Muraho! Murakoze kudukurikira! Translation: Hi! Thank you for following us! We hope you'll take a few minutes to read about what God has done so far in 2019! |
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In our December update, I shared this humbling reminder from the Lord: “We are not in America anymore and He did not call us to Rwanda to live as if we are. We are actually not in control of anything and He is indeed in control of everything. And we can trust Him... or not.” Patience, faith, and trust have been recurring themes for us in Rwanda. After Christmas we were so excited to come home and start fresh, and not only did we start fresh, we hit the ground running with a small team arriving the same night that we got home, followed by 2 full church teams in February and March. It has been a busy, and amazing, first quarter full of blessings and challenges. So strap in and keep reading and see how God continues to work in us and through us in East Africa! |
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JANUARY Our first team for 2019 arrived the same night we did, just a few hours behind us. Kristin Wilson, Laci Holcolmb, and their kids, Peyton and Owen, served with us at Pastor Ezechias’ church all week. Kristin, Laci, and Emily led a three day Women’s Seminar for women who are widows and/or HIV positive as a result of the 1994 genocide. God used Kristin's story of loss to encourage other women to share their own stories, many for the first time. |
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The kids served all week as well! They read bible stories, sang songs, and played games with the children's Sunday school class at Ezechias' church, packed several hundred bags of food supplies for the women and their families, and then helped hand them out. |
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- 100 women received biblical training
- 100 women received a bible
- 6 women and 1 man gave their lives to Christ and are all being actively discipled in the local church
- Over 600 bags of food and supplies packed and distributed to the women and their families
- Held our first planning meeting for beginning a women's sewing and discipleship ministry at Pastor Ezechias' church
- Over 100 people across 6 villages in Burundi gave their lives to Christ thanks to our men on the ground there showing the Jesus Film and doing evangelism and discipleship training
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FEBRUARY Our home church, New Beginnings Baptist Church, brought a team and split their time serving in Rwanda and Burundi. We're so grateful for their continued support and it was so good to see and serve with our friends and family from Texas! Medical mission was our platform, but our strategy was twofold: training pastors on their roles in the church, and training the local church on what their role is as the church. |
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In this picture, the NBBC team is teaching the local congregation in Mwogo how to share the Gospel using the Evangecube. One year ago this church was a tiny mud hut, but through our partnership with NBBC and your generosity, they now have this wonderful church building that doubles as a primary school during the week. |
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Both of these men heard the Gospel for the first time during the Evangecube training and gave their lives to Christ. It's amazing how God works! The guy on the right is Bonevante, he had some really good questions and we had a great conversation about Jesus. |
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After the training we went out into the village with 4 volunteers from the church and they all shared the Gospel in their own community to their own people. The woman in the red shirt initially said she didn't want to because she was scared, but when she was finished she proclaimed that she was no longer afraid! |
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His parents abandoned him because of his special needs, leaving his grandmother to care for him. She brought him to the medical clinic in Musenyi severely dehydrated and malnourished. The doctors on our team arranged for him to be transported to the hospital where he spent one month. He will see a special needs doctor in April and, by God's grace, he is already doing so much better. One of the many blessings of being here is that we are in a position to recognize situations like this and facilitate care in a way that would not be possible otherwise. |
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While the medical clinic was underway, a small group of us went out into the village and visited with some of the locals at their homes. A local pastor named Innocent went with us. He had never shared the Gospel before so George taught him how to use the Evangecube and then he used it to tell a young mother about Jesus. She is now a follower of Christ, along with 9 others that we visited that day! |
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We put on 2 medical clinics in Burundi, 1 at our church plant in Kagwema, the other at a refugee camp in Rumonge. We showed the love of Christ by providing free medical care, sharing the Gospel, and providing theological training to local pastors. |
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He's one of the sharpest 11 year olds I've ever met. He gave his life to Christ in Rumonge and was very interested in my Evangecube. I told him if he'd come back the next day and show me he was serious, I'd give it to him. He did come back, and we spent an hour walking through the Gospel together, then he shared it with a group of his peers. I told him I was proud of him and he lit up... pretty sure he's never been told anything like that before. Pray for Frank, he's the future of this country, and my friend. |
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In addition to having NBBC here, our team continues to be hard at work every day. This is a picture of one of our Burundian team members, Eric, baptizing inmates at a prison where he shared the Gospel. 25 people gave their lives to Christ and he baptized 15 of them! |
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Across Both Countries... - Over 150 people gave their lives to Christ
- 15 people baptized
- Approximately 165 men and women received leadership/pastoral training
- Approximately 70 men and women were trained to share the Gospel using the Evangecube
- 174 families received food and supplies
- Approximately 1800 people received free medical treatment
- 150 people received free medical insurance for 1 year
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Holy Infestation Batman!!! Yeah, you read that right. We kicked off the month of March with bats. Big bats. Lots of big bats. In our attic... #nope... So we moved ourselves, and everything we own, out of the house for about 5 days while it was fumigated and cleaned. I'll spare the details of that whole experience, but suffice it to say, it was TIA (This Is Africa) and ASA (Africa Strikes Again) all the live-long day. |
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After we cleared the bat cave and got settled back in, we welcomed another mission team from Christ Community Church in North Carolina. Pastor Andrew Spangler and his family used to live in Longview and were part of our NBBC family until God called him to ministry and they moved to Pinehurst. It was an incredible week of ministry and a great start to our new partnership. |
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The CCC team spent 1 day in Mwogo doing follow-up ministry for the seeds that were planted by NBBC 2 weeks earlier. Pastor Andrew trained a small group of local pastors and church leaders on biblical leadership and discipleship while the team strengthened the church with additional evangelism training. |
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The older gentleman in this picture has been present every time we've served in Mwogo, but on this day he gave his life to Christ. After learning how to articulate the Gospel using the Evangecube, he went out into his village and shared the Gospel with this young man, who then also professed Jesus as Lord! |
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The crew from CCC never slowed down! They preached the Gospel and shared testimonies in 2 different churches on Sunday, served Pastor Ezechias and his church by cleaning and painting, and held a grief teaching workshop for the widows and HIV positive women in the church. |
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Additionally, they preached the Gospel at a church in the Burundian refugee camp in Mahama and held a free 2 day medical clinic for the people in that community. |
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- 48 people professed saving faith in Jesus Christ
- 80 pastors and church leaders were trained in biblical leadership
- 3 orphan sisters received funding for the construction of a new home
- Over 500 people received free medical care
- 160 people received free medical insurance for 1 year
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Thanks for partnering with us CCC! We love you guys! |
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Today, as I was finishing up the newsletter, I received a few photos from Aimable in Burundi. They are from this week at the Burundi refugee camp in Rumonge where NBBC served in February. The one on the left is a disciple of the pastor we are partnering with there. He is sharing the Gospel in the camp using the Evangecube we gave him. In the picture on the right, a young woman shares the Gospel with a group of children. |
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In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus said to his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." This is what it's all about. This is the Great Commission being fulfilled. This is the mission and vision of The Roots Network being carried out. |
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What's Next? It has been an incredible 3 months, and it has flown by! We can hardly believe that it's already April and Spring Break is right around the corner. The girls are doing great in school. Abbott has turned out to be an excellent swimmer, and coaching has been one of the unexpected blessings of my life. Hannah is taking ballet and Emily's Speech Therapy business is going great. She also continues to lead the women's ministry every Tuesday. I'm working diligently with Ezechias, George, Aimable, and Eric on the day-to-day ministry, following up on established work and planning for the New Beginnings team that is coming in June. |
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Pray - Give - Go God has allowed us to take part in some pretty incredible things here in East Africa, and we continue to give all of the credit, glory, and praise to Him. But we also remain keenly aware that without you none of this is possible; therefore, we faithfully and humbly ask you to continue to pray for us. Pray that we would continue to have patience and to trust God's faithfulness, regardless of our circumstances. Pray that God will continue to provide what is needed to accomplish His mission for furthering His Kingdom. And pray that we will continue to see men, women, and children come to know Jesus Christ and be discipled. Very specifically, please pray for my little friend, Frank, in Burundi. I found out today that his father has a serious problem with alcohol and has forbidden him to go to church. Please pray for Frank's safety and that God would free his father from bondage and make him new. For more information on how you can be a part of what God is doing in East Africa through The Roots Network, please visit our website... |
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We want to say, as a family and as a ministry, from the very bottom of our hearts, thank you. Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support. Love, The Koellings |
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***Advisory - For security reasons, there will continue to be a reduction in the frequency of TRN social media posts for the unforeseeable future, as well a decreased specificity in our content. We will; however, continue to have a presence and we have no plans to change our personal social media at this time. |
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