Ever since I was young, I have always dreamed of going to East Africa. My family has sponsored many children from Africa and so it has always had a special place in my heart.
When we first landed in Uganda, at the beginning of the month, it felt so surreal and there was this special feeling of peace about it. “I’M IN FREAKING AFRICA!!!” That’s all I could say and said probably to many times haha.
My squad and I then hopped on a bus for a 12 hour ride to our destination in Rwanda. It was still the same feeling of peace and “oh my gosh, i’m in Africa.” We spent a few days as a squad in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda and then we all went our separate ways to our ministries for the month. My team was in a small village 45 minutes outside of Kigali living with a pastor. Unfortunately, ministry ended up being really tough this month for my team and I. Our ministry consisted of evangelism house visits, preaching at church twice a week and construction. Now, that doesn’t sound bad at all. Its sounds like a typical African mission trip. But it was hard in the sense that the schedule was very inconsistent, the pastor was almost never around, or if he was around, he wasn’t involved and African are absolutely clueless when it comes to proper construction. All these things made it very frustrating for myself and my team. And on top of that, I’m the team leader, and trying to encourage and motivate my team in the midst of not liking anything about this ministry was very difficult and frustrating for myself.
This caused me to be very restless most of the month. But in the midst of all this restlessness and frustrations with the host and team stuff and stuff back home, I found rest. Rwanda, is one of the most peaceful and restful places I have ever been with a lot of beautiful views. Being that there was not much ministry, there was a lot of time to myself, and the Lord knew that was needed. Like I said, spent a lot of the month just very restless with situations and so with all the time I had on my hands, I chose to spend a lot of that with the Lord. And my oh my the Lord is good. I have had some of my best time with the Lord this past month than I have had in a very long time. I was able to hear him in ways that I haven’t heard him in a long time. In that time spent with Him, he provided me with the rest and peace and patience I needed.
Yes, Rwanda may not go down as my favorite country and month on this trip, but in that rest with the Lord, He lead me into really enjoying my time in Rwanda. And I really will miss this place. He opened up doors for unscheduled ministry in terms of building relationships with a small group of very eager to learn high school students. The were determined to get better at their english, and in that we were able to help them in that along with teaching them about the Bible. It was really some of my favorite times of the month. And we also got to see two other people give their lives to Christ. To God be the glory in and for that.
We are now preparing to head to Uganda for our second to last month. My team will be in Rukungiri, Uganda serving with what looks to be a incredible organization called Unified In Mission. Please be in prayer for us as we dive into what the Lord has for us there. And that He will continue to shape us and mold us as men to be more like Him.
God Bless!
Andrew
