New Home

Below I have posted a couple of pics of the home we expect to sign a contract on this evening. Kristin is trying to get the same pictures up on Facebook but her pictures were larger. I shrunk them down to a smaller pixel size and posted them here. She should have her Facebook pics up soon with better descriptions. We are blessed to be able to find it. It is about 5 min from the Koonces and less than 10 from the Crowsons. If you notice some of the roads that lead from the Koonces to our house you will understand why I can say it is faster to walk than to drive. Probably safer.

This step has gone a long way in encouraging our children. They are all doing well and view this step as a good step towards making a stable life here in Rwanda. We are fortunate in that this house is actually new but is cheaper than the houses that our other team members live in. God has been so good to us.

We have rested and transitioned. Today Grace, Aaron and I walked to the nearest little store in the neighborhood to buy some soda and gum. We met a few people on the way and had a chance to use our small Rwandan vocabulary that consists of hello, how are you and I want to buy...(whatever english word you want to stick in). They like to hear us use their language but I honestly think at this point it's because they want to something to laugh at.

Our next step is getting a car and language. Please pray that we can get a reliable car from an honest dealer. It is not like the US. you cannot go down to the used car lot and pick one. You have a person who is a "finder" or "dealer" that looks around town and has contacts that let him know when they see a used car. From there it is the same. You can trust them to be honest as far as you can throw them (Same as some US dealers) but just like the US there are those who are known to be honest. We are working with a Rwandan that works for ATN. He is the one that found our house for us as well.

Formal language starts after Sept 1. The kids start school Sept 1 at the private school here in Kigali. This will allow us to take language every morning. We will also try to get the kids language lessons on weekends. Please pray for the kids transition into school and pray specifically for our brains to become wired for new language. God created our brains and we believe that even though we are older than most new missionaries he can make us open to language.

A new day dawning

And I mean that literally.  With the intense jet lag I have witnessed the sun coming up for the last two days.  Just waking up here is so different and surreal.  The rooster crowing outside the walls remind me my growing up but the sounds of at least 5 different exotic birds (of which I have yet to learn the names of) squawking back and forth make the most pleasant alarm clock ever.  

Overall our trip here was more than tolerable.  We made it to London without much trouble.  The layover in Chicago was short and so we didn't have much time to ponder our changing lives.  After a 7 hour flight (in which Grace never slept) we made it safely to London.  We were happy to get there early because we had reserved a hotel (named Yotel) in the airport.  However, no one in the terminal where we landed had heard of it.  After finally finding the reservation on my computer we discovered we needed to be in Terminal 4.  When we arrived at the terminal we were told we had to leave the secure area in order to get to the Yotel.  This meant going through customs and immigration.  Just as we were leaving Kristin realized that we had left our camera bag on the plane.  We decided that I would take the kids through customs and to Yotel alone while she went to look for the camera.  It took her over 2 hours.  Yes they speak english in England but they don't do "american".  The kids did all go to sleep which was a great blessing.  We thought our flight was at 9pm so we got up and showered and left the hotel at 6.  We decided to check in for our flight first since we had to back through security but when we arrived at the ticketing agent we discovered that our flight was at 740 pm.  We had to skip supper in order to make it on the plane.  If we had stopped for supper before checking in we would have missed our flight.

The flight to Nairobi, Kenya was a little over 8 hours and 3 of the kids slept most of the way.  However, Grace watched videos most of the way and did not sleep.  

When we arrived in Kenya our flight to Kigali, Rwanda was cancelled due to a strike by the flight attendants.  We were told to come back to the desk for re-ticketing at 730 am.  This is not an American airport.  There was only one line, one attendant and no one in a hurry.  (sounds like an American airport)  After we were given new tickets for a 1230 pm flight and were told to wait in the transit lounge until the gate was assigned and called.  We waited until 1pm before we started asking questions.  By the time we were called to the gate it was after 230 pm.  We were told every 30 min that our plane would be boarding in 30 minutes.  At 4 pm they announced that our flight would be combined with another flight to a different city.  We would stop in Kigali and let some passangers off and then the plane would continue on to another country.  By 5 pm we were still seated in the gate area.  We were finally asked to board the plane and when they announced the gate everyone ran towards the door at the far end of the terminal but just about the time we were able to wake our kids up and move our baggage they announced that the plane would board from a door at the end we were on.  We found ourselves at the front of the line.  Amazing.  Even better than that, we had three men take pity on us and ask to carry our bags.  By this time the kids were so wiped out we could not get them awake enough to carry their bags.  We had one carry on per kid and four back packs/computer bags and we needed each kid awake to carry a bag or we could not move.  These men were awesome.  One of them was a man who was coming to Rwanda for the church planting workshop and was a church member in Togo that had been started by the Koonces.  God is awesome.

When you fly into Africa you have to deboard on the tarmac without a "jetway".  You have to carry your bags down the steps from the jumbo jet and then back up the steps into the airport.  So getting back on we had to go down the steps from the gate, to a bus, drive to the plane, walk across the tarmac and then up the steps to the plane.  When we got on board the attendant announced that it was open seating since two flights were combined.  She said that she expected every in coach to sit in coach and not to go into business class seats.  Ha!  It was a mad house.  people running all over that plane to get good seats.  We sat on board for almost 2 hours because their head count did not match the number of boarding passes give out during the day.

We finally arrived to a warm welcome in Kigali.  After getting our 12 trunks and 6 bags loaded we headed for the Koonces.  

The day we arrived Aaron came down with a fever and over the next day became worse with sore throat.  He has strep throat and already had to go on antibiotics. 

We have been here 2 and a half days now and the kids just love it.  Madelyn (who cried a lot before we left) said it was not what she expected and she feeling better.  They have had such a great time with the Koonce and Crowson boys.  

Today is our first Sunday and we are looking forward to church with many of the other American missionaries at NTCC (New Testament Church of Christ).

Thanks and Goodbyes

The count down is almost complete. The days and hours are ticking away. We will leave for Rwanda on August 12 at roughly 4pm. To say we are excited would be an understatement. To say we are not afraid would be a lie. To say that we trust in God would be true!

We would not be in this place today if not for the great will and workings of God. We began our journey 18 months ago and I can say our fear today does not come close to matching that of December 2007 when we fully gave ourselves over to God's calling. In the last 18 months he has brought peace and willingness to our spirits and we are anxious to see what amazing things he will do with us from this day forward.

We were singing in the car yesterday with Samuel. He loves to sing and is such an auditory learner that he memorizes songs after just one or two rounds. Anyway, we were singing "Hymns of the Month" from chapel at Grace. Singing the old songs made me remember "Count Your Blessings". After finishing the song we took the opportunity to think of all the wonderful people and blessings God has put in our lives over the last chapter in our lives that we feel brought us to this day.

I cannot start this expression of gratitude without naming one person first and foremost.

Sylvia!

She probably kicks herself just at the mention of the fact that if it were not for her generosity we would not be leaving for Rwanda. I know this is bittersweet for her but I also know she seeks and serves the Lord and would not have us do anything other than what we feel God has called us to do. In addition to all her generosity in regard to our fundraising, she actually went out and helped us raise funds from our peers at work. After all that, she allowed us to use her Bullard farm house for almost 3 months. Thank you so much Sylvia, we love you.

I want to thank the mission's committee and elders at Glenwood who have shown their faith in God by showing exceptional faith in us. The support they have pledged has been a great a leap as our own decision to go! Praise God for each of them. I also lift up the congregation at Glenwood for their support and love. We have felt so thankful for their heartfelt concern for our family.

We have had many people at church, work and other organizations who have offered us the use of cars, washing machines, dryers, internet access, and so much more. We could not have made it through the summer without these wonderful people. When our van broke down in Houston we didn't have to go a single day without or spend even a penny on a replacement vehicle. My partners at work provided a long term car when the van broke down and then a short term car when I had to give up my truck last weekend. We love each of you so much.

We want to thank all of the individual donors and churches who have committed both short startup funds and long term support even when times have been tough. The congregations at Rt. 230, Lakeside, New Hope, Park Plaza, and East Grand have shown such great faith in their offerings. I cannot even begin to name all of the individual donors across the US that are giving faithfully to see God succeed in Rwanda.

I want to thank Murphy Crowson, my wonderful teammate who has been with me (via internet) the whole way. He has provided us with so much information about how to get things done and who to contact for help. I know that his leading will make our transition into Africa so much smoother and I know I could not have done it without his help.

I give thanks for the Koonces. I know that Marty's two trips back to the US this past year were not for good reasons but each time he came he was able to visit with us and encourage us. He came to us during hard times in our lives and was able to just fill us up with joy and remind us of the reason we committed to this work.

Our journey to Rwanda began with a burden to become debt free. I firmly believe that we were brought to Trinity Clinic just for this reason. I am so grateful for Greg Stovall and the other leaders, my partners and my patients for their faith in me. It takes a great amount of faith and risk to hire a new doctor and to go to a new young doctor (who looked 15 when he started) and I am thankful for all of my patients who have stuck with me and encouraged me in this journey. The Lord has blessed us at TC and because of this our loans were paid off early and he has made his perfect time for his perfect will known once again.

I finally want to give praise to God for making Kristin and I part of the "Gathering" ministry at Karing Kitchen in downtown Tyler. I would never have guessed when we started this work that we would be leaving it for Africa. It was hard to go every Sunday when our kids were so small. I was just tired of mopping red drink off the floor every week. However I also would not have guessed how much it was preparing us for a cross-cultural ministry. God knew 3 years ago that we would be going to Rwanda and I have no doubt that these wonderful people were an integral part of our training. I have to give honor to Carl Wells who attended faithfully from the beginning despite his own ailing health. He has become a great person in Samuel's life and we will miss him greatly. I pray God's comfort on him these last days.

Finally, again, I must give thanks to God. Without his faithfulness and blessings this day would not have come. We cannot know what he has in store for us in Rwanda but as I have told so many of my patients, "I just know God is going to do something great, I just pray I will be there to see it".

Moving Day Part III

We drove to Houston on Sunday night, the night before we are scheduled to be at the warehouse.  In addition to going to the ware house we have to go to DHL shipping to pick up solar equipment previously ordered from African Energy.  The order was a rush job and paid for on Friday at 3 pm and so the order was not confirmed or released until Monday morning.

 

Day 1:  Houston

We were expected at the shipping warehouse by 9 am.

We awoke first thing and actually made it to DHL international shipping by 7:40 and had to wait for them to open.  When we did get inside the men at the dock had no idea what we were talking about.  We had to explain a little and so they called the rep in charge of African Energy who told them she had no idea what I was talking about.  So we called AE and explained the issue to them and they then called DHL and “released the order”.  We had to wait 70 minutes for the order to be brought out of the warehouse.

 

We finally arrived the first morning around 930 am and immediately began to work through the poorly packed boxes that left our house.  We tried to repack boxes and consolidate stuff we wanted and take out things that we didn’t mean to send down.  Besides the heat you could tell that the supervisor was not thrilled with us opening boxes and messing up his system.

 

The company guy that we had been communicating with came to the warehouse later in the morning and after looking around told us that there was no way everything would fit.  He told us that they have never fit that much total volume by weight on a 40 foot container and that the central office told them it couldn’t be done.

 

Well that kind of discouraged us but Pat, the team supervisor looked at us and said that he would get it on.

 

The next greatly discouraging thing was the inventory method.  The movers who came to Tyler used yellow stickers with preprinted numbers and a few white stickers.  They would not yet us put our inventory numbers on the boxes they packed.  The guys at the warehouse used orange stickers and put them on some of the boxes with the other stickers.  Now we had 4 different numbering systems.  Rwandan’s don’t like complicated things.  In addition, the supervisor was wrapping our large bins/tubs in the same paper they used to wrap furniture but did not put our inventory numbers on the outside of the wrapping.  I tried to cut through one but it was about 12 layers of wrapping paper with at least two layers of that mesh paper that was impermeable.  He put one of his stickers on the outside of the wrapping and labeled them “plastic bins” or “trunks”.   We had no idea what was in each trunk.  The issue is, we have to place value on each numbered item for tax and insurance reasons.  Some trunks had ziplocks or used kids clothing worth 10 bucks and some had transformers and electronics worth hundreds and we have no idea which is which.  If you guess and get caught putting a value of 10 dollars on a box of transformers worth $200 you can get fined or in trouble and then they can make you open every box in customs and delay the release of your container by weeks.

 

Day 2:

The shipping co. saved the actual loading for today and we were up by 5:30 to arrive at the warehouse by 7.  I am totally at peace about what fits or doesn't fit.  (We had a lot of people praying about many aspects of this day, and I could really feel it.)

 

The first part of the day went pretty well, even though to our inexperienced eyes it did NOT look like it would all fit.  The Loading Guys were very good at their job and very kind to us.  They also played Christian music on their radio.  I can't tell you what a blessing that was to us.  They didn't cuss, either.  Crazy.  They also were oddly open about sharing their lives with us.  It's funny that we are ministering more than ever here in the states now that we're moving overseas.

 

By noon they had the flat bed trailer loaded on ( Yay, we have a trailer!  Dave, you must have prayed for that!  :-), AND the kayak AND the canoe.  No way did we ever think all that was going on there, but God just kept right on stuffing it in.  The appliances went on early, so just "house" boxes were left.  I need to say that we drove down to Houston in separate cars so we could take as much stuff as possible "just in case it fit."  Brian had the truck and trailer loaded like Jed Clampett.  All he needed was a rocking chair on top.  I had the mini-van with the seats laid down and loaded with boxes.  (My sister had the kids in Shreveport)

 

Brian had a speaking engagement at 7PM so he left me in charge at 1.  :-(  (That's ok, my team was praying for me...)  At 1:45 they turned to me and said "Ok, what do you want taken off?"  OFF?  They said it wasn't going to fit, and they started ripping open boxes of dishes and pots and pans.  No problem.  We were throwing away as fast as we could, and bundling what we wanted into bundles and jamming it into cracks and crevices.  No numbers.  No inventory.  It was probably better Brian WASN'T there!  Our next prayers will have to be about what gets stolen.  (That's ok, it's God's stuff.  If He wants to give it to a thief I'm ok with that) We UNpacked 13 boxes, but everything but 5 items went on!  Praise God!  Absolutely stunning!  I took lots of pictures.  The stuff left was unneeded, and God blessed us by making it those specific things.  I was so happy I couldn't wait to call Brian.

 

 I said good bye, filled up the gas tank, got a snack and a drink and got on the Beltway 8 in Houston.  I'm stinking filthy, by the way.  I actually took wet wipes and scrubbed the warehouse grime off my knees.  There's something completely humbling about kneeling on a warehouse floor with your personal possessions strewn about on the floor.  I remember thinking "I feel exposed because I'm kneeling here with my pots and pans all over the floor."  The minute I could I called Brian to tell him what happened, but we weren't on the phone 5 minutes when I said "That's funny, the air conditioner just went out."  (It's 101 degrees, ugh)  Then "Brian, the car won't go over 55!"  The exit was 1 and 1/2 miles away, and I'm down to 40mph.  When all the lights started flashing I got over as fast as I could.  This is a toll road, with an entrance 100ft behind me, and an exit 100ft ahead of me.  And a husband 2 hours ahead of me!  Smoke started coming out of the engine, so I got out while I called for a tow truck.  (So many praises here, by the way.  Foremost, I didn't have the kids with me on that scary road!  And I had a snack and a drink!  No problem)  In my experience tow truck drivers take about an hour, so I got back in the car since I'm a closet albino.  Glory if the tow truck arrived in 10 minutes!  Off we went to the Mazda dealership (a 45 min drive in Houston rush hour traffic).  They had to push it into the service bay, and the driver said he only takes cash.  How am I to get that much cash?  The nice dealership lady said "Our shuttle driver's not busy--he'll take you to an ATM."  No problem.  30 minutes later I got to sit in the AC for the first time that day and the lady tells me the engine is blown.  Oh well.  We were going to give the van away, but God had different ideas.  Again, more praises.  About where it happened, when, and to whom.  Brian was on his way back to tow me home.  While I waited 3 hours in the AC with a book, a snack, a drink (the same ones-I still haven't had a chance to eat them) and no kids (:-) a man wanders through from the showroom.   He introduces himself as Mac and he asks me about what I'm doing at the dealership so late.  After recalling the story about our morning and our car he wanted to know all about what happened and where we're going, etc, etc.  I gave him our card at this point, and we sat there for quite a while talking about missions, my family and his family.   When Brian got there Mac got some other guys to help us load the van onto the tow trailer, but it wouldn't go.  He handed Brian the keys to his car and said "Take my car to Wal-Mart to get a hand winch."  So we drove his MERCEDES to the store, came back, got the van loaded.  Brian said, half-jokingly, "Anybody want a free car?"  Mac said "Yes!"  So we drove with him to his house where he treated us like honored guests.  I mean, he offered us food and drinks and honored us with stories about his wife and wonderful daughter.   We then followed Mac to a used car lot and dropped off the car and headed home.  We limped home at 2am, and by 8:30am the next day we had a vehicle offered to us for the rest of the summer.  No joke.

I feel like I haven't done this story justice, but you get the idea of the way God took care of us.  I praise Him for all the blessings, and I thank you guys all for praying over us.  We felt it!

 

Love,

Kristin

Moving Day: Part Deux

I have to say that as hard as we tried we did not do well on our first go around with moving day.  We struggled because movers would not do things our way.  They would keep saying, we will do that when we get to Houston or we can do that later.

Well here we are 2 months later.  

I want to say that the last 2 months have been a specific time that God has taught me about prayer.  I started off May by going to a Church planting workshop where I was amazed by the amount of time "the great church planters" prayed.  I had decided then that I would begin looking at prayer like running.  My wife, at the age of 40 has decided to become a runner.  She has done amazingly well.  She runs three to four times per week and has worked up to over 4 miles.  She even went 8 miles one weekend.  She finished 4th in her age group in the Race for the Cure in Tyler.  Way to go babe.  Anyway, I decide that I would do the same.  I would pray longer each day of the week and work my way towards a more peaceful and "listening" relationship with God.  Strange, when I first began this I thought that I needed to practice saying more and asking for more intervention.  However, the longer I went, the more I realized that I just needed to listen more.  What great peace it can be to ask God to come nearer and then to actually feel that happen.  It opens your eyes and heart wider so that you can actually see the answer to the parts of prayer where you actually talk.

Well, we began to prepare for our trip to Houston this week by praying.  I have been praying for peace and patience so that I did not offend any of the workers at the warehouse.  I'm sometimes good at that.  So far we're golden.  Kristin and her side of the family have been praying diligently that everything we brought would make it on the container.  Still waiting on the verdict.  

Well I awoke in a frenzy last week because I realized that in my hurried preparation for the "Moving Day Part I" that I had put the certified copies of my diplomas, certification and notarized copies of my medical licenses in the box with the originals and then the movers took it away.  I knew I would never find them.  However, I needed them because the people in the government offices of Rwanda love certificates, especially if they have a stamp or a seal on them.  Kristin and I began to pray that not only would God give us the vision and the discernment to identify the items we really needed and the top "want" items from the endless boxes but that he would make ours eyes able to see the exact box my certificates were in.  Getting a work permit is hard to do without certificates and nearly impossible if you cannot prove you are qualified to do the work you're applying to do.  And you cannot get the container that the certificates are on if you don't have a work permit.  Huge ugly circle!!

Well today as we are rummaging through the warehouse I moved a large box so Kristin could repack it and behind it was a smaller thin box that had a bunch of papers just hanging out perpendicular like a flag.  Literally just sticking out!!  I pulled them out and they were the notarized copies of my original certificates and diplomas!!  As they say in East Texas, I almost fell out!!!  The papers had slid around in the box and somehow while in transit the box had been turned on it's side for just a moment then stood back up upon storage and the papers slipped halfway out of the box.  I don't need to explain more about that prayer...

The second prayer event today was the container itself.  The movers had said the shipping company would deliver the container to the warehouse around 10.  By noon it was not there and so we left and bought lunch for the packers.  Fortunately there was plenty of wrapping to do and the workers did not have time to be idle.  We arrived back from lunch and I asked Kristin to pray for the container and she prayed for God to give us the container in 20 minutes so that we could get done by mid day tomorrow.  I am not kidding you when I say that it arrive 20 minutes later on the dot!!

Now I would say that in the past not only was I a prayer that only talked to God, as opposed to listening.  I also was a person who believed in generalized answers to prayer rather than specific.  I find now that as we draw closer to leaving for Rwanda that God has drawn me closer and, if I can be so bold as to imply what God thinks, has enjoyed our listening time together.  It is great to listen to and for God in these last days in the States and I have continued to workout my listening and praying skills and some day I hope I can spend my time only listening.  That way I wont have to ask God for things.  I'll just live my life doing and seeing what he has already asked me to do.

Please continue to lift us up during the next couple of days as we load our container.  Also lift us up as we are down to 6w before we leave for Rwanda.

Dan Rather, CBS anchor, once asked Mother Teresa what she said during her prayers.  She answered, "I listen."  So Rather turned the question and asked, "Well then, what does God say?"

To that Mother Teresa smiled with confidence and answered, "He listens". 

The ramifications of what occurred today will have long lasting effects!

See title!

Love,

The Robinsons