Our Dear Family and Friends,
I wanted
to take a few moments to catch you up on a few exciting things happening in our
ministry! I have been praying and
seeking for a long time now, asking God where my “fit” is in ministry. Things are going very well at the church and
the sewing school but I had dreams and ideas in my heart that I did not know
what to do with. For a few years now, I
have known that my heart for ministry is focused on vulnerable women. Being a woman and mother has opened my eyes
to the real struggles that women here in Rwanda deal with daily.
The Hands For Hope sewing project with the women from the
church was a great start for me. We are
now working with our second group of students and they are doing very well.
This group will finish in August. The
first group of students have graduated and moved on to using their skills to
earn income. Honestly, they are
struggling a bit to find work. Because
of this and many other factors, we have decided that this second group of
students will be our last and we will begin to phase out our work with the
sewing school and move things closer to home, in the community that we live
in. I have desired this for awhile
because of the challenge of balancing family and ministry responsibilities. We will still continue all our work and
responsibilities with the church.
So that leads me to
our new exciting vision (which is not really new because it has been in my heart for a long time)! We are going to
begin working to start our own bakery business here in Rwamagana! I am very excited about this because it feels
like a “fit” for me, so to speak. There
is not much that I love more than baking up delicious breads and cakes to enjoy
with my family. So rather than
continuing to try out different things that I am not as familiar with, I felt
like God was leading to use what I know and turn it into ministry. Like many other Lancaster County, Mennonite
women, I know baking!
My vision is to have a bakery that will provide training and
jobs to poor, vulnerable single mothers in our community. My heart is to see them thriving and working
with dignity to provide for their families.
God has given me Proverbs 31:25 as my theme verse for Hands For
Hope.
“She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.”
This is my desire, to see women working with strength and
dignity and being able to laugh, allowing joy to replace the fear of the
future. By giving women jobs and walking
side by side with them, pointing them to Jesus as their Hope, I know that God
is going to use the Hands For Hope bakery to grow His kingdom here in
Rwanda.
Thank you for keeping this in prayer as we begin to take the steps of faith in this new venture!
Thank you for keeping this in prayer as we begin to take the steps of faith in this new venture!
In Christ,
Valerie, Appolinaire and family
