Being right on the equator, it gets bright pretty quickly, but I managed to wake up and make it outside just in time to see the most incredible sunrise…..for some reason everything is just more spectacular in Africa. I cannot possibly think of a better way to spend my birthday than the day that followed. On Sunday, August 28th our team of students woke up planning to spend the morning worshipping with our Rwandan bothers and sisters. Having been to several (culturally) different churches, most of Sunday’s activities did not come as a surprise to me. Just like any church service, we sat and stood multiple times for worship, prayers, scripture reading, and finally sat in expectation of the message. After the sermon, there was a special act of worship; a dance. After a while the dancers had us join in, sorry my fellow Baptists! ;) This was awkward and uncomfortable for us, but the act in itself was beautiful. The freedom these people have in Christ is evident far beyond their time of dancing.
The emphasis of our trip to Rwanda was to learn about the Genocide, and we saw several effects of it first hand at church that morning. One woman even had a 4 inch long machete slash on her forehead….the people there almost act as if the genocide itself never occurred, but the scars and the memorials remain.
For the next three nights we stayed at a Catholic guest house outside of Kigali, and there was a memorial right outside our room…..less than 20 years ago people were slaughtered right there. I don’t understand how people can act as if nothing ever happened. Even the woman with a gash in her head did not seem to doubt God’s goodness and plan through it all.
Although this birthday was spent learning about the death of others, I have never before seen so much life.
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