RWANDAAAAA IZ RAD!
So my team and I are finishing up our last week of ministry here in Kabuga! It’s a small village on the outskirts of Kigali in the mountains. The weather is beautiful, although it rains almost daily. The culture is vibrant and I really enjoy the smiles and hugs from the locals. This month we’ve been working with both children and adults. We’ve been teaching English in the mornings at a local school with cute little kids ranging from 3-5. They don’t speak any English and the classrooms lack a lot of resources which could help them pick up more phrases and increase their understanding. Sometimes we don’t even have chalk so we improvise and make up lessons on the fly. I imagine it’s a lot different than teaching English in the United States.
In the afternoons we’ve been going door to door spreading that Good Good News, teaching English to adults, and having guitar & piano lessons for the community. This has been a lot of fun! I really enjoy seeing the community get excited to learn English and hangout with us in the afternoons. Most of them speak at least minimal English so it’s much easier to teach and communicate with them. We also get to talk with them and teach American worship songs. I’ve heard many of their stories, especially those affected by the Rwandan genocide (everyone basically). Many of the young men lost both parents and siblings. My translator and friend Celesti lost his entire family and told me about how he hid in a pile of dead bodies and pretended to be dead. Donesti, our night watchmen and English student, told me about how he also lost both parents in the genocide. Hearing their stories was heartbreaking. I found myself many times at a loss for words. I wanted to say something, to give some sort of comfort, but there’s nothing comforting or “right” to say. The Lord has been teaching me about the power of presence; basically just being present and listening. He’s guiding me through this ministry called “Loving through listening.” He’s teaching me that sometimes that’s the best kind of love.
In addition to music ministry and English lessons, we’ve done a bit of street evangelism. So in my mind I like to put God in a box and tell him how he works (lol). I like to think I know how he can and cannot work, and how he can interact with different people. In my own life I always saw The Lord working through discipleship and that’s how I presumed he always worked. So far Africa has squashed that theory and The Lord has been teaching me that he cannot be boxed in. I’ve seen the Holy Spirit work in a multitude of ways since the start of the world race.
So back to street evangelism. If I’m being honest, I’ve never really been crazy thrilled about street evangelism or door to door evangelism. I’ve always seen the fruit of intimate disciple while I saw door to door evangelism as (quite frankly) superficial. I thought that door to door evangelism would limit the ways I could convey the Gospel and open a space to depict the beauty of what Jesus did on the cross and why he did it. But seriously, those thoughts are really just nonsense. It’s not me doing the work in the first place. The Holy Spirit is the one who does all the work, I’m just a vessel.
My heart for door to door evangelism and street evangelism has changed tremendously over the past six weeks. My pride told me that street evangelism was pointless, superficial, and religious. But The Lord showed me it’s about building relationships and seeing into his children’s hearts. I’ve built friendships with the people I’ve spoken to, laughed with them, cried with them, prayed with them, and encouraged them. I’ve grown to love hitting the streets to talk to people about Jesus. I’ve learned that I can’t box in the Holy Spirit because The Lord can use us to speak truth, love on, and encourage people with the Gospel no matter what the time or space looks like. Whether it’s a 5 minute conversation in line at Mcdonalds or a five hour conversation over coffee, none of it matters as long as we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
Our first day of street evangelism, my teammate Mardie and I teamed up with our translator to go speak with people about Jesus. We met two amazing people, but one really stuck out to us. His name is Evf. He was a short, spunky guy who actually approached us as we were leaving the first mans shop. He wanted to know what two muzungus (white girls hahaha) were doing walking around a village in Rwanda. We told him what we were doing and shared the Gospel with him. He did not believe in God and was confused about Jesus. He had a lot of questions and Mardie and I could both feel the Holy Spirit moving and guiding our conversation. It was evident that Evf was curious and we were loving the authenticity and organic nature of this conversation. It started getting dark and we had to head home so we finished answering his questions and asked if we could pray for him. We made sure that he knew that our conversation was not a coincidence and we felt that the Holy Spirit had divinely planned our interaction and guided our words. I asked if he would like to meet up at church that week and I could answer more of his questions, he reluctantly said yes. I wasn’t sure if I’d see him again.
That Sunday I see a short little man enter in just after worship; Mardie and I were super excited to see his smiling face. Towards the end of the service Pastor John asked if anyone would like to accept Jesus. Evf and another man came to the front and my teammate Alex prayed over both of them. It was beautiful. It was genuine. God was incredibly glorified. I was reminded that The Lord cannot be limited in how he interacts with his children. Our God is a loving & powerful Father; sometimes he asks two Muzungu girls to go out in boldness and share the Gospel on the streets of Rwanda to encourage a young man named Evf. I even saw Evf again this past Sunday and he even said he’d come to our English classes. Yay!!!
So my team and I are leaving for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia next week. We’re super excited to start a new ministry in the mountains of Ethiopia! Woo! Please pray for safe travels and pray that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit this month. Finally, I’m about 800$ away from being FULLY funded! Praise God! Thank you to everyone who has donated, prayed for me & encouraged me. Thank you thank you thank you!!! I’m so grateful. If you’d like to partner with me through donation, you can click on the “Support Me” tab on the left! Love you guys! Xoxo
