Mwaramutse! (good morning)

Instead of saying something meaningless and slightly amusing I’m going to dive in to my report and prayer requests. Here we go:

This week I have considered my hump week. Even though I have much more than half of my time left here in Kigali this week has proven to be the one where I have finally gotten past some limitations on my research and can now move full speed ahead (I hope!). In case you didn’t catch my latest blog entry, I have received the full endorsement of the Archbishop concerning my research of the Anglican Church’s savings led microfinance programs. This is a huge answer to prayer, and on top of it all, he encouraged me to ask the hard questions and to tell the people that he said I should ask these hard questions. This is a great sign that the people at the diocese want me to provide both positive and negative feedback to help them better offer services to their current and future savings groups members.

That was good news #1. Good news #2 is that on Thursday I brought in two pastors from two separate parishes in the village, and we were able to meet for the whole day and discuss me coming to their villages to conduct research of the many savings groups that they are involved with. We have tentatively scheduled the next two weeks to be the time that I will travel to each parish and meet with group leaders and a few entire savings groups to get helpful feedback via focus groups and individual interviews. The pastors were incredibly positive and helpful in the time we spent talking about the coming weeks.

I want to make it clear that I do not attest the previous two good news items to luck or chance or the aligning of the stars, and especially not to my own hard work. I see the happenings of this week as a testimony to the Lord answering prayer. Thank you for asking God to help me move forward in my work here, and thanks for your continued prayers for my safety and sanctification. Please don’t stop now that this first obstacle has been surpassed.

Here are some new prayer requests (I’m going to be careful what I ask for from now on, because of how clearly the Lord has been answering prayer).

1. Please pray for me as I travel to Rwinume Parish and meet with group leaders on Monday to discuss meeting with some of their savings groups. This could go really well or really poorly. Going well would look like me being able to choose two groups to study in depth for the following week, and these groups being able to meet so I can interview them. Going poorly would mean that I have to find a new place to study, which would make the time I have to actually meet with savings group decrease substantially.
2. Please pray for my heart. I’ve had a hard time being content here this week, and I’m not sure why. Pray that I would find my contentment in Jesus and nowhere else.
3. Pray that I might develop some meaningful relationships with some of the staff here at the Diocese office. There are some wonderful Christians here that I would love to get to know and spend time with.
4. Pray for my continued health. I have not yet been the least bit sick, and I would like it to stay that way.
5. Pray for my relationship with Margaret. (In case some of you aren’t aware, I’ve been dating one Margaret Drew for over 2 years). It is not at all easy to be far away from each other without a decent means of communication. Pray that I would be able to love her well from far away, and that the Lord would prosper us individually and collectively through this experience.

Thanks again for your prayers and financial support. I’m continually made aware of how the Lord is preparing me and growing me here and I’m so grateful to all of you for helping me to be able to come to Rwanda this summer.

Now for the much anticipated (and possibly hated) top-ten list.

The top ten things that come to mind right now about my time in Rwanda:

10. I get to use my hopeless French to semi-communicate with Chantal, the lady who I share an office with.

9. She and many others here call me Willie.

8. Learning Kinyarwanda. It’s a fun language to stumble around with.

7. Food? There is lots of rice, chips (fries), and beef. I savor all three of these things, often.

6. Going to 100% Rwandan restaurants with my translator for lunch. We’ve probably gone to about 6 different ones around Kigali, and I am always the only white dude around.

5. Morning quiet times on my front porch. I have a wonderful view of the valley, strange birds chirping around and occasionally a good sunrise.

4. Getting to see the local church here and their attempts to serve the poor and marginalized. They set a very good example for the Church back in the states. We could learn a lot from their commitment to loving their communities, and especially from their commitment to caring for women and orphans.

3. Getting to know the Rwanda HOPE staff. It is a privilege to learn and serve with these kingdom servants who have dedicated their lives to the often difficult work of loving their neighbor.

2. Hearing the testimonies of different pastors about how the savings groups in their churches have brought reconciliation to those who have every reason to hate one another. The savings groups here are so much more than just that, they are prayer groups, support groups, and the Lord is using them across Rwanda.

1. Being here. I feel at home. There is a feeling that I’ve had each time I’ve been in E. Africa, in both the village and the city, that I don’t get anywhere else. I think it has a lot to do with the necessity of relying on God all of the time here, and with how much you see His hand at work in everything around you.

Thanks again, and I love hearing from you,

Will Kendall
HOPE International
Rwanda Intern
www.willkendall.wordpress.com