Conference Day 2

06/07/2012

Today was the second day of the Pastors Conference in Byumba, and once again began with prayer and praise before Andy delivered another Bible study. After a short break, the three pairs from the team again taught their seminars to a different group than they did yesterday. Pete and Lucy did not get a translator until half an hour late, but after that all went as planned for the team, with interesting discussion being had in all seminars (and a bit of dancing for Pete Ellis and Heather!). 

We then had time for lunch, and took this time to interview Pastors Wilson, Jonas and Joel for their respective SAP partners, and give them letters and gifts. Also during the day, we gave gifts from partners to Pastors that we had not had a chance to visit at their homes, and all were very gladly received; the Pastors were encouraged to hear about and receive from their supporters. 

The team then taught their last seminars, and Andy taught his penultimate Bible study. We headed off for dinner, and were surprised that all the Pastors appeared to have completely vanished – we thought they might have gone home! Fortunately, they all reappeared in time for the evening meeting of prayer, praise and sharing, and there was again much singing and dancing. It is noticeable that EVERYONE dances in Rwanda, no matter if you are a ‘cool’ teenager, a Bishop or an elderly man – whoever you are, you WILL dance!

Whilst this was happening, Pastor Robert handed Stephanie and Hazel a large orange bag of new glasses that he had had in his house for years! This was an answer to prayer as we had had to turn some people away who needed reading glasses the night before, but now there were more than enough glasses for everyone who needed them. God is full of surprises!

The evening then finished with a talk from a retired Pastor named Frederick. Usually in Rwanda, retired pastors are no longer involved in leadership, but Bishop Emmanuel has appointed Frederick and a few other retired pastors to certain Parishes where their wisdom and experience can be helpful. Frederick gave his testimony, which was very eye-opening. Frederick had been brought up as a Pagan, with his brother and father each having eight wives. Frederick was miraculously saved whilst he was still single, and so did not follow his family’s pattern, but he did fall in love with a woman that he therefore wanted to marry. The woman was very ill however, and his father told him not to marry her as she was sick and not worth anything. Frederick did not follow his advice, and said that he loved her so much that he would do all of the cooking and cleaning and would care for her no matter what! He married her, and shortly afterwards his father was admitted to Gahini hospital, where he heard the gospel and the Christian message. His father turned from his pagan religion and gave his life to Jesus. Whilst he was still in the hospital, he was baptised and asked that Frederick and his new wife would be his Godparents. What an encouraging testimony! 

Conference Day One

05/07/2012

Today was the first day of the Pastor’s conference, and it began early with breakfast at 7.30am followed by a time of praise. There was then a surprise guest speaker – Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, who spoke for over an hour when he was meant to speak for only fifteen minutes, on Romans 12. This set the day off late, but we have got quite used to ‘African time’ and find that the priority of the words someone has to share over the time it takes to share them is something we have lost from our culture. 

The morning was then taken up with sessions from Andy and Stephanie on ‘Who we are in Christ’ and ‘Bible study methods’ respectively.  After some interviews over lunchtime, we delivered the seminars that we had practiced in Shyogwe in three groups; Pastors, Pastor’s wives and young people. Stephanie then led another Bible study session before her and Hazel gave away all but one of the pairs of reading glasses we brought with us. There was one lady who could not read her bible at all because of her vision and now has a pair of glasses so she can study the word of God again! 

After an evening meal, there was a late night praise and prayer time, where once again we began the singing and were then shown up as each of the districts of Byumba Parish offered their own singing and dancing in praise of God. 

We are now having a short time of prayer before we get an early night before another busy day tomorrow!

Adventurous Relaxing

04/07/2012

Today was the first official day off for the whole of the Damascus Trust Rwanda Team, however as expected there has been much planning to do. Luckily, Stephanie, Hazel Pete Nadin and Lucy were able to escape for the morning to go and visit a beautiful bird sanctuary surrounded by amazing views and rivers.

The journey however started bumpy as Pete was named the allocated driver and would be his first time experiencing the roads of Rwanda, and what roads they were to experience as well! The team of 4 were joined by an interpreter and set off on their way. The roads gradually got worse to the point where the Rav4 had to tackle a small narrow bridge. Everything was going fine until the front right wheel lodged itself of the side of the bridge! Luckily God had planted a lot of large rocks just next to us and we all scrambled together to build an extra path for the wheel. We prayed a prayer and stuck the gears in reverse and gave it all we got… it went perfectly!

There were many beautiful birds on the lake and it was such a nice time to sit back in the sun and relax looking at the glory of God’s creation. There was then another adventurous journey back as we became a taxi for man looking for a lift up a very high hill, which added almost an hour on to our journey. But God was good and kept us safe and we managed to arrive back at the guesthouse just in time for lunch.  The afternoon was then spent lounging around the guesthouse as each seminar duplet planned what they were to talk about for the three day conference that will occurring from the 5^th to the 7^th. There have unfortunately and fortunately been a lot of changes to the conference schedule which although it has meant the team have had to make alterations to their planning, overall it will work much better. We are hoping that God will move powerfully in the next three days as this conference is the biggest event of our mission here in Rwanda. So please keep the team, the pastors, the pastor’s wives and all the youth in Byumba in your prayers of the next three days.

The Mud Sticks

02/07/2012

After a small lie-in and a bit of clothe washing, the team walked to Byumba market where two local friends (Kwizera and Christine) helped us to buy some fabric. We saw people making shoe soles out of disused tyres and some people scavenging through rubbish. As well as fabric, we stocked up on coffee, biscuits and ‘akabanga’ (a VERY spicy peri-peri sauce) and Heather and Stephanie  ordered jackets and skirts to be made by Friday. 

We then headed back to have some lunch before we went to Kibali parish to take part in some further practical work. We left Stephanie behind at the guesthouse, as she has not yet had any time off, and she seemed to be content playing with ‘Pineapple’ the puppet…

The practical work was more mudslinging on the walls of a newly built house for a gentlemen named Damascene who had lost both legs, one eye and most of his teeth after stepping on a mine shortly after the genocide. There were many people working on the house, including Pastor Justin who is now in Kibali parish and his three year old son Joshua who sang ‘Jesus love is very wonderful’ to us as we worked. Pete Nadin mixed the mud in the traditional way, ankle-deep – he’s still trying to get the dirt out of his nails! The rest of the team were busy getting mud not only on the walls but on each other too, as well as entertaining the children that were transfixed on these six muzungu (white people). Hazel and Pete Nadin also spent some time having fun teaching all the cute children songs such as heads, knees, shoulders and toes which they quickly learnt all the words too!

The team were truly humbled by Damascene’s story and were motivated to work as hard as possible as he said that whether or not the house was finished he and his family would sleep in it tonight. It is interesting to think that so many people in Rwanda who do not have as many physical scars as Damascene are just as severely, although less obviously, scarred on the inside.

P.S. Heather found a cockroach in her pajamas before (not whilst she was wearing them luckily)!

First times

01/07/2012

The team was split into two groups this morning as they headed off bright and early to visit two different churches. Andy, Heather and Pete Ellis visited the church of in Nabyondo to visit Pastor Mark and his parish. Whilst Stephanie, Hazel, Pete Nadin and Lucy visited the church of Pastor Kazia in Bwanike. Stephanie’s team arrived at our designated meeting spot at 6.30 am in order to wait for 30 minutes for our driver Innocent, during this time we saw our breakfast being transported to our guesthouse!

After an hour and quarter in the land rover, driven by Andy, half the team (Pete and Heather) reached Nyabyaondo where we were greeted by Pastor Mark and his wife Specious. Following a welcome breakfast (as the team have not had opportunity to eat before leaving) we enjoyed a three hour service. It was great to see a church concrete floor finished, bench seats secured and a full house of people (around about 400). After the singing we were taken to inspect the water project which has now been completed with a 20,000 litre water tank, guttering from the roof feeding rain water in the tank. This has been completed and through the sale of water to local villagers, 32,000 Rwandan francs have been raised and enabled the church to pay for training for two catechists. Future profits from the sale of water will be used for training and evangelism and this is a huge encouragement to us all. After an interview with the Pastor and various photographs, we travelled in the Land Rover back to the guesthouses.

Stephanie, Hazel, Pete Nadin and Lucy arrived at Pastor Kazia parish on time for a quick cup of tea before the service began. Today was a special day for Pete Nadin as it was the first time that he was to preach! The service began like all services in Rwanda, with the sounds of a beautiful choir and many people dancing in such a way as to tell the story of the worship. This team was accompanied by Pastor Tadea who as always brightened up every aspect of the day. Pete Nadin was pleased with how the sermon went, but maybe not too sure how the congregation found it! There was more dancing and choir singing before there was a very long offering that made the service run over by only an hour.

Stephanie’s team then were set to leave the church and to get back for a well-deserved rest, however as all plans in Rwanda, nothing happens the way you think. The team were then involved in a meeting with all the church leaders, and then an interview with Pastor Kazia, then lunch at the Pastors house with the church leaders before Pastor Tadae had a nice talk in Kinyarwanda. Anyway God was good and was at work in not only the lives of our team, but also through us as the church of Bwanike declared they were blessed by our presence. Stephanie, Hazel, Pete and Lucy said their goodbyes as they set off on their way for another bumpy hour long drive with not enough room. Some of the team later that evening were privileged to eat at the bishops house (a beautiful house) whilst the other half visited Pastor Johnson’s house for a lovely meal.