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 21st. 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!
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