Ready for Rwanda

Lecture has officially ended and tomorrow I will be boarding a plane for Rwanda! It’s crazy how fast time has gone by, it’s hard to believe the lecture phase is really over! Words can’t aptly describe all that has happened in these past 3 months. Our lectures have been on topics such as worldview, the father-heart of God, relationships, the fear of God, giving up our rights, intimacy with God, destiny by design, spiritual warfare and global missions, and weeks filled with bible study, intercession, prayer, and worship. God’s been greatly working in me and teaching me new things each day and I know He’s not finished. It’s a life-long journey I’m on with Him.

I again apologize for the lack of updates. I think most of my problems with blogging are that I am a mostly internal processor, and since a lot of new information, revelations and emotions have been hitting me each day I struggle with having time to simply process them myself let alone put it into writing on a blog! I hope with time I will get better at it though since I truly do want to share with others what is happening in my life.

I am nervous but also excited for Rwanda. The things that I am nervous about are typical (unproductiveness, health problems, disunity etc) but the things I am excited about are seeing all that God is going to do because the possibilities are limitless! When praying about Rwanda I got a “picture” or “word” about the country that it is going to be a wellspring/fountain of living water spreading out to the rest of Africa bringing God’s love, hope, and healing! I believe that God is going to use the devastation that happened in Rwanda for His good. He is doing a mighty work in healing them and in turn they are going to be able to bring that same healing to the nations! That He will “…bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy 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. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” I believe that God has amazing plans in store for this nation and I am excited to be a part of it, no matter how little.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Team unity; that we would not let anything come between us and that we would all have servant hearts and humble attitudes towards each other
• Health; that all of us stay healthy and won't get sick or hurt 
• That we would effectively be able to minister to those that we come across and speak boldly with no fear
• Time; that we would use our time to best honor God and bring Him glory. Not wasting any opportunity that He gives us

I have been so blessed by all the support that has come in for this trip. I am truly blown away by the generosity that has been shone. The day before my outreach finances were due I still need $2,700. I was worried and starting to stress out, wondering how on earth I was going to get that much money in one day! But God works in wondrous ways and by the end of the day I had all of my funds! God is so good and so faithful! The next thing that I am trusting God for is my airfare coming home. I have yet to buy a ticket to fly home to Washington after outreach as I don’t currently have the money to do so. But I know that like the rest of the money, God will find a way to provide. What’s in store for me after this DTS, I don’t really know. I am praying that God will reveal to me what step I am to take next and where He wants me to go. Either way I know that God has something amazing planned for my life as I follow whole-heartedly after Him.

Blessings,

Bethany 

Imbabazi

Hey everyone! Apologies that I haven’t been posting very often, it’s difficult for me to put into words all that is going on here. First off I should update you on where I’m going on outreach! As I mentioned earlier I put down that they could send me anywhere. The night that we found out they set up an elaborate and drawn out reveal of our outreach teams and the suspense was driving me crazy! I finally found out and the place I’m going on outreach is Rwanda! It (of course) was a complete shock to me, but after being able to process it and let it sink in, I am very excited to be going! Our team of 7 is made up of 3 Americans, 3 Canadians, and one Norwegian! We haven’t learned exactly what we will be doing while we are there but we will be staying with a missionary family in Kigali (the capitol) and doing short outreaches to other areas of the country.

The last two weeks of lecture have been great, but very emotional (it seems like that’s a constant theme here!). The first week our speaker was John Bills and he spoke on the Father-heart of God/Hearing the Voice of God. He was very real and open with us about things that he’d dealt with in his life and his testimony was so very inspiring. The last two days of the week our whole class kind of had a “breakdown” where people stood up front and shared some really deep and painful things/areas in their life, just laying it all out and being vulnerable. Our class really came around those people and just loved and prayed over them. We truly have become a family! 

This last week our speaker was Andy Byrd who talked about Intimacy with God. I've never heard anyone speak so passionately! His zeal was so contagious. A few snippets from his lecture I’d like to share:

• Sometimes if we want the PEACE we have to give up the right of UNDERSTANDING”
• Live from the revelation of His love, not for His love
• We have embellished what we’ve given up and minimized what we’re gaining
• You are either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness
• God wants us to be revived, delivered, and freed so that we can go out and bring revival, deliverance, and freedom!

On Monday our class was giving the opportunity to volunteer at something called Candyland. A local church here in Kona puts it on every year to help keep children off the streets during Halloween and give them a safe environment to trick or treat. There were fun game booths, face painting, jump houses, a rock wall, food, balloon animals, entertainment, and tons of candy! I helped out with one of the game booths and was dressed as a 50’s chick. It was such a great experience, especially being able to connect with the community here; around 8,000 people showed up!

PRAYER REQUESTS

·        Unfortunately I’ve been on and off sick for the past few weeks so prayers for my continued health 

·        Prayer for our Rwanda team that we would be able to grow close in our relationships with each other and be able to prepare as much as we can now so that we can be most affective on outreach!

·        Finances! I am still needing around $3,000 for my outreach expenses.

If you feel called to support me on this journey financially please contact me at bethany2v@yahoo.com

Imana aguhe umugisha, ("God bless you" in Kinyarwanda)

Bethany