Kigali Times

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2010-06-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back. After some long flights we arrived back in Portland on Wednesday night at 8:30pm. Mili did really well on all of the flights. She has been getting over jet lag now. I suppose we all are. The first morning she woke up at 3:30am, and the second at 4am. Today she woke up at 5:45, and went to bed at a normal time. It is getting better for all of us. Christi has been enjoying spending time with her family and I have enjoyed spending some time with my brother. Christi is feeling well these days. She is getting everything set up with Dr.'s appointments. Mili and I were able to find affordable health insurance to get us through until my work insurance starts up again.

We had a great time in England. We spent a day sightseeing with another couple from the school in London. We spent a day in Oxford and the last day in Windsor. We paced ourselves since we were pretty tired.

We are staying with my in-laws this week. It is such a blessing to have such great support as we get readjusted. I was able to go into the school I taught at previously and see teachers and students. Today we are having a get together with my family. It will be so good to see everyone. I am looking forward to seeing my parents today too. We are looking forward to getting back to our church this Sunday as well.

It was hard to say goodbye to everyone. There were a lot of tears. We made so many excellent friendships in the short time we were there. We will miss Rwanda immensely. We will miss our friends so much. Many we hope we will see again someday as we pass through each other's cities. What a great experience. I want to thank each of you for praying for us, supporting us financially, and following along with us on our journey. We are so blessed to have friends and family like you. We brought home some small tokens of our appreciation for each of you. We would love to find a time to pass it on to you if you haven't received it already.

Love,

Tony, Christi, and Mili

The Finishing Touches

2010-06-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not posting recently. I wanted to send out one last update from Africa before sending out our final one upon arriving home. Things have been very busy lately with school winding down and meeting with friends that we are so sad to say goodbye to. Christi has been feeling pretty well lately. She had a great appointment with her midwife. She will have here last appointment next Thursday. Everything is going well with the pregnancy. She has still been busy with all of the bookkeeping lately. She is transitioning things over to another gal who will get things going for the school next year, but not necessarily a permanent replacement. Her sister Trina was here recently and we had a great time seeing her before and after her South Africa trip. It was hard to say goodbye not knowing exactly when we will see her again. She is looking forward to seeing family, friends, drinking a Dr. Pepper and eating Taco Bell.

Mili is doing well. She is growing up so fast. She is learning new words all the time. She has been playing in a field by our house with neighborhood kids almost daily. They love her and she loves them. It is hard knowing that she won't remember her time here. We are taking pictures so that she will at least have that. Emanuel, who works for us, said, "Please don't go, because I love you so much- and Mili. You could leave Mili and I will give you my son." We both laughed- not a chance! He has become a good friend and Mili loves him so. She is excited to see her Oma, and Opa (my parents) and Pop and Grandma Soup (Christi's parents). She said Grandma Soup while trying to say Grandma Sue and it sort of stuck. She kisses their pictures each night before bed.

I have one week left of teaching. I am so proud of the progress my students have made this year. It just goes to show you what a long school day, small class size, and dedicated parents can do for a child's academics. My class hosted a snack sale at our school a couple weeks ago. We raised almost $200 dollars for a local orphanage. The families of two of my students have or will be adopting children from this orphanage and will be taking it there to present to the nuns who run it. Next week my class will be having an international food fair to celebrate the 12 nationalities represented in my class of 15. I just found out that I will be teaching first grade at Centennial's Lynch View school next year. I am excited about it. This is actually where I would have been if I hadn't come to Africa this year. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends, catching up with my brother, eating good cheese, and seeing a movie in the theater. We are both looking forward to going back to our home church- Mosaic.

We will be stopping off in the U.K. on our way home. It actually ended up being cheaper for us to do it this way. The school pays for our ticket so they didn't mind either. Neither Christi or I have been so we are excited. We will be staying with a friend of our English housemate. We leave Kigali on June 12. We have a 10 or 11 hour layover in Nairobi. We may try to check out the city if our plane arrives on time. We have some teacher friends who are going to be meeting us at the Nairobi airport and flying on to England with us. We may try to do something together there, but we haven't worked out all the details yet. We then fly home to Portland. We will be arriving on June 16 after 9:00pm.

I can't believe things are coming to a close. We are looking forward to coming home, but at the same time we are sad to leave. We have so loved our time here. We have made so many great friendships and spent a year living in and with another culture. We feel so privileged and blessed to have been able to have this opportunity.

Pleas pray that the school will be able to find replacement teachers for next year. That the year will finish well and that Christi's position will transition well. For our transition home- we know it will be hard, but not in what specific ways. Please pray for Mili with leaving and not understanding exactly what is going on, for the plane ride, and transitioning back into our home. For Christi and the pregnancy and the transition and for me that I will be able to find some small summer work (anyone need their lawn mowed :) ), and the transition. Thank you all for participating with us in this adventure.

April Update

2010-04-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we are getting down to the final weeks of our Africa adventure. We only have 7 weeks of school left before we are heading home. I have parent teacher conferences in two weeks. This is the final quarter of school. Teaching has been going well. I finished my tutoring sessions with the student and his mother I had been working with. He has made good progress and is on his way to becoming a great reader/writer. I am glad he will be able to finish the year out with the class. His mother also now knows how to help him at home, as well as his 9 siblings. His family gave me a really cool African shirt and Christi a really nice traditional dress as a thank you.

Since we know that we will be coming home we have been planning get togethers and trips for when we get back. We have been talking a lot about what we most look forward to with getting home and what we will miss the most with leaving. It ended up being about the same answer. We are most looking forward to seeing people that we miss so much, and we will most miss people whom we have made relationships with here. I have been talking with my school district about next year. I should know my teaching assignment in about a week. I was guaranteed a job when I get back, but I have no idea what grade or building I will be teaching in. The budget situation in my district is quite grim and everyone hired the year I was hired will be drawing numbers in case the cuts go that deep. They are proposing to cut about 37 teachers next year. This will raise class sizes.

We all went to Burundi to visit Christi's sister and husband during our spring break. Unfortunately we all got really sick. We had a really bad cough and high fevers. When we got back we all went to the doctor and got some antibiotics and cough medicine. I have been doing well this week and Christi and Mili are just about in the clear. They had been coughing all night and sleep was lacking- so it has been nice to wake up feeling rested the last few mornings. Christi had been having some heart issues and went to see a cardiologist. He gave her a very scary diagnosis and prescribed a drug that we didn't know would be safe or not with the pregnancy. He is an American trained doctor. We sent the EKG off to doctors in the States, thanks to Christi's Dad. They all feel that his diagnosis was not correct and that she should be ok. She did not take the drug that was prescribed and has been taking it easy, no caffeine, and walking instead of running in the mornings. We are trying to keep her work load from causing stress that could be a problem. She has been doing really well and we feel good about where things are now. She will have to get looked at when we get back. My insurance won't begin again for the family until October. We were able to get Christi health insurance for the pregnancy and she can use it to have her heart looked at when we get back. We have the insurance now since there is a six month waiting period for preexisting conditions- like pregnancy so we will be covered if there is any kind of emergency. We are blessed to be covered.

Mili is doing better after getting over her sickness and has been back to her active self most of this week. She is learning new songs and has been loving singing. The weather has been off and on rainy so we haven't been able to play outside every evening, but quite a few. I have missed the seasons, but I cannot complain about having an entire year of Spring. This weekend we will be going to a lake here in Rwanda for a night with another couple. There is a little beach that Mili is content to play on all day long. We are looking forward to having a night away with friends.

I have had an opportunity to meet some wonderful Rwandan people who have become my friends. I always love learning from them. Growing up in different cultures gives us different perspectives on things. A friend of mine who owns a local restaurant near my house recently lost everything when the building next to his caught fire. I like to go and hang out with him to practice language because he doesn't speak English. He was telling me about how the fire temporarily shut down the business and destroyed his apartment in the back of the restaurant. He then said, “But God is good.” I was amazed that he could say this so easily after such a loss. I brought my brother-in-law with me there when he was up last weekend and was able to learn a lot more since they both speak French. He said that there is a Rwandan proverb that says a fire brings rains, meaning that after the fire that destroys, blessings will follow. He looks hopefully toward those blessings and teaches me a better way to live.

parents and spring break

2010-03-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

We are coming down from the elation of having my parents here for two weeks. It was so great. We loved being able to spend our days, our school, or new home with them while they were here. We got to take them around the country and to see some sights. It worked out well because many of the things we did were things Christi and I had not done yet. My parents both got to spend time in the classroom which was so much fun. Christi's sister, husband, and a friend of ours from Portland came down and we got to spend a little time with them too. Just before my parents left we spent two amazing nights relaxing at lake Kivu near the Congo border (we actually walked to the border and took a few pictures). I was ready for a break and to get out of town. It was such a refreshing time. My parents took Mili for a night and let us have a date too.

I am getting ready to do report cards and send them out this week. I am amazed at how much my students have learned. It is amazing what happens when you have parent involvement and small class sizes. It has been a lot of fun to get to be a part of this and to have this experience. The student who I have been tutoring is making slow progress, but will be able to finish the year out. I'm almost embarrassed to say what his reading level is because in the States he wouldn't be considered a concern. With his language level he wouldn't be much of a worry. I'm hoping to get him very close to or at grade level by the end of the year. Our spring break starts on Friday. We are planning on taking the bus up to Burundi for about a week. It's always fun to hang out with family there and get away for a bit. It will be Genocide Week here in Rwanda. Everything shuts down and we are told it is very quiet and somber- understandably.

Christi has been pretty tired lately. She took it easy this weekend and it seemed to make a big difference. We are hoping that she can cut back a little and take some more breaks during the week so she has the time to take care of herself and the baby. Mili is as cute and fun as always. Our friend Lisa who has babysat a few times for us taught her “If You're Happy and You Know it.” She sings and does the motions. It is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. We are going to try to take video of it. Maybe we can get my brother-in-law to help us out with that when we see them at the end of the week. She doesn't have all the toys and distractions that she would probably have in America so she is becoming quite creative in making toys and games. Stroller hockey is the newest one she has come up with. We played it for quite some time yesterday and had a good time. Picture it in your mind- whatever you are imagining- it's better. I hope you are all doing super well. Look forward to catching up with you in just a few months.

New News

2010-02-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

I have been very anxious to write this blog. Christi and I were worried that someday Mili's sibling would not be able to say they lived in Africa and be jealous, but at least he/she will be able to say he/she was conceived in Africa. We are very excited about the whole thing. Christi is due on September 20^th. We had an ultrasound today and everything is looking really good. The nice thing is that a parent of one of my students is a midwife and is helping Christi and keeping a chart that she can take back to the States. A missionary lady here has an ultrasound machine and did it for us for free. You can even go to the doctor and get a 3-D ultrasound for $30 which insurance often doesn't cover in the States. We are in good hands and things are going well. Christi has had morning sickness- or maybe all day everyday sickness for a several weeks now. We are hoping that clears up soon. She is very tired and craving a lot of food you can't get here in Rwanda, but otherwise things are good.

Mili is growing up so fast. She is saying so many words, some alphabet, numbers, colors and lots of nouns. She is a lot of fun these days. Rainy season is here so we haven't been able to have our evening playtime outside and look forward to when we can start that up again. A lady who started the year at our school as the secretary watched Mili two weekends ago for her first overnight. Christi and I had our first date since being here and went out for Chinese, watched a movie and enjoyed a quiet night. Then she watched her again last Friday night while Christi and I went out for dinner with another couple. We felt so blessed and it was nice to not have to chase Mili all over a restaurant. She's a mover that one!

School has been going really well. I have a Rwandan student who has been struggling academically even with many interventions and one-on-one tutoring by a volunteer. The school has a policy that if it cannot meet a students needs they will not take the parents money so that they can go elsewhere and have their needs met. Unfortunately the support from home had been lacking and the school was seriously considering withdrawing him. I came up with a compromise and I started tutoring the student and his mother two days a week before school to teach her how to support his learning at home and hopefully get him where he needs to be. We have a goal set that he needs to make in five weeks. Please pray that he would be able to meet this goal and continue with our class.

Some of you may have seen in the news that there were some grenades thrown here in Kigali. We still feel safe here, but there is some tension rising from the upcoming elections that will take place in August. Please pray that things will continue peacefully and that it remain calm here.

We are extremely excited that my parents will be coming out in two weeks. They will be here from March 7-23. It will be so great to see them. We thank the church for blessing us in sending them here. It has been very hard for us with not being able to see family. My aunt Vicki just passed away. She was literally one of the most amazing women who ever lived. She was an amazing mother, teacher, grandmother, and wife. She has been struggling with cancer and health problems for some time. She always had a positive attitude and put others before herself even when she was in pain. She is leaving a big hole in this planet, but we celebrate that we will see her again some day. We wished we could have been at the funeral and seen family during this time. Thank you all for your support.

what's going on these days

2010-02-02T23:40:00.000-08:00

I thought I would send out a quick note to let you know what we have been up to lately. We had a busy three weeks coming back from break. School fees were due and Christi has been swamped with work. Thankfully our African friend Christine has been able to watch Mili so Christi can get some things done. We just ended the 2nd quarter on Jan. 25. This meant I had a busy time of teaching, assessing and report cards. We didn't know until Wednesday, but Monday was a public holiday. It is Heroes Day. Every year the country nominates a new hero and celebrates all the past heroes. So we ended up having no school that day. A lot of teachers went out of town. We had contemplated doing the same so I scrambled to get lesson plans, report cards, and curriculum guides finished before the weekend started. We ended up staying home and having a relaxing time. The weather has been very hot so on Saturday I took Mili swimming. On Sunday we went to church and afterward went over to a friends house for a bbq and watched the Australian Open. We were the only Americans and everyone else was British so we rooted for Andy Murray just to be safe. On Monday we went to a birthday party for the sibling of one of my students and had lunch with a married couple that teaches at our school. It felt good to have some down time, but enough going on that we didn't get bored. I should be getting two new students this month which should add some excitement in the classroom. Things are still going really well with teaching and the kids are really making good progress. I'm having a good time. Mili is so much fun these days. She is saying all kinds of words and looking more and more like a little girl and not a baby anymore. If you haven't checked out our other blog you can see a lot more pictures of Mili- www.whippsworld@blogspot.com. We love the comfortable evenings and Mili loves running around outside. We have been outside each evening with our night guard Emanuel. He is working really hard to learn English and I have been taking Kinyarwanda (the local language) lessons, so we have been teaching each other. He and Mili chase each other around. She wasn't very comfortable with Africans when we first arrived. They are fascinated by her and have a tendency to surround her. This sort of freaks her out and she was scared at first. She is now comfortable and loves the people. She can say “what's up” in Kinyarwanda which the locals go nuts over. We are looking forward to my parents coming in early March. This is very exciting for us and it should be for them too. My Ugandan refugee friend ended up having a family emergency and left to go back. He was hiding in the city when I talked to him last, but I haven't been able to get a hold of him since. We are praying he is okay and safe. If you ever think of questions that go unanswered by our emails and blog, feel free to shoot us an email and we will try to answer them. We so appreciate hearing what is going on in the lives of our friends and families and miss you all very much. We have decided that we will only be here for one year. We will be coming home in mid June or early July. Thanks for all your emails, prayers and support.

Lake Bunyoni (the beginning of our vacation)

2010-01-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

This is our luggage coming over on our canoe.

This is the cabin we stayed in, with a beautiful view of the lake.

Our trip to the island was a canoe ride, where Tony got to help paddle.

The first full day there we took the canoe back to the main land and hiked up this hill (pretty intense) and to a village where we saw the blacksmith work.

These kids followed us the whole way up and back.

Christi helping air the fire for the blacksmiths.

The second day we took a 45 minute boat ride to the main land (other side of lake), and hiked about an hour to visit the Batwa Pgymy village. This is pretty much the whole village. They danced and sang for us, even the kids. It was an amazing time.

Here Mili and Christi are on the boat.

A view of the lake:

Queen Elizabeth National Park (more to come soon of Lake Bunyoni)

2010-01-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

Queen Elizabeth Park-it reminds me of the OPB show Nature.

Mili on safari.

Baboon

Lion

Buffalo

I loved how all the animals were together: hippos, buffalo,and elephants.

On the boat safari.

Crocodile Tail

Not sure what this is???

Beautiful Uganda!!

On the way back to Kabale we stopped and visited our driver's mother.

Christmas Break

2010-01-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! We had an amazing Christmas break. It is now Sunday and we will be going back to work tomorrow. There is way too much to write now so I will just give the highlights which I imagine will be long enough.
We left Rwanda on Tuesday December 22 and took a bus to Burundi to visit Christi's sister Trina and husband Seth. It was really good to be with family for Christmas. The Broses, a family that works with World Relief, were also staying there and we celebrated with them as well. They are amazing people and we were blessed to be in their presence. Unfortunately Christi's sister got Typhoid the night we arrived and was really sick for the first few days. She is beginning to recover now but has had a rough time for the last few weeks. In Burundi we celebrated, went to the beach -they live on lake Tanganika- and I played a lot of beach volleyball with Seth and his friends. We went to a zoo and saw a lot of animals. We fed guinea pigs to a leopard and crocodiles. I got to grab the crocodile's tail. Mili got to hold a snake and shake hands with a chimpanzee. We did a white elephant gift exchange and ate turkey. We took a boat ride on the lake and saw hippos.

Then on the 30th we took the bus back to Kigali and spent the new year and celebrated our six wedding anniversary by going out to breakfast. We also shared some meals with my refugee friend. He is still waiting on the Rwandan imigration before the UN can do anything else. He has been approved by the UN already and just needs permission from Rwanda. I went with him to the office, but it didn't help. We gave him Christi's old cell phone and so he is now waiting for a call from immigration with an answer. In the meantime the UN is going to pay for his room at the Red Cross but no meals. Since he is just waiting I am trying to help him find a job here. He is able to work and is willing. It isn't sustainable for us to keep providing money for his food so we will see if we can help him find work.

We decided we wanted to make the most of our Africa adventure and use the rest of our break to go somewhere. Our original plan was to go to Tanzania, but we weren't able to get a car to drive over with Seth and Trina, and Trina was too sick to go anyway. The cost to fly and do activities there was too much money so we cancelled the trip. We got some sage advice from Dan Brose who is a professional budget traveler and were able to plan a trip to Uganda for way less then I would have ever thought possible.

We took a bus on Jan. 4 across the border to a town called Kabale. It is about 2 hours from Kigali. We then took a taxi for about 30 minutes to lake Bunyonyi. It is a beautiful lake with 26 islands. We took a canoe, which was a log that was carved into a canoe, to an island where we stayed 3 nights. The place we stayed is a nonprofit that gives away the profits and more to benefit and educate the community. They help provide education and healthcare to those who need it. They also had really cheap prices. The whole island is run on solar. We stayed in a quaint little cabin. While on the island we hiked the whole thing and a local kid gave us a tour and showed us how they catch crayfish. We hiked up in the mountains to a village with blacksmiths and saw how they make tools with scrap metal. We took a boat ride across the lake and hiked up to the Batwa Pygmie's village and met them. They also danced for us and sold us some handmade baskets. We gave them a small gift to help buy food and clothing for the village. We wanted to buy a goat to take them, but the market wasn't running when we arrived.

The island also is connected with a tour company and all the proceeds from the tour go to support the community development projects as well. The prices for the tours were way less than any I've seen. We were able to get transportation from the lake to Queen Elizabeth National Park and do some safariing. We did several game drives and one boat ride. We were able to see lions, antelope, buffalo, baboons, hippos, elephants, warthogs, tons of birds, and monkeys. They also drove us all the way back to Kigali. It was so good to just be together as a family and we had a really good time together. Mili did really well with all the driving. Now it's back to the grindstone. I'm looking forward to seeing my kids again tomorrow. Christi is going in early to get back to bookkeeping as well. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year's too.

Holiday Break

2009-12-20T05:11:00.000-08:00

The break is here! It has been a good first part of the year. It has been exciting, frustrating, challenging, and heartwarming. Christi and I are both on break until Jan. 11th when school starts up again. Some teachers have already left on adventures. We will leave on ours Tuesday morning. We will be taking the bus to Burundi to spend Christmas with Seth and Trina. We are very excited. We are then going to try to make it over to Tanzania, but the plans are a little up in the air right now. You can pray that everything comes together at the right time. We feel so blessed to be able to have this adventure. We'll tell you all about it when we get back. We will be missing family a lot at this time and would appreciate your prayers about this. We feel blessed to be able to spend Christmas with family- bro and sis-in-law. I mentioned my refugee friend in a previous email. I would love your prayers for this man. He is waiting for the Rwanda government to permit him to stay in the country as a refugee. The UN is unable to help him until this happens. He has been getting the run around and is getting weary. He is also down since he won't be spending Christmas with his family. I am going to go with him to immigration tomorrow and see if that helps any. We would like to be able to do something before we leave so that we don't have to worry about what happens while we are gone. The UN will pay for his room at the Red Cross until the end of the week and if he doesn't have an answer about his immigration status by then they will cease to do that. I appreciate your prayers. He is also having a birthday on Christmas Day. He doesn't speak the local language here and we are about his only friends so he is feeling a bit anxious that he will be lonely as we leave this week. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We appreciate you all and thank God for you daily. Be safe and enjoy the holiday.

Our coworkers

2009-12-12T05:36:00.001-08:00

So our roommates are the one next to me on the right (in white): Rachel, she is the one from the UK. Our other roommate is the one in the green sweater in the middle: Anna Lee from the south.
The girls from left to right: Micah, Christi, Rachel, Emily, Anna Lee, Vicki, Mala, Erin.

Here are the guy teachers (from left to right): Chris, Levi, Douglas, Tony, Jack.

We had a Christmas party last night for the staff at school. So I thought I'd share the pictures of our friends here.

field trip

2009-12-06T04:24:00.001-08:00

Baby Bunnies

Tom Turkey

Learning about turkeys

Meeting the turkeys

Thanksgiving and giving thanks

2009-12-06T04:15:00.000-08:00

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.

Updating...

2009-11-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday! Actually we already had one. We got together with other teachers and had a nice little thanksgiving feast. We even had mashed potatoes and ham. It was a great time. We have Thursday and Friday off of school this week. We bought bus tickets and will be leaving Thursday morning to go to Burundi to stay with Christi's sister and husband. We get to have another Thanksgiving there. It will be good to be with family on that day. They even bought a turkey!

Speaking of turkeys- I am taking my class on their first field trip. We will be going to the house of a student in my class who raises turkeys. It should be a good time. School has been going well. It is busy and exhausting, but quite rewarding too. My students are making really good progress. The families are quite supportive and do their part at home too. This is a nice change for me. I've been learning a lot about teaching too. It has been a good experience to use some different materials and approaches and compare the results. Christi has also been doing well in her work. It is hard to do with Mili and a house to take care of. She has been working really hard and there is a lot to be done helping get the school's finances entered into QuickBooks.

A friend of Christi's just left to go back to the States to have a baby and is lending us her car until the beginning of January. We are learning to drive in Africa and enjoying the extra freedom of coming and going when we want and not having to worry about buses, taxis, and motos. We also got to go see Rwanda play Zambia at the stadium. They tied 0-0. This took them out of the Africa Cup and put Zambia in. They needed to win by two goals. It was a lot of fun. We took our night guard to the game with us and he had a good time too.

Mili has been doing so well. It is nice to have her healthy. She enjoyed being able to see and talk to both sets of Grandparents on Skype the last couple weekends. I came down with a really bad cold and decided to stay home from work today. I'm hoping some good rest and medicine will help getting me feeling better for the weekend ahead. Christi has been in good health. We both have diarrhea and stomach aches now and then, but that is part of Africa.

I have realized that I need Africa a lot more than Africa needs me. I had been in a comfortable place where I didn't have a lot, but I also didn't have a lot of needs. I didn't live in a way that was dependent on God. This in turn affected my view of who God is, how I lived, etc. Being here in Africa I am very dependent on God, and I have seen Him take care of us time and time again. This in turn changes my view of God and how I live, etc. It is a good place to be. It has been nice to get to know some Africans here and see their perspectives on life and God too. Nothing here works quite right and everything takes a long time. This is great for me to learn some patience and to slow down. You either embrace it or you are mad all the time. While most things are slower and take longer there are some really good things about that. Most of the work is slower and more manual. This employs more people and creates less damage environmentally. It also means that we have tons of great organic produce. We have planted a little garden at our house and the seeds started to sprout after only 4 days. Almost everything is made from scratch and we almost never eat processed foods. I'm sure I've lost at least 10 lbs. Since we've been here. I can't believe we've been here for almost 12 weeks and how different it feels now. We are doing well and hope this finds you the same way.

trips and meds

2009-10-31T02:20:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy few weeks. Our brother-in-law Seth was in town. It was so good to see him a and spend some time with him. He borrowed a truck and we drove a couple hours to a town called Kabuye that is on lake Kivu. It was a beautiful place. We stayed the night at a place called the Bethanie Center. It was right on the lake. They had a restaurant with good food and the rooms were nice. Our room even had a beautiful view of the lake. It cost $20 for the night. The next morning we took a boat out on the lake and stopped at an island to walk around. We then came back to Kigali and had some wood fire oven pizza that was pretty good. The drive was very beautiful. It was nice to get out of the city for the first time and see more of Rwanda. It is a very beautiful, green, hilly country. Almost everything you see is farmed. The hills are terraced and farmed. I heard that the leading cause of injury in Rwanda is from people falling out of their steep hilly gardens.

The next weekend Christi and Mili took a bus to Burundi to visit her sister. It took about 6 hours and was uneventful. The bus is sort of a small Greyhound and the roads are paved. She left on a Thursday morning and came back on Monday afternoon. She mostly just relaxed and hung out with her sister and brother-in-law. I missed them like crazy. I did have a chance to spend some time with teachers from my school. We did two movie nights where we borrowed the school's projectors and watched them on the "big screen." It also gave me a chance to explore the city a little more. On Sunday night I went out for coffee with a friend from Uganda who is the youth pastor of the church by our house. He's a great guy and it was good to get to know him a little better. The whole time Christi and Mili were gone I was suffering with a bad ingrown toenail. I had it looked at by a friend who recommended I go to the doctor and get it cut out. I soaked it in hot salt water twice a day and took ibuprofen. I couldn't get an appointment until Monday afternoon, and by then it had pretty much healed from soaking. I cut out a piece that was digging into the skin and it has not given me any problems since.

This week has been really hard. Mili came down with a fever. She had been fighting it for about a day and a half when it went up really high on Wednesday night. We called our friend Becca, she and her husband are the country directors in Rwanda for World Relief, and she picked us up and drove us to the main hospital in Kigali called King Faisal. They gave her Tylenol and took a blood sample to test for bacterial infection and malaria. They also put her on an IV drip to get fluids in her. It was really scary being having a sick baby in a foreign hospital, but we were really pleased with the cleanliness, knowledge and care we received. After several hours her fever had still not come down and they recommended we admit her. We asked to wait until the blood tests came back. When they did they were both negative for malaria and bacterial infection. They thought it must be viral. When the test came back she was starting to look better and we had her temperature taken again and it was normal. We ended up going home and it was fine the rest of the night and all the next day. Becca stayed with us the whole time and we didn't get home until after 1am. Just before 6:00pm on Thursday night her temperature spiked again to almost 105. Our friend Becca was stuck in traffic and unable to pick us up. I called my principal who came and got us. He suggested we get her in a bath to get her temperature down. We went to his house, which is near the hospital, and gave her a bath and gave her some medicine we had gotten from the hospital the night before. Her temperature came down to about 102 for 15 minutes and then started to go back up again. We gave her another bath and it came back down and this time stayed down. She became more attentive and less lethargic. She even started playing and laughing which was so good. I had sent out text messages to friends here to pray. One person got me in touch with a Canadian nurse and American doctor who gave us great advice. We ended up staying the night at my Principal's house whose family was amazing. They fed us, prayed with us, and put us up for the night. The next day Christi took Mili to a pediatrician who also said it was viral, and not swine flu. She hasn't had a fever since and has been doing really well. I had gone to work both days and was exhausted by the end of school on Friday. The kids had a half day and I went home an hour early and took a nap with Mili. The entire emergency room visit, medicine, and pediatrician visit totaled less than 100 dollars which was so nice.

Today is Umaganda where the country shuts down from 8am to noon so that everyone can work in their community on service projects. At 2pm our school is having a costume party put on by the parent teacher organization. We aren't sure what we are going to dress up as yet, but it will be nice to have something fun to do this weekend. Tomorrow we are having lunch with the family of one of my students. They are so nice and it will be good to get to know them better. I hope this finds you all well. Thanks for all your prayers and support. We feel very loved by all our friends, family, and coworkers in the States and here in Kigali as well.

Kabuye

2009-10-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

All of the hills on the way there looked like these. They farm all the land they can.

Mili made a friend on Peace Island.
Seth and Mili swinging.

This is the place we stayed in Kabuye-Bethanie House.

The restaurant overlooking Lake Kivu.
Our view from our room.

Scenery Pictures

2009-10-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

Mili and I took a walk this morning around our neighborhood. I just took a few pictures to show everyone the views we have of the city.

The city is tearing down homes like shown below, and building new, big houses. It is quite sad because it is causing the people that live in these homes to move out of the city because they cannot afford it.

Futbol

2009-10-10T02:51:00.000-07:00

We are starting to feel more settled and things are getting more comfortable. We are still really happy with our living arrangement. It seems to be working out well. This weekend the two girls went away leaving us with the place to ourselves. That will be nice too. Christi is going to get to play in a soccer game today. It is a bunch of ex pat ladies vs. the women from Parliament. All of the proceeds go to a charity called the 1 dollar campaign.

I woke up sick this morning, but am hoping I will be feeling well enough to take Mili to cheer her mom on. The game is being played at the stadium here in Kigali and will possible be televised- maybe even by CNN. Christi might be famous. Teaching is still going well and Christi got some training in Quick Books yesterday so she will be able to get going on her bookkeeping a little easier.

We are excited that our brother-in-law Seth will be here on Monday. Trina is coming up next weekend and we are going to try to get away for a night. We are excited about that. We still really miss family, friends and Fall, but we are making friendships and things are beginning to feel normal.

Thoughts so far

2009-09-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Life lately has felt like a roller coaster. One minute we are really excited about being here and the adventure and new experiences and friendships being made. The next minute we are frustrated, homesick, and exhausted. Life here takes work. Even just going to the store can be work and exhausting, physically and emotionally. Christi's sister Trina came for a visit. It was really great to see her. She stayed at our place on Saturday night before going home on Sunday. We were kind of down after saying goodbye. We decided to play a super cheesy game called "I like, you like." I said something I liked about being here and Christi said something she liked. It actually made me realize that there are a lot of great things here and it will take time to adjust. I'm still really enjoying teaching. I have a new student coming next week, and three more by February. This will make 17. An amazing number for teaching these days. However, my class can barely fit 14 kids as it is. It will be crowded, but we'll be okay. Maybe I'll group all the desks together and when we do carpet time I will put it over all the desks and they can sit on top. I'll have to think about that one. We are getting to meet some really great people here. Our other house mate arrives tomorrow. It has been really nice being able to share expenses. Kigali is a really expensive place to live. Most things cost as much or more than they do in the States. Christi priced hairspray at $25 a bottle. God has provided amazingly for us. I got to talk to my brother and parents on the phone, and Christi got to talk to her parents. We were using skype so it wasn't the best connection, but it was good to hear their voices. Last Saturday was Umaganda. Once a month the city shuts down from 8-12 and you gather with your neighbors and do a service project. We weren't sure where our neighbors were so we picked up the garbage in the field across the street. There are some fun random things here such as having a water tower in our yard for when the water goes out, sleeping under mosquito nets, and eating authentic African food most nights of the week. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Pictures of our new place

2009-09-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Here is our kitchen to the left is the sink and to the right is cabinets and a counter.

The new way of doing Mili's diapers. They come out very stiff.

This is the view from the front gate. The school is to the left (that big building) and the church is straight across. Both are literally a minute walk away.

This is our side yard with our own water tower.

The backyard. It is a great yard for Mili to play in now that the garbage is picked up thanks to our guard.

Our room. The wall with the door (where the photo was taken) are shelves).

The dining room (now minus the lacy tablecloth).

The living area (now minus the doilies).

A picture of the front of the place. It is a duplex style home. Upstairs is where the two girls live with a bathroom. The window to the left of the door is our room. To the right of the door is our bathroom (with no hot water). Downstairs is the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

Our New Place

2009-09-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

We have now been in Kigali for just over two weeks. We moved into our new place on Wednesday. Anna Lee (I think I called her Anna Bell in a previous post-oops!) also moved upstairs the same night. Rachel, who will have the other upstairs room will be here around Oct. 1st, arriving from the U.K. There was some painting and switching of broken appliances that needed to take place before we could move in. They were done poorly and at the last minute, but we were still happy to be getting settled in our own place. We found out the little shower in our bathroom does not have hot water so we will all be sharing the shower in the bathroom upstairs for a while. We are just finishing unloading our bags and trying to cram everything into the bookshelf that will serve as our dresser. After the first night we discovered we had a really bad sugar ant problem. Christi walked to the store and picked up some bug spray and we cleaned out the kitchen and let 'em have it. The neighborhood was sprayed for mosquitoes today and that may help too. They sprayed all the rooms in our house. We hired two Rwandans to help at our place. Angel will be working inside and Task will be working outside. They have each worked a couple days and seem to be working out well. Neither of them speaks very much English so we picked up a Kinyarwanda/English dictionary to start practicing and to help with translation.
On Friday night we had an open house for parents. I got to meet almost all of them. It was a long day, but it went well. This weekend is a public holiday and there is no school on Monday. We are ready for the long weekend. A lot of the teachers went out of town, but we had too much going on to get away. We may try a day trip if it works out. I got to experience a motorcycle taxi today as I rode over to near my principal's house. He took me to buy a washing machine for our place. It isn't like the ones in the states. It is a top loader and then has a little spinning basket on the side that spins out the water. It will work well for us though. I tried it out tonight and it seemed to do the job. Although, since the upstairs bathroom is the only one with hot water we have to cart buckets from there the the room outside where it is. God has provided for us in amazing ways. We are feeling tired and out of sorts, but things are coming together. We are really missing our family and friends. Please pray that our hearts will be comforted being so far away from those we love. Things do not run as smoothly here as they do in the States and it can be hard at times. We feel like we have been going all day and night since we first started getting ready to come here. We are ready to be settled and begin adjusting to life here. There have been some sick kids at school so please pray that for our health as well.

One week down

2009-09-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we have officially completed week one in Africa. It has been busy, tiring, and exciting. I really enjoyed teaching this week and like my class. I have a new student coming on Monday. We are really excited because we found a house to rent. It is right across the street from the school! We will be sharing it with two other single girls who teach at my school. It is sort of a split level. When you walk in our bedroom is on the main floor and across the hall is a bathroom with a shower. Upstairs are two bedrooms for the girls- Anna Bell and Rachel. Downstairs is the living room- with doors leading to the back yard and a covered porch, a dining room, and kitchen. Most houses we have looked at don't have a yard so we were excited to have a place for Mili to play. The house needs a little work so we don't know exactly when we can move in . Hopefully early next week. We also got our visas today. We can now open a bank account here tomorrow and do some shopping for our new home. That is what we have planned for tomorrow. We are also going to go out for lunch at an African buffet. All the food we have eaten here has been amazing. So far my favorites are a drink called marakuja. Not sure if that is spelled right. It is passion fruit juice that is mixed with sugar. You dilute it with water. It is really good. Another is a type of spinach that grows here and it is mixed with ground peanuts and cooked. You put it on rice. There is also a type of bread called Chipatti. It is sort of like a thick chewy tortilla. We are all starting to sleep better and get used to things. Christi started working at the school a little bit. The library needs a lot of work and she may be able to help get that going since she has some experience with that. She went to a Bible study on Tuesday and will be going to a Mom's group on the opposite Tuesdays. She is ready to be in our own place. It is great here where we are, but she is sort of stuck at home on the days she doesn't have an event. She took Mili for a walk in our hiking pack and was laughed at. They call white people Muzungus here. We hear that a lot. It is different being a minority. I'm not used to that. Well, we are going to watch a movie and then off to bed.

Our new settings

2009-09-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

This is the school's lunch room.
Tony's classroom!!

Playground

School

First day of school

2009-09-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today I got up around 5am. Mili still half thinks the night is day. She was up for about an hour last night. A great way to start off the first day of school. I went in and looked around my classroom until the kids came. April, who has been subbing for me last week came in today to help me get my bearings. It was great to get to know my kids and start teaching, even though I didn't feel ready. They are really great. The school day here is pretty long compared to what I'm used to and it is still early in the year for first graders who are used to half days from Kindergaten. It all went really well and April took my class to recess, lunch, and PE so I had time to work in my classroom. Lisa, who we are staying with, is doing reception at the school for now so I carpooled with her. Everyone was really friendly at school. The headmaster even offered to take over my class in the afternoon so I could have some extra time to rest. I wasn't going to feel ready or settled until I had some time to set up and get into the curriculum so I stuck around. I was pretty tired by the end of the day, but it felt good to be teaching. When I got home Christi's sister Trina was there visiting. We chatted a while and then she took us out to dinner at a coffee shop/restaurant called Bourbon. It is Rwanda's answer to Starbucks. It might even be nicer and the coffee was at least as good. It felt very American. Not exactly what we had in mind for our first meal out, but it was really tastey and fun to hang out with Trina. I'm pretty wiped out so I'm off to bed. It was a good day. I hope I have enough energy to take the wheel tomorrow.

2 Days in Pictures

2009-09-05T12:47:00.001-07:00

Mili and Tony enjoying some time on the front porch.

This is the place we are staying right now until we find somewhere to live.

Mili loves the dog, the dog doesn't really care about her. So she likes to follow it around.

Eating breakfast.

There are 2 kittens where we are staying and Mili loves to play with them.

We spent Saturday afternoon with Trina, watching her friends play tennis. This is the covering for the restaurant area.

Mili hanging out with auntie Trina while she is visiting.

Mili has been so tired because of the schedule differences and falls asleep anywhere.

The first day

2009-09-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

We are here! After arriving on the evening of Sept. 3, we were greeted by the headmaster of the school, a teacher, a board member, and a couple who help with transition. They were so great and helped us get our bags. We then loaded into a jeep and headed to our home for now. We are staying with Mark and Lisa who are the transition team for the school. When we got to their house we had a snack, informed our families that we had arrived safely, chatted a bit, and went to bed. We slept okay. We had just gotten done with a long day of flying and were exhausted. We woke up around 7am (we are 9 hours ahead) and had some breakfast, homemade granola and fresh fruit. We then went with Mark to the school. Mark got everything we needed for our visas and gave us a tour of the school. It is a beautiful campus. I even got to meet my class. They are very excited for me to start teaching. There is a mom of two students at the school who has taught the first week for me and we will teach together on Monday. My class is very diverse. There are students from Rwanda, the U.S., Canada, Argentina, and all over Africa. They were very cute and appeared well behaved. I was also able to have lunch with them. The school provides lunch that is made by locals. We had spaghetti with fresh pineapple. It was delicious. After that we went with Mark to look for houses. There is one for rent a short walk to the school. We are still looking at the possibility of sharing a house, but otherwise this would be a good option. I brought all the teacher editions home to look at and prepare lesson plans with. There is a lot to be done. We cannot set up a bank account until we get our passports back with the visas. Tomorrow we may try to set up a cell phone. We are very tired and ready for some rest. Mili seems to have a lot of energy though. She spent the morning running around the school and took a nap while we were looking at houses. She had a fever on the plane ride, but that seems to have cleared up. Mark and Lisa's housekeeper made an African dinner that looks delicious. Christi's sister Trina is coming into town today and hopes to see us this evening. Then we plan to crash. Please pray that we can get some good rest, that Mili will stay healthy and the fever will not return. Also pray for our jet lag and getting everything set up with the bank, visa, cell phone, house, etc. Please pray that we will have the energy that we need to get things done and the time to rest when we need it. Please pray for Christi as she begins to find out what her life will be like here and as I prepare for and begin to teach. Thank you all for your prayer and support.

Support Emails

2009-08-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody,
I hope this letter finds you well.
We have a big decision to make, or more accurately, a miracle to pursue. Christi and I have long had a dream of going to Africa to teach and serve. We have been looking into this for some time, to see what is available, and that is what prompts this letter. We were contacted this past weekend with an opportunity to go to Kigali, Rwanda, to teach First Grade at Kigali International Community School (http://www.kicsrw.org/), starting in September of this year. While Christi and I had been thinking about this more as a possibility for the 2010-11 school year, we want to be open to God’s leading in His time.
The school pays a stipend of $1,000 per month plus air fare to and from Rwanda. We would be responsible to raise an additional $2000 per month for ten months to cover living expenses. We recognize that this is humanly impossible to accomplish, but we want to be open to God’s leading and feel compelled to pursue it as an option. We would commit to the ten month contract only if God puts it on the hearts of our friends and families to pledge the needed support for that period of time, and if we find a renter for our house (we may have someone lined up who is interested in this). I will be able to take the next school year off unpaid and return to the district with full pay and benefits. Also, we would not consider this if we did not have the support of our parents who have been very open to the idea despite how crazy it seems. Thank God for such an amazing family.
If you feel that God is calling you to partner with us in this venture, then we are asking you to contact us and let us know in what way you feel led to give by August 16th. Please do not send money. At this point we are looking for pledges and a sign of God’s leading. If He provides through you all, then we will go. If not, we will stay. However, we would pursue this for the following fall. If you wish to partner anonymously or do not wish us to know your contribution amount, then you may also contact our parents. If you do not feel like this is something that you are led to be a part of, then there is no need to respond. If you know someone who may be interested, feel free to forward this letter.
Thank you so much for taking the time to prayerfully consider this.

Tony, Christi, and Mili Whipps

whippsjoint@juno.com
503-669-7009
317 SE Linden Ct.
Gresham, OR 97080

Ken Newcomb (Christi's father) 503-665-3121
newcombk@ohsu.edu

Gordy Whipps (Tony's father) 509-754-6221
GandNWhipps@netscape.com

tony whipps wrote:

Hello everyone. I'm sorry this did not get sent out sooner. Christi and I got our messages mixed and we both thought the other sent it. Wow! It has been a very busy week. We can hardly believe it, but the impossible happened. We raised enough support and everything on our end worked out. We will be moving to Kigali Rwanda early next month. We are very excited. It was a hard decision to make, but with all the doors God opened we couldn’t ignore his hand in all of it. I will be taking a year of unpaid leave which is being approved this evening by the school board. My brother Andy (amazing big brother- I highly recommend him for all your big brother needs) is going to be renting our house and taking care of our dog Cooper. We will have to drive up to Seattle to get Mili’s passport, which can be done in one day. Thanks to the economy we can refinance our house right now and save some money monthly toward that.

We ended up not needing as much money as we originally stated. Christi was offered and has accepted a bookkeeping position with the school. She will have to work about 10 hours a week, but could work from home or at the school and put Mili in their preschool program for childcare. They will be paying her $400/ month. We have been really surprised at how expensive it is to live there. A furnished home costs $1200/ month and that is with a discount from paying six months upfront. We have been able to find some ways to cut costs though. We will also consider shared housing. Christi and I are very frugal and will employ those skills as much as possible.

There were some very good questions we were asked about health and safety. Kigali is the capitol city and very safe. We will be living a pretty sheltered life there. Each home has water filtration. You are required as a westerner to employ a housekeeper and night security. There have been no violent crime toward westerners. Petty theft is the main concern. There is also a very strong and tight expat community that will be helping us get settled. My brother-in-law and possibly sister-in-law will be coming to Kigali in October. Trina even offered to meet us at the airport. The school has found a substitute teacher to begin the school year for me and to give us some time to get settled. They have been amazing- calling and emailing us everyday.

We are still finalizing the money situation, but the hope would be to send all contributions to our home church, Mosaic, in Portland. They would be the ones to send you a tax statement at the end of the year. 100% of all funds will go directly to us unless they need us to help pay a few hours for their bookkeeper each month. We will let you know exactly how that will work as soon as we get it set up. We wanted to get this out to you with that information, but it didn’t work out.

Please pray that getting all of our shots and Mili’s passport will go smoothly and that we will be able to get ready and go without getting too stressed out.

If you do not want to be on an update list please let us know and we will remove your name. We will set up a blog to keep people updated and will try to do a monthly newsletter as well. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. We love you all.

Love,

Tony, Christi, and Mili

Hi Everyone.
> This is our latest update as well as financial information for those of you who are supporting us financially. First off we just got back from my parent's home in Ephrata, WA. We had a great time with everyone. Andy came with us. We got to see a few people from the church there which was really nice.
> While we were there we got our flight confirmation from the travel agent who is booking our ticket. We will be leaving the morning of September 2nd. We fly from Portland to Washington D.C., D.C. to Brussels, and Brussels to Kigali.
> On our way home we stopped in Seattle to take care of Mili's passport. Because our appointment wasn't until the end of their work day they couldn't get it to us the same day. They will be mailing it to us. The latest it should arrive is Tuesday. This is a little stressful since we are leaving on Wednesday. Please pray that it arrives before then. Please pray for us as we pack up our things to take and box up our things to stay. An amazing teacher friend of mine, Katie, let us store all of my classroom things in their attic. Praise God for her and her family.
> We met with the global missions person from our church and they will be sending us out. They will help us set up a support team that will stay updated on what we are doing, send care packages, remember our birthdays, etc. They will also put updates in the bulletin and website. They are excited for us and we are happy for their support.
>
> If you will be supporting us financially we will be sending all support through our home church, Mosaic. DO NOT PUT OUR NAMES ON THE CHECK. Please put Rwanda Fund on the memo line and it will go directly to us. Please mail your support to Mosaic, Attn: Isaac. P.O. Box 13128, Portland, OR 97213-0128. On the church website you can give online. Again, just flag it for the Rwanda Fund.
> www.mosaicportland.org
> This is for one time online donations, not direct withdrawal.
> If you are at the Soap Lake church they may just send one check each month. Please check with my mom, if that applies to you.
>
> Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, donations and love.
>
> Tony, Christi, and Mili