The latest update from Alison in Rwanda
Saturday, November 1st–
Finally a chance to get on the internet. We just arrived back from the pastoral training sessions, everything there went really well. It was a very full couple of days it felt like we crammed about a weeks worth of stuff into 2 days. It was rather emotionally draining for all of us.
Our time with the pastors and their wives was amazing. About 50 pastors and church leaders from all over Rwanda gathered in a hostel in the middle of a field on the outskirts of a town called Nygatarre, in north-eastern Rwanda. They spent a week together trying to cram in as much learning as possible. Pete, Ron and Dave were each teaching intensive courses on the Gospel of John, 1 Thessalonians, and an Old Testament overview. It seemed every waking moment was filled with either teaching sessions, or informal conversations about the Bible and about Christian living. These church leaders had so many questions that they probably could have filled the entire time just doing question and answer sessions.
Midway through the week about 25 of their wives joined us. We had some great sessions with these women as we shared testimonies, and worshipped together. It is hard to describe in words what it is like to worship with 25 African women who are crying out to God with all their hearts. All Ican say is that it is amazingly beautiful, and I am sure God was pleased. Catherine, Jen and I led some teaching sessions for them that covered topics like Spiritual Gifts, Relationship vs religion, Lessons from Dorcas, Mentoring etc. It was my first time to speak with a translator -but we had an incredibly talented young woman translating for us and it went pretty smoothly. the biggest frustration was not being able to just talk freely with people in informal conversation due to the language barrier. At the end of one of our teaching sessions where we talked about servanthood we chose to walk around the room and rub hand cream into each of the ladies hands as we prayed for them. it was a very moving experience. The pastors had a similar time in their sessions as they ended one of their sessions with a time of foot washing.
there is so much more i could say but I will wait till I get back and can show you some pictures and share a bit more about the incredible people we have had the privilege of spending some time with here.
Prayer Needs
The sad news which you may not have heard is that we just found out last night that Ron’s sister who he is very close to just died. That was a huge blow for him. He is going to try and get home for the funeral. He couldn’t get a flight for today but will leave tomorrow afternoon which should still get him there in time for the tues service. Although it is hard, it is actually good that he didn’t’ find out until right after the training was over. it was actually immediately after the graduation and communion service that that he found out.
The other problem is that on our 3 hour trip back to Kigali today Dave Adams became quite ill. He is vomiting, and weak and seems to have some sort of stomach bug. He was supposed to preach tomorrow at church but likely won’t be able to do that. Pete might have to do 2 services! Catherine has had a bit of stomach troubles, but not enough to stop her from participating in everything. So far I have been OK, trusting that will continue.
The refugee camp is still unsure. I don’t think it is directly related to the Congo problems, but apparently the UN is wanting to do a census there and so doesn’t want outsiders coming in. We have heard that conditions in the camp are not good, so that might be part of it. But there is still a chance we can go, so please keep praying as we would really like to go.
