Picture this:
Waking up on Sunday
morning to the sounds of birds chirping, roosters crowing, and the sun shining
in your room knowing that you’ll be heading to church soon. Beautiful green
rolling hills outside the window that you can’t get enough of. You walk outside
to brush your teeth in the yard with your bottle of water. You use the
bathroom. The sun is shining and you look at your clothes on the line and see
them starting to dry. You go back in the house and scrounge up some clothes
since everything is on the line drying from laundry day. Between all six of the
teammates you all find something to wear to church. Life is good.
Breakfast is ready.
Tea, chipote, and peanut butter…could life get better? Everyone is ready.
Guitar and Bibles in hand, walk out the front door and see the beauty of Rwanda once
again. A five minute walk to church and you are excited to spend your last day
in the country worshiping God with the people you’ve come to love over the past
three weeks.
Church is great.
People cheer as you enter the building and continue singing their songs of
worship. Then the wind starts blowing. Blowing a lot. And the dust is stirring.
Then the rain starts to fall. People are getting wet. The tarps as the ceiling
are ripping off. People are rushed into the half of the building with a tin
roof. Thunder rolls. The electricity goes out. Where did this come from? The
clouds above are dark.
never stops. No microphones. No keyboard music. No room to move cause everyone
is packed in like sardines (or pickles). Voices rise in unison. Prayer. Songs.
Smiles. Joy.
This was what life was like for me on my last day in Rwanda. It was
one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The church was being torn
apart yet the people never ceased praising the Lord and praying out to Him. I
couldn’t help but smile and join them. I prayed for the wind to stop. I
attempted to sing their songs in Kinyarwanda. I danced a lot. The generator
kicked on and we boogied to some music. The joy on the people’s faces despite
having no room to move was mind-blowing. How could I not worship our God with
them? So my team and I did. We danced and sang for a couple hours until the
wind died down and the tarps were tied back on. Then church continued just as
normal. By far, one of the best church services I’ve ever been a part of.
