Measu(RED)
Many thanks to you for purchasing (RED) products: In May, $1.25 million of the first (RED) money received by the Global Fund flowed to Rwanda. This has gone towards the Rwandan Ministry of Health's comprehensive HIV/AIDS programs, mainly to provide anti-retroviral treatment for children and adults in a third of the country.

Rwanda

In 2003, when the first Global Fund grant began in Rwanda, 5% of the country’s 8.5 million people were infected with HIV. Women and children were particularly affected; with over 11% of pregnant women testing positive for HIV in antenatal clinics and 160,000 children orphaned as a result of AIDS.

Despite these extreme circumstances, Global Fund-financed programs in Rwanda have made tremendous progress.

Global Fund-financed programs in Rwanda have already:

• ·  reached over 70,000 mothers with counseling and services to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV
• ·  trained over 600 healthcare providers in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
• ·  reached over 180,000 people with voluntary counseling and testing for prevention of HIV
• ·  trained almost 3,000 counselors to teach prevention of HIV
• ·  provided anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS to over 7,500 patients
• ·  set up 19 hospitals to deliver anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS

Global Fund-financed programs in Rwanda aim to:

• ·  provide over 160,000 mothers with counseling and services to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV
• ·  provide nutritional support to 6,000 families affected by HIV/AIDS
• ·  provide anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS to over 19,000 patients

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Psalm 86:9-11

"All the nations you have made
       will come and worship before you, O Lord;
       they will bring glory to your name.

 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
       you alone are God.

  Teach me your way, O LORD,
       and I will walk in your truth;
       give me an undivided heart,
       that I may fear your name. " 

Psalm 27

3 Though an army besiege me,
       my heart will not fear;
       though war break out against me,
       even then will I be confident.

 4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
       this is what I seek:
       that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
       all the days of my life,
       to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
       and to seek him in his temple.

 5 For in the day of trouble
       he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
       he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
       and set me high upon a rock.

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

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All we are
And all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life
We open up our eyes
To see the majesty and glory of the King

He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we always remember

You and I were made to worship
You and I are called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
You and I embrace surrender
You and I choose to believe
You and I will see who we were meant to be

Lake Kivu Sunset

Batwa (Forest Pygmy) children

Malnutrition ward

Teza

Girangero

What a smile

Fun with Paper!

Coloring at VBS 

Girangero & Tiene

Samuel

 Tiene & Behoichee

Moses & Fidel

Rwanda 2006

Going to Rwanda for a month on a missions trip was the most amazing experience. I wanted God to show me more of the world and the needs of people and He did. I now have a more global perspective on what the needs of people in poorer, less affluent countries are. I saw the desperate need for Jesus Christ who gives hope and love and healing. God is provider, He is rock, He is deliver, He is love, He is powerful, He is healer, he is hope, He is mercy, He is a treasure, He is the way the truth and the light. I found that only God can save and heal people, but that we can as individuals really make a difference in spreading Christ's love. The difference between countries like Rwanda and the US are so striking that it is hard to adjust back and I've definately changed since the trip. The people that I've meet were incredible. The missionaries on the compound were so inspiring with their stories and just the way they live their life. The Rwandans at the hospital have left an inprint on my heart. I miss the kids at the hospital- I miss seeing their smiling faces despite all the hardships and obstacles they face. I miss seeing and working with the hospital staff. I miss going to 3 hr church services filled with joyful choirs and dancing (a delightful glimpse into the global body of Christ). I can't even begin to describe at that happened, but here are some photos. I'll post more later when I have more uploading capacities.

The many hills of Rwanda and Lake Kivu

Tea Fields

Samuel and his mother

Please continue to pray for the patients at the hospital-that God may heal their bodies and their hearts. Pray for the children that we spent time with during VBS that as they grow up they may accept and know that Jesus Christ is their Savior. Pray for the hospital staff that they be filled with God's love for the patients and really care for them. Pray for the Rwandans that people would be able to live in harmony and really forgive one another for the past and that there may be true reconcilation and justice for the genocide. Pray for the Rwandans living in desperate poverty that God may provide for their needs. Pray for the missionaries at the compound that they may continue to be faithful and humble servants. Pray for God to have mercy, grace, compassion, and love for Rwanda.

"Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends...
You did not choose me, but i chose you and appointed you to go and hear fruit - fruit that will last.
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other "  -John 15:12-17