Meals and Drinks being served during Christmas Party

It was a day of great celebration at the Muyange Community Church despite a number of setbacks with transportation. On Christmas Eve the starter motor on the car died and we had it replaced. On Christmas morning with food for 350 people prepared and ready to take to the village our car died again. We found a mechanic to come and patch a broken hose and take it away to repair it. Meanwhile we rented a truck to take the food to the village.

There was a great spirit of Joy and Celebration as more than 300 adults and countless children gathered to Celebrate Christmas in our new building. The atmosphere was wonderful and impossible for me to describe in words. The toddlers went to our old building while the adults and older children were treated to a very entertaining sketch about someone getting coming to know Jesus. I had no idea we had such great actors. Our worship team sang for everyone and afterwards food was served. Antoine and Florence and their families and folks from the church spent all Christmas Eve and Christmas morning cooking and the party was a great success.

When the children had eaten the shoeboxes with Christmas presents were given to more than 100 kids from our church. There were biscuits and candy for all the visiting kids as well. A very heartfelt thanks to all of you who made this special event possible. What a brilliant way to 'christen' our new building. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the friends and supporters of the Rwandan Vineyard Mission.

The Building is ready

Christmas Eve and the building is ready for the big party tomorrow. We have so much to be grateful for. "Unto us a child is born". We are forever blessed.

Joel and Brendan loading shoeboxes

We spent Wednesday evening with Antoine Florence Esprence Innocent and Veronic getting 120 shoeboxes ready for handout to the kids in our church on Christmas morning. We had a lot of fun putting the boxes together. Each one contains some jotters, a pen, biscuits, candy and some items of clothing. We look forward to a great party on Christmas day in our new building. Blessings to all our supporters and may the Lord's sweet presence be with you this Christmas and throughout the coming year.

 

Praise is rising

The roof is finished

The roof is on and we are another step closer to completion. With almost 300 people expected for our Christmas party it is good to know that come rain or shine we can go ahead. The fence will be completed within a few days. We are very excited and blessed.

The roof goes on

After a few days of setbacks with generators that would not work, the roof is finally going on. We hope to have it finished with the iron sheeting on by the end of this week. The fence is coming along nicely also with volunteers digging holes and putting the metal posts in concrete. We are very pleased with the progress. We are looking forward to a great Christmas party with much to celebrate.

Work has begun on the Community Ministry Center

Work has begun on building the Community Ministry Center. The uprights have been in place for 5 days while the concrete bases set and the girders for the roof will go on today. With many volunteers helping out we hope to have our first meeting under a new roof within the next couple of weeks. Thanks again to all who have supported the work of God's Kingdom in this village.

Leveling the Land

Upper level where Community Ministry Center will stand

Work has begun in earnest on levelling the land in preparation for the construction of a Community Ministry Center in the village of Muyange. Thanks to a donation from the St. John Vineyard we hope to complete the building around Christmas time. The local congregation are donating materials and labour to the project. We are excited to be moving ahead with developing this land that we feel very blessed to be able to further God's Kingdom work in Rwanda.

Ernest, Val and GAKO trainer on a tour of the Demonstration Garden

Ernest was very excited to start his week-long training at the Organic Farm Training Center in Kabuga, about 20 minutes drive outside Kigali. The center is called GAKO and they offer regular training sessions to groups from our region. The center has become very busy lately especially since the Rwanda Government has wisely seen the benefit of the majority of the population providing for their own food needs through small scale farming.

The plan is for Ernest to pass on his newly acquired skills to others in our village. In the near future we intend to begin our own Demonstration Kitchen Garden on part of the church land.