» Training, buttermilk and dancing in the aisles!
Now that the pastor’s training seminar has come to a close, and I am safely tucked back into my bed at the Moucecore Guest House in Kigali, I thought I’d cover a few highlights of the week past, which included a bunch of training, a little bit of buttermilk, and embarassingly–dancing in the aisles! Because we left the laptop with the rest of the team, I was unable to blog (you’re saying ”that’s why they’re shorter” 
) during the week and wanted to share with you how the Lord used our time while apart from the rest of the team.
Emmanuel and I left early Tuesday morning (9/23) and began the two-hour trek to the “upland country” of Ruhengeri. A scenically beautiful, but very curvy road–even saw a couple of monkeys playing along the highway. About an hour into the trip, sucking in diesel fumes and dodging craters in the road that would rival black holes, I became ill and nearly needed to stop. But God was good and allowed me to finish the trip. When we arrived at the Iglise de Pentecote (the host church) I heard many men singing at the top of their lungs in praise. It was amazing. Ushered in like royalty, we had a wonderful ceremony (remember, Rwanda churches are BIG on ceremonies), and then we began our four-day conference. The Lord empowered me to preach a message from Ezekiel 34 about good and bad shepherds, which led to a significant time of repentance as we prepared our hearts for the week. It warmed my heart to see most every man in the room (all 162 of them) bow their hearts to the Lord, prostrate on the cement floor crying out to God to make them the men He had called them to be. We had a great time of bonding relationally throughout the rest of the morning. We then launched into teaching Bible Study methods and Rules of Interpretation. God repeatedly gave me relevant illustrations from the Rwanda culture as I taught basics—and I mean basics. They were so open to learn, and gracious to receive instruction. They have an obvious love for the Word of God, and came to the conference at significant sacrifice to themselves and their family. It was not uncommon for men in attendance to have walked the first three hours to the roadway, then hop on a bus for the one hour ride it took them to get to the church. There is a school on the grounds of where the church is located, where two rooms were used to house the visiting pastors. Mattresses were rented to put on the floor, and each man was thrilled with their accomodations. Some came on their bikes, some walked, some were bused in. I shall not soon forget visiting by invitation where they were sleeping. After one day’s meetings, Emmanuel and I walked to their new “dormitories”. Each group of 50+ men greeted us with singing and dancing to show how much they loved us and our visit to where they were sleeping. I sat on one of their mattresses and joined in with them, and they were so happy. During the week, we enjoyed many meals prepared by their version of a church “culinary” team. Rwandans love to eat, and love to be with you when you eat. These pastors worshipped God with all of their hearts, mind AND bodies. Dancing with joy, they even encouraged me to get into the action. You all know how good my rhythm is—it was quite the sight! Fortunately, I don’t think there is a video record of my escapades, but God was praised, and I was blessed to participate in their amazing worship.
All in all, we had an excellent time together and the men were super encouraged to receive the training, and are literally begging for more. And the Lord protected my vocal chords all week long–not even a hint of hoarsness after preaching and teaching the entire week. Emmanuel and I had a blast working together. He’s an amazing interpreter, right down to my hand movements. And for those who know me, that’s quite a challenge! They told me I was a Rwandan, except for my color…:) meaning that my energy and style fit their culture! Not sure how to take that. We closed with a “ceremony” on Friday afternoon which was attended by a national radio newsman and a newspaper reporter for the TimesNews. Our gathering received national attention, and ever since returning to Kigali numerous persons have mentioned to Emmanuel that they saw us on television, or heard his interview on the radio. Never have I seen such openess and interest in the things of God. This is one field that is WHITE, WHITE, WHITE unto harvest. I preached a strong free grace message Thursday evening to the local church whose church we were hosted by and several trusted Him for salvation. Other evenings were filled with authentic African experiences for this boy. We were invited to a pastor’s home to see his cows. Yes, cows. He was proud of the five he had, imported from Germany, Australia, etc., and how productive they were as milk producers. He sells the milk to a coop where the current price for a gallon would be about $1.50 U.S. Then, we were invited into his home to enjoy some “milk”…not just any milk, but the thickest milk product I’ve ever tasted…closest I can come to describing is buttermilk, but not really. I sipped slowly, while Emmanuel gulped. They laughed at me, and said “I would get used to it if I lived in Rwanda”. I’m not sure about that one. Another evening we ate in another pastor’s home. His children were begging him to bring home the “mazungus”…it was late and they got to stay up long enough to sit on my lap, and learn their names and play with them briefly. They were SOOO cute. We prayed together and they scurried off to bed. Their daddy (Pastor Joshua) became a good friend of mine through the week. He serves as the regional pastor and has oversight of 1000’s of believers, while attending a Bible school in Uganda. A last highlight was a dinner Friday night in a “lodge” located near the base of the National Volcanoe Park, where gorillas abound…for a price…Just a mere $500 will get you a peek up close and personal. Needless to say, we didn’t do that. I ordered a “hawaiian” pizza which was great–but the most memorable event ocurred when a dowdy white woman walked into the restaurant all slumped over with a funny hat, and a tiny little flashlight turned on. She was trailed by her equally interesting husband. I looked at her, and lost it. She looked so funny to me. I exchanged glances with Emmanuel who had just witnessed the same. That’s all we needed. We both ended up in a complete meltdown of laughter. This triggered another table next to us, and the entire restaurant turned silent except for the three of us in abandoned giggles which lasted for ten minutes or more. Even the suggestion of a gorilla hunt triggers laughter to this moment. It’s one of those “you had to be there” kind of moments, but the laughter was good to the soul this night.
As I fell into bed Friday night in an exhausted heap, I praised God for how he used me to encourage and equip and empower men and women who will be strategic to reaching Rwanda with the Good News of Jesus. Saturday morning we greeted the team enjoying breakfast together before we headed out to Gesenyi for which another blog has already been posted.
Yesterday, Sunday, we found our team dividing up to share the “American joy” with three local churches. Marilyn and Arlene were the featured speakers at one church; Evelyn, Debbie and Josh ministered to a Sunday School over two services at another church where some of the team members also attended worship services. Greg preached at Emmanuel’s home church, Gakyngiro for two services, where 45 persons trusted Christ as their Savior. Never experienced people running to get a seat in church before. Not only that, they ran for the front seats. Once again, our team witnessed a major contrast to an Amercan mindset of worship and desire to hear the preaching of God’s Word.
We returned to the guest house for lunch, and then headed out to a local genocide memorial site. It was as sobering as we anticipated it to be, if not more. Words will never express the emotion one feels when the depravity of man is manifested in such gruesome ways. The site was very well done, if well-documented pictures of torture, murder, and horror make it so. We learned yesterday that at least five of Emmanuel’s immediately family are buried at this site, which made the visit to this site all the more poignant.
Today, Monday, the Sewing Team dispatched early to get more supplies and head to Kabuga for the final day of instructions, and some limited “business orientation” training to give some early pointers to the group of women who will soon begin their own business. Today they received their first real orders…the team has placed orders for 34 items including neck ties, cinch bags, wallets and over-the-shoulder bags. While the entire team takes off tomorrow to sight see in Akagera National Park, the ladies will be busy sewing the orders all on their own for the very first time. There was a little trepidation from the ladies as they realized our team is soon leaving, and more than a little sadness as they have bonded so well to the Americans. The love of Jesus has been felt and lived over the past 6 days. Come Wednesday morning we’ll return to see how well they did! How exciting for us and for them. Krysti and Jeannie, along with Marilyn, Debra and Vicki have done a fine job getting the ladies prepared to launch! It’s graduation day on Wednesday and the press will be there, along with the mayor and vice-mayor of Kabuga in attendance to witness this important event in the lives of women in Rwanda.
For the team- Greg
Posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008