There are some places that have grabbed my
heart and not let go. Rwanda was one of them. After 4 years away, it was such a
blessing to return to visit last week. Many things had changed: new buildings
built, roads paved, streetlights installed, children grown…and yet it is the
same too. There were still goats running
across the road in front of traffic, the avocados were still huge and
ridiculously cheap, and the land of a thousand hills was breathtakingly beautiful!
But the best part of all was seeing old
friends.
How true this verse is of my dear friends/family
in Rwanda. I truly thank the Lord for them! Getting to visit reminded me of
what an incredible gift my two years there was. Besides catching up, it was lovely
to spend time together in the Word and in prayer and just talking about what
God has done. Such a sweet time!
Rwanda isn’t the only place I visited since
my last blog post. As most things shut down
in South Africa during the holidays, including Thembalethu, I was able to spend
Christmas through the New Year in New Zealand visiting friends and attending a
Bible conference and exploring a bit.
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| With Heather and Peter at Purakaunui Falls |
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| That's me, standing behind Kitekite Falls |
Being in New Zealand was such a blessing of fellowship
and encouragement and I returned to South Africa refreshed and very thankful
for the time. The author of Hebrews really knew what he was talking about when
he said, “Encourage
one another daily...” ~Hebrews 3:13
I was especially thankful for the
refreshment, because things here have been busy, with trainings galore. These have included putting on computer training at a local primary school, teaching
tomato trellising to Thembalethu’s gardener, and tomato sauce making to Thembalethu’s
cooks, hosting another all day training for preschool teachers, doing lots of
math tutoring, and preparing for and facilitating training sessions for new
group of Peace Corps Volunteers. (There were lots of monkeys at the Peace Corps
training site, which was fun!)
Recent days have also included school uniform
distribution, strategic planning for Thembalethu’s OVC program, leading a one on
one Bible Study with a neighbor, and making the most of peach season with my
host family, picking, pealing, canning, drying, and eating peaches from the
trees that are growing in abundance all around our houses.
So, life has been busy, and I know the coming
days and months will be busy too. But when
I left Rwanda I kept thinking of one word, courage. I’d forgotten how often
I’d heard that word (said with French pronunciation) on my daily morning runs
in Kibungo. As I ran one morning, I was quickly reminded as people called out “Courage!” as I went past. It is said as
an encouragement, meaning keep going, don’t give up. As I think about my
remaining time in South Africa, it’s a perfect word. It echoes in my head
in combination with Hebrews 12: 1 & 2 - reminding me to keep on going, to run
with endurance, and to keep my eyes on
Christ. These verses are life words! I’m so thankful that in the Lord, we have
the greatest reason of all for courage. He is with us!
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be
frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever
you go.” ~Joshua 1:9
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I know this isn’t the clearest picture, but
it was courage in action! I took it in
Rwanda and there is a man way up in that tree, cutting down branches for
firewood. He had no harness and held on with one hand while he hacked with the
other. It seemed like a crazy thing to do, but he didn’t fall and he
accomplished his goal!
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So, as I think about the coming months, I want to be brave, to take risks, and to accomplish goals. But most of all, I want to cling tightly to the tree-the cross of Christ, for it’s only in Him that I can accomplish anything worthwhile.
