Africa weighs so heavy in my heart. There are so many people with so much need…hunger, hurt, pain, and suffering. How can one make a difference? At the genocide memorial there was a plaque reading: “If you save one life, you have saved a million.”

I pray that we’ve been able to make such a difference through prayers and the grace of God. I know that we can move mountains.

As we are ending our mission, Africa and it’s people have made a difference in us. The love that was shared has lifted our hearts to a place never before ventured.
That love will leave us pondering and waiting for our Father to show us the ways we can continue our journey to serve our sister country.

Africa, we love you and you will remain in our hearts forever.

Sarita Cooper

As I came to Africa again I wondered how God would change me. You see I lived in Rwanda and Burundi from September 2008 to June of 2009. A “mission” trip, but maybe not exactly what one would first think of as a mission trip. I lived with a couple doing ministry and came to teach their two daughters since where they lived there was no English school for them. To say that God opened my eyes and changed me is an understatement. I foolishly asked one of my good friends to pray that God would break down every stronghold in my life and re-work my soul. Don’t ever ask anyone to pray that prayer for you unless you are willing to look into the ugliest parts of your life and re-examine them. Not a pretty process, but the outcome is far more than beautiful. I knew that God had worked a miracle in my life.

So what could I expect as I came here again? I had no idea, and frankly wasn’t prepared to face what I saw. When I lived here before I was fairly sheltered, in that my ministry was within the family. I had very little interaction with the people outside my circle. I looked at them every day, but I never really saw them. Not really at all.

Tonight I was having a conversation with a great friend from Rwanda whom I hadn’t seen since I left in January 2009. I was telling him about all that I had experienced here and he said something that really sparked within me. He said he didn’t think that it was God’s will for anyone to be destitute. How education is a wonderful thing, but cannot necessarily get you anywhere if there is no opportunity that follows it. I understand that coming from the perspective of him, living here, that is very true. But what I saw was a bit different. When you have nothing in this world to cling to, what do you have left to cling to besides what you believe in? What I see are a people grateful for everything they receive. I see them sharing the little that they have with people in their community who have even less. I see a people with a faith so deep and wide, it astounds me. What they see as a great and luxurious life, one to aspire to, I see as a mummification of the spirit. We have surrounded ourselves with so much comfort we have no reason any longer to cling to Jesus.

Do I think that it’s God’s will for these people to be destitute? Absolutely not! There is more than enough food in the world to feed every person. There is more than enough wealth to help every starving child on the planet. This morning at our devotional Monte said something that struck me. If 30 planes crashed all on the same day there would be such weeping and wailing everywhere. Nearly every global resource would be used to investigate such an enormous tragedy. Yet each day more than 10,000 children die from starvation. Yet, no such outcry is taking place. In fact, we often fall into the pattern of blaming those in dire circumstances, saying it’s their own fault. If they only got a job…if only they weren’t so lazy…if only they would stop having kids. These are all only paltry excuses for us to use so that we can more easily ignore a problem that seems insurmountable. Yet I have seen how a small amount changes lives every day! It’s not just money that it’s bringing, but also hope, and hope is beyond price. With a small amount of sacrifice, we can change the world one family and community at a time. The mountain seem impassable from the bottom, but taken one step at a time, you find that you reach the top. It may take a long time, but with perseverance, you will make it. That is what God has taught me. There is plenty of room in my life for sacrifice. The joy is that when we give up one thing, we leave an empty space in our lives. A space for God to fill up, if we will just let him.

Danielle DeIeso