Email from the Jenkins

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for the many encouraging e-mails that we have received the last few days. We underestimated the struggle adjusting to Rwanda would bring to our family, and your encouraging notes have sustained us during the last few days. We are extremely thankful to be in Rwanda, our interns have arrived safely, and we are making many quality Rwandan friends, advocates, and advisors. The opportunities before us are larger than we have ever experienced. At the same time the cost of living is high, our kids are sick, and we have not had running water for about 3 days. We are close to overload.

We ask for your prayers for the following matters:

Wisdom: Please ask for the Lord to give us a greater measure of his wisdom. We are making so many decisions in our initial adjustments. May the decisions we make be the Lord’s.

Heath: Jana, Ethan, and Timothy have all had a bout of some type of tropical flu. Timothy has been sick for the last 3 days with a fever, and is having a difficult time keeping food down. We also have not had much sleep for several days as we are up with sick children. With no running water managing a sick household is becoming quite a challenge. Please ask for the Lord to restore our family’s health. Also, ask that our water will soon be running.

Lets Start Talking Project: Thirteen wonderful university students arrived in Rwanda this week. We have one of the largest opportunities we have ever experienced as Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (one of Rwanda’s leading educational institutions) is giving us an opportunity to teach English using the Gospel of Luke to their first and second year Francophone students (possibly as many as 600 university students in total.) May we be able to make the most of this opportunity.

Friends, Advisors, and Advocates: This has been an amazing answer to prayer. The Lord continues to allow us to meet so many people who are helping us learn and settle. Also, the Lord seems to be gathering a very unique and diverse group of people in Kigali to initiate this church planting. Last night’s Sunday house church even included an Albanian member of Churches of Christ, Maniola. She is in Kigali working as an intern with the United Nations Development Program. We met her last week at a restaurant as we were visiting an acquaintance. It was one of those divine appointments in which we realized that the odds of so many people’s lives intersecting in Rwanda could only be explained with the wonderful mystery of our Lord. May God continue to lead us to many friends, advisors, and advocates who can enable the planting of thriving churches in Rwanda.

Again, thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support that sustain our ministry.

Imana ikurinde (May God keep all of you),

Dave and Jana