If I sit in the burgundy chair opposite the only window in the room, I can look out the glass panes when the curtain is pulled back and see branches of the avocado tree in the neighbor’s yard. It’s full of avocados. They just hang all over the tree with such abundance it makes me wonder why they’re so expensive in the U.S. I mean, go to Whole Foods and an organic avocado will cost you $2. Here you can get 6 for a dollar. Welcome to Africa.
Now I’m in Rwanda, which neighbors Uganda around Lake Victoria (east side of the continent if you haven’t viewed a map). It’s not anything like I imagined. It actually looks a lot like the Italian countryside. The dirt alley that meanders through the neighborhood is defined by the 7-foot concrete walls that form each side, but if I walk my way out of the residential alley, I can see for miles over the green hills. Every square kilometer is farmed in some way, the fertile red soil giving life to banana trees, corn, papaya, cassava, elephant ears, avocados, mangoes and so much more. Many of the homes are a neutral color with a red tin roof. Although the land grows things in such abundance, Rwanda is trying to shift from being an exporter of agricultural products to an economy reliant upon production of consumer products and technology services by 2020. It’s one of the top performing countries in terms of achieving this type of growth. Infrastructure is improving exponentially. The education system is being reformed to produce a more intellectually stimulated population. But what really blows my mind is the genuine hospitality of the people here. I expected to feel totally out of place being isolated by skin color, but instead, I have honestly never felt more welcomed or loved by any people group.
Opportunities for ministry this month are just as abundant as the fruit that grows from the ground here. While there are many Christians in the country, the objective here is to reach EVERYONE with the Good News. With that being said, we get ministry opportunities every day! We jumped into it almost immediately. Some of the tasks we get to participate in include home visits and prayer time, preaching at churches, preaching at schools, teaching English, preaching on the radio, preaching at markets, and evangelizing and building relationships at sporting events. This will be a great month to test and build my knowledge of scripture and my manner of conveying that knowledge to other people. Stories of our activities are sure to come soon, but until then, please pray for our interaction and our hearts as well as the hearts of those we encounter. And please pray blessings upon our hosts.
Next portion written 1+ week later…
Ministry in Rwanda has been awesome so far. We are staying quite busy. We have a full schedule Sunday through Friday. A typical day looks like this: team time in the word and songs between 7 and 8am, breakfast at 8:30am, house visits start about 10am, and lunch at 12:30pm. After lunch, we split up in groups of 2 or 3 or 4 and either do more house visits, or go to various churches or schools to ‘bring the fire!’ That usually lasts until about 5 if we get a short break until evening activities at 6pm, or it’ll take us straight through to 8pm when we enjoy dinner. Sometimes we have fellowship with the pastor and friends after dinner until about 10:30pm. Every Friday, there is an all-night prayer and praise session at someone’s house, which is really incredible. It’s just as it sounds; about 20 people get together in a house and sing praises to God with intermittent prayer and messages delivered by various people. This month is encouraging the whole team to increase our knowledge base and understanding of biblical doctrine.
So far, I’ve delivered messages on the Gospel vs. Religion, Deliverance from Satan & his band of fallen angels, Is Church Membership Biblical, and Health of the Body. On one occasion I was able to deliver a message on public radio, which was a pretty incredible experience. We’re pretty well received here, and our host pastor is keeping us busy with ministry, which ensures our minds are on things of God.
I’ll post more details later, as well as some of the things I’ve been learning. Thanks for reading!
