Please continue to pray for the group’s health and safety as we travel (we have an 8 hour wait ahead of us in Nairobi).

We arrived at service at 9:10am and were blessed to see the church praising God with everything they had. From the oldest to the youngest, there seemed to be a vibrant dynamic to the people. They were dancing, skipping, and shouting praises to the Lord – Dancing like David danced…

As praise and worship was taking place, the generator stopped working. with well over a thousand people in the building, it would have been impossible for the word to reach every ear. but God, had good thoughts towards the people, and worked in such a way, that a new one was brought, and put in place just before Pastor Dennis was due to preach.

As the introductions came and went, Pastor Dennis came with a word from God to the people. He ministered so powerfully from the book of St Mark about the man with the withered hand. The word of God broke through every barrier and boundary, and reached the hearts of the people. Pastor ministered about the man with the withered hand, and the necessity of breaking through religious barriers. The message was one of restoration and wholeness, you could see the joy bubbling over as the people responded to the message.

Pastor was presented with a plaque that showed a map of Rwanda witnessed by the congregation and the local community.

Note: Our editor Michelle fell ill moments before the service, and returned to the bus feeling feverish. Michelle was prayed for in the service by the whole church. She recovered shortly after and came back into the service. She is now regaining her strength for the long journey home. – No doubt she will update you with her testimony, on day 10 of the blogg. God Bless.

The following excerpt from the Official website of the Republic of Rwanda explains the significance of today for the Rwandan people.

THE FALL OF THE GENOCIDAL REGIME
On 4th July 1994, the capital city of Rwanda, Kigali, fell to the forces of the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA), the armed wing of the RPF. The members of the so-called Provisional Government, the armed groups, and many people who were involved in genocide, fled mainly to the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Tanzania. Over three million refugees fled to Tanzania and the DRC.

On 19th July, 1994, the RPF established the Government of National Unity with four other political parties – the Liberal Party (PL), the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), and the Republican Democratic Movement (MDR). Weeks later a 70-member Transitional National Assembly was formed consisting of representatives of the RPF, the four other original parties plus three other smaller parties, namely, the Islamic Party (PDI), the Socialist Party (PSR), and the Democratic Union for Rwandese People (UDPR), as well as six representatives of the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA)

VISIT TO KABUJEJE CHILDREN’S PROJECT
The beautiful building that we passed a couple of days ago is the usual location for the Kabujeje Children’s project run by Compassion workers in partnership with the local church. However due to Liberation and Independence day celebrations we visited the nearby Kabujeje church.

Children and parents stood at the entrance to greet us, some families had walked for over 2 hours and would have to make this same journey to get back home. The children were split into two groups inside the large, spacious church. Ages 3-5 were together as were the 6 – 8 year olds, they were learning bible scriptures and then broke out in song, one of which was the unforgettable “Read your bible and pray every day, pray every day read your bible, pray every day if you want to grow. If you want to grow, Hallelujah read your bible and pray every day.”

(Video of children singing coming soon)

Home visits were arranged in the afternoon for some of the teams sponsor children but some families had come to the project (Kabujeje church) to meet us as many of them lived quite far away. Pastor Dennis and Sister Helene’s sponsor child Shadraq was accompanied by his grandmother and brother. His father had died and the mother has disappeared. After Pastor gave Shadraq his bag full of clothes and toys and other goodies, he handed him a copy of his discipleship book, upon seeing the picture of Pastor Dennis on the front Shadraq left everything and just clung to the book, this touched many observers. Pastor Dennis later found out that learning English was going to become compulsory very soon in Rwandan Schools. Pastor prayed that Shadraq would become a Pastor and lead many others to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In the Church, there were two scriptures inscribed on opposite walls in Kinyarwandan. Zaburi 65:5, translated Psalm 65:5

“By awesome deeds in righteousness, You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas”

And also Yahana 14:6 translated John 14:6

“I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through me”

These powerful scriptures spoke of their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Junior spoke of his experiences of meeting his sponsor child’s parents, he said “You could tell that he was a man of prayer” This father actually spoke into Junior’s life which was very touching. Although our mission was to give to our sponsor children, their families and the local community, we have received so much from these people. They are steadfast and obedient to God’s word.

Angela and Lottie and Stephen also recounted their experiences of meeting their sponsor child’s family memories we will never forget. Clint and I met Geraldine our sponsor child’s mother and father, and her two sister’s the most lovely people, although quite reserved as people, the father’s words were quite telling, he said “I feel like dancing”. They don’t actually attend the church attached to the project and have not made a commitment to the Lord, but we invited them to church tomorrow and we pray that they we come and encounter the life changing word and presence of God. Amen. Each family presented us with a gift, this was amazing, out of their little they gave. (Luke 21:1-4)

FEEDING THE CHILDREN AND THE CROWDS GATHERED OUTSIDE

Soon it was time for the children’s mid morning porridge, in what could only be described as man-sized mugs served with traditional bun style bread. The team served the children and it was great to see that they were being fed so well. The mustard paint on the walls of the church and the 8 – 10 windows either side of the church gave it a warm but airy feel, a lovely environment. The pulpit where Pastor Dennis will be preaching tomorrow is built up with red and white brick work.

The team took the opportunity to have the packed lunch that had been pre- prepared for us by the hotel. One of the team suggested that some or all of our lunches could be divided to feed the children who had gathered outside who were not part of the project. Hallelujah, we can say that just like the little boy with the two fishes and five loaves all of the approximately 40-50 children ate and there was enough left over to feed some of the adults who had also gathered. We Praise God for His provision.

We then met in the offices, the church have allocated for the Compassion administrative procedures. We met Pastor Obed who has been overseeing Kabujeje church for the past 4 years. He told us that the church was established in 1984, 10 years before the genocide and currently has a congregation of about 2000.

He requested that the church pray for the many orphans and widows in the area, his districts covers areas plagued by violence. (Psalm 91). Pastor Obed had organized a crate of cold drinks for us during this visit, we were very touched.

HOME VISITS
The team split into two groups and carried out home visits for children who lived more locally. Josephine visited the home of her sponsor child, her mother and father greeted us and invited us into their homes, the stone walls were decorated with several hand written scripture verses protected by plastic covering. The heat outside was defused by the cool stone walls and straw protective paneling above our heads, the group commented on the coolness. The family said they were very excited about meeting Josephine and thanked her for her letters. They gave Josephine a gift and Josephine asked several questions and then prayed God’s blessings and provision for this family.

As we left this spacious house, the view at the back of the building was outstanding, yet again the magnificent masterpiece of our Creator’s 1000 rolling Rwandan Hills. The wealthy would pay millions for a view like that, God’s handiwork and hand upon this nation makes them real rich people.

We then visited Nadia’s, Natasha’s sister’s sponsor child and her family, the trek to both these houses gave us a real taste of the dirt roads marked out throughout the Rwandan hills, at one point we were holding on to rock and branches jutting out rock faces to steady some of the treacherous trails we encountered today, but it was great fun. The Grandmother who had been left to raise two children was yet again very accommodating. Natasha praised the Grandmother for doing such a good job with her grandchildren and her closing prayer asked God to enable the Grandchildren in the future to repay the Grandmother for all the good she has done. The Grandmother requested that we pray for her and her family that her quality of life would improve. In Jesus name. Amen.

We met back at the van and began the journey back to the hotel, we passed the crowds gathered on the grounds of the Kabujeje children’s project building, a sea of colourful outfits and brightly coloured umbrellas marked the occasion.

Please pray for Pastor Dennis as he prepares to bring a healing, delivering, convicting word to those in attendance at the service tomorrow.  Please pray that he will be enthused by the power of God to meet the exact needs of the people in Kabujeje church tomorrow. Amen. Pastor Obed said the community is looking forwarded to meeting Pastor Dennis and the team tomorrow.

We had great fun throughout the day but seeing members of team, offering a variation of styles in the closing dance at the cultural village was by far the highlight. Whilst the cultural dancers continued their traditional steps, our group introduced the running man, the shuffle, the stomper and the strange. The Iby iwacu cultural village will never be the same. Please continue to pray for us.