Timothy ! ! !

It’s official. After three years, Timothy is an officially registered and certified Jenkins!








We spent most of last week in Uganda. It took us a few more days than we anticipated, but we now have all the adoption documents in place.

Thank you for all of your prayers that enabled us to receive a favorable ruling.

Timothy continues to fill our home with wonder. We ask that you keep this special young man in your prayers. We know we are biased as parents, but we believe the Lord will use him as a leader of men in the future. While we were in Uganda we continued to hear the rumors (that easily turn to a prophetic blessing) that he will some day be a significant leader in this region of Africa. Those of you that know him are aware of his good looks, sense of humor, love for both animals and people, and his incredible strong will. In his first years of life he has gone from an abandoned child to a world traveler. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but now runs as fast as most of his peers. For some unique reason at a young age, he has been selected to face and overcome great obstacles.

The history of this region of Africa has several stories of men who spent their childhood in neighboring countries who later rise to positions of leadership. Much about both Timothy’s character and story leads us to believe God intends to use this young man to bless many others. We ask your prayers that Timothy will continue to be protected throughout his life. Most importantly we ask your prayers that his faith, love for others, and courage will increase.

Again, thank you for your prayers for the successful completion of Timothy’s adoption.

Imana ikurinde (May the Lord keep all of you),

Dave and Jana

We’ll tell you a secret – until a couple of weeks ago, every time we received an e-mail with pictures we were about to scream. It would take us sometimes hours to down load and we’d pay for every minute. In October we had a $200 phone bill because of friends in the U.S. sending us pictures. But we knew that the pictures were communicating more than just – “hey, we’ve got nothing better to do than run up your phone bill.” They communicated depth of emotions that a simple letter never could. The paradox of our lives hungered for those expensive e-mails. We just got an expensive wireless internet connection that hopefully will actually save us money and make communication with all of you easier. We’re attaching a picture of Ruthie graduating from Kindergarten. We hope you don’t want to scream. Please accept our apologies if you do. But we have something extremely important to communicate to all of you.

First, we love what we do. I know we complain about power and water outages, animals, diesel rationing, mechanics, phone lines, etc… But though Africa has its challenges it brings out the adventurous best in us. Our faith is stronger because we live here. Also, it is a good place to raise kids. They see a whole new side to the world. Their worldview is broad. They can adapt and make friends easily. And we believe their faith and character is better because we live here. Next, we love ministry in Africa. It’s easy to talk about spiritual matters here. Community is ingrained into culture, and we are never alone. We complain about our failed dreams and plans, but God always makes something good out of our weakness. Last and probably least, life here can just be fun. The tropical fruit is great. The climate is wonderful and we never fight with winter ice and snow. The geography is forever beautiful and captivating. We hope the Lord will give us many more years in Africa, but count each day here as a grace from him.

However, the Lord has entrusted to us 5 precious jewels in our children. (If you doubt it, take a look at Miss Ruthie.) Despite our love for life and ministry here, their needs come above our desires to live in Africa. When we first came to Rwanda, one of our questions was how would our children do with friends and education? One of our friends, Holly Hixson remarked that maybe our family would be the answer to other family’s needs and prayers.

It appears that something very unique is happening in Kigali that we have never experienced before. Kigali really is off of the beaten track in Africa. Until recently few Americans lived here. But a gathering of people is happening here. A number of American mission and development organizations are moving into Rwanda. Most are sending families with children our kid’s age. (With 5 kids from toddler to teenager we hit it all.) This is the best American community we have ever experienced in our years in Africa. If current trends continue there is great potential as several organizations in neighboring countries are exploring moving their offices to Kigali. We did not anticipate this, but current political and economic realities in East Central Africa may turn Kigali into a “hub city” for communication, business, and transportation. Those of us of faith can see the tremendous opportunities to make a spiritual impact upon generations from such a city.

But it brings forth some major challenges. Most embassies and developmental groups will not place families with teenage children in Kigali due to not having an adequate International School. We have tried a Rwandan school for our kids, but after a few months have realized that though it has been a great in roads into the community it will not meet our children’s social and academic needs. Without some change we would not be able to stay in Rwanda for the long haul.

Yet, it appears that the Lord has placed an opportunity into our hands. This gathering of people creates resources, personnel, and ideas. We are forming a parent consortium school. By September we plan to have at least 12 families with at least 32 children entered. We plan to use an American Christian curriculum. With current trends we foresee great potential for growth.

Now, back to our main point – Why am I sending you an irritating e-mail with a picture of our precious Ruthie. We want to stay in Rwanda. We believe God has called us here. We believe God intends to do something out of the ordinary here. But in order to stay we need to develop an educational option for our children. We request that you help us find teachers. In order to get our school off the ground in September we need 5 teachers. We already have one committed.

If you are a teacher and really are looking for an opportunity to make a difference in a traumatized but hopeful nation, please be in touch with us. If you know some one who would consider this opportunity, please forward this e-mail onto them.

We are seeking people of great character willing to commit at least one school year to come as a missionary to educate our children. You will find a great American community, an opportunity for your faith to grow, and a beautiful captivating people and country.

Imana ikurinde (May the Lord keep all of you),

Dave and Jana Jenkins

Prayer Bulletin

We apologize for how out of touch we have been the last few months. We basically got buried in adjustment and also were without an internet connection for some time. We generally try to only ask for you to pray about 4 items each month, but his month we just need more prayers. We hope we are not burdening you.

We had wonderful holidays. In fact, it will be one of those memorable years. Our home was filled with many guests – particularly friends from the Kampala Church of Christ in Uganda. Also, we hosted several large parties for Christmas and New Years. The Lord has given us a wonderful home to share with others, and a remarkable number of friends. In Africa both visitors and rain are seen as blessings, and we are receiving both in abundance. We see so much of the steadfast loving kindness of God in our move to Rwanda.

1. Thankfulness:

1. Arrival of our possessions: All of our shipment from Uganda arrived in November. It was the easiest shipment to clear that we ever received. We can’t find anything missing. A few things were broken, but they were repairable. We are now off the floor and sleeping on a bed. The Lord gave us tremendous favor from Rwanda Customs agents, and we are rejoicing in the simple pleasures of life.

2. Teaching at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology: Dave started teaching the Liberal Arts component of Engineering Ethics last week. It’s a manageable amount of work involving 2 hours of lecture for 5 weeks, and then the class will be taught by engineers for the remainder of the semester. KIST is one of the most rapidly advancing universities in Africa, and we feel very fortunate to be on its campus. This opportunity is enabling us to secure a visa as we settle into Rwanda, and giving us many opportunities to develop friendships with faculty and students.

3. Small Group Growth: We started a small group bible study on Thursday evenings that we hope will provide a core of leadership for future church planting in Kigali. It was slow to start, but we are averaging over 15 people for the last few weeks. Attendees are university students and lecturers, a New Times reporter, a Rwandan government civil servant, Non-Government Organization leaders, and middle class business people. We will divide the group in 2 in the coming weeks due to its growing size.

2. Wisdom: We have received so much favor the first months we have been in Rwanda. The Lord’s kindness expressed through supporters in the U.S. and Rwandan friends has been amazing. Yet, in coming months we will be making some large ministry decisions that could effect many future years of work. We ask your continued prayers for God to give us an exceptional measure of wisdom during the initial stages of establishment in Rwanda.

3. Health: Again, the Lord has taken very good care of us. We have had a few colds, but no major tropical illness. Sophia survived a monkey bite with 4 stitches. Thankfully, a doctor was nearby when she was bit and she previously had a rabies vaccination. (We’ll write more details later.) However, Dave in particular has struggled to sleep through the night. Sometimes it leaves him very physically weary. We suspect it is due to both Rwandan spiritual dynamics and adjustment stress. Please pray for our sleep to be completely restored.

4. Children’s Education: The Lord seems to be gathering a wonderful community of Americans in Kigali. One of the necessities for us all to stay in Rwanda will be to develop an educational system for our children. Though Rwanda has been very good for our family we have yet to feel we have found a long-term workable educational option. We are working with approximately 12 other American families to develop an American Christian School by September 2006. It appears we will have at least 32 American children enrolled. Please be in prayer that we can recruit teachers, have great wisdom, and make the necessary preparations.

5. Beard’s Arrival and Support Raising: Kyle and Luz Beard are now being overseen by the South Plains Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas. We rejoice that they have found this support base. They currently are in the final stages of support discovery with a target date of arriving in Kigali in early May 2006. Please pray for their remaining support to be discovered, and for them to have a timely arrival in Kigali.

6. Timothy’s Adoption: We will be traveling to Uganda tomorrow evening to finalize Timothy’s adoption. Our court date will be on Wednesday, January 18 at 9 a.m. Please pray for us to receive favor and for this to go smoothly. We are all ready to have Timothy be an officially registered and certified Jenkins.

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

Imana ikurinde (May the Lord keep all of you),

Dave Jenkins

P.S. This year’s Oklahoma Christian Lectureship will feature a Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday, January 25 that will focus on Rwanda. If you will be in Oklahoma City on those dates please make plans to attend. (Thank you Bob Young, OC Lectureship Director for organizing this prayer breakfast.)