Rwanda — Week 2 🇷🇼

What a week this has been! This week has been full of sweet ministry, deepening relationships, and Holy Spirit encounters.

Monday was my first day back to ministry after having been sick. For clarification on World Race vernacular, a whole group is called a squad, and our squad is split up into two teams. One team is called Safari Saints, and our team is called Jehovah Nissi. On Monday, Safari Saints taught English to the women at Hope Rwanda. After lunch, we helped the women clean up their dishes, and they helped us with our laundry.

Tuesday looked very similar to Monday. I sat outside with the women during lunchtime, and they shared some of their traditional food with me. It was maize, fufu, and a bean soup.

After ministry, some of our team walked up to the grocery store, which is about a 15-minute walk. On our way, we stopped by some market stalls to talk to some women that some of the team had met earlier over the weekend. While we were standing there, a man approached us. This man looked me dead in the eye and asked, “You are a Christian? I want you to teach me the Bible.”

“I want you to teach me the Bible.”

The yearning to go deeper into the knowledge of Jesus is so evident in this country. What a wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit to put people in our path who are hungry for His Word and also speak English. I had brought my pocket Bible with me, so I pulled it out and opened to John 3:16–17. I read this man those verses and explained how they talked about Jesus and what Jesus has done for us. I shared the gospel on the way to the grocery store.

This interaction had me reflecting on how different ministry looks here versus in the States. But in the words of Jesus, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37).

Wednesday was one of the most memorable days of my life and certainly captured the feeling of what I’ve always hoped Africa would be like. We spent our day visiting Rehoboth Christian School. I can confidently say that I have never felt so welcomed in my life. As we entered the gates of the school, Grade 5 students were singing and dancing for us.

We were introduced to the administrators of the school and given a tour. As we walked around the campus, the kids all waved to us through the windows and stuck their hands out to receive high-fives. The joy was palpable.

We were then introduced to the teachers of the school, who took us individually into their classrooms to help serve breakfast and lead a lesson. In His goodness, God put me with the Grade 3 teacher at Rehoboth! It was so sweet for me to see what third grade looks like in Rwanda after having taught third grade for two years. I had a very joyful and lovely conversation with the teacher of the classroom, whose name was Dieudonne. He was only two years older than me and has such a love and passion for teaching and leading his students. During the classroom visit, I got to lead a vocabulary lesson, and the students showed me songs and dances that they enjoy.

As we took a break for lunch, the students asked me, “Teacher, are you leaving?” in hopes that their American visitors would stay longer.

After we ate lunch, we had a mini dance party with the headmistress of the school. Then, when students were released from their classrooms to go get lunch or for the youngest ones to go home, we were bombarded by hugs and love.

At the end of our time there, all 600 students came out for a type of assembly. We spent about 30 minutes dancing and singing. At the end, they thanked us for coming and let us share a little bit with them.

I don’t have a good singular word that describes this day. But it was memorable, joy-filled, honoring, and so deeply filled with love.

Thursday, we were back with the women at Hope Rwanda. This time, our team led the English lesson. We practiced tailoring terms and phrases they might use for selling. We also practiced counting from 10,000 to 100,000 because that is how Rwandan francs are formatted.

The women had formal lessons in the tailoring school Thursday afternoon, so we had an opportunity to ask the Lord (ATL) what He wanted us to do with our afternoon. We ended up splitting into our two teams and walking in different directions in our neighborhood.

In the first 15 minutes of our walk, we were waved down by some men sitting in the doorway of their shop. They asked us if we knew any Kinyarwanda and corrected us and taught us a few words. These interactions led into the simple question of, “Do you know Jesus?”

One of the men, Dissan, who seemed to know more English than the other, said, “I want to know Jesus. Can you tell me what to do to believe in Him?”

What a gracious God we serve to provide such abundant fruit in this first country. I shared the gospel with him and told him that to believe in Him is to follow Him with our lives and to continue trusting in Him.

Many people in Rwanda have been hurt by the church. They have been told that they have to earn their place, that they have to tithe to be saved, and that they have to pay to be prayed over. We get to bring the beautiful truth that Jesus paid it all and made a way to God that we never could.

We tend to make a scene, being that we are white and are not staying in the touristy part of Kigali. As we talked to these two men, more people approached. A couple even stopped for a minute on their motorbikes to listen. One woman and her daughter stopped. This woman did not speak English, but we were able to give her daughter a coloring book, and she sat there with Hadley and colored while the woman asked Dissan to translate what we were talking about.

We got to pray over Dissan, his friend, and the woman. Dissan asked for prayers for an exam he was having a hard time passing. He also asked if we would bring him a Bible.

As we continued on up the road, we met a beautiful woman named Drocelle and her baby who two of the girls had met on our first day in Rwanda. The baby was only one month old, and the four of us in our group each got to hold her for a little bit. The woman did not speak any English, and her friend who was with her spoke very little, but we got to pray over both of them.

On the World Race, there is an insiders’ club called the 90%. It is named as such because it is said that 90% of racers will poop their pants during the race. Now, I do hope that this is not TMI, but our squad, myself included, has had trouble with fluid bowel movements since getting to Rwanda.

As we were sitting there praying with this woman, it came over me what I have dubbed the “poop sweats.” Now, thankfully, on this day I did not join the 90%, but my team was gracious enough to head straight for Java House, the restaurant that was our meeting place.

We got drinks at Java House and shared our stories about who we met and how God showed up in the two hours that we “ATL’ed.”

On Friday, we got to visit another school! We loaded up into the bus and traveled to Blessing Academy, which is a smaller school owned by the same person who owns Rehoboth Christian School. There, we got to serve breakfast to the students, which was porridge. I gracefully spilled some on my foot. I shared some games with the class I visited, asked them questions, and let them ask me questions. Our time at Blessing Academy was briefer, but we also went outside and did some dancing and singing. We prayed over the students and left before lunch.

From Blessing Academy, we walked a few minutes to Hope’s farmland, where they host the tailoring school for women. They also have a house for men who are struggling. Currently, they have three men living there, one of whom is a 12-year-old boy named Adam. I will come back to Adam’s story in a moment.

Emmanuel, one of our ministry hosts, walked us through the farmland, told us what they farm, and explained how they have built a well to bring water to the surrounding community during dry seasons. It is incredible to see the amount of work that is done by hand in Rwanda.

Now, back to Adam. He is new to Hope Homes. He arrived just two days prior to us meeting him. While I don’t have all the details of his story, this is what Emmanuel told us.

Adam is originally from Sudan, but has been a street kid in Uganda for the past five years. Recently, he crossed into Rwanda and was found at the airport trying to fly back to Sudan with no ticket and no passport. Government agencies were called, and they contacted Hope Homes Rwanda.

Adam does not know where his family is, and from the scars on his face, you can tell that he has been through things no 12-year-old should ever have to go through on his own.

Something interesting about Adam is that he speaks English. He does not speak Kinyarwanda, which is the primary language in Rwanda. As we picked Adam up from the men’s home, Emmanuel said, “Jack, I’ve got a friend for you.”

It was such a joy to see Jack pouring into Adam, making him laugh, and treating him as a brother in Christ. We were quite endeared to Adam, and I ask for your prayers for this child who has had an unbelievable childhood and a future that only God knows.

After visiting Hope’s farmland, we got back on the bus and traveled back to our favorite place in the world: Rehoboth Christian School. They call themselves the best school in Africa, and thus far, I cannot disagree.

As the kids came out of the classrooms, we were swarmed by hugs and high-fives and so much love. I’ve never received that many hugs in my entire life. It had to be close to 200 before the students departed. Some of them performed a traditional dance with drums and singing. Some of our team members even got to play the drums along to their dance. After more dancing and more hugs, the teachers finally had to tell the kids to go home.

We went into one of the classrooms to meet with all of the teachers, both from Rehoboth and Blessing Academy. They shared their thanks for us coming and being their visitors. One of the teachers brought out a guitar and sang a worship song.

We shared our gratitude and talked about how much they have blessed us with their love for their students and their gracious welcomes. At the end of this time with the teachers, we worshiped. We sang and jumped and clapped. There was tangible joy in the room.

As Americans, we often feel like those things are for children, but doesn’t Christ call us to have a childlike faith? In that room, adults from 18 to 65 leapt for the Lord and sang praises to our God.

As I reflect on this week, I am just in awe of Jesus, that He would call me to be here, to be a part of this, and to be able to witness the deep forgiveness, love, and joy of these people.

Highest praise to the King of Kings.

Prayer Requests

• The sickness that continues to go through our team. The head cold that I had last week has trickled to two or three other team members, in addition to the tummy troubles that some of us continue to have.

• The educators and administrators at both Christian schools, Rehoboth Christian School and Blessing Academy.

• Adam and the story that God is still writing for him.

• The salvation of Dissan and his friend, as well as the exam that he is trying to pass.

• Pray for me that the Lord would continue to fill my cup and draw me deeper into love with Him.

Thank you for your prayers, Jeshua has been faithful to answer!

With love and gratitude,

Hannah Mahony