I can already tell this month is going to be a rejuvenating
one.
As we crossed the border into Rwanda, I experienced a small
form of culture shock. The roads are
paved, no trash is allowed on the grounds (plastic bags are banned here as to
keep the environment cleaner), there are LED screens flashing in the city,
there are gardens planted throughout the countryside, there are city buses, there
are traffic lights. Are we still in
Africa? Because of the tropical climate
here, our first thought was when did we land in L.A.?
I know my first thought when I heard that our route was
changing to include Rwanda, was of the Rwandan genocide that occurred not long
ago. In 1994, over 800,000 Rwandese were
brutally massacred in a civil war founded on racism of two people groups- the
Tutsi and the Hutu. It was an awful war
that tore the country apart and left millions of people without homes. With the history of this war in my mind, it
has absolutely amazed me the progress that this country has made. Rwanda has not only made impressive strides
forward since the war, but it has also surpassed that of African countries
surrounding this small country. It gives
me hope for Africa.
Don’t get me wrong with my description of Rwanda either- it
is still Africa. The beautiful, rich
culture that is the foundation of Africa runs deep here. Although the progress forward involves
Western ideas, it is not tainted by them.
Kigali (the capitol and city we are living in this month) is beautiful. There is lush greenery
located throughout the streets; the shops are almost all still open and the people
are extremely friendly without being abrasive.
It feels like paradise.
As we were crossing into Rwanda, our squad leader Sarah
prayed a month of rejuvenation, peace and rest over our squad. As my previous blog talked about, last month
was a tough one for all of the teams.
And that was necessary. The
lessons and challenges we were dealing with were good and absolutely crucial to
our growth. But so is rest and I truly
believe the Lord is blessing us with that this month.
When we arrived at the Kigali bus area, our contact, Pastor
Robert met us there. You know when you
meet someone with kind eyes and you can tell they are just a genuinely wonderful
person? Well, that’s Pastor Robert. He is one of the most gentle, loving,
Spirit-filled men I have ever met. He
welcomed us into his amazing home with open arms, along with his wife Regina
and six children (all of whom are older than 16, so many are at college). His daughters Maureen and Rosie stay at the
house with us though and they are such loving, wonderful women. The house we are staying in is
beautiful. It is huge and also has a bathroom (with a toilet and shower,
what?), a living room with a T.V., a beautiful dining room and a huge bedroom
that our team shares. While all of this
is wonderful, it absolutely is the loving spirits of the family here that is
already making this month special. After
we had entered Pastor Robert’s home and taken chai and hot chocolate, he told
us that he wanted to wash our feet to welcome us. It was one of the most humbling beautiful
acts of kindness I have ever experienced.
Mind you, our feet are disgusting.
Absolutely not touchable. And
here is this man who has just met us, washing our feet and telling us how much
he loves us already. He has been such a
portrait of Jesus to me. He keeps referring to us as his daughters 🙂. He also is so respectful of our team and any
culture differences there may be. He
keeps telling us to “be free� with everything and to feel free to request
anything. Although, everything we have
received has been such a treat in itself.
We even received pasta salad yesterday!
Pastor Robert is the pastor of the most beautiful church as
well. He leads an apostolic church in a
village in a rural mountainside of Kigali.
It is legitimately a good 25-30 minute hike after we get dropped off by
the bus. We hiked to it yesterday to
lead a bible study and it was one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever
done. I had to remind myself that the
landscape I was seeing was real. It is
also going to whip our butts into shape (which is a good thing since Pastor
Robert is also adamant about turning us into large African women, haha). Here are some pictures from our hike:
We were greeted at the church by about 10-15 village members,
along with about 15 children, singing and dancing for us. It was most definitely the best possible
ending to our hike.
Thanks again for reading! Love you all <3
