It was really fun to hear their testimonies and to see the joy of the Lord in their voices and shining brightly on their faces!Chelsea and I spent time in October with these friends and heard their testimonies and were very encouraged by the joy that we saw in them at what the Lord was doing and how their lives were changing! This time they were even more joy-filled! Throughout Friday as we were visiting people in their homes I was impressed by the joy I was seeing in their lives.
The joy they are experiencing is coming directly from their relationships with the Living God! Often those of us from wealthy countries like the USA see poverty like our friends live in
, our response is that we should give them some of the money/things we have. One time a group gave the Kirambo Friends Church quite a bit of money so that they could buy pigs to give to individuals in the church with the goal that the pigs would bring good income and help the church members come out of poverty. I am sure that the people of the church were very happy when they received pigs. But by the end of 6 months all of the pigs had been sold and there was absolutely no long-term good/results that came from the project. It even caused a lot of frustration and some conflicts.Many Rwandans feel like they are very poor and cannot do anything! Some believe that they are worthless and therefore have no hope! Through the process of D for D our friends in Kirambo are experiencing worldview transformation. They beginning to understand that God created each of them wonderfully and has blessed them with a relationship with Him, with strength, arms & legs, wisdom, life experience, etc. They are recognizing how powerful they can be with the Lord! They are learning to think through their problems with the Lord and as a group and together they are finding some solutions to their problems! The result is joy and more joy! We visited 10 homes on this trip and each of the families accomplished quite a bit in the last 6 months since we were there last time, so they were filled with more of God's joy! They are not worthless, God in them is enough! They are capable, they are powerful and they are our heroes!
Here are a few things that God has helped our friends do in the last months. They have seen God present and active in their daily lives and are knowing Him better through these experiences!
Yeremiah, who used to beat his wife when he was drunk is becoming a loving and caring husband to Beatha.
Efrazia has finished building a house for her and her family! They no longer have to pay rent!
Marita's pig gave birth to 4 piglets! (I learned what the phrase "eating like a pig" means!)
For the first time in her life, Beatha and her family sleep on a mattress instead of sleeping on a grass mat on the floor.
Beatha Nyirandakunze has a lot of fertilizer from her goats to put on her own crops and is able to sell the rest to other farmers to make some extra money.
God is transforming our friends' lives spiritually, physically, relationally, emotionally, etc!!! May He receive glory and honor now and forever, Amen!
