Thursday, March 17, 2016

Rwanda Wanderings-Rwamagana-Nyagatare-Kigali

 
IN MEMORY OF JOSHUA'S KINDLE
Josh's Aunt Wendy gave him her Kindle Fire, and he used it about every day for reading, whatsapping, and taking pictures like he's doing in this picture.  I'm glad I have this picture to remember it by because it was stolen out of the window of a house we stayed in. 
 
Paul was awakened about 12:30 AM Monday morning, and at first he didn't know why.  A few minutes later, I was jolted awake by the sound of our Jeep's alarm going off.  Talk about a jolt of adrenalin! 
 
We investigated and discovered thieves had used sticks to reach in two of our windows and steal my bag that I'm using as a purse, Paul's glasses, his Bible, and Josh's Kindle.  My bag contained, among other things, all of our passports, 2 credit cards, a little money, and my car keys.   We went outside to look around, and there was my purse, upside down on the grass!  The passports were still in it!  We were so thankful.  That would have been a huge job, expensive in both money and time,  to get them replaced.  But my car keys were gone.  We kept looking, and soon found my keys on the ground in the ally beside the house.  Apparently our thieves were scared off by the car alarm.  (I'm glad I'm not the only one scared to death by that noise!)  Our mosquito repellent was on the wall.  
 
Paul walked around the whole house, and as I stood waiting, I heard footsteps behind the house next to ours.  Later we heard someone talking softly to the guard of the houses inside the gates where we were.  Paul found his Bible and glasses on the window sill outside our bedroom window.  They had been on his nightstand, inches from his head.  Maybe that is what woke him?  It was a bit freaky to think of someone being that close while we slept.
 
We ended up being very thankful!  We're sad for Josh, but we can't help but see how much worse this could have been.  If they had kept my car keys, we wouldn't be able to leave the car alone for  a minute until we left that area.  Josh's Kindle was recharging in the laptop.  If we lost this laptop, we'd lose our prayer letter list, among other things. 
 
In the morning, we found one other thing:  human excrement in the back yard.  We are told that is for "good luck" (as in witchcraft) so the person breaking in will not be caught.    Too bad DNA testing hasn't arrived in Rwanda or we'd have a good case against someone.   
 
 
 We left Rwamagana (and our wifi) over a week ago, and tried to catch some of the scenery as we moved to Nyagatare which is in the north, close to the border of Uganda.  Rice fields still fascinate us. 
 I guess Lot's well watered valley wasn't like this, but it makes me think of him. 
  Pine trees and banana trees together.  I didn't know you could do that. 

 
 Finally, we are at the pastors' conference that started the whole trip to Rwanda!  Paul had the floor from about 9:00- 4:30. (9:00 African time ) with about an hour off for the whole gang to walk to a restaurant for lunch.  Pastor Bosco was his translator, and he did very well.  Paul used the American expression "I was a chicken" describing when he was timid about sharing the gospel, and the unfamiliar expression struck Pastor Bosco as extremely funny.  It gave me the giggles too, picturing afresh instead of it just being a common expression.
 Josh got an unusual shot of the streets of Nyagatare in one its more empty moments.  It's a bustling town.
 "Bend-down Bazaars" are popular all over Zambia and here in Rwanda too.  Used clothing from other countries is sold for a bit.  It's like a yard sale, and can be so fun. 
 We all were pretty tired by Friday afternoon, but here are some of the pastors at the conference. 
 From Nyagatare's high spots, you can see the mountains in the distance, and those mountains are in Uganda, about 40 minutes away. 
 Suddenly, without warning, the story of "The Princess and the Pea" came to my mind. 
 On Sunday Paul preached in three churches.  This was Pastor Innocent's church.  It's funny when he introduces himself, "I'm Innocent" before we'd ever accused him of anything. 

 At church #2, Pastor Deo's church, I took a video so these two shots skips to church # 3. 




 Coffins are made outside.  We were told jobs were available at this place if the person would covert to Islam. 
 A rare picture of the three of us!  We went to lunch with Pastor Bosco and enjoyed good Rwandan food, and he likes my camera. 
 A nursery school between church and home caught my eye.  Looks like they're off on the right foot!
 The cook and the goat.  Need I say more? 
 We got to Kigali last night, and Paul preached at two churches.  His black light showed up nicely in the dark. 
 The lights of Kigali framed by two giraffes. 
Kigali the next morning with our hillside view.  Josh is sick today, and I'm sort of recovering, hopefully, so we are thankful to have a more still day today, close to facilities. 

"Thou tellest my wanderings..." 
from  Psalm 56 :8

"With my whole heart have I sought thee:  O let me not wander from thy commandments."
                                                                    Psalm 119:10

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