Rwanda Update #4

Friends and Family-

In so many ways it is very hard to believe that we have already been here for a week. Then again...i cannot remember the last time that i have had a meal that did not have rice, beans, and potatoes as 95% of it. So it seems in some ways we have come a long way. We have been in the coaches clinic now for 2 days. The missionary honeymoon is definitely over :) We are taking shower"s" (i plural it because it won't happen often) with buckets, mowing fields with machetes, and getting pretty familiar to how we each smell. it's great! We played the coaches in a soccer game tonight, and although expecting to get absolutely smashed... we tied them! it was actually very good for the sake of earning their respect in the soccer department. Where at one point there may have been a sense of "don't tell me these white guys are going to teach me soccer", now they are connecting with us as equals in many ways. Praise God! Play of the day: Ryan Schatzman was playing goalie and made an unbelievable one handed save over the top of 3 Rwandan headers...i had to look under his jersey to see where he was hiding his jet packet. pretty awesome

Tomorrow, we will go to church at the bishop of Rwanda (Bishop John-neat Christian) church, then drive out again to the KAA-Rwanda property, go to a city soccer game, and then have a Klife practice (our night time program with song-skits-and messages). After that, the kids come monday! wo--and we thought it was intense now? add 150 kids ages 12-18 to the mix. That's why we are here though...and we are loving it.

Prayer Requests: 1) continual safety and health for our team...especially with some of our fields being in pour condition (not kidding-we built a soccer goal today out of 3 trees and there is massive volcanoe rocks holding it steady. good luck goalie!)

2) Coaches-there is obviously a language barrier. There is a spiritual barrier as well though. 3 coaches left the first day because they were muslim, and one still remains. He is the head coach at the school we are operating at, so it is a bit of a sensitive situation. We need him! but he is challenging in these regards. His name Hevuna...pray for his salvation!

3) half way point lull: We need the spirit to energize and unite us. our naps are getting longer and our bed times earlier. We won't even have these luxuries though as of monday. Pray the spirit + an adrenaline dose kicks in.

We love you all! i will keep doing the best to update as often as possible.

Matt and the team