Update from Africa...

Hello there everyone!! So I'm in Rwanda and I'm safe and healthy!! Tomorrow I will have been here for 3 weeks!! Crazy to think about! Anyways...I'll tell you a little about what's happening...So I met Carla from Scotland in Amsterdam and we flew down to Nairobi. She's so great!! We are very similar and get along very well!! We arrived and there were greeted by MANY people. I didn't know that there would be so many people! There are about 14 people from a VTI Team from Calgary doing outreach. VTI stands for Venture Teams International...so yeah. And there are about 20 people from YWAM Hawaii, doing their DTS Outreach. So there were a lot of mzungus. Mzungu means white person, so keep that in mind! So we were very welcomed by everyone! I wasn't tired at all so we went for a walk outside of the base and had my first experience on an African street. We were swarmed by children, and we held hands with them and walked along the street with many people staring at us! We just relaxed the next day (Sunday) and met more students. There are 11 of us in total. 6 girls and 5 boys. We had three staff members, Antoinette (leader), Geoffrey and Noah, but recently Noah had to go to accounting because they need a lot of help there...so we were very sad that he had to go. But he still lives on the base, so we get to see him everyday which is nice. Me and Carla liked him very much! So there are 11 students...I'm the baby, of course. There's Carla who's 20, Francoise who's 19, Yvonne who's 22, Cecile who's 20, Noella who's married and 23. The boys there is Innocent who is 21, Erick who is 25, David who is 29, Charles who's 36, and Deo who's 40. It's a big gap, but we don't really notice the difference...Everyone seems my age, so that's pretty nice. We laugh all the time in our room! The girls teach us Kinyarwanda (their language) and they laugh at when we try and talk in it. But we've learnt a lot and improved very much!! On Wednesday actually, we were having small groups (guys and girls seperately) and the girls and Anto gave me and Carla names in Kinyarwanda. Mine is Umuhoza which means caring for those who are crying, and compassionate. And Carla's is Umugwaneza which means kindness. So that was a big, special moment for both of us...We have taken many pictures and almost peed our pants numerous times. We get along so great and we are so similar that it's a little strange, and we haven't quite yet gotten annoyed with each other...hopefully that won't happen...As far as the school goes...it's going great! The first week we only had a few hours of teaching because we were doing orientation week and getting used to everything...but by the second week everything was good and we were on to normal schedules. The first week we learnt about Listening to God's Voice, the next week was about the Character and Nature of God. And this week was about The Divine Plumbline. The second week we were supposed to have one speaker for the whole week, but certain circumstances, she had to leave the country and she could only stay for one day. But we got Titus Project Teachers come and they were absolutely fantastic!!! There were only four of them, so it was easy to get to know them. Their leader Katie, knows the leaders of the team that Shoshannah was on, so that was pretty cool. And another girl who did her DTS and SBS (i think) in Montana and she knows Randall Heier, so that was pretty cool!! But yeah, it's going great and I'm learning A LOT!!! I have a huge desire to get to know God, and every morning I'm taking a walk with Him and really thinking Him as a Father, or Dad. And seeing as I have an amazing earthly Dad, it's not very hard for me to picture God as my dad. I love you Dad, if you read this and I miss you so much. You have been the prime example of what a godly father should be like. Thank you so much!! So yeah...things are going good, I love reading the Word now, and it's just so great getting to know the language and the culture and the people. We went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre yesterday...it was... intense. Afterwards we had sodas and took silly pictures and just really lightened the mood, so it wasn't so heavy. I learnt a lot about the country and the people and its history. Pretty intense, but one thing that really bothers me is how uneducated people are about Rwanda. The war started in 1994, and it's been getting better ever since. There isn't any seperation in the people and it's grown a lot in so many ways. I love Rwanda. I love these people. I love Africa. Many times I don't know what questions to ask, but I'm learning that I don't always need to say something. It's really a lot about the actions. Especially in showing love to the girls in our room. And the people on the street. Which is always very interesting because I've never been so stared at in my life!!!!!!!! they stare and point MZUNGU MZUNGU!!! I've never had so many turned heads...I feel rather pretty:) Haha. Kids love is, they love waving and smiling at us. They are very sweet. And the men...well theyre another story...our names are either Sister or Mzungu... We went on motorbikes twice now, and let me tell you, they are the FUNNEST things in the world!!! zooming in and out of traffic, inches away from a trench thing, 70 km/h racing down the highway, yeah its a goooooooood time!!! so much adrenaline!!! but i must stop now because I have big group and we're going to do areobics, whihc i think I'm helping leading...ok. I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOUSO MUCH!!!!! blessings to all of you and i will post pictures soon, for those who dont have facebook.

God Bless..

Bethany Umuhoza McMahon