Lasting Impressions

Dave Andrews
Looking back at Team Rwanda’s missions experience, from the first training
meetings through to the trip home, I believe we unanimously were convinced
of these 3 things:

1. This missions trip was totally birthed out of God’s Heart responding to
the prayers and cries of the Rwandan people.
2. It was at God’s invitation and timing for a team to go, bringing His
message of freedom, restoration and hope.
3. The openness and receptivity of the Rwandan pastors and leaders as well
as the way the Holy Spirit used each team member to minister and apply His
truth across cultural barriers into so many lives, was nothing short of
miraculous for our team to witness and be a part of.

God You are so wonderful!

Greg Olson
A few words and thoughts that may describe this trip for me.

Sensory, spiritual, physical and emotional overload.
Friendly, smiling, welcoming faces.
Clean, orderly.
Taxi’s that have exceeded their best before dates and African driving.
Devastation. Hurt. Sorrow. Need. Searching. Trying to Forget.
Hunger… for the Word… for food.
Emptying ourselves. Giving what we have been given.
Awesome breakthroughs, for us and hopefully for them.
Pride and humility seeing what God has done from the seed planted 20 years ago.

Sue Pawsey
As I stood and looked out the top of the safari Jeep and surveyed the vast savannah all around me I said “now this is Africa!”. The safari trip that Richard and I and Martin and Susan Sandig went on was a great highlight for me. God’s great creation was magnificent all around us. The sun shone, the giant acacia trees were beautiful and the animals were amazing. We saw a 2 week old baby giraffe with its parents, zebras, hippos, wart hogs, impalas, water buffalos, parrots, waterbucks, baboons, velvet monkeys, topi, many more but best of all before we left the park we saw 2 huge bachelor elephants. There right in front of us with all their splendour they strolled past our jeep and stopped long enough for us to get a picture of them. It was an amazing day to see God’s vast creations!

Elaine Olson
I’m one of those people who takes notice of shoes. To me, the shoe someone chooses to wear discloses much about their style, confidence, economic status, personal preferences and often provides insight into their hobbies and past-times. Shoes give perspective and in many cases the shoe says it all.
Read more here eoinsights.wordpress.com

 

Susan Sandig

Community is a word that best describes my experience in Rwanda. We can learn much from the African people about the true meaning of community. Just today, Pastor Rick was talking about our family in Christ and what it means to be a community. I especially loved his description of the garage door opener and how we North Americans hide in our garages or “castles”. That was something that I never saw in Rwanda. People are out on the streets from the moment the sun rises to the moment it sets; sometimes even after that.They spend all day being in fellowship while they work, shop and eat. Very rarely did I see a person by themselves. I learned that when a family member is unable to send their children to school because of financial reasons, someone else in the family steps up and provides the necessary resources. Without expectation of repayment! They take care of each other. The food that we brought to our Compassion family which should last about a month, I know will not last that long because they will share it with others who have less.

You can sense the spirit of community each time you look at the faces of these precious African people. The joy that exudes from them when someone around them receives a blessing and when they express their gratitude is contagious.
I know that often people talk about going to a third world country and experiencing culture shock. It certainly is a different world there; however I have experienced a culture shock returning to Canada.

We have so much here that we don’t know what to do with it. Most of the time we work towards getting more instead of sharing what we have or just giving it away. My African brothers and sisters have shown me through their lives what is really important and what is not. People, not possessions.

I pray that I will not forget the images and experiences that have given me a new understanding of ” for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

From a Thousand Hills to a Million Smiles

After hearing about the many hills here in Rwanda I was not surprised to see the beautiful Rwandan countryside full of many beautiful trees, flowers and animals. However, I was overwhelmed by the warm and loving smiles that always greeted us. No matter where we go people brighten up with a huge smile and a “muraho” , “hello sponsor” or “murakoze”! The smiles, laughter and dancing are infectious. Considering what these beautiful people have gone through and the conditions that most of them live in, it is humbling to see how thankful they are.

We went to visit our compassion child on Wednesday and it was a further experience in humility. After about one and half hours on a “bumpy” dirt road we reached a small village and stopped in front of our child’s home. Although we had seen many different homes both inside and out, I was not prepared for the home that our child lives in. I only received information that our boy Misago who is 10 lives with his mother and father who was just released from prison. When we arrived we realized that they had 4 more children. So the family has 5 children and parents and live in a mud hut the size of our bathroom.

We were greeted by the whole village who had not had a “sponsor” visit them before. As most of us, about 18 of us crowded into their main room with no lights and no windows, a sense of love came over me that I had not yet felt before. All thoughts of who these people were, what they might have done and the conditions they lived in – which would challenge the average North American; flew out the window! They had just become my extended family.

We had bought them rice, cooking oil, sugar and salt which would last them about a month. Although the Rwandan’s share everything so it might not last that long. I was expecting them to be overwhelmed with that and I know that they were certainly grateful for the food for their malnourished family. However, what overwhelmed them and touched them the most was the fact that someone would care enough to visit them! The meaning of community and family has taken on a new meaning for me and I am forever thankful that God has blessed me with this experience.

We can learn much from these people about the what it means to love one another as Christ has loved us. I pray that this impact will not leave my soul and spirit and that I will return soon to this beautiful country.

Susan Sandig is part of a Rwandan family

The Genocide Memorial

I attempted to write the day I was suppose to (May 13th) but it was just too hard. It was the day we visited the genocide memorial. I tried to write about what happened there, what I experienced but gave up. I felt no written words could truly describe the depth of pain I felt, or the suffering and brutality I seen and heard about.

It felt like waves of death and sorrow crashing over me until I broke. I feel its impossible to get the correct words to describe it, and maybe that’s just it-there are no words that can describe it to its truest depths.
And I am only an observer, not a Rwandan, I have no personal ties to the lives that were lost. But as a human there is something about the brutality and death that does feel so personal, that causes you to weep for people you do not know.

In these past two weeks God has enriched my life with these people. They have such a beauty about them, they are so honorable, they have taught me much and I crave to be taught more.

The visitation to the genocide memorial was extremely hard but with each wave of pain the word/concept of hope came into my mind. Before coming to Rwanda I did a painting of a broken face on the ground with the reflection of the sun in one of the eyes of the face, I felt that reflection represented a glimmer of hope. Going through the memorial that glimmer returned to my mind over and over. The days to follow I would see, feel and hear what that hope was. The days with the pastors and leaders are my most cherished. If I could describe the exact opposite feeling to the way in which I felt after the memorial, maybe that could begin to portray the joy, the healing, the lifting of heavy burdens I was so incredibly blessed to have witnessed. These days reflected that hope. Praying with and for these people, I have never felt my purpose in life come so alive. I thank my King, my God for it all, only God can heal Rwanda and He is.

Racquel Baker is shinning Rwandan sunrise

Sign of things to come

After months and months of planning and countless training and prep meetings – after reading books and articles then watching movies all to prepare for this trip, you would think we would have been prepared for all this trip would bring our way. WRONG on so many levels. Yes, God did prepare our hearts for the wonderful Rwandan people He knew we would meet and fall in love with. And yes we were prepared to the best of our ability to disciple and minister to over 100 pastors and leaders. And yes we came prepared for our Compassion visits with gifts and much excitement and anticipation. But what we have experienced every day of this trip has been an adventure beyond our wildest dreams with God leading the way.

Our arrival was a sign of things to come as Pastor Francis and Bernadette met us at the Kigali airport with welcoming arms outstretched and faces beaming with a love we had yet to discover was so genuine, warm and caring.

The training and ministry days were nothing less than miraculous as pastors and leaders from across Rwanda sat for hours, sometimes on hard wooden benches, with hearts open to receive from the Lord and minds alert and being renewed and with each truth presented. Some of their testimonies were so moving they humbled our team to tears as we realized we were standing on holy ground. This was truly God meeting personally with men and women who had been desperately calling out to Him.

I watched, seemingly from the sidelines as they courageously opened their lives, past, present and future as the Holy Spirit so gently ministered His healing, restoring, freeing touch. So even with all the prep, forethought, and expectancy, we could never have been prepared for those “God moments” as we knew what we were witnessing was miraculous.

Our team is becoming like a big family. Even after long days and hours of travel and ministry – even with all of our unique personalities and quirks – I watch as we move from experience to experience – challenge to challenge, sometimes even backing up and clearing the air with an “I’m sorry”, a hug and a smile. We are being drawn closer together as we experience each new day’s adventure.

We are a team of 12, but we are really a part of a much bigger team who are praying for us and have supported us in so many ways. We could not have done this without all their support.

So in everything we are giving thanks to God for this “God appointed” opportunity. We have many stories to tell and experiences to praise God for. We truly serve a Great God!

Pastor Dave is nicely cleansed

Surounded by Beauty

So here we are 2 days left before we leave Rwanda, we are now back in Kigali after spending 3 days in Musanze presenting the Cleansing Stream ministry for the second time. The desire these pastors and leaders have to know and grow in the Lord is quite incredible given that some have traveled long distances under some difficult circumstances. It was stated by one of the team members that had been speaking to one of the pastors from the Congo that when they return they did not know what they were going to return to given the current instability in the country.

The church in which the presentation took place was set in one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen. Surrounded by lush green vegetation and 4 volcanoes stretching across the landscape but the beauty that surrounds where I stand is nothing compared the the beauty which we are all able to see in the Rwandan people. It is quite apparent that these people want to know God like I have never seen. This begs the question, would I travel this far under dangerous circumstances to learn more about Jesus? I remember one individual who shared that his father said he would never amount to anything or ever be educated and throughout the seminar I wasn’t really sure where he was at with all that was being shared, yes he received ministry and was very open to receiving, but it wasn’t until that Cleansing Stream certificate was handed to him that I saw a real change and a large smile. He could finally say he accomplished something. He had something in hand that said he could accomplish something and he did amount to something.

On Monday we traveled for about an hour to the boarder between the Congo and Rwanda and for a short moment we prayed for the Congo, photography is prohibited and we were told that we could not take pictures in the direction of the Congo boarder but for some that was like saying I dare you “NEED I SAY MORE”

In his service Richard Pawsey

Gorillas in the very heavy mist

Murakoze, Pastor Rick for suggesting that we purchase boots ahead of time in Musanze, for the Gorilla trek . What a necessity!

Urakoze Yesu (Thank you very much Jesus) for healing my torn rotator cuff after the team prayed on Saturday. When we first arrived at the Gorilla station, Monday morning, we were entertained by the traditional dancers, some of whom we recognized from the wedding we attended on Friday. It was awesome to watch them again with the beauty of the country side surrounding us.

We set off with our guides, Patience and Blessed, and we needed both to finish this adventure. The 4 X 4 ride alone was about 1/2 an hour and we drove an area where many nationals were cleaning the grounds in preparation of the gorilla baby naming ceremony that will be held in about a month, with over 5,000 people attending. I will come back to that in a little while. We met up with two packers when we got to the place that the trackers told our guides the gorillas where. At first we told them we would be fine and did not need help, little did we know how much we would need these two men.

Seven of our team were one this “medium” trek and I would like to know what the long one is like, if we did the meduim! We had to trek up the side of the mountain for almost 2 hours one way, weaving back and forth, up and down, over rocks, through streams of water coming down the mountain. Each of the 18 gorilla families have a name. The family we were seeing was named Urugamba, which means war, and we were battling for our lungs and hearts to do their job as we struggled through this boot camp experience. There were childern calling ” Mazungas” from their homes across the fields of crops growing in the rich volcanic soil. It was hard to fathom how the local people make this journey each and every day to go to school, sell their produce and get fresh water.

We learned many things about the crops that we passed along the way and also that oya (pronounced “Oh yah”) means “No” in kinyarwanda. Now that was confusing for our guides, we laughed so much about this. We still were laughing tonight at Burbon coffee when we told our driver. He just shook his head. Thank you Kim Cechetto for telling us about Burbon coffee by the way.

Eventually we got to the stone wall that encompasses the Volcanoes National Park, thinking we were almost there, we stopped for some pictures and met the trackers who located the Gorilla family. We asked Patience to take a group picture. He said “Sure, and he can shoot you too if you like.” Pointing to the tracker with the rifle! Some of us did not get what he meant at first. Then we all had a good laugh.

Up and over the wall we went with Elaine leading the way in front of me. She almost lost her boot in the thick, deep, quicksand like mud. I stopped, wondering which way to go, when a hand pulled me back and one of the packers took his panga and slapped the mud quickly and firmly a few times, then instructed me to step there. To my surprise the ground was firm. So glad I hestitated. These guys proved they value over and over as we headed into the thick jungle, in the pouring rain at this point, hacking through the jungle ahead of us and helping us climb, pull and negotiate the trail in front of us.

At one point we had to cross a river, I did not realize how deep it was there until Richard told me later that he put his bamboo walking stick in the water and it almost disappeared. That was why the guides made sure we stepped onto the rocks as we crossed over the river! It kind of reminded me of Dunns River Falls in Jamaica but much deeper! Jim and Richard almost fell in. Richard would have got as wet as the rest of us! He was the only one with a complete rain outfit.

We left our bags at a tree on the other side of the river and headed further into the jungle until the guides told us to stop. There ahead of us were five gorillas, two of them babies. They were a little subdued because of the rain but the moments that stood out for me would be the babies eyes staring at us from his mother’s lap (what a beautiful glance), and the male silverback charging on two separate occasions. The thump of him pounding his chest was startling at first and happened so quickly that we did not capture it on film but will never forget it. We had the chance to see them from all sides, coming within about 10 feet of the silverback looking directly at us.

The guides asked if we wanted to submit a name for one of the babies to the upcoming baby naming ceremony. We suggested Maple leaf. The guides didn’t understand what that meant and after discussing what it meant to us we chose the name, Ikibabi gikiza, that means leaf that heals because all submitted names needed to support the conservation theme of the Volcanoes National Park. This will be amazing if selected and announced in front of 5,000 people whom will attend this.

After spending nearly an hour with our gorilla family in the rain, we set out to head back down to our vehicle. The return trip down was much shorter time wise but harder physically. I myself walked much faster in order to get the blood flowing through my ice cold veins. This could not have been done without much help from Tito the packer. Several of us had sore muscles and joints after completing the decent.

Once we got to the bottom and tipped the men who helped us and gave them our gloves we climbed into and explained to the 4 X 4 driver that we would like to go straight back to the hotel. Part way down the road when the driver stopped. Something was wrong with the vehicle. After looking under the hood for a few minutes, the driver figured out that we were out of fuel, you have got to be kidding. We were wet and cold! They called someone to bring fuel by motorcycle taxi within an African 15 minutes. Elaine began telling all the childern who gathered around us that they were beautiful and they would run away laughing. I decided to get out the Rwandian flag and run around with it over my shoulders to try and warm up as it was the only dry thing we had left. Some trucks with lots of men standing in the back drove by yelling, “You love our country?” I yell YES not Oh yah. Racquel laughed so much about this. After a 45 minute stop we finally had fuel and were on our way again.

Well I started this blog about Monday on Tuesday and it is now Wednesday, so to end quickly we showered at the hotel, packed up everything, headed for the Congo border to pray for our new friends and their country, took some great pictures at Lake Kivu, and then drive back to Kigali.

Tomorrow is an exciting day, we get to meet our Compassion BABY, his family and see their home.

Bwacyeye (Kinyarwanda for Good Day)!

Grace Edwards is glad for dry clothes.

Nakibazu

Muraho Everyone!! (That’s Kinyarwandan for “hello”)
Greetings from Rwanda!! First I have to apologize for being late with my blog. My scheduled day was for last Thursday (which I’ll talk about shortly) but I’ve adapted to African time so well that I’m actually right on time . Words can’t even begin to describe the amazing experience I’m having but I will do my best (as a blog with no words would be…well…not a blog at all). As they say here in Rwanda “no problem” or “Hakuna Matata.”
So here we are on Thursday, May 17th waking up in beautiful Musanze. We arrived in the dark last night so I didn’t realize just how breathtaking it was until we woke up (nice and early to the sounds of the Muslim Imam/wailer calling everyone to prayer at 4:30 am). Our hotel room was flanked by mountains and volcanoes so everywhere we look is incredible!! From the beginning of our trip we have been saying we want the “true African experience” and I think we managed to pack it all in today. First I started with a nice cold shower, followed by several power outages while getting ready. Ah…”no problem”…welcome to Africa!
We then all piled into our van and headed to the church where we would be holding the seminar and retreat. When we arrived, there was a group of men behind the church stripping old car tires to make bungee cords and sandals (nothing goes unused here – so amazing)! Soon there were many curious onlookers peering in the doors and windows, I’m sure wondering what this group of “Mazungas” were up to. Once we had everything set up we decided to check out the “facilities” before we got started. Down the stairs and around the building we went to the…..squatter holes!! Ah…”no problem”….welcome to Africa!

We had an amazing day of seminar teachings to some incredible pastors and leaders. It was incredibly humbling to listen to their words of thanks and testimonies of the things they learned even on the first day. God is doing unbelievably miraculous things here and I can’t even express how blessed I am to be a part of it.
One experience that really stood out to me today was a little boy named Eric (one of the onlookers while we were setting up). His clothes were tattered and torn, he had no shoes, and he said he was 8 years old although he looked about 5. He began telling us his story through Pastor Francis who translated for us. He told us his mother had died and that he lived with his Grandmother who “drinks all the time.” He said his Grandmother will leave early in the morning then come home late drunk which leaves him on his own all day to fend for himself. As he stood there sharing his story, eating a granola bar that Susan had given him, I was so overcome with emotions and moved to tears that I had to step back. I realized then what so many innocent children are going through and what they deal with every day that I had to pray (and cry) to the One who loves them best. They are such beautiful people here that I’ve quickly fallen in love with them.

After another amazing day of seminar where God showed up in a big way (oh the singing and dancing!!), we packed up our things and headed back on foot to our hotel in the glorious sunshine. We stopped at a shop on the way home where Elaine and I bought authentic African dresses (which we would later wear to a traditional Rwandan wedding). When we left the store, the clouds moved in like wildfire and we walked the rest of the way in a torrential down pour….Ah…”no problem”….welcome to Africa!!

Rwanda is beyond beautiful – both the people and the landscape – and I am absolutely loving every minute of it (don’t worry Mom and Dad, I’m still coming home…so far ) (editors note, only one offer of over 100 cows, so far).

Thank you all for your prayers – we truly feel it here and couldn’t do it without all of you!! Much love to you all!!

Imana Iguhe Umugisha (which means “God Bless You”).

Becky Richards is a Rwandan Dancing Queen. Nakibazu means no problem

What a Day

We are back in Kigali. Yesterday we were divided into two groups and then climbed the Virunga mountains through thick Bamboo jungle and deep mud to meet the mountain gorillas. It was pouring rain while our group of 8 plus 4 guides) were climbing an descending the mountains, but during the hour we spent with the gorillas the rain stopped. A group of about 12 gorillas with two silverbacks were busy feeding when we arrived. We got so close to them… One of them walked through our group and brushed against Becky. We were about 10 feet away from the largest and oldest silverback in the entire region: a 43 year old male who stared at us, sat peacefully on a patch of branches, breaking them and gnawing at them and overseeing the activities of all the others. What a sight and what a privilege to share their habitat for an hour and to silently watch these majestic creatures up close. No fences, nothing that separated us from them. The only noises was the clicking of our cameras, the breaking of branches and occasional gorilla grunting as these animals communicated with each other.

We were drenched, wet inside-out, when we arrived back at the Ishima hotel in Musanze.

What a glorious day!

 

Martin Sandig is a blogging machine

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Never in my wildest dreams!!!

I’ve never imagined having the opportunity to speak to a large group of Rwandan and Congolese pastors, in Muzanze, Rwanda. I also never imagined having my message interrupted by a thunderous rain storm as the torrents pouring down on the tin roof making it impossible to continue. Then the craziest thing happened. I started to lead the group in a boisterous version of ‘God is so Good’ in Kinyarwandan! Suddenly, the whole place erupted into one unscripted dance party that lasted about 20 minutes until the rain stopped. As if all that never happened……I went back into my message, and we prayed and ministered as usual!

‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it even entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him.’

Elaine Olson will be auditioning for an African choir.

Musanze…

Today was the end of one adventure and the beginning of another. As a team, we watched God bring about miraculous emotional and spiritual healing in so many lives in three short days that culminated in an truly worshipful celebration that even had many of the Gateway team members dancing with the Rwandans in praise to our heavenly father. It felt as if all of heaven had descended upon our room! God moved mightily, touching not only the sixty plus Rwandan pastors and church leaders in Kigali but also each and every team member has come away changed by how special these people are. Different team members made special connections with several of the attendees, exchanging email addresses and promises to pray for each other.I was deeply touched by a special lady by the name of Jacqueline. She hugged me and prayed over me in Kinyarwadan in a way that brought me to tears. This final Cleansing Stream day in Kigali ended with a graduation ceremony for the participants. Each person was presented with a diploma, a pin from the city of London Ontario and a few other small items. Many of the people attending make very little in the way of income and we were able to bless each one in attendance with 5000 Rwandan Francs (about $8.50 Cdn) to offset their travel expenses getting to the retreat centre for the three days we were together.

Our day started with us leaving the hotel just before 8:00 am. The seminar wrapped up shortly after 5:00 pm which was the end of our first adventure. The second adventure started immediately there after with us dividing into two groups in two vans with a different mission to accomplish. Group one went back to the hotel to pick up the luggage that we all needed to head off to Musanze which was our destination for Weds evening. Group two headed off to get some of the women measured for traditional Rwandan custom tailored gowns to be made at a shop where one of the women course attendees works. Once done, they were to pick up photo copies of French language material for the Musanze seminar. We underestimated the number of French booklets that were needed and the material we brought from Canada to use in both cities was quickly consumed in Kigali. We faced a challenge of finding a business that could produce a minimum of 40 copies of 6 different books consisting of many pages each by Wednesday afternoon.

Rwanda is not like Canada most offices aren’t automated anything close to ours. The roads in Kigali don’t even have names and a phonebook doesn’t exist for you to look up businesses. Everything is strictly done by word of mouth. You know someone who knows someone and that person knows someone that may be able to help. Pastor Francis, our Rwandan host, made several phone calls on Tuesday and by Weds morning we had a place that could probably complete the work for us. We thanked God for his provison and one of our team members headed out with Pastor Francis’ wife, Bernadette, to drop off the material to be copied with the hopes that the job would be done by 5:30 pm. Both groups met at the photocopy shop slightly before 6:00 pm, to be told that job wasn’t done yet but would only be another hour. We decided to go to Bourbon’s Coffee Shop (Rwanda’s equivalent to Starbucks) to wait the hour out and got back to the photocopy shop around 7:15 to find out the job wasn’t done yet. Seven copies of one book were incomplete and would be another 45 minutes before being done.. Pastor Francis insisted that we get on the road to Musanze as it was at least a two hour drive through winding mountain roads and it isn’t wise to travel the road in the dark of night which was now upon us.
Both vans headed out praying for safe travel as we left Kigali. Pastor Francis accompanied us and was a most gracious travelling companion. We sang songs of praise to God as our driver guided the van around vehicles and curves on the narrow mountain roads. Pastor Francis even taught us how to sing God is so Good to Me in Kinyarwandan. We arrived in Musanze safe and sound shortly after 9:30 pm. Pastor Francis had pre arranged for the hotel to have supper waiting for us and they kept it hot even though our arrival was more than 2 hours later than expected. After eating, we all headed off to bed exhausted and gratefull for everything that we had experienced. Even with all the delays and challenges that we faced and overcome, we have been blessed by God in maintaining a strong team bond to support each other and overcome together. As a pastor once told me in the 1990′s before heading out on a mission trip, “Blessed are the Gumbies in life, for the will not get bent out of shape!”

I firmly believe from the deepest parts of my heart that God wants to bring healing to Rwandans and end the torment and spiritual oppression that has beseiged so many for far too long. He is going to using Cleansing Stream to draw these key people into discipleship and empower them to bring this deliverance ministry to the fellow countrymen.

God has ordained this mission trip for this time and place.

Jim Edwards is in the flow.