Teaching during our time in Gisenyi

During our times with Pastor Augustin and his family I (Brad) was asked to teach/preach 3 different times. Two times were during the time slot for the “short sermon” (A 15 – 20 minute sermon toward the beginning of the worship service which is later followed by the 30 – 45 minute sermon.) I brought several sermons that I already had prepared in Kinyarwanda thinking that the Lord would point out one of the messages already prepared but as I prayed and tried to prepare for each one, I sensed that the Lord desired me to share on different topics for each of the groups and none of them were the messages that I brought with me! In my life before living in Rwanda, this would have been no problem for me because I am used to preparing different messages and am used to the Lord leading me in English, even as I am speaking to a group. But since we live in Rwanda and minister in the language of Kinyarwanda and the Lord usually speaks to me in English, it usually takes me a really long time to prepare something to teach here!

But the Lord helped me to enter into the next phase of my ability to teach here in Rwanda. As I prayed and sought to hear what the Lord would have me share, I sensed Him give me different topics to share upon and so I wrote out each message and then translated them into Kinyarwanda. And then I preached them! This is the first time that I have ever prepared a message by myself without at least some editing by a Rwandan. After each message I asked the Pastor and his wife for feedback on what I said and if it was understandable and each time they said that it was very understandable. When I asked to know what mistakes I made, they told me that I was making a mistake tonally. The way I was saying “He came” (as in Jesus came to save us) meant that He came earlier today rather than in the distant past. The difference between the two is in the pitch of the voice as you say the two words. This is still something that I really have to work on…as you can tell this is a very foreign part of the language to an English speaker. But at the same time it feels like a great victory in the language to be able to write, translate, and preach in Kinyarwanda and to have the mistakes be tonal and not major grammatical mistakes! Please praise God with us at His continued faithfulness to us here in Rwanda and with me in learning Kinyarwanda and being able to minister to Rwandans in their heart language!

Initial Language study

I have been studying Kinyarwanda for about six weeks now. The woman who is helping me is Joyce, a woman from the Friends church who speaks great English and has great language abilities in general. I meet with her on my own every now and then, but meet in a group with other learners most of the time. The people in the group are Molly (who is also with EFM, teaching missionary children) and a couple from our neighborhood, Krystan and Ruth, who are with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
We use various methods for learning, like comprehension projects that involve drawing sketches and doing actions, labeling items around the room, practicing conversation, paper lessons that involve reading and writing, and projects to help us memorize monologues or dialogues. Our brains hurt and are tired sometimes, but we have fun as well. Krystan always manages to make Joyce laugh with his silly drawings. We also like to play Phase 10 (a card game) to practice our colors and numbers.

Though I can’t say very much yet, I feel like I am learning a lot and can comprehend more each day. The other day, in the church service, I realized I understood more than I ever have! So, my message to you from a limited vocabulary is jya kwisoko (go to the market), kata ibitunguru (chop up the onions), and umunsi mwiza (have a good day)!