The first day they talked about when life starts in the womb (fertilization). This is because as soon as the egg and sperm meet, it contains 46 chromosomes which is new life. They went over and discussed reason why women get abortions. The girls had great insight. They shared passages that show how God values these unborn children, and many of the girls did not realize His love for us—all of us!

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:13-16

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Psalm 22:9-10

The girls said they learned the value of the unborn babies, that the heart beats at 3 weeks, and that we are made in God’s image. One girl stood and said she was for abortion until she heard this talk. God is opening their eyes!

On the second day Dale shared about how men and women think differently. Men have a compartmental brain whereas women, all thoughts/emotions intertwine. He went on to explain how God views marriage and it is sacred. Often this is hard to remember, as culture and the Bible differ often. The girls were just in awe of how God loves them and cherishes them. Theresa explained the process of different abortions. Although graphic, it was extremely eyeopening. The girls had no idea. She then talked about the physical and emotional side effects have having an abortion. At the end of the training each girl received a completion certificate and a pair of knitted baby booties. They also filled out an evaluation, which I have not yet read, but can’t wait to see what they thought! A huge thank you to Dale, Theresa, and Jamie (who leads these women)! We are so thankful for the truth you are bringing to Rwanda.

And a lil picture of our Olive girl

Click pictures below to enlarge:

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During this school break the boys shared with us that they no longer wanted to go to the school they were in previously. There were a few things that made them want to change and we felt it was best for them to attend a different school. We knew of a place called Excel School (run by a nice lady from the UK) in Musanze that is Christian and felt this was the right move for them. After talking to the headmasters, they said that all four boys could come AND live in the house they call a hostile. I can’t even tell you how excited we are for this opportunity! We took a tour of the school and house and both were so clean, organized, and a place that will be great for them to grow. Each day they wake up, make their beds, get ready, and take the bus to school 2 miles away. Once at school they have breakfast and attend their classes (including a Bible class). For lunch they have a variety of beans, rice, vegetables, potatoes, and meat twice a week. After school they head home where they study, play, and eat dinner. We are so glad the place they will live is a HOME with aunties to care for them.

Monday and Tuesday we bought the supplies including new suitcases, weekend clothes, mattresses, shoes, school materials, and medical cards. On Wednesday we dropped them off and after getting acquainted a bit, they were happy. Josh was able to play soccer with the kids for quite awhile, so that helped break the ice. Emmanuel was pretty nervous to go, but he ended up being really happy. He didn’t show up at first for us to take him, so I had to send a taxi (who knew where he lived and the boys know well) to get him. Thankfully he arrived with all his things. On Thursday we went back to check on them, and they were all smiles. Isaac said that the kids are good and don’t steal and all the teachers are nice. ***Let me tell you that this is the SHORT version of what we did over these days. It takes forever to get the supplies in the market (haggling prices), walking all over town, finding the boys, but it sure is worth it

It was SO great to spend time with them over the past week. We love them all so much.

Below are pictures of Excel and their new house where they will live during the school year (Jan-October).

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I wanted to share yesterday’s entry with you as it was a great reminder and something I need to focus on:

I am training you in steadiness. Too many things interrupt your awareness of Me. I know that you live in a world of sight and sound, but you must not be a slave to those stimuli. Awareness of Me can continue in all circumstances, no matter what happens. This is the steadiness I desire for you.

Don’t let unexpected events throw you off course. Rather, respond calmly and confidently, remembering that I am with you. As soon as something grabs your attention, talk with Me about it. Thus I share your joys and your problems; I help you cope with whatever is before you. This is how I live in you and work through you. This is the way of Peace.

Psalm 112:7
They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

God is my strength!

About two weeks ago Kortney and I were sitting down in our one bedroom house after a month of work feeling like we had finally settled in and gotten everything put away and organized. It was a good day, which was a credit to Kortney’s ability to maximize every little nook and cranny we had available. You see, last year we lived in a 4-bedroom, 3-bath house that was great for hosting visitors, and I am sure you can imagine the challenge of downsizing to a one bedroom. We sold all of our furniture at the end of last year in preparation for this move because the new place was fully furnished. Those funds turned out to be a blessing at the time and were used to help cover some of our travel expenses back to Rwanda this past February.

Three days later, we found ourselves back to square one with less time than ever to make new living arrangements. The morning of Wednesday, March 27th, we were notified that due to unforeseen circumstances we needed to move out of house within two days. The organization we were renting from did everything they could to help us, and even though it was a huge rush for all of us, we really appreciated their help making a move like this so quickly.

Looking back we can totally see God’s hand in all of this, and we have no doubt he provided long before we even knew we had to move. We wanted to provide you all with a brief summary of our experience and share how God brought this all together in an incredible way.

So we found out Wednesday that we had to move and were able to pack 80-90% of our stuff that day. The place where we were staying rented a small bus, and we were able to load up most of our stuff that same night. We didn’t really have a lot of time to decide what we should do or where we should go; however, after bringing this all to the Lord in prayer that morning, Kortney and I both felt we should move to Kigali for the time being. We talked to some friends in Kigali, who offered for us to bring all of our stuff to their house and stay with them until we found a place. We were very thankful, and in four two-hour trips, we were able to get everything to their house by Thursday evening. Our friends even went house hunting while we were moving, and found us 3-4 options right in their neighborhood. We spent Thursday night with our friends and visited the available houses on Friday. We found a great one with a good price and moved in by Friday afternoon. It was a crazy, exhausting and stressful time, but it really could not have happened any smoother. Immediately, we knew God was behind all of this and were so thankful.

Although, we had made the move to Kigali in record time, there were still many things left to resolve, most of them financial. In our previous house we were paying rent on a monthly basis, but our new place wanted 6 months rent up front, which is actually very normal here. We definitely didn’t have enough money to cover that. Kortney and I wondered what we would do. We had been communicating with our families throughout this process, and they had many people praying for us already. Fortunately, our new landlord was extremely gracious with us (and I’m not exaggerating) and was willing to give us two weeks to find the money. So we checked our ministry account to see what was available. To our surprise, we had already received large one-time donations from current supporter and even a couple new supporters that gave large one-time donations as well. Before we even knew we had to move, God had provided enough for us to cover all of our rush moving expenses and 2 months of the rent. About 48 hours later, we got a call from another supporter to cover an additional 2 months of rent. We had enough to cover the remaining 2 months, and we were able to pay the full 6 months rent without really any effort on our part. We were just amazed to see God answering prayers even before they were prayed. We always know He can, but sometimes He teaches us patience and trust first. This time He just opened his storehouse for us and blessed us beyond expectation.

Another financial issue we immediately recognized was that our monthly expenses were going to increase by about $500 per month living in Kigali because everything is more expensive here (mainly rent, food and transport). Just as he did with the rent, God provided 2 new supporters and 2 current donors increased their monthly support. That covered $300 of the needed $500 right there. As many of you know, Kortney’s family lets her work about 15 hours a week on their online business to help subsidize our work here in Rwanda. We are confident by just adding a few more hours a week that we will be able to cover the remaining $200 shortfall.

A third financial issue that we had to consider was transportation. Where we previously lived, taking taxis and motos (motorcycle taxis) was easy and inexpensive. Granted with Olive motos were out of the question, unless I was travelling alone, but even so our transport expenses were not a big deal. Now that we are in Kigali, just going to the only major shopping center or a meeting can cost over $20. Motos are cheaper, but if they were unsafe in Musanze, they are a death wish in Kigali. I pray every time I get on one (no joke) and hope my driver knows enough English to understand when tell him to “Drive slow.”

We had gone almost 2 years in Rwanda without a car, but that just isn’t possible any longer. About a year ago we raised a few thousand dollars to purchase a vehicle here, but they are very expensive. Basically, if it runs, it costs about $10,000. It doesn’t matter how much oil is spurting out or smoke pouring out the back; it is $10,000+. Well, we have some friends that are moving back to the states in a couple weeks. They got a good deal on a small SUV that was previously owned by the United Nations here in Rwanda. It has been very well maintained, and they were asking $16,000. Since the time is near for their departure, they agreed to sell it to us for $12,500. With the money raised last year and the money we saved when we sold our car in the States to move here, we have just enough to buy it and do a small amount of maintenance. Again, God provides!

The only lingering concern after this move is furniture. As I said earlier, we sold it all last year to move into a fully furnished house. Our new house is a duplex style town house with 3 bedrooms, a dining room, living room and kitchen. This summer we have many GTN trainers and other visitors coming to serve, and we hope to host some of them, if possible, in our home. This helps make the expenses for conferences and trainers much lower. It is also a blessing to Kortney and me to be able to spend time with them and make them feel like they have a home even for the short time they are here. We have our first groups coming in one week and more coming the first and second week of May. We are confident that God will provide exactly what we need. If you would like to help us with this need, we would be extremely grateful.

Thank you for your faithful prayers for our family and ministry in Rwanda.

In His Service,
Chad, Kortney and Olive

If you are interested in giving, you can do so through Global Training Network by clicking on the following link: Chad and Kortney Bannick

Edward and Damascene came to us wanting advice and help with a new project they want to start. They had the idea of starting a small coffee project. Both of these men have families and we are excited for the opportunity to help them provide for their wives and children. Chad sat down with them and put together a preliminary strategy and budget for the research needing to take place. We are not sure what the future of this project looks like, but these are just the first few steps. We gave them money to do the research (transportation, food, and pictures mainly).

After they researched for a few days, they came to us with their findings. They visited two different sites with 22 farmers total. When they arrived at the farms, the farmers were excited and thought they were there to offer them advice and sponsorship–which they thought was funny. Out of these 22 farmers, they found only 2 that were having successful crops. The main thing they are lacking is knowledge in how to fertilize and keep their soil nutritious. There are three main fertilizers used here. They are maize (corn) waste, cow dung, or pyrethrum waste. All are fine, but many of the farmers were distributing it improperly causing the roots to burn and plants to die. Edward and Damascene learned that the fertilizer needs to be about 20 cm away from the plant. At our old house Edward killed most of our garden by burning up the plants with fertilizer, so he saw first hand on what it can do haha.

The process of the coffee growing, picking, grinding, drying, and roasting is quite labor intensive; especially without machines. After the coffee plant grows, it produces a red cherry in which is then picked. After being picked they hand grind with rocks to retrieve the bean. The beans are then dried and sold to a local trader (usually). The trader sells in Kigali and from there they are exported. For 1 kilo of de-cherried (dried) beans they would receive 800 RWF ($1.30 or so) and 100 RWF ($0.16) per kilo for the cherry. Costco and Starbucks are the biggest buyers (check them out!).

Edward and Pastor Damascene were so excited to do this research. Next week and the week after we will be traveling to Musanze to meet with them again. Please be praying for our future involvement and wisdom on how to move forward with this project.

Sending Edward and Pastor Damascene off to research coffee

Meeting to make a strategy

Olive’s Favorite…
Toy: lamaze monkey (of course after mom’s phone, necklace, and dad’s watch)
Activity: taking walks with dad and mom–especially while on dad’s shoulders
Food: milk! (she will try solids soon!)
Play surface: on her belly on fun quilts from aunts, grandmas, and friends

Olive…
~blows bubbles (she taught herself )
~rolls over both ways
~sits up for a few seconds
~does a 360 on her tummy
~scoots backwards-kinda
~says mama (I think it’s a coincidence) hehe
~has a little tooth
~wakes up numerous times in the night
~loves her ergo (we call her the little koala)
~loves kicking in the bath
~is close to 17 lbs
~thinks she can crawl but is really just making swimming motions
~laughs like crazy at kids dancing
~loves being out and about and seeing new people
~is 26 1/4 inches long

I thought it would be fun to document this to not only look back on, but also for friends and family to “see” Olive grow even though we are far away. Here are some cute 6 month pics our friend Jeana took for us (thank you!!):

This face cracks me up!

Ephesians 1:7-10
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”