Wes Bishop and Alison DeLong worked with the Intermediate Group during the English Training. This group already knew basic English and conversational skills, but they progressed in developing complex sentences and a richer vocabulary.  The students spent hours learning parts of speech, creating sentences, writing paragraphs, reading aloud, and participating in group discussions. 

At the end of the three weeks, each of the students wrote a paragraph about what they learned and why the English training was important.  Here is what Donavine had to say about the teachings:

"For me in these weeks, I improved speaking English very well.  And I learned many words like 'doughnuts,' 'sky,' 'evil,' 'watered', and 'birthmark.'  My teachers helped me to be confident when I am speaking English.  They tried to help me speak English without being nervous; it is great to me.  My teachers taught me conjunctions, prepositions, and quotation marks; it facilitates me to make and write good sentences without mistakes in my sentences or letters.  I know many things, for example the plural and singular of 'like': 'John likes bananas.' Another is 'John and Angel like bananas.' I know whether to use 's' or not in the sentences. I understand many verbs. For example, 'drink-drank,' visit-visited,' 'play-played,' 'cry-cried.'  So this improved my English, as well as when we were talking about the story of Jesus, like the lost son. When we discussed this, it improved by English.  There are so many. My conclusion is that it is great to study English for these last three weeks, for I am really appreciative of all the skills and knowledge. Thanks." 

Please pray for Donavine and the other students, as they continue to grow in their English fluency, that they may be equipped to do the ministry God has prepared for them. 

Victoria Bishop - Thursday - Saturday, November 19-20, 2020

As our week of teaching came to a close on Thursday and Friday all of us has been touched in ways that none of us expected. I know for me I have been touched by the hard work and determination that our students have shown this week. I have been amazed to see the progress that our students have made this week. Their hard work and determination has paid off. I cannot wait to see what our students go onto to do in the MACU program and beyond. We tried to send off our students with the assignment to write everyday and find ways to continue learn and grow. 

Our students also gave us the best send off at the end of the week. Our group went around and shared why they were thankful for us coming and that we were good teachers. My partner and I told our students that we could not have been such good teachers if we did not have such good students. Our students also got together and gave us each our Rwandan name. The name that our students gave to me was Neza, which means kindness. I have been touched in so many ways this week and I am excited to see what these students go onto to do. 

On Saturday we went to the wedding of Angel and Billy Graham, the daughter of Theophile's. During the day we participated in a traditional dowry ceremony. Part of our group carried in the gifts that were presented to the families during the ceremony. During the ceremony we all also presented with gifts from the family, which we are all touched that the family would think of us to give a gift. After that we then participated in the wedding ceremony at the church. After that we were in a reception party to celebrate the marriage. 

All in all our group has had a good week and have been touched in ways we never expected. Some of us are already planning our planning our next trip to Rwanda. I cannot wait to see what God does with these students and how he continues to use them as part of His mission. 

Today our team began its first day of teaching computer skills and introduced basic English grammar. Our training is being held at Zarephath Christian Church here in Kigali. We have 24 students and they were split up into three groups of eight.  While there are some barriers in teaching in this context, we all as a team experienced a lot of encouragement from our time with the students. We are excited to see how God is going to use this time to further train these future church leaders.   Continue to pray for the students and for our team as we all are learning in how to best help these students excel as much as possible.

Myra and I left for Virginia/North Carolina on February 5th and intended to return home earlier this week (about April 7th). We were halfway into our trip when church services were being closed, first in NC and then VA. 

The purpose of our trip was to seek partners in the new mission of Rwanda Challenge: to offer an associate degree in Bible in Rwanda. New laws in Rwanda created the need for this new mission. By September 2023, a local church cannot meet without a legal preacher. A legal preacher is required to have an associate degree in Bible/theology by September 10, 2023. Multiple churches and individuals in VA/NC were communicating excitement about Rwanda Challenge partnering with Mid-Atlantic Christian University to provide the necessary degree. Then everything stopped; churches were not meeting, budgets were closed to anything new, and future decisions were on hold until they could assess the new normal.

​In future blogs I will provide more info on the present status and future possibilities. But, for now, Myra and I are waiting for COVID-19 to calm down in New Hampshire – 268 known cases yesterday in Rockingham County compared to three where we are staying in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. So, we are “stranded” in my niece’s camper by the Banister River where we enjoy watching two bald eagles nesting in the tall pines.

Giving thanks for small gifts while we seek God for a huge need in Rwanda.