1.No one can say your name, so it sounds like Harry, and you just accept it.
2.Your host Dad gives everyone nicknames…Team Leader, President, Prime Minister, Angel, Pastor Harry (Mother of Nations).
3.Church starts at 9:30 am and ends at 7:30 pm. (They graciously let us leave for lunch and then come back)
4. You arrive for a wedding starting at 3:00, and it actually starts at 5:45.
5. You ride on a moto through the pouring rain to your house after trying to wait out the storm that wouldn’t stop.
6. Your host mom tells you “Don’t fear. Different color. Same people.” while she is dishing you seconds of food (still not sure what that means).
7. Boys are in “danger” at 18 (aka they want the ladies).
8. Your value goes from one chicken to 10 cows!
9. You go to church 4 different times in one weekend, and they are all around 3-4 hours each.
10. You go to church, but don’t actually understand the message because it is in another language, and if there is a translator, you are still lost.
11. You slip in the mud everytime you walk outside.
12. Your pastor lets you drive your team back home.
13. Your teammates get every stomach bug known to man (in the name of Jesus, they are staying in Rwanda) and you have become a regular at the doctor.
14. One of your rooms becomes infested with bed bugs.
15. Some of the best Jesus time is riding a moto through the city for two reasons…it’s peaceful and you might actually die.
16. You are blessed with two little host brothers who drive you absolutely up the wall 75% of the time, but you wouldn’t change it for the world.
17. You do door-to-door ministry, and people just let you in their houses no questions asked to hear the Gospel.
18. There’s always a 50/50 shot if the water is working, same for electricity.
19. Your drinking water has white floaty things in it and smells like chemicals, but you drink it anyway.
20. You have to give your host Dad a 5 minute warning before you are allowed to go to sleep.
21. The moto drivers pretend they know where you want to go, but just drive and then stop somewhere, which is definitely not your destination.
22. You get the SWEETEST jackets ever handmade for you.
23. Everytime you walk through the village, you gain a posse of 30 African kiddos.
24. One of your best friends is named Gad, pronounced “god.” (The jokes are endless).
25. Every sermon includes an “Oh my God!” from the pastor.
26. Some churches don’t provide translators, so you are informed to just clap, laugh, and say Amen when the other members do.
27. When your translators should spend a little more time brushing their teeth.
28. You have to share ONE bathroom with up to 16 people at a time.
29. You go bowling where men actually pick up the pins as you bowl.
30. You watch TV even though it’s in French or Kinyarwandan.
31. You get multiple marriage proposals on the reg, and they are dead serious.
32. When the kids in the village know very few English phrases including and limited to “Good morning, how are you, give me money.”
33. When the music channel goes from dirty rap to Gospel music overnight.
34. A little piece of your heart is left in this beautiful country, and it is more than difficult to say goodbye to your Rwandan familiy.
