Day 9 - WOW!! Worship and Meeting the Pastors!

This day began with us preparing our hearts and minds for worship in a little Methodist Church in Gitarama. Our hearts were so warmed by what God unveiled for us today. Here are the reflections of sister Betty and brother Andy:

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It was a good day as the group visited the United Methodist church which was the equivalent of about 8 blocks from the children’s home. All roads are dirt and are in rough shape. No one drives; very limited in Urukundo, pretty much off-road 4X4 driving in the US, good thing Nate didn’t bring his skateboard. So here are the highlights:

1. Arlene Brown, what a little fireball she is. She is very direct and it’s easy to be in awe of her and the strength it must have taken for a white woman to do what she has done in an African American culture. Today she invited the ministers from the local UM church to come by and meet with us. She really gave us the run down on what we need to know about associating with the church at this time. She is a good person but you know if she isn’t tough with people things will go south.

2. Food, we are really blessed to get three meals a day and the rice and cabbage is excellent. There is no ketchup or milk. We do have good old bottled Coke and Fanta but no diet drinks; it’s hard enough to afford regular soda, a soda costs about $.75 and is in the old time pop-top bottles. It is so much better than spending an hour in the convenient store deciding on a beverage, we like simplicity.

3. We do a lot of walking. It’s easy to see why America is such an obese nation and I have yet to see a fat Rwandan. They stay active and only have 1 TV station, plus they live on what their local land produces. I have never slept this well in years due to a combination of factors. The simplicity of life here is so inviting, I am such a spoiled American. I hope I never ever leave uneaten food on my plate and order dessert on top of that. Please watch Betty when you eat out with her and just say “Thank you for caring”.

4. Church, small brown church made of concrete and stone and a wood roof and packed to the gills. There were 4 pastors and a lot of dancing and singing. Paul did his thing and threw down the fire of the gospel, and then they responded with their own lesson. Everybody was dressed in their best Sunday clothes (not saying much for us, due to limited fashion apparel. Later the pastors joined us to state their case for the type of help needed to promote programs for aids, music, facilities, etc. It was fun but I would have rather been playing with the kids who were killing a soccer ball on their playground which we did until a storm approached and rained down on us.

5. Dinner, choice of starch and some singing, we ate with the girls who are taking more to us as are all the kids. It will be hard to leave them on Friday, they are tougher and greater than anything we Betty and I could ever hope to be.

Well got to go, Domino’s pizza just knocked with our order

Oh yeah, please tell Mary Jane that Ed lost his loofah (can’t spell)! This is one of those wish you were here letters.

Love in Christ- Betty & Andrew

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Regarding the pictures: our meeting with the local Methodist pastors, the entrance to where we are staying (the Guest House), Rwandan beef....NOT, the children who greet us each day in the street, the beauty of Rwanda as seen from our walk to church, folks walking to church (regardless of the fact that most streets are dirt, men and women dress beautifully in very nice attire), Arlene and the Pastors from our service-Pastor Joe was the leader of this charge and he the left holding the transponder, picture of the church with Andy showing the children a digital picture, Pastor Joe with the Responder, the four local Pastors, a picture from inside the church, a picture with the Urukundo kids, Arlene, Etienne, John, and the team, a picture of the team ready for church!

Praise the Lord!! He is GREAT!

Ed

Day 8 - Corn Cakes, Giraffes, Teaching English, and Playtime!

This day was one in which the team was in various locations. Andy, Annitta, Jen, Betty, Fred, Mikela, Oliviere', and Etienne departed at 4AM for the Akegara Wildlife Preserve in eastern Rwanda, on the boarder with Tanzania. There are pictures attached from Annitta's camera which will give you a window into their super-duper experience. The team that traveled to the park saw giraffes, baboons, hippos, gazelle, water buffalo, Guinea foul, and various other flora and fawna. The team found and oasis on the edge of Lake Ihema. While having lunch at this oasis, the could see across to Tanzania! The team returned by 7PM and reported having a wonderful day, yet they were physically tired from rising at such an early hour and the 12 hours in the Land Rover. Jen and Annitta are still attempting to adjust their tailbones!

The remainder of the team rose early for breakfast with the kids. At the boys home Paul was given a 50 pound dumbell (made with rebar) by the security guard. The kids huddled around Paul and asked him to lift the weight! Then the boys checked his biceps/triceps! After Paul, I received the dumbell and the same process occurred. We then played soccer before breakfast with Paul "heading" the ball in spectacular fashion, WOWing the boys! For breakfast we had a corn meal cake made with flour and baking powder. Of course, Paul and I began eating it with a fork and knife.....Mama Arlene advised us that in Rwanda it is eaten using hands....now I know why the boys were smiling at us!

After breakfast a Pastor came by to teach the kids a Bible lesson in Kinyarwandan. Every Saturday morning there is Bible Study at 9AM. After Bible Study, Paul, John, and I had the opportunity to teach English to two local Pastors and a teacher from the local public school. What a fun time! The class was held in a small room with no lights and only a chalk board. No matter, because the light of Jesus Christ made the board easy to see! For over an hour we taught these servants of God how to "greet" in English and what responses are appropriate in basic introductory conversation. As we were concluding, I wrote on the board, "Penn State Nittany Lions." In the process of teaching them to say those magical four words, we taught them to say # 1 in American football! When we concluded, Pastor Leonard gave us a Scripture verse, 2 Chronicles 15:7. Look this one up.....Pastor Leonard is a young, wise, servant of Jesus Christ working in a country which has so much pain......and needs the love of our Lord.

The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids (soccer and catch), and assisting Mama Arlene with "public relations," as three groups came to the Home today and expressed interest in helping the Home in some way. We pray that will manifest itself in a positive way.

After dinner with the kids, we returned to our house for devotions. Andy led devotions and we all contributed positive comments about each other and the day which just ended.

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Here are some observations from Sister Leslie:

Hi everyone, another wonderful day here in Rwanda. God continues to work in everything that we touch here. Ben came to visit. Many of you know who Ben is because you have sponsored his first year of university where he is studying to be a nurse. Arlene asked Ben to tell the nurses on the team about himself.

In 1997, when Ben was ten years old, his mother died as a result of genocide. When his father remarried, his step-mother abused the three children. They were sent to live with an aunt in Kigali who was unable to care for them. Ben’s brother Kevin went to live on the streets, his sister went away and Ben eventually came to the children’s home.
When he went to secondary school he followed the nursing program and he was taught to be a pharmacist and phlebotomist. After working for five months as a pharmacist, he was given the opportunity to become a nurse.

Despite the fact that a “Physician Desk Reference” (a book listing almost all known medications) weighs five pounds, we had brought it along. We got permission from Arlene to give it to Ben. When I handed it to Ben, he got tears in his eyes. He was so grateful for this old medication reference book. Sandy explained how to use it and we showed him all the chemical compounds that were shown with each medication. The children, we have met, work very hard in school to receive the best possible education.

Ben studies very hard and has done quite well so far. His education will last at least two more years and possibly four years, if he chooses to become a doctor. Ben will be the medical provider for Arlene’s dream clinic. He is such a terrific young man and very thankful for what people of Wesley have done for him.

A special thank you from Ben,

Leslie

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Again, the pictures are better than words! You'll find Paul prepping for his lesson, the soccer game before lunch, lunch at the girl's home, our work shoes drying, the process for drying towels (There are no electric or other type of dryers here. Laundry is done by hand and hung to dry), John playing catch with some of the girls, Paul giving Pastor Leonard a Proclaimer, the boys preparing for our Karate lesson, Chantel and I before Karate class (Chantel is the daytime house manager), and pictures of our team's trip to the Park.

God is GREAT all the time.....ALL the time God is GREAT!

Ed

Day 7 - Jesus, Noah, Drums, Dancing, What?

I have often said that upon waking in the morning, the day is a blank canvass on which God will paint something beautiful. Sure, I have “my” plans for the day, but ultimately God decides what “my” plans are…because in reality, “my” plans are HIS plans. I write this because Day 7 in Rwanda was the most emotionally striking day of our mission. This day, more than any so far, brought tears to every team member, sometimes uncontrollably. The team’s passion for the children here, the passion for the kind people of Rwanda and our town Gitarama, the love that has been expressed to the team from our Rwandan co-workers at the job site, and the love from our brothers and sisters back home, pushed us over the emotional edge this day.

As with each day, we started by having breakfast with the children (half the group with the boys, half with the girls). Today was my day for breakfast with the girls and you will see those pictures in the Blog. A running “joke” has been that “Annette” rhymed very closely with our “Nate.” So we setup the breakfast with Annette sitting next to Nate. When I pointed this out to the girls—even at 6:30AM—the room erupted with laughter, with the girls pointing at Annette and Nate. From my perspective, it was fun and heart-warming as the kids of Urukundo Home and Nathan have formed a wonderful bond. Let me be clear...Nate didn’t think it was so cool, especially at 6:30AM!!

After breakfast we returned for devotions before heading to the work site. As we began devotions, a torrential rainstorm started. It was as if God was saying, “I want to draw you even closer to me….take your time….you can’t work outside right now anyway!” The picture on the Blog shows the team in our morning devotions. Sandy led us in our time of Bible, questions, reflection, and prayer. Sandy’s question was, “What are your dreams?” Each member expressed what their dreams were, are now, and those that are remaining. The emotions began. A few persons expressed their desire to continue working in the mission field in various places. Others expressed life dreams, or even “bucket lists.” One person expressed a dream wherein they walked away from their current life and served Christ in mission full time wherever HE called.

It was an incredibly powerful, emotional, Holy Spirit driven devotional time.

After devotions we jumped into our TRACO taxi and headed to the work site. When we arrived the rain was just ending and Emmanuael, the project architect, directed us to: (1) Clean the inside of the house in preparation for the concrete pouring of the floors next week, (2) Move the pile of “rocks” from where they had been dumped to the footer area of the boy’s home and, (3) Assist with completion of the digging of the footers. Andy jumped right into the footer pits! A crew of folks worked on cleaning-up the floor of the house, and another crew began to move the boulders. As you can see from the pictures, the boulders were quite large. Small rocks were a bit easier to carry and Betty led the charge on these. In the pictures, you will see a young Rwandan man directing Paul, Sandy, Jen, and me. This is Etienne (Steven) and he is a wonderful man. We’ve adopted him into our group and along with Oliviere, we have added to our devotional group numbers.

The boulder that Paul and I moved was well over 200 pounds. Yep, we really wanted to install a conveyor belt to move the boulders closer to where they were needed. The wooden carriers you see were built by the men that morning for use in transporting the boulders. At one point we did attempt to carry the boulders with four people. It did not work well and one our Rwandan colleagues, told us it was meant for only two persons! Oh well, it IS possible to train the Methodists, you know!

Within an hour the sky burst again and it was as if a bucket opened above us. We are at the end of the rainy season in Rwanda and it’s evident. We moved inside to complete cleaning of the boy’s home. It was a full team effort—even the children from the village came to help us pick-up the wood chips on the sod floor. As this work neared completion, the Holy Spirit fell upon the home and all who were gathered…..

All the Rwandan workers and the Mission Team were standing in the main room of the new home, the rain was pouring from the clouds. Paul picked-up a small (very used) bucket, made two wooden drumsticks out of some wood he found and encouraged Nate to play for the huddled mass of about 40 folks. Nate was quite nervous but with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit walked into the room, and with Paul holding two buckets, myself holding one, and Jen holding a wheel barrow on its side, he began to play the “drums!” The Rwandans and the Americans began cheering and dancing. What followed next was UNBELIEVABLE and none of us was left with a dry eye.

WE SAW JESUS CHRIST AND WITNESSED THE POWER OF JESUS CHRIST!

After Nate finished playing his new drums, a worship service broke out. Spontaneously, some of our Rwandan sisters began to play the buckets, Nate played the wheel barrow, and two Rwandan brothers played make-shift guitars (Paul played one first to be sure it was in tune!) With rain deluging the new building which did not have a completed roof, Christians of different languages, different cultures, different clothing, and different worship methods were united by Christ to sing, dance, play music, and praise God! The singing was soul-moving, the dancing was phenomenal, and the band was one of the best we’ve ever experienced! “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!”

When we thought it couldn’t get any more powerful, the project architect (who does not speak English) halted the singing and dancing and began praising God and calling forth various folk who needed prayers. He would say, “There is a brother/sister her who…..” The person would come forward, hand would be placed upon the person and everyone prayed for that person. Steven would translate from Kinyarwanda to English and Marcia would then repeat the translation so we could ALL understand. Now the stunner….. Emmanuael began by describing a situation of a person on our Mission Team and how that person needed healing and prayer. Please understand that nobody from our team had spoken with him prior to this time about any our personal “struggles.” It was at this point the team looked at each other—we were all crying—and realized that he was calling forth a member of our team. How? How could he have known about this situation? This person had shared this challenge with the team, but no one else—period.

In that unfinished boy’s home, with rain coming down in epic proportions, our mission team member stepped forward and the entire group prayed for the person and situation. After additional prayers, we requested that the whole group join hands and say the Lord’s Prayer in our respective tongues. We then sang the Doxology and more singing and dancing began. It was at this point that Emmanuael told Paul and me that these events reminded him of “Noah.”

Spiritually, we were on an unbelievable high. We were also emotionally exhausted. We SAW Jesus Christ and we literally FELT the Holy Spirit. In my life, I have never felt the touch of Jesus Christ, so intensely, as I did yesterday morning. And yet, it was not over.

After a walking trip to market, we held an Easter egg hunt for the children. They have never experienced such an event, so Sally and John had some explaining to do for the children. We surprised Fred and Sally with birthday cupcakes and the children singing for them. Fred’s birthday was today and Sally’s is on Monday. Arlene then described the event and John translated. The hunt was a phenomenal success and the pictures give you a window into that success!

After dinner the team settled in for devotions and Sandy did a phenomenal job once again in leading us in reviewing the days events and discussing where Christ is leading us and what He’s up to in some of our lives.

Here are some reflections from our sister-in-mission, Marcia:

Hello to everyone back home. Wish you were here to see all of this beauty, the children the people and the landscape. We had a wonderful day, truly bless. God sent the rain today and brought all of us into the boy’s home with the work crew. After we did all the cleaning we could do the Lord stepped in and His praise broke out. I hope you can catch the Holy Spirits presence in the pictures today. It was a blessed day all around from start to end. Words can’t explain it.

Gods love to all.

You’re Sister Marcia

P.S. Jeff and all I miss you and wish you were here.

Some comments on the pictures: there is one taken of the team as they walked home from breakfast at the girl’s house, one of Annitta with some of the girls getting ready to leave for school, the “kitchen” of the girls house with the firewood used for cooking, our brothers and sisters of Rwanda who labored and worshiped with us (these three ladies gave me a lot of assistance and I provided them a lot of humor—finally, someone who understands my humor….I may have a comedy career in Rwanda!) Brother Fred as we celebrated his birthday, morning devotions, our 10-year old buddies from the project (Peter is wearing the blue/striped jacket), carrying the boulders, some pictures from the “market” side of Gitarama (notice the new building, most new construction uses wood scaffolding, not steel, one of the banks, betty pickin’ wood chips, the egg hunt at our living quarters, “our” boys, the Fred and Sally birthday song, some more pictures of Gitarama, Nate and Annette at breakfast, breakfast picture, and the outside of the girls house.

What a spiritually stunning day….this place has won my heart, the kids and people--despite the poverty--shine with God’s love. We are each being transformed, some of us in ways we could never have imagined.

God is GREAT all the time…..All the time GOD is GREAT!!

Ed