Greetings from Karangazi, Rwanda where I am currently serving the Lord during the 10th month of my race. My team is located in a village named Kizirakome about two and half hours away from the capital city of Kigali. Our entire squad is within the Kigali city limits, and then there’s Team Go for It, two and half hours away. Yup, sounds about right. We are staying with a wonderful woman of faith named, Fatier, who is a pastor of a church called “International Healing Center.” The name is far from what is inside the church. The church consists of about 100 men, women and children who seek the Lord with pure joy through singing and dancing. It’s always a blessing to us when we walk into the doors and fellowship with them for 2 hours.
The Sunday of the 7th, we attended church in the afternoon. We walked in not expecting what we were about to experience. The church had special music and traditional Rwandan dances prepared for the memorial. The special presentations went on for about an hour and in the midst of it, shouts of agony and pain came from the back of the room. Tears were flowing from a couple of womens’ eyes. Fatier brings one of the girls up to sit in the front row with us, when I noticed that I recognized her. She is one of the women that helps Fatier take care of the house and cooks for us. Her name is Julie*, a 26 year old who lost her parents and brother in the genocide attacks and has a broken relationship with her sister and brother-in-law. All 6 of us looked at each other to see if anybody knew what to do. This long-call just got real. And that’s it, we didn’t know what to do and we didn’t know how to feel because none of us have ever gone through what Julie has gone through. As Julie wept in her hands, I leaned over and just rubbed her back to help console her. It was the least thing I can do to show my heart of that matter.
When we got back to the house after the service, we all couldn’t believe what we just experienced. We experienced the pain and agony of somebody losing basically their entire family in one of the world’s most deadly genocides. How can this month bounce back from something like this? God is going to have to show up and work redemption, and sure enough He has. The next Sunday, Julie accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior! She wept more for her acceptance of Christ than when she mourned her family.
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7
In a village where we are the first world race team, nevertheless the first white people to live and work among the people, God is certainly doing His work through us. Every day numerous lost souls are being found during home visits, people are being healed during hospital visits and tons of knowledge is being shared to our fellow brothers and sisters at our church here in Rwanda through our daily sermons. It’s truly amazing what God can do with a chill, restful month. Even during our rest, God still works through us. Like Relient K sings, “Never underestimate my Jesus. You’re telling me there’s no hope, I’m telling you you’re wrong. Never underestimate my Jesus, when the world around you crumble, He will be strong, He will be strong.” (For the Moments I feel Faint)
