A Light Shining in the Darkness

Sometimes you think you have seen poverty up close enough times that it won’t affect you emotionally. Today I had the opportunity to spend some time with some people living in extreme poverty and it stirred something very deep in me. I find myself constantly holding back tears as we visit some amazingly godly, but extremely poor families.

One of the things that IT is doing here in Kigali is helping to get street kids off the street and in a more stable setting. So they try to find homes for them to live in and help them enrol in school. The families who have taken in these kids are families that you might least expect to want to help. They are living in small shacks, without electricity, and are struggling to make ends meet. But they have these hearts that are so full of compassion and love that they are willing to take in street kids to live with them. It is quite phenomenal. I wish you could meet Philipe who together with his wife has taken in many kids. If you saw their home you might be tempted to think that nothing good could come out of there. It’s just a dark dingy room made of mud walls and not much else. Philipe and his wife are HIV positive and are unemployed. But we felt Gods love in very tangible ways in that place. They serve God with humility, and joy. It is a light shining in the darkness for sure.

Dorthy and some of her children

Today we also went back to visit the woman, Dorothy, who is very sick with AIDS. It was so encouraging to see that she was doing better today. She was able to sit up and talk with us. It seems the prayers, and the milk, have helped give her some strength. We prayed again with her asking for God to keep restoring her strength and to provide for her family. If you think of it you could pray for them too.

Tomorrow we head up to Nyagatare, a town about 3 hours drive away, so you might not hear from me for awhile. But please pray for our time with the pastors’ wives and other female leaders as we teach and interact with them. We will be speaking via translators which is new for us. May our time together be meaningful to them and help to spur them on in their walk with Jesus.