Why we are going

Complicated question.. a lot of reasons. It started when I read the book "It's not Okay with Me" by Jeanine Maxwell about her experiences with AID's victims in South Africa. I wanted to go immediately and almost went to Swaziland in 2007. The timing wasn't right though and so when our church in Hawaii announced last year that they were planning a trip to Rwanda for June 2009, I was immediately on board. John thought he would never be able to get time off of work to go so he put the trip on a back burner in his mind. In the meantime, amazing things started happening. John has been looking for his Nigerian family for over 14 years. In October we found a cousin in Benin City (through Facebook!). She was able to put us in touch with his nephew Shaun and the family keeps growing. What a blessing it has been! As we get to know Shaun over weekly phone conversations, the desire to go to Africa has grown heavy on John's heart. He was granted the time off of work and has now signed on to be part of the team to Rwanda. After working at an orphanage in Rwanda for 10 days we will travel to Nigeria to meet his family members. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of a long journey for us.