Rwanda. I didn’t fully know what to expect. I anticipated the likely similarities it shared with Uganda. But it’s a whole new country. Coming from a Western mindset, when I heard “Rwanda,” I instantly thought “Genocide.” Though I honestly knew nothing about it.
But now when I hear “Rwanda,” my first thought is “Family.”
We were welcomed into our contact’s home, his family, and his church. From day one we felt that we belonged there. Although the fourteen of us (Team #undignified and Team Free Spirit) completely took over their home, there was never a moment that we felt unwanted or that we were a burden. We were met with love and the love never faded, in fact, it greatly increased as time went on. We were so incredibly blessed by our new Rwandan family.
Our days began at a Sewing School held in the church we were a part of during the month. We shared our stories and what God was teaching us with the 20-30 girls there. Each morning we were welcomed with lots of hugs and we parted with the same. In our time there we had the opportunity to hear the girls stories as well. I was inspired and encouraged by their faith and their hope in God. It was a true blessing.
Following Sewing School our two teams parted ways, we spent time doing door to door evangelism both in the neighborhood of the church and in a different part of the city on the way to another church. We had to opportunity to see the beautiful scenery in the outskirts of Kigali as well as meet and pray with many people along the way. Every night we had a church service at The Gospel Center, both the parent church and the sister church outside of Kigali. We worshiped with them, which was always a joy filled time full of dancing and singing and laughing at our attempts to keep up. Following worship two of us would preach.
I can’t even fully express our time in Rwanda. But I will always remember my time there and the amazing people I met.
