EN Who We Are

So much has happened in such little time... When I came towards the end of January, I found the girls and their children in good spirits... As you know, we had been renting a house near King Faysal Hospital since February of 2006 for the girls to live in. This "house" is actually a large hutt with no water, electricity or toilets and in a bad neighbourhood but it was our starting point. We had as a goal, to find another house that was better to live in to really start going to the core of the project. It took us a month to find a good house at low cost but we did. It is in a good neighbourhood, closer to the city, right on a large road, close to everything we need, with water, electricity, a toilet and a ceiling... (250$/month) The girls are very happy and so am I.

We have had a teacher coming in for a few hours a week to teach the girls how to read and write... (He is not available for longer than that) We have come to a point where most things have advanced but the schooling, not enough or at least not enough to have them read and write. We are presently looking for the funds for a full-time teacher so we can advance them to where they need to be at. We managed to buy a big blackboard that can be moved to teach the girls and 2 small benches and that has done the trick up to now with the 2 hour lessons, a few times a week. However, at this point, we have bought some booklets and pencils for the girls to start writting in them but we have no table or comfortable seating for them. As for the children, we have some in school.

Another thing the Lord had put in my heart since the very beginning is to form the girls to be able to go from church to church to show what they have learned, speak of their lives and also, to help raise funds. This would include, singing praises, Christian choreographies, skits and a testimony or two... We have been talking about it for ever but again, we need some material; most importantly, a stereo to play music for the choreographies and the singing. The Lord has been putting on my heart lately to be violent in my faith and even if we don't have all the funds needed, to get the essential and that He would provide the rest. So as I have been praying a lot about it, I will go ahead with it. The girls are excited about the new ideas as the love arts but have never had a chance to do so. They have been singing for a while, we formed a little choir and they love it. They sang quite a few times at church, however, were very shy... We need to get them out of their shell... They've got the voice, they've got the heart, they just need to let it out publically.

Since we have left the other house, I have been looking for a church around here and there are some but I am not sure yet where we are going to settle down. The girls have been going to the old church mostly because they don't know another one yet. We are not too far from a church called "Restoration Church" which I find is quite the name in meaning for our project because it is after all, a project all around restoration.

Speaking of restoration, as you know, poor conditions of life mean getting sick all the time. The children and women get malaria, worms and other things... but in the midst of all that, we got some horrible news that one of our girls has had the confirmation of being HIV positive, basically, she has AIDS. She needs futher testing to see if she needs to be on medication immediately or only later... The reality in Rwanda is that people infected with AIDS die. However, in the last few months, the government has started a new system where all AIDS patients can have the cost of medications covered and perhaps even a few other things as well. When people find out they have AIDS, they think; "That's it! I'm dead!" but that should not longer be the reality with the medication. We need to find out about that and see what can be done. We had Monique, a social worker that has worked with us, come speak with her and she poured her heart out and felt better and more reassured after the meeting. It is hard for me to do those things because we don't have translation anymore. I mean I am really getting into the language and all but not enough to sit there and counsel someone. I can be understood and I understand some basic stuff but I have a long way to go to be fluent...

I need to say that we have come a long way... The girls are not perfect but man, you should see them pray... I believe we have done much with very little. The fact of the matter is, if we had more, we could change the world... If everyone does their part, that is when things really change. If it is just the effort of a few, yes, there will be a reward for those few but the world will remain the same... I will go with those who will go and even if it only be for one woman or one child, it is worth it because it is an eternal reward. All of heaven rejoices even for the one soul, so will I rejoice... It is a long and difficult path and sometimes lonely path as well but God brings the right people at the right time with the right words...

I don't know if all of you had a chance to see 100 Huntley Street with ME on it... Sorry for the mishaps we had with that... Finally, it did air on the 15th of January and if you missed it, you can still see it online. Go to www.crossroads.ca and click on the "watch online" link and then on the archives of January, for the 15th. My name is there and you can download and watch directly on your computer. The interview lasted 22 minutes and was a success.

Please pray that God provides for a teacher, tables, chairs, stereo, translation and funds for everything else... Also, pray that God gives me the health, strengh, faith and courage to go on and make it all happen... by His grace...

Again, I am sorry if this report reaches you so late but I had been sick for a month, spent a week in the hospital and my dad almost died a few times around... but that is next month's story... Until then, may God richly bless you and may He give you a world changing mentality, knowing that we have a greater responsibility than just ourselves or our lives... Boldly, "just do it!"

Greetings Everyone!                                                                                                                E.T. Phoooone hoooome…

     This month's report is going to be quite different as what I have to report concerns mostly my private life as I have gone through much in this past month. I want to talk to you about trial, hardship, life, death and resurrection in this Easter season and well.... I want to talk to you about E.T.

     There are bad news and there are good news. I will start with the bad news. My father died. The good news however, is that he was brought back to life...

     As I mentioned in the last report, I had been sick for over a month and was also hospitalized... One day, I started itching all over with rash-like areas. I consulted a doctor and learned that I had a serious bacteria that makes your stomach swell and then, well, you die, and also, that I had stomach worms... YES, WORMS! NO, I don't want to imagine what that looks like either! I took medication for a week but was not better at the end of it so I went back to the doctor's and again, was confirmed that I had 2 kinds of worms this time but that the bacteria was gone. I took this medication for another week and again, I was not better so I went back to the doctor's, he took some tests and found that I still had worms and also, that I had malaria.... 2 days later, after 23 trips to the washroom in a day, feeling as if I was going to die and having the prints of the toilet seat incringed on my behind, I ended up in the hospital for almost a week.

     It was a on a Monday that I was admitted and that night when they took me up to my room, it is right at the door of the room that my cell phone rang. I answered and it was my mother calling to tell me that my Dad had a heart attack and he had just been admitted to the hospital. "Well isn't that interesting????" I thought. "Guess where I have been admitted to also?" I asked my mother. I spent like 5 days in the hospital and on the Wednesday, I got another phone call from my mother, saying that my father had another heart attack in the hospital. Finally, I was a bit better and was released to go home on the Friday night. Coming into the door of the house, the phone rings and it's my Dad speaking. He had just got home and the 1st thing he wanted to do was to phone me and we were in amazement as we got into the hospital at the same time and got out at the same time as well. We just though that was a “God thing”. We rejoiced that the balloon they passed in his arteries was able to take the blockage away and he was going to be fine. I was better but Saturday night, I felt so sick, I was considering to go back to the hospital the next day if I was not better in the morning.

     On Sunday morning, I get another phone call from my Mom, saying that my Dad had another massive heart attack, that his heart stopped, that they used the pallets on him 5 times until he FINALLY came back... They did not know if he was going to live, already, they thought he would not make it this far after all that he had been through in the last week. I am told that he was even greenish... His blood sugar was out of whack, his usual "high blood pressure" was low, his kidney's were no longer working, he then turned yellow and started to bloat. They had to put him on dialysis... Things were not looking so good for him... He had some good days and some bad days and I whom still felt, not so good, had good days and bad days...

     In the midst of all that... I had to figure out, if he dies, what do I do??? I am in Rwanda, the trip takes 2 days and costs like 2300$ and if I go, I can't come back... Who will be in charge of the project???? I wept for 2 days, thinking that being dead would surely be easier for me at this point... I was angry with God... "How dare you permit that to happen to me???? I have given you everything, what more do you want?????????" I would talk to my mother on the phone and her spirits were high and she was praising God through it all, no matter what happened.... I was in utter shock at even just her reaction... My reaction seemed more normal, at least I thought... After speaking with my mother, we decided that if my father was to die, that I was NOT going to come to Canada as there was just no way and well if he did die, "He's going to heaven anyway..... so......" With these words... I remembered my own words....


    My parents have often worried about me, the places of mission where I have gone... China, where they persecute, imprison and kill Christians; Indonesia, where they persecute, imprison and kill Christians + the TSUNAMI and all the earthquakes we had, even when I was there; St Catherine Street in Montreal with women in prostitution, people get stabbed and killed on that street almost every day; Rwanda, where they killed 1 million people 13 years ago and there are still incidents........ You know... these are things that parents tend to worry about... I have always told my parents in a laughing matter... "Hey, if I get killed, guess what, I am going to heaven so what's the problem???" There they were, my own words put back in my face...

     This has to have been the hardest time for me in all of my missions and trips... The one thing I held on to was a word that the Lord had given me and my Dad, years back. I had a dream and saw myself speaking and ministering in different places and I saw my parents coming with me all over. I kept that secretly in my heart. A few day later as I was driving with my Dad in the car, he said to me that God showed him that I would speak and minister in different places and that he and my mother would come along with me, where I go... Now that flipped me right out because that is exactly what I had dreamed... I told him about my dream and then, we both cried as we were touched about this plan of God over our lives... When my father was dying... in my cry to God, I would remind him of what He had confirmed to both, me and my father and I was saying: "That did not happen yet, they need to come with me, that has not happened yet... You can't take my father, they haven't come with me yet.... He hasn't even been to Rwanda yet..."

     He kept at it, I am told, with his Bible at hand at all times... (just like his father) He cried, he prayed, he suffered... I was so proud to hear how he was handling this... He later told me about when he was dead. He did not see a light or anyone, he just felt a peace like he had never known and he was falling in it, deeper and deeper and it was ok with him, he knew he was gone. But then, he was ripped right out of his death as he jumped in surprise. He was very annoyed and angry with the person who did this to him... but he would later realize that he was alive and it is the electrical shock that scared him and brought him back.

     Although he can't ever work again and just happened to buy his 1st house at the age of 60, (what a courageous man) just this past October... HE IS OK! He is alive... How we realize how life is fragile and precious when these things happen. How we realize how much people mean to us when we almost loose them... Oh but no, not now, they haven't yet come with me... My faith and heart have been shaken but only to grow and become stronger in God. God is good!!!

     As for E.T.... You remember the movie E.T. (extra-terrestrial) that came out in 1983 or so... I watched that as a kid, over and over again... Everyone loved E.T. In the movie, E.T. has a plant and when E.T. is well, so is his plant and when he is sick and dying, so is his plant... This situation made me think of that because every time my father was sick, I was sick too, and when he was well, I was well too... As if I was my father's little plant. For me, that was a special connection that I had with him as I shared in his sufferings and him in mine... Cute, huh?
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As for the girls, they really did their best to take care of me and be there for me and we prayed a lot for my father and praised God when it was all over. More lessons of life, learned! By the way, following last's month's report, God provided through a generous person, as a bridge, a music system so we can play music for what God had put on our heart... Thank you for your generosity, your prayers, your support, your kindness and may God bring it back to you 10 fold.
Have a blessed Easter Season leading up to the infilling of the Holy Spirit,
In HIM,

Chantal

Greetings to All,

      Another month has already passed by... Unfortunately, I was still quite sick in April as well but started to feel better towards the end of the month. I was still afflicted with stomach worms, they just did not know what to do with me or what to give me as usually, a 3-4 day treatment takes care of the problem but if you know me at all, I don't pretend to do things, I do them extensively... At some points, I was even unable to keep in some water. Just finding something to drink was a challenge. I have never been sick for this long in Rwanda... I think that a lot of that has to do with the conditions we live in. Although the conditions we are in are much better than they used to be, we still have a ways to go... We don't have any refrigeration so therefore, foods are kept overnight in the heat and are reheated the next day and eaten. Are they still good? Cooking on the little charcoal stoves... Ashes and dirt in the air surrounding them, cutting vegetables on the ground, washing them with water that needs to be boiled for consumption... There are a ton of things that need to be changed in order to have good conditions of life and of course, all those things are especially felt by a Canadian stomach... One thing at a time, one step at a time, we are going to get there... Anyhow, I am doing ok now and my father is doing better as well. Now he has to adjust to a different lifestyle.

     I have now witnessed my first house fire... (Thank God is was not our house...) I had never heard of a fire or even seen firefighters in Rwanda... The thing is, most houses are built out of cement and don't have much furniture so house fires are rare but they do exist. I am also told that the service of firefighters exists but is very expensive. It happened to be a few houses down from where we live. The whole house did not burn down but there must be a lot of damage. I guess the fire was out quickly but the smoke kept going for hours... Many were watching and others were in a long line-up passing on buckets of water... It was a community effort that took the fire out... It was special to see how they work together as I have always seen the fire trucks arriving with all of their equipment but they only had buckets and a lot of hands.

     The girls have the teacher that comes in every day now but only for 1 1/2 hour but every day... They are doing quite well. They now all know their vowels and the letters b, c, d, f at the least and some are even further down in the alphabet. They are reading and writ ting words with those letters and all impressed that they can do so. They even have spelling bees and are amazed at the fact that they can write... They are learning at the grade 1 level but some are up to grade 2 or 3 but that is all. The grade 3 levels don't go every day, they are given a list of words that they need to learn until the next time. The teacher works more with the ones that could not differentiate an X from an O about 2 months ago...

     On one of the Sundays, the girls told me that there would be a Canadian team at one of the little local churches not too far from were we live so I made sure to go. When they arrived, I noticed that they were natives from Canada. I was later told that they were Cree Indians from northern Manitoba. I was very happy because they had their costumes and drums and all and I have never really seen that in action and always wanted to. So we had ourselves a POW-WOW that day... It was really very beautiful, their songs, costumes... they explained a lot of things as well as the fact that a long, long time ago, they did not have the right to sing their songs or dance their dances and that now, God was restoring them and bringing them back to who they are and where they come from... At the end, the pastor of the church asked me to say a few words (he had never seen me). I told them that I was also Canadian and quickly explained who I was and what I did but I did not feel that that is where I had to put the emphasis... Instead, I started talking about what the natives had briefly mentioned about not being allowed to sing their songs and dance their dances... I explained how the Europeans were out to conquer the world and that they had come to the land we now call Canada and basically stole the land from the natives. I explained how they had forbidden the natives to speak their language, dance their dances or even speak their language... And then, I turned to the natives and told them that I was a descendant from those very Europeans and that I was ashamed at what they did and humbly, I got on my knees and asked forgiveness to them in the name of those who were before me and I prayed restoration to them to become who God has called them to be... with their language, with their dances, their songs and costumes... Everyone was weeping and quickly, they got to their feet to greet me in a huge hug... I told them that I was happy that they are my brothers and sisters and that I was happy to share the land of Canada with them, that we are one, together and that is the beauty of Canada, the everythingness, the everybodyness... that is the beauty of it all... All the Rwandans were in utter shock as they have always heard that Canada was perfect, that there was no war, no troubles and then, the natives told the Rwandans, this is what needs to happen in Rwanda between the different tribes... and kept talking about that... It was amazing how God put everything together, it was all planned in the heavens when I was just going (out of curiosity) to see this Canadian team at this little local church.

     A little bit before April, I noticed that one of our girls had something over her eye. Later, she told me that she had these skin irruption all over her body and that it really hurt... It got bigger and bigger until it was almost the size of a golf ball. I sent her to the doctor's 3 times (covered by the insurance we have for them) with no results and the whole thing getting worse... Finally, I decided to send her to see a dermatologist that would not be covered but as she had so many and you could see that she was in pain, I just had to... The cost of the blood culture alone, cost almost 25$ and she had to have some injections every day for 6 consecutive days... After many visits, a lot of prescriptions and care, it seems to be over and her wounds are now healing. Some of the girls and many of the children have skin infections and irruptions on a regular basis, I don't know on what that depends... Anyway, it is finished and the girl is very happy.

     Lately, I have been seeing the little girl inside of the women that are in the project... I come home and find a few girls up in the trees... The reason being that everything is in blooms right now. We have some fruit trees and the girls climb the trees and eat the fruit or they throw some fruit down to those who are not so daring. Everything is so beautiful and the smell that fills the atmosphere is wonderful. However, it does rain almost every day and that is not so fun when you go out because you may end up stuck where you are for a few hours... It has happened to me, I know... We are not talking about a spring shower, we are talking about torrential rains... At least, it does not last all day but only a few hours...

     I have come to a point of knowing the girls quite well and it is funny how I see them growing. God has already shown me whom we are to keep for the project for next year. I have seen some of the girls walk into leadership without even knowing it. I have seen them assist me in different ways that I know they will make a great team member.

     So that is all for this month, I am soon coming to Canada. Again, if anyone is interested in having me speak at their church, please don't hesitate to contact me as I will be doing that again to raise funds and have the project known. If you have any other ideas or venues, please let me know as well. We are always looking for new churches to share this with... May God richly bless you and make His face shine upon you...

In HIM,

Chantal