Fun at the Flag

Last night before 2Deep, campers enjoyed social time around the flag. I love seeing everyone enjoy conversation and laugh with one another. Now that we are halfway through this term, true friendships are really forming.

Unfortunately, these pictures turned out a little blurry because I didn't have the camera on the correct setting. Next time they will come out better. :)

Day 5- Josh is refusing to blog, so Mallory will be blogging from Josh's perspective:

Hi Mom, it's Josh.  Today started out with breakfast and a short walk to church.  I couldn't really understand the pastor's accent and a little boy was waving at me the whole service so it was a little distracting.  After church, I had a whole pot of coffee. Then I whined to Mallory that my Facebook was not working.  Then we drove one hour to Lake Kivu, where I slept on the sandy beaches for two hours.  I had pasta for lunch.  Then we went swimming and Mallory and I threw sand at eachother.  I am really good at making friends here.  We met a boy in the water, who had crossed over from a local beach. The security guard for our hotel made him go back.  On the way back from Lake Kivu, I fell asleep again… even hitting my head on the window during a sharp turn.  Lesley just happened to get it all on video.  When we arrived back in Musanze, we went to the market where I looked for a Bob Marley bag.  We had some free time, so I took a walk and ended up meeting the chief of police.  He asked me to have a drink with him, but I just sat with him and talked.  I have made friends all over the town.  Now, I am in my room waiting for dinner and definitely NOT blogging :) 

-Josh (Mallory)

Now it's Lesley with some details :)

Today was phenomenal.  These kids rock!  They are so go with the flow, and seem to make friends and have a good time wherever we go.  We started off the day with church. Not just any church though; this is the church that Bishop John, the Bishop of Rwanda, started during his reformation and reconciliation of his country after genocide.  He is an incredible man, and his church is beautiful.  The current bishop, Bishop Laurent Mbanda, was also in town.  The kids were able to shake the hands with and visit with these two amazing men who want so badly to lead their community to Christ and to encourage and strengthen the people who live here.  After church, we had tea and hopped on the bus to Lake Kivu.  This is one of the most beautiful drives in the country; we passed terraces of patchwork fields, rock cliffs, coffee plantations, and tea plantations.  Then you turn a corner and see it… Kivu.  It is beautiful; to the left you see Rwanda, to the right you see Congo.  It is like an ocean with dark blue water and lots of waves.  The sand is so glittery and it coats your skin.  It is such a great place for our camp to be named after.  We relaxed on the beach, read, had great conversations, played Frisbee, walked, and ate some great food and ice cream.  Logan climbed a huge tree and a lot of us swam in the lake.  We met lots of locals and lots of visitors as well.  After riding back, we stopped at the supermarket for baking soda and vinegar to build volcanoes with the kids tomorrow. It's going to be awesome!  -Lesley

Day 5 From Logan's Perspective

 

Ok, so today I woke up and again faced the ice cold shower. However, today was the only day I was brave enough to actually get under the water! After breakfast we walked to a mosque, where I had the once in a life time experience of playing soccer with the older homeless children. They play all day, everyday… so I don't need to say that I had it handed to me quite a few times! … But I also had my moments. Kathy the women that runs PREFER, provides soap for them to wash with, and feeds the children was also there with her husband. Then from there we went to the dry goods market of Musanze, where I had to suffer through seven women shopping and choosing between hundreds of pieces of cloth! But, the light at the end of the tunnel was the fact that, afterwards,  I got to help Bret look for a soccer jersey… Of which ended up choosing team Rwanda!... How appropriate. From there we walked to a hotel which had a pool and internet service.  We also met , Jock, the Rwandan cycling teams coach, who was the first American to compete in the tour-de-france and also won the Iron Horse in Durango. And, it was at the pool where we got to watch a bunch of Rwandan men in tight boxer briefs swim, lift weights, and show off in general for the girls of the group! As I am writing this we are back at the house, where we will eat dinner, play games and eventually head to bed. Ok, now just walking to the hotel to post this block, I just saw a man who looks like he hates life, steamrolling dry asphalt… Nice!

-Logan

Day 3 From Mallory's Perspective

Preschool 
Today was our first day at the preschool, of all the missions trips I've gone on that involved children, today was by far the most amazing I've experienced! 
We started our day really early with a typical Rwandan breakfast (tons of bread, coffee and eggs). Then we started our 45 min walk to the school. The walk wasn't as bad I was anticipating but still a long trek. 
The highlight of the groups day, at least mine, was on the walk.  I was chatting with another guy, Josh, in our group, walking a ways behind everyone else when after what felt like forever we rounded the corner of this dirt road to hear the screams of children. When I looked up to see what was going on I saw about 40 children screaming with joy running straight towards our group! It was the coolest/cutest thing I've ever seen! The children ran up latching on to our groups legs with big hugs, fighting amongst them self over who got to hold the "mzungus" hands. They were all so happy to see us, with huge smiles on their faces, I've never seen such happy children! Nor experience such an awesome welcome before! As we walked Hand in hand with them the rest of the way to the preschool we quickly learned how much English they knew, they were asking us our names and greeting us with welcome and good morning. 
As soon as we got to the school we toured the three classrooms (2 yrs, 4 yrs, and 5 yrs). Each class sang songs to show us their English skills  and welcomed us. Everything from ABC to the "itsy bitsy spider". I was blown away by their English! We spent the rest of the morning helping the kids learn English, doing arts and crafts, playing soccer and just hanging out with them. We learned they LOVE cameras and soccer! After a morning of playing and learning, they all gathered on the grass to leave, and danced for us. It was the funniest and cutest thing I've ever seen! They were so good too!
After we said our goodbyes we caught a bus (a VERY crowded bus) back to the house to eat lunch. When returned to the school that afternoon we taught adults English! It was such a neat experience to teach them common phrases and greetings because at the same time we were teaching them we were also learning their language, the group loved it and soon practice their new knowledge on the children playing outside! 
After teaching the adults we painted all the women's finger nails, which  they enjoyed and appreciated! After a long day we headed back to the house to relax and eat dinner with the Rwandan national cycling team. 
I'm so pumped to go back to the school tomorrow!

Day 4 From Jennie's Perspective

Today we hung out with the kids again at PREFER. The kids are PRECIOUS. They are extremely dirty but it makes them all the cuter. We played Ring Around the Rosie at "playground" but it didn't work out very well because they would fight over who got to hold the "Mzungo"s hands. Lunch was kabobs, rice, etc. For breakfast the cooks served this little fruit that I'd never seen before…they were extremely sour and quickly took on the name Warheads. After lunch we visited the Excel school..a private school just down the street from where we are staying. It was much fancier than Prefer, and the kids were much cleaner and better dressed. However, we noticed how the Excel kids were a bit spoiled because they kept asking us for stuff. Nonetheless they were adorable and spoke English very well. We went to a little store to buy trinkets for ourselves and people back at home. There were tons of handmade wooden animals, jewelry, baskets, etc. We rode motorcycles to get back to the house! Parents—we wore helmets and the drivers are certified and they go very slow and it was only like a half mile ride..very safe!!!! Hahaha. Everyone here is so happy and content. It is amazing to realize how really spoiled I am and how the simple things can really bring so much joy to these people.

-Jennie

Day 2 From Elizabeth's Perspective:

 

We all woke up around 8 and ate a breakfast made of eggs, carrots, and bell peppers. The home-cooked food was delicious and felt so African (I am sure that it was more luxurious than a typical African breakfast). After eating, we packed up to leave to go to Elsie's shop and proceed to Musanze. We were quickly introduced to African time- the bus driver arrived about 2 hours late. During our waiting time, some people went to play soccer with the neighborhood kids while others sat with Elsie in the courtyard. The soccer kids quickly learned that the certain hand gesture called "pounding" does not translate well. When the kids attempted to fist pump the African children, one child responded " I don't do that, I am Christian." We have yet to figure out what that means. Meanwhile, Gretchen was able to talk to Elsie about her experience with the genocide- what an amazing experience to listen to someone who has lived through such a tragedy. Both her mother and her father were killed; she was able to escape Scotland with her two kids and husband. She lived there for 6 1/2 years and returned to Rwanda where she couldn't sleep for nearly 2 years. I can only image the thousands of conflicting feelings that she possessed towards her fellow citizens, her family, and her country. Recently she was able to speak to her father's killer who later told her the location of his body. Her father's body was found and will be buried in August.

  When the driver finally arrived, we went to Elsie's store were we bought some handmade items. We stopped by bourbon coffee for lunch and drove two hours to Musanze. The drive was gorgeous as we were driving into the mountains and it gave everyone a chance to sleep, and think about our trip so far. After getting to the city we drove around quite a bit and then went to the cultural village- it was extremely entertaining (pictures will never do it justice). Brett and Gretchen were so sweet to be our queen and king- they fit the part well. After the cultural village, we went to the volcana lounge where we had pizza with another group from Saudi Arabia. It was fun to get to talk to them and hear about their trip- they leave Friday. I wish I could talk in immense detail about everything that we did today but I didn't want to make this longer than it already is. I do want to say thank you to all of our parents- this is an amazing experience that I, and hopefully everyone, will never forget.  I cannot help but see God in everything here.

-Lesley

Day 1 From Millie's Perspective:

 

The plane ride was…long, yet i walked around and made some new foreign friends! Bourbon coffee looked just like a coffee shop you would see in America, and I had a super yummy smoothieJ Exchanging money made you feel rich cause of the HUGE stack of money you would walk out with and also how many thousands they gave you, much different than America. The Genocide Memorial was a culture shock, not even 20 years ago the murder that happened here is astonishing especially when you see so many friendly people, some pictures you would see of a dead body hanging out of a car or seeing a dead body of a toddler was not something I expected on my first day in the Country but the most surprising was seeing hundreds of real human skulls and femur bones and wrist bones just lined up. It was almost too much. Karibu restraint was intresting. With almost no food and 10 of us trying to eat yet the good attitude of the group was so refreshing! And last of all Elsie's home was stunning, nothing  like I was expecting Africa too look like inside the gate, 3 story home with a winding stair case, I was surprised also to have my own bathroom and room! Outside the gate was the poverty I was expecting though. While we waited for our bus to leave that next day everyone was shocked to see all the "mzungu"(translation:white people) as the yell it every where we go! Haha well that's all for now!

-Millie

Rwanda!

Hi from Musanze, Rwanda! We have had a great few days! It is 11 pm and I snuck away to a hotel to find some internet! Yesterday, we visited the Genocide Memorial immediatley after our flight. I am going to have one of the kids post about it, but to sum it up... WOW! The students were blown away. They learned and saw so much, I think they are still asking questions and processing. After the memorial, we gathered in the gardens and talked about what we had seen. It was great to talk about it and awesome to hear what they thought. Then we left for dinner at a local African style buffett restaurant, then home to sleep. Everyone slept pretty well, especially after a hot shower. Today we got up really early, and waited (Africa time) for our driver to show up. When he arrived, we went to a local business who employees women and children who were orphaned or widowed by the genocide. They sell handmade craft products, which everyone was crazy for. We all have something great to remember the trip and the proceeds go to a great organization. Then we had the opportunity to deliver some very important adoption documents for a US friend. It was great to come out of his office and see all the students playing soccer in the road with a hundred kids. SO FUN! They are jumping right into African culture and life. We followed that up with a 2 hour bus ride through the mountains and volcanoes and patchwork fields of crops. This is when we truly saw it was a land of a thousand hills, blue and misty. We arrived in Musanze, dropped off our luggage at our home went straight to the cultural village, which is INCREDIBLE! We learned about the ancient kings, their homes, medicine men, wheat grinding, arrow shooting, drumming and dancing. We all laughed a LOT! Next we went to Volcana Lounge, the local pizza place. We met up with the group of 20 students from Saudi Arabia and had a fantastic time talking to them, even when the electricity went out and we ate pizza by candlelight! We shared all of our adventures here thus far and we made a lot of new friends, from ALL over the world! Now we are settled into our home, ready for a great day tomorrow, our first day at the preschool! We are all so excited! I have tons of photos but they aren't loading, I'll try again tomorrow.  Sorry. And goodnight from beautiful Rwanda!

Rwanda group

We have had a fabulous first day in Rwanda. We don't have internet yet
but hope to blog details very soon!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but I think the neatest way to start a camp term is with fireworks. So, we worked it out with America to start this term right....and with said fireworks. So.......last night was so incredible....food and fireworks everywhere!!!!! There was even a new red one that exploded in a star shape. To add perfect to such a great night was the joy of the campers. They are so much fun and full of outrageous energy. After the 4th party, we all came back for TRON! It was a long, crazy fun night, but sooooo much fun!

We are boarding!! And we are EXCITED!!!! Rwanda, here we come!

Today was so fun! Our flight leaves tomorrow, so we spent today sightseeing inWashington DC. I don't think there is a cooler place to be for the 4th of July weekend. There is so much going on here. We started off the day at the Holocaust Museum, which was perfect because they have a huge exhibit on genocide. In about 24 hours, we will be touring the Rwandan genocide memorial, so we already have our minds and hearts open to the Rwandan people and the horrible events of 1994, from which they have come SO far! We will be able to witness first hand, the indescribable forgiveness and reconciliation going on still today! Anyways, after the Holocaust Museum, we split into a couple different groups because everyone wanted to see something different. We had people at the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, Washington Monument, the White House, the Natural History Museum, the National Modern Art Museum, etc. etc. It was so fun to meet up for dinner and share where we had been during the day. During dinner at a great TexMex restaurant, we noticed that it had started raining really hard. The rain totally disrupted our plans to attend the huge4th of July concert dress rehearsal. Everyone was bummed, but we made the best of it, and had a great, talkative, and long bus ride back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow! There are fireworks going off all over DC and we can see them outside our hotel!

Party Time

Before term three starts, I want to show you some pictures of the parties from last term. The summit cabin of girls did a great job of dressing the part for each party. From fabulous neon to an older more mature look, these girls knew how to look good.

As always, everyone had a great time two-stepping at the barn dance.

It's fun to look back on how much fun we had together last term because it makes me excited for all that is ahead...Term Three starts today! Yesterday, we sent the campers from last term home. Goodbyes were tough, but we are looking forward to all the campers that are coming in just a few hours. My sister will be one out of the group, and I am so excited to see her.
WELCOME TO CAMP, TERM III! Get ready for the best two weeks of your life!!!

The Kivu Grid

Term 3 begins today and believe me, the campers have no idea how amazing the next two weeks are going to be. As they step into the world of Camp KIVU they will have a blast, learn so much, make new best friends, reunite with old friends, grow in their knowledge of the Lord. They step into that world today, but tomorrow they step into the world of The Grid.

Rwanda bound T- 1.5 days!! We just picked up our last student from the airport. Everyone made it to D.C. safely and with few delays. We are now all hanging out in our hotel learning names and getting to know each other before we embark on this incredible adventure to Rwanda! Depending on our internet availability, I plan to have one of our group members blog everyday we are in Rwanda so we can be sharing with you all where we are and what we are doing and learning! You will learn more details soon, but to sum it up quickly, we will be staying in Musanze Rwanda and will be working with a preschool called PREFER, volunteering in the community and seeing the area, including Lake Kivu (where our camp got it's name)! This is my 3rd trip to the area and I can't wait to share it with our group! Here are a few of my favorite little friends from the school we will be working at!
-Lesley

Let the KIVU CREW TO RWANDA Begin...

It's been a dream of mine to train up, and send out. Summer camp has always wrestled with the idea of the 'summer camp high' most students experience and then allow to fade away during the year. I've been brainstorming for the last 10 years how we can solve the problem.

This weekend is our first shot.

For the next weeks, KIVU is sponsoring kids to travel around the globe. We hope they've soaked up all the worldview training possible, so they can go be the hands and feet of the gospel to other people.

We're not interested in the amount of salvations and baptisms that might result from this trip. We know God is at work in the heart of Rwanda already. Our mission is to simply go and serve.

We're not looking to make something that doesn't need to be made.
We're not looking to paint a building that doesn't need to be painted.
We're not offering the "American" style God in place of the ministry already happening.
We're simply going to show the Love of Christ to people in a far away land.

Much has been said of the effectiveness of short term mission work, and I've often debated the value more for the participants than it is for those we go and serve.

I've been taking teenagers around the world for the last decade, and I've seen kids grow in their relationship with God LEAPS AND BOUNDS because they were put in a position where all they had was to reach out and help someone. They didn't know the language. They didn't know the politics. They didn't know the community strife. But they knew how to play, they knew how to work, and they knew how to help.

I can't wait to read the updates from the first KIVU SUMMER MISSION heading out this weekend. We appreciate your prayers, and your continued love for what is going on out here as we try to Train Global Leaders in the Context of His Creation.

K-CO Challenge Insanity!!!!

A little late but worth the wait! The challenge was so much fun to be a part of....and everyone loved the adventure of everything! But, I'm not going to go into details because it's going to be a surprise for EVERY term. And it's going to change EVERY term...so those of you getting all your ideas are gonna be surprised whether you plan or not!!!!

Can't wait for the next challenge day with more INSANITY to come!!