The Beginning Of The End. . .

Rwanda . . .

A country war torn, and effected by genocide, hospital healing, prodigals coming back to know their Father, church services filled with anointed worship and messages. .

Joy & laughter that fills a small village home. . .dance & song to a simple rhythm of a drum. .  Radio preaching, bus rides with 20+ people. 8 ½ mi hikes to and from church. .

Evening runs on African country side watching beautiful sunsets as kids run along side you. .

 Spending time with Widow's & University students encouraging them to shoot for the stars. .

Speaking of stars. . . stars in an African sky compares to no other. . .

All of these things are Rwanda for me. . .

I am heading into month 8 of the World Race now. . . leaving behind yet another family that has worked it's way into my heart. More faces that no matter how many countries are in between us my heart can't forget.

This month has been nothing short of amazing! I stand in awe of where I came from, sit in wonder at where I am, and I am captivated by where I am going. . .

This journey has taken so many turns towards beauty. . there are so many beautiful moments I try an capture by blinking my eyes and taking mental photographs that end up forever ingrained on my heart. Moments written upon a canvas that make me a new man. A more refined man. A wiser man. . . A man with a better understanding of the world around him, and the people in it. A man with stories to tell, and faces to share. .

I have become and currently becoming a better man than the days before, and a happier man for the days that lie ahead. . .

Thank you for “doing life” with me during this journey. . .

Thank you for pouring into me, and knowing this was good soil the Lord could grow up a mature man out of. It's to you I owe my gratitude and my “a million thanks” to being able to see this journey to completion.

I pray for you & think of you often

I miss you all & love you dearly

My family, my friends, my supporters & biggest fans! You are all so great!

Rwanda Part III Heart to Heart: Me to You

It all started with this video. I remember staying up many late nights in my apartment watching this video over and over again.

I wondered, could this be what the Lord is calling me to?

The World Race is a really long time, and lot can change in eleven months. I kept trying to picture who I would be. What would look like? How would I be different? What would life be like afterwards?

A lot of those questions I could honestly still ask myself. Yet here I am as a month seven World Racer. I said yes to this crazy adventure. I heard that crazy rumor. I listened to the whisper. I answered the call to come out into the wild with God. I have experienced this journey with Him, releasing His Kingdom on the earth. 

I have been to many places around the world and have seen many different faces. I have had the privilege and honor to be able to experience so many different cultures. I have witnessed Jesus do miraculous things, and have seen Him move in the small and quiet ways.

I have made some of the most beautiful and amazing friends that I could ever ask for, and have submitted and served under some of the wisest and most humble leaders.

For seven months I have been away from home, outside the States, and away from my safe harbor. I have learned more lessons than I could share in just one blog. I have more stories than you have time for. But when I make my way around your town or when you’re in mine, feel free to stop and talk with me. Let's have coffee. I will listen to your great adventures and tales from your life, and I will share mine. 

One thing that is certain, when I return home, I will experience community shock. I'm sure there will also be a measure of culture shock. Simply stated, the real, raw, and deep community we live in out here . . . there is nothing like it. It's something that happens because of our experiences together. The Lord leads us into a place of abandonment and transforms our lives because of it. I plan to not just learn from this culture I plan to own it, create it, live it where ever I go. I will change the very atmosphere of the place I inhabit. 

The Lord has been so good to me. I am so close to His heart, and He to mine. It took everything within me to come on the race and give up the life I had back home. Now that I'm here, there is no place I'd rather be. Do I miss home? Sure. Do I miss my family and my friends? Of course! But there is truly no place I have felt more in tune with God and more fulfilled. I have never felt that I could just pour out & still remain in such a place of rest. The Lord has made me a great leader because he taught me to become a great follower. It is because He is the "greater in me." 

I have had the joy and the privilege of being the leader of two different teams so far here on the World Race. It's because of these people that I am who I am today.

                

These lovely faces, and so many more among my squad have invested in me, my heart, and into my journey with the Lord. While I have been away, many of you have done the same.

Ahhh … I wish I could get you to meet every last one of these beautiful people, hear their stories, and "do life with them," as I have. 

You probably won't meet most of them. You may not ever hear any of their stories. But there is one thing I know . . . your life will be impacted because their words and lives will resound in my heart. I will live my life with them in my heart and mind.  

This journey is not over yet, and I'm very happy for that. I have much more to learn, to listen, and to hear. 

The Lord has given me some beautiful things, and has put some things on my heart that I'd like to share with you..

I have no idea how things will look when I return home. I don’t know where I will live, or where I will work. I will start planning all that fairly soon, but it is not the time yet. 

I feel very strongly that I will only be home for a short while. The Lord has given me a passion to raise up young people like myself to become Son's & Daughters. I want to help raise them up to become leaders of their generation. OUR generation! I want to live a life like chivalry really isn't dead. I want to teach young boys how to be great men, and young girls how to see themselves as lovely women, and daughters of a King -worthy of adoration. 

If an opportunity presents itself, and Adventures & Missions would have me, I will be looking into Squad Leading or leading a Passport team shortly after retuning home. Either option would take me far from home once again, but not for nearly as long.

I tell you this so that you can pray with me. I have no idea what's to come of this, but I am leaning into His leading. This would require me to fund raise all over again, and we all know how fun that is … psych! But seriously, if there is one thing I have learned it's this- If the Lord has called you to something, He is more than capable and willing to provide for your every need. 

I am very confident in the fact that He will lead me and guide me and provide for my next Kingdom Journey with Him. 

Please continue to pray for me as I embrace the beauty of this season, and also look forward to the glory of the next season. 

Love you all dearly. 

I love knowing you, and love being known by you.

Dev

Insider Rwanda - A Day In The Life Of Me

Wanted to share more pics of Rwanda with you..

Stories & Heart on paper to follow..

Us doin our thang walking our 8+ mi. to ministry nbd.

Imagine this..every kid runs to the edge of the street to greet you & shake your hand wherever you go. They meet you yelling & telling all their other friends: "Mzungu! Mzungu!" Meaning "White person, white person"

Nothing like it.. 

This guy's story is awesome.. He sat and watched us pray over another man in the hospital- saw that man encounter Jesus, then he himself decided it was time to not only get saved by coming to know Jesus, but also to get up and walk after not being able to walk at all without use of a cane. This dude literally walked out of his hospital room to go hang out outside just cause he could again. 

Sometimes on the WR we sling mud at walls ..it's how we build churches..

Other times on the WR you learn how to relate the story of David & Goliath through arm wrestling small children.. see that lil guy there- He was my David- even though his name wasn't David after this match all his friends started calling him "David the strong man"

This how day roll to get water..

This young lady here has malaria, so we spent some time praying with her for healing & over them as a couple.

This poor lil' guy also had malaria. Running fever & just plain out of it he is just one of the many little one's that suffer from this here in Africa.

Leveling Church ground

Bro time

Some of the lovely people taking care of us this month

These two: Like two peas in a pod. Trever & Richard best of friends..both are amazing

This guy meets me outside every morning just to say "Hi, how are you?" as I say "good, how are you?"

He answers the same everyday, "I'm fine, thank you" ..

This is what Thursday healing services look like..oh yeah!

We go and spend time with the widows at the widow estate- James 1:27- "Look after the widow's and the orphans"

Aww just look at us..we is all smiling and such..right before our workout..lol

Caity is legitimately scared of the workout we were about to do here. 

  

Pastor Fatier & Pamela 

We got to pray over 4 newborn babies staring their journey off right in this world.. Love my life.

So now you see into a day in my life here in Rwanda, here on the Race ..stay tuned for my next blog because I decided to make a part III for you..mainly cause I had a bagillion of pictures I wanted to show you, and don't want to exhaust you in scrolling down to read much more..lol

 If you would like to hear my heart behind the pictures, if you wanna hear stories & what's going on with me, where my heart is in this current season, and where it seems to be heading with the leading of the Lord here in the next few months and on into life after the Race don't miss part III coming soon! Also feel free to comment on this blog & ask questions if you have any! I'd love to try an answer them in my next blog or the one after!

Love you all so much, Thank you for making this journey so great. Thank you for sharing your lives with me, it is such a joy to know you, and be known by you!

Dev

TIA -THIS IS AFRICA

I used to sit and wonder what it would be like..
That day when I found myself in Africa..
That day when I saw that African night sky, those stars.. looking out at the sun setting, the villages, the people. 

I never knew it would be like this..
I could have never imagined what beauty my eyes would see, and my heart would feel. 

I had the joy of celebrating my 24th birthday here! I am from a squad that loves me & left birthday cards all around my village home, followed by a birthday celebration with no electricity, so naturally we made it candle light dinner, no running water, so we bought coke lol. Here in this place you will find this- an infinite amount of love poured forth from my team and ministry host. Cake & Coca Cola to make the night memorable, and of course a Rwandan fruit basket! It's tradition! 

My team & I have been living in this amazing lovely village with the best host we could ask for! 
We are in a remote village far from the city & any civilization, and we love it! Electricity goes out, no running water, squatty potty's , the works..all the things I thought the Race would be like in the first place.. 

eh, we aren't in our tents this month, & we have beds! That is something to be thankful for my friends. 

We have had the privilege to get to know these two rugrats Frank aka (Frank the tank ballpark hot dog) & Vanessa ..we love these two little ones.. Vanessa is our hosts (Pastor Fatier) daughter whom I will introduce you more to in my next blog.

Here in Rwanda we are doing incredible things! We hike pretty much everywhere, averaging about 8 1/2 miles a day. 

We are helping build a church & get to celebrate the opening while we're here, we visit a widow's estate & spend time with them, we speak with them, and pray with them. We visit local schools & preach & even do motivational speeches for the students. We visit hospitals & pray for the sick, and literally have watched them get up out of their sick beds, and walk into healing..We have preached, lead worship, and we pack into buses like sardines..This is the World Race - dis how we do! 

Let me show you some of these beautiful faces, and amazing moments ..

This is the church we have helped build from the ground up!

This man encountered Jesus this day, and committed his life to Him from His hospital bed..After we prayed for him, he stood up and walked without use of any help or cane, which he couldn't walk without..Yay God!

This guy Emmanuel came back to Jesus this day. He & his wife were talking the night before, she was saying he should follow Jesus once again and learn how to be a son..the next morning we show up.. dang..This man was suffering from malaria, and his heart fallen away from the Father's. Today this prodigal came back to his Father. 

This be me preachin' 

I was preaching on being a son, and walking into your promise land. 

Everyday bus rides in Africa.. WR style 

I was a motivational speaker to a class the other day. We preach & teach at this school every week. 

I am so happy to be on this journey.. My heart is so happy to be here in Africa. It's a dream come true. I see  Jesus in every face, in every set of eyes..

My heart is so moved by these beautiful people, by this place. 

I see Jesus move in miracles, signs and wonders..

I see Him not just in the thundering's or the lightnings, but the quiet still small voice.. The voice that is leading me, directing me in this great adventure.. 

He is guiding me on into month 8 here soon on the World Race.. geesh month 8! My next blog I will show you more pics from our ministry here & give you a little insight on where my heart moving towards for LIFE AFTER THE RACE! 

Stay tuned, be on the look out for part II coming soon! 

Love you dearly, 

Dev