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The Seven Week Report

A few of the Peace House guys took me to my first soccer match here. More on that later, since I've now been to two!

• Most impressive feat I've seen so far:  a man carrying 11 twin-sized mattresses on his head.

• Rwandan sweet potatoes are the best I’ve ever eaten.  And they’re white inside.

• Attended a Rwandan dance competition.  Part of the dancing was really awesome and put the rest of the world’s dance moves to shame.  Part of it was weird, like the dance move that involved milking a cardboard cut-out of a cow.

• Achieved a life goal of having a friend who always greets me with a kiss on both cheeks.

•  Thing I miss: clothes dryer.  Hanging clothes on the line is not bad.  It’s more about how minus a clothes dryer, my pants never shrink back to the correct size.  Instead, they are get bigger and stretchier with each wear.  I better head to the market to look for some suspenders.

• When conversing via a translator, what I say usually falls into one of three categories:  1) The translation is much shorter than what I said.  2) The translation is much longer than what I said.  3) What I said does not get translated, so I assume it was something stupid and not worth the effort it would take to translate.

• I answer to several names:  Libby, Luby, Ruby, Ribby

• My friend Heather is here volunteering at the Peace House with me for several weeks.  We’re headed to hang out in a rainforest Thursday- Sunday, where we’ll meet some chimps, do a canopy walk, and other rainforest-y stuff.  Here’s to making it on our own across country on a public bus.

• Just “being with people” is something I’ve unknowingly been overlooking at home.  It’s valuable to spend time with folks without needing to accomplish anything.  The “being” is the accomplishment.

• I love that unlike America’s individualistic culture, Rwanda is a collective culture.  People naturally look out for one another and do things together because it’s the best way to survive.  Individualism is a luxury.

• Romans 8 has provided good reading the last few weeks.  Thank you, Portico Church.

• My constantly dripping water faucet at home is a gift.  A serious one.  I did a 30-minute, one-way trek with some village women to collect water.  The spigot was in the middle of sweet potato fields, and we had to wait in line behind 3 or 4 small children who were also there collecting water for their families. 

• My ideas/beliefs/thoughts about “church” are once-again being challenged and reshaped, both by Scripture and by what I'm experiencing here.

• God is not in the habit of giving up on people, even when they appear to give up on Him.