Enjoying God's Creation

These are some photos we have taken recently of birds and lizards in our yard. We are constantly amazed at God's beautiful creation!

Grey-headed Sparrows

Right: Common Bulbul

A pair of Red-beaked Firefinch Waxbills preening themselves

Below: Waxbill - Immature Dusky Twinspot

White Browed Robin Chat (this one definitely chats a lot! Wakes us up every morning!)

Black-headed Heron on our neighbor's roof

Lizard and baby lizard enjoying the afternoon sun

Friends' Peace House

On Sunday after church we talked with Joyce’s husband, Gaston, (Joyce was our first language helper) and he invited us to visit the school/center he works at. So Monday morning we met him at the church and we walked up the hill to the center. It is called “Friends’ Peace House”. “Friends” because it is a department of the Friends church and “Peace” because they are promoting peace and reconciliation. They take in street kids and genocide orphans and help them with their education. The young ones (primary school) are placed in local schools and in families. They try to keep the kids with their own family members whenever possible.

The older ones they also try to find homes for them but they do have about 10 teenage boys who sleep there. They have schooling for the older ones on their site. In addition to making sure they can read and write, they teach them a trade like sewing, carpentry, welding, cooking, hair cutting/braiding, etc. They also have counseling to help them with trauma, forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, trust, AIDS and any other issues. They have monthly get-togethers with former students – many who are now married with kids – and share what they are doing now and pray for each other. If someone has a financial need, they take up collections and help each other out.

We spoke with the superintendent and he said that teenagers and young adults are still dealing with issues because of the genocide and, of course, many of them lost their whole family structure so they don’t have the traditional support system that they should have. He also said that before the genocide, 95% of Rwandans claimed to be “Christian”. Obviously, it was only a claim and not a strong heart changing belief. They want the young people today to realize that knowing Christ personally can change their lives and that they can live in peace with their neighbors, no matter what ethnic group they are in.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go into the classrooms but it was interesting to hear from the folk who are working there and to know what they are doing. We are glad to see the church taking on the challenges of working with the youth and trying to change the outlook of this generation.

Gaston is leaving for the U.S. this week to join up with a team from around the world. They will be performing dances from their countries. The purpose is to show unity and peace. He is going to Maryland. It is his first time going to the US and he is very excited! He himself is an orphan from the genocide and was taken in by some American missionaries who made sure he got an education. He is a very nice young man and has a real heart for underprivileged and neglected kids.

Umushyitsi!

We had an earthquake this morning! It was a small one but definitely gave a jolt. We asked both Mama Fifi and Charlotte about it but neither of them felt it so it must not have been too wide spread (or they were walking or on a bus at the time). I looked up the Kinyarwanda word for earthquake in our dictionary in order to ask Mama Fifi about it and I could tell she wasn’t getting what I was saying. She switched to French and said, “visiteurs”. I told her the French word for earthquake and she started laughing! Come to find out, the Kinyarwanda word for earthquake is umushyitsi and the word for visitor is also umushyitsi! The difference is in the pronunciation: earthquake is oo moo shee EEt see and visitor is oo moo shee-eet see. Got it? Well, we had a good laugh and hopefully I will remember the difference and not call our visitors “earthquakes”!

Emily called this evening – she is packing up! Getting ready to come back to Kigali for a month. Very exciting!! She arrives Sat. morning. We are going to a wedding in the afternoon. I hope she is awake enough!

Mark got an urgent call just after 7:00 this morning from Gilles – he was heading off to the kids to school but his car wouldn’t start! Well, they figured out the problem but needed new parts so Mark drove Gilles and the boys to drop them off at school. Gilles later in the morning Mark and Gilles got the car running again in time to pick them up for their lunch break.

We learned three different forms of present tense in Kinyarwanda today: There’s –ra- which you put with the verb for “continuous” present ie: urakora means “you are working” but it could be happening at any time during that day. There’s “at this moment” present “uri urakora” which means you are right now working. Then there is “urimo gukora” which means right this specific moment you are actually working. I think there are some other ways to say present tense also. This is why we need prayer!!

Baby Dedication

Mark reminded me of something funny that happened in church a week ago. The church service is 3 hours long which gives them plenty of time for about 1 ½ hours of singing, ½ hour for announcements and offering, ½ hour for testimonies and prayer and ½ hour for sermon. (times are approximate). I wish we could understand the testimony time. We’ve asked later and found that some people praise God for healing them, for helping them get into college, for an engagement, for protection, and the best ones are for new babies. We asked our language helper about this one to make sure that is what it is and we were right. When a couple has a baby, they bring the baby to church and present it to God. The dad always says a few words and then sometimes the mom says something. Then the pastor takes the baby and prays for the family. Last week a young couple gave their testimony praising God for the new baby and the pastor came down, took the baby and asked the dad what the baby’s name was. The dad got this completely blank look on his face, thought for a moment, whispered to the mom who smiled and whispered back. The dad then announced the baby’s name. The whole church responded with laughter! It was quite cute.

We also have found out that the tradition here in Rwanda is to wait and name the baby 8 days after birth. At that time there is a big family celebration. Children are invited to come and they are given seeds to plant and then they are given some food to eat. Afterwards the children all give suggestions as to what to name the baby. But it is the new dad who gives the final announcement. There are no family names but the names that are given are based on something significant that has happened around the time of birth.

A Night Out

Last Saturday night Mark and I went to a restaurant that was advertising “Dinner and a Movie”. They were showing 2 different movies – Marley and Me and an R rated movie we didn’t want to see. We decided to try the Marley movie. The restaurant is being run by an American who is trying to use it as a training ground for orphans and underprivileged young folks. There are, as you can imagine, a lot of young adult orphans who missed out on schooling so there are several NGOs and other groups trying to help them out with various schools and training opportunities. Anyway, the restaurant seating area is actually a large wooden deck which is mostly covered over the top but open on the sides. On one wall they had hung a large screen and they projected the movie up on that. They had some couches arranged fairly close to the screen with coffee tables so you could sit there and snack while you watched or we chose to sit at a table right behind the couches. They had a “special” menu for the movie night which included a cheeseburger (a rare find here in Kigali!), spaghetti and meat sauce, a vegetarian dish that included a stuffed zucchini, some kind of tortilla chips with guacamole, vegetable samosas and I don’t remember what else. I ordered what was labeled “chicken and sweet potatoes croquettes “ or something like that. I thought it would be chicken served with croquettes but it turned out to be just croquettes and if there was chicken in them, I sure couldn’t find it! They were very tasty but not quite what I was expecting. Mark ordered the hamburger and said it was good.

The movie part of the evening would have been a nice touch except as the evening wore on, people showed up who were either there to watch the second movie or just to eat. So, voices got louder and the movie became harder to hear. We could get the main gist of the movie but I’m sure we missed some funny lines. By the end, it wasn’t really enjoyable any more simply because we had to work too hard to hear. The restaurant could improve on that a bit by seating non-movie watchers away from movie watchers and by simply turning up the volume.

But, it was a night out with dinner and a movie for $25. I don’t know if we’ll do it again. Maybe if there is something we really want to see. I think the food and atmosphere was good at the restaurant so we will probably go again just to eat and see what the regular menu is like. Hopefully, it’s not too expensive. The worst part of the prices were the cokes! We can buy a bottle of coke for 250 francs at the duka next door to our house. This restaurant charged over $1000 francs for the same coke! The only difference was that it was colder and they brought a glass.

Thoughts from Psalm 132

Psalm 132
A song of ascents.

1 O LORD, remember David
and all the hardships he endured.

2 He swore an oath to the LORD
and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 "I will not enter my house
or go to my bed-

4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes,
no slumber to my eyelids,

5 till I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

6 We heard it in Ephrathah,
we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:

7 "Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool-

8 arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.

9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness;
may your saints sing for joy."

The ladies Bible Study I’ve been going to here has been studying the Psalms of Ascent. This week we looked at the first half of Psalm 132.

The first 5 verses of Psalm 132 tell of David’s deep desire to be in the presence of God and to have the Ark of the Covenant nearby. I have the presence of God, in the form of the Holy Spirit dwelling in me yet how often do I take it for granted. Do I yearn for God’s presence to be real to me? Do I seek to worship him? Do I lose sleep because of my desire to worship God?

When I read verses 6 – 9, I circled the verbs:

· Heard it
· Came upon it (some translations say “found”)
· Go
· Worship
· Arise, Lord and come
· Clothed with righteousness
· Sing for joy

Then I noticed the progression and I thought about the Sunday morning sermons series Pastor Brent has been sharing at Lakewood (we download it from the internet). His series, from the book of Luke, is called “Meeting Jesus”. He has been sharing about the different people who had an encounter with Jesus. This progression in Psalm 132 reminded me of many of the folks who met Jesus:

· They heard of him
· They found out where he was going to be
· They went to see him
· They worshipped him (although this one sometimes comes later)
· Jesus welcomed them
· Jesus forgave their sins and clothed them in righteousness
· They went away singing for joy

May I be a worshipper who sings for joy and one who helps and encourages others on their journey!

Prayer Letter - March 2009

March 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

There are some exciting developments at the Theological College where Mark will be overseeing the construction. First, we are almost ready to apply for the building permissions. Please pray that the last few details will be worked out smoothly.

Secondly, there is another exciting development in the works at the college but I can’t go into all the details at this time. Just pray for the critical meetings that will take place at the end of April and for God’s will to be done. Pray that the college will be able to develop a very efficient program for training pastors in Rwanda and our neighboring countries.

While we have had to put the fundraising and construction on hold until after the April meetings, it has given us lots of time to study Kinyarwanda. And we need it; it is a very difficult language (and it does not help with Mark being over-the-hill).

We really appreciate all of you who pray for our family!

• We are looking forward to Emily coming home on March 28 for a month’s vacation. Pray we have a good time together.

• We are finding it particularly difficult to find a car. Please pray that the paperwork on one car we like is able to be straightened out, or that we can find another one very soon.

• Pray for Stephanie as she will soon be deciding on which college to transfer to in the fall.

• Pray for Joe, our son-in-law, who has been working a temporary job will soon find good full time employment.

• Pray for our granddaughter, Abbey, who will go back to the doctor soon for an ultrasound test on her kidney.

Thank you again for your prayers for our family and ministry. (And thanks for letting us share pictures of our cute grandkids showing off their Rwanda t-shirts we sent them!)

Mark and Lisa Sudman

A few simple comments on life

We have been blessed with good health for which we are grateful. We also have been getting water once or twice a week now from the city so our tank has not been less than half full for awhile. The rains have slowed down considerably so it is good that we are getting city water. I’m not real impressed with the weather here. Lately it has not rained but is just overcast and dreary. I don’t know how long this will continue. I prefer the days that it rains a bit and then blows away and is bright and sunny.

Hey! You know that annoying phone recording that says that it’s the final notice for you to renew your car warranty? We just received that call! On our skype phone! And we’re on the “Do not call” List. The other night our skype phone rang at 2 a.m. and Mark scrambled out of bed. The guy on the other end said, “Richard?” No, this isn’t Richard. You have the wrong number. “But I’m supposed to talk to Richard.” Richard doesn’t have this number. You have the wrong number. “But you sent me a text message telling me to call Richard at this number.” You have the wrong number. “But…” click. Oops. Disconnected. Mark didn’t bother telling the guy that it was 2 in the morning. We’re sure he wouldn’t have understood how a 562 – California number could be at 2 in the morning when it was 5 p.m. in CA! Fortunately, he didn’t keep trying (or else Mark turned off the router. I’m not sure which.)

We didn’t think about it being St. Patrick’s day today. (Amazing what happens when you don’t TV telling you what to do!) I accidently wore green but we didn’t eat any boiled cabbage or corned beef. We did have boiled sweet potatoes with our lunch – does that count? We didn’t even have green milk.


I have attached a picture of an African Pied Wagtail. The other day, after it had rained, I looked out and watched this bird that was sitting on top of our car. It would stand there, put its head up (like in the picture), jump up and then flap around a bit. Then it would stand there and repeat the process. Mark was outside and I told him I thought the bird was injured and couldn’t fly. He said, “No, it’s just stupid.” It was seeing its reflection in the sunroof of the car and thought there was another bird. It was trying to impress that bird or something but the other bird never came out to fly with it. It stayed there doing this for a very long time! I’m sure there’s a good sermon application there somewhere!

Mystery solved

Remember the "thing" we bought in town awhile back? Here it is in use! Now do you know what it is?

Lake Muhazi

Just a short note with some pictures. Last weekend we went with the rest of the AIM team in Kigali to Lake Muhazi. It is a long funny shaped lake not far from Kigali. The place we went to is about an hour’s drive but I’ve heard that to go to the opposite shore is quite a bit farther.

It was basically a day for the team to spend time relaxing together. The kids took their bikes and rode along the road while the adults walked along. The road follows the lake so we got a few pictures. Mostly we just chatted. We could have taken a boat ride or fished but we didn’t this time around.

Above: Flowers lining walkway to restaurant

Below: View of restaurant from the dock

We ate lunch there – grilled tilapia. It was very good. I wasn’t impressed with the eyeballs, though. There is a Calvin Miller (I think that’s his name) poem I used to read to the girls that talks about when served a fish with the eye still in it, eat the eye first! I thought of that poem but did not follow its advice!

Left: Melissa imitating lunch

Center: Lunch

Right: Remains of lunch

The area around there is very hilly as is most of Rwanda. It is farmed in much the same way as it was around Rethy so it all seemed very familiar. There was one stretch of valley that was used for rice paddies which were interesting to see.

One notable point about the area is that it was one of the few areas in Rwanda that did not take part in the genocide. They have posted a sign which proudly states this fact. It is something to be proud of.

We saw a few interesting birds but most of them were too difficult to get pictures of. One was a beautiful starling and another was a type of hawk. The one we did get a picture of is a Kingfisher.

Food Notes

Last week Mama Fifi came to me looking rather confused and slightly distressed. She was holding the cocoa canister which I thought was little strange because I had asked her to make granola. She tried to tell me what the problem was but then just said, “Come.” As she pointed at the recipe, she kept saying that there was a very big mistake. I finally figured it out. She had read in the recipe to add 1/2 cup coconut. She had looked in the cupboard and found cocoa. She decided that it must be the same thing. After adding the cocoa and mixing it in, she began to realize that it wasn’t the right color anymore. She knew something was wrong but she wasn’t quite sure what. I looked for the coconut and couldn’t find any in the cupboard either. I tried to reassure her that it really wasn’t a problem. After it was baked, we tasted it and it was actually quite good! Peanut butter – honey – cocoa flavored granola with a hint of cinnamon… do you think we could market it? Fortunately, it wasn’t a whole cup of cocoa! It even turns the milk slightly cocoa colored. I think I convinced her that it wasn’t a big deal. Mark and I had a good laugh and we’ve been enjoying our breakfast cereal!

Mama Fifi also helped us discover something else. In our backyard there is mostly grass but up on a hill there is a low bush growing. I assumed it was just a weed or something ornamental. Every now and then at the end of the day, I would see Mama Fifi picking some of the leaves. I knew she has rabbits and goats and thought that maybe she was taking some of it to them. Last week she told me it is called “Idodo”. (ee doh doh) and that it is edible. She said it is sold in the market. I remember seeing it and asking someone (missionary) what is was and they just said it was green vegetable the Rwandans ate but she didn’t like it. Well, Mama Fifi asked if we would like her to cook some for us some day. We are game for trying new food so we said sure. A few days later, Idodo showed up on our table. It tastes like spinach. I’m sure it’s quite healthy to eat. So we have now added Idodo to our diet! I asked several people (missionary and Rwandans) if it has a French or English name but no one knows. One person did tell me that it is called “Lingalinga” in North Eastern Congo – OH!! I know Lingalinga!! I didn’t know you could eat the leaves. We used to get the seeds of the lingalinga plant at Rethy and “pop” them kind of like popcorn. Then we (silly missionaries) would eat the popped seeds with milk and sugar like a cold cereal (puffed rice or something of that nature). The popped seeds we ate are known as Goi. (some of you reading this have eaten goi) So, now I will watch for the seeds to mature and will try to pop them. Hmmm… I wonder how they would taste in peanut butter – honey – cocoa flavored granola with a hint of cinnamon….

We received an interesting invitation to dinner last week. The older brother of a boy we had in our dorm from 1984-86 is now working for the military branch of the US Embassy here in Kigali. He (Ron) and his wife are here until June of this year. They invited us to join them and others from the embassy at a restaurant in town. It sounds like once a month or so they plan a night out at a restaurant as a social event. There is really not much to do here in Kigali for entertainment – not like Nairobi. No movie theatres, no bowling, no symphony, no playhouse, well, you get the idea. So, we went out to dinner. I sat next to the administrative secretary to the ambassador. The ambassador wasn’t there because he and his wife had left the country the day before for a medical emergency – his wife unwittingly stepped off a curb, fell and broke her shoulder. There was possibly ligament damage as well. Since there are no MRIs here, and because they are the US ambassadors, they flew off to the US for treatment. Anyway, we talked with people who have worked around the world. The state department moves their people every 2 years so they have been around. The lady I sat next to had an interesting life – she had married young, had a baby and was widowed at age 20! Because it was a car accident and she received some compensation and because they had been given a wedding gift of a life insurance policy, she was able to go to college and take care of her son. When she got her degree, she went to work for the FBI! At some point she started working for the state department and eventually she and her son began living around the world. She eventually remarried someone who also worked for the state department. When he retired, he was content to stay in the US but allows her to continue work on temporary assignments. She is in Kigali filling in while someone else is on maternity leave.

Mark talked with a guy doesn’t work for the embassy – in fact, he’s Australian. He is a pilot, got tired of living in Australia, came to Kigali and is running a helicopter tour business. For only $600 an hour you can rent the helicopter (complete with him as the pilot, of course), go to a national park, land and eat lunch, fly around the park looking at animals and then fly back to Kigali. The trip is a minimum of 1 ½ hours. There are 4 seats on the helicopter – one is for the pilot. Sounds like fun but I think I would be so sick after 15 minutes, it wouldn’t be worth it! Or, I’d be so drugged from Dramamine, again, it wouldn’t be worth it. Oh, well, I’ll go look at animals from the car.

The restaurant we went to was called “Comme Chez Moi” which is French for “Like My Home”. They served French and Thai cuisine. We ordered Thai food – I had a ginger pork dish and Mark had a Curry beef dish. It was good but it took, - I’m not exaggerating – 2 hours for the food to come to the table!! Kigali restaurants are not known for speedy service! It was one of the few meals I’ve eaten where everyone except us (or most everyone) had an alcoholic beverage.

It was nice talking with Ron and catching up with what’s been happening in their family. He seems to really like his job and is looking forward to his new assignment which is an entirely new department – he’ll be based in Italy.

It was an interesting evening. Definitely a different crowd than the missionary folk we usually hang around with but they were all congenial and fairly typical Americans (except for the Australian and the Canadian…) - one guy was concerned that his pool wasn’t warm enough to swim in, had ordered a heater from the US, had some wiring done in his house but oops, it somehow was too much current or something and now the heater doesn’t work…

Well, I better post this quickly! There is a LOT of thunder right now which means we might lose our internet shortly. Nice chatting with you!

Ramblings about life

Okay, so it’s been a long time since I’ve had time to sit down and write about life. Not because I haven’t wanted to – I’ve just been busy doing… I’m not sure what. So, I’m going to ramble…

Did I mention that I’m now in charge of the “cash box” for FATER? It doesn’t seem like it should take all that much time but somehow, it does. First off, counting money is tedious. The highest denomination is 5,000 francs which is less than $10. All the students pay their school fees in cash. So I have to count all that money. And I pay everything - salaries, rent, electricity, taxes, miscellaneous expenses – in cash. That’s a lot of cash counting. Then I have to record it all into Excel which is fine until something messes up – which happens often it seems because I’m learning Excel as I go along. Excel is getting used to me and is cooperating more but it still hiccups sometimes. Oh, and then I meet with Elias once a week. He is an employee of FATER and I give him cash each week which he uses to pay incidental expenses at the college. We meet to reconcile his accounts and for him to give me any fees he’s received. More counting. I think that every week so far there has been a problem and we have had to get together a second time – his printer was out ink and he couldn’t print his reports, his printer was broken (Mark has set the school up with a new printer), he made an error on his report that required it to be redone, he forgot to bring some documents to the house (when he has come to my house), I have forgotten a payment book when I have gone to the school to meet him, etc. After we get our weekly reports figured out, then I send them to Margaret in the UK. She is the real bookkeeper and she inputs it all on Quickbooks. She usually has a question or two that needs figuring out. Then, it’s Monday and time to do the whole routine over again!

As I write this, I’m listening to the thunder and steady rain outside. We went for 2 days straight without rain! Previously we had filled our tank about 1/3 full with rain water and then the city water came in and topped it off. The next day we had oodles and oodles of rain but we had to let most of go because our tank was so full. Now we are down to about 2/3 of a tank. Today’s rain will not fill it again but will add some. We have to let the first of the rainwater go because it is dirty from the roof. Once the roof is cleaned off, then the water is quite clean.

Getting back to what do I do all day… Daily life takes time as well. Take laundry, for example. I have discovered that because the water from the tank to the house is gravity fed, there is not enough pressure for the washing machine. It is a European, front-loading machine. Unlike the washing machines in the US, this machine has a timer for adding water to the machine. When the time is finished, it continues with the next step, whether or not there is enough water in the machine to adequately do the job. I couldn’t figure out why the clothes seemed soapy after being washed and I kept using less and less soap. I watched it one day and realized that there was hardly any water in the machine for washing or rinsing! I also figured out a way that I can add water to it. The problem is knowing how much water it is supposed to have. Do any of you have front loading machines? Can you give me an idea of what the level of water is in the machine for a normal load? Anyway, now I spend time with each load of wash, watching the machine and adding water. If I’m not out in the laundry room, I’m jumping up every 10 minutes or so to check on it. I miss my twin tub machine that I had in Nairobi! Very basic and simple but conserved water and got the clothes clean. I’ve been looking but haven’t seen one for sale here.

Once the clothes are washed, then we use the solar dryer (aka clothesline) but with the sporadic rain, we sometimes get the clothes hung up and then after a couple of hours bring them back in. An hour later, or the next day, we hang them back up. Or, if they are fairly close to being dry, I spread them out in the spare bedroom. With just the two of us, there isn’t that much laundry anymore so we manage. It just takes time.

Of course, there’s the milk that needs to be boiled and then refrigerated and then have the cream removed the next day. Vegetables take longer to wash. There are bugs to kill occasionally. The power goes out multiple times each day. I need to stop at 2 – 3 different places to find everything on my shopping list. I wouldn’t say life is hard – it just takes more time. Mama Fifi helps out a lot – especially with washing dishes, hanging clothes, ironing, etc. But, she’s been sick quite a bit and one of her daughters was sick so some days I’m on my own.

We also spend 8 hours each week in language lessons with our helpers plus study time which, for me, is not consistent. To study we listen to the recorded vocabulary and sentences that our helpers make for us each day. We also write out sentences and try to repeat the sentences we’ve been learning. Mama Fifi is a great encourager. She gets so excited when we try to say something in Kinyarwanda and even more excited when we get it right! I turned on BBC last night and discovered they were broadcasting the news in Kinyarwanda. I listened for a little bit was pleasantly surprised to realize that I could pick out a few words here and there. I had no idea what they were talking about but at least it didn’t all sound like one jumbled-up mishmash of words.