December 10, 2019
We have been in Rwanda for 6 weeks, and in some ways the days have gone by quickly. We arrived on Saturday, November 2 and were taken to the Dove Hotel (ADEPR’s hotel and convention centre) where we stayed for the first 5 days while we looked for a place to live (ADEPR paid for this - surprise blessing!). This gave us the opportunity to try to rent a smaller place with a smaller rent. With Jean Paul Seneza’s help, we found a small(ish) apartment and moved in on November 7. On our first day here, while painters were coming in and out, Dave’s Mac Laptop was stolen. Since then, nothing that we are aware of, has happened. When we tried to contact the landlord through people who know the language, his response was to hang up on them. It is now in hands of the Rwanda Bureau of Investigation to pursue this further. Please pray that either we will quickly have the laptop returned to us (Dave is really missing it!) or that we can at least get a police report for our insurance claim when we get back to Canada at Christmas.
Now on to happier news …
We began training 50 pastors and leaders in Rwamagana (approx. 1 hour outside of Kigali) in leadership training – The Heart of a Servant Leader, and Authentic Leadership. They have a very large area and some of their pastors have to come quite a distance which is a hardship for them as we don’t provide transportation or food (we provide hard copies of the syllabus). For these reasons, we suggested, instead of coming every week, it might be easier for them to come for several days and complete the training with one trip. The Regional Pastor agreed and planned this for December 4-6. This was a great time with over 100 leaders attending and completing the training. This might become a new format for us to do in other areas of Rwanda.
We started another group of pastors and leaders in Kigali in the chapel where Dave is one of the elders. There were approximately 60 men and women in this group, and we began what will be 3 months of weekly training. The response has been very positive, and some of the pastors have been through this training more than once. Some have told us that it is a prophetic teaching because we talk about things that we couldn’t possibly know.
Lynn has been connecting with women individually for several years and in December, began a study group with some of them. The response so far, has been good and they seem excited to continue.
On Monday, November 11, Ambassadors Football began training the 150 coaches who came from around Rwanda. Fifty of these coaches were trained in level 2 and 100 new coaches were trained in level 1 – including Dinah, Jean Paul’s wife.
The next week (18th-23rd) was the Rwanda Ambassadors Football Second Annual National Championship. The first few days were filled with skills training for the 150 kids who attended as well as playoffs for the 10 teams (5 girls’ teams and 5 boys’ teams) ending on November 23 with the championship games. It was very exciting! They played on a turf pitch under lights and had sports radio announcers doing a play-by-play which only added to the excitement – especially for the kids!! World class coaches from Brazil, South Africa, UK, Kenya and the US, were involved with the kids in teaching football skills as well as teaching about the Father heart of God, and the children learned many Bible verses which were recited at the championship game. Jon Ortlib (AF founder & President) was joined by his son, Henry (media expert and photographer) and daughter Heidi (TV producer). They are working together with this event to produce a top-notch documentary. We are eagerly anticipating seeing it.
During that same week, Steve and Lorraine Thomas, and David Freeman joined us in Kigali. Steve is the leader of Salt & Light International (the family of churches we connect with) and David is a leader in his field of teaching teachers in many countries. We are very grateful that Jean Paul organized a marriage “staytreat” weekend. It was very well attended, the worship time was great, and the teaching from all three was excellent. We were also able to “pick their brains” and received some counsel regarding our work here. It was time very well spent.
Along with all of this, we continued with our regular schedule of Dave preaching on Sundays – so far, we have been in 6 different chapels, this last Sunday he preached 3 times. We love doing this, sometimes staying in Kigali and sometimes going out to the countryside.
We are excited that we will be back in Canada in a couple weeks to celebrate Christmas with our friends and family for 3 weeks – and then back to Rwanda for 3 months.
We thank you for your prayers and interest in the work in Rwanda. Your financial support would also be greatly appreciated and will be a huge encouragement to us as we look ahead to the end of our budget year, needing approximately $25,000 to meet the budget. Your partnership will help us to continue the work we are doing in Rwanda. Lives are changed as these leaders go back to their chapel with tools to better serve their congregation. Children’s lives, families’ lives and neighbourhoods are changed as children go back to school and become positive role models in their classroom and communities because of Bridges Beyond’s connection with Ambassadors Football. Individual’s lives change through mentoring as they are confronted with the need to make different choices in their lives.
If you have any questions, please ask us, or if you want to donate now, please follow the link. If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please let us know.
Warm regards,
Dave & Lynn Kehler
Bridges Beyond International Ministries