Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Day in Butare, Rwanda

When people ask me "What do you do in Africa?", I say, "We do all kinds of different things.  We stay at the Come and See Africa (CASA) House. We teach.  We visit."  I think I need to give you a little more detail than this terse answer,  so you can pray for us specifically.  Here is a list of things that I did today, on July 28, 2010

I got up around 4 am (sounds like I am a very diligent person), but not really.  My body is still confused from California time and Rwanda time. I check my email and prepare a sermon to share at the morning devotion. At 5 am, Jack the night watchman prepares the room for the morning devotion.  Adults usually sit on chairs, and children sit on the floor. Around 5:30 people start singing, I join them.  It was my turn to give a sermon this morning.








For this morning devotion, there were about 50 people.  We surprised them with warm milk, bread, and a hard boiled egg.   I wish you could see these delighted faces.  CASA gives them milk and bread twice a month, but this morning we added an egg.  The cost for all this?  About $15.  How  wonderful it is to see how our small resources can accomplish so much here.  



From 10 am to noon, we are having a VBS with kids.  The same kids who attended the monring service come back for VBS, and Tabi from Texas teaches.  





From noon to 1:30, Chris teaches at the NUR stadium. Several hundred are intently listening as Chris talks about dating and courtship.  


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Around 2 p.m, we have a lunch (cooked bananas and rice), then rest a little before the evening class.

At 5 p.m every night, there is a class at the CASA yard.  There are about 300 students who are taking courses in biblical studies.  The space we are renting is a 4 bedroom house, with no inside space for a classroom, so they are meeting outside. These students are on fire for God, and they want to learn about God.  Their passion and dedication is amazing, and they touch my heart.

From 8 to 10 p.m, Chris teaches again at the stadium.  After the evening session, we have a late dinner (chips, rice, beef).  I probably sleep 3 to 4 hours a day, my body is tired, but my soul is renewed. 


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