Today we checked out of the Presbyterian guest house and went to the genocide memorial but it was closed because today is Good Friday. We then proceeded to the PEACE offices which were also closed. So we came to our apartment here in Kigali and checked in. It has 7 bedrooms which is perfect since we have 7 people on our team. After we got settled in we went back to the PEACE office and met the assistant pastor of our church here in Rwanda and had a an orientation meeting with “Little Erick”, the Rwandan man that works at the office. After our meeting we went and had lunch at “New Cactus”, a beautiful restaurant on top of a hill. The food was excellent! From there we went with our assistant pastor Wilson and our translator Augustine to the church. It is a beautiful church with a school. We met the HIV/AIDS group there that makes baskets and linens to raise money to fund AIDS research. The men and women there working were so grateful to have us come in. Some of the people in the group did not come today to see us because they are still ashamed that they have AIDS and did not want us to see them. I held this precious little girl for a while and hugged each one of them. They are such loving people. We then met a group of genocide orphans that work in the school learning English and how to sew pants. They work there for one year and then they leave the school and go to work. We then met a lady from the church that runs a small group. We walked to a little house and met some people there that she reads to. They wonderful as well, just so joyful and happy to be worshipping the Lord. We left there and proceeded to drive to the next group. This one was interesting because the drive there was very rough. The van was all over the place. Thanks to Jean Mary though we were able to get there safely. We walked to the tiny house, with mud floors and pieces of fabric separating the other 2 rooms and no electricity or windows, and we were followed by lots of beautiful smiling children all of whom spoke French. When we arrived at the house the people inside were singing and clapping their hands in joyful praise to the Lord. We prayed together and sang together. These people have so little but have so much joy in their hearts and love for the Lord. Their faith is so rock solid despite everything that they have gone through. The kids there are orphans and the woman was a widow. But they say that God is the father to the children and that he is the husband to the widows. Despite everything they have been through they still find happiness and joy in the Lord. It was such a blessing to meet all of them and share our love for Christ with them in worship and prayer.
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