Rwanda!

Hello everyone!

     I can hardly believe I only have two weeks remaining in my time here. I have incredibly mixed emotions; heart broken to leave these beautiful children and this place I've called home, yet excited and expectant for what God has for me in America.

    This past month has been quite the journey. God has taught me so much through dealing with this arthritis. He has used it to humble me, teach me to trust in Him and teach me to have joy. I see this whole thing as such a huge blessing, I wouldn't change it. It's incredible to be in so much pain to the point where I can't move but be still be so thankful that in a few hours I'll be able to stand up and walk unlike so many people. God is so faithful! Praise be to Him!

     Another thing I have been dealing with and wrestling with is trying to figure out what it means to really follow Jesus. I have now spent a year here and I have loved it, but I am so comfortable here. I feel like I could live here by myself and be completely fine. In some ways I feel way more comfortable here than I ever did in America. We live in a nice house with nice stuff and decent internet. There is nothing wrong with that, I just have been finding it hard to really follow Christ in my comfort and being surrounded by so much stuff. Another issue I have is pride. Being surrounded by so many volunteers has been a challenge. I want to be liked, so I try to impress at times and in that lose focus of glorifying God. That's so dangerous! I just have had a crazy conviction in my heart recently to do more and to step out more, somewhere where my comfort level is very low. The other day it all accumulated and I was so frustrated and I just cried out to God asking Him to show me what I needed to do. Then it happened. You know, one of those God things where you know it has to be Him. Me and two of my buddies here were sitting outside late at night on the 4th of July talking. First of all, I just wanted to be sleeping but for some reason I got out of bed and went outside where I found them talking. So we began to talk, and eventually we started talking about what God had been doing in our hearts. We started sharing and found out that we were all pretty much at the same place. We needed to do something. Then my buddy Gabe said, "Let's go to Rwanda!" And of course we were like "YEAH!" So we researched that night and got pumped about the idea. The next morning, yesterday, we talked to our director and he said he had to pray about it. This week we are praying and fasting here at EAC so all of us were committing that time to praying about this trip and our intentions. This morning we approached him again and he questioned us to make sure our hearts were in the right place. Then he told us that months ago he had started planning to go to Rwanda during his trip here, but since his wife is pregnant he needs to be home with her and he is leaving Monday. The crazy thing is that he would have been going to Rwanda the exact week that we are going! Completely separate convictions to go, same God...awesome! So with all this being said we are packing up and heading to Rwanda on Friday night for a week! Our goal is to just go expecting God to do huge things. It might sound crazy, but it just makes sense! We want to go and live in a slum in Kigali, the capitol city, and spend a week loving people, working with them and sharing the Gospel with them in an environment where we are completely out of our comfort zones. I truly believe God is going to do huge things!

      I would love for you to be a part of this!
        1. Prayer- we need it! Please pray for health as we are being attacked in that, safety, for God to prepare the place we are supposed to go and to make peoples hearts soft towards the Gospel.

       2. Financial- in two ways. First, it will cost a little bit of money to get there and to stay for a week. Second, it would be wonderful to have money to use to buy Bibles for the people we meet or buy meals for the hungry or for whatever needs we come across.

     You can contact me on facebook or at crazy4him92@sbcglobal.net.

     I have never been comfortable asking for money, but this isn't about me or for me! This is for God's Kingdom. Huge things could come as a result of this trip. EAC has asked us to bring back a report of what is happening in Rwanda, so that in the future they can start a branch there. How wonderful to be a part of the beginning of something that could change thousands of lives for Jesus!!

    Thank you so much for reading this! I love all of you and am so thankful for all of your support this past year! You have been a blessing to me!

    Craig

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"-Romans 10:15. I want beautiful feet!