consider it a wonderful privilege to be a part of what God is doing in Rwanda. This is something that we would like to share with each one of you. We would love to take you with us on a short term mission trip there & allow you to experience first hand God's heart at work there. It does not matter what your skill set is or isn't- there is a place for you. If this touches your heart at all please plan on being at Heritage Church on the 31st. If you have questions, or are interested but can not make the meeting, please call or email us. We are sure that you will be blessed if you go- we have seen it happen over & over again.

And the third exciting opportunity I would like to mention is our banquet on September 27th. Invitations will be in the mail by the end of this month, but please set that date aside now. It will be a wonderful time of hearing testimonies of what God has done in individual lives, as well as sharing the vision of what we believe God would have us do in the near & distant future. There is no cost to attend- we want everyone there! We will also get to share with you about a matching donation fund that will enable every dollar given to go even farther!

All of you participate with us in the work in Rwanda when you join with us in prayer. Pray for God to speak to & provide for those who would go on the November trip. Please continue to pray for God to provide for the current needs of the ministry, specifically for the $180,000 for the Acres of Hope first phase. We also would appreciate your prayers for God to continue to provide for our family as we live by faith. Please pray for God to guide Ten Talents International, to give us wisdom, to open doors for us, and to give us favor. This is God's work and we want as many people as possible to receive the blessing of being a part of changing lives across the world. Let us all leave a legacy that endures for generations.

Together In Christ,
Lisa

We enjoyed sharing at our church, Heritage, on Sunday night about our trip and the upcoming plans for the Acres of Hope. Of course I got emotional as I talked about "our kids" over there. The kids in the Faith Home all call us "mom" and "dad" and they are very special to us. I talked about how even though these homes are great for the kids, it is not the same as being in a family. A family where you have a parent to call your own, and where that child is special to somebody who can love on them everyday. We look forward to doing this through the Home of Innocence, being able to place children in permanent families where they will be loved and cared for. Someone asked me what I miss about Rwanda, and what I miss most are my kids there. In fact I miss them very much. I think about them everyday and pray for God to bless them and care for them.



Mike shared with the church on Sunday night the architects drawings for the Acres of Hope. It is nice to be able to share what the "finished product" could look like. Four homes, a mechanics & welding training center with dorms on top (for older street children, those age 16 and above who are too old to be placed into a family), a dining hall and church, basketball court, adoptive family homes (for them to stay in for a few weeks after the child is placed with them), a missionary guest house, etc.



Phase One, the next step, will cost approximately $180,000 US dollars. This will develop the property (electricity, water, septic), place a wall around the property, and build the first home. The monthly expenses for the Acres of Hope will be approximately $3,800. Other immediate needs include $2300 for the expenses of registering TTI as a non-profit organization within Rwanda, as well as $950 for the first two months rent for the TTI office there in Kigali.

Please pray together with us for God to meet these needs, and specifically for people to respond generously. Mike shared with the church that it is hard to wait, especially when you know everything is just waiting on funds. Please also pray for those who are wanting to go on the TTI mission trip this November, for God to provide for their needs as well.

We are so grateful to be a part of this work that God is doing in Rwanda. It is a blessing and a privilege to partner with Him in His work.

God Bless You,
Lisa

If you would like to view the pictures from our trip, you should be able to find my album at this link- http://picasaweb.google.com/lisam1991/RwandaMayToJuly2008
Click on the button for "slideshow" for the best viewing. Just beware because there are 250 pictures there!

Some things that were accomplished in our last week in Rwanda: we found an office space for TTI. It is on the same property as a good sized home for Ngoga & his family. The house for the office has a large front room, smaller side room, and a bathroom. It seems very perfect as it is not far from our property, has room for parking, etc.

We have started the paperwork for getting TTI registered as an NGO. Mike met with the district vice mayor about registering and also discussed getting water from a natural spring not far from the property. (We found out that we can not drill, the drilling company has tried up there before & found no water, so they won't drill there.) But there is a plentiful natural spring that Mike is sure we can get enough water from for us, as well as for the community.
We also got estimates for different phases of the property (water, septic system). We got prelimanary drawings for all of the phases of development of the property.

Mike also helped Africa New Life Ministries by working on the stairs for their Dream Chapel (unfortunately we had to leave before they had their first Sunday in their new church).

We look forward to sharing more about our trip, and our future plans, with anyone who can be at Heritage Church (in Hazel Dell) this Sunday night, August 10th, at 6pm. You can visit their website http://www.heritagenorthwest.org/ if you need directions.

Thank you for partnering with TTI & our family in the great adventure of following God's will.
God Bless You,
Lisa & family

We have arrived safely back in the US as of 7:30pm this evening (and our luggage too- woo hoo!) It is grueling travel, but I am thankful that each of us got some sleep on the plane rides back (even me- who last year barely slept one wink on the way home). We've had our hot showers (ahhh) and it does feel good to be back, but the weather feels very cold to us! Although it is now almost 10pm here, it is almost 7am back in Rwanda, so I don't feel very sleepy, but we are going to try to go to bed. Here is a picture that says it all- glad to be home, but oh so tired! (KaLia is already asleep now.)
I will update more about our last week in Rwanda later. Thanks everyone for your prayers & faithfulness.
God Bless You,
Lisa & family

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)