The future on her back.
This trip has been mentally exhausting for me. So much information in such a short time. It has also been a trip of contrasts. From the glitz and glamour that is the new Kigali city to the poverty of the Rwandan countryside. I have been inspired by the work of TearFund, AESD and Gilgal Church. At last I finally get it, I feel I understand what our brothers and sisters in Rwanda are doing and how they are doing it. Today was a day of celebration in Gilgal Church and rightly so but the final photograph I took on leaving just about sums up the whole trip for me. This mother is carrying the future of Rwanda on her back and we as Christians and members of Bloomfield Presbyterian Church are privileged to be playing a small part in securing the future of her, her child and many others like them. Tomorrow we start our journey home and will soon be back with you. In signing off, can I say a BIG thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us throughout this trip. May God bless you all. Graham and Bill
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Where did you get that hat!
Today for me was a day of surprises and of the experience of great kindness and of the Lord’s provision. It began with the invitation to cut the tape to the newly renovated building - a surprise, and ended with the gift of a felt hat and stick (symbols in local culture that you have arrived) - another surprise. In between, I preached and experienced the Lord’s provision as I struggled with high temperatures - not a surprise, He keeps His promises. Like Graham I found the visit taxing but very worthwhile. We come away with a better understanding of how our partnership will develop and a deeper sense of the love which binds us to our partners in Gilgal. Thank you so much for your prayers, we look forward to sharing more when we get home. Yesu ashimwey....Jesus be praised. Bill Rwanda is a land of Refugees.
That might not be strictly accurate but many of the Christian leaders we have met have had to spend time outside their homeland. So it was no surprise to learn that of Gilgal’s two daughter church’s, one is situated beside a refugee camp near the Congo border. With thousands of people herded together and many living on a £6 a month handout it’s not difficult to imagine the economic, health, moral and security issues they face. Our partner offers practical and spiritual help. Today Gilgal shared their 10 year plan with us. It focus’s on mobilising church members for one to one evangelism, supporting children at risk and orphans and strengthening their youth work through choirs and music. At the community level, water provision is totally inadequate. At this point we should mention the challenge of Islam locally. Funded by Middle Eastern money they have provided a range of practical facilities to members of the local community. The photograph of the 3 boys shows in the background part of the borehole which they have provided. Simple things like this make their cause very attractive and present a challenge to the Christian Community. Tomorrow morning Bill will preach to a packed church in Gilgal and your prayers would be valued. We look forward to communicating our final blog tomorrow night. Graham and Bill Greetings from the 'Land of a Thousand Hills'. The name by which Rwanda is fondly known.
Kigali is abuilding; at least the better parts of town. Today’s photograph is of the new Conference Centre round the corner from where we’re staying. But reconstruction is not only physical. Today we met a man who told us his story. In 1994 as a result of the Rwandan Genocide, when one million people were slaughtered by their neighbours in one hundred days, he lost his complete family. He had nowhere to stay and no one to stay with until a young Christian family offered him free bed and board. He was so traumatised that it took a year before he could look for employment. He got a job collecting testimonies of other genocide survivors. In the course of his research he came across stories of others whose sufferings had been even greater than his own. This proved a therapeutic exercise and set him on the road to recovery. Today, he is a Christian Pastor who both personally and professionally seeks to further reconciliation in his land. His concern is that Rwandans be not only reconciled to their fellow citizens but also through the power of the Gospel and the witness of Christian people find lasting peace with God. The different churches with many other Christian agencies also pursue this aim and it is Bloomfield’s privilege to play a 'tiny' part in this great task. Tomorrow we’re back at Gilgal for their leadership seminar. Thank you for your continued prayers. Yours from a very Rwanda.....Bill and Graham Today we visited two rural churches, both of which happened to be Presbyterian. To reach them we went over Kigali Mountain. The road was deeply rutted with recent rains and the views on the decline were breath taking, heart stopping and prayer inducing.
At the first church we were warmly received with goat brochettes and Irish potato. They showed us their veggie garden, piggery and sewing machine. The welcome was as warm at the second but there we joined a dozen women sitting on the grass basket weaving. Both SHGs (self help groups) through loans, advice and encouragement, enable members to provide for their families. They also have a strong spiritual dimension through bible study, prayer and reaching out to non members. In the afternoon we returned to Gilgal where we joined their prayer network. Bill gave a short word and we prayed for our two churches and the relationship between them and our local communities. The accompanying singing and dancing was the loudest and most frenzied yet! Tomorrow we meet more churches. Graham and Bill Today we paid our first visit of this trip to Gilgal Church where we were met by the Pastor and some community leaders. Our purpose was to learn more of the range of local church ministries. Some of these we had learnt of before and we received encouraging updates. One totally new ministry was working with boys at risk.
Two months ago, a 14 year old boy called at the manse door. He was from a broken home and had simply nothing to eat. The Pastor was so moved at his sorry state that he not only fed him but also with his help gathered a dozen other boys in similar circumstances. Their lives have been transformed as in a safe environment they receive training and guidance in the basics of daily life and experience the love of Jesus in a very practical way. We also had our first “face to face” encounter with the street vendors. Thirty women had gathered in the church grounds with their fruit, vegetables and clothing, which they sell door to door. They were anxious to share with us problems they had encountered in the past and how the church helped them work through them. But they still face the major difficulty of having no legal place to trade. At present they risk confiscation of their goods and imprisonment for illegal trading. Their one prayer request was for a solution to this pressing problem. In closing we’re attaching a photograph of Gilgals version of “Kidzone” (Sunday school). They were presented to us and boy can they sing and dance! Needless to say Bill and I didn’t join in. Maybe next time? Tomorrow sees more meetings but with a Presbyterian Church! Graham and Bill After an 18 hour journey on Monday we both slept well but were still groggy for our first business meeting with our Tear Fund host, Peninah.
In addition to teaching us some basic greetings in Rwandan which we found very useful, our discussion of practical issues brought a lot of clarity and shed a lot of light as to where we are going this week. We moved to a business lunch with Dr Bunini, senior pastor of Gilgal Church. We were amused that ‘bunini’ means big and he is big in more ways than one. He gave more details of our input into the meetings on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow morning we hit the road visiting one of the other partner churches that we are supporting - they number 15 in all. Well we reckon we’ve been travelling for 18 hours solid if you count the hour it took to clear immigration at Kigali airport.
After travelling through the night and then through the grey skies of Northern Europe you can see the contrast with the blue skies of the Egyptian Desert. It was good to see a bit of sunshine even thought it was through the window of an aeroplane. So many people back home have been praying for our travel and I can honestly say the whole journey went without one hiccup. Proof in itself of the power of prayer. We were met at the airport by Doctor Bunini, his wife and his son Jules. What a difference it makes when familiar faces meet you on arrival in a strange land. Tomorrow we meet with the Tear Fund staff for a briefing and some fine tuning to our trip. That’s about all I have to report from our first day so it’s off to bed for a couple of weary travellers. A BIG thank you to all who have been praying for our safe arrival. Please keep praying as we can’t do this trip without your prayers. God bless Graham and Bill Today we were delighted to be joined by Peninah and her husband Canon Antoine Rutayisire who spoke of his experiences in Rwanda, discipleship and shared from 2nd Peter. Bill and Graham leave for Rwanda tomorrow morning on a week long trip to visit our brothers and sisters in Gilgal - stay tuned for updates!
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