August 2009 We have had so many blessings in our home this past month. We have had visitors from Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, & the States all stay with us. Some were faces we knew and others were new to us. Read more...
July 2009 We have been so blessed by so many new friends since we have been here. Slowly, we are deepening those relationships and building a special trust with several people. As you can tell from the picture, one of those people is Claire. We were not looking for her, nor was she looking for us, but the good Shepherd led us together, during the first weeks we were in Rwanda. Read more... |
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| June 2009 Months seem to pass quicker here in Rwanda. It seems like we just wrote May’s newsletter! To start with, we thought it would be good to share a tradition that happens here. Every last Saturday of the month is called umuganda day. The government mandates that no business is done in the morning and that everyone is to gather in local, organized groups around their homes in order to complete a project for the community. Groups work for two hours followed by an hour meeting. I’ve been in Rwanda for three umuganda days and we’ve: cleared a roadside of overgrowth, cut down brush from a large field that was invading the neighbors’ yards, and repaired a road with two loads of gravel. It is not common to see bazungu (white people) working. Often, Rwandans come and try to take your shovel or hoe out of your hand so you can rest. Read more... |
| June 21, 2009 We recently went to Uganda last week. It was a whirlwind trip seeing missionary friends in Mbarara, Kampala, and Jinja. Rebecca lived and worked in Jinja for 2 1/2 years and so Pete and I got to see her old stomping grounds. We visited the church in Wakonge and the Christians there were excited to meet little Pete. Read more... |
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| Monthly Newsletters and Blogs |
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| May 2009 Greetings from Rwanda. It is hard to believe that it has been two months since we came to here. We can actually find our way around town: post office, airport, , hardware stores, church, etc. Life is getting easier as we settle into this new place. One blessing that has come this month is visitors. The Hollands recently came to visit us from our team’s supporting church – RHCC. What a blessing! They drove over from Uganda with the Shero’s who are long term missionaries in Mbali. Not only did we have a fun time visiting and catching up with them, they blessed us in being a huge source of encouragement. They reminded us of the larger community of believers who are in constant prayer for us. Read more... |
| May 24, 2009 Pete has made some big steps this week. He has started to realize that he can grab things, bring them to his mouth and throw them down. He really works hard at focusing on objects and putting his little hands together to grab them. |
| May 15, 2009 Thank you to everyone who has been so concerned about Pete. We have possibly
received more feedback from our last blog posting than any other. Everyone has
been so worried about little Pete and his crazy parents who give him cold baths!
Just to put everyones mind at ease, it wasn't really cold,... |
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| May 8, 2009 Pete is getting so big and strong. He is really liking to sit up and look all
around. He also loves to flex his legs and "stand up" while we hold him. But as you can tell, there is one thing he doesn't like....and that is a cold bath. Without a water heater, his bath time is not always so fun. Sometimes we can get the water warmer than others, but this time, even the Cookie Monster towel couldn't bring a smile to Pete's chilled little body!! |
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| April 18, 2009 Pete is sporting a Longhorn's shirt with a smile. Read more... |
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| April 13, 2009 The guys in the missionary community here took a camping trip last week. 14 of us piled into two land cruisers and traveled 2.5 hrs to the eastern part of Rwanda to a game park called Akagera...This was a great time of bonding and getting to know each other. Praise God for His unique and wonderful Creation. Read more... |
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April 10, 2009 - Hello all. We are in Rwanda. Hopefully you have seen our newest newsletter for April that we just sent out. Above are a couple of pics from our trip. Pete had to wear his own special seat belt while sitting on Rebecca's lap. He seemed to enjoy it alright! He looks sharp in his red long johns. When we got off the plane in Rwanda, we saw this sign from our teammates. You can tell who they were more interested in seeing... not me but Pete!! And rightly so, I guess. As the title above states, we just signed an agreement to rent our first house. Read more... |
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March/April 2009 We are here! After 25 hrs of flying, which is actually pretty short compared to some flights, we arrived in Rwanda. Pete did great on the four planes we rode. Passengers even commented on how well he did. All of our luggage made it and our team was waiting for us at the terminal. Praise God for our easy flight over...
...In preparing to live and serve in Rwanda, I have been surprised by how different I have felt this time, as opposed to when I went to Uganda eight years ago. That decision was easy then, I only had myself to take care of. But now, I suppose for obvious reasons, the choice to follow our call here has taken much more trust and faith. Now I am a wife and a mother and our commitment to be in Africa is so much more permanent. I admittedly have had more doubt and worry about coming, I have wondered if this was the right decision for our family, and I have wrestled with many feelings of regret about leaving immediate family. I am sure that these are temptations thrown to convince us to stay in America. In the face of all these thoughts, I easily could have continued on with life as normal, but thankfully the Lord is persistent with me. He not only placed it on our hearts to come, but He has given us the strength and peace to be absolutely assured that this is where we are supposed to be. From the moment I stepped off the plane, our Father showered me with peace. Through his Holy Spirit, my husband, Pete, our supportive families and our teammates, we know we are here for a reason. The Lord truly does give us just what we need for the moment – the easy & the hard ones. I am thankful to be here and for a transcending peace that can only come from above. Read more... |
| February 2009 Pete James Amos is official! Rebecca was to be induced on Jan. 27th, due to her low blood platelet count. Yet, after checking her amniotic fluid, the doctors decided to wait until Feb. 2nd to give Pete’s lungs some more time to develop. We believe Pete was being very considerate since we had bad weather on Jan. 27th and the Super Bowl was around the corner. Pete is so thoughtful! Pete was born on Groundhogs Day (thankfully Pete didn’t see his shadow), 6 lbs and 11 oz, and 20 in. long. His birth is probably the coolest things I’ve ever seen. How God can cause a perfect little baby to be molded and shaped inside the womb is unfathomable. When I saw Pete for the first time, I couldn’t help but think what a miracle. Rebecca was such a trooper and worked so hard during her labor. When Pete was born the nurse tried to hand Pete to me but I said, “You better give him to his Momma. She did all the work.” I am so proud of Rebecca. She is the most gifted and natural “mom” I’ve ever seen. It is so fun being a family of three. We said goodbye to our little apartment and are living with Rebecca’s parents. It is a great opportunity to spend our last few weeks with them. Plus they have been such a great help with Pete, although so far he is an extremely easy baby! It is easy to see how much they love our little guy. Read more... |
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| December2008/January 2009 With the holidays, we decided to combine Dec./Jan. into
one newsletter. Surprisingly, lots of changes have taken
place in the last couple months. I’ll highlight a few: |
• Despite the financial crisis in America, our team’s
supporting congregation (Richland Hills) still raised
their entire amount of funds set aside towards
missions in one weekend. Praise God for their heart
for evangelism!
• Heath spent 2 weeks at ECHO learning more about
appropriate development and technologies that
could help the people of Rwanda. Unlike the week
spent there in Oct., Heath gained more hands on
experience working with the interns who maintain
the global farm.
• The Shelby’s and Kimbrows arrived in Rwanda on
Dec. 5th. Praise God that they have already found
places to live and have bought vehicles! God is
taking good care of our teammates.
• We spent Thanksgiving with Heath’s family in
Missouri and Christmas with Rebecca’s family in
Lubbock. It was a great time to be with relatives.
• Africa Transformation Network (ATN) is the NGO
started by the Shewmakers through which our team
is hopeful to get our visas through. ATN is in its
final stages of becoming legally recognized by the
Rwandan government. Read more...
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November 2008 On October 13th to 17th, Rebecca and I,
along with our
teammates Chris and David, flew to Fort Myers, FL to
be part of a development workshop. ECHO is a
demonstration farm and teaching facility that trains
missionaries, doctors, Peace Corp volunteers, etc.
appropriate technologies to use in third world
cultures. Our class had missionaries going to China,
Cambodia, Togo, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea.
At ECHO, we spent half the day in the classroom with
Dr. Daniel Fountain, 30+ year missionary to the Congo
who helped establish numerous clinics and a hospital
in the country. He has written numerous books and
articles about how to appropriately encourage
development. The other half of the day was spent on
the farm learning about composting, soil management,
latrines, farming techniques, handling animals, etc.
We learned more than we can write in this small
space. If we find a need for this in Rwanda, we hope
to start a demonstration farm where we can teach
simple things like nutrition, health care, farming, and
more. By addressing the people’s physical needs (Mt.
25), this will help us earn the right to speak
concerning their spiritual needs.
We were so impressed by ECHO that Heath will go
back there on Nov. 10th for two more weeks of hands-on
training. Read more... |
October 2008 We were blessed to find out this month that
we are having a sweet little boy. We also got to
see him moving all around and doing a fair share
of kicking! Rebecca is still feeling great, with
only a little bit of back pain, when she does too
much. We are so excited about the next few
months and the adventures we are about to go
on.
Choosing a name is a pretty difficult task, but
we are completely thrilled with Pete James
Amos. We both love the name for many reasons
and hope that our son does as well. More than
anything else, we pray that God will give us
wisdom as we raise a son in a different culture
and guide our steps as we try to show him Christ
in us and in the world around him. May he grow
to love the Lord and share that love with others.
Rebecca continues to make trips back and
forth to Lubbock to visit doctors to make sure
everything stays normal. We will move back to
Lubbock at the end of this month, to stay until
we have the baby. She had a wonderful baby
shower in Lubbock this month, in order to get
things ready for the container. Thanks to
everyone who so generously gave of their time
and energy to make the day so special! Pete was
blessed! Read more... |
September 2008 Yep, Rebecca is pregnant if you didn’t know! We are
completely ecstatic for this blessing from God! What a
time of change for the Amoses!! Rebecca is due on
February 13th. We don’t know yet whether it is a boy or
girl but we hope to find out soon. Our plans have
changed some due to our baby. We had plans to move to
Rwanda on Dec. 2nd with the rest of our team and have
our child there; however, we have decided to have the
baby stateside in Lubbock. Rebecca has a low blood
platelet count which isn’t affecting our baby but could
cause problems during delivery for her. We have seen
specialists in Lubbock and have talked to medical
missionaries in Africa and all have been unanimous that
we should wait a few more months and have the baby
here. I know our family was glad to hear of this!! It does
bring us sadness to not arrive in Rwanda with our team,
but we are convicted that family comes first.
As for Rebecca, she has been a real trooper in all of this
and hasn’t slowed down a bit. She hasn’t had a lick of
morning sickness and has felt great overall. We’ve had to
make a few additions to our shipping container, namely
baby items. Even though we are still a ways off from
having our kid, we’ve been buying baby things to ship the
first of October. It is hard to believe I’m gonna be a dad.
May the Lord help us as we prepare for this new
adventure and blessing in our life. Praise the Lord!! Read more... |
Visit the Amos Family website:
http://www.amosarchives.blogspot.com/
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