2007 We are small but God

Back Row: Tom Porter, Gayle Martinez, Henry Martinez, Sue McDonald.
Front Row: Karen Thiel, Pastor Patrick Twagirayesu.

Henry and Gayle Martinez attended a home group that was meeting in Boise, Idaho at the invitation of a friend. At this meeting, a young preacher from Rwanda, Africa named Pastor Patrick, who was invited to the U.S. by Lloyd Phillips of Montana, happened to be preaching. Pastor Patrick did not talk about Rwanda or his ministry but he preached a very anointed sermon. Henry and Gayle felt a very strong impression from the Lord that they should get his contact information to invite him to preach in other places while he was here in Idaho. They believed that everyone should hear him preach.

Henry and Gayle set about to find opportunities for Pastor Patrick to preach. He was able to preach to a group of seniors, a Sunday School class, a home group, a youth group and a men’s Bible study where many people were endeared to him. Many people asked if they could meet with Pastor Patrick for various reasons, like adopting Rwandan children, writing a magazine article, drilling a well, etc.

Pastor Patrick invited Henry and Gayle to meet with him to consider the proposal of being his ministry’s home base in the U.S. Henry and Gayle invited the interested people in the above photo to the meeting with Pastor Patrick so that they could speak with him before he had to leave Boise. At this meeting Henry and Gayle agreed to be a part of a team to initiate the new ministry, but stated that they could not take the entire responsibility onto themselves. The other people at the meeting agreed to be a part of this team. Thus the U.S. ministry was born.

Back row: Pastor Patrick Twagirayesu, Henry Martinez, Jim Thiel.
Front row: Pastor Donald Batubenga, Gayle Martinez, Karen Thiel, Sue McDonald.

Pastor Patrick returned to the U.S. in November of that same year. The team assembled and agreed to work on obtaining non-profit status. Pastor Patrick called the first legitimate meeting to order on November 2, 2007. We met in Fruitland, where Pastor Patrick was staying with the Tracy family. We discussed the future of the new ministry. We also discussed how we would set up our processes and work on fundraising activities. Karen was appointed to manage the day-to-day office work, and Gayle Martinez and Sue McDonald were appointed to handle the donations and communications with Pastor Patrick. The initial charter of the organization was to set a strategy and raise funds to fulfill the ministry vision. Within a few days, Pastor Patrick returned to Rwanda and the new team began meeting together at Moxie Java in Meridian once a month to discuss ways to help and grow Pastor Patrick’s ministry in Rwanda.

2007 Accomplishments:

• Spiritual Focus: Zechariah 4:10 “For who has despised the day of small things?” Everything must have a beginning and beginnings usually start small. We are small but God can do great things in and through us.
• # of Bright Future School children sponsored = 4