“Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject whatever is harmful. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. Brothers and sisters, pray for us. Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” – 1 Thessalonians 4:12-28
Mommy – Thanks for the verse for this entry, it’s perfect. If anyone was wondering what a typical day for me is like, this verse does an excellent job of summing it up. Patience is something I have to practice every day here. Between the language barriers and the recent disrespect I have faced, I have to be patient and strive to do what is good for the people I am surrounded by. Some days are easier than others, but at the end of the day I have to remember Jesus is right by my side every step of the way.
This past weekend was quite fun! I went to Kigali (the capital of Rwanda) with a couple of friends. My friend Gabi from the U.K., Elliot from Georgia and Betty from Germany. We are quite the group of Muzungus traveling together. The bus ride to Kigali takes a little less than two hours. We arrived in Kigali early morning and headed straight to Bourbon Coffee. This place is amazing. It’s like a small little Starbucks/little slice of home get away. It does not even feel like you are in Africa… It’s crazy! They make fresh pastries every morning that are absolutely delicious! I treated myself to a caramel frappacino and a slice of banana bread. Oooooo my goodness it was wonderful!!!! I really thought I was back at home for a small chunk of that Saturday morning! After we finished our amazing breakfast, we wandered around for a bit. We found this store that was like a Rwandan Wal – Mart (Linz I totally thought of you, you would love it!). They had everything in that store! From a bakery to treadmills! I could hardly believe my eyes. It was truly another world. It is crazy how much they are trying to “westernize” this country. It makes me a bit sad because it’s losing its culture, heritage and identity along the way. It gets pretty toasty in Kigali compared to the mountainous region of Musanze so as we walked around, I worked up quite the sweat! We passed through a couple of markets and different little shops for the rest of the morning. By lunch time we were starving because of all the walking! We ventured across the city (by foot don’t forget) to a restaurant called The Cactus. It is tucked away on this little hill that looks out on a good chunk of the city. This place is known for its pizza… So of course I got one! It was absolutely delicious and made my taste buds quite happy. We hung out there and just relaxed for a good part of the afternoon because we were tired from all the walking. After some rest, it was time to head back to the bus station so we had enough time for movie night! The ride back to Musanze was interesting. You just never know what you’re going to get here. The bus was packed with people. Every seat was taken and we were all packed in tight. When we were about half way to Musanze, the bus driver stopped at a little café so people could get snacks or dinner if they needed to. The girl sitting next to me ran to grab a quick snack which contained a red bull that she kept dropping on the floor. Immediately after she dropped it she thought it would be a good idea to open it. The sugary energy drink sprayed everywhere and sloshed on the floor… My feet and bag were greeted by a sticky mess… Hooray. And not long after that the little baby in the row in front of us threw up all over the man next to her. He had on a nice black suit that was now filled with baby nasties… Gross. But nothing phases people here so he merely wiped it off and we all had a good laugh. We stopped randomly a couple of times to pick people up even though there wasn’t any room. It is just the way of Rwandans. They are very kind to one another. Eventually we did make it home safe and headed to movie night. Every Saturday night at 7 a man named John has all the Muzungus over for a movie night. He is from the States and is working at one of the local universities doing veterinary research on the mountain gorillas. He is a great guy and so kind to all of us. After a long day we were all ready for bed! It was a great day of adventures!!
I hope I can update everyone on some more fun adventures soon! Missing everyone very much!
Grace and Peace
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Great Running Incident of '09
“‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it’” - Matthew 7:13
My goodness the narrow road can be a challenge! I highly recommend it to all who are interested : ). God delivers beautiful blessings and trials while traveling down the narrow road with Jesus. There will be stormy days that are painful, but when the good days come, God reveals himself to your heart.
I can’t believe I forgot to tell all of you about my small little accident last Friday! So I was taking a nice little jog into town to meet up with some friends for a cup of tea. It was about 8 at night and it gets quite dark after about 7. There are plenty of lights lining the streets here however they are never turned on. I set out on my small trek in the pitch black night and things were going smoothly. I sloshed into a rain puddle or two but wasn’t too worried. As I turned onto the main road that heads into town, I was confronted with lots of big rocks and uneven surfaces. I was trying to pay attention to my swift steps while trying not to get hit by the oncoming traffic as well (the drivers here are crazy – they come at you at about 45 or 50 miles an hour and if you don’t move, they will hit you). A car was approaching me very quickly and turned its bright lights on so I hopped over into the gravely mess where I took quite the tumble… I tripped on a rock that sent my body flying into even bigger rocks… My body was airborne for a solid second or two and after that was over it was so kindly greeted by the sharp rocks that my legs and knees slammed into. I sliced my right leg up pretty good and had a solid stream of blood flowing. I also seemed to tear a pretty good hole in my jacket sleeve where my hands tried to catch my fall. I have a couple of wonderful bruises as well! I’m pretty sure everyone who saw it got a good laugh from the situation, I know I did. So about 30 alcohol swabs later, I was all cleaned up and ready for action. I took a couple of pictures and would love to post them but the internet is too slow here. Everyone stares at my leg and its wounds… Scars, scrapes, scabs, blood and bruises are a phenomenon on my white skin to everyone who looks. When they ask what happened I tell them the story and they all look at me in disbelief and wonder why I think it is funny. Then they reply “I’m so sorry” as if it was their fault. The people here are so kind it’s great!
There’s a little laugh for everyone’s day! The rain returned again yesterday right around the time I take the girls out for a jog. It was quite the storm with harsh wind, huge rain drops, lightning and thunder! It was fun to watch it! Apparently the weather has a sort of “schedule” here – two weeks of rain two weeks of sunshine. I believe we just started our rainy week again. I’m currently sitting inside watching the rain fall down and the gray clouds stroll through… Hopefully it clears up in time for soccer! The girls love to go run and look forward to it all day so it’s a huge bummer when these storms come. Please pray for all the kids at Sonrise, they are so precious and need the Lord to guide them every day.
I hope all of you are happy and healthy and enjoying this New Year. I miss everyone very much and look forward to the day when we meet again!!
Grace and Peace
My goodness the narrow road can be a challenge! I highly recommend it to all who are interested : ). God delivers beautiful blessings and trials while traveling down the narrow road with Jesus. There will be stormy days that are painful, but when the good days come, God reveals himself to your heart.
I can’t believe I forgot to tell all of you about my small little accident last Friday! So I was taking a nice little jog into town to meet up with some friends for a cup of tea. It was about 8 at night and it gets quite dark after about 7. There are plenty of lights lining the streets here however they are never turned on. I set out on my small trek in the pitch black night and things were going smoothly. I sloshed into a rain puddle or two but wasn’t too worried. As I turned onto the main road that heads into town, I was confronted with lots of big rocks and uneven surfaces. I was trying to pay attention to my swift steps while trying not to get hit by the oncoming traffic as well (the drivers here are crazy – they come at you at about 45 or 50 miles an hour and if you don’t move, they will hit you). A car was approaching me very quickly and turned its bright lights on so I hopped over into the gravely mess where I took quite the tumble… I tripped on a rock that sent my body flying into even bigger rocks… My body was airborne for a solid second or two and after that was over it was so kindly greeted by the sharp rocks that my legs and knees slammed into. I sliced my right leg up pretty good and had a solid stream of blood flowing. I also seemed to tear a pretty good hole in my jacket sleeve where my hands tried to catch my fall. I have a couple of wonderful bruises as well! I’m pretty sure everyone who saw it got a good laugh from the situation, I know I did. So about 30 alcohol swabs later, I was all cleaned up and ready for action. I took a couple of pictures and would love to post them but the internet is too slow here. Everyone stares at my leg and its wounds… Scars, scrapes, scabs, blood and bruises are a phenomenon on my white skin to everyone who looks. When they ask what happened I tell them the story and they all look at me in disbelief and wonder why I think it is funny. Then they reply “I’m so sorry” as if it was their fault. The people here are so kind it’s great!
There’s a little laugh for everyone’s day! The rain returned again yesterday right around the time I take the girls out for a jog. It was quite the storm with harsh wind, huge rain drops, lightning and thunder! It was fun to watch it! Apparently the weather has a sort of “schedule” here – two weeks of rain two weeks of sunshine. I believe we just started our rainy week again. I’m currently sitting inside watching the rain fall down and the gray clouds stroll through… Hopefully it clears up in time for soccer! The girls love to go run and look forward to it all day so it’s a huge bummer when these storms come. Please pray for all the kids at Sonrise, they are so precious and need the Lord to guide them every day.
I hope all of you are happy and healthy and enjoying this New Year. I miss everyone very much and look forward to the day when we meet again!!
Grace and Peace
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Yay Sunshine!!
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened” – Matthew 7:7-8
I have asked for so much and I have received in abundance these past two weeks. Every day is a battle but the reward at the end of the day is entirely worth it. To know that every smile and handshake given on the street has changed a stranger’s day will mean more to me than I can even begin to explain.
The weather for the past two days has been wonderful! The sun has been out all day and the rain has been gracious enough to wait until evening. The sun keeps everyone’s spirits up and the people here seem to truly enjoy sunlight… Especially after the week of rain we have had.
Today I went to the local prison to start taking Kinyarwanda lessons. I start next Thursday and cannot wait! The prisoners teach the lessons and they are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. My teacher has a daughter at Sonrise and when she found out I was teaching there, she was beside herself. She told me to make sure I give her daughter a greeting from her mother. I told her I would be honored. The prisoners wear either orange or pink uniforms. The individuals wearing pink have already had their trial while the ones in orange are still waiting for their trial. Many people there are still waiting for their trial from the events of the genocide. Prison doesn’t work quite the same here as it does in the U.S. The gates to the prison are wide open (keep in mind there are multiple guards with very big guns that are fully loaded). Prisoners are not kept in cells. They are free to roam the grounds as they please. There are young children inside who are waiting for their “learn to speak English” lessons. Some prisoners are quick with a smile while others have a faraway look in their eyes. They are longing for another life or perhaps reminiscing about the mistakes of the past, I’m not sure. I’m looking forward to spending more time there and getting to know some of the prisoners. I will be sure to keep everyone updated about these adventures!
Grace and Peace
I have asked for so much and I have received in abundance these past two weeks. Every day is a battle but the reward at the end of the day is entirely worth it. To know that every smile and handshake given on the street has changed a stranger’s day will mean more to me than I can even begin to explain.
The weather for the past two days has been wonderful! The sun has been out all day and the rain has been gracious enough to wait until evening. The sun keeps everyone’s spirits up and the people here seem to truly enjoy sunlight… Especially after the week of rain we have had.
Today I went to the local prison to start taking Kinyarwanda lessons. I start next Thursday and cannot wait! The prisoners teach the lessons and they are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. My teacher has a daughter at Sonrise and when she found out I was teaching there, she was beside herself. She told me to make sure I give her daughter a greeting from her mother. I told her I would be honored. The prisoners wear either orange or pink uniforms. The individuals wearing pink have already had their trial while the ones in orange are still waiting for their trial. Many people there are still waiting for their trial from the events of the genocide. Prison doesn’t work quite the same here as it does in the U.S. The gates to the prison are wide open (keep in mind there are multiple guards with very big guns that are fully loaded). Prisoners are not kept in cells. They are free to roam the grounds as they please. There are young children inside who are waiting for their “learn to speak English” lessons. Some prisoners are quick with a smile while others have a faraway look in their eyes. They are longing for another life or perhaps reminiscing about the mistakes of the past, I’m not sure. I’m looking forward to spending more time there and getting to know some of the prisoners. I will be sure to keep everyone updated about these adventures!
Grace and Peace
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Address Information
I forgot to mention - those who were wanting my address it is as follows:
Sonrise School (Brittany Froistad)
Diocese of Shyria
P.O. Box 26
Musanze, Rwanda
Sonrise School (Brittany Froistad)
Diocese of Shyria
P.O. Box 26
Musanze, Rwanda
Soccer, Smiles and All Things Wonderful
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort” – 2 Corinthians 1:8-11.
Reliable internet is hard to come by here. So hello again!! I have been overwhelmingly comforted by the Lord for the past week on my own. With each passing day I find myself running to Him and finding Him with each passing smile or wave.
Soccer started on Tuesday and let me tell you, it is already quite the adventure! The girls love the freedom of leaving campus. They love it so much that they don’t even realize how far we are running… It makes me laugh every time. The Sonrise School does not have a field of its own so we trek a solid 2 miles or so to our field. We laugh, talk and take many rests along the way. Since most of the girls trying out rarely get exercise we are starting from square one. We started easy at first with a walk/jog to the field. Once there we did two sets of five push ups… They looked at me in disbelief when I told them we were going to do push ups on the wet/muddy ground. There was a bit of complaining and bickering about our big set of push ups but once again we laughed through it. Introducing sit ups was a whole different story. I managed to get 10 sit ups out of them and that was a huge deal. They are warming up to the idea of “exercise”. Some even told me they love running and working out! That is progress!
I’m learning so much from all these girls already. They tell me about their families, where they're from, how much they miss home, how thankful they are for Sonrise, how confined they feel at times and so much more… This is only the beginning after all : ). They are mesmerized by my life. They always want to know about my family, what I do on weekends, what my favorite music is, what the weather is like, what having a boyfriend is like, my long hair, my tattoos, my rings… Literally EVERYTHING! They love touching my hair and staring at its blonde color as they are not used to it. They constantly look at my eyes and eyelashes. They are blown away by the fact that my eyes are not brown. The girls all tell me how much they miss their hair and would love to have the opportunity to grow their hair long. They are my constant reminder of thankfulness. I love them. Names are hard to pronounce and even harder to remember. Otherwise I would be throwing out names for everyone! At first they have a hard time saying “Brittany”. So I get anything from Brittan and Brittaning to Whitney. It brings me lots and lots of laughs. Most of the time it dawns on people that my name is the same as Britney Spears and we seem to work it out. Around the time they realize we have the same name, they proceed to call me Britney Spears. They tell me I look like her and ask if I shaved my head like she did… I just smile and say “not quite”.
As you all can see life is an adventure and I am just diving into it. I hope I will be able to update everyone very soon!
God Bless
Reliable internet is hard to come by here. So hello again!! I have been overwhelmingly comforted by the Lord for the past week on my own. With each passing day I find myself running to Him and finding Him with each passing smile or wave.
Soccer started on Tuesday and let me tell you, it is already quite the adventure! The girls love the freedom of leaving campus. They love it so much that they don’t even realize how far we are running… It makes me laugh every time. The Sonrise School does not have a field of its own so we trek a solid 2 miles or so to our field. We laugh, talk and take many rests along the way. Since most of the girls trying out rarely get exercise we are starting from square one. We started easy at first with a walk/jog to the field. Once there we did two sets of five push ups… They looked at me in disbelief when I told them we were going to do push ups on the wet/muddy ground. There was a bit of complaining and bickering about our big set of push ups but once again we laughed through it. Introducing sit ups was a whole different story. I managed to get 10 sit ups out of them and that was a huge deal. They are warming up to the idea of “exercise”. Some even told me they love running and working out! That is progress!
I’m learning so much from all these girls already. They tell me about their families, where they're from, how much they miss home, how thankful they are for Sonrise, how confined they feel at times and so much more… This is only the beginning after all : ). They are mesmerized by my life. They always want to know about my family, what I do on weekends, what my favorite music is, what the weather is like, what having a boyfriend is like, my long hair, my tattoos, my rings… Literally EVERYTHING! They love touching my hair and staring at its blonde color as they are not used to it. They constantly look at my eyes and eyelashes. They are blown away by the fact that my eyes are not brown. The girls all tell me how much they miss their hair and would love to have the opportunity to grow their hair long. They are my constant reminder of thankfulness. I love them. Names are hard to pronounce and even harder to remember. Otherwise I would be throwing out names for everyone! At first they have a hard time saying “Brittany”. So I get anything from Brittan and Brittaning to Whitney. It brings me lots and lots of laughs. Most of the time it dawns on people that my name is the same as Britney Spears and we seem to work it out. Around the time they realize we have the same name, they proceed to call me Britney Spears. They tell me I look like her and ask if I shaved my head like she did… I just smile and say “not quite”.
As you all can see life is an adventure and I am just diving into it. I hope I will be able to update everyone very soon!
God Bless
Monday, February 9, 2009
My New Little Life
"Keep me safe my God, for in you I take refuge" - Psalm 16:1
So things here are finally starting to fall into place here. I start teaching computer classes tomorrow morning at the Primary School. I was visiting one of my classes this morning and all the kids call me "teacher" and laugh at me. It's quite funny.
I believe I will be more of a P.E. teacher rather than a soccer coach because there are so many kids here (1,000 students between both schools). I believe the Head Masters of both schools would prefer that. Plus it will be very difficult for someone to run the team after I am gone. But I'll just leave all final decisions in God's hands.
I am missing home terribly, especially my family. It is quite the life change here but I know my time here will fly by. I ask for continuous prayers - strength, comfort, encouragement, health, happiness and all things good!
I want to thank everyone again for all the support! I appreciate it more than all of you know! I will talk to all of you soon!
So things here are finally starting to fall into place here. I start teaching computer classes tomorrow morning at the Primary School. I was visiting one of my classes this morning and all the kids call me "teacher" and laugh at me. It's quite funny.
I believe I will be more of a P.E. teacher rather than a soccer coach because there are so many kids here (1,000 students between both schools). I believe the Head Masters of both schools would prefer that. Plus it will be very difficult for someone to run the team after I am gone. But I'll just leave all final decisions in God's hands.
I am missing home terribly, especially my family. It is quite the life change here but I know my time here will fly by. I ask for continuous prayers - strength, comfort, encouragement, health, happiness and all things good!
I want to thank everyone again for all the support! I appreciate it more than all of you know! I will talk to all of you soon!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Hello Everyone!
Hello from Musanze!!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" - Proverbs 3:5-6.
For the past week I have had to rely heavily on God and this verse. Coming from the comfort of my small little bubble in Littleton, Colorado and going to Rwanda has been quite the change. Culture shock has taken on a whole new meaning in my heart. Every day I walk down streets where I am no longer a human being but rather a walking dollar bill. This makes it hard to have conversations and greet people. But those who know me realize this will not stop me from getting to know (or just talk to) everyone I can : ).
The children refer to me as "Muzungu" which means "white person" in Kinyarwandan which is the language many people speak here. At first my dad and I laughed at it until we figured out most of the kids were making fun of us... But lets be honest who wouldn't? My dad left today which was hard. Reality set in that I have to be a big kid now... Which is good!!!
The country of Rwanda is absolutely breath taking! Those who have not had the opportunity to visit should get here immediately! And the people are the cherry on top. They are constantly smiling, waving, saying good morning (it could be 7 at night and they will still greet you with good morning. I love it and respond with good morning as well : )) or wanting a hand shake. The forgiveness that has happened and is happening presently is astonishing. It amazes me with each passing day. However I can still sense a bitter/stale anger under the surface with some individuals. I have talked to a couple of strangers (now friends) who are thrilled at their "New Rwanda" and others who still despise what happened but are forced to wear a grin on their faces. Some predict another sort of uprising again. I look forward to talking to more and more people so that I can hear their hearts.
I would love to write more but I have to get to bed so I'll be able to wake up for my morning jog!! I will tell all of you more about my adventures very soon!
God Bless
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" - Proverbs 3:5-6.
For the past week I have had to rely heavily on God and this verse. Coming from the comfort of my small little bubble in Littleton, Colorado and going to Rwanda has been quite the change. Culture shock has taken on a whole new meaning in my heart. Every day I walk down streets where I am no longer a human being but rather a walking dollar bill. This makes it hard to have conversations and greet people. But those who know me realize this will not stop me from getting to know (or just talk to) everyone I can : ).
The children refer to me as "Muzungu" which means "white person" in Kinyarwandan which is the language many people speak here. At first my dad and I laughed at it until we figured out most of the kids were making fun of us... But lets be honest who wouldn't? My dad left today which was hard. Reality set in that I have to be a big kid now... Which is good!!!
The country of Rwanda is absolutely breath taking! Those who have not had the opportunity to visit should get here immediately! And the people are the cherry on top. They are constantly smiling, waving, saying good morning (it could be 7 at night and they will still greet you with good morning. I love it and respond with good morning as well : )) or wanting a hand shake. The forgiveness that has happened and is happening presently is astonishing. It amazes me with each passing day. However I can still sense a bitter/stale anger under the surface with some individuals. I have talked to a couple of strangers (now friends) who are thrilled at their "New Rwanda" and others who still despise what happened but are forced to wear a grin on their faces. Some predict another sort of uprising again. I look forward to talking to more and more people so that I can hear their hearts.
I would love to write more but I have to get to bed so I'll be able to wake up for my morning jog!! I will tell all of you more about my adventures very soon!
God Bless
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