Monday, June 19
Our last team member came in last night. She had other commitments which prevented her from being with us last week, but she has seemed to fit right in. We had, of course, another beautiful sunrise, and we had more time to enjoy it today. We got a later start since we were visiting a school in Kigali, which will happen the rest of this week. This school uses a self-paced curriculum from the United States with adjustments for Rwandan life. They also supplement with experiments and projects. This school is where most of the kids of the Africa New Life staff go.
Lucy and I worked in a combined second and third grade classroom. We had the opportunity to check work, help kids do their work, and pray for the kids. The first time a kid came up to me and told me that her leg was hurting, I didn’t even think about praying for her because I forgot about the freedom we have in the Africa New Life schools. The teacher prayed for her, then later, her foot hurt, so Lucy prayed for her, then later, her arm was tired so I prayed for it. We think a few other kids had some needs that they wanted the muzungu to help with. I really liked that the kids set daily goals, and then worked to achieve them. A couple had to add to their goals because they had already done everything on their list. 
When we finished there, we left, reluctantly, and went back to our guest house for lunch. While at lunch, we began telling our stories. Connie led off today after lunch. We plan on telling stories at lunch and dinner every day. It’s amazing how united we are coming from such different backgrounds, teaching different subjects, and teaching different ages. Perhaps, just perhaps, there’s something to this idea of unity in Christ. 
After lunch, we had some down time to go shopping. We began by going to “Threads” which is a store on the Africa New Life Campus. One of the things Africa New Life does is help women learn the trade of sewing. When we went to threads, some people picked out already made items, others got measured for custom made items. This year they had a coffee bar inside the threads, so Lucy and I were able to sit down and enjoy a beverage while we waited for others to finish getting measured. 
After that, we went to an interesting market. Lucy had a few things she was looking for, so we didn’t get too tempted by most of the goods available. We could have decorated a few houses with all of the decorations available in all the little shops that were there. We didn’t get to half of the shops in the market, but we eventually found what Lucy was looking for, or a reasonable facsimile of them, and a few other things besides. 
After that, we came back to the guest house. Some of the team went out walking, but Lucy and I took care of some laundry. Then, it was dinner time. Emma (short for Emmanuel) is our cook and he continues to do an amazing job. After dinner, Mandi told her story. What both stories we heard today had in common was the redemptive love of Jesus