A Week of Crazy

How do I even begin to put into words the craziness that has been my past week. Crazy seems to fit perfectly, although chaotic would be a close second. So much has happened in the past seven days and God has revealed just how much and how radical the change within me has been. It’s been exciting and frightening, loud and explosive, but mostly God ordained and God anointed. So lets do this in an orderly fashion and go a day by day synopsis and I am giving you a fair warning…This blog will not be short but trust me you will want to stay with it ;)

 

Sunday:

On Sunday we had the opportunity and the pleasure of hosting a Visiting Orphans Medical team from California. They came in and we were able to partake in Sunday service with them inside our home and the girls danced and lead worship while the pastor of the California church danced through worship and even got his team involved and got them dancing. It really was a sight to see and was an incredible time of worship. After the worship Peter (who was the translator and the one leading the service) asked for a time of testimony in which I gave the testimony of my garden experience. Now here is the cool thing; the pastor from Cali was to be the speaker and preacher and the message that he spoke? Why it was the story of Mary Magdalene meeting the resurrected Jesus in the garden outside the tomb!!! I give my testimony about my garden experience and the speaker speaks almost the exact same experience that I had. I had not seen the correlation until he brought it out but sat there and thought “wow…it truly is amazing how God works things out”.  

Once the service was over we were able to eat with the team and talk with them before they went on their way. That night two of my new favorite people came back to the house to stay with us for the week. Ben and Cassie are a married couple who live in Nashville singing and playing guitar for a living. They sponsor a kid at a school here in Rwanda and were here to see her and pour into her but during the week they were to stay with us and thank God they did because it would not have been such an awesome week had they not. Now on to Monday

Monday:

Honestly Monday was pretty uneventful other than getting a call from Amanda saying that she was hearing mortar blasts close to her place. This was intriguing so I pull up the news and sure enough the DRC army and the M23 rebels had engaged in fighting along the Rwandan border close to where Amanda was. It was at this point that I decided I needed a plan of escape in case it got bad (overdramatic? More like planned and ready. Hope for the best but expect the worse) I was able to go into the community and play with kids and meet some of the people that I live amongst. One guy who sculpts even used my face to help him sculpt and carve a good size figure. So my face has now been immortalized in a sculpting which is pretty sweet. That evening we all went to the beach at Serena resorts on lake Kivu and shared a meal there. We played volleyball with the locals (in which I played like crud but hey This Is Africa [T.I.A.] so no one really cared lol). It really was a great night and I had such a blast hanging with new friends and just being able to relax.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was also pretty uneventful although it was Tuesday that I started to get sick and thought I might have a parasite. My gut was bubbly (and not the kind of bubbly that makes me wiggle my toes or crinkle my toes) and sharp pain started to hit pretty hard. That night Ben, Cassie, Katie, Moses, and I all went out to eat again at a beautiful spot right on the lake and again shared laughs and made memories that will last a lifetime.

Wednesday:

So Wednesday was the eventful day and was the start of something new and amazing. To start the day I decided to go to Noel Orphanage down the street with Ben and Cassie and once there we met two other Americans who brought the Orphanage brand new basketballs and footballs so of course we had to use those balls to play a game of 5-on-5 basketball. Ben and I were on a team as well as one of the other Americans and two of the Noel guys. The other team was basically all Noel guys and you know what? We won but it was during this game that my gut started acting up again and decided to throw sever pain my way and my shin decided to join in and give me pain as well. But we won so totally worth it.

We went back to the house for lunch and once lunch was done we walked back to Noel and started discussing with some of the guys there. We probably had a group of 10 guys between 17-25 and while it started out as just asking questions it turned into a discussion about the politics of Rwanda and how the power to make their country better rested with them. I was able to encourage them and push them into a mindset that said they could accomplish anything and not to let the words of those around them stop them from achieving their dreams or goals. We talked about hard work, even in the small things, and not giving up even when the odds seemed stacked against them. It really was a beautiful thing and I was so thankful to be able to be used in that way. I learned that one of the guys named Oliver had actually taught himself English by listening to BBC radio and then looking up the words in the dictionary….he is so flipping intelligent it is incredible. I was also able to bring one of the guys over to my house for a cold drink and some time of relaxation which he sorely needed.

During the talk with the guys we started hearing loud booms in the distance and Cassie, who was in Rwanda when fighting broke out last November looked at me and said that’s a bomb. After that we were consistently hearing them go off every 2-3 minutes in rounds of three or four. We even heard the THUD-THUD-THUD of the helicopter gunships firing their cannons into the rebel positions. It really was a surreal experience. This carried on for nearly four hours and when we went into town to eat that night the entire city was covered in a haze and smelt of gunpowder. Like when you shoot fireworks during the fourth of July and that white haze fills the area and it smells like fireworks…it was like that except on a much larger scale.

 

Thursday

Thursday was a decent day. The bombs seemed to stop falling which was nice and I was able to go to Noel in the afternoon and play ball with the guys but it was during one of those games I am pretty sure I either pulled a muscle or hyper extended something within my right bicep which was to cause me a lot of pain. This night we did NOT go out to eat but stayed in and ate at the house. That night Ben, Cassie, Amanda, and I all watched The Office which was great and made me laugh so flipping much

 

Friday

Friday I went to noel again and tried playing ball but that didn’t last long with both my shin and arm shooting pain up my entire right side. I decided to lay down until after lunch. Once lunch was done I grabbed five of the guys from Wednesday’s group and we met at my house. I told them that like Christ had the 12 I have the five; five guys to mentor, teach, learn from, and live life together. We will be meeting every Friday and discussing events in our world, how to better the world around us, and dive into the Word for bible studies. I am so excited to see where God is going to take this. These five are highly intelligent with one of them aspiring to be a doctor who can find the cure for HIV/Aids. I truly believe, if given a chance and the proper schooling, he will be able to accomplish this dream.

That Night Ben, Cassie, Amanda, and I all went up to Imbabazi and played clue and other games and just hung out. It was such a great night and was sooooo much fun. I haven’t laughed like that in a while. It was needed and was good.

Saturday

This morning while waiting to get a moto, Ben and Cassie pulled out the guitar (in the middle of the village road) and started playing and singing worship songs. Needless to say the locals crowded around and were in awe and some even started singing with us. It was such an awesome moment and it was definitely God inspired and God breathed.

It really has been an incredible week and despite the illness, pains, and war going on around me I never once got down, sad, or even upset. The dogs even ate a pair of my shoes and I didn't get mad....trust me that's truly God at work. He is starting to change the way I view things and this week was truly a huge sign of the work He is doing in me. I was able to carry on despite the things and turmoil around me and physically in me. I saw beauty in everything and was able to be free to be me and it was truly amazing. How I love the person He is making me out to be and the change that He is stirring within. So until next time, stay thirsty my friends….thirsty for the Spirit that is ;)