alaska

it was a good honeymoon

marriage?

my sister KRISTEN gets married in 2 days!!!!!!!!

i also recently got married. august 8, 2010.
it was a great day.

so im expecting saturday to be a great day as well. maybe not as warm, but still great :) i love my sister. she is such a wonderful, funny person to be with.

i am so excited that she is getting married to mark. he is also a wonderful person. not so funny though. haha. no no, hes funny, some of the time.

anyways, kristen, im proud of you. i love you. i cherish you. and things will only get better :) marriage is awesome. it's such a grand adventure. maybe find a new apartment, though. haha.

love love love you stinky <3

saturday night

well,
in the afternoon
i worked on my quilt (which i still havent quite finished!)
while josiah played age of empires.
we practiced our skit for christmas eve,
laughed a lot at each other
i went on facebook and did facebook stuff,
josiah played the piano and practiced a bit more,
then he calls me over to the piano
(it's not really a piano, but an organ thing from mcc)
i go over there and sit next to him.
he starts to play a simple tune
and then he starts to sing
he sings to me a lovely song
and at the end he says,
i wrote that for you today.
i kissed him.


now i sit at the computer writing this,
while he's asleep on the couch.
it's 6:47 pm
and we haven't even eaten supper.

i love you, josiah.
you're the best.

kisses,


B

these faces really make me miss africa.

it's been 5 1/2 months since ive been back. sometime africa feels like only a dream. sometimes it feels like it happened years ago. sometimes it feels like it never even happened. but whenever i look back at my photos, i feel the same emotions as when i took the photo (if that makes sense...) but yeah. im really starting to miss it. i really miss carla. she was my best friend out there and i confided in her so much. she understood what i was going through, all the emotions i felt, all the frustrations and struggles, everything. i hate taking things for granted. its really nice to be thankful for stuff, but its true that once something is gone, then the more you appreciate it. like family. like friends. like a loving boyfriend. like running water. like good tasting food. like a hot shower. like eating at a table with chairs and clean utensils. like ovens. like english conversations. so so SO many things.
i love Canada. i love Niverville. i love my Family. i love my Friends. i love my Church. i love my Job. i love my Home. i love Opportunities. i love LIFE.

i love Jesus. Only through Him was it possible for me to go there. He kept me safe and healthy. He gave me patience to deal with a totally different culture and language. He gave me Carla-someone who is exactly like me-equally crazy and weird (and loves to make funny faces!!). He made my dream come true-experiencing africa. i love the people. i love rwanda. i love the culture.

what a beautiful world.

thank you Jesus for life.

and thank you all for reading this, those of you who did. i love you all :)

blessings.

Home Sweet Home

Well, I'm home. It's been just over 2 weeks and it's soooo great. I love home. SO MUCH. It's been very busy seeing family and friends and then this past weekend was Matt and Sabrina's wedding. Holy cow! My best friends are married! BAH!! They are currently now in disneyworld, lucky ducks. But I'm quite content here, working. In fact I mowed for 5 hours yesterday, and tilled 8 hours today. YAY!!! I don't mind the alone time with my music (and loud hum of the tractor). Just like the old days...or last summer. Yeah...things are good. I'm sharing in church this Sunday, for like 10 minutes so that's cool. If you attend Maranatha, then you'll get the pleasure of hearing it :) Hopefully I won't cry...haha. So you may ask me....what are you plans now? Well so far I'm working at home, pretty much full time, doing odd jobs and farm work. And a couple weeks during summer I'll be counselling at Winkler Bible Camp. I'm very excited for that.
It's just so good to be back home, that i don't even want to think about leaving again. but as i think about the world, i just yearn to travel and experience things. and if you've read sister kristen's blog, it sounds that we have a lot in common in the area of travelling--amongst other things too. And it's great because we get along so well. i love my sister and i would love to travel with her and go on great adventures with her. everyone should know my sister. shes the greatest ever. seriously...if you're reading this and dont know my sister, i encourage you to get to know her. Shes incredible and i love her so much.
peace out friends

i promised...

I said I'd post a few photos...so here they are. But that's it :) You'll have to wait until I get home!!
ENJOY!!

what the?!?

WOW


i'm back in civilization...how weird...

i will post photos soon...

and i will be home in 6 days...

HOLY COW!!!!

love you all and thank you for your prayers...

kisses...b...

I have experienced...

LEADING THE BLIND

FUN PHOTO SHOOTS

INTERESTING TOILETS

AMAZING SUNRISES

BUYING TOO MANY GIFTS

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES

PEANUT SAUCE AND SWEET POTATOES

SOCKS AND SANDALS

CUTE LITTLE BIRDIES

NEW TOOTHBRUSHES

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY

BEING SILLY

A TASTE OF SBS

SHOWERING FROM A BUCKET

WHATSUP WITH NOAH

SWEET DONUTS

RWANDESE DANCING

INSANE HAIR

LOOKING AFRICAN AND EATING CHOCOLATE

AWESOME HAIR

Sometimes...

Sometimes...I forget that I'm white.
Sometimes...I forget I'm in Africa.
Sometimes...I only eat bread rolls for breakfast.
Sometimes...I forget to wash my feet in the shower.
Sometimes...I forget the taste of strawberries.
Sometimes...I miss my comfortable bed.
Sometimes...I wake up at 6 am.
Sometimes...I watch movies with Carla only in our igetenges.
Sometimes...I almost pee my pants.
Sometimes...I draw.
Sometimes...I enjoy cleaning the toilets.
Sometimes...I speak French.
Sometimes...I fart openly with our girls.
Sometimes...I really miss playing with Jett and Elleana.
Sometimes...I wear tank-tops.
Sometimes...I drink home made tree tomato juice.
Sometimes...I speak Kinyarwanda.
Sometimes...I miss my mama and papa.
Sometimes...I wish I could watch Braveheart with my Scottish friend, C.
Sometimes...I miss youth.
Sometimes...I talk to my family and Siah on Skype.
Sometimes...I miss baking cookies and cupcakes.
Sometimes...I sit in class and dream.
Sometimes...I wish I could cuddle up with Siah and watch a movie.
Sometimes...I miss eating poutines with Sabrina.
Sometimes...I miss Matt's jokes.
Sometimes...I miss Solomon's Porch and working with the greatest staff ever.
Sometimes...I wish I could drive in our little Corolla.
Sometimes...I miss singing English songs at Maranatha.
Sometimes...I wish I only had a little privacy.
Sometimes...I would like it if Africans didn't yell when they spoke to the person beside them.
Sometimes...I wish I could be home.
Sometimes...I remember how INCREDIBLY AMAZING God is.
Sometimes...Sometimes I do a lot of things.

I love you all and miss you all very much.

kisses and hugs from Africa.

...YWAM...

I couldn't be a YWAMer for life. No no no. Here are my reasons...


a) I HATE, absolutely HATE good-byes.




that's about it. I said goodbye to the Hawaii team today. There were about 17 of them on their DTS outreach. Yeah, they were a great bunch. I miss them already. They each have a special place in my heart. They all love Jesus sooo much and they made a HUGE impact here in Rwanda. They will be missed very much.

Good-byes suck. But it's comforting to know that I will get to see them again. In Heaven. That's exciting! Well I must get back to life...hope you enjoyed reading this tiny blog.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!


befa

LUNCH TIME!!!!

our poor dinner all tied up...

headless dinner...

mmm goat! coke! and mutoki!!


It was a good day...

clouds

Keanan, this blog is just for you :) Hope you enjoy

a different culture...

here are a few things that have been a culture shock or things that i had to get used to in the past 2 monthish...
1. literally NO room in the taxis. theres the driver in the front, and 2 passengers. the next row of seats holds 4. the next, another 4, and then the last row, another 4. then the guy who collects the money just stands and sort of lays or squishes beside someone...but seriously, there is absolutely no room between you and the people beside you. which leads to my next one...
2. the smells...especially the B.O. Body Odour...anyways, some people are worse than others, but it's an absolutely horrible smell!!! it's like potent onions and worse. and then when you get into a small, squishy bus taxi...it penetrates!! and if you hug someone, then the odour is left on you and then you reak like no one's business!!
3. STARES. never in my life have i gotten more stares! people stare from across the street, from behind, from in front, on the motos, on bicycles...it's a little scary sometimes, because they look like any moment they're going to crash! i don't really know how to feel about it. it's just intimidating...i feel like i can't do anything stupid or embarrassing, because im being watched...it's...different.
4. Boys and Boys holding hands. I'm used to girls holding hands, and sometimes my close guy friends, but not down the street. or with their arms around each other. but the guys here hold hands because they're friends. homosexuality is almost unheard of here. it's quite interesting. and it's nice to see any kind of friends holding hands... im starting to hold hands with people more. i never really did that, but me and carla especially link arms or hold hands etc. it's so nice :)
5. Absolutely no traffic rules. the lines on the road...don't mean anything. actually today in the bus, around the round-about it was insane. we were in this huge bus, and its maneuvering its way through traffic. motos going in and out and anywhere they please. whether its on the other side of the road to pass a car, zooming to the front of the traffic line to beat the rush of the lights, or 1/2 a foot from a 3 foot deep trench at the side of the road...yeah it's intense, but SO much fun!!! and today i almost got run over by one. it just came up onto the curb, and i almost screamed/peed/rampaged etc. but i kinda laughed and kept walking!
6. No Communication. especially here at DTS. nothing is really communicated about little outreaches etc. like last week we went to street kids, and we were just supposed to talk to the kids, which is fine, but then we were supposed to do a program for these soccer players, so we go behind this building, introduce ourselves and then erick did a little testimony and then deo preached, and then like 5 soccer players became Christians! it was so interesting, out of the blue and pretty Spirit led. it's so laid back and it's great. but a little frustrating at times. when we prepared for our first sunday outreach we had to plan an entire service...but then it was only for a few sunday school classes, the bible study at the beginning and a little testimony. it was frustrating for me and carla, because when we plan an entire service it usually takes or planning takes like a month!! but everything went well! but as for communication, laura, an american girl who did her dts last year told us that we had to pay for our own VISA...yeah wasnt informed...it just seems like they dont really know any information about things that they should. like for our outreach, they dont even know what its going to be like...ah well!! FLEXIBILITY!!!
7.Cleaning methods. since there are no carpets or any mats or anything, soapy water is just dumped on the floor and its squeegied (sp?) into these trenches that flow to this big water filter thing...its very interesting... when we clean the toilets, we dump soapy water on the entire thing, pour vim in the bowl, brush that, and then dump clean water over it. then we squeegie all the water out! its pretty great, and easy. and not very sanitary!! especially for dishes. just dump vim in a pot, scrub it and rinse it with water. water of course that cannot be drinkin...so i think God is protecting us a lot against any diseases or sickness...!!
8. Touch. the hand holding thing is enough to get used, but thats not an issue anymore...our dts class is very ticklish, so guys can come up to girls or vice versa and just tickle them in the side (ribs)!!! which is like only for flirty people or couples back home....its a little awkward, but they dont mean anything at all by it! sorry, but this one is for the ladies to relate to, guys if you read this, you might not want to read this next part!! so for ladies, everyone is very touchy ad physical. anyways, so one time we were doing this thing for big group where we just going aroud complimenting each other and Anto my leader, was like Umuhoza, I like your eyes. and these,--and she just grazed my boobs!! i was like ANTO!! and we burst out laughing! Noella, the married lady in our dts, constantly walks around with her top and bra off...seriously ALL THE TIME!!! and she like grabs mine and carlas boobs, and well it's just very interesting!! awkward and funny and weird! yeah, thats alll i have to say about that.
9. singing or bellowing or even wailing...one girl has intense vibrato, one wails, one sings very low, but they all SING SO LOUD!! they definately give it their all when they sing. no holding back at all!! they clap all the time, off beats, on beats, whenever they want, and it always sounds good. they are rarely off tune, and if they are, they dont really care!!!
10. This isn't really a culture shock, but I'm jsut going to tell you what ive been dealing with lately...so most of you probably know that i deal with self confidence...well if you didnt know, i did. and seeing as everyone stares, i just feel like im constantly stared at (which i am) and in return because they dont smile, i feel like theyre just judging me. its really annoying. ever since i took my hair out last week, i dont feel as pretty because i really dont like my short hair, and yeah. its just been a little difficult...so yeah, its getting better, but if you remember to pray for me, that would be fantastic!!

thanks so much for listening and your prayers. i love you all. blessings from africa.

kisses and hugs.

bethany jade.

one saturday morning...

So last Saturday, at around 7:00 am, there was a light knock on the door. It continued tapping and then finally someone got up. The girls, like usual were very loud and I lay there in my bed, thinking and trying to fall back asleep until my alarm would wake me...it failed. So I got up, rubbed my eyes, got some toilet paper and went out the room. As I walked out of the room with half open eyes, I turn to left and see Noella getting her hair done! Noella! Wow! Uri Mwiza!! (you're beautiful) she smiles and says her infamous OK!
and I go to the toilet. I figured out the mystery of who was knocking so early. Well not very early...6:20 is my morning time pretty much...I know, yuck! so early! Anyways, so I go back into the room and lay back down for a little longer...but Francoise, the girl who sleeps on the bunk above me was doing her make-up as usual, but something was a little different. There was a blanket over her back and a little lump underneath it..I thought to myself, there's no way that can be a baby! So I looked at Francoise and she shhhhed me and lifted a little of the blanket. I looked under it and I almost wet myself! It WAS a baby! A little sleeping beauty! It was the tiniest, sweetest, cutest etc. thing ever!! I didn't know how to express my excitement etc., so I went over to Carla's bed and was like, CARLA GET UP RIGHT NOW! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!!! so she got up as quickly as she could and came over to Francoise. I lifted the blanket to reveal the tiny sleeping baby. Carla was SO surprised and in awe! I think she almost wet herself too! We ooed and awwed over it for a while, putting the blanket back, then lifting it then putting it back and then getting another look at those tiny squished cheeks. It was the greatest morning ever. Then we went outside and talked (well gestured) with the lady who was doing Noella's hair and we told her that her baby was SO CUTE!!!! Yvonne, one girl from our room who knows the most English, translated and we found out that her baby's name was Noella as well!!! Crazy! and she was only 2 months old!! It was a great morning, like I said earlier...Makes me really want to go to an orphanage or work with babies...sigh...All in God's plan and timing though....hope you enjoyed my little excitment there!!

My Berma

My best friend's name is Sabrina. I call her Berma. i don't really know how...it started out Brina, then i guess i just got lazy and started to call her Berma...so that's the evolution of sabrina to berma. yay! so berma's my best friend, and i love her so much. she is such a wonderful friend and i miss her very much.

many people dont know Sabrina that well. shes a mystery. shes shy, and yet shes not. she doesnt seek for attention. she has a very soft, sweet heart. shes very discerning but lovable. she has the most beautiful bright blue eyes and sparkling white smile. i love her so much.

she doesnt always like being the center of attention, but when she is the center...she shines! for example: when she is acting. she only started acting in grade 10, but managed to snatch one of the main female roles. grade 11 she was the main female role. and in grade 12, she wasnt quite the main role, but she sure acted it! she was AMAZING!!! when shes in front of the church or youth group sharing her testimony. it makes me cry everytime, and i love thinking about that wonderful night at bird river. love you darling! and even though she doesnt seek attention, she managed to captivate a young man's attention...mr. matthew falk.

let me give you a little history lesson...me and sabrina have been best friends since about grade 8-9ish...inseperable from grade 10 on...matt and josiah(my love) have been best friends since about grade 4. they have always been known as those two...matt and josiah. the funny guys in high school.

so in grade 10, of course me and josiah started our relationship (if you dont know the story, theres a novel for you to read a few posts earlier) and 7ish months later, matt and sabrina began their little adventure of their own. it worked out perfectly. best friends with best friends. i always wanted something like that to happen. sisters marrying two brothers or something, me and kristen always played Barbies that we sisters and they married to brothers, it was great! anyways...so we all got to know each other quite well. being in plays, going to youth, double dates, etc.

3 yearsish later...they get engaged!!! BAH!!! its a good thing josiah told me when it was happening because i would have FREAKED out! i still did, but it had quite a while to settle:) it was really sweet talking to Sabrina about getting engaged...

I was with her a week before she was to get engaged. I knew that it was going to happen, but we were just talking and she was so excited about their date the following weekend. she was so happy that he was planning a proper date, not really suspecting anything. she was pretty giddy, and i was pretty amazed at that! shes not one to get all girlie and giddy and talk too fast when shes excited, which is good, because i do enough of that! ha! anyways...im so happy for her and im so excited for her wedding!!!!!!!!!!

of course, i had to take off and go to africa and experience tons of stuff, but my gracious Sabrina was ok with it. shes so understanding and i love it. she encourages me ALL the time, and in fact we have an entire notebook of encouragments, vents etc. i love her.

i miss her. i love her. she is my best friend. she is so fantastic, and if you dont really know her...i encourage you to get to know her. shes absolutely fantastic!!!!!

Sabrina, i love you so much. i hope everything is going swimmingly, and i sorry again about not really being there for you. you shine baby....XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

p.s. i think jane is calling us for another date...with pizza, milkshakes, tostitos, carrots, cheese curds and salsa... <3