Worship practice was fun yesterday with Florence and the team. These guys are blessed with beautiful voices and the drums and shakers add to a very authentic 'African' sound. Now that we have power at the church we would like to start saving for a simple sound system and some instruments. Four of the team showed an interest in learning guitar and we will start lessons next week.
Much fun had by all at our baptism service in Niboye today. 10 people made a public confession of their faith in Jesus and we sensed his presence and pleasure with us. Sorry Antoine could not be there as he is sick (with malaria he thinks). We pray for his recovery and for a blessed day tomorrow as we celebrate the Kingdom life we have through our Lord, Friend and Savior Jesus.
Last night we celebrated a Passover meal with some Canadian and Rwandan missionary friends. There were 17 of us in all and it was a very enjoyable evening. It was also Kathleen's birthday. Thanks for the awesome cakes Jen.
We have been celebrating Passover for the past few years and it is a great way to trace God's amazing work of redemption through his chosen people and ultimately through his Son Jesus Christ. It is hard to even begin to comprehend how much we have to be grateful for as children of our loving heavenly Father. A very happy Easter to all!
Last Thursday while we were at a Mission cabin on Lake Kivu with some other missionary families, we heard a commotion outside our cabin and the guards were all in an uproar about something that was happening on the Lake. I went down the hill with them to the lake and heard two people shouting in the water. As I am not a very good swimmer I ran back up to our cabin and called the others to come. Joel was first to the lake and the guards, who do not swim, had carried a SeaDoo out of the shed. Joel jumped in the SeaDoo and began to paddle out to the people in the water who were about 100 meters from shore. A dug-out canoe was coming from the far shore at the same time. Joel managed to drag the woman he got to first into the SeaDoo and she was coughing up water and in shock. The dug-out reached the other person, a young girl who was also quite distressed.
It seems the ladies had gone to the weekly market in a small dug-out. The wind was up and the water a bit choppy and on the way back to their island their fully loaded boat sank. The rescue dug-out took both women on board and headed off to their island. When Joel got back in the seadoo we all felt so bad for their loss that Joel asked if he could follow them and give them some money. I gave Joel 5000 francs (about $10) and he took off after them in a kayak this time. It took him a while to catch up with them and give them the money. The women were still crying but were very grateful to the young white boy who helped prevent their day from being a complete disaster. We prayed that the women would be sympathetically received back in their village and that our donation would help to cover some of their losses.
Florida is a widow and lives with her 2 children in Gashubi and is part of the Muyange Vineyard small group there. As part of a government development plan Florida had to replace her thatched roof house with one of metal sheeting. Six folks from Muyange and 8 from Gashubi spent the day helping Florida to build her house. Brendan and Pat went to help out for a while and enjoyed the fun atmosphere. Afterwards we all got together and gave thanks to God for the blessing of community that works together to help those in need and prayed for blessing on Florida and her family in their new home.
For the past 2 weeks we have been blessed with a visit from our friend Robert Stovall who pastors one of our partnering churches in St. Louis, Missouri. Robert's visit was primarily a Pastoral visit. The wise and gracious way that he helped us evaluate our lives on the mission field was very beneficial. Robert also presided over a 3 day visioning and strategizing time for the Muyange Vineyard and the Rwandan AVC with Antoine, Florence, Val and Pat.
We had a training session with our leaders in Holy Spirit ministry which Robert helped them to put into practice during the Sunday morning service. It is exciting to see what God does when we invite His Spirit to come and minister to us.
Thanks to the Hope Vineyard and Robert's wife Kim for allowing us to 'borrow' him for two great weeks.
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