At the close of our construction project, we headed back to Kigali and visited some different ministries. One was a jewelry company where women, who used to be prostitutes, came to work and earn a good decent living, instead of prostitution.  They made beautiful necklaces and sold them around the world.  We also visited an orphanage and spent the day with the children.  There were so many amazing experiences in all that as well.   The trip was also a great bonding time with my teammates. 

There were some themes that God taught me, verses that ran through my mind on my trip. 

1. Christ's love compels us.  (2 Cor 5:14).  While flying into Africa on one of the flights, we were surrounded by all sorts of doctors, mission teams, community service teams, etc. All trying to make a difference.  And the difference for us, God's people, is that Christ's love compels us.  That is the driving force behind our efforts. It should not be guilt, or coolness (hey, its cool to go to Africa!), or pride or anything else.  I really learned that.  And so going back to my "normal life" my desire is to have Christ's love compel me.

2. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, yet though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Cor 8:9).  To really love God it takes showing this theme to the world, living it out, demonstrating it.  We really were able to see our richness and see so much poorness and try to live this out.  And my desire is that I can make this a theme of my life more often, to demonstrate that in small and large ways. 

Thanks for reading my blog! 

KIDS

Ok, sorry, I just had to add a couple of cute kid photos in. Boys will be boys. 

And a sticker obsession.  Kids crowded around us to get a sticker put on their forehead, as if we were giving away food to the starving! This guy was one of the serious sticker guys!  

CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

During our working days the children would gather from literally miles around to watch us work.  Some of us would step away from working on the house to spend time with the children (we had plenty of manpower on the house).  This was our opportunity to do a little children's ministry, a vacation bible school sort of thing.  There were a good 20-30 children who would come to us each morning and would spend the day with us until we left.  Slowly their shyness melted away and we would have fun with them and they would gather.  

Our church had made hundreds of little paper heart necklaces for the children with bible verses on them in English and in their own language.  We shared bible stories (with a translator), played games, and gave gifts to them while they were with us.  

This little guy is showcasing the necklaces our church sent us to give.  One day while driving, we spotted a little boy with one of our necklaces on about 4 or 5 miles from the work site! That was so special to see how far we had reached! 

 

We played many games with the kids and they laughed and played as if they had no cares in the world.  

Someone brought a children's bible and with the help of a translator and some great illustrations we told stories as the children gathered around. 

THE PRISONERS

Okay, so I was wrong. The day after the genocide memorial was the topper of the topper.  The next day we went back to our work site and learned just how deep the love and forgiveness of the Lord is. It was our final day with the men and women prisoners that we worked along side. Coming from the genocide memorial the day before, we could feel the seriousness of what the prisoners had done far more deeply.  In essence, they were the ones who put all those bodies in the memorial.  At the close of our work, a couple of them were asked to share their stories, what they did during the genocide.  This man, we called Boss, because he was so hard working and kept everything running smoothly, shared his story of his killing. He was so overwhelmed with the burden of his sin and such deep sorrow over what he had done. He asked us to do everything we could to continue to help Rwanda.  He also said that he loved building houses because it was in some way putting back together what he had destroyed.  

And that is when we got to share specifically, the love of Jesus. We shared the gospel with them and then surrounded them all and prayed for them. And we asked that the Lord would take their burdens and give them new lives of hope and release them from their past.  We also gave them all clothing as well.   But when do we ever have to face forgiveness like that?  "Love keeps no record of wrong, it does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." A perfect God does that for us crazy humans?  Amazing.  

GENOCIDE MEMORIAL

Well, if our emotions weren't all over the place enough, this was the topper.  We visited a site of a mass killing, where 50 thousand people were massacred and thrown into huge pits, some still alive-simply because of the tribe they were born into.  No other reason.  Now, the site is a memorial to remember what happened.  This man was one of the 4 survivors, whose bullet hole is still visible in his scull.  He miraculously escaped and walked to the nearby country, about 20 miles away for medical care. He now works on the site and helps to share his story with visitors in hopes that awareness will prevent this from ever happening again.  His entire family and all his friends were killed on this site and I am sure the sorrow of that is there everyday of his life.  But the most amazing thing, is the forgiveness he shows towards all the convicts.  One can see them everywhere, doing their service projects.  He said that he would probably have done the same thing if he were in their shoes, so he has compassion on them. WOW. 

Basically, about 50 thousand people were told to come to a school, where they were safe. But it turned out to be a lie and while there they were starved for 2 weeks and then attacked with all sorts of brutal weapons, and they were weak and defenseless.  Now, what makes up the memorial exhibit are simply the bodies put out on display, contorted and broken. Adults and children.  It is a very intense reminder of some of the amazingly huge things that the sin of man can do.  And the amazingly huge need of Jesus in our lives.  And the amazingly huge things some people must live through.  How can people suffer so much? How can people inflict so much suffering for such a petty reason? Wow, Lord, we need you. 

This was the school. Now a display of bodies.  Not a civilized American memorial, that's for sure. 

MEETING MY SPONSOR CHILD 

This was one of most wonderful experiences. Together our team was sponsoring about 25 kids so we threw a big party where we could meet them.  They sat in a big line of chairs, and we picked them out one by one.  I had spent the last 2 years simply writing out checks and not having much emotional connection with my ten year old girl, Chantel.  I had been feeling guilty that I wasn't writing much to her or thinking of her and I prayed that God would change that in me.  Of course He did! 

During the party, we gave our sponsor children goats. That is the most practical and prized gift they could get.  Her mother was so thankful as well. 

There was also such a dramatic difference between the sponsored children and the un-sponsored ones.  The sponsored kids looked healthy and had shoes and good clothing.  We could see the damatic difference we were making in their lives.  They also brought all the letters and photos that our team had sent them all over the year. 

We couldn't really communicate.  We had a translator help for a little while, and during that time she told me she wanted to be nurse, lost her father, and loved basketball.  She also loved to sing and sang me an African worship song over and over and over.  But mostly we hugged each other, played soccer, and she sat on my lap. It was amazing how love can transfer from one to another, with no common language.  I want to go back and be long term in her life too. 

I guess God had to bring me all the way across the world in order to do something in my heart.  It ended up to be one of the most profound experiences.  It was the same for everyone on my team.  We were all in tears and I could especially feel the depth of God's heart, that He would call me all the way across the world for this little precious girl. That is the heart of God. 

HOME VISITS

After we finished our work on the site, around 2pm, we would eat lunch, then go visit the families of the homes that were built on the past trips.  They welcomed us into their humble mud homes, and shared shyly how they were doing. We were able to pray for them and give them words of encouragement from the Lord.   They were real families, with real issues, but those issues seemed so unfamiliar, so foreign to me.  How is my child going to eat? How will she get the farming done and finish her homework? How will she take care of 3 of her siblings and go get the water, 2 miles away?  They were a people of faith, stuggling yet dependent faith. They were so thankful we could come. But I ached to be more long term in their life. 

Here is a family that the last team built a house for.  They were struggling and we prayed for their great needs and for God to shine his presence in their lives. He is the one whom could give them peace in the midst of all their troubles and be the One who bring provisions. We also had someone with us who was a medical student and helped give them some medical advice.  Why can't I be more dependent on God like that? 

BACK TO THE MUD

The next day after working on the road, we were back to the mud house work site, getting down and dirty with the convict workers again.  We began to try to learn some words in the Rwandan language from them pertaining to mud and building houses! We taught them a few English words. 

Here I am throwing mud on what would be the kitchen outhouse.  I guess I am bewildering my teammates by my exceptional technique! This must be able to come in handy someday! 

We're doing an assembly line to transport clumps of mud. In the process we tried to get each other a little muddy. 

A ROAD??

One of the projects we had on the second day we were in Rwanda, was to help dig out a road. And of course there is no big machinery there so we used hoes! Really never thought I would be hoeing in Africa along side genocide prisoners (in maroon).  The mayor had us come and help in order to promote community rebuilding. This was a very practical need and a very unusual experience! I got exhausted after 5 minutes (notice me slumping with the blue cap)!  But now I know how to carve out and level a dirt area for a road with only a hoe!  That may come in handy some day!

Here are some of my teammates hoeing!

Here is a larger view of the road we were working on that wound through the hills. 

CHILDREN EVERYWHERE

Of course, the first thing to really hit us all was the poverty and all the children. Children were everywhere.  First thing getting on the bus, we were deluged with children begging for food. Their clothing was filthy and much of it had holes and they had no shoes. We were able to interact with so many children during our time and we learned from them what simplicity means.  When we were on the work site, children from miles around would come to watch us and we were able to do all sorts of things with them. We did bible stories and all sorts of activities for them.  20-30 children gathered at our site and we would play with them and sit them on our laps.  They had a simplicity that we Americans really do not have much of.  They found such pleasure in the little things of life. We also felt their neediness. They swarmed us at times in an overwelming way for things we didn't think twice about, like empty water bottles and stickers.  They were all very close to each other, as they spent long days, outside roaming the hills with each other. Siblings who were very young, 8 or 10, took care of their younger siblings, carrying them on their backs all day. 


But there was also still a simple joy in them, that the poverty had not destroyed. 

That was great to see. Our team bonded with the children so quickly. We couldn't really communicate in words (although we did have translators), but it was so special to communicate non verbally, much of the time with hugs and hand shakes.  We just wanted to take them all home with us. 

Especially these cuties!

MAIN PURPOSE

For much of our time we helped build a house for a widow and her family (this was a duplex!) by simply throwing mud on walls!  We built along side genocide convicts, who were in a special program of community service, as they confessed and repented of what they had done during the genocide.  They taught us the best techniques of mud throwing! They were kind and gracious and we bonded with them quickly.  Even after just a week of working with them, it was so hard to say good bye!  So each day we worked on the site from about 9am to 2pm.  They would mix the mud right next to the house from already existing land, and then we would transport the mud to each other to throw (sometimes at each other!). 

OUR FIRST STEPS

It was emotional to fly into Kigali, where in 1994, the president's plane was shot down and he was killed, starting the genocide, that killed 1 million people in just a couple of months.  But it was also exciting to know I was coming to offer everything I could to these people.

ALMOST THERE BUT NOT QUITE!

I must say our 30 hour trip (each way) was the hardest thing I have done in a long time!  We flew from New York to London, from London to Nairobi, and then on to Kigali, Rwanda. Top that off with a 3 hour bus ride! I look very tired there, don't I! 

My Trip To Rwanda 

July 4th to July 16th 2009. 

Sorry for the delay! But I will give you a small glimpse of what I experienced, what God showed me, and some of the lives we got to minister to, through my trip to Africa.  My church, Trinity Baptist Church, has taken to adopting a community in southern Rwanda.  Our church sends teams multiple times a year, where we do a variety of things to develop the community and share Christ's love.  Over the past few years, we have built 10 houses, 5 water wells, and our church sponsors over 1000 children in that one area.  This time I was able to go! It was only a 2 week trip and generally my stubborn self feels that I can only make an impact in a place long term, but of course God showed me that He can take everything we do, long or short, and use it for His glory.  This was also a trip of taking in so much from what I saw.  The people of Rwanda have had to experience things far beyond what Americans ever do and in just 2 weeks, I have felt the depth of their need, simplicity, forgiveness, and faith.  Every day they grapple with so many things we never have to think about and a hugely painful past. But it was very clear that God has used that for such glory.   It was amazing to experience so much of it in the that short time I was there.