International Road Trip to Rwanda

“Land of a Thousand Hills,” a phrase which failed to leave my thoughts as I drove through the Rwandan countryside. Over fall break at the end of October, one of our team members flew to the states for a week for a wedding, three others went to Sudan as I mentioned in my last update, two girls went to Kitale, Kenya, one family stayed in Mbale, one family went to Jinja, Uganda, and three of us, including me, drove to Kigali, Rwanda. It was one of the most exciting travel adventures I have experienced. Who would have thought three girls would be taking and “International Road Trip?” Becca Ramsey (teacher), Laura Beth Chapman (graphics design & miscellaneous worker), and I loaded up Monday morning to aim for the Rwandan boarder.

It all began Sunday, when I drove us 8 hours to Mbarara, Uganda to stay with another teacher who is a part of our international team. Monday morning, we left in the rain to drive through beautiful, green hills in Western Ugandan for three hours to approach the Rwandan boarder. We spent only one short hour at the border. As I was driving through the border gate into Rwanda, I look up to see that it is time to drive on the right side of the road in our truck with the steering wheel on the right side. Thanks to my fabulous passengers, I managed to drive all eleven or twelve hours safely throughout the country of Rwanda on the right side of the road.

We arrived in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda, and stayed with three American girls (Kyla Kiser, Amanda Moore, Lauren) who are teachers for the mission team in Kigali. We had various connections to the teachers, so they were not complete strangers to the three of us. The cosmetic view of Kigali has bounced back so well since the Genocide. The roads are well constructed and the city is making rapid developments. Tuesday morning Luz Beard showed us some sights around the city: Hotel Rwanda (Hotel Des Mille Collines Hotel) which is a very nice hotel in use, ORTPN Gorilla Trekking office, and just before lunch we met up with Kyle Beard at his office. Kyle is the Rwandan women’s national soccer coach. His is beginning to build a women’s soccer (called football by almost every country, but America) team. Then we proceeded to lunch with Kyle and Luz to learn more about the work they are doing in Kigali. Kyle and Luz are supported by South Plains Church of Christ, so I was interested in knowing and seeing all they are involved in. Becca, Laura Beth, and I debated on whether or not to do the gorilla trekking and decided we would approach the office and ask about schedules. They had an opening for Wednesday morning, the next day in Ruengheri, a town about 2 hours drive away. After about three minutes of discussion, we decided it was a once in a life time experience and we signed up.

Connections come close on the mission field, and as we were eating lunch we ran into a lady, Mary, who we had met the day before and she told us her friend, Sue, was going back to her home in Ruengheri in a few minutes. We jumped at the opportunity to meet Sue and followed her to home. As we approached her home, she informed us we were staying with her. We were thrilled. Sue is a very nice missionary lady who teaches literate courses and works with an Episcopalian church near her home. Her friendship is a blessing from God. She helped us out with so many details. She provided shoes for me to trek in and a long sleeved shirt for Becca. If you are standing in Sue’s backyard, you will see 4 volcanic mountains. The peaks are very jagged.

The next morning, we drove to our gorilla trekking destination. We began hiking in the National Forest with a group of eight tourists seeking out a family of eight gorillas. Our guide was in contact with another group of scouts who find the gorillas and lead the guide and tourists to them. After an hour of hiking through bamboo, trees, mud, etc. we arrived at a baby gorilla. He latched onto a boy in our group and after releasing him he ran down to the end of the line to find me to grab onto and swing off. Wow! A baby gorilla grabbed me. Humans are not to have contact with the gorillas and are to stay at least one meter away for safety and health reasons. What can you do when the gorilla doesn’t follow the rules? I wish I had thought quick enough to reach down and pet him or something, but I kinda froze. We walked a bit further to an open area where we watched the gorillas play for one hour. The silverback only made himself known when we first arrived; then he sat in the distance as a spectator. The three babies, one juvenile, and two mamas were active and put on a good show for us. There were two babies who fought like little boys. They were hilarious to watch. We were sad to leave such an exceptional sight.

Since we finished our trek in the morning, we packed up and drove near Gisenyi, a town about one hour from Ruengheri, to visit an orphanage. Rosamond Carr began an orphanage in the 90’s and has lived there ever since, helping many children. (Read her book Land of a Thousand Hills for more information.) She died one month before we arrived at age 94. We really wanted to meet Ros, but instead, we met a wonderful lady named Kay-Ellen who was friends of Sue (in Ruengheri). Sue talked to Kay-Ellen the day before and she was more than happy to welcome us to Imbabazi Orphanage. The compound houses about 114 children and has rooms for studying and a few education classes. The children are well fed and looked after. A gate separates Ros’s house from the rest of the buildings. Her side is absolutely beautiful with immaculate flower gardens. She grows flowers and sells them to towns around Gisenyi to help with expenses at the Orphanage.

We approached Gisenyi town just before dark and stayed in a nice hotel on Lake Kivu. At night, we could look outside to the left and see the moon glittering off the lake and to the right an incredible sight of a red glow from an active volcano. During the day the volcano often gives off smoke, and at night it glows bright red. After doing research and talking to somewhat reliable sources, we made plans to drive two kilometers from the hotel to the Congo border the next morning. We parked on the Rwandan side, completed immigration procedure, then walked through the gate and walked through the streets of Goma, Congo. In the 90’s, during the genocide, a volcano erupted in Goma. Since the eruption, the streets have not been thoroughly cleaned up and are still covered in lava. We saw buildings covered in lava from the ground up to the roof of the first floor. Most of their buildings they have just added on another story or two to continue using them for their businesses. There was not much to see in this town as it is not very touristy and a bit underdeveloped. We spent about an hour wandering in town as I attempted a few Swahili greetings, then jumped on the back of three motorcycles and rode back to the boarder. We waded on the beach along Lake Kivu for a few minutes, then packed up and drove back to Kigali.

On our way into Kigali, we stopped to be educated by the Genocide Memorial set up in the middle of town. It was such a tragic event to have taken place for such a long period of time. Thursday evening, we attended a Bible study lead by Kyle Beard in a business building. Post Bible study, we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant with the Kigali mission team. Pre Bible study, we toured the Kigali Community School. It is the first year to kick off this new school founded by the Kigali mission team. There are many expatriates and government leaders who are very interested in this community school. They have thick plans to purchase a plot of land containing a nice school facility and church building which are already built and empty.

Friday, we began the trip home after purchasing a few mementos from our adventure. We stayed in Mbarara that evening and drove back to Mbale the following Saturday. On Saturday, as we were jamming out to some Christmas music, we passed a pack of zebra and kob. Of course we turned around and took some pictures.

I have learned that if you want to be a missionary, there are many, many different organizations or works which are taking place all over. People of all talents and abilities can find a task in which they can minister and participate internationally, if their heart desires. The Lord is opening so many opportunities for Christianity and peace in Eastern Africa. I am so very thankful of the works I have been able to see while residing in Mbale.

Team Work

Greetings from Mbale, a city which is approaching the dry season!

The most recent event has been George and Diana Franklin coming to visit Mbale, set up an office for their eyeglasses, and survey Sudan and hold an eyeglass clinic there. You may remember last fall when SEE Ministries came to Uganda and held several eyeglass clinics. I was able to take a break from school and help out with a few. This year, George and Diana graced me with their presence by staying with me in the Tyler’s home. With Shawn and Linda’s trucks here, I was able to help transport them to the many errands they needed to accomplish while in Mbale for the week. The following week, six people (including George and Diana) went up to Sudan to survey the area for a clinic which will be a cooperative effort from SEE Ministries and FAME (medical mission organization in America). Since there was a limited amount of space, and I had been to Sudan in March, I did not go this time. Being fall break, I did travel to another country. Stay-tuned to my blogspot for that adventure.



This week I will be substituting at the Mission School for Laurie Bates, a teacher who will be in America for the week for her brother’s wedding. I will be teaching her Algebra 2 class and first grade science, along with my Pre-Calculus class. The library at the Mission School is growing and I have enjoyed unpacking boxes and cataloguing the books for the children to check-out.

On Wednesday, I will be attending the monthly MCC (Mbale Church of Christ) Planning Committee meeting. I guess you could say I have taken on the position of MCC treasurer and secretary. It has been nice to be more involved with the church and to get to know the church leaders better. The Planning Committee meetings usually last close to three hours. It is a real cultural experience. The chairperson is currently Noeli, a Kenyan woman who works closely with our team and is an excellent leader within our church. My position is to take notes at meetings and keep track of the finances, pay employees, and take care of other jobs they nominate me for.

Jennifer and I are also making progress on the MTI (Messiah Theological Institute) library. Full boxes of books are still waiting in Lubbock in a storage unit to be sent over for the library. There are so many great Biblical resources in our library. I can’t wait to see it in full swing for students and other interested parties to use. Uganda has a termite problem as some of these creatures have made their way into the library. We are trying to spray regularly to keep these critters out.

As far as team work, the AIDS orphans project is coming along with sixteen children being supported by CRF (Christian Relief Fund). Stephan and Heidi have been working diligently on that project. Jennifer has been working in Kitale, Kenya taking care of the finances for the Children’s Home there. She has also been spending time in Northern Uganda counseling children who have been affected by war. Ian Shelburne has just wrapped up another course week at MTI with twenty-one students attending. He was teaching on Understanding the Bible. Graduation is approaching and I am eager to see the number of students who have completed their required number of courses. Laura Shero’s parents Gilford and Pat Rice have been visiting for a few weeks. I think the grandchildren have sure enjoyed being spoiled by their grandparents. I know I am ready to be spoiled by my grandmother (hint, hint -I am going to be back soon Grandmother!).

Time sure has flown by quickly. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with a fabulous team this semester. Just when it seems things begin to slow down, they only speed up quicker. We are anticipating our next quarterly meeting, Thanksgiving Day, and a team retreat within the next month.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” I Peter 5:8-9

Southern Hemisphere

We crossed the equator on our way to quarterly meeting at the end of August. We meet with the national team every quarter to have a business meeting and get together with friends. This August it was in Mbarara, Uganda. Jamie and I were teachers together last year. She is currently in the states for a few months and will return in December to work with the team.

Team Pink!

One night at devo, the girls decided to wear pink while Phillip stuck with the dark colors. This picture was taken before Stephan came and Jamie left. We reminded Phillip that he wasn't the only boy. He said his sons Malachi age 6 and Israel age 3 didn't make him feel much better.

To Be Continued...

I will eventually post pictures. I haven't loaded them on my computer yet. I am needing to retrieve some from the other girls.

Back in Mbale

Greetings to Everyone!

I hope all is going well wherever you are. I have decided to write updates at the end of the month rather than the beginning that is why my greetings to you have been delayed. After some tight security and several movies on the flights, me and my abundance of luggage reached Mbale safely. It was nice to meet up with Jennifer Allen in the states to have a friend to fly with me. She is working with me in the library as well as counseling children in Northern Uganda. It has been wonderful to reunite with friends and get to know all our new team members.

Our team currently consists of Phillip and Laura Shero and their three children, four single girl teachers, four single girl workers, and one single guy. We have had a good time together, although we are missing the rest of our team members who are on furlough in the states. Our mission school will almost double in size when Ian and Danetta Shelburne and their seven children return from the states in a few days.

Last year I had an enjoyable year teaching at our mission school where we had about twenty expatriate students. I could not pull out of the school completely this year. I will soon be teaching one student in an upper level math class. I have also been working in our mission school library with many children’s books still in boxes to be unpacked.

Our team has been making plans to create a university here in Mbale. Plans are progressing very well. We are required to have a certain number of resources in our library, so Jennifer and I have been unpacking boxes of books and cataloguing them into our library system at MTI (Messiah Theological Institute). Right now MTI is offering Bible courses for students to learn and receive a certificate upon completion of the required courses.

Traveling to villages to teach the women was a big reason I wanted to come back. So far, there either has not been many women’s visits scheduled or I have been out of town. Noeli, a Kenyan lady who works with our team, took me and two other teachers out to Namiyembe for a women’s meeting. After about two hours of waiting and a cup of chai and bread, we began our meeting. Noeli did a fabulous job teaching the women how to be better wives and Christians. As Noeli was being introduced to speak, we saw something fall from the ceiling and hit the floor in front of the table Noeli was standing behind. We looked over and saw a baby mouse. The mama mouse had made a nest in between the beams in the roof. A boy took the mouse and threw him out. About fifteen minutes later, I looked over and saw something fall and heard a light thud. Another baby mouse fell from the ceiling. Only in Africa would you see two mice fall from the ceiling during a meeting.

Since there are so many singles on the team, we are all helping with the town church, Mbale Church of Christ (MCC). I have agreed to help out with the youth, ages ranging from about 15 to 25 years. Over here, the youth are young people who are not married. I taught the youth Bible study on Wednesday afternoon. The youth at church are in a time of transition with their leader moving to Kenya. There is so much potential for them to become great leaders.

Last year I stayed at the teacher house with two other girls. Currently, I am staying at the Tylers’ house while they are on furlough with Jennifer. It has been nice being able to use their trucks and stay in their nice home.

There is so much more I could write, but my letter would be a bit lengthy. Thank you all again for your continuous support and prayers.

Summer Update

Not Quite Finished

As most of you know, last year I taught missionary children and worked some with the young ladies at the church in Mbale. I traveled to the villages on the weekends to worship with them. I had been planning all along to return to the states at the end of the school year (May). An irrefutable opportunity arose in early May for me to meet my parents along with several other Lubbock Christian University students and staff in Istanbul, Turkey, on my way home. We were sponsored and hosted by a group of Islamic businessmen and traveled around Turkey seeing many landmarks of our Christian heritage. Prayerfully, we were able to show Christ to the families we encountered there.
I have been home for two months now, and am awaiting nine more days for my return to Mbale, Uganda (on August 23). As many of you know, teaching is a full time job and did not allow me much time to travel to the villages. With much thought, prayer, and advice from the team, I decided to return to focus on women’s ministry in the villages. I will be working with the women's ministry by traveling to the villages weekly and conducting Bible studies. I will also be teaching one class at the mission school, working with the school library, working with our team’s Messiah Theological Institute library, and several other team projects. My plans include returning to the states in three and a half months to work and prepare for graduate school in the fall of 2007. The Lord has truly blessed me with this opportunity to return to Africa. I am thankful that He has provided open doors to new projects to further His kingdom. Please continue to pray for me and the rest of the team as we endure the frustrations that Satan throws our way.
I have been quite frugal with my funds and currently have some money left over from your generosity last year. I do need to raise about two thousand dollars for my airfare. If you are able to help, you may send a contribution to South Plains Church of Christ with my name in the memo. I have provided the address below. Most of all, I ask for your continued prayers for safety and strength in the Lord ---and the spreading of His Kingdom. Thank you again for your partnership in this wonderful, challenging work!

April Update

Greetings in the name of Christ!

Isn’t it amazing that we are all connected through one Savior and one Lord? Even though the distance between us is so great, we are all connected with one commonality.

This has been a busy month. Where do I begin…we were invited to witness the work of God in a witchdoctor’s life. A man from Budaka (about 1 hour from Mbale) has been practicing witchcraft for several years. He committed his life to God a few years ago, but fell back into his practice. He was the treasurer of a group of witchdoctors in the area. He decided to turn down a large sum of money from his fellow doctors to stay and decided to follow Christ instead. Evil worship and practices are so strong over here and the effects are very evident. James (the former witchdoctor) invited several of the missionaries from Mbale to come out to his home and witness the burning of his shrine and the shredding of bushes and trees planted on behalf of his practice. He has a bit of fear that his former partners will retaliate for his decision to turn against the practice. Praise God for his decision to leave the ways of Satan and follow Christ, and to be a witness to so many in the community where he resides.

Mbale held the first quarterly meeting for 2006. All the NTCC (New Testament Churches of Christ) missionaries in Uganda gathered here to have a business meeting and catch up on mission work across the nation. Many of us attended MCC (Mbale Church of Christ) on the Sunday before the meeting. I am encouraged more each time I attend worship there. The attendance has been up to around 200 people with about 1 or 2 baptisms almost every week. We have some truly committed and faithful Christian brothers and sisters who are a part of the leadership at MCC. However, we are praying that more people will be willing to step into the leadership roles to lead this church forward. We had a preacher who was a part of our mission team who recently left, so our team is working and praying that the position of a preacher will be filled with a man of God. Until then, the men on our team are rotating on Sundays to preach.

Our team recently went to Eldama Ravine, Kenya to Sunrise Acres for an annual retreat. About once a year the team will get away from Mbale for about five days and have a retreat. This year we fled to the mountains at a dairy farm run by an American couple who have been involved in mission work in Kenya for many, many years. The weather was similar to the Rocky Mountains in the fall. The air was cool and crisp with greenery surrounding the cottages. We enjoyed each others company by playing basketball, volleyball, football, chess, spoons, chopping wood, milking a cow, reading, eating, and climbing on a playground tower (which would only be built in Africa and would never get close to passing inspection for a piece of American playground equipment). It was so nice not only to have consistent power (Uganda sells power to Kenya and it rarely goes out … imagine that…), but also to sleep in the cool climate with blankets. Our weather in Uganda is rainy, but still manages to stay humid and warm most of the time.

Since it is costly to cross the Kenyan border, we decided to make the most of our money and stay a few extra days with some missionary friends in Kitale, Kenya. A while back, I mentioned the four singles from Seattle, Washington who stayed with us in the fall to train for Aids education and orphans. The two girls and two guys are working with the Kitale Church of Christ Children’s Home in Kenya. About twelve years ago, Shawn and Linda Tyler (part of our current team) were a part of a mission team in Kenya with a few other families – Kirk and Susan Hays and Mike and Carolyn Schrage. They decided to build a children’s home for orphans. The home has undergone it’s share of struggles, and the four singles from Washington have committed two years to take care of the home and make it a better place for the children living there. Most of the children are supported by CRF (Christian Relief Fund) in America. There are currently 40 children living there- 14 girls and 26 boys. I was very encouraged to see the work they have put into these kids’ lives. They have devotionals and Bible studies and have been great examples to the kids. Their work includes: finding jobs or further education for the older children to move out on their own, distributing CRF support, acting as temporary house parents for the girls, renovating the kitchen, fixing up the living quarters, and many other projects. God has really struck the hearts of singles to be a part of mission work, not just here in Africa, but I am hearing of so many who are willing to go where God has called them.


We couldn’t just go all the way to Kenya and not do some site-seeing. Carrie (missionary in Kitale) took Jamie and me to a Wildlife park where we fed giraffes, and saw zebra, rhinos, gazelles, and other animals. Then we drove up to Mt. Elgon National Forest where we hiked about half a mile on a trail to some caves. The two caves we wandered in were built by elephants and it is said that one of them is the source for Eboli.



I can’t believe my time is coming to an end. We will be finished with school on April 20th. My plans are shaky as to the days I am coming home. I plan to return for four months in the fall to do various projects such as working in the library at MTI (Messiah Theological Institute) the school our team runs, working in the MMS (Mbale Mission School) library (on the compound where I currently teach and live), doing women’s ministry in the villages with a Kenyan lady, Noeli Luchevia (she is a great leader at church and who’s family works with our team), teaching one class at the mission school, working on the team website, visiting and helping with various work other mission teams are doing outside of Mbale, and just letting God use me wherever he needs me.

As always, thank your for your continuous prayers and support. I pray God will continue to give you the heart of a servant as you serve where you are planted.

March Update

Greetings from Mbale!

You are probably thinking “she just sent out an update” as I am thinking the same thing, but it is that time again. It has been a bit challenging with the power still very inconsistent to keep my computer powered. In fact, we had a “fault” and our power and it was out for almost a whole week. I am beginning to get used to not having power, except for the lack of internet use. It’s time to fill you in on the events in my life for the month of February, and share with you the evidence of God’s work here in Africa.


Jamie and I at the gas station near Jinja

Jamie (teacher and roommate) and I took a trip to Jinja, 2 hours drive from Mbale, to go to their clothes market, eat some Mexican food, visit the town church, and missionaries working there. Our Uganda team has three families and one single guy doing mission work in Jinja. I was encouraged to see the town ministry of the Source. The Source is a coffee shop, gift shop, and internet café which were opened by some missionaries who were part of our team a few years ago. It is becoming a tradition for a tire to fall off or go flat on the trips I go on. The roads are so hard on the vehicles here, so it is common to have maintenance done on the cars. Just outside Jinja, we realized we had a flat tire, and as they were letting the jack down, the spare tire kept going down and we realized it was flat too. Fortunately there was a gas station near by and we took care of business with hardly any time lost.

As some of you have seen in an earlier blog entry, I used 12 hours of my life to sit and have two Africans twist extensions into my hair. I had 420 twists with 1/3 my hair and 2/3 artificial with it extending down to my waist. After 2 ½ weeks, I decided it was time to take them out. Two of my roommates used 6 hours of their time to help me get them all out. Wow does my head feel lighter!

With some strong encouragement from the students, we decided to have a few more dress-up days. We had costume day, western day (a tribute to all my Texas folks), pajama day, and red, white and blue day. The latter one was not only for the Americans, but one of our British families decided to move back to England, so it was a send off for them also. We have to spice up learning some how.





R to L: Doug Lucas, Cameron Mayhill, Allen Leddy, Shawn Tyler, Martin Brooks, Mark Long, Me, Heidi Davison about to board our chartered flight in the background.


Recently, eight of us took a trip to Nimule, Sudan - Shawn Tyler (missionary in Mbale), Mark Long (missionary in Kampala,), Heidi (recently joined our team in Mbale), and myself were the participants from Uganda. Team Expansion and FAME, two mission organizations from the states, sent over four guys to take the trip with us. The guy from FAME was interested in helping out with medical missions in Sudan, and the other three fellas from Team Expansion were surveying the area to send a missionary to reside there in the near future. The adventures I had in Sudan were some I will always treasure, and I will never be able to describe the emotions I felt as I resided in the bush for three days and two nights. Shawn approached two Kenyan men a few years ago who he knew very well, and asked them if they would be interested in doing mission work in Nimule, Sudan. David and Kennedy packed up their belongings and left their families for two years, so far, to teach the Word of God to the Sudanese people. Their families will soon join them as they have been waiting for their houses to be finished. I could tell you so much history with the war between the North and South and the LRA and SPLA, but I want to tell you of the work God is doing. There are three churches in the villages which are currently meeting under trees, but will soon began building a structure to meet under during the rainy season. The Islamic Mosque has been boarded up because the Sudanese people are pushing for Christianity in the South. There are about 30,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced People) and Refugees as a result of the ongoing war. The compound which David and Kennedy are living on is 9 acres and contains a structure for a nursery school of 50 children, two houses, a building with two meeting rooms/dining area, two latrine areas (similar to outhouses), and lots of room for future buildings such as dormitories for a future Bible Institute and medical facilities. Most of the Sudanese people speak Arabic, but are pushing for more people to speak English. I learned how to carry a 20 liter (about 40 lb) jug of water on my head (holding onto it of course), how to drive a picki-picki (small motorcycle), and how to say no to a soldier who offered 500 cows for my hand in marriage. God is definitely working in Sudan. I pray that one day I will be able to return for a short time.














The 9 acre compound in Nimule, Sudan.

Me surrounded by many children at an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp across the road from the church.

David & Kennedy, Kenyan missionaries in Sudan.

God is taking care of our team. We have undergone so many changes and can see God’s work through the good and the bad. Please continue to pray for us all. God has really blessed us with a network of connections to the states where so many people have expressed interest in our work here. We have several singles who will be joining us in the fall. They will be doing various work; some teaching, village work, AIDS orphans, etc. I have been considering rejoining the team for about 4 months in the fall to do various mission work. I have truly enjoyed teaching, but have a desire to do other mission work that teaching doesn’t allow time for. Pray that God will work out the details and will show me the path he wants me to take. I hope this email finds all of you doing well as you continue to serve the Lord wherever you are.

In Him,
Rebecca Evans

Flat Tires

What’s with me and flat tires? At this rate, I will be a mechanic soon. You’d be proud dad. I learn something new about cars each time. Three of the trips I have been on have had either a flat tire, the tire bolts break, or a flat tire and a flat spare. It is because the roads are so rough on the vehicles here. Bummer.





Flat tire on the way to Queen Elizabeth's Game Park.




Tire bolts broke and the tire rolled ahead of us on the way home from Kampala.

Flat tire and flat spare on the way to Jinja.









Everytime we have broken down, God has provided what we needed to continue our journeys.