Jane (headmaster's wife), me and Chantal (pastor's wife) in our Sunday best. Fabulous!
Here I am with other children who had American addresses in their Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I will write to them on behalf of the children and include a photo of the child.
Compassion International kids getting extra instruction on Saturday mornings.
My sweet Clementine (who got our shoebox gift) and her mother Gratias

The morning I am leaving. Pastor Elson, Chantal, Grace and me.

Pastor Elson's friends, now my friends, Soline who is a minister in the president's office and her husband Manasser (who also works in the government) gave me this beautiful book of Rwanda. Manasser grew up in Muhura.




That's President Paul Kagame dancing. It's not WHAT you know it's WHO you know :)
Soline with the president and others.










Soline and Manasser's house. They have come a long way from Muhura.

I went to visit my childhood friend Hilde today and she put the photos in my camera on a CD. I have the rest saved on the laptop and will post later, but I am glad I can show you some now. One of my suitcases arrived a few minutes ago. I am able to charge the camcorder and digital camera, but the laptop cord is in the other suitcase. Tomorrow I am going to Lillehammer to visit my aunt. I will take photos of the beautiful mountains where the winter olympic were held in 1994.
Kirsten in Norway

The capital city of Kigali.







The hotel from the movie "Hotel Rwanda"

Me with some cute boys.







I played soccer with this guy. He has a homemade ball like most children in Rwanda.




This little boy had no pants . I gave him a granola bar and a car. I gave his mother some money.

View from the road

Pastor Elson's kids Alliance (7) and Shalom (5)

Pastor Elson's living room

Pastor's youngest child Grace (1)



My last Sunday Chantal (pastor's wife) dressed me Rwandan style for church




Road to Muhura




Internet cafe in Bymba and Muhura church

I am working on recapping my week in Rwanda, but first let me ask you this question: Whether you built your dream house or you are renting an apartment:

What is your favorite thing about your home? Think about it for a minute before continuing.........

I would have said my big beautiful kitchen with too much cabinet space, my pool and secluded back yard, the huge game room with built in book cases and a wet bar and my jaccuzzi tub in my bathroom. Now I say indoor plumbing is my favorite thing about my house, followed by a close 2nd - electricity 24/7. We all know people live in poverty around the world, but this past week I did. It is difficult to put into words all my feelings, and actually where I stayed is one of the best houses in Muhura. The pastor has electricity for 3 hours a day. He has a 13" TV and one TV station, but he has an outhouse, cooking is done outside and his children who will be 6 and 8 this summer have never had icecream. From now on I will clean my toilet and my shower with joy since I personally met hundreds of people who have neither. Most of them don't even know what they are missing. They know very little about the world outside their village.

Please pray my missing luggage will find their way to me. The films and video tapes along with other important infomation about Muhura is there along with gifts for some of you.
Love and God's blessings to you all.

Hello there!

I hope you are all doing well. I am Rwandaful!! Pastor Elson's uncle, Jean-Baptiste, taught me that. (He is the director for Youth for Christ).

I am now in Norway. I have so much to write and it will take a while so I will first post this brief message. I corrected my previous typos from the bad keyboard :).

Thank you for all your comments. It is so exciting to read them.

My luggage is lost somewhere between Africa and here so I do not have the cable to upload pictures. I will call my brother when it is morning in the US to see if he has one here at his house. (He arrived in Texas on Saturday).

Last night I had my first shower in 2 weeks. Awesome!! Even without running water the educated people in Rwanda are very clean. They wash themselves morning and evening, but the villagers do not.

Love and blessings to you all.

I love you Kristin and Erik. Thank you Kristin for all your comments.
Din Mamma OXOXOXOX!!!