Confession #1: I have been SERIOUSLY spoiled when it comes to using the Internet whenever I want to. After waiting around for 45 minutes until I could hitch a ride to the café with wireless internet, I arrive here to discover that the electricity has been down for the past few hours and there is no access to internet. Argh! So here I am, writing this email, drinking some very delicious African Tea, and praying that the electricity will turn on before I have to leave so I can accomplish what I came here to do! If you don’t have patience before coming here, I can guarantee that you’ll leave here with a whole lot more of it!
Over the past week, I’ve had quite an eclectic array of experiences. On Friday, the Aussies and I went to a gospel concert at Zion Temple here in town. It was the BOMB! Now, I have to admit that not everyone who sang at the concert was good but for the ones who were, they completely MADE that concert. The concert was planned to start at 5:30 pm but we weren’t able to make it until after 7:30… lucky for us, it hadn’t even begun by the time we arrived! Haha ohhh how I love African time! On Saturday, the Aussie’s and I went to Didas’ home in Ruhengeri. We traveled about two hours through the hills of Rwanda and arrived to his sister’s home just in time for a traditional Rwandan meal. J Afterwards, we hung out, took tons of photos and received Rwandan names! I was given the name KaYesu (KaYaySu) Melissa, which means “For Jesus.” I think that fits me pretty well. J
Sunday I went to a Presbyterian church with Innocent, who is one of the cooks at the Guesthouse. The worship music was incredible and I even started to pick up enough of it to partially sing along! By the time church was out, we had spent 4 HOURS hangin with Jesus!! Ahhhh, lol I was actually quite shocked because it really didn’t feel like 4 hours at all! I really like the idea of having a longer church service though… I’m always reminded of my pastor in South Africa who said that if we can spend 4 hours sitting in front of a TV watching football, then we can spend at least 4 hours praising and worshipping the Lord! Amen!
AHHH PTL (Praise the Lord), the electricity has just turned on!!!
Side Note: Because I was so excited about the electricity turning on, I ended up spending the whole time on Skype and email and never ended up finishing this note… haha, so now, over a week later, here I am again finishing it up. I’ll try to make this semi-brief so you don’t feel like you’re reading a book!
Monday and Tuesday night the Aussie’s and I spent our nights over at Didas’ house. The boys were very generous and allowed us girls to take the HUGE king-sized bed while the two of them shared a tiny single bed… lol it was quite humorous watching them try to both fit on the bed but, they managed. Wednesday we woke up early for a mid-week vacation and made the 3-hour bus ride to Kibuye/Lake Kivu. Oh my word, that bus swerved in and out of those mountain roads as if we were on a racetrack! I learned very quickly after that to sit near the front, as motion sickness kicks in fast when you’re riding on something that feels more like a tilt-a-whirl than a bus. After arriving, we took a moto taxi down to Lake Kivu to go for a swim. As we walked down to the waterfront, a man drove up in his boat and offered to take us to a private island on the lake. Of course, we couldn’t resist that! The four of us hopped in his boat and soaked in the scenery as we headed toward the island. Because the lake is made of volcanic rock, the water is a stunning color of green and a perfect temperature for swimming. You could even see Congo (DRC) in the distance! By the time we arrived at the island, we spent a few minutes throwing food to a monkey they had on a leash and then dove in for a swim. Ahhhh it was so glorious! We swam over to another uninhabited island and explored around a bit. Didas and I found a lemon tree, so we enjoyed a few fresh lemons (which were retrieved by him climbing up into the tree lol) before jumping back into the lake. We swam back to our island to eat lunch (which ended up becoming quite the ordeal, but I won’t go into that story now) and left just as the rain began to come down. Needless to say, when I need a vacation, I’m definitely coming back to Lake Kivu!
On Thursday, Sally (the Australian) and I visited an orphanage for handicapped children. I cannot even express to you the kind of love and joy that radiated out of the nuns toward these children. It was so beautiful. We spent several hours with the children, learning about the orphanage and receiving the grand tour by Betere, who instantly became one of my favorites. Before we left, two of the nuns excitedly took Sally and I into a sitting room so we could have a glass of fresh milk from one of their cows. Oooooohhh my goodness, I swear that milk must’ve come straight outta the utter and into the glass. I tell you, it was like drinking liquid sour cream that spent too much time in the sun. They were just so darn sweet though so we couldn’t say no, rather, we did our best to take a few sips and each downed a glass of juice afterwards to get rid of the taste, haha. J
Friday, the three of us trekked over to Emmanuel’s house for yet another sleepover (we were really starting to get used to not sleeping in our own beds by this point… plus, as the only girls in the house, Sally and I always got the nicest bed J). On Saturday, Sally and Ben were given the opportunity to record a song with Felix (both have AMAZING voices), the worship leader for Zion Temple, so while they went and sang, I washed my clothes. I must tell you, by the time I leave here next year I am going to have the nicest looking biceps! All that washing is quite a workout for the arms!
I was invited to Kabuga Restoration Church on Sunday by my new friend Tresor, who I met at AEE when he was here for a World Relief Conference. By the time I had reached the Kabuga taxi park, I was already half an hour late to the service. Living in Africa really is not helping me any in becoming a timely person. But wouldn’t you know it, there were only about 15 people in the church upon our arrival and service hadn’t even begun yet! Arriving late and I’m still early, lol. After 3 hours of church, I came back home with Tresor and ate lunch with the family, enjoying a great meal of traditional Rwandan food (Ugali, beans, rice, chips a.k.a. fries, and cooked veggies) and a line-up of Joyce Meyers, David (the old Biblical movie), and Chinese soap operas on the TV.
And then came bittersweet Monday. Oh what a day this was! I started off in the morning at Ndera Hospital, the only hospital in Rwanda for the mentally ill and unstable. It was founded by French Catholics and continues to operate as a French and Kinyarwanda-speaking facility. I met with Charles, the president of Ndera, along with his brother Ferdinand (who helped translate), to find out more about the hospital and tour the facilities. Most of the adult wards were very simple, containing not much more than tables and chairs for eating, a radio for entertainment and beds for sleeping. Walking through the four adult wards, I noticed that it was very uncommon to see patients inside the wards. Rather, most spent their time outside in the gardens, relaxing in the warm sun, washing their clothes or participating in small group sessions. As we passed by one woman in the recovery ward washing her clothes, she gave me a big beautiful smile and exclaimed, “I just met you and I already love you!” Haha! Little did I know that this was only a taste of what was to come next…
We made our way into the women’s crisis ward, which was completely deserted except for a few staff mopping the floors. About 30 seconds later I hear “Muzungu!! Muzungu come here!” and see a woman stretching her hand through the barred window into the nurses’ office. I went over and grasped her hand, introducing myself in Kinyarwanda and asking her name. She asked me to come outside and greet her so Ferdinand opened up the door for me to go out. As soon as I stepped foot out of that door about ten different women came a runnin,’ yelling out things in Kinyarwanda that I didn’t understand (except for that infamous word, Muzungu) and all coming up to touch my skin, my hair, my clothes… within a few minutes I must’ve had over ten women all trying to hug me (yes, at the same time!) and touch my hair. Haha it was quite a sight, you would’ve thought I was Brittney Spears or something! Ferdinand began peeling the women off, one by one, until I was able to break free and run back into the office. He quickly shut the door but to his avail, all the women began pushing against it, trying to get into the office where I was! A few other staff members came over to help until we were able to shut and lock the door. However, that didn’t stop them from pounding on the door all chanting in unison, “Muzungu! Muzungu!!” This was definitely the highlight of my tour 
After my exciting trip to the psychiatric ward I made my way back home and began to pack… because I was finally on my way back to South Africa!!! My home away from home. J My excitement was almost unbearable and I was still in shock that God had made a way for me to go back. And to top it all off, I was going to see my (South African) brother get married!! Ahhh! Yet, despite my jubilee I was also grieving the end of my time with Benny and Sal, two of the greatest Australians I’m pretty sure I’ll ever meet. The three of us, along with Didas and Emmanuel, decided to go out for one last dinner together before we parted ways. Several complications and a few hours later, we started the walk back home until we reached the road to Didas’ house. All of us huddled together, in the middle of that dark, dirt road with arms around each other, and prayed. Everything and everyone around us faded to the background as our eyes became fixed on Jesus, coming before Him to lift up one another in true fellowship. It was beautiful.
We embraced Didas and said our goodbyes before making our way back to AEE. By the time 12:30am came around, we had loaded my luggage into the car and were on the way to the airport. Though Sal and Ben were leaving for Uganda just a few hours after me, they sacrificed their sleep and piled into the car, along with Emmanuel, to say goodbye. We sat down at the airport to enjoy one more cup of Bourbon coffee, reminisce on some of the adventures and stories we’d experienced and prayed for the journeys ahead. And then we parted ways.
What an incredible God we have. No matter how short our time may be with others, I am reminded of the beauty that is formed out of friendships with others. It is a sacred gift and one that is so often taken for granted. To have friends to laugh with, to cry with, to share stories and go on adventures with… our heart has been created to desire these things. And God provides! So rather than hiding behind the walls that we have built up to keep people “out of our business,” we need to let our hearts breathe. To let ourselves become a little vulnerable and open up to those whom God has placed in our lives. You never know, it just might end up becoming a bigger blessing than you ever dreamed of
Before I finish up chapter 4 of this incredibly long book that I seem to be writing, I want to encourage you with a verse that has been on my heart since the beginning of this new year. It is my prayer that it would be as much of an inspiration and encouragement to you as it has been to me J
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:16-17
Bless You,
Melissa
Susie and I spent last week together, exploring different places in Rwanda and getting to know some of the staff at the guesthouse. Pastor Steven took us to a Genocide Memorial Site in Nyamata, which was extremely humbling and difficult at times to comprehend the death that surrounded the site. Over 40,000 people died in this church… Many Tutsis had run here during the time of the genocide, assuming that it would be a place of refuge because they were in the house of God. However, the priests turned on their Tutsi brothers and sisters, murdering all that were in the church compound. It is unbelievable to think that any man is capable of doing such harm to another person, especially a man of God. In the back of the church they had created mass graves for all that perished in the church. We walked down the stairs, underground, to see casket upon casket holding the bones of 10-15 people per box. Further in were the skulls and bones of many others… I could not think of anything else to do but pray at this point. I cannot even describe to you the feeling of walking around and in those graves, knowing that there is a unheard story for every one of them. Inside the church held the stained and bloody clothing of those that had died inside the church. The clothing literally filled the church, every corner, every pew…. What an experience.
