Heavier Things

I took out part of my last update (the Thursday afternoon part), because I did not want to put up anything morbid for Christmas, so now I'm just spoiling New Year's.

Our leader doesn't really want anyone to be online right now, but I miss home, and I hate not hearing from everyone back home, so I really don't care. Happy New Year's!


Outreach

We were in the village of Busanza, about 30 minutes away from Kimironko, our suburb of Kigali. We split up into groups and went around inviting people to church, which a pastor affiliated with YWAM is planting here. One group met Rosette. She's a widow. She had children, but they passed away. She's raising her grandchildren and one other orphan as well. She had surgery about 8 years ago, but it didn't go well and she ended up with the right half of her body paralyzed. She has AIDS. She's very poor, and very joyful. They told her God loves her and she said, “I know God loves me.” “Can we pray for you?” “Of course!” They prayed for God to heal her and asked if she felt anything different. She said, “Yes, my heart feels better. I'm very encouraged by you guys.”

Another group met another woman raising three children. The husband isn't around much at all. He infected her with HIV, and her three children are HIV+ as well. She's paying the rent on her housing, but she has a very hard time with it.



Elijah

Nine of us came from YWAM in Kona. We have a Rwandan teammate, Elijah who joined us and coordinates our outreaches and does interpreting. His dad was a Hutu and his mom was a Tutsi. His mom had 46 relatives, and every one of them was killed in the Rwandan genocide. That happened when he was a teenager, and he said he spent the next few years in a haze, numb to his surroundings, without hope or dreams for his future. But then, when the grace of God rescued him, he learned there is forgiveness and peace about the past, comfort and love for the present, renewal and encouragement for the future; there is life after emotional death, because God delights in raising the dead.



The Genocide

1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus murdered.
1,000 people murdered every 20 minutes.
300,000 orphans
An estimated 500,000 women alive today were raped during the genocide.
100,000 people have been indicted for these crimes.

General Romeo Dallaire estimated that 5,000 UN soldiers would have been enough to contain the militia and completely prevent the genocide. When he made that statement and request to the UN, none were given. Instead, that number of soldiers was used to evacuate foreigners from the country.