In Rwanda you should always wear a sports bra to church.
But I will get back to that. First I would like to catch you up on what we have been doing so far in Kigali.
This month our team is staying with the practical joker Pastor Moses. He is originally from Uganda, a street kid who was deserted by his mother and grew up with an alcoholic father. He was orphaned and wandered shoe-less on the streets. He does not know the month or day of his birth, so he claims the day he came to know Christ as his birthday. Our host from last month, Pastor Vianney was actually a big influence in Pastor Moses’s life and helped to mentor him. When we asked Moses what led him to Rwanda he replied that the Lord decided to mess everything up and brought him here.
He is now one of the lead pastors at the Gospel Mission Center. We have been a part of their worship services here and are looking forward to getting to know more about their work. We know that they have a school for ladies to take sewing classes and we may be helping to lead their Bible studies. So far we have been doing some manual labor at one of the churches they just built. We have been moving bricks so they can be covered and protected from the rain until they are ready to use them. The evenings have been filled with church services. We will be preaching at every service while we are here. James and I will be giving a sermon at least once a week.
As our team often says, “We are doing the thing.”
But back to the sports bra story.
So on Friday night we filed in to the Gospel Mission Center Church. Amanda and Carson were ready to give their sermons. We were all ready to be “all in” (another team motto).
Praise and worship started and as the dancers got into it, so did some of us and some of our squadmates that came to join us. Pastor Paul (one of the pastors we are working with this month) beckoned Brooks and Dylan up and they went willingly. When he moved aside a chair for me to join I went a little less willingly, but I went.
Dancing soon turned into marching. Marching turned into jumping. I was glad to be wearing one of my good sports bras. This was going to be a work out. A joyful and praise filled work out. Pastor Paul was loving our enthusiasm. The congregation was dancing and their eyes were filled with joy. By the time I sat down I was sweating.
Ready for a real life moment? Going to Rwandan church with a bad case of gas is not fun. My gut had been hurting all day as it rumbled and tumbled. The dancing, I could handle. The jumping, however, was painful. I suffered through the pain in my gut to hold it in. Because at this point, I could not trust a fart. #WorldRaceProblems
Carson and Amanda delivered amazing messages about trusting in God’s plan, even if it does not make sense. Even if it brings discomfort. Even if it brings uncertainty. God has got us. He is in control.
We ended the service with hugs all around and then we walk away into the dark for a bumpy ride home.
On Saturday, one of our days off, we were sitting on the comfy couches in the living room waiting for the rain to stop. I turned to Pastor Moses and asked him a question that has been on my heart. I asked him why he liked to have World Racers here (he has hosted many, many teams over the past few years). What could we possibly do to help him and his congregations?
To paraphrase a portion of what he said (and he would appreciate this wording, I promise) we give him street cred. When we go anywhere with him he gets stopped and talked to by many people. We thought he knew them all, but after asking him how he knows all of these people, he told us the truth. Most of these people just stop and talk to him because he has seven Mzungus (whites) following him around. It opens many doors to new conversations for him.
He said we help to encourage his church, especially the young people in the congregation. He said that Rwandans can get very caught up with being Rwandan and not seeing outside of their country. He even has given his kids a different family name (last name) than his, because people hear his family name and know that he is from Uganda, and he gets a hard time for it. He told us that when his congregation sees outsiders come in and join them they get a bigger sense of what the church is all about. They start to realize that God is bigger than just their Rwandan churches. (Crazy huh? I feel like us Americans have the same issue sometimes!!)
He also says that it helps his congregation feel like they are not alone in their struggles. The first time we went to church with him he had all of us share our testimonies. He says this is is favorite thing to do as he watches his congregation listen with amazement as these Mzungu brothers and sisters in Christ share that they struggle.
They listen intently as we talk about some of the same life struggles that they face. They start to learn that we are a lot like them. Pastor Moses makes a point to introduce us as Rwandans from America. The congregation laughs, but at the end of the service it feels more like truth.
“Some people think that Mzungus are like angels that descend from heaven every morning and that you get to go back up as soon as any trouble comes around.” said Pastor Moses with a sparkle in his eye.
On our day off Pastor Moses took us to the Rwandan Genocide Museum. That was hard. I had been to a holocaust museum when I was in Europe, and as hard as that was it was a little bit easier to swallow because it seems so long ago. It was a history lesson. But as I read the stories on the wall and the dates that went with them I realized that I was 6 when this happened.
I knew that when I would walk out of this memorial every Rwandan eye that I would meet were eyes that witnessed this monstrosity. This was not history, this is a memory that had not even had time to fade away. This is a personal story walking around in the shoes of almost everyone I would meet while I am here.
I cannot imagine, but I felt my heart break as I walked through the hallways of that place. The superman bed sheet that was among some of the objects found in one of the mass graves looked like something I could find in a Target in the states. I felt the hot pressure of tears as I walked through the Children’s Room and read short biographies of the smiling faces on the walls. . . Age, Favorite Sport, Favorite Food, Personality, Cause of Death . . . all of them gruesome.
We were told that we may be doing some door to door ministry soon. We will be like Phillip telling Nathanael to “come and see”. We will tell people of our struggles and of our joy. We may hear some of their hard stories and I wonder how it will go. Our Squad Coach Eileen could not have given a better talk than she did at our Debrief a few days ago. She talked about how some people had a “but” problem. We have an almighty, powerful, and loving God . . . but . . .we have pain and suffering in this world. How does that work? How can both be true? It feels so conflicting.
Her answer, was that she does not really have an answer. However, God has the answer. He sees more of this picture than we do. He has a better and a perfect perspective. We just have to remove the “but” from the previous statement. We have an almighty, powerful, and loving God . . . AND . . . we have pain and suffering in this world. They do not conflict. Both are true. One does not disprove the other. We just do not always understand.
I want to add one more “and” to that statement . . . “And this world is beautiful.”
Rwanda is beautiful. I felt my heart find happiness in Rwanda as soon as we entered this rolling hill country. I love the hills, the patchwork fields, the lights, the people, the bright skirts, the dancing feet, and the joy that can be found in the eyes all around me. Yes, there is pain here, but I have also seen so much joy. It is contagious.
I pray that God will help us see how He is healing the wounded here. I pray that He will help us to join Him in it. I pray that we will be a blessing to Pastor Moses and his ministry.
John 1:44 – 49
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
Our next financial deadline is coming up quick! We need to have $26,000 in our account by October 31st. Please prayerfully consider supporting us as we are looking forward to seeing God work in 9 more countries. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!
