The Land of a Thousand Hills and a Thousand Blessings

Tonight marks the end of our first full day here in Rwanda and it was jam-packed!

But first let me start with yesterday. We touched down at Kigali International Airport at about 1:00 PM after 35ish hours of flight, which is a lot more than most of us have ever experienced. We survived the 16 hour flight from Washington D.C. to Ethiopia (split up by a refuel in Rome) with lots of reading, playing cards, sleeping, and taking embarrassing pictures of other people sleeping.

After a slight debacle at the airport trying to locate some luggage, we finally arrived at the Africa New Life Ministries mission house, only shy two suitcases. We unpacked and then spent the rest of the evening playing soccer in the streets with neighborhood kids. Dinner that night was a delicious stew made with peas, carrots, and an interesting cooking banana that is similar in taste and texture to a potato.

The majority of today was spent at New Life Bible Church here in Rwanda. We attended two services this morning, one in English and one in Kinyarwandan. We even got to go up on stage as a team and share a worship song with the congregation. In was a really incredible experience to participate in such a genuine, heartfelt service taking place in multiple languages, all to the glory of one God.

Later this afternoon we returned to the church for orientation with Pastor Emma of Africa New Life Ministries. He graciously welcomed us to Rwanda and gave us a rough idea of our itinerary for the week. It is going to be long and full but well worth all the work.

At the end of orientation we returned to the sanctuary for the youth service, in which we played a very active role. First the whole team went up and sang another worship song, which all the kids in the audience really loved. Then, about 8 of us performed a short skit that we prepared last night. The skit is pantomimed to the song "Everything" by Lifehouse and is a portrayal of the temptations and struggles we all face in this life and the absolute freedom that is found only in Jesus Christ. It seemed to have a pretty powerful impact, as everyone in the audience began to shout and cheer at the climax of the skit.

On the docket for tomorrow is leading VBS as part of the church's street ministry, as well as picking out paint for the Sunday school rooms at the church we will be painting. In the afternoon, we will be visiting the genocide memorial. It is sure to be an extremely difficult and emotional experience, but Pastor Emma believes that once we more clearly understand the history of the country we will have a better idea of how we can serve the people here.

Tonight at our team meeting, the group asked you to prayer requests:

-good health

-getting enough sleep and having plenty of energy

-lost luggage (Abby and Stacy would really appreciate that!)

To close, I just want to explain the title of this post: The Land of a Thousand Hills and a Thousand Blessings. After the genocide, Rwanda was known as the land of a thousand hills and a thousand problems. Today in orientation, Pastor Emma explained that in the last decade, the church in Rwanda has had a tremendous impact in changing this stigma. What an encouragement to hear that God is at work here in Rwanda!