This morning I attended church at the Cathedral for the first time. Even though I work there every day, it was quite a new experience attending a service there. They have an english service at 8:15 am and though it was empty at the beginning, the church was crowded by the end. Though it was quite a different church experience than the one I became used to in the western territory of Uganda far from electricity and english, it was encouraging to worship among such a diverse congregation.

It is always an adjustment for me to not be sitting under my pastor at school, Randy Nabors, or my dad at home. Both of them have consistently preached the gospel in a clear and affecting manner to me, and it takes me a while to get used to hearing others preach the Word. Nonetheless, I was blessed to hear the story of David and Goliath and how we must look to Christ as we battle the giants in our life. Quite a compelling message when the biggest giant in this place is the 1994 genocide of approx. a million people.

Friday night, in lieu of pursuing relationships or following my roomate around, I stayed home and started to read a book I’ve been trying to read for about two years. I sat down at 4:00 pm and didn’t stop until it was finished. It was amazing to get to read, for pleasure, and not have to do anything else. (the book was “the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay” by Michael Chabon, and I highly recommend it)

Saturday I spent meeting with the HOPE staff and then I hosted my friend Emmanuel over for dinner. I cooked up some rice and sausage and we played my favorite Ugandan card game. He grew up in Uganda so he knows the game very well.

Tomorrow is the big day for me. I will spend this afternoon praying and preparing to go out to the village for my first time. If all goes as planned, I will be in Rwinume village meeting with about 11 savings group leaders to interview them about their experiences with the groups they are in charge of. I’m very excited to get out of Kigali and see what Rwandans call “the real Rwanda.”

Recently I’ve found myself coming back to a passage in James. In James 4:7-8 we are reminded to “submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come Near to You. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. In Oswald Chambers devotional book he points to this verse and says that we must “abide in the Lord” if we want him to abide in us. This has really challenged me to be abiding in his word and in his counsel. Anyways, that is something that has really resonated with me here and now and I hope it may encourage you as it has me.

now for some pictures:

My translator, Diana (on the left) and Chantal my colleague (on the right)

crazy storm clouds over my house

and a video:

thats all for now, folks…

will