Monday, the very first day of the work week, started off making the week look like it was full of promise. Don't get me wrong, it has been a great week, but it has not been exactly what was planned. I've been warned to stay FLEXIBLE as a missionary, and this week has taught me just that.
Let's stay on Monday for a moment. I met Debra, the lady I will be working with the whole trip, and she decided we should get to know each other better before we began working together. So she told me her whole story of how she got involved with starting orphanages. She was a businesswoman and left it behind because she had such a heart for children that couldn't eat for days at a time and had no where to lay their heads at night. After we got acquainted we headed off to meet with the first lady. Her name was Agnes. She has 5 daughters. I asked her how she met Jesus, and as her story unfolded, we found ourselves all weeping together. She met Jesus after she had all 5 children and found out not long after that she was HIV+. She panicked of course, for her children, but after having them all tested 3 times over the years, they have ALL been negative every time. She breast fed them all, and did everything with them that would have made them positive, and yet, the Lord protected them. Wow. Her whole story was incredible, but that was the highlights.
Next we headed off to Kinyinya, a village that began as genocide survivors and is now 98-99% survivors. We went into one of the home and started off with about 5 people, and by the time 3 hours has passed our group had grown to about 20, all crowded in a small entry room in the house. We started off with them just asking me questions about America. Questions I thought would be easy, but turned into questions like, "What do American's think about African's?" Etc. Man, I had to rely on the Lord to help my answer those. At one point, they asked me what advice I could give to them being survivors of a genocide and a hurting people. WHAT? Me?? Give THEM advice? They were touching my life in such a powerful way that to asnwer that was beyond my own control. I began to just tell them about Jesus and the power he could have in their life, their hearts, their hurts and pains and bitterness. 2 people ended up getting saved by the time we left, and it was so great to see God move in even a small gropu of 20. And 2 more hurting people are now relying on the Lord to heal their hearts. The village of Kinyinya needs prayer. There is no church out there, and the people are pretty far from anything. Many of the young people out there are enrolled in University and must walk 12 miles to school everyday and back. And I thought having to leave an hour early to get in my car and drive to school was bad. Man did I get a gut check. Most of these students try to find people in the city to stay with during the week, but many still have to resort to the walk. They told me as we were leaving that the one thing they all thought about me was that I was a "unique blessing" in which they had never encountered. My eyes filled with tears thinking that in some way I had been a blessing to them, when all I could see was how much they had touched me.
That night we got a phonecall that Debra's cousin had passed away unexpectedly, and as she was the closest relative, she must plan the funeral and go to Uganda. So I wasn't able to spend the rest of the week with her. Jess and I occupied ourselves in other ways in the mornings and in the afternoons and at night (everynight) we went so Jess could preach. Good thing I don't get tired of hearing her sermons. Ha. It's been great, and slowly my fear of speaking in front of groups is going away. Slowly.
My favorite part of all has just been the children's faces that light up when they see a "Muzungu" (White person) and stop for a hug. The kids are so well mannered and you never ever meet a stranger. As Jess and I went for a walk yesterday, we ran into tons of school children, and everyone stopped for a handshake, hug, and smile. It's so great.
Tomorrow is the safari and I'm SUPER excited!!! 4AM will come early, but I'm convinced it will be worth it!
Can't wait to see what the Lord will do next week. Be praying for us as the new week comes on. I have yet to have Traveller's Diarrhea, or get altitude sick, but my allergies have been terribly bad. Several times a day my eyes swell up, get blood shot, and I sneeze uncontrollaby. I think I'd rather have diarrhea a few times. Pray for our health and for our ability to withstand attacks from Satan. She may not admit it, but I know preaching 2x a day has taken a toll on Jess, so also pray for her health and spiritual and physical exhaustion. Overall, the week has gone by oncommonly fast, and it has been a huge blessing to be a part of what God is doing in Rwanda.
Until next week,
Maegan
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