Thanksgiving and giving thanks

I just wanted to write and give you some brief updates from recent events. We went to Burundi and had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. It was good to be with family as we have been missing ours. I still have my cold and it is really taking it out of me. Please pray for that. Christi has been working hard and not had a break from Mili at all. This is really draining her. We both feel so blessed that we are able to spend this time with Mili but there needs to be some time to be refreshed too. Please pray that I will be able to give that to Christi or that we will be able to find some outside help to provide some relief for Christi. The single girls we share a house with have offered to babysit for us so we can have a date. That is a blessing. We have done a little bit of decorating for Christmas. Christi bought two Christmas stockings. Our house mate bought a small potted African tree which she strung with lights and a couple ornaments. It is hard being away from family right now and all the festivities that we are missing out on there. We are making plans to go back to Burundi and spend Christmas with Christi's sister and husband. We are also going to go with them and drive to Tanzania. This is somewhere we hoped to be able to go since it is so close and it will be affordable. Please pray that the next two weeks of school to go well and for a relaxing break for Christmas. We are having a school Christmas program for families December 14th and then break starts on December 19th. School is going really well. I have a few kids visiting my class tomorrow from a home school co-op that is thinking about merging with our school. My class had a great field trip to see and learn about how turkeys are raised and even got to see some bunnies that were born while we were there. I am also on a committee right now to help come up with what the school will provide new teachers. We are still only planning on being here for this year and coming home this summer. On another note, I do not accept gifts well. It makes me feel indebted and anxious as to how I will repay those debts which are really gifts. I like to try to pay my own way, but I definitely have had a ton of help in my life. I never would have made it through High school without my parents, family, and church. I never would have been able to afford college if it hadn't been for the McKinney family who let me live with them for next to nothing and my friend Jeremy who did the same. Christi also helped support me as I finished college in our early years of marriage. Or the Hermans family who let me live with them for over a year rent free while I worked at the church in Soap Lake. I am forever grateful. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Now I am here in Africa and have friends and family supporting me. I want them to feel that they are getting their moneys worth with me so I wanted to let you know a few things about my life and work here. Firstly we have tried to live as cheaply as possible and sometimes go without certain comforts to save a little money. We have been able to save a little from what we have to live on here and been able to pass it on to those who need it more. Since being here I have met and befriended a man who is a refugee. I have been giving him little bits of money here and there. He has a place to stay with the red cross and it is being paid for, but it doesn't cover food. Today he told me that when he first got to Rwanda he had no hope and since meeting me he has had enough money to pay for food and found lodging through the red cross. He was so thankful. He said God had used me to bring him some hope and sustenance. I almost started to cry. I really hadn't given much , but it meant so much to him. Please pray for him as he is waiting for refugee status and may lose the money that pays his red cross shelter expense as he waits. He should have been notified last week but it keeps getting extended. He is a widower and left behind 4 children at his sisters when he fled for his life. Through your generosity we have also been able to help some missionary friends, provide jobs and money for two Rwandans who help at our house who were previously unemployed and both have families, and give a little bit of money to a great organization my brother-in-law started called “Debt of Love” (debtoflove.com)which has projects that help some of the most vulnerable as well as tells their stories. We have been able to give to our church which serves in the community we live in. We have been able to provide school fees for AIDS orphans as well. I am not saying any of this to brag, but to let you know that you are making an impact on the world with the money you give beyond the school I work at and our living expenses. At school I am able to teach children from families who are working in NGO's that provide clean water, relief of various kinds, language training, etc. I also am able to have an influence on privileged Rwandan children that I teach. I may even be teaching the future president here. It is a huge honor and I appreciate your partnership with us.