Can you believe that I’ve been in Africa for almost TWO MONTHS now?! What? It amazes me how quickly time is passing. Here’s an overview of our month:
We arrived in Kigali, Rwanda in the evening on Sunday, January 4. Our hosts picked us up and drove us to our home for the month. After a very bumpy ride through a neighborhood of dirt roads, we pulled up to a beautiful house, and three young boys greeted us with excited hugs. After a quick tour of the house, we learned that our team would have two bedrooms to sleep in, a western bathroom complete with a toilet and shower (that work when the water is on…which isn’t always!), a dining room table, and a living room with couches and a TV! God has blessed us immensely this month with this beautiful home and another wonderful family! Both of our Rwandan parents are pastors at different churches- we are working with our mom’s church. Pastors Innocent and Venacia have three boys- 11 year old Joshua, 9 year old Innocent, and 7 year old Prince. These boys each have distinct personalities, and I love them like they’re my own little brothers. Whenever we come home from ministry or any type of outing, we’re always greeted with hugs and them saying, “My sistah!” Those greetings make my heart sing! Having our brothers plus our power couple parents has made for one great month.
Speaking of coming home from ministry, you may be asking what ministry was this month! It has actually looked very similar to last month. We do door-to-door evangelism in a few small groups in the morning for a few hours. Evangelism isn’t my favorite type of ministry, it’s actually way out of my comfort zone. However, this month has been much more comfortable than last month. We’ve made our visits with people much more personal- going into their homes to sit and chat with them. It’s pretty common for us to only visit 2 or 3 homes in the couple hours we’re out. It’s been nice getting to slow down the conversation and get to know people on a more personal level.
After lunch, our team will rest, work out, study the book of Acts together, bathe if there is water, and/or play with our brothers. In the evening, there are services at church where one of us preaches. Other days we have children’s ministry at church where we play games, sing songs, and some of the girls even teach the kids a drama (acting out a bible story) to perform at Sunday service!
This month we’ve gotten to meet numerous people in the community, pastors around town (because Pastor Innocent is supes popular and knows errrbody out here), and Pastor Innocent has taken us on many unexpected tours. I have to take a quick sec and talk about how much I love our parents here. Pastor Innocent is…just.. silly. Holy cow, that man makes me laugh! He has many different titles for himself including Pastor, Guide, Captain, Doctor, Choirmaster, Border Patrol, and may favorite, Dad Innocent. You see, whenever he does something, he’s giving himself a different title.
Driving us to town? Captain Innocent.
Pointing out different landmarks or telling us what’s culturally acceptable? Guide Innocent.
Making sure we don’t eat certain street food even though he’s eating said food? Doctor Innocent.
Singing to us in the car? Choirmaster Innocent.
Blocking his sons so they can’t get to us from the living room? Border Patrol.
Buying us snacks at the corner store? Dad Innocent.
He is so loving to us, always making sure we’re taken care of, and giving us advice. Our mom this month is Venacia. She is a gorgeous, strong, intelligent, and driven woman of God. This lady is silly in a different way- you have to watch her closely to see how funny and sassy she really is. When Pastor Innocent is acting like a fool (typical), she’s off to the side smirking at him, correcting his broken English, and not taking any of his crap. Oh my goodness, I love that woman. She just feels like a mom- we can be sitting at the dinner table and she’ll come up behind one of us and start running her fingers through our hair or talking with us. She’s a comfort to be around.
Now that I’ve gone on and on about the basics of our family and ministry, now I have to brag on the behalf of this gorgeous country.
Guys. Rwanda.
Have you seen pictures of this place? It’s beautiful. There are rolling hills everywhere, lush, green, plants with the brightest flowers I’ve ever seen, and the people here actually take pride in their country and keep it CLEAN. Last month we lived on Trash Mountain, and this month there isn’t any trash in sight. CRAZY.
In other news, I’ll be posting another blog soon (I promise it’ll actually be soon this time)! I’ve learned a lot about the history of Rwanda, and getting to speak to people who were actually here during the dark times has been eye-opening. It’s taken me a bit to actually process all that’s happened this month. It’s been quite the whirlwind…. and I feel like I say that every month. But it’s true! And I’ll blame the craziness of our days for not blogging more. Any down time is filled with playing with the boys, doing things as a team, journaling, and then falling asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow at night.
Overall, Rwanda has been so so so good.
Also! As the final deadline for fundraising is quickly approaching, I’ve never been more thankful for all of the support you’ve given me! Not having to worry about thinking up new fundraisers and having all of that added stress is such a blessing. I can focus all of that attention on what we’re doing here. So, I want to thank you again and again for your generosity and making me fully funded long before the deadline!!
A few of my teammates aren’t in the same boat, though. I will put the links to their blogs below- please prayerfully consider donating to their Races. These women are absolutely vital to this mission, to our team, to our squad, and in God’s plan of advancing the Kingdom. They offer gifts and abilities that nobody else can. I can’t imagine doing this life without them next to me, making me laugh until I cry, praying for me, talking to strangers about Jesus’ crazy love for them, or playing with children on the road.
If you have any questions about the donation process, don’t hesitate to ask! I’d love to walk you through it!
And as always, thank you for your prayers, for your words of encouragement, and for your support! Please keep praying for our health and safety, for our family here in Kigali, for the church and community members here.
THANK YOU!
xo, Caitlin/ Catherine/ Catarina/ Mutesi
