Forewarning, this blog is raw. But you know me, I am a straight shooter.
In one month I will be landing in America after 11 months. wooooow!!! NO WORDS.
Tonight as our team spent time in worship I fell to my knees, filled with so many different emotions. The first one was honor. I am so amazed and honored to have the opportunity
to do what I’ve done this past year. I feel honored that God chose me to love on his children around the world. NO WORDS.
The second emotion was thankfulness. I am thankful for all the places I’ve been and people I’ve met. I am SO thankful to travel the world for a year. I am thankful for all that
I’ve learned, seen and experienced. I cannot believe that this is my life. NO WORDS.
This past month I’ve been in Rwanda. If you don’t know anything about Rwanda, in 1994 they experienced a horrific national genocide between the two dominate ethnicities–Hutu’s
and the Tutsi’s. This country has a deep, intense, emotional history. I had no idea the depth of what happened 25 years ago in this country. However, stepping off the plane, right away I can tell you that this country does not act or look like a genocide occurred
here 25 years ago. No, instead from the outside looking in, you see people who are friendly, and happy and living their lives the best they can. The streets in the capital are nicely paved with cross walks, street lights and plazas. After the genocide there
was a big movement to implement peace and reconciliation movements among the Rwandan people. This country has come a long way. It’s quite amazing actually. NO WORDS.
During our time in Rwanda we stayed at a local pastor’s home where his family lived. At the house we met a guy named James, who did all the cooking for us while we were here. James
is an amazing person(probably one of my favorites i’ve met on the race). James is technically 37, however his ID will tell you he is 31. He told me this is because he wanted to erase and forget 6 years of his life. James was a genocide survivor. He was 12
when it happened. His father was a Tutsi and his mother was a Hutu. During the genocide, his uncle on his mothers side, killed his father. Again, NO WORDS.
James is such a strong, inspirational person. He speaks confidently about his history and testimony because he has found healing in it. He has forgiven his uncle by the grace of
God and is living a better life because it. Wow! To me upon hearing this, I was so moved. The power of forgiveness is amazing. Rwanda, as a country, has a testimony of this powerful and freeing thing called forgiveness.
There are no words for what happened in Rwanda 25 year ago, and there are no words for me to express how thankful I am for meeting James, hearing his story, getting to spend a
month in this beautiful country and over-all getting the chance to traveling the world to 11 countries. WOW! Thank you Jesus.
I have all the “feels” right now, and there are just not enough words to describe them.
