A water station on the road

Well, yesterday was a big day for us. I got my passport back from Immigration and in it was stamped a work permit, being legal permission to live and work in our 'adopted' country, Rwanda. What an honor to gain this legal status in the land where Nancy and I sensed our call from the Lord to serve here more than five years ago.

It is has been a long journey since we determined this was the direction the Lord was leading us, the formation of a 'board' of missionaries and Rwandans working together to form an entity that could be recognized by the government, the process of application, gaining district registration, finding, remodeling a property, ordering furniture, pushing on to provisional national registration ... and now the first work permit to be issued under Africa Transformation Network. It probably isn't very significant in the overall scheme of things, but it is to us - because it is an indicator of God's strong arm and his faithfulness to us.

As I write, Nancy and I are sitting in the Kigali airport at 4:30 in the morning, waiting for a flight to Zambia, to take a break and to encourage my sister and brother-in-law who seek to serve the people of Zambia, but are facing similar hassles of a bureaucratic nature. Sometimes a break comes at just the right moment, a time to get away from the fray...a water station on the dusty road.

More Reinforcements for the Task

It was back in November 2005 when four missionary men from Togo came to Rwanda to visit for the first time. They were Murphy Crowson, Marty Koonce, Matt Miller and David Reeves. They came to confirm the sense that God had called them to Rwanda to serve him; and they came to scout out the land. During the course of the time they were in Rwanda they determined that God was calling them to settle in the Muzanze area.



This week, over three years later, two of those men, Murphy and Marty have returned with their families to settle in Rwanda and learn how to relate to and become a blessing to the people of Rwanda. Others will follow when their work in Togo is completed.



Marty and Louise Koonce, Murphy and Christine Crowson and their boys

It is great blessing to have these seasoned and experienced missionary families join the work in Rwanda. They will live in Kigali for some months as they acclimate to the language and culture of Rwanda and complete the processes of gaining legal status as residents, clearing the shipment of their belongings etc. They are welcome reinforcements for the mission task the Lord has for us here.