African Beetle's on 40 Days of Purpose

Well today is the big day.  It is the day we have all been waiting for.  It is the big stadium event and the launching of the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign in Rwanda.  The girls and I met up with Steve’s team at about 12:30 and headed over to the stadium.  Apparently when we got there some of the people were freaking out about the VIP passes into the stadium.  We all had to have a pass to sit in our section, however the passes were not there.  So all the people that were worried came to me for answers, of which I did not have any.  So I made a call to Shawn and found out what was going on.  Steve even came up to me and said, “I figure if anybody knows what’s going on here its you”.  Interesting but I had no information at that particular moment.  Eventually, we all got into the stadium just fine after going through a big security check. 

 

We sat in our seats and we were seated in the section right above where all the dignitaries and Rick and Kay and President Kagame were going to be seated.  We sat down only to discover we were also sitting with grasshoppers, cockroaches, and the biggest African beetle in the history of the world.  Seriously I did not even know they came in this size.  If I knew I could super size my beetle’s I would have just requested the small one’s.  It was disgusting!  The lady that was seating everyone would walk by the cockroaches and step on them and you could just hear them crunching under her feet.  It was really appetizing.  All we needed was a chocolate fountain and we could have had a delicacy in certain countries! 

 

Well Rick and Kay and the rest of the White House and Rwandan government representatives and the Archbishop and other pastors and Shawn came in and sat down.  Our group started yelling when Rick walked in and he waved to them appeasing their joyful yelps and frantic waving.  Shawn invited me to come down and sit with them which I was really happy about since there were no nuclear sized beetle’s or cockroaches down there.  They finally got started and President Kagame came in and sat down next to Rick.  The had some opening speeches and prayers and then Rick got up and spoke.  He spoke for about an hour or so on the Purpose Driven Life and explained what the 5 purposes are.  The full stadium was really excited and they would clap and yell hallelujahs through out his speech.  Then the President got up and spoke and they had a graduation ceremony for all the pastors that went through the PDL training.  It was a pretty neat event.  The stadium hold about 30,000 people and there was probably 20-25,000 people there.  It was a free event to anyone in Rwanda. 

 

We also found out that the 3 Rwandese girls from the other night  had come to church this morning and they all came to Jesus!  Including the Muslim girl!  So Amy (Michael’s mom) gave them cross necklaces which they were super excited about.  So after the event was over Floyd (a leader in the team) and I brought them over to Rick and told him their story.  He was excited to hear it and gave them hugs and I took pictures of them with him.  They had the biggest smiles on their faces!

 

It started raining and because this is Africa (TIA) the power went out.  Well the Rwandan secret services guys just about broke down a glass door trying to get inside with a large flashlight to reach the President.  They came storming past us and bolted upstairs to him.  The power came back on and they walked him back downstairs past us and out him in his Mercedes and this cavalcade drove off.  It is interesting to see how they protect their President compared to how we protect ours.  They walk him right past us and get in the cars parked right out front of the stadium.  We have secret entrances and multiple exits and nobody is allowed near him.  And yet they walk him right past everyone (at least the VIP’s). 

We said our goodbye’s and the team went back to their hotels and we of course, went back to Bourbon.  

National Clean Up Day

Today was the national clean up day so all businesses and roads are closed and every Rwandan is required to clean up the city.  It starts at 8am and ends at 12 noon.  It was difficult because no one is allowed to drive unless you have a special driving permit on this day.  It caused a real problem for some of the staff who had to get to the airport to pick people up.  Steve’s team was able to get the driving passes and made their way over to the Amahoro Stadium to do some clean up and prayer walking for the big event tomorrow.  We were all stuck in the house until 1:00 because we could not get a ride anywhere.  

 

Caroline, Jade, and I finally met up with the team at Bourbon around 3pm and went over to a church to hand out more shoeboxes.  As usual the kids were on stage singing and dancing.  There was a big sign on the top of the church wall that said “Discover Your Purpose Driven Life”.  The kids were just as excited today to get the boxes as the kids were yesterday.  I sat with some kids and we went through their boxes together.  One little girl had chapstick in her box and we played dress up with the chapstick and her hair brush and hair clips (even through most Rwandan girls have shaved heads).  She would copy everything that I did.  She was so cute.  I love seeing the excitement and joy in the children’s faces.  They just get so overwhelmed with excitement.  It is a pure joy and blessing to witness this.

 

Since we got a late start in the day this was our only activity.  Our church visit was followed up by dinner at New Cactus which I was happy about until I found out they had pre-ordered all the pizzas and unfortunately they had chosen the worst pizzas on the menu.  I should have just ordered my own, but needless to say I think I ate an entire one myself!  HA!  I don’t complain, I just take what I get and I’m totally happy!

 

Shawn was gone really late picking up Kay and Rick and all the media people from the airport.  They all came in on different flights and one of the Fox guys didn’t make it.  He stayed behind in another country because some of their sound equipment didn’t make the flight to Kigali.  They are doing a documentary on the P.E.A.C.E. plan.  He got back at about 2 am and was extremely tired and wet from being outside in the rain.  He works so hard here, I am so proud of him.

 

Shoeboxes

Since my team trip is now over I am on my own here in Rwanda.  Not technically though.  Jade, Caroline, and I are now teaming up with Steve R.’s team.  They have a group of about 30 people and we are tagging along to document their trip since Jade and Carline are writing the P.E.A.C.E. blog for the church.  Today we are going to a school called Kingdom to hand out the Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes.  It is so incredible to see the boxes being handed out to the children.  Every year I make one but I never get to see where they go and today I was able to experience that. 

 

When we got to the school the kids were all lined up and singing songs to us.  It was their last day of school and all the parents were there for a celebration and to meet with their children’s teachers.  They sang songs to us and performed dances and then Steve’s team sang a song to them.  Steve told them about the shoeboxes that they all were going to get and took a box out.  He brought up a little boy, looked inside the box and told him what was in there was really great and that he was going to love it!  He had him stand in front of his school next to us and had him hold the box but he said he wasn’t allowed to look inside it. 

 

Their team brought 4 soccer balls over to give to the kids so Steve asked for 2 girls and 2 boys to come up to the front.  He took two of the Samaritan’s Purse boxes and set up boundaries as the goal and this man Michael was the goalie.  Steve told the kids that he was the best goalie in the United States and possibly the world.  He then told the kids that they had to kick the ball past the goalie and they would win the ball for their school, but if they missed, we would keep the ball.  So the first kid comes up, he goes to kick the ball and Steve pushes the ball out of the way with his foot before he got a chance to kick it and the goalie drops to the ground in the fetal position.  It was really funny.  He then told the kid he needed to go get some advice on kicking the ball.  He let him kick it again and when he did “the world’s best goalie” looked up the other direction and completely missed the block so they got to keep the ball.  The next kid comes up and it is a girl.  She proceeds to kick it and Steve moves it out of the way again.  When he finally let her kick it, the goalie runs away.  Everyone laughed and then he brought up a little boy to kick.  But this time they used Michael’s son, little Michael as the goalie since he and the 2 kids kicking were about the same size.  The exact same thing happened two more times.  Needless to say they all won the balls for the school.

 

Now back to the little boy holding the shoebox, Steve finally allowed him to open the box, but only after Steve went though it first hiding it from the kids and making a really big deal out of it.  Everyone laughed but the boy finally got his box of gifts.  So they sent the kids to their classrooms and divided the boxes up by the particular age groups and we started handing them out.  The top five kids in each classroom were rewarded with two shoeboxes and the rest of the kids all got one box.  They were all so excited.  They were jumping up and down and yelling and laughing.  Comparing the gifts in their boxes and showing them all off.  Most of the boxes contained candy and so many of the kids tried to share their candy with us.  They are so sweet!  Being so poor and having so little these boxes meant so much to them and they have such big hearts that they try and share what little they have with us.  We all politely declined though but played with them and their new toys.

It was such an awesome thing to see the kids that get these boxes that we all put together every Christmas in the “Operation Christmas Child” drive every year.  Seeing the other side of the boxes makes you want to make more and appreciate the little effort it took just to put one together.  The candy was probably the biggest hit of all the things in the boxes but the soap and toothbrushes/toothpaste are vital since these children cannot afford to buy it themselves.  So thank you to anyone and everyone that has put a box together for a child.  It is a small token on our part but an overwhelming experience for the children on the other side of the world receiving it!

Flying Team, Flying Tea

Today is my team’s last day in Rwanda.  We started the morning with no electricity and no water so we had to “rough it” in the wild!  We went back out on safari at 7 am after breakfast in the hotel.  They have the most amazing mango juice that they serve there.  It is so good! 

This time our safari was down to the lake side.  On the lake side is where the elephants, leopards, monkeys, and hippos are.  I was on a mission to find the elephants and Robert was on a mission to find a leopard.  To our dismay, we found neither.  We did find a bunch of hippos and of course the impalas were everywhere.  We drove around looking for the elephants but we never found them, sometimes the safari guides will go days without seeing them and then other times they will see a whole group of them.  We did come across a hippo out of the water.   I had to pee really bad and when we were taking pictures of the hippo I turned around and found a bathroom.  So I excitedly grabbed the roll of toilet paper from the van and ran up the hill.  Shawn and Caroline ran up there with me, Shawn for protective reasons and Caroline had the same problem I did.  This bathroom was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.  It had not been used in probably three or four years and whatever was festering inside of it just made me nauseous.  But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  So I closed the door, held my breath and went for it.  Being as careful as I could not to touch anything for fear of getting the herpasyphagonamalariaids.  Yes, that’s right I said it.  Anyways, shortly before I passed out from the smell I noticed that I was not in there alone, I was in there with 3-4 wasps, so I very very quickly ran out and that was the last time I will ever do something like that again.  Next time I will just use the bush.  It was pretty gross.  Shawn thought that it was hysterical and decided to take pictures of me running out all grossed out.  Caroline seeing how traumatic of an experience I just had, wisely decided to use the bush behind this wonderful non-flushing, clogged up hole of a little toilet instead.  Needless to say it was an adventure. 

Gaining no ground on the elephants we decided to visit the giraffes once more and then we went back to the lodge to have lunch and check out.  The power was off once again, along with the water for a short time.  But thankfully both came back on and my team was able to shower before we checked out. 

We headed back to Kigali and once we got into the city we headed over to our church to say goodbye to our pastor once more.  When we got there he had a gift for all of us.  It was a personalized, framed, certificate of appreciation for everything we did with the church and it listed every activity we participated in.  It was very special and something to remember our church here in Rwanda by. 

After our final goodbye, dropped Caroline and Jade off at Bourbon Coffee and we headed to the P.E.A.C.E. office so my team could get their luggage.  They repacked, loaded up the van and we took off to the airport.  I said goodbye to my team and sent them on their way back home.  Shawn and I went back to the P.E.A.C.E. office and picked up mine, Caroline, and Jade’s luggage and went to drop it off at the Presbyterian Guest House where we were going to be staying.  Once we got there however, the team that was arriving that night, Steve’s big team of 30 had already taken up all of the rooms except for one room.  This room however could only sleep two people, not three.  So we decided to leave the luggage there and we would talk to Steve and try and switch rooms with two of the women on his team that had a bigger room.  So we went back to the airport to meet Steve’s team that was arriving.  Once we got there Jean Marie and I left to go back to Bourbon Coffee.  

I got there, sat down, and ordered some tea.  Trying to calm down from all of the excitement and running around from the day/night I was a little flustered and wound up.  Sitting in Bourbon drinking my tea, the girls and I proceeded to be attacked by large dragonfly/moth looking bugs.  Not knowing what they were and getting extremely annoyed that they were coming in from the patio doors that were open, and that they were flying all around us, Jade decides to take a pillow from the chairs we were sitting on and kill one.  Seeing her brave gesture, Carline and I proceed to do the same.  At one point I was sitting in my chair and one landed on my foot so I kicked my foot up in the air to shake it off of me and I ended up spilling tea on myself.  So now I am getting really annoyed at these irritating African dragonfly/moths, and in an effort to show these things that I meant business I hold my pillow like it is a baseball bat and swing really hard at the next one that comes at me.  Well being the extreme athlete that I am, I somehow miss the crazy African moth and end up hitting Caroline and Jade’s tea pot and cups, sending them flying across the room!  Now, here at three muzungo’s (white people in Kinyarwanda) swinging large chair pillows around in a coffee shop filled with people at night and one of them throws a tea pot and two cups across the room.  Tell me we did not cause a scene, I dare you!  Jade turned around and just about bolted out of the room, Caroline, I have no idea where she ducked to, and I doubled over laughing in embarrassment.  It was ridiculous!  I felt so stupid.  It was so funny we all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.  Thankfully the tea pot and cup did not break but I did spill tea everywhere!!!  The waiter came over and brought a couple napkins to clean it up.  I felt so bad I kept apologizing and every time I’d apologize he’d say “it’s ok” and then he would apologize to me.  So we helped him clean it up and when Shawn finally made it back to us we had to relive it all over again and tell him the story.  We were crying again from laughing. 

 

Jean Marie drove us all back to the Presbyterian but we now had a dilemma.  We could not switch rooms with someone from the team that just arrived so we have to find somewhere else to stay.  So we headed over to the Iris but they had no rooms either since Steve’s team has taken up the remainder of the rooms there as well.  So now it is almost midnight, its raining, and we are homeless.  The girls and I have no place to go.  So Shawn makes an executive decision and brings us back to the house he is staying at.  The people that live there are American’s and rent out the many rooms for people that come into town.  We were scheduled to stay there anyways, but not for another week.  And despite all the running around, it was well worth it.  This place feels like home!  It is really nice and more importantly it is CLEAN and has HOT WATER!   Something we have not had since we have been here. 

In Kigali there is dirt everywhere!  It is all over the place and it stays with you.  I mean it is so bad you will start coughing it up.  So to be in a home where there is no dirt and you can actually walk around bare foot was such a blessing!  I took a hot shower and all I could say was “PRAISE EM”!!! It was awesome!  Plus my mattress is so comfy!  I love it!   So all in all it was a great day and a funny day to say the least! 

Its Hailing Giraffes

Well today we check out of the Amani and head out to Akagara to go on safari.  Jean Marie came and picked me up from the Amani and we loaded up the van with all of the luggage and headed over to the PEACE office to drop it all off and pick up Shawn.  We locked it up, headed back to the Amani, and picked up the team.  We headed out to Akagara which is about a 2 ½ hour drive.  Once we got out to the dirt road which is about 40 minutes from the lodge it started raining, and then it started really raining, and then it started hailing.  It was hailing so loud we could not hear each other talk nor could we see anything!  Jean Marie stopped the car and we waited out the hail.  Once we could see again we kept driving down the road until we came to a tree that was lying in the middle of the road.  The only way to get through it was to move the tree.  There was another car that was trying to come the other direction that was sitting there waiting as well.  So Shawn, Cindy, Phil, Jean Marie, and I all jumped out of the car and pulled the tree back.  We could not actually move it because it was too heavy but we held it back while Jean Marie ran back to the van and drove through.  We held it for the other car as well and once we were able to get back in the van it looked as though we had all jumped into the lake.  To say we were soaked was a complete understatement. 

 

We finally got to the resort and the rain had stopped and we checked into the lodge.  We got our rooms only to find out that the power was out once again, but we dropped out stuff and headed out on safari.  We picked up our guide and drove around for about and hour and a half.  We saw lots of impalas, warthogs, zebras, buffalo, and the best thing was the giraffe’s.  We drove pretty close to them and jumped out of the van taking pictures.  We were able to get about 10 feet from them, it was incredible!  We saw more animals but nothing that cool.  Once it started getting dark we headed back to the lodge and settled in and ate dinner.  We had a team debrief which was pretty good to reflect back on our week together and everything that we have seen, learned, and experienced.  

 

The biggest thing for me was seeing how much these people love the Lord.  Despite all of their poverty and emotional problems and sicknesses they have so much joy.  Joy is something that comes from within.  You cannot buy it and nobody can give it to you except the Lord.  Most of us have happiness which is bought and temporary.  We have so much and yet we are ungrateful, lazy and complain so much about things.  The people here work so hard and yet they have so little.  They are not as concerned with getting riches here on earth but rather the riches they will be given in heaven.  Their main concern is survival, forgiveness, and worshipping the Lord.  Christ is the center of everything here and it is amazing to see.  Even the shop names say things like, Praise the Lord.  I am not saying that all Americans or westerners are ungrateful, lazy, and complain, but the majority of us do.  I know that I do it.  It is because we get so caught up in our society and man pleasing that we forget what is truly important.  We forget that we do not need to be rich or have such earthly wealth, but that we need the love and joy that only God can give us and to reflect that love and joy on the people around us.  Making new believers and being Christ-like.  That is what our focus should be on.  Not on making lots of money so we can gain status on earth, but being a Christ follower and then being rich in heaven.  By accepting the blessings and the hurts that come from the Lord, we too can be joyful despite our hurts and pains and struggles here on earth.  This life is so short.  Where is your focus?  Is it temporary, just focused on the few short years that we will spend here?  Or is it eternal?  Focusing on spending our eternity in heaven with the Lord, enjoying the riches that he will give us when that day comes.

 

Saying Goodbye

Today is our last day with our church.  In the morning we met with the President of the church and he gave us the outline and the goals of the Church’s five year plan.  Everything that they have set forth is completely in line with what the PEACE plan suggests.  They started it back in 2006 and it is still going on today.  After our meeting we went across the street to visit the school kids.  They were so excited to see us!

 

We all piled into the van and went to see the Friends Peace House.  This is a house that counsels people that were affected by the genocide.  They counsel widows, genocide orphans, prisoners, prisoners that are released and the prisoners wives.  They team the prisoners wives with the widows so that they may counsel each other and get answers.  The wives have to go to their husbands and ask them if they are willing to ask for forgiveness from the widowers, if they wish to ask, the wives will usually only grant forgiveness if the prisoners are able to answer some of the questions they have, along with telling them where their loved ones are buried.  When a prisoner is released, they have to go through a counseling process either from the friends peace house, or other similar peace houses.

 

After our visit to the Peace House, we went back to the church and the school has a dance group that was going to perform for us.  The girls and boys started out by singing a few songs and then the girls did some traditional African dancing for us.  They were really cute.  They pulled my team up to dance with them for a little bit while I video taped them.  They were so intrigued by the fact that my computer could video tape them and they could see themselves. 

 

We then proceeded to Bourbon Coffee so we could all get lunch.  Shawn was there and after lunch, Darwin left to go preach PDL on the radio.  After he was done, Pastor Gasparrd, Darwin, and Augustine came back to Bourbon to pick us up.

 

We left to visit two of the groups connected with the church that teach people how to read.  It was great to see these two different groups of people sitting in this little room facing a chalkboard learning to read, children and adults.  On the way back to the church from the second group visit we saw the ladies from the basket making group.  They were really excited to see us again, as we were excited to see them again too.  We visited with them for a few minutes and prayed for them once again.  On the way out this little boy kept jumping on the back of the van, Jean Marie kept stopping and he would jump off but by the third or forth time Jean Marie stopped the car really fast, got out and chased him down.  The kid got scared and Jean Marie and the pastor took him to the side of the car and talked to him, I think Jean Marie even spanked him.  It was pretty funny.

 

We headed back to the church for a farewell.  Pastor Gasparrd had a group of people there that we had met throughout the week.  Phil got up and preached to them and then we were asked to stand before everyone as a team.  I told them that we were sad to leave them all.  That each one of them had touched us in such an incredible way.  We had come to Rwanda to teach them, but they had actually taught us.  I explained that they showed us that no matter what was going on in our lives we could still have joy.  That joy is something that comes from within and happiness is only an outside thing.  We do not need happiness to experience joy, and that is what they had and we needed more of.  They have so much joy and live for Jesus and it was such a blessing to see that.  After I spoke to them, they all gathered in a circle around us and held hands and prayed for us.  It was incredible.  It was such an awesome God moment.  You could feel the love they had for us and the love of Christ in that room.  They were God’s protective hedge surrounding us. 

 

Afterwards, we headed to Pastor Gasparrd’s house for dinner.  He lives on church property.  The dinner was a feast and it was delicious.  We talked for a while and then Augustine shared his testimony with us.  What an incredible testimony he has.  When he was a child his father told his mother that he is not his son and that she needed to go find his father.  So when he was 2 years old, she took him to the northern part of the country and dropped him off with his great grandmother.  They did not want him either but because of the situation they took him in.  He was raised with a family that was not only suffering from extreme poverty, but also did not accept him as family.  He was not able to pay for school, but he would hang around the school and ask the teacher if he could attend.  They let him in but he could not afford the books.  They even told him that he wasn’t good enough to attend the school.  In 1994 as he was about to graduate from secondary school the genocide happened and his entire family was killed.  He was not able to finish school then so he fled to the forest and joined the army.  He was a driver for the soldiers was therefore protected from being killed. 

 

After the genocide was over and life started moving on he met a pastor from the Friends Church in Kigali.  When the pastor asked him what he could do he said he could play the guitar and the piano.  So the pastor asked him if he would like to come to his church and lead the worship.  He agreed and they paid for him to come down.  Once he started working at the church  and saved enough money he bought a car, but he did not take the test to get a driver’s license.  Instead he paid a cop some money and he gave him a license.  He was pulled over one day and the cop said that his car was involved in an accident that killed 2 people, which wasn’t true.  When the cop tried to pull up his license in the system he could not find it listed.  So he asked him where he got his license and Augustine told him that he paid a police officer and got one.  Because of this and the fact that he was being accused of being in the accident, he was arrested and put in jail.  Once he was in jail he had many of the genocide prisoners trying to make him their “wife”.  He met a man who had a great deal of power and influence not only in jail, but also during the genocide and was now involved in the prison ministry.  He asked Augustine where he came from and what he was doing and once he told him that he was working for the church, the man offered him protection on the basis that he would also work for the prison ministry.  His cell mate was also a man that was in the prison ministry and he knew English.  So Augustine started taking English lessons from this man.  He learned everything he could while he was in prison.  People from the church would come and visit him at times and bring him food.  Anything that he received he gave either to the man that was protecting him or to the man that was teaching him English.  His sentence was only for 6 months but because their court system takes so long because of all the genocide prisoners, he could not get a court date any sooner.  In order to be released from prison you have to go before the court, confess your crime and ask for forgiveness.  Even some of the genocide prisoners that are actually innocent have to ask for forgiveness unless it can be completely proven that they actually were not involved.  You see if someone from a particular household is involved in the killings, it is assumed that others in the household are involved as well and all are arrested. 

 

Once he was released from prison he went back to working for the church, however the pastor that was there was no longer working there.  Instead it was Pastor Gasspard.  He allowed Augustine to come back to work and to live on the church property once again.  He began teaching English to people and started making more money that way.  He wanted to go to college but the college that he wanted to go to said they could not offer him a degree because he did not finish secondary school.  They allowed him to come to class anyways and study even though he would not receive a degree.  He began studying computers and after the first week he was excelling above the rest of the students.  They began asking him for help and he began teaching them.  Because of this, the rich students that had their own cars would pick him up for school and take him back home in return for his help.   He has now started his own computer company and still works out of the church.  He teaches English and still helps with the worship in the church.  He has his own house on the church property and he is getting married in August.  He has come such a long way and he is so thankful to the Lord for everything that he has.  He compares his life in prison to that of Paul’s when he was in prison he was protected by the Lord, just as Augustine was in prison and was also protected by the Lord. 

 

After dinner we said our goodbye’s and went back to the Amani.  It was an incredible day.

 

A New Church; A New Hope

This day started with us going to the church at 9 for a meeting with the HIV/Aids and support groups that we met earlier in the week, along with many members of the church.  Pastor Gasparrd spoke to them for a while telling them some of the proverbs from the Bible on poverty and what Jesus said to do about it rather than begging.  Afterwards, Phil got up and spoke on how much the mean to all of us and how God cares and we care about them.  Then Robert spoke on PDL for a little bit.  After that I gave them the Jesus film to watch in their own language. 

 

We left the church and went to Bourbon again for lunch.  Shawn met us there while he waited for Andrew to show up for a meeting and we ran into some of the Saddleback staff over here.  Robert left to meet Augustine and Pastor Gasspard at the radio station where he was going to talk about PDL.  He spoke on the radio for an hour after which we picked him up from the radio station and drove out to “Geetaramo” to visit one of the sister churches of the Friends Church.  It would normally take about an hour to drive out there except for the fact that we had to stop at a bank for Augustine to make a transaction.  Since this was a little bank outside of town and everything is done by hand, what would have only taken ten minutes in the States took almost forty minutes here.  While we were waiting I was journaling in the van, to my surprise my screen was being read by one of the local boys to the other three boys standing with him.  I kept closing the computer and they would just laugh.  The boy that could read English started flirting with me.   Trying to give me the “eyes” which was funny on the one hand, but disturbing on the other since he was only about 14 years old.  We finally arrived at the little church that was still being built.  They were putting in a baptism pool, but it was basically just a large mud hole in the ground that was very deep and not very wide.  We visited there for about fifteen minutes and then headed back since we did not have a lot of time left.  As we drove back, we drove past a genocide memorial.  I wanted to go and visit it, but because the main building was still under construction the only way to go in was to have papers authorizing the visit by the local government.  So I just took pictures from the car.  We just drove by “Bar Happyness” and “Club Spic”.   There is obviously no western influence here at all! 

Our goal was to be back to Kigali by 5:00 because the Rwanda film festival was happening and tonight they were showing a film on the genocide called “Shake Hands With the Devil”.  I did not think we were going to make it in time so I called Caroline and Jade and told them to go ahead and leave Bourbon and head over to the hotel where it was being shown, which was a couple blocks away.  However a few minutes after I made the call, we were back in Kigali.  So rather than heading back to our church to drop off Augustine and Pastor Gasspard, I asked Jean Marie to drop us off at the Hotel de Milles Collines (Hotel of a thousand hills), the hotel were the movie Hotel Rwanda took place.  We got there before the girls and were met by a few people from Saddleback, including Catherine from the plane.  About ten minutes later Caroline and Jade walked in with Shawn.  The movie that was supposed to start at 5:30 didn’t end up starting until a little after 7:00 because they were having trouble getting the big inflatable screen to blow up.  So instead they brought in a big retractable screen to show the movie on.  Jade and Caroline left because they were too tired and Darwin left because he wanted to prepare for his speech on the radio.  The movie was incredible.  It was a take on the Genocide from the point of view of the General that was stationed here in Kigali from the UN.  I would highly recommend it to everyone.

 

 

Easter on my Birthday

  

 

Well today is not only my birthday, but more importantly it is Easter.  And as we celebrate  the resurrection of Christ and the blood he spilt to save us, I am reminded of how truly blessed I am.  I am blessed to have the family I have, the friends I have and the life that I have been given. 

 

We spent Easter in our church.  A traditional African service that lasts about 3-4 hours.  It consists of lots and lots of singing and dancing.  The people are so joyful when they sing and dance just praising Jesus as Lord.  During the service I was asked to introduce our team and tell them the reason as to why we are here.  I explained to them that we are here to love them and to prepare them for 40 days of purpose which they will start next week.  After which, Phil gave a greeting and Cindy gave her testimony.  Later on in the service I stood up and preached the sermon.  Having never done anything like that before, my nerves were off the Richter scale to say the least.  Which is interesting considering the amount of public speaking I do!   It was supposed to be 30 minutes long, with me speaking for about 15 minutes and with the translator speaking behind me it totals about 30 minutes.  However, because I was nervous I spoke for about 10 minutes at a maximum.  It may have even been shorter.  I don’t know how the people received what I said, nor do I know if what I said was any good.  My team and Shawn said it was, but they could have just been being nice. ;-)  Regardless, it was a blessing to be able to share the crucifixion and the resurrection with the Rwandese even if it wasn’t one of my better speeches! 

 

After church my team and Shawn and I had lunch back at our apartment with some undercooked chicken and the world’s best pineapple.  We then had a meeting with our pastor back at our church where he explained to us the five giants within his church and community, as the PEACE plan asks them to identify and seek solutions to.  Part of our job here is to help the church identify their giants and help them come up with solutions.  However, our pastor is such an amazing leader and so motivated to help his church and community grow and heal that he not only had the solutions, but he has them in place and they are working!  One of his giants for example is illiteracy, he has set up a program within his church where people within the community can come and take reading classes, free of charge, and they have a graduation ceremony where they receive a certificate of literacy.  He is so motivated to bring hope and healing and growth to not only his church but also the community, it is so refreshing to see.  He is willing to do whatever it takes to see a change in Rwanda and her people.

 

After the meeting we drove just a little ways down the road to see this church that was started by small group of 26 people.  They built the church and now they have over 100 members not counting their children (which would total for over 200).  The church itself was beautiful with a winding pathway up to the church and a large garden. 

 

The road to get there however was horrid!  It was an experience that none of us will ever forget.  If you have ever been on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland you will have a very slight understanding of what the drive to this church was like.  It is a bumpy dirt road and because it was raining all night and all day it was very muddy.  There are large gutters on either side of the road that were about 3-4’ wide and at least 5-6’ deep (in the smallest parts).  Bouncing up and down on the road and sliding back and forth in the mud was an F-ticket ride for sure!  At one point when I slammed up against the window and by the grace of God our van stopped right before the back tire slipped into the big gutter I yelled “this I way more than an E-ticket ride!”  My big 2” binder came into good use as I used it for a head shield….you know me and my helmets!  HA!  But we survived, white knuckled and white faced we came out alright.

 

Shawn and Arthur met us for dinner up at New Cactus for dinner.  Once again it was amazing.  The restaurant sits on top of this hill and overlooks Kigali.  It is so beautiful up there.  You sit outside and the food is amazing.  Christophe our server, a friend of Shawn’s took care of us again.  Arthur made me a birthday card on the computer with my picture on the front that says “Happy Birthday Brittany Frick”.    He wrote me the sweetest message and had a picture of Shawn and I on the inside.   Erick from the PEACE office here in Rwanda called to wish me a Happy Birthday as well.  It was awesome.  Even though it didn’t feel like my birthday, probably because it felt more like Easter, which it should, or maybe because my brother forgot to call me!  Of course until my mom quickly called to reminded him.   Regardless the day was amazing and I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to not only spend my birthday in Rwanda, but more importantly Easter.