Sunday, July 19, 2009

Happy

July 19th 2009
My time here is going by so increadibly fast. I have two weeks left and I feel like I just got here. The thought keeps crossing my mind..."Could I stay?", but there is so muchthat I feel is at home too. It's one of the hardest feelings to want to be in two places at once.
Anyways this past week has been interesting. So many things happen here that really break so many norms I hold for so many different things. On Tuesday morning, Tom, Christi, and I left to go to a village south of Butare to a group of women that make some of the handbags that we sell. We got somewhat lost, given that dirt roads don't generally have street signs. A boy sitting on the side of the road got in the bed of the truck and wanted to help us find the cell (a division in the country) that we were looking for. He was definatly an answered prayer (also a little random), because Tom had prayed for help maybe two mintues before we saw him. Meeting the women was really neat at this group. The kids are on holiday so there were so many around. Tom wanted me to take pictures of the area to send to the company that buys the bags. I had the help of about ten kidsfollowing me when I went outside to look around. We got to play soccer a little too :)
By the end of the day when we got to Butare, it was too late to get a bus back so we stayed in a Catholic guest house Tuesday night. This was one of the events that broke some of my expectaions about hotels. The rooms that we stayed in were formed from a big warehouse with wooden walls. The walls didnt go all the way to the ceiling so you could hear everything in the other rooms. People in Rwanda are very much into radio programs. So for most of the night and again at 5 am we got to hear some broadcasts (no idea what they were about).
On a little bit better of a note, I've been praying to be able to understand the people better here and just have any insight on where theyre coming from. The more people I get to know personally, the more I think I understand things here. I try to makeblanket statments/ thoughts about different issues in order to helps things here make more sense. Like I'll see something or someone doing something so completely different from what I'm used to and I'll project that behavior or action to everyone here. But getting to know people here personally shows me that even though it's a different country and there are things that are different from home, the people here are just people. They are all indavidual and so different from eachother, with different temperments and personalities.
I got to go with Karen to her Kinyrwandan lesson last week and got to talk to her tutor, Denise, and sit with her baby Audrey. Densise is so open and friendly and her baby is one of the cutest little girls I've seen. Denise showed us all her wedding pictures and shared so much with us. She let me sit with Audrey too (I really wanted to take her home lol) Meeting girls like Denise gives me a different veiw of people here. It's easy to want to become a little defensive when all you here all day is Muzungu. It feels like people just veiw you as something interestingto look at, but meeting people like Denise make you see that people here really are caring and open.
Today, the kids at a childrens home up the street let me come do one of the talks for church this morning. They always have one of the kids speak and one of the "grown ups" speak. Ironically, the little boy from the home that spoke before me had a more "grown up" talk than I did. He spoke on Job and how God doesn't leave us, but alows us to go through hard things so we can be tested and come out stronger than before. It's really neat to see how much passion and faith some of the kids have, even when they are so young. My talk on the other hand had to do with how our hearts are like Christ's home and how each different rooms in the house can be like part of our lives and we need to let Him be in each part of it (for a younger crowd lol) The best part of the day was when I sat down after the talk and the boy sitting next to me pointed at a verse that I had said, as if to show me how he was listening. After the service was over I looked up and saw a group of girls copying down the verses from a poster I had put up during the talk. It's really encouraging to see how much some of them want to learn and grow like that.
So theres about five kids from the home that I want to take back with me (yes karen you have to fight me for some of them lol :) ). One little girl, Happy, isn't an orphan but lives in the neighborhood and comes around all the time. She is so sweet and one of the most beautiful girls I've seen here. Shes always holding and taking care of the other little kids in the home. She told me today that she was going to call me Happy from now on. I was a little confused and told her that would mean we would have the same name and she seemed pretty content with that lol. hah shes coming home with me fo sho!
Well im going to head to sleep so I can run in the am :) Night!
This is Happy and I at the kids home...she had just done my hair for me.

2 comments:

  1. No no no Bethy you can't stay.... I want you home :)
    I love that picture.... I didn't know that the little girl had done your hair for you... that's so sweet...
    we called Jenny this morning in Indiana and sang happy birthday to her.... she is 18 years old today... very hard to believe.
    Daddy try to get a hold of you on the computer this morning so we could talk to you and see you, but you were there... must've been about one o'clock your time in the afternoon... I was thinking that we could have Mr. and Mrs. nobles come over for dinner you come home... I'm sure that Mr. nobles as a pastor would love to hear about your trip.... well, I'm feeling much better about leaving my job... I really didn't have a choice... that's the part stings...
    I should here today whether or not I got into the doctorial program... pray for me; as I pray for you ... baby girl... Bethy---hummmm! MOM

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  2. Hey Beth .... my misspellings are because I'm stupid.. LOL
    it's my naturally speaking software..

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