Thanksgiving this year looked a little different than usual. I spent the day shoveling rocks and digging trenches at a church that the government shut down because it violated their newly created laws for churches, such as needing sound-proof ceilings and paved parking lots, despite the fact that everyone walks to church. This particular church is among the roughly 6,000 that were forcibly closed in February; its timely reopening is vital because home church is out of the question – the government outlawed the congregation from gathering within any other walls. It made me realize how thankful I am to live in a country where I can worship freely, a country where, if a church were to be shut down, the funds and the labor would come in quickly. This drew my thoughts to so many things that I am grateful for in the place that I am blessed to call my home. I am thankful for plumbing and washing machines and not having to rely on rainwater. I am thankful for quality education that is available to every child and the medical care that has made life better in so many ways. I am thankful for the availability of jobs with wages you can live comfortably on, and I am so thankful to own a car that I can drive on paved, lined roads. There is so much that I am thankful for, but I recognize that it is not right to think solely of what I am thankful for in comparison to Rwanda because there is so much to be thankful for here too. I am thankful for our host family and their sweet children that join me in my workouts and remind me of how fun it is to play hide and seek. I am thankful for the sweetest pineapple I’ve ever tasted that sits on the dining room table every morning without fail. I am thankful for African sunsets. I am thankful for God’s sovereignty and the opportunity to build up the Kingdom through physically building up a church. I am thankful for the barefoot little boy who lives halfway up the big hill on our path and says “hi hi hi hi hi hi” over and over and over again every single morning and afternoon with a gusto that is never dampened and my little friend at the bus stop who just wants to be held. I am thankful for handmade skirts and rides in truck beds that feel like parades because of all the waving hands and smiling faces we pass by. I am thankful for this country and this continent and this Race and this life. I am thankful that there is so much to be thankful for.
