A song that was constantly running through my mind the last couple of weeks in Rwanda was Father God. The majority of you probably know this song, but here are the words in case you do not:
Father God, just for today, help me walk your narrow way. Help me stand when I might fall. Give me the strength to hear your call.
Jesus Lord, from day to day, help me love in your own way. Let your faith in me be known. Let your will to be my own.
May my steps be to worship, may my thoughts be to praise, may my words bring honor to your name.
As simple as it is, this beautiful prayer sums up in 5 lines a lot of what I have learned about my own faith while on this internship. I have sung this song my entire life and it has never meant as much to me as it does today. In Rwanda, I saw people living out the words of this song and I experienced the love they have for God even though they have close to nothing. It has always been hard for me to fill the void in my heart with Jesus because I stuff it full of material things that only fill it temporarily. Even though some of these Rwandans do not know if they will have food today they trust that God will provide for them and they are happy to be alive. I believe this is the faith that the sick woman in Mark 5 had and I pray that mine will one day be that strong.
I miss Rwanda already, but I am excited to take what I learned in Africa and put it into my everyday life here in America.
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Here are some photos from the last leg of our adventure. We went on a survey trip into Uganda to see what additional opportunities may be there for the future. To end the week we were blessed to go on a Safari. When we returned we only had 2 days left in Kigali before returning to America.
Above is the group that went to Uganda on survey. There were 9 of us stuffed in this land cruiser and 8 of us were women so you can imagine we had quite a bit of luggage.
The Miller's friend, Safari, joined us for most of survey trip. He is from Congo and used to be a Baptist pastor, but he now travels between Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda to work with the local people and help plant house churches.
Darian already wrote a post about the center for vulnerable and abandoned babies that we visited. We spent lots of time with these babies and they definitely melted our hearts.
We also visited the local Baptist church and its school. There is a Compassion International center in Kisoro, Uganda that is co-run by the Anglican and Baptist church. We got to speak with Rose, a woman who works with the Pre-natal through 3 year program. It was neat to hear about the work that Compassion International is doing locally and see how it works from the inside. Rose also told us about local issues, such as alcoholism, prostitution, and divorce, and the other needs of the society. It is evident that there are many opportunities here for mission work.
It was awesome to end our trip with God's beautiful creation. We saw lions the day we arrived at Queen Elizabeth and were the first ones to find them the next morning. We also saw a leopard, which is an incredibly rare siting, especially one that is close enough to photograph. Other animals we saw included elephants, hippos, monitor lizard, water buffalo, cob, water buck, wart hog, crocodiles, baboons, and several kinds of monkeys. We were told that we were lucky to have seen all the animals we did, but I think God was just blessing us.
Thank you so much for the love and the prayers while I was away. It was the experience of a lifetime and hopefully I will have the chance to return someday.
Also, happy 4th of July! This is a day of remembrance and freedom for both America and Rwanda. As it marks the day of our national independence it also marks the end of the 100 days of genocide. So, as you celebrate the freedom of our country, I ask that you also pray for the continued healing and liberation of Rwanda.
Blessings,
Becca
