07 October 2008

It is the soldier

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.

—Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, United States Marine Corps (1923-2002)

24 September 2008

Funny

www.zombo.com

17 September 2008

Product (RED)

Product (RED) has been doing some amazing work in Rwanda lately.  Check out their blogs on www.myspace.com/joinred to see what they have been up to in the tiny country with so much heart.

16 September 2008

Pageant Coaching

For those of you interested in competing and would like some individual training and preparation, I am offering complete pageant training. 

One-on-one Coaching, phone, email, iChat
  • Interview skills
  • Mock Interviews
  • Platform Development
  • Appearance Bookings
  • Public Relations
  • Paper Work Review
  • Wardrobe
  • Walking
  • Hair and Makeup
  • Fitness and Nutrition

Please email me for more information.

Brittany Frick
Miss International 2006
missinternational06@gmail.com

15 September 2008

My AfriCause

Hopefully it will be up soon.  There is a great deal of work that is being done, so stay tuned!

24 August 2008

It is coming!!!!

Something epic is coming your way!

www.myafricause.com

Check it out.

29 June 2008

Praise 'Em!

The Lord is at work on something great.  He is answering a prayer in His time and it is awesome.  When you fully trust in Him and persevere on an issue He will answer you.  Sometimes it is a yes, sometimes it is a no and sometimes we just need to wait.

Today He gave me a yes and I'm excited at the possibilities that may come soon.

Praise 'Em!

P.S. Just cause I can't sleep anymore doesn't mean I can't try!

26 June 2008

CRAZY Night!

Well, tonight was interesting.  I had dinner with some great friends that were down visiting and afterwards I spent about an hour with a homeless man named Marvin outside the restaurant.  I gave Tiffany my credit card and had her go in a buy him dinner.  Brandi made him a bouquet of lollipops and the girls and I went and sat back down with him and he sang us songs and talked about the Lord.  It was awesome.  

Afterwards I was giving my friend's son a jedi lesson in light saber fighting and we heard all this screeching noise and then it came...the smashing of two cars almost completely head on.  Nick and I immediately bolted at the sound running into the middle of the intersection to see if these people were alright.  My friend's husband, a cop came running after us and started directing traffic.   The first car was smashed in the front with all four airbags deployed and one of the two girls (there were 4 teenagers all together in the car) came running from the car screaming while the other tried to get out.  The other car was smashed on the front drivers side and they were unable to open the driver's side door.  Nick talked to them to see if they were alive, conscious, breathing, etc while I was at the other car.  It was insane!  There was an ambulance in the parking lot across the street and they were there not even a minute or two after it happened.   The two people in the second car that could not get out of the driver's side were taken to the ER in the ambulance and the four teenagers were fine, just extremely shook up.  I am not sure who hit who but one of them ran the red light, and I am almost positive it was the teenagers that came blowing through the light only to hit the other car while they were making a left hand turn.  

So the lesson for the day, feed a homeless man and PAY ATTENTION WHILE DRIVING!  And if you hear the crash do the right thing and go make sure they are all alright!

24 June 2008

Jesus' Love

I am writing late once again but this time it is not because of insomnia, but rather because I am bursting at the seams to tell you of the Love of Jesus. 

This week the message God spoke to me about being still has resonated inside my heart, my mind, and my soul.  Everyday that I spend meditating on those two words, God reveals something new about what he means by me being still.  Tonight I was at a worship concert at Saddleback and as I was sitting there listening to Meredith Andrews sing I could not help but fight back my tears.  Once again God was speaking directly to me but through her this time.  Every song she sang, even though I had heard it before, sounded as if it was the first time her words had ever reached my ears.  And every word she spoke before she would sing was a message from the Lord about being steadfast in Him, going deeper with Him when He calls, and trusting in Him when we feel lonely or as though we have lost it all.  She then sang the song that has become the theme song for my life right now, You’re not alone.  I love the lyrics of that song so much. 

I search for love

When the night came and it closed in

I was alone

but you found me where I was hiding

and though I'll never ever be the same

It was the sweetest voice that called my name

singing

 

You're not alone

For I am here

let me wipe away every fear

My love I've never left your side

I have seen you through the darkest night

and I'm the one that's loved you all your life

All of your life

 

You cry yourself to sleep

cause the hurt is real

and the pain cuts deep

All hope seems lost

With heartache your closest friend

and everyone else long gone

 

You've had to face the music on your own

but there is a sweeter song that calls you home

**sayin'

 

You're not alone

For I am here

let me wipe away your every tear

My love I've never left your side

I have seen you through the darkest nights

And I'm the one that's love you all your life

All your life

 

Faithful and true... Forever

For my love will carry you....

 

You're not alone

for I... I am here

let me wipe away every fear... Oh yeah

My love I've never left your side

I have seen you through your darkest nights

Your darkest nights

And I'm the one that's loved you all your life

All of your life

As she sang that song I was taken back to my first, real, and only love, Jesus.  I closed my eyes and felt God stir inside of me and an image came into my head.  It was a vision that I was looking at myself on my knees, kneeling before the cross of Jesus.  It was on a hill and the sun was setting and the various orange colors of the sunset were dancing in the sky.  I was weeping as I knelt before the cross and all of a sudden a man in a white robe came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me and gave me comfort, and that man was Jesus.  If I could draw I would replicate this picture on paper so I could save it for the rest of my life.  It was beautiful.

Jesus knows our pain; he understands our hurts more than anyone does.  The reason that He knows this is because He took that pain from us the day He hung on that cross.  He stayed there nailed to the cross all day feeling every hurt, sorrow, pain, and sadness that we all would ever feel throughout our lives as He died that day.  He knows what we are feeling and that is why He is able to comfort us like no one else can.  That is why my vision/image was so surreal to me tonight, because Jesus felt it first so He is the one that can give you and me the true and lasting comfort that we so desperately need at times.  The kind of comfort that we long to receive from our friends and loved ones, but they never seem to get it quite right, that is the kind of comfort and healing that only Jesus can give.  If you understand the kind of pain someone is going through, you are better suited to help them because you actually know what that pain feels like and how to walk through it.  And Jesus is that person for us.  He felt the pain first and therefore He knows how to comfort and heal us.  And it is all because He loves us!  Oh how He loves us so much!  He loves us so much that we can give thanks in knowing that someone understands what we are going through, even if all the walls feel like they are closing in on you.  Jesus loves you so much and wants you to seek after Him, no matter what the cost may be.

23 June 2008

When God Speaks

I sat in church tonight prepared to hear just another good message.  With no expectations whatsoever I opened the bulletin, pulled out the famous Saddleback Notes and to my surprise they were not the usual ten fill-ins with bullets and short Bible verses, but rather a story from the Acts with only three points to fill in.  Upon seeing this discovery I thought that message tonight might not be all that interesting because there was not a whole lot of writing for me to do.  They say you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover and this is something I too will agree with.  However I still did not think much of it, maybe it is just my current mood that prevented me from getting overly excited or having high expectations, but the message tonight hit me like a car into a brick wall at over 200mph.

God speaks to us in many different ways; one is directly to your heart and soul, or through the Bible, and even through other people.  I felt tonight like God gave this message to Pastor Buddy Owens to speak directly to me.  It was as if I was sitting alone in the worship center and God was having a face-to-face conversation with me and it was awesome.

He spoke on Acts 16: 23-34, when Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned and the point of his message was “What to do when there’s nothing you can do”.  When life’s circumstances are completely out of your control and there is nothing you can really do to fix it.  The story was pulled apart and the people involved were examined.  The reason why Paul was in prison was because of his obedience to God.  He had a dream, God spoke to him and he did what he was told to do, even though it landed him in prison.  Silas was there because he was loyal to Paul.  We are not told what happened, just that of all the people that were with Paul, Silas was the only other person arrested with Paul.  The jailer was in prison because that was his duty, his job.  The prisoners were there because they put themselves there on their own bad decisions. 

 

23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

 29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

 31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

His three points were this:

1.     Make a decision.  What are you going to do when you are in a circumstance that you cannot control?  Are you going to pout or are you going to pray?  Are you going to worry or are you going to worship?

2.     Hold on to your faith.  Hold on to what you know is true about God.  Trust in Him no matter what the outcome may be.

3.     Stay Focused.  Don’t be distracted by your trouble.  Talk to God, sing praises to Him.  Keep the word of God in your heart and let the praises of God become the soundtrack of your life. 

What got me was the complete and total affirmation I received from God.  It was as though He came to me and said Brittany you are doing everything I expect you to do, be still and know that I am God.  I am in control and I have you exactly where I want you to be.

I have been spending massive amounts of time with the Lord the past four days, in the Word, prayer, meditation and fasting.  The Bible tells us that when we truly want to seek God and praise Him this is what we are to do.   Daniel fasted, Paul fasted, Jesus fasted, and others in the Bible fasted in an effort to hear the voice of God and learn what it is that He wants from them or to teach them something.  It is an act of obedience and total surrender to God and to the Holy Spirit.  In this time one big thing that the Lord spoke to me was to Be Still.  I had been very anxious and upset and He just told me to be still, to give up all that I was feeling and to release it to Him.  To remember that He is in control of everything and I needed to not be so worrisome.  I have been meditating on those words since He spoke them.  There have been other things that have been spoken to me as well, but this was a big one that has really stuck and I am reminded of it daily.  Tonight though everything came together. 

I made a decision right away that I was going to give my situation to the Lord.  I said from day one that this was in His control and that whatever was His will I would accept it, even if it were not what I wanted.  Well, it is not what I wanted, but it is what the Lord wants.  I have not lost my faith, but rather my faith has been strengthened and renewed.  I know that the Lord has a plan and a purpose and therefore I have been holding on to that promise tighter than you could imagine.  And finally I have been extremely focused on the Lord.  I have my moments of melt down and tears, but that is when I have to give it back up to Him.  I have to release my anxiety, worry, fear, hurt, heartache, and pain and know that He is God and He is in control.  Sometimes it is easy to forget because you just want to forgo any wisdom and just wallow, but that gets you nowhere.  I have kept the word of God in my heart and I get into it completely, day-by-day for that very reason.  When I am focused on Him, I am on the road to healing. 

As I sat and listened to Buddy speak tonight the words “be still” came crashing into me again.  I realized that when He originally told me to be still the meaning was two-fold.  At first it was for me to calm down and give it to Him, to trust that He was doing something with this.  Tonight I received the other half of the message He was giving me.  To be still and to stay exactly where I am, to not run away and find the quick fix.  To stay focused on Him and to not get distracted by the things of this world that only mask our pain temporarily and do nothing to heal us.  He was telling me this, “I am protecting you, I am shielding you, stay in this place where I have you wrapped in my arms.  Let me protect you, comfort you, and heal you.  Don’t run away from me and try and fix this on your own.  Let me do what I have set out to do, what I have been trying to do for a while that you have not let me do.  I started this now let me finish this.  Be still Brittany, stop moving and let me work.”  When He spoke that message to me I wanted to fall off of my chair, start crying and praise Him.  I fought back the tears in my eyes and started praying a prayer of thanks for the wonder and awesomeness that the Lord is.  He is so good and I have not given Him enough credit the past few months and for that I am repentant. 

The Lord only wants what is best for us and He will heal and deliver us from our pain.  The rest of the message tonight was asking who are you in this story?  Are you Paul and in your prison for your obedience to God?  Are you Silas and there because of your loyalty to someone and you are therefore stuck in their situation?  Are you the jailer who either needs or has had a spiritual awakening?  Or are you the prisoners, who have been set free by God, but instead of walking out of the prison like Paul and Silas did you decided to stay in your current misery.  You decided that sitting in your own mess is better than being free and walking with God.  I came to see that in the past I was the prisoner, I was the one that was trapped by my own chains and when God tried to set me free I did not move out of my cell.  I just decided to stay there.  Now I have not decided to walk out of my cell, I have put on my LiveStrong Nike’s and run out of there as fast as my 100% of the sale, charitable, Nike’s will take me!  I’m not staying around to find out once again that I cannot fix my own mess God has to do that.  My chains are broken and He has set me free, why would I want to stick around and lock myself back up?  Yet, so many of us do this and we do not even realize it.  We have these chains that keep us bolted to the ground.  Some problem or fear that we refuse to deal with or give to the Lord, we either hold on to it really tight, learn how to cope with it, or we ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist, thus keeping us chained to the ground in our pain.  No matter which approach you take, we are choosing to stay locked in our cell, even when God is offering total freedom and redemption.  Not a single one of us, believer or not is free from this bondage.  We all have some issue(s) that is holding us back from pursuing the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and from living the life that God intended us to live.  The phrase “Let go and let God” is highly overused and is most times just a generic cliché for a superficial comfort from people who pretend to care.  However, it has truth behind it.  We do have to let go of our problem and we do have to rely on God to change us and heal us.  So how about “release and restore” or something of that nature.  God allows us to go through times of pain so that He can teach us, mold us, and shape us into the people that He wants us to become.  For me, this is one of those times.  It is a time of hurting, fear, release from strongholds, and restoration of my heart and soul, and the One who created and designed my heart and soul is doing it.  The One that made me and has a plan for my life is fixing the damage I have done so that I can get back to where I need to be and do the things He originally planned for me to do.  Great things that only God could have though of.  That is why we hurt and that is why He, God, is the ultimate healer and lover of our souls.

22 June 2008

How He loves us

How is it that you Love us Lord?  How can it ever be measured?  It is impossible to know the true extent of the love that you feel for each and every one of us.  Not just your followers but also every single one of your creations.  You love us all.  

The oceans waves crashed on the shore today, yet again reminding me of all the intricacies of your beautiful creation.  I stand in awe of the mighty power of the oceans current and realize that I am just a speck of sand compared to the massive body of water.  Yet in your eyes I am more than a speck.  We all are.  You did not created speck of things to just fill up room.  You created people with hearts, minds, bodies, and souls.  You gave us free will and the power to choose to worship and love you. 

You created every detail of this earth from the smallest microorganism to the largest Blue Whale.  You thought about every detail of each living thing in this world.  You gave everything a purpose and nothing has ever or will ever go unnoticed in your eyes.  Looking at the vast expansion of our sky and realizing that there is so much more in our universe that we will never see here on earth and it is was all done for us to enjoy and for your glory Lord.  We are here to serve and worship you.  We can worship you in everything that we do.  We can worship you in the smallest details of our lives for you are an awesome God.

You love us so much that our brains will never be able to comprehend the extent to which you will do things for us and why.  Some people choose not to believe that you are God because they cannot figure you out Lord.  But we are not supposed to completely figure you out because you are God.  There are some things about you that we just have to have pure faith in.  The beauty of you Lord is that we can figure out many things about you just by walking with you everyday.  By sharing in your creation, loving each other and spending time just worshipping and listening for your voice.   There is none like you Lord.  No matter how much the enemy tries to pull us away from you, how many lies he feeds us, or how much he tries to hurt you through us, you will be victorious Jesus!  You are King and you will reign forever.  No one can take that from you.  James says, even the demons shudder at the sound of your name.  Satan himself is not free from you either.  He bows at your feet God.  He has even had to ask permission to tempt before.  But you will always protect us through it all.

We will ALL walk through spiritual battles in our lifetime.  None of us are immune to the enemy.  Yet if we remain close to you and give up whatever we are battling we will win.  We can overcome and we can be free of our strongholds.  People say, "If God is for me who can be against me?” well everyone.  Everyone can be against you.  But we have You on our side and because of your love for us we can stand victorious.  Just because we have you does not mean that we will be free of hurt and pain.  Satan is always out to get us, everyday, but many do not realize this.  Many believe that either the enemy does not exist or that he does not affect them.  But this is a lie that he feeds them so that he can become invisible to them and they will not even realize the work he is doing in their lives. "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8.  Jesus even you were tempted by Satan.  He tempts everyone and the enemy himself is blinding anyone who believes otherwise from the truth.  But no matter what Lord we can always look to you for strength.  We can rebuke him in your name Jesus and we can fight on in this raging war.  It will only get worse before it gets better, but when it does get better it will be more than we were created to imagine.  We cannot comprehend the pain and suffering of neither hell nor can we comprehend the joy and wonder of heaven, but that was done so that it will be a sweet surprise for us when we get there.  

The past few days I have been greatly feeling and needing your love Lord.  You have not failed me yet, but rather have met me with open arms in the dark, leading me out into the light.  You have brought me comfort, peace, and an overwhelming sense of restoration and healing.  It comes in small doses but it comes all day long.  You love us so and we are called to love others.  Therefore I say, I have forgiven them and I am desperately trying to love them the way you call us to love each other.  For even the unlovable are lovable if we seek to love them like you do. 

I long for you Jesus like an infant longs for its mother.  I am eager to know and love you more and more intimately and deeper each day.  You meet me every morning and you lay me to rest every night.  You are picking up the pieces and putting them back in order.  I know that I cannot rebuild what you have crafted and I have tried unsuccessfully in the past.  I praise you for your great works and the work of the Spirit inside of me right now.  They say there is light at the end of the tunnel, but the light is with us all the time and in that light there is love.  For you are our light Jesus.  You light our paths; you even said you are the light of the world.  It is a reminder of the lights from the pilgrims at the Feast of Tabernacles.  All who came to worship you in those days filled the sky with light and now you fill the sky with light.  Your death and resurrection has filled my life with light.  Even though I feel as though I am walking in the dark, I am not.  I am walking with in the light, for you are with me.

03 June 2008

Rwanda Update from Friends Church Kigali

I know it has been a while since I have posted a blog, but here is an update from Rwanda.  I am so pleased that things have gone well with them since we left and it is such a blessing to hear the things God is doing there.

Hello to each of you,

 

How are you all doing since you were here with us in Rwanda? We are all doing well in my family, in the church and our country in general.

 

I wanted to tell you the good fruit that we saw from the 40 Days of Purpose. Our Church has 4 smaller churches under it, so these numbers are coming from all 5 churches.

 

Before the 40 Days of Purpose we had 452 members and after the 40 Days we now have 516 members. So we gained 64 through 40 Days of Purpose. We have already baptized some of these new believers and we are training and teaching the others before we will baptize them.

 

Before the 40 Days of Purpose we had 50 small groups, now we have 64 small groups.

 

There are a few obstacles we are facing...

--Some of our new members are elderly people and sickly people who live far away up to 7-8 km away from our Church of Kagarama.

--It is difficult for some people that live in the city to find time to come to teachings/trainings of the church.

--We have many small groups, but not all of the small group leaders are prepared and others do not have enough time to lead.

 

In order to solve these little problems (overcome the above obstacles)...

1)--For those that live far away we are renting a place for them to meet during the week so that they only have to come to Kagarama once per week.

2)--We are studying and preparing teachings that will be helpful in mid-week small group meetings and then we will meet all together on Sundays.

3)--We are and will be doing some workshops to train the small group leaders.

4)--For the finale of the 40 Days we rented a vehicle and went and picked up those that live far away to help ease their coming to the finale.

 

In the last day of the 40 Days of Purpose God did a miracle in my life. One of my sons named Nitegeka Jeremie who is 15 years old has not been a good boy for the last 7 years, he has had bad character traits/behaivor. To tell his testimony in brief, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was given a vision of an angel standing in front of him, on his right was a bright light (holiness) and on the left was darkness (sin).and the angel told him that he needed choose to accept Jesus or die. The angel told him that he has 2 gifts; 1 is to sing and a gift to play soccer, and told him that he needs to use these abilities that God has given him. The angel also told him that people despise him (the pastor's son) because of his sins. The angel told him that God loves him but that He hates his sin. So on the last day of the 40 days of purpose he stood in front of our congregation and repented of his sins and accepted Christ. His testimony is very long, but I have tried to say it in a few words.

 

Please continue to pray for my family to continue in the Lord and for our church to continue to grow.

 

Thank you,

 

Pastor Gaspard Karemera

Kagarama Friends Church

Rwanda

07 April 2008

Interviews and Blessings


Today we were supposed to meet up with Bonnie’s team for church, but since This is Africa, it didn’t work out the way we planned.  Jean Marie was going to drop them off at church by 9am and then come back and get us.  However, by 10:15 it was safe to assume that wasn’t going to happen.  Skip finally called and said their church was an hour away so we told him not to send Jean Marie to get us. 

Caroline had sermon pod casts on her computer from Rock Harbor so we listened to an Advent one on hope.  At first I was kind of unsure about it because he was talking about the birth of Jesus and the people of the Bible that were waiting for his birth, but then he transitioned to the difference between wishes and hope.  It was actually really good. 

He explained that a wish means that we are in control.  We say what and how much we want.  We put together a list of wishes, but nothing will ever measure up and therefore we will always be disappointed.   Hope is beyond wishes.  It is focused on a promise that we will never fully understand.  We have to learn to let go of wishes and start hoping.  God has been faithful to us in the past and he will be faithful to us in the future.  Many of us though, look to our past and think of all the bad things that have happened and wonder where God was in those situations and therefore we have a hard time having hope.  Having hope means that we are trusting in something that is way beyond our imagination and comprehension.  We have to learn to fully trust God in order to have hope.  We always have problems when we lean towards what we wish for, versus leaning towards who we hope in.  We will not get what we wish for, but when we hope in Christ we will be put in a place we never imagined.  Wishes are limited, but hope is limitless.  You cannot give God your wish list and you cannot be a Christian because of what WE get out of it.  Jesus came God’s way, not our way.  Elizabeth and Zachariah had hope and then they had John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph had hope, Simeon even had hope and was kept alive until he saw the baby Jesus, even Anna got to see him.  They all had hope and they were blessed by God.  They did not get what the wished for (Joseph and Mary wanting to marry and then have a baby, Zachariah not believing Elizabeth would get pregnant because they were so old) but they hoped.  We have to learn to wait for Jesus and he will come in ways we never expected.  You have to ask God where we need to change and how we can learn to hope.  We have to be open to God.  He does not disappoint because God has poured out his love for us. 

 

It really makes you think about all the things that we wish for instead of hope for.  How many of us actually sit and wish that our lives were different, we had more money, we had a better job, and better spouse, a new car, etc.  We all sit and wish for things.  But how many of us actually have hope?  How many of us actually realize the difference between hope and wishes?  I never really did.  I knew they were different, but after hearing this message I realize that there is a big difference.  Hoping is waiting on God.  Wishing is waiting upon ourselves.  When we wish, we ask ourselves to make it happen.  When we hope, we ask for God to make it happen.  But God never makes it happen the way we expect.  He goes beyond our imagination as if to say, see I told you that I could not only do it, but I could do it in a way you could not have imagined.  It is like my trip to Rwanda.  I had expectations of what would happen and how my experience would be, but once again the Lord showed his mighty power and showed me way more than I had anticipated.  My trip here was full of life lessons that I never expected to learn.  Some were lessons he had been trying to teach me for a while but I never grasped until now.  Others are new lessons and new desires of hope for future things.  He is sovereign and mighty and works in mysterious ways.

So after our “church service” the girls went back to Bourbon, but I just couldn’t do it again so I went to the Serena and met Steve K., Shawn, and Cameron (Relevant Mag) for lunch.  I helped Shawn make some phone calls to build a data base of local hotels/guest houses for future trips.  I finally got my expense report together which was such a relief.  Apparently the girls finally met up with Bonnie’s team for dinner at Bourbon.  I didn’t go though.  Shawn and I were helping Cameron set up for his interview with Rick.  He was doing a pod cast and video taping it so we helped him record it.  Unfortunately Cameron didn’t get a chance to ask all the questions he wanted to but he will get another chance on the way to Kenya.  Hearing Pastor Rick talk about the PEACE plan and Purpose Driven Life you really see the passion in why he does these things.  It is not because HE wants credit or attention.  It is not because he is trying to make himself be a celebrity or a world pastor, but it is because he has a love for people and because he has an incredible love and relationship with the Lord.  The Holy Spirit moves him and God calls him to do things, and it is not Rick doing these things but the Lord that is using him as an outlet to get His work done.  Which is pretty cool to be able to  see things like that.  Pastor Rick has a great deal of influence but it is not his own influence that he is using.  It is God that is shaping nations and people and churches, Pastor Rick just happens to be a tool that God works through. 

After Cameron’s interview Pastor Rick told Shawn how awesome he is and made a joke that Shawn is his replacement.  He is training him to take over one day.  It was funny but a very nice compliment to the work that Shawn is doing not only over here in Rwanda, but also in his position in the church.

So Cameron, Shawn and I had dinner there and then Cameron was going to interview us for his pod cast as well, but he was had to leave with the Fox documentary crew to visit some local Rwandese music and record it.  So Shawn did the interview since they are rooming together at the Serena and I went home to bed.  

It was another amazing and productive day in Kigali and I am so happy for the opportunities that I get to experience here.  God has been so gracious to me and I would not be able to do any of this if it wasn’t first and foremost for God’s divine blessing, my parents support, everyone the contributed to helping me get here, and all of your prayers.  So thank you!  Words cannot express my gratitude towards all of you!  

The New Bourbon Coffee

Well the new Bourbon Coffee opened today!  It actually opened the night before and unfortunately we missed the big event.  Apparently they were giving away free coffee and food and Pastor Rick was there to give the blessing and pray for it.  So the girls and I went this morning to the MTN Center to check it out and it is huge!  It is really cool and the menu is different which makes me happy because after eating there day after day you kind of get sick of having the same food. 

 

We had lunch and then left to UTC (Union Trade Center) where the old Bourbon is to use the internet.  But before we went there across the street from the UTC is a little shopping district with shops of crafts and jewelry.  I bought a few things and then spoke with this lady that owns one of the shops there.  She had some really cool things in her shop.  She had these stuffed dolls, elephants, and giraffes.  I wanted to buy the elephant really bad, but I decided to wait until Wednesday after we go to Amani.  However, she was telling me that the dolls and elephants and giraffes are made by street girls.  She taught them how to make them and then she hand paints the fabric.  They were amazing and well worth the RWF 5,000 a piece.  So I will most likely go back and get the giraffe and elephant. 

 

With no teams in town for us to join it was one of our “down” days.  So after bourbon again we just went back to Phil and Becca’s early.  She made us dinner and as bad as I have been craving Mexican food I was so disappointed.  She made enchiladas but I didn't eat it because I have been sick.  Oh well.  I go home to Taco Bell (a weird craving I know) in a few days anyways!

05 April 2008

Gorilla Trekking






My alarm woke me up at 2am this morning which to my surprise I was absolutely ok with me for once.  The driver was supposed to show up at 3:15am but never came so Arthur had to track him down but was unsuccessful in reaching him.  So instead he called a taxi.  We had to be at the Serena at 3:45 to leave by 4:00 and by 3:50 Shawn and I are running down a dirt road that is the farthest thing from flat you have ever seen, in the dark to find this taxi.  We decided it was good training for the Amazing Race though. 

 

We arrived at the Serena at 4:10 just in time to jump in one of the Land Rovers and make the 3 hour drive to the volcanoes.   There are no street lights up this mountain so the only light you have is from the cars.  With our caravan of five Land Rovers heading up the mountain at 4:30 in the morning, life in Rwanda has already started.  There sun has yet to awaken and yet the Rwandans are already headed down the mountain into town to sell their goods.  Men, women, and children, some barefoot, some with babies on their backs, and all with loads of potatoes, beans, or other crops on their heads.  They walk miles and miles from their remote villages to the city in hopes of selling theirs goods in order to make a few francs for the basic survival.  They have no running water or electricity.  They do not have the luxuries of a window in their mud huts or doors that separate their bedroom from their kitchen/living room.  They do not even have a floor to walk on.  They clean themselves with dirty water from streams nearby.  Occasionally they will have a well they can pump clean water from.  Yet this clean water for the Rwandans would make any westerner extremely sick.  The few hundred people that we drove past in the darkness of the early morning have to make this trek back up the mountain to their villages later that evening.  With only four hospitals in Rwanda there is a lack of health care and a lack of ambulances.  This being said my next sight was heartbreaking.  It was four people carrying a sick person on a homemade stretcher.  They were not carrying this person down the mountain, but rather up the mountain.  Sometimes it can take a person two, three, or even four days to walk to the nearest hospital.  Many times there are people that do not have the family members or friends to carry them and they therefore have to walk.  Could you imagine being extremely sick and having to walk a day or even four days to see the doctor?  Or being a mother walking with your sick child or infant to see the doctor, not being able to heal them of their pain?  And yet the push on and do what they have to do because there is no other way.  A man in our SUV was telling us that on separate occasions he came across two sick people on the human ambulance, if you will, and made his driver pull over and put the sick people in his van and drove them to the hospital.  It is in situations like theses that you see the love between people.  Had we not been smashed into our SUV’s like sardines, we too would have taken that person to the doctor. 

 

As we continued our drive the sun finally began to rise.  I don’t think I have ever seen the sunrise as beautiful as it was here.  It was an incredible sight.  The red, orange, yellow, and even purple rays of light dancing across the sky as God awakens his people with a beautiful symphony.  You cannot help but praise him at a time like that.  To see God’s ultimate imagination and creativity at work is a true blessing.  It is in this brief moment that we are connected with God in a way that only you and Him can experience together.  It is as though He is showing you a window into His heavenly kingdom and giving you hope and excitement of a world that awaits us when our time here is done. 

 

We finally arrived at the base camp to the volcanoes.  We signed our lives away and wrote down our next of kin, and then were broke up into two groups of eight and one group of five.  My group of eight was a great group.  I had the CEO of Relevant Magazine who is here covering the PEACE Plan, a newly wed couple that is now living in Rwanda for the next year and a half doing God’s work, a woman from Iceland that came here by herself to see the gorillas, and the rest of the group was from Church.  We had an orientation with our two guides where they explained that we needed to maintain a safe distance of seven meters from the gorillas and there is no flash photography, food, or drinks allowed near the gorillas.  In fact as we got near them we had to leave everything except our cameras to go see them.  Once orientation was over we hopped in our Land Rover and drove about forty minutes to the base of the volcano.  The reason for the forty minute drive is because on the dirt roads you have to drive slow and what would normally take fifteen minutes on a smooth road takes at least twice that long on these dirt roads.  We made it to the base just in time as most of us in the car were starting to experience motion sickness from all the rocking back and forth and bouncing up and down.  Once we arrived we were met by a group of porters.  They will come with you if you request them and either carry your bag or help you hike through the jungle.  We were told that once they had to carry a 300 pound woman to see the gorillas because she was too big to walk, they help an 83 woman get up there, and another time they helped a blind man walk through the jungle to “see” them as well.  They handed us walking sticks that were hand made and even had little gorillas carved into the tops, and we started our journey. 

 

It began with a long walk through various potato fields.  We were welcomed by excited children running through the crops waving excitedly and using their little English to say “Good Morning” to us.  We finally arrived at a wood chopping station, this is where they chop down trees and cut the extremely large and thick wood logs into smaller pieces to sell.  It is a very tedious process that is done by placing a large log on top of a wood stand, while one person stands on top of the log sawing through it while another person stands underneath the log and helps pull the saw through.  At this station we were met by two soldiers carrying AK47’s.  They will be joining us for protection from leopards, elephants, or any other large animal that we may encounter, as well as for poachers.  Since the gorillas are extremely endangered and the poachers are very prevalent the soldiers will shoot to kill the poachers on the spot if necessary.  Which makes for an exciting day of hiking through the jungle.  We started up the volcano and when I say we hiked through the jungle, that is exactly what we did.  There was no nicely paved trail or open path that we walked through, no, one of our guides carried a machete and he would chop through the brush when necessary for us to go through.  There is also this lovely little demon plant called “Stinging Neddles”, let me just tell you, we got along great!  I took the first hit for them team when I backed up into one and the little pricker came straight through my jeans and stabbed me in the back of the leg.  It is like a cactus needle, but called a neddle, and it stings like bee.  If you have ever been stung before then you understand my pain.  It takes about five to ten minutes for the pain to subside and then you only feel it every once and a while.  As we trekked, others in the group were hit by the little demon plant as well.  I even managed to almost fall face first into one on the way back down after sliding in the mud, but by the grace of God I caught myself and only stuck my hand in it.  I wanted to cry.  My middle finger got stuck with about six of them and it swelled and had little white bumps all over it.  I thought it was an appropriate finger to sting based upon my feelings for this evil little plant.

 

Thankfully it was not raining on our hike because there was enough mud to begin with and many people in our group were slipping and falling down left and right.  It was so beautiful and tranquil in the jungle.  The trees are incredible.  They are the kind of trees that you will only find in Africa.  As we trek along I am once again reminded of God’s astonishing handiwork.  The view of the town below is one that you usually only see from an airplane.  As seeing as how we hiked to an elevation of over 9,000 feet we were almost to cruising altitude. 

 

We finally caught up to the trekkers, the guys that search the jungle before the groups go up in an effort to find the gorillas location, and then they radio the guides their location.  Once there we were instructed to leave everything but our cameras, money, passports, and any other article of value behind.  We walked to a clearing and there they were!  Our family consisted of Charles the silverback, his three wives, and his four children.  Apparently Charles skipped over the part where God said man should only have one wife, but none the less he feels he has something to prove to the other gorillas  in the region.  Charles was lounging in the sun while two of the babies chased each other around in circles and then started wrestling with each other.  One of the babies was with its mama just hanging out in the brush and the other baby, affectionately named “Nakebazo” , which means “No Problem” in Kinyarwanda, was climbing in a little tree.  Our guide said we were lucky because not only was the whole family together, but they were in an open space where we could see them and they were actually interacting with each other.  They were extraordinary!  Every once awhile they would stand up and bang on their chest and make gorilla noises and the guides would make this gorilla noise to them telling them that we are friends.  They would run around and stop and almost pose for us.  One of the babies even decided to sit and pick his teeth for us.  We were so close to them.  Seeing a gorilla in the wild as opposed to the zoo behind a glass wall is so different.  They just seem so friendly you just want to lay down with them and cuddle them.  After about thirty minutes or so they decided to leave and search for more food.  So we followed them up the mountain a little more and watched them play and eat.  When one of the mothers started leaving a baby jumped on her back and they took off together.  We even walked past a baby who was separated from the group and it was sitting there crying for its mother.  It was so sweet.  We were only allowed to spend an hour with them and then we had to leave, so I took over 200 pictures of them and we started back down the volcano.  The really cool thing about being on a volcano is that you can see the top of it from where we were.  Although it is a dormant volcano I was still willing to hike three more hours up to the top of it to see it. 

 

The hike down, although faster as it only took about a hour, was just as slippery if even more since we were descending a steep mountain.  Even more people we slipping and falling, I have to admit I was excited about the fact that I was the only person not to fall, until Shawn reminded me that pride comes before the fall and then I slipped.  I tried to not to completely hit the ground so I popped right back up but it was still funny.  It was the second slip that I was almost taken out by the demon plant and then I made sure not to slip again. 

 

By the time we made it all the way down and back to the car we were all filthy dirty and muddy.  My very Olympic looking Nike’s were now black with mud but it was well worth it.  We headed over to the lodge and had lunch before we headed back to the city.  Pastor Rick asked me how I enjoyed it and I said it was unbelievable.  He told me that we are a group of only 100,000 people out of the 6 billion in the world that has even seen the gorillas.  That is just astounding!  It was such an amazing day and one I will never forget.  I am so blessed to have been able to experience this.