This experience has really made me think about how our lives can easily become stories we tell people, with certain details we want people to know about embellished, and other less favorable details omitted. What struck me was that this was the first time I had really opened up to Chris, one of my closest friends, someone I trust. Even though we have been friends for a while, I’m not sure Chris actually had a good grasp of the reality of me.

If you were looking for the sights and sounds of the canyon, sorry. I could have spent a while crafting detailed embellishments about how bright the colors were or how big it was, while omitting how miserable the temperature was. But given the nature of the post it didn’t seem quite right.

Go experience the grand canyon yourself. It is worth it.

With the sunrise above acting as a small reminder of the absolute beauty of the country, I cannot help but move on and mention the people of Rwanda. The people are what made the trip so worth it. Everyone we met was eager to say hello and shake hands, or even just exchange a smile and a wave. The people are the reason many of us want to return.

It has been just about a week since we returned, and I am constantly reminded of the experience. Whether it be looking at the little souvenirs, a sip of tea, or the buzzing of a mosquito, Rwanda is a part of us all now. One of the best memories of the trip was spending time with Bosco, one of the teachers from the English Center. There is something special about just being people together, you know? Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to return and expand upon the friendships already created as well as create new ones.

in His name, Stephen

We have been eating very well, much better than I would have guessed before I left. Our meals consist of a large number of carbs. With the large amount of walking we do, this type of diet is helpful for energy.

We have spent a good amount of time with the students in our classes and other that we have met while at church or local bible studies. One of my favorite things so far was when several of us were able to play soccer for several hours. We were able to get to know many of the students much better while playing the best sport in the world.

The people here are all very friendly and helpful. Even though their language is extremely difficult, we have learned several words in order to communicate small things as to not impose ourselves too much here. I don’t have much more to say other than keep us in your prayers.

I think I will be able to update one more time before we return. Also, It rains a lot, and we finally had a good and heavy rain today. Luckily my umbrella was able to handle it.

Steve

First off I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for our team. After about 24 hours in the air we made it safely to Kigali, Rwanda (the capitol). Please keep us in prayer because we are going to need it once we get into the classroom.

The journey has consisted of one 11 hour flight, one 9 hour flight, one 1 hour flight and layovers up to 5 hours. The flights were very good and I was able to get some rest, though I cannot say the same for everyone.

When we landed in Kigali, we were greeted by some fairly warm weather and a bit of humidity, but as of right now (about 8am) the weather is very nice. Hopefully we will experience the same on our travel to Butare later today, which is about 2 hours south by bus.

Yesterday, we made our way to the Kigali Memorial Center which remembers the victims of the genocide from the city. Though I was tired, the displays and entire center was very powerful and on par with the Holocaust memorials I visited 2 summers ago.

I am unsure of when I will have internet again, but hopefully I will be able to get several updates fro, Butare. I do know that I will not be uploading any pictures until I get back, so do not wait up for them.

Breakfast time, so I must be off.

Goodbye for now and God Bless.

-Stephen

My first shower was in Paris, several days into the trip, and pictured above is that creativity in action. Some people might see it as an international Coca-Cola Comforter, but not me, it was a towel.

My favorite towel was a pillowcase and boardshorts (swimming trunks). Pillowcases are notorious for their non-towel characteristics such as being smaller than a towel, not as absorbent, terrible drying time, and of course its being a holder for a pillow. Once I honed this technique, my shower ritual shower went something like this:

Step 1: Take a shower
Step 2: Put board shorts on, dry off hair with pillowcase
Step 3: Air-dry until satisfied

Pretty genius if you ask me.

One problem I ran across was that of mildew smelling pillowcase. This was mostly caused by my apathy to letting it dry out before balling it up and tossing it in my backpack, and also its non-towel characteristics as I mentioned above. After a while, you tend to stop caring about the scent because you will never see these people again, and chances are, they smell worse. In the end, it was a great experience, because I realized that I take towels for granted.

Currently, I have 2 wet, mildew smelling towels balled up on my floor. I’m going to use one to shower and I couldn’t care less. Also, showering is over-rated.

As I recall, we had just taken some time walking around the memorial grounds in Lidice. After a brief walk from the memorial to the temporary visitors center, we found ourselves waiting outside for several minutes in the cool mist while the previous tour group cleared out. I don’t even remember what the next comment was regarding, but one member of our group was a bit frustrated with the circumstances and compared our tour leader (Iain, bless his heart!) to Hitler. Sigh.

Perhaps I was just extra emotional that day, but I’d say that such a comment was out of line at that time or any other time. It really bummed me out.

We started off at a hare’s pace, but soon found out that speed was unnecessary. It rained most of the way up and was eventually replaced by snow, which was a real treat as Temecula doesn’t see snow. After ~2.5 hours of switchbacks we made it to the top. The view was not too great with all of the fog/clouds, but I was still able to enjoy it using a combination of the postcards from the visitor’s center and my imagination. I will most definitely be back in the summer or sometime with better weather.

Just to give an idea of the distance covered, take a look at the picture on the right. The trail began in the woods at bottom on the far left and ended at the peak on the top right. We also took a small detour at the upper falls to take in a nice view of the falls and valley. Though as mentioned above, the valley views were somewhat lacking. The total distance we hiked was 8.4 miles with an approximate 3000 foot elevation gain.

If you want to see any additional pictures, you can check them out here.

Anyways, I made a stop in Vienna for about an hour…which was just long enough to walk around in the blazing heat and get all sweaty. Luckily I found a grocery store so I could stock up on food, as I hadn’t eaten since I left Bucharest. Once my train left Vienna, it was non-stop beauty as the train zipped through western Austria and into eastern Switzerland. Zurich to be exact.

Zurich was/is one of my top five favorite cities. There was an amazing art museum, loads of shopping (though I had no money for that sort of thing), and great people watching. Most people spoke English which was nice. Actually, most people speak 3-4 languages. The city was really beautiful with a great public transport system. I really want to go back some time, you should try to get there.

No pictures of Zurich because of the whole camera incident in Romania. Oh well, at least I have a good story to tell now.