Back in Kigali....

Hi everyone! How've you been??! Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the last few weeks of summer. You might be like me, asking yourself where in the world the summer has gone to.... I think that's either a sign that we've been working too hard, or playing too hard....or maybe both! Here, I think it's been both.....

It's been a month since I've had time and/or working internet connection to blog! But thank you for your prayers while I've been out on the field for research...everything went fairly smoothly (and when it didn't, God opened other doors!). I had a great time getting to know the researchers better (there were 24 of them), and together we learned some interesting things about care-seeking behaviors for children, among Rwandans. I'll blog about it a little more later....I really want to share some of the things I learned with you all. We're analyzing data now to prep for the next step of the project.

While I've spent much of my time out on the field in the past five weeks, I have been 'home' in Kigali on weekends. However, three of those four weekends, my good friend Jennifer from the USA has been in town and so we were busy running around Kigali and getting caught up on life in general...it was great to have her here. :) She was a blessing with some research she's conducted here as well, in child abuse (some sad stories emerged from her research...I'll tell you about this later on, too). I've also been busy on weekends with a PhotoVoice activity with the young adults at Baraka's church....again, I'll write an update soon! But thanks again to Interior at Ev Free for facilitating this project...yay!!

Many of you have asked about Bear. He is doing great, working on language learning, enjoying mid-day tea and political debate with the locals (also a good way to work on language!), and starting in on some medical work and clinic supervision as well. He's got another wave of community development trainings coming up later on in the fall. Bear is adjusting really well to his new life there and his balanced perspective about serving and working overseas in his conditions really encourages me. (Not to sound like a broken record, but) more on that later, too.:) Thanks for your continued prayers for him.

Mainly I wanted to just give you an update that I'm back in Kigali. Hope you're doing well there, too! Thanks for your encouraging emails and notes; it is always great to hear from you. And just for fun, here's a shot of Jenn and me and the young adults from Baraka's church involved in PhotoVoice....they are great!