I have 12 kids in my 5th and 6th grade class this week. We have over 30 students enrolled in this year's VBS. God made a way for us again. Knowing we have only one kid in our regular Sunday School, our church prepared a VBS with faith that God will provide kids. Where these kids came from? Fifteen kids came from a Hispanic church, and rest of children are grand children of our congregation.
I thought I would never be able to keep up with 10 year olds, but I am doing Okay. They are great kids, and fun to be with. I teach them two 30 min. sessions each day. The topic of this year's VBS is "How Heros are Made". Heros know their roles and they know their game plans. Kids are playing a ball game outside. I am taking my break while they take their craft class and sport class.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Having a great time
Posted by Come and See Africa at 4:03 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Vacation Bible School
Our church is going to have a VBS from Sunday, July 29 to August 2nd. I am a head coach for preteens, and studying the material like I am studying for a bar exam. Now I know that it is not fun or easy to follow someone else's lesson plan. This year theme is about How Heros are Made.
More info is here:
LifeWay's VBS -- Game Day Central
Posted by Come and See Africa at 9:17 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Friday, July 20, 2007
2007 Summer Mission Photos
As soon as we got back from Africa on July 14th, Chris started organizing photos and editing videos to put on the internet. He sent out the following e-mail to friends yesterday. If you didn't see the photos, here is the link you can go and check out photos and videos..
Dear friends of Come and See Africa,
I have finally posted all the pictures of our Mission 2007. It was a challenge because there were 4 people taking lots of pictures (344 posted). I hope to fill in some narrative at future date. If you have a slow internet connection, it may take some time for you to see all the pictures.
http://comeandseeafrica.org/pastmissions/mission2007/index.htm
Chris A. Foreman
Come and See Africa Intl.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 6:17 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
God has made a way
In Rwanda, a piece of land doesn't belong to an individual. When you buy a plot to build your house, you are actually paying for a title to use the land. We were looking to buy a piece of vacant land right next to the front gate of the university. Last summer, the owner said that the price for the plot is 10 million francs (about $20,000 USD). A friend of ours who shared the CASA vision gave money to buy the land. The owner got greedier when he learned that a missionary wants to buy his land. He raise the price to 30 million francs (about $60,000). We decide not to buy it. We believe that God has a place for us to build His house, so we waited on. When we were in Butare this summer, we found a piece of plot that is perfect for us. It is about 500 steps away from the back gate of the National University of Rwanda, and has a nice view of the university forest. This land has an interesting story. Here is the plot which the CASA is buying. Click the picture to view the plot.
Here is Chris' e-mail to the donor about the land.
Dear friend,
Your generosity has born fruit in Rwanda. As you can read below, CASA has just purchased property in Butare. In all honesty this plot of land is probably better suited for our purposes than the plot we looked at in January. We paid 8 million Rwandan Franks or about $16,000. We are using the money that you donated specifically for this purpose.
We are indeed blessed to have this land. Rwanda is a rock of stability in East Africa and land prices are rising quickly. The university plans to increase enrollment and this newly constructed "Christian Fellowship House" will be strategically situated at the university's back gate. I am posting pictures of the plot tomorrow and will send you a link to them.
The property has an interesting history which needed special handling. This plot once belonged to a president of Rwanda from the former racist government. The man was a professor at the NUR before being president and his personal home was on this plot. He went on to serve as president for only 3 months. At the conclusion of the genocide war, the patriotic army destroyed his house. The land has be vacant since then -- with a very small cinder block building in one corner.
Blessings, Chris
Posted by Come and See Africa at 3:22 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Giving Goats
We bought 10 goats and gave them to two orphans, two widows, and six Batwa families. Our church members gave me money to buy goats. One goat costs about $20. One goat for a poor family is a big thing. Goats will produce little baby goats for household income.
Village people are waiting anxiously for goats to appear. We didn't tell who is going to get a goat. It was a surprise.
We put the donor's name on each goat.
An orphan boy got the goat named Ken D. He is telling everyone saying that Immana (God) gave him a goat
These batwa family gave thanks to Immana and the CASA team with their dance.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 4:44 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
What do we eat in Africa?
People ask me what kind of food we eat when we are in Africa. I tell them we eat well, too well. Every time I go there, I come home several pounds heavier. I eat lots of fried food. There is one menu for mujugus (it means "white people") I m not whitle, but they call anyone who is not local, they call mujungus. For breakfast, we eat fried egg, white bread, bananas, papayas, pineapples, passion fruits. For lunch which is the biggest meal, we eat rice, fried potatoes, mutoki (cooked or fried banana), a piece of beef or chicken. For dinner, the same thing we ate for the lunch. I eat much better and more when I am in Rwanda. All these great foods are prepared in this outdoor kitchen by Esprance.
And served in fancy pots. Lots of different dishes. Do you see a big dough like thing on the table, that is a traditional African food called "ugari" It is made from casaba roots. It is a lot like Korean dduk (rice cake) I wish every African family eat like this. But it is not. This is a meal for guests, and Africans are famous for their hospitality. They will go without food for themselves for a few days in order to treat their guests with a good meal.
When we are in Burundi, we cook for ourselves. Paul is preparing tea, Nate is making french toast for a breakfast.
The best fish I ever had was in Burundi. Here it is. Every time we go to Brundi, we go to a beach restaurant and eat fish caught from Lake Tanganyika. Chris is serving to us. I hope he washed his hands.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 6:59 AM 8 comments Links to this post
Monday, July 16, 2007
Global Citizens
Posted by Come and See Africa at 8:27 PM 0 comments
4th of July
Four of us celebrated 4th of July in Butare, Rwanda. We celebrated it as Independence Day, Rwandans celebrated it as Liberation Day.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 7:16 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Morning Glory
Posted by Come and See Africa at 7:12 PM 0 comments
What can you see when you are in Rwanda?
I have visited Rwanda eight times, and yet I have not seen any animals other than goats and chickens. Rwanda is famous for gorillas, and yet I have not seen one. You have to go to a special park to see it, and also it is quiet expensive to get into to the park. Chris was lucky to see a monkey on his way to Congo.
These two mujungus are enjoying goat meats they bought from a street vendor.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 7:46 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Visiting Burundi
We drove around about an hour to buy gas in Burundi. We paid over $10 for a gallon of gas.
A grocery store in Burundi. We bought goat meats and peanuts for lunch
Queen Leila and Pastor Chris
Spoke to students about January conference. The theme of Jan. conference is Joseph in Egypt, it is about leadership. There are 16 universities in Burundi, these students are leaders from each campus.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 5:14 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Photography.English.Bible.Techology Classes
Nate teaches English to children and youth.
Pastor Chris teaches NUR students about Christian Leadership
Professor Kim teaches NUR professors on Web 2.0
Last year, Prof. Singleton taught these students. They meet once a week and practice.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 4:54 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Building a house
Students and CASA team build a house for a widow. It took a week to build it, and it costed under $2K.
Posted by Come and See Africa at 4:48 PM 0 comments Links to this post