April 13, 2004

Hi Prayer Partners,

I hope all of you had a wonderful Sunday for Easter remembering the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! I wanted to send a quick message to update you on what is going on here in Rwanda with me and how you can continue to pray for me. I would like to thank everyone for their prayers as they are being felt here and God has been doing some great things with the youth program that I am partnered with.
I must share with you that this last week was a little tough and I had to talk and deal with some issues that came up in the ministry work here. I would ask that you continue to pray about this for me. There were some issues and conflicts dealing with communication that came up this last week in my work with the ALARM staff. It has definitely been hard as the culture and language differences have been a part of what I have been dealing with. I have only been here for a month and I am still trying to figure out how things work here and how things are done by those that I work with and I am thankful to God for their patience. I was able to sit down with them and ask them some questions and just inquire as to how I can better deal with some of the things I am dealing with here as I adjust to the work of the ministry and how I am able to serve everyone here. There have been many things going on here between the work of the ministry I am involved with and with the many holidays and observations relating to the genocides this week and last week. Through my talks with the staff I’m working with here God has allowed me to clarify and resolve some of the conflicts or issues that I was dealing with during the last week. I apologize to everyone for not getting out a prayer request relating to these things but the last week has been very busy and due to the holidays for Easter and the Genocides there has been a very limited amount of time the internet café’s have been open here. I would like to ask that you continue to pray for me and my continued communication and serving in ministry with my partners in serving Christ here in Rwanda!!

Tomorrow I will be leaving to fly to Nairobi, Kenya to prepare for the Youth Pastors conference that I will be teaching at in Kericho, Kenya. Scott Werntz and a team will be coming from the US to lead the conference. The conference will be held from April 19th till Friday April 23rd. I would like to ask that you pray for me as it’s been a really busy week, and a really busy day! I still have some preparations to do to be ready for the conference and would ask that you would pray that I can get everything done that I need to. I am currently working on a couple of lessons and devotions that I will be sharing at the conference. I’m feeling tired right now as it’s been a busy week for me. Esron, the person I work with on the youth program here, will also be attending the conference. He will be travelling on April 18th and return here on April 24th. Please pray for his safety in his travels and that God teaches and shows him many things through his attending the conference. As well as everyone else that will be attending! It will be an exciting time. For those of you who know them, I will be arriving 2 days early in Nairobi to stay and spend some time with Mark and Susie Mercer who are missionaries in Kenya. I know them from Irving Bible Church and I’m excited about being able to see them.

I am still doing well! I am healthy and have had no real problems with any sickness. I think my body is getting tired as it’s not used to all the walking and travelling around that I have to do here. It probably doesn’t help either that my bed mattress isn’t that comfortable and is beginning to form the shape of my body in it as it’s a cheap foam type mattress that they have here. They don’t really have spring type mattresses here and it really takes some getting used to as they tend to be hard. I am thankful to God for one thing that I was able to bring with me that helps me to relax and get away from the busyness that has been my life since I got here to Rwanda – that would be my MP3 player. I don’t know how many of you have one of these things but it’s been great to be able to have all of my CD’s from back home here with me to listen to conveniently. It’s good to be able to pull out my MP3 player and listen to all my music CD’s. The other night when the power went out for a couple hours– which is every day now – I was able to listen to some Rich Mullins and Switchfoot (if you know those artists??) to pass the time and relax my mind. It’s a great thing to have if you travel a lot or you live in a place where power is uncertain.

I may not have contact with you during my time in Kericho for the youth pastors conference and would ask that you continue to lift up our team during our time there. The team will be Me!, Scott Werntz, Gabriel Sherman, Brad Hughes, and David Murphy. Please remember to lift us up in prayer before the Father as it will be a busy week, but we know that God has incredible things in store for us. Please also pray for our safety in travelling on the plane flights to and from and on the buses to get to Kericho and back. If you don’t hear from us by email you might check the www.spokenfor.org web-site to see if there happens to be any updates there. Not really sure if there will be computers available where we are staying.

Thank You again for all of your prayers, support and encouragement as they are definitely felt and are needed. Below I have listed a few prayer requests for the coming weeks and the conference. God is really teaching me a lot here and I am trusting in Him for the ability to do what he has brought me here for. He is giving me the strength and wisdom I need to be able to overcome some of the hurdles that are before me and I praise him for that!!

Serving Him,
Eric Sundene <{{{><
Hebrews 10:24-25