Today was a slightly less hectic day for the team and we were able to sleep in as we didn’t need to be at breakfast until 8:30am.  The day started well with devotions ably led by Sam as we got together in Steve’s room to listen to worship, reflect and pray together.  After breakfast we went to the Champions Centre where John Kalenzi took some time out of his busy schedule to give a group of us an in-depth tour of the centre and the new wall.  What a wall! Wow, now Steve reckons that’s a wall!

After the “wall” we got to spend some time up close and personal with John and were blown away by what an awesome man the good ark AEE has at the helm, a man filled with both compassion and vision.  It is truly inspiring to see that Riverview has developed ties with and supports a man of such integrity as John.  We are evermore committed to support him, his team and the people of Rwanda with our prayers and our talents.

The afternoon saw us take what best could be described as a wide goat track to a small village nestled atop one of the far flung hills of Rwanda for a school outreach.  We arrived to the sounds of the 150+ students singing worship songs that we couldn’t understand but could certainly feel.  After some worship and simple introductions the Riverview team broke out in song to the accompaniment of violin by Iron (Ian) and Olivier on keyboard.

Matayo (Matthew) started the meeting by sharing his testimony whilst Finnius from AEE translated for the students.  The students were absolutely blown away by Matayo’s testimony as were those of us who had not heard it before.  Matayo was ably followed by Steve who preached a message about being “on board” with Jesus through the story of Noah and his Ark.  A truly inspiring message that obviously had an impact on the students because Pastor Chiz gave his testimony and made an altar call that was answered by about 50 young people.

This was a truly inspirational day, as well as a day filled with firsts for this blogger,  despite being in resistance to singing in front of a crowd not only did so but did it with joy and pleasure.  I realised that God brought me to Rwanda to help me to see that He doesn’t want just the fruit of my talents to support a solution in Rwanda and our world but he wants me to be a part of the solution in how I am and by my physical presence on the ground.

Laslo

It is becoming clear that we all very excited about being here, everyone has shaken off the jet lag and is enjoying their experiences. Today we took advantage of the weekend by going to the Centre of Champions first thing. The beautiful thing about today was that we didn’t have an agenda, we just got to hang out with the kids. Of course I managed to get a soccer game going. Some of us took a guided tour of the premise and through the facilaties, heard the stories of how the funding came together future plans of development and the dreams that will come to pass. It is easy to see how attached we are getting to the Champions by the time it takes leave, no-one is in a hurry especially the kids. It has been mentioned today during our reflection time the contrast between those who have been at the centre for a few year and the transformations they have been through in all aspects of their lives. So to anyone who has been to Rwanda thank you for have a profound influence in the lives of these young men and women, and to those of you who provide support in any way thank you, without you these kids could potential still be living on the street.

This afternoons activity was to go along and sing, minister and hang with some of the regional students. I think we all had some apprehension about singing in front of 150+ students, our fears melted away as soon as we arrived hearing the songs being sung just because we turned up. So we sung and it was good, to the point where we will enjoy it even more tomorrow. We ministered on how Jesus is the new ark for us to be saved by, just like Noah built an art to save his family and those who would believe in God. It was really impacting for those present as almost half came forward to accept Jesus as Lord over there life. Praise God!

After enjoying another bountiful feast at the AEE office in Rwamagana, we are settling down to enjoy the rest of the evening looking forward to the events of tomorrow, so until then good night and God bless.