Lisa McColm

I have added some pictures to the blog from when the team was here. I hope to add a new album to our photo gallery also- but that will take some time with our slow internet connection! Friday KaLia & I went to a surprise bridal shower for one of the ANLM workers. Bridal showers are a new thing for Rwandans, but everyone really enjoyed it. It ended up being a time of sharing, encouraging, and advising, as we were at the Esther Home (young women who are sponsored in university) and the older women shared their advice with these younger women (yes, I am including myself in that “older women” statment!) Saturday we were able to visit “our” kids in the Faith Home, as well as one of the sponsored children who resides in a boarding school not too far from there. She used to live in the Faith Home, but kids who are ready for secondary school (what they go to after 6th grade) have to move on to a boarding school. ANLM is currently constructing another wing at their school so they will have room for secondary school, and we look forward to when that will be finished. This morning (Sunday) was spent at church (and we had a ride- so we got to be there on time!). It was a good service and I was thinking about how content I am to be here in Rwanda. I feel like this kind of thing is what I was made for – mission. International work has always been a part of my heart, and now Rwanda is a big part of my heart.

There are a few things I miss from home (taking about just things, not people I miss). I’ve decided there are three things: my mattress (we’ve got foam mattresses here in Rwanda, no inner springs!), my washer & dryer, and having a class for Nate to be in during church service (they have a kids class but Nate won’t sit still for it or church service, so one of us ends up taking him out. I am a bit embarrassed by it each time, but at least the doors of the church are all open so you can still hear what’s going on). But none of those are very major things- and I would remind all of you to be grateful for the little things like that!

Really, the only thing I need now is for God to open up some avenues of ministry for me. Let’s pray for that! Thank you for your prayers for our family, for ministry, and the Acres of Hope.

Praise God that he is always faithful & his word is always true! God’s word is good & his promises towards us are full of so many good, good things.

Together in Christ,
Lisa

Serving the children at the Dream Center for the feeding program. Playing with the kids at the Kanombe Home.

Church service with the street children (worship time = dancing).
Nate found a buddy at the feeding program (he even let Nate pummel him)!

The team together with the children from the Faith Home.
Simon Peter Ngoga (TTI Rwanda director) having fun in front of the Faith Home.

Kids from an orphan home playing a game like marbels with bottle caps.

It is very quiet here in the mission house without our team. We have received papers that show the official boundary lines of the Acres of Hope property. Our next goal is to be registered with the government here as a foreign charity (NGO- non-governmental organization). Mike saw a friend at church on Sunday who later contacted us to let us know that she could help us to get registered, because she knows the people we need to talk to. We thank God for that!
Mike also wants to get an appointment with the Minister of Family (a government position) so he can find out what their plans are for the street children of this country.
God is giving us contacts here. We are looking to purchase a vehicle for use whenever we are here, and God has helped us by putting us in contact with a pastor here who is wanting to sell his vehicle and will work with us on this, as well as putting us in contact with another missionary who knows about vehicles and can give us good advice on this. We also have some other contacts that people have passed on to us but we’re not sure how God is going to use them yet.
I was feeling very Rwandan on Monday. I washed almost a week’s worth of laundry in the tub and hung them out to dry. For four people the laundry does add up! Now I have thoughts like, “Is this visibly dirty yet? Does it stink? No, OK don’t need to wash it yet!” Of course, most everything you wear outside of the house will get some dark African dirt/dust on it, so most everything has to get washed!
Sunday we went to church at African New Life Bible church. Their first service is an english service, including a kid’s class, so we went to that. We rode the public transport again (bus) and figured out that if we’re going to take the public transport we’d better leave a lot earlier! You see, here there are no bus schedules- they don’t leave the bus station until the bus is full. And I mean African full (4 people in a space that Westerners would think seats 3). At 8 o’clock on Sunday morning there aren’t as many people at the bus station so we had to wait a while for it to fill up. But thankfully the church service lasts 2 hours, so by the time we got there we still had an hour of church left. 🙂 There’s walking involved in the trip too, but not too bad.
I’ve walked up to the open market with our host and the cook here- walking is the African way! (Most people are not able to afford cars.) The open market has a very strong smell- could be the live chickens, that area was especially strong. Nate got to pet a chicken, and now KaLia wants a pet chicken to provide eggs for us! She’s already making plans…
Please continue to keep us, TTI, and the Acres of Hope/Home of Innocence in your prayers. You can pray specifically for TTI to be registered as an NGO here, as well as for God to go before us, direct us, and provide for us.
Thank you for working together with us!
God Bless You,
Lisa

Thursday we went with Mike & Jerid to fix a water purifier at a large church (one that sees 3000 people a week). Now that one is working well there are 7 water purifiers in Rwanda that TTI has installed and they are all working well. We then went to minister at the feeding program for the last time with this team. It is on the same property as the women’s center (where they train women in sewing and salon skills), so my mom (Julia) preached a message of encouragement to the women while we were with the kids. Several women came forward afterwards for prayer, including one who sincerely rededicated herself to Christ. Jill and I shared testimony and scripture in the service with the kids. After we shared, the pastor there shared the scripture, “God is our refuge, and strength, an everpresent help in trouble” and he asked the question, “How can we make God our refuge?” Every kid who shared said almost the same thing, “because others have died, and I am still alive, that shows me that God is my refuge.” A few team members shared our thoughts on God being our refuge, and Mike summed it up at the end. He told the kids that in order for a refuge to protect you, you must be inside it. It was a very powerful salvation message. I was glad that the service went in that direction, because I definitely felt like we needed to share salvation with these kids. At the end of the message a whole crowd of kids came forward for prayer. Praise God for all this ministry this morning!

We also visited the Acres of Hope after this & brought with us the pastor and his friend who had been working with us at the feeding program. We checked on our trees (doing fine) and then we prayed a blessing over the land and the work God is going to do there, as well as his provision. The verse that was mentioned after the prayer was “He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it”, and a team member also said that verse was what had been going through her mind in regards to the property as well.

That evening we visited with the kids in the Kanombe Home and said good bye to them. We played outside and then inside we had a time for sharing. Several kids stood up and thanked us for visiting them, asked us to warmly greet their sponsors, and blessed us. One child gave us a card he had made with a drawing of the Bible and it said, “Power of God”. Another child showed us a drawing he had made of Christ, and then he sang us a song. We prayed over each one of the kids, spreading out & laying hands on every single one of them. And when we were done praying for them, their house “Uncle” prayed for us & blessed us as well. It was powerful.

As I am typing this now it is Friday night. We sent off our team today & the Mission House is strangely quiet & much more empty now. It is just our family, a young man from Seattle, and the couple that runs the House. This is how it will be for the rest of the month. I’ve saved some really good news though (to reward those who read all the way to the end of my post)- we got our luggage today!!! Woo Hoo!!! 🙂 When we dropped the team off at the airport Mike went back & checked & there was our luggage waiting for us. Ironic! We are so thankful for this answer to prayer (and in addition to Mike being grateful for his clothes, Nate was very thankful that his snack closet is now restocked)!

Please pray for our team as they make the wearisome journey half way across the world again. We are praying for them that God would solidify in their hearts the work that He did during this trip. Everyone seemed to feel that this time went by quicker than ever before. Please also pray for those that we ministered to – that not one would be lost or doubt the work God has done in them, but instead that they would keep moving forward. God has such good things for this country and we are so glad to be able to be here and, together with you, to be a part of it.

The kids are doing well. Nate has his buddy here at the Mission House- he’s picked John Claude- well, maybe you should pray for that guy- between Nate & KaLia he may have a hard time getting any work done! KaLia has talked about how she misses her family, friends, pets, etc. But she was also very happy not to have to leave Rwanda today & when all the team was saying their goodbyes to the kids this week she kept saying, “But we’re going to be here for 3 months- so I will see you again soon!”

We appreciate you all so much. You are the foundation of anything and everything we do. By your prayers and support is the only way any of this ministry is accomplished. We look forward to sharing more victories with you soon!

God Bless You,
Lisa

Wednesday morning we spent with the ANLM school in Kayonza, about an hour’s drive from Kigali (where we stay). We split into teams of two and shared in each of the classrooms there. Some of us shared a song, or “Mad Libs” (helping the kids with their english), or talked about Washington, etc. At lunch time we got to have time with our precious Faith Home kids. We love those kids so much. We told them we wanted to lay hands on them and pray for them. As we waited for one member of the home to return, another child (Amiable) spontanously led the kids in singing songs of worship. We could feel their hearts and their hunger for Christ. We annointed each one of them with oil and every team member laid hands on each child and prayed God’s power and blessing for them. I thank God for that sweet time. We love those kids so much. I think back to last year, and how pained I was to have to leave them as our trip drew to a close, and I am so glad that we are not leaving yet. When we left Kayonza my heart was just full of love for those kids. I am so proud of them. They are such good kids. There were a couple of young students who hugged me as we stood by the van, and they just held on tight. Before we left the students were having a special presentation in the dining hall. We got to see the kids do some special traditional dances, which was a real treat. And then the dancers pulled us up to dance with them! Oh, how the whole hall full of kids roared with screams and laughter as we tried to follow the moves of these dancers! Is that what they call being fools for Christ? 🙂

In the afternoon we went to visit some orphans, most of whom are HIV postive. This was arranged by ERM. They had use of a meeting hall and there were about 150 orphans there. They too treated us with a special performace of drumming and dancing. It was amazing. They drummed for probably an hour and it was unlike anything we’d ever seen before. We ended the evening by giving the orphans some angel ornaments and cards from my mom (Julia’s) church Sunday School in Alaska. They were so appreciative and grateful for these small gifts.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our team. It is emotionally difficult to have to leave when you have become so attached to the people and the country of Rwanda. We have a great team and they all have opened their hearts to what God wanted to do in them this trip. They have had God fill them with a love and compassion for the people of Rwanda

Please also continue to pray for the work God would have our family do here in Rwanda, as we shift gears to being here on our own. God has a purpose and a plan and we just want to walk in line with that.

We are ministers together- in Christ,
Lisa

Tuesday night we went to see the street kids where they live. Only Mike & Jerid got out of the van to go with Ngoga to see the kids (the rest of us stayed in the van at Ngoga’s request). When they got down into this drainage area next to the road they found a kid who had a very deep cut on his arm & was bleeding. They wanted to help him using our first aid kit, but when the kid saw the kit he got scared (that it was going to hurt) and ran screaming up the hillside (where all these little homes are). A man was able to lead our guys to this boy’s house. There were kids everywhere as Mike, Jerid, & Ngoga followed this man up steep narrow trails, some with a 10 foot drop off the side. At the home they found the boy with his mom and were able to put some ointment and a bandage on the wound. There was no light in this little home, but thankfully our guys had a small flashlight so they could see! They left behind some extra ointment and bandages, although this cut really needed stitches. Most importantly they prayed there for God to heal this boy. As it was beginning to get into the evening they came back to the van so we could head out. Just as we were leaving Ngoga spotted a boy on the street that he knew from the Kanombe Home (Ngoga has worked with the ministry to the street kids since the beginning). We pulled over & talked to this boy & two friends with him. The boy’s name is Gilbert & he was in the Kanombe Home up until a few days after Innocence died, then he ran away. So this boy has been on the streets since then, and that was at least 4+ years ago. We asked him to take us & show us where he sleeps. He took us up the road and pointed out a drainage ditch. They sleep in the little area where there is a road/path over the drain. That way they are down there, unseen, safe from those who would hurt them or put them in jail. I also guess that means that when it rains, they don’t sleep. (Which, you may not realize it, but there is a rainy season here, which we are at the end of; however, it has rained quite a bit this week.) Mike asked them about meals- how often do they eat, where do they get the food, etc. They told us that they try to get a little money from carrying people’s packages at the market or other such things. Then they go to the restaurant and pay them 100 Francs (about 20 cents). For this amount the restaurant will let them have some food out of the bucket where they clean off the customers plates. In case you’re not understanding: at the restaurant, when customers do not finish the food on their plate, they scrape it all into a bucket. This bucket is what the boys pay to eat out of. After talking with them we took them to a restaurant where TTI bought them each a real meal (about $1 each), and Mike gave Gilbert money for another meal so they could eat again another day. But then we had to leave. How sad to have to drive away & leave those boys to live a life like that, and yet we felt fortunate to have found Gilbert. Mike asked the boys, “How many others live on the streets like this?” And their response was, “Many, many”. Too many for them to count. But this is why we’re here, and why we are pressing forward, believing God to provide for the Home of Innocence and the Acres of Hope. We believe God has better for these kids- these are his kids & we are just trying to cooperate with what He is wanting to do. If you have a brochure, on the inside the background of the brochure is a picture of kids eating a meal. This is one of the first pictures from the Kanombe Home when it opened- Gilbert is the short one in the middle, with round cheeks. It surely was the providence of God that we “happened” to see him on the street. He told us he would like to be in a home again. Please pray for Gilbert, as well as for the Home of Innocence. God, let your kingdom come & your will be done!

Love & Blessings from Rwanda,
Lisa

We haven’t had much rain since we’ve been here, but we are getting a lot today! We have had thunder and lightening off & on since this afternoon- it’s pretty awesome! However, the rain did prevent us from visiting the kids at the Kanombe Home tonight. I don’t think I can describe the side street that leads to the Kanombe Home to you, but let me just say it is packed dirt, very steep, and completely full of deep ruts. Last time we visited there the house mom was able to walk that street faster than we were able to drive it! So we could not visit there because our van would get stuck in the mud for sure.

This morning we were with the kids at the feeding program. We had a really great time with them today. This was our third time being there and we could feel the kids being more relaxed with us, as well as KaLia & Nate feeling much more comfortable as well. (KaLia had a crowd around her as she knotted together strings of grass and then later was just being her silly self.) As we walked around the kids would just run straight up to us & grab our hands, sometimes having to hold two childrens hands with one of our hands. Several of these kids have managed to etch themselves into our hearts, just by being with us, walking with us, holding our hand, and looking into our eyes. We shared in their church service today as well. The pastor shared the testimony of one boy who last week had been near death, but now was regaining his strength and able to be with them today. Darcee and Jerid shared their testimonies today with the kids. After Jerid shared the pastor decided that the group needed to give him a new name in Ikinyarwanda (their language) this was to honor him for blessing them. The pastor took suggestions from the group and then the kids voted on which they wanted his name to be. The winning name ended up being Umugisha, which means blessing. Then we all stood up and held hands together to pray. They also asked our friend, Ngoga, to play the drum during prayer (and Nate had to help too of course). This is the first time I have prayed to the beat of an African drum. Our prayer time was powerful. The pastor told them it was time to talk to God, to cry out, to repent, to rejoice, whatever they needed to do. All these kids were crying out at the same time, and we got to join in with them. I could feel the presence of God in that time. As the prayer was drawing to a close, the pastor lead them all with hands raised and voices crying out, “YESU!” (Jesus!) “‘GWINO!” (Come!) Earlier the pastor had shared with us how the government does not want these kids on the street, so they round them up & take them to a different place, but this place is not good for them. So they hide in the bushes and run back here. We are praying for these kids, especially the ones who have made recent decisions to follow Christ. We are praying that they would be able to take that faith with them, wherever they go, no matter the struggles they face that they would know that their Heavenly Father cares about them.

We got some great news today (no, not our luggage). Last week we had stopped by the Assembly of God compound in Kigali- just because we were driving by & so the team could see it (most of us are from Assembly of God churches). The one missionary who was there was a woman named Candace. She had been very sick and was kept in the states, and only in the last month had actually been able to come join her husband here in Rwanda. She also shared with us about her two children who were diagnosed with MS, heavy on her momma heart. We felt prompted to gather around her and pray for her & her children. Today she called to say that her daughter and son had been to a revival meeting in Florida and her daughter was healed and her son is not completely healed but doing much better! Praise God! We definitely felt that was God’s direction that brought us to Candace’s door that day, at that time.

Tomorrow we will go to the Acres of Hope. We also plan to go in the afternoon to visit the street children where they live. We are still working on the luggage situation…

Thank you everyone for your prayers. I shared in devotions this morning about the boy who had the few loaves and fish, yet Jesus multiplied it to feed 5,000. In the same way, what we have may seem small to us, and we may be tempted to hang onto it. But it’s not about us, or what we have, it’s about Him! We keep our eyes on Jesus & let him make miracles happen!

God Bless You,
Lisa

It is Sunday evening here in Rwanda & it has not been the usual Mother’s Day for me. KaLia did not feel well this morning (it ended up being she was just tired & was fine later) but because of this we (me & the kids) were not able to go with the group to Kayonza. The team went to Kayonza (where the ANLM school is, Faith Home, and 4 other orphan homes) and shared in church with them again. There was a really good message preached about service- how each one is given a service to do, whether you are poor or rich, there is no excuse, each one has a service to do.

After church they went to the boarding school to visit Christine (one of our girls from the Faith Home- the school in Kayonza is only for primary grades, so when they move up to secondary school they have to go somewhere else). They took Esther and Amiable with them (two children from the Faith Home). Christine was so happy to see them, and via cell phone KaLia and I were able to talk with her a little bit too (KaLia & Christine have been special sisters ever since 2006 when KaLia first went to Rwanda). I was sad not to be with my kids in Kayonza on Mother’s Day, but at least I know that we will have other opportunities to see them, since we will be staying here longer.

Myself, Nate, and KaLia went with the Mission House hosts, on public transport, to the local ANLM church. First time riding public transport in Rwanda for me! They even celebrated Mother’s Day at this church and gave all the mothers each a rose, so I did get a flower today (plus Nate later picked me a flower from the Mission House garden- so sweet)!

On Friday we planted 16 (young/little) fruit trees on the Acres of Hope. There is a man who has a house on the property right now (he just lives there- is not an owner), and we are giving him an opportunity to get some extra money by making sure the trees are watered and taken care of. We will see how he does the first month and go from there. In the evening we went to the Kanombe Home. They have a big yard there so we introduced them to the games “Red Rover”, “Red Light, Green Light”, and “Four Corners”. Everyone was laughing and had a great time. One of the workers told us how special it is when someone comes and teaches them new games, because they will take these games to school and teach their friends, plus they do not get many opportunities to play like this. They are up at 5am, do chores, get ready, walk to school so they are there by 7am (although school starts at 8am). They have a two hour break in the middle of the day because they walk home for lunch & then walk back. They then are in school until 4:30 or 5, and then make the final walk home. Most of them are about 25 minutes from school, some closer to an hour (older kids). When visitors come they are able to set aside their evening chores and just have a good time.

Saturday we also were in Kayonza– all the kids who live there, plus the sponsored children in the surrounding area, come to the school for “Center Day”. We shared in different classrooms, talking about Jesus, teaching them songs, and giving out little gifts. In one classroom 6 children asked to pray to accept Jesus into their heart. In another classroom we were talking about our Heavenly Father and how we are brought into his family when we accept Christ. A girl asked me to explain how she could be African and I could be American yet we can have the same father. Another boy, John, took me aside after class and asked me to pray for him. He is in his last year of primary school. In this year they take a test, passing it decides whether or not they can go into secondary school. He asked me to pray for him to pass this test, and I promised I would.

Sorry it’s been a few days since I’ve been on here & so this is a long update to catch you up. Tomorrow we will work with the feeding of the street children again. Please pray for us to be able to show these kids just how much God loves them. Let our hearts be pulled with the compassion of our Heavenly Father for his kids, and let us be able to bring blessing and spiritual nourishment to them as they receive physical nourishment as well. We appreciate your prayers for God to provide for the Acres of Hope and the Home of Innocence. It will be some of these very same kids from the feeding program who are the first ones to come into the Home of Innocence. Mike has told them about it & they are very excited for it. We pray that the Home could be started quickly, before any more of these little ones are lost. God is near to those who are broken and poor, and his power is just as available to them as it is to us.

Everyone on the team is doing well, but we appreciate your prayers for us (as well as our family) and the work that God would have us to do while we are here. God is good, and able to do immeasurably beyond what we can ask or think!

God Bless You,
Lisa

Isaiah 61 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”

“Plantings of the Lord” has been on my mind because we bought fruit trees today to plant on the Acres of Hope. We bought mango, avocado, and oranges, plus several others I can’t remember right now! Tomorrow (Friday) we will go to the Acres and plant them. That whole chapter of Isaiah 61 speaks to me so strongly right now about what the Lord is calling us to do here and his purposes for the restoration of His people- a people that have been broken but that our God and Savior will redeem!

After we visited the Acres on Tuesday I also had the word “Ebenezer” going through my mind in regards to the property. I knew it was referenced in the Bible & thought it meant blessing, but found out more about it tonight. It is found in 1 Samuel 7:12. The Lord had won a victory over the Philistines for the Israelites, and Samuel set up a remembrance stone, calling it Ebenezer and saying, “Thus far the Lord helped us”. That is so true for the Acres of Hope. The Lord gave us that property. We have come this far only because of the Lord’s help, and it is by His grace and help that we will go further on. Each step and each victory comes from Him- praise God! It’s not us & it’s not on our own- what a relief that should be!

We were back with the feeding of the street children today. It was a blessing to be with them, especially to share in their worship during their church service. Their only instruments are a large cowhide drum beaten with sticks, and the clapping of their hands, but they put their whole hearts into their worship & we knew our Heavenly Father was blessed by it. The littler ones go up front and dance before the Lord, which Nate got right into, and then he of course had to move on to beating on the drum. We shared in the Word with them and then served them by washing their hands and giving them their plates of food. God is good & we believe he is at work on behalf of these needy young ones.

Yesterday Mike & Jerid were able to install a water purifier into the Esther Home. When one of the young ladies who lives there (there are 14 of them) found out what it meant, she said, “No more boiling water? Yeah!!!” They also were able to work on some plumbing leaks in their bathrooms.

Tomorrow we will plant our trees in the Acres of Hope and bless it again. Praise God because we know he will provide. This is his work, his will, and we are just getting on board with what He is doing!

Everyone on the team is well, working hard, and all asleep right now except me! KaLia had her hair braided today at the Women’s Center (on the same property as the feeding program, they train women in salon and seamstress skills)- she looks very African. 🙂 And, if you’re wondering, we don’t have those last 3 pieces of luggage yet, but we appreciate your prayers on our behalf.

How magnificent is our God- who enables us to share in his work and be a part of what he is doing all over the world. And how wonderful that even though we are half way across the world from most of you, this is your ministry as well- for we pray and participate together that God’s will be done.

Praise God!
Lisa

We spent Monday at the feeding program for the street children run by ANLM. We got to play with the kids, then we joined in a church service with them before serving them a meal. We encouraged them to believe God for great things and to hold fast to Christ. It is amazing to look at those children, some of them so young, and think about our precious children in the Faith and Kanombe Home. Kids like Sprian and Michael who are at the top of their class in school and have changed so much since coming into the home. What is inside these kids who are still left on the street- I mean, what is inside them that hasn’t been given the chance yet to come out? The special giftings of God that are not able to be developed because these kids must spend all their time just trying to survive? Couple that with the fact that today we went to the Acres of Hope. We walked around the property and envisioned the many possibilities there. We prayed and declared God’s blessing over the property, the things God has placed in our hearts to do there, and the entire country of Rwanda. We pray that God would pour out his Spirit on the land- that it would overflow and affect the entire country.

Before Mike left the last time he let the people in the area know that they could grow crops on the land until we were ready to build. So it was good to see many little plots of crops already growing and ready to be harvested. Already the land is being a blessing to the people there, and we pray that it continues exponentially.

Yesterday we also had fun visiting with the Kanombe Home kids. There is one new boy there, he has only been there for two weeks and is trying to adjust to living in a home from being on the streets. Please pray for him (and also that he would be sponsored). Unfortunately the reason there is room for him is because one of the boys in the home ran away. Please pray for this boy as well.

We still do not have Mike’s suitcase or the two bins we’re missing. As of today the airlines did not know where our stuff is. We are believing for it to be found & to show up quickly!

Everyone on the team is doing well. We thank God for taking care of us, guiding us, using us, and using the country of Rwanda, and it’s people, to move in us also. We thank you for praying with us and believing in our great and mighty God who can do all things and loves all people the same! Tomorrow we will visit the Esther Home (home for young women sponsored to attend University) and then the Genocide Museum. Thursday we will return to the feeding program. May God be glorified in all we do!

Be Blessed,
Lisa