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!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Moringa Field Well
Ubuzima Moringa is a business that Debby Thomas started as a way to minister life and show God’s love to Rwandans. The business will enable them to buy moringa at a cheap price which will help them very much nutritionally. The business also has a vision to be Christ’s light in the communities in which it works , through relationships with farmers, workers, salespeople etc!
Ubuzima Moringa is growing its moringa trees right outside the city of Kigali in a low-lying swampy area. Moringa leaves need to be washed with water once they’re harvested but dirty, slimy, swamp water would have had to do the job since wells are very expensive to dig, about $15,000 at the least. Debby inquired into having a well dug on their property, but the business did not have the necessary funds.
One organization that Debby had contacted had problems with some equipment and had to have a foreign team come to repair it. Once it was repaired, they needed a place to test the equipment, but it couldn’t be on one of their contracted sites. Out of all the possible places, they thought of Ubuzima Moringa and of the well that they wanted at their field! Having a well dug to test the equipment would cost exactly nothing.
As I was finishing my lunch with the school kids the other day at the Thomas house, Debby announced that the well-diggers were at the moringa field about to start digging…and would we like to go watch? This invitation included all the students as well, once the parents were asked, and since the digging would start any minute, we had to hurry and get everyone packed into the vehicles and onto the road.
We had barely started our twenty-minute drive, however, when the timing belt broke on the Thomas’s land cruiser and Dave had to pull over. Our car went back to get another car so we could still all go see the digging, but then realized we were almost out of gas so stopped on the way. We finally all got to the field, having found enough vehicles and drivers, and got to see the magical well-drilling machine and workmen.
There is no way I could explain the mechanics of it all, I just knew that when we got there, a hole was already in the ground and a few people from the community were watching the whole process. We gladly joined them. When we reluctantly turned around to leave, the workers started digging again! This was the exciting part, the loud noise, the spinning drill, the dirt flying up out of the hole (and the poor operator getting covered with it). I saw a child holding two jerry-cans (water containers) and thought of the blessings that this water would bring - not only to help provide moringa, but also as a water source for the whole community around the field.
Ubuzima Moringa is growing its moringa trees right outside the city of Kigali in a low-lying swampy area. Moringa leaves need to be washed with water once they’re harvested but dirty, slimy, swamp water would have had to do the job since wells are very expensive to dig, about $15,000 at the least. Debby inquired into having a well dug on their property, but the business did not have the necessary funds.
One organization that Debby had contacted had problems with some equipment and had to have a foreign team come to repair it. Once it was repaired, they needed a place to test the equipment, but it couldn’t be on one of their contracted sites. Out of all the possible places, they thought of Ubuzima Moringa and of the well that they wanted at their field! Having a well dug to test the equipment would cost exactly nothing.
As I was finishing my lunch with the school kids the other day at the Thomas house, Debby announced that the well-diggers were at the moringa field about to start digging…and would we like to go watch? This invitation included all the students as well, once the parents were asked, and since the digging would start any minute, we had to hurry and get everyone packed into the vehicles and onto the road.
We had barely started our twenty-minute drive, however, when the timing belt broke on the Thomas’s land cruiser and Dave had to pull over. Our car went back to get another car so we could still all go see the digging, but then realized we were almost out of gas so stopped on the way. We finally all got to the field, having found enough vehicles and drivers, and got to see the magical well-drilling machine and workmen.
There is no way I could explain the mechanics of it all, I just knew that when we got there, a hole was already in the ground and a few people from the community were watching the whole process. We gladly joined them. When we reluctantly turned around to leave, the workers started digging again! This was the exciting part, the loud noise, the spinning drill, the dirt flying up out of the hole (and the poor operator getting covered with it). I saw a child holding two jerry-cans (water containers) and thought of the blessings that this water would bring - not only to help provide moringa, but also as a water source for the whole community around the field.
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