July 25th & 26th

July 25^th and 26^th: These days are “dancing days”. We have spent a good bit of time on our toes. We might as well be ballerinas on point.  WELCOME to RWANDA!

July 25^th- Day One of the Dance:

As we loaded up the “taxi” aka “Partridge Family van” with our suitcase full of teaching supplies and headed to Ginkomera, all that we knew was that we did not know a lot.  We had taught the 10 diocesan staff for two days but now were heading into the unknown—a little bit more rural Rwanda. We were leaving the paved road! What was awaiting us was a full classroom; full from age 5 to 40 (or 62 if you include those of us on the team) with a vast discrepancy in English fluency. As we were exuberantly ushered into this classroom by pastor steven- being tailed by at least 10 more students- we were clearly over our heads.

Deep breathe, let the dancing begin… on our toes we went.  Luckily we had really prepared before we left. (Thanks to those who are more administrative in nature--- not I).  So though this was not anywhere close to “the plan”, we managed to dance around this unexpected situation with some grace, a few missteps, and a lot of improvisation… lets call it an interpretative dance—the pun was fully intended!

As we closed the class with a 4^th singing of amazing grace (now accompanied by some rhythmic clapping, thanks to the Rwandans), I felt chills dance up my arms and down my back; and I knew I had been blessed to share in that moment.

The day was not over yet… just beginning.

We had lunch at Gikomero with PEACEMAKER and those he allows in his presence. He is the most stoic 1year old I have ever met. Lunch: Rice, beans, other vegetables stewed and curried, chicken (sorry Taylor) and Fanta was included; and Ford was happy.

Then we piled into the truck and bounced down the bumpy, steep inclined, clay road for a well sighting. The well was wonderful. The throngs of children that followed us were captivating, the goat was entertaining, and the inventiveness and sheer patience of the production process was humbling. 

Loaded up the truck, pranced uphill, piled out and then piled into the van.  The transition from truck to van we execute with little grace and no efficiency- we fall out like fruit and then talk to everyone- though the vehicles are separated by 10ft,  it takes about  30mins before we are loaded up and closing the door.  We heading back for our 2^nd lunch. Ps- who gains weight in a 3^rd world country…WE DO!

2^nd lunch completed, short nap, and then off to buy fabric in the market rounded out our scheduled afternoon activities.

The market experience is another blog post in itself- not my first time in a African market, so I would not convey the experience in a way to give justice to what most of the rest of the team experienced, but there was dancing involved.

Day one of the dance was concluded with dinner, compline, singing, and tears. The Holy Spirit has provided space for our emotions to rise to the surface everyday. Even Ford and Eric are not spared. Rwanda, Africa in general, is slower in nature; Less distractions are available therefore more emotions are felt. It is good and cleansing.

July 26^th: Day Two of the Dance

Wake up; too early for me, again!  (6:30)

Eat our most exciting breakfast yet:  flat eggs, toast (we were given a toaster, SCORE!) a gouda cheese wheel (a added bonus), avocados, papayas, peanut butter and bananas, salt, Jennifer’s PEPPER, and COFFEE (French pressed). This is a much better spread than anything I typically ever eat for breakfast.

I’m still waking up when we all leave for our daily prayer time up the hill.

Then load up and head to Gikomero. We are about to start dancing again. Though we had yesterday under our belt, I was fairly certain we could not rely on yesterday to be the experience of today. When I used to live in Africa we had a saying: TIA- “This is Africa”. We would use it whenever any of our western expectations did not line up with African reality. This day was no different.

We were directed to the “stage”, a completely different classroom than the day before. Our audience, you may ask, contained about 10 repeat offenders and about 35 others; all were young students between 6 and 16.  I could hear the music begin as we all rushed around dancing on our toes. Sarah and Taylor grabbed the material and began the handout process.  Hillary, Teresa, and Jennifer braved the stage and danced through their lessons. I was impressed by their execution and form… and then it happened. My favorite part of the trip (and Felicimas as well), Teresa danced up and down the aisle. This is not a metaphoric dance that I have used throughout these 2 blog posts, but REAL “get down with your bad self T-Dog (her nickname)! Felicima literally had to leave the room she was laughing beyond containment or composure. The class ended in EPIC fashion.

My memory has a hard time trying to recall the events after that moment.

We left the class and Eric and I kicked a soccer ball for a bit with about 4,000 kids (what it felt like). After a few minutes, I slipped and fell right on my rear and elbow- (I ate it).  Note to self: toms and a graveled basketball court do not provide great footing for flashy soccer moves.

As I regained my composure and my lungs stopped screaming from this thin air, we had lunch; same menu as before and still rather tasty. I would like to acknowledge the shivery of our leaders! Eric Bolash, as I discovered a chicken’s liver in my rice sauce, he volunteered to eat it so that I would not have to. Ford also has saved me. On our first visit my malaria pills made me too nauseous to eat. He ate my plate as well as his, not knowing that another lunch was waiting us. He had 3 lunches in one day. They Rock!

We finished lunch and headed “home”. I would like to encourage all those reading this blog in the states to take our team to a petting zoo upon return. You would think we have never seen a goat, or pig, cow, or chicken before. Every time we pass one of these animals we light up, make animal sounds, and giggle with excitement. I would love to see a lion pounce on one of the animals above, but for now that is all the “wild life” we get. Well, unless you count Taylors pet gecko. Unfortunately for Taylor, we think we ate her rooster friend and we are not certain if it was Charlie (her pet gecko) that I stepped on the other night. Squishy- ugh, not fun (I was barefoot)!

Anyway… we made it home, had a second lunch. Then we took our fabric to Sarah’s new friend, Joseph the shoe maker/sewing genius, to make us some sassy sling bags.  

We were ex-hausted by the end of the day. We had our daily candy fix (we are about out of our stash) drank some tea, and ate dinner.  Then we retired to the “living room” for more compline, songs, sharing, and tears- our typical Rwandan night.

These past few days have consisted of varied tempos. We waltzed to the African cadence, hip hopped across hectic classrooms, spent most of our teaching on our toes, and had more than a few interpretative moments, and in our sheer delirium and sugar highs have just raved with headlamps as strobe lights. 

Tuesday, July 24

Tuesday morning did not commence with a wake-up call from my beloved rooster (I seem to have been the only one who looked forward to hearing from him each morning), but I did start the day in fresh clean clothes from the luggage that once was lost, but had been found.

After yet another delicious breakfast of fresh fruit (the mini bananas that taste like a pineapple/banana hybrid are incredible) and eggs and hot coffee, we headed up the road to the Diocese headquarters for morning devotional with the diocesan staff.  I am really cherishing this time together studying God’s word in Kinyarwanda and in English.  The language may be different, but the message remains the same. 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound . . .

The Holy Spirit’s power was evident as we led ESL training this morning.  We opened each day by reading our team verse (Isaiah 55:10-11) and singing Amazing Grace and the Doxology. The hand motions used by our students to worship and praise God as they sang the first two verses of Amazing Grace made it clear that the words were resonating with them.  I don’t think I have ever heard those two verses more sweetly sung and I can only imagine how beautiful it sounded to our Lord.

After ESL training, we came back to the Halleluiah House for yet another wonderful meal and then headed over to Shyogwe for a tour.  Upon arrival we were greeted by Reverend Emmanuel Gasana who took us on a tour of the school at Shyogwe, which included a visit with the headmaster.  It was really great to see the students’ physics, chemistry, and biology labs and to gain a better understanding of what a typical school day looks like for the students.  We wrapped up the afternoon with a tour of the health center and were able to visit with two new moms and their babies and a “mom-in-waiting” who was past her due date and expected to give birth soon. 

After we wrapped up our tour, we headed back to the Halleluiah House and had dinner before sending Ford back to the airport in Kigali to retrieve the remainder of our luggage.  In his absence, Eric led us in a time of reflection on our experience in Rwanda thus far.  We also used this time to lift each other up in prayer, asking for the Lord’s mighty presence and power to continue to direct our paths for the remainder of this trip. 

Later that evening Ford returned with the final two pieces of luggage – praise God, from whom all blessings flow! 

How precious did that grace appear . . .

This experience so far has been incredible and I have experienced Christ’s goodness in so many new ways.  He is changing my heart and my love for Him continues to grow exponentially.  I praise Him for how he is developing new relationships between us and our brothers and sisters in this beautiful country and I look forward to each new day and new opportunity to experience His love shown to us through our Rwandan family!  Yesu Ishimwe! 

By:  Taylor Waren

Monday July 23rd - The Rooster and Three Mighty Men

The Rooster and Three Mighty Men

Hillary mentioned in her entry the Rwandan rooster who welcomed us to his country at 4am the first night. I’ll get back to him in a bit.

Monday began at 7:15am around a table at the Halleluia House with a breakfast of thin scrambled egg omelet, sliced bread and pineapple jam, fresh papaya, oranges, sweet-tart bananas grown on every hillside you see and steaming Rwandan coffee and tea. 

We then began the day as it does each day for the staff of the Shygwe Diocese, singing praises to the Lord and opening the Scriptures. The staff translated our conversation about David’s three “mighty men” from 2 Samuel 23 who obtained water at David’s request in the midst of a battle, risking their lives as they did. These three men were willing to trust God and serve under David’s authority even when it meant hardship for them. As someone mentioned, “it was a good example to follow.”

At 9:30am, the six women from our team kicked off their first session of the ESL training. Their enthusiasm and joy as teachers along with the eagerness of the Rwandan staff members to learn the teaching methods was remarkable. The Lord was clearly at work as we watched beautiful relational connections happening through laughter and hard work to understand how to teach English to their fellow countrymen.

We broke for lunch back at the Halleluia House, which included delicious baked chicken, which made us wonder if we might be getting even with that rooster! And interestingly, he didn’t wake us again that night. Lunch just might have been rooster retribution!

In the afternoon, we heard from a short but gutsy woman named Claudine (I told her she and my wife would get along well!). She told us about the Mother’s Union, which is a ministry of the diocese that trains women to care for their families in areas such as nutrition, budgeting and hygiene. The women see God’s care and provision as the church cares for them practically.

We then climbed a steep hill to the church that meets above the diocese buildings and heard from Reverend John, who pastors the church and oversees several churches that are visible from the hilltop. He talked about being called to this work, with little time for rest but with much enthusiasm for people to come to know and walk with Jesus.

At the end of the day, we were still missing our luggage, and it was day three in the same clothes. Our team was getting more fragrant by the hour. So I traveled with Venant and Emmanuel to the airport hoping to retrieve our suitcases. Venant joked that if we returned from the airport with everyone’s bags, we would be like David’s three “mighty men!” We did get most of our bags, and the team met us with an ovation on the porch as we returned.

As I went to bed, though, I was hit with the truth that the real mighty men and mighty women are these saints with whom we spent time that day. Our team had certainly sought to equip them for teaching English, but the mighty men and women in this place are folks like Claudine and Reverend John. They have immense vision and courage to build buildings and train people for disciple-making and holistic ministry so that people will know Jesus and be cared for by him. As God empowers them, they are the mighty ones, and I pray that our church in Raleigh can learn from their example, inviting people to know him and seeking ways to care for them so they see his glory.

Please continue to pray for us!

In Christ,

Eric

Sunday July 22nd

We’ve now spent our first 24 hours in Rwanda… and I have to admit, we’re feeling pretty Rwandan. 25 glorious hours of traveling landed the 8 of us safely in this beautiful country…yes, we had only one suitcase, but we also had God’s promise of provision (undoubtedly the theme of our trip thus far). And for many of us, those initial moments after landing were met with tears of pure joy-God’s provision was all around us as 7 months of anticipation finally became a reality. Having arrived after dark the night before, this morning was particularly exciting as we awoke to a rooster at 4am, but more importantly, as we awoke to God’s glorious creation all around us. Despite some glamorous church outfits we (the girls…thankfully, not Ford and Eric) had planned ahead of time, we dressed in our travel clothes and drove to church having no idea what lay ahead of us…including the fact that we would be speaking, singing and performing as part of our welcome to the congregation.

A 30 minute drive took us from our Diocese guesthouse in Giterama to our sister church of Gikomero. We were overwhelmingly blessed with the welcome we received at Gikomero Parish, and we worshipped with our brothers and sisters for three wonderful and praise-filled hours. We’ve decided that the worship this morning was truly like a little piece of Heaven. It was the most passionate dancing and singing I’ve ever witnessed as three different groups from the congregation performed songs they’d clearly been practicing. But make no mistake, the songs were not meant for us. Their sole purpose was to glorify the Lord. And that we did, as they reminded us “This earth is not what we were made for. Heaven is our true home.” And so it is fitting that we truly felt at home, and felt like we’d been given a little glimpse of Heaven. Watching the groups of children, youth and young married couples lead the church in worship was simply beautiful. Ford then preached, Eric dedicated a baby girl, Manning gave her testimony on the spot, and we got up to sing the Doxology and Holy is the Lord to the best of our abilities. 

After meeting in Pastor Etienne’s home, and sharing a delicious meal with his family and various church leaders, our hosts took us on a tour of the village showing us the school and the Health Clinic that had just been built. Unfortunately, we then had to say good-bye to our new friends (including a handful of precious children who’d wandered up to the stage to sit on our laps during the service…yes, it’s safe to say we’re already too attached) and head back to Giterama for the afternoon.

Well, overall I’d say we have decided to embrace the more laidback lifestyle we’ve discovered here in Rwanda-one void of the concept of time, structure, clean clothes and warm showers-and we’re loving it. While we have no idea what our first day of teaching will look like tomorrow, we do know that we will be teaching any number of the Diocean leaders, we do know that we have all the supplies we’ll need-nothing short of a miracle. And finally, we know that God is with us and that He provides. So, Praise the Lord for His promises, for clothes that last us 60 hours straight, for Heaven, and for whatever tomorrow may hold.

We love you all~Hillary

Saturday July 21st

After 3 flight delays, 6 time zone changes and 25 hours of travel, we arrived safely in Kigali Rwanda at 7pm on Saturday night, July 21^st.  Without a doubt, the theme of the first day of our trip has been God’s faithfulness and provision.  He has given us exactly what we needed for this trip (and absolutely nothing more!).  

The story of God’s provision begins in the Brussels airport.  After a relatively smooth first two flights, we arrived at the ticket counter to check in for the final leg of our journey only to be told that no ticket existed for Eric.  Despite having checked in at RDU, having bags checked through to Rwanda and a confirmation number for the final flight that was given at RDU, the lady at the ticket counter insisted that there was no Bolash in their system and that Eric did not have a seat on our final flight.  We had already gone through security and ridden a bus to get to this terminal.  Now they were sending Eric back to the United desk to clear things up.   After several attempts to get them to recheck and make sure, the lady finally agreed to call the United desk for Eric and within a couple of minutes, the issue was resolved.  Not only was it resolved, but the ticket they found for Eric was next to 2 of our other team members!  

The next (and most dramatic ) example of God’s faithfulness and provision for us on day 1 was when we arrived at the airport in Kigali.  After clearing customs, we went to retrieve our 13 checked bags and found…..1.  That’s right, 12 of our 13 bags did not arrive with us.  We believe they are in Brussels, but as of the time of this writing, we cannot be sure where they are or when/if they will arrive.  How is this a story of God’s faithfulness and provision you might ask?  The one bag that arrived contained all of our ESL materials.  It was truly the ONLY bag that we NEEDED in order to accomplish our purpose of coming on this trip.  Sure it would have been nice to put on clean underwear today, or to have shaved or put on deodorant.  It would have been nice to have had my vestments for church this morning so that I didn’t have to preach in a children’s choir robe (I’ve been told by the team that I’d make an excellent angel in next year’s Christmas pageant).   There are all kinds of reasons it would have been great to have had the rest of our luggage, but the Lord provided for us exactly what we needed.  It feels very much like when Jesus sent out the 12 disciples in Mark chapter 6 and tells them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts…  The point was for the disciples to have to depend on the Lord’s provision for them.  Now while I have to admit that I do have money tucked into my belt, I don’t have much else.  But I have enough.  

Our team has enough.  We have what we need.  It’s a lesson we’re all learning.  And over this third day that we’re all wearing the same clothes, we’ve all been able to give thanks to God for his provision of our ESL materials.  He’s given us exactly what we need and he’s teaching us to trust in him.  It’s a really good lesson.

I guess the ways that you can pray for us are fairly obvious.  We begin teaching English tomorrow (Monday).  Please pray that the Lord would use these women and all of the work that they have done to prepare their lessons to bless the people of Rwanda.  And if you want to throw one up for our bags as well…that would be great!

Back to Rwanda

Last year, as the Rwanda Partnership Trip Team worshiped with our brothers and sisters from the Gikomero Parish in Rwanda, at the end of the service, Rev. Etienne proclaimed , “You are part of us, and we are part of you.”  They were beautiful words that capture the heart of our Sister Church Partnership with the Gikomero Parish.  Through numerous trips and ongoing prayer, God has been knitting the hearts of our two churches together, and we are thankful to God for that.

On Friday, July 20^th, a team of eight folks from Apostles will board the airplane at RDU and head out on a 14-day journey with hopes and dreams to continue investing in this partnership and to bless our brothers and sisters in Rwanda through the teaching of English.  Our team, which consists of Teresa Kincaid, Jennifer Kromhout, Taylor Waren, Sarah Hughes, Manning Pruden, Hillary Dotson, Eric Bolash and Ford Jordan, will have two main tasks. 

First, at the request of Bishop Jered Kalimba, we have been trained to teach ESL to some of the teachers and pastors of the Shyogwe Diocese.  We will be ‘teaching the teachers’ how to teach ESL.  This will be vitally important as the country continues to transition their national language from French to English. 

Our second purpose will be to continue building relationships and investing in the people of the Gikomero Parish.  We will spend time with them, worship with them and pray with them.  We will also have the opportunity to get an update on the status of the well project and the health clinic. 

Our Team Verse for this trip is Isaiah 55:10-11. 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Please be in prayer for us as we travel.  Pray for our health and safety.  Pray for our friends and families that we are leaving behind.  Pray for our English teaching and for the relational work we will do with our Sister Church.  And above all, as our team verse suggests, pray that the Lord would accomplish whatever purposes He has for this trip. 

Journal Entry...

As I am sitting quietly waiting to leave for Church, I am praising the Lord that this time next Sunday, our Partnership Team will be worshiping the Lord with our brothers and sisters of Gikomero!  It is hard to believe that after 6 months of preparation, the time is drawing near to be departing for Rwanda.  My heart is overflowing with gratitude at the goodness and faithfulness of our Lord to meet all the financial needs for our trip through many of His generous servants.  We have also been provided mighty prayer warriors.  I have much to be grateful for this morning!   Our team verse is Isaiah 55:10-11.  The promise of God succeeding in things which he puposes according His will has already been evident and I am excited to witness what He is going to accomplish on our trip as we build relationships with our brothers and sisters of Rwanda.  Please pray our team verse for us daily, thank you.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the things for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

All praise and glory be to God, His steadfast love endures forever!  Thanks be to God!

Your friend in Christ,

Teresa