Whirlwind…

Greetings blog followers… what a crazy & transformational month of November culminating in a sweet event on Thursday night (12/3).  The month started on November 1st (coincidentally) by heading to the airport to leave for Africa, was followed by a 13-day dynamic trip to Kenya & Rwanda, and then a couple of weeks of catching up on life, telling the stories of Africa, and trying to build momentum for Our Response.  Much of what we did throughout November was heading toward our public, community-wide kickoff that happened this past Thursday.  And we left that night FIRED UP!  123 people attended; 21 children sponsored; over 50 contact cards filled out with people wanting to keep up-to-date on what is happening, wanting to volunteer, and even 10 more people wanting to be contacted about sponsoring a child that did not on Thursday.  There was so much energy in the room once we ended, with many people sticking around quite a while to talk about our efforts in Rwanda.

As we cast our vision for Our Response, we were shooting for 100 sponsorships by the end of the year… no, not THIS year… but by the end of 2010!  Now with about 70 child sponsorships, we are planning to blow that goal out of the water and more that number much higher sooner.  This has been very affirming that, as a community, the time is right to come together in this effort.

We have a few loose ends to tie up with calling people back, sending thank you notes, and developing teams but we are planning to let the rest of Christmas be a time of celebrating the season with our families & friends before looking at how we can ramp things up again in the new year.  To those of you who have been an integral part of this effort, thank you.  To those of you who have offered their kind words & encouragement, thank you.  To those who have come alongside this effort financially in helping us get to Rwanda, thank you.  To those of you who have felt compelled to sponsor a child and join the efforts in that way, thank you.  To those who have already volunteered in helping make things happen, thank you.  To those of you (especially youth) who have gotten angry about our system of unbalanced economics, thank you.  To those of you who are concerned about the emergency situation facing Africa and, specifically in Kivuruga, Rwanda, thank you.  To those of you who are just getting interested and informed about what is happening and what Our Response is, thank you.  To those of you who have ever stopped to help someone in need, whether it be in Africa, here in East Central Minnesota, or anywhere in between, thank you. 

Now, with the context and struggle of Kivuruga, Rwanda as our benchmark, may we recognize the amazing blessings of our lives here in our community over this Christmas season.  Thank you for allowing me to help us come together in this way.