Road to Rwanda---Dentists

 I had two teeth pulled today.  It started in Rwanda with intermittent pain.  I went to the dentist in Musanze.  He took x-rays and gave me antibiotics and said maybe it would be OK, but if not, then get it looked at.  Peter was able to get me an appointment with his lovely new dentist.  The young dentist was just so caring....and had been for Peter's children earlier after Peter had been through many, many dentists finding someone who would care for his youngest's teeth. The dentist had been on a dental missions trip to Quito, which was a nice connection.  The young detnist was concerned enough about my teeth to get an oral surgeon to look at me immediately. The dentist then prayed with me and sent me on my way, with a large discount for his services.  The surgeon was also a Christian.  We had good conversations while he was working on my teeth.  When I went to pay for the procedure, there was no charge.  Brought tears to my eyes....

Road to Rwanda---Therefore go and make disciples of all nations

  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,  Matthew 28:19 I was reflecting on this verse this morning.  You know our lives have been much more about "making disciples" than about "saving the lost".  Perhaps only in Beijing did we actually have a "seekers" group with people who really did not know Jesus.  But, instead, our lives have mainly been spent with kids.  Kids, who need to be taught what it means to grow up to be Christian adults.  Yes,  we have also taught a great deal about English and social studies and math and science, but absolutely the underlying theme has always been, "How does this relate to being a Christian?"  I can honestly say that where we are now in Rwanda, I believe every one of my 25 middle school and high school students are believers.  That does not mean that there are not daily lessons in honesty, and integrity and moral purity, intensively sometimes. I have tasked the whole group with sharing during ass...

Road to Rwanda----Mudslides

 We are safe here in Musanze but very near here 130+ people were killed in floods and mudslides on Tuesday night.  It rains a lot in April, but for Monday and Tuesday nights, every time I woke in the night I could hear torrential rains on the roof.  Part of the problem of course was that the flooding came in the night with no real warning, and people were literally swept away in their beds.  This is known as the land of a 1,000 hills, and so the mountainous terrain is particularly prone to these types of problems. I am sure the school will do something to help of a relief nature.  A web site : https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rwanda-uganda-flooding-1.6830728?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter P.S. Around my eye is now blistering.  I think it will start peeling soon.  I have never had my eyelids peel before. 

Road to Rwanda---Insects

 We are very blessed to live at 7,000 feet and thus have many fewer insects than if we were at a lower altitude this close to the Equator (3 degrees south latitude).  One of the most deadly insects that we have very few of are malarial and dengue fever mosquitos.  Although our bed is built with 4 high posts for mosquito netting, it is not necessary here.  We also do not have tse-tse flies which cause deadly sleeping sickness and whose presence often helps dictate where game reserves are located. (We saw them in our latest safari trek.)  Nor do we have putsi flies like we did in Zambia.  When they are present any clothes which have been hung outside to dry (which means everything) has to be ironed before use, or the putsi flies burrow under your skin and lay eggs. (Unpleasant.)  We have very clear memories of what ironing does to underpanties and bras. I am astounded at the kids' reaction to insects in the classroom.  If anything flies in, but part...

Road to Rwanda----Peace's Placement

 The following poem was in my devotions this morning. I did not understand it at first, but it was paired with the Scripture about Thomas's doubt. The poem is a poignant reminder that we think we need religious trappings to communicate with God....or He needs them to communicate with us.  But He is all around us and speaks in every circumstance, detail of nature, prayer fulfilled.  Yesterday we received an email from Peace's supervisor for receiving her funding: " Peace is a 'pending participant', which means she will be assigned an MFP-RS slot soon as well as a service coordinator from DDS."  This means that soon, hopefully very soon, Peace can leave the nursing home after almost 9 months being there.  When we started the process of moving Peace to Massachusetts I talked directly to one of the head supervisors for DDS. I was told she would never qualify for the resources provided through DDS in MA, and that we could not even apply. We would need to apply f...

Road to Rwanda----Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi

Starting today we have the next week off from school.  You might think that it is Easter holiday, and that is certainly one factor, but more basically here it is a week (really 100 days, until July) of remembrance for the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.  When we started to hear about this in the wider international community in 1994, we were utterly horrified....but delayed any response until almost a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were massacred.  I remember.....and the mourning I felt particularly because of its relationship to the  people group in my beloved Zambia, where we lived and loved from 1981-1984.  Today, now, it is a moving factor in what modern Rwanda is.  For most of the year we are forbidden (it is actually illegal) to concentrate on the genocide or to identify tribal connections.  But for the next month, every April, the nation is to mourn and commemorate the genocide victims.  Rwanda is recognized as a nation that ha...