Celebration Day!

Celebration Time!

Today we said goodbye to the pastors.  What a bittersweet time of parting prayers of blessing and thanksgiving for all God has done in the last two weeks.  Shane concluded the pastor’s teaching on the Gospel of John.   He covered chapters 20 and 21 in just over an hour.   Imagine explaining the Resurrection of Christ, the crowning truth of our faith in such a short time!  Afterward, Shane invited the pastors’ questions and comments.  One pastor from the south, Nicodeme said, “we have many problems and we worry about many things, but Jesus told his disciples not to worry!  He is our answer.”  Another said that chapter 15 was so moving to him because  Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches.   And also, He calls me friend!”.  Another pastor said, “chapter 8 was very sweet to me.   Because I know that before Abraham was born, Jesus was there.”  There were many other comments indicating that their knowledge had deepened and all promised to teach these Gospel truths to their church members.

Each year the two weeks of teaching culminates in a wonderful celebration time and the expression of thanks through gifts and words.  John, Shane, and Neal each received a mosaic glass cross.   Bishop Theophile explained that in the cross, all things are put together.   In the cross, though we live far apart, we became one!  Speaking for all the pastors, Pastor Deo thanked Neal, Shane and John for blessing them, teaching the word, and giving to their physical needs.  He said, “this shows the good heart you all have toward us.”

Neal then summarized the mission of Good Rain from 2 Timothy 2:2.  And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Neal told the pastors they are a worthy investment, encouraging them to be faithful with all God has taught them and to teach it well to their people. 

What a sight to see 61 pastors boarding buses with their bags of belongings, rice, beans, and solar panel kits.   Tomorrow we will drive about 2.5 hours to Kinigi (near the volcano mountains) where we will spend Saturday afternoon with Pastor Immanuel’s church and worship with them on Sunday morning.   We will return to Kigali Sunday afternoon, then fly out that night to return home.  Thank you so much for reading the blog, praying for and encouraging us!   God is so good. 

Christina

Last Full Day of Teaching

Equipping The Saints

Today was a day in which every part of our team played a major role in “equipping the saints,” both physically and spiritually. Physically, John was able to put the finishing touches on training the pastors, charging, and dispensing 21 solar systems to the pastors to provide electricity for their families. The Good Rain Project also purchased a 40 pound bag of rice, and a 22 pound bag of beans for each pastors family (61 total). This provides them with enough food for their family for 3 months. The joy they have over something that we would deem so basic, is very impactful to experience.

Christina was able to spend the day spiritually equipping 16 ladies at Aimee’s church in Kabuga. It sure sounds like she had an amazing day teaching and fellowshipping with the women there. Christina reminded the ladies that a Christian woman does not simply busy herself with the tasks of the day, but allows her newness in Christ to transform the way she serves in both the home and the church.

Neal and I had another great day teaching the pastors. Today we taught chapters 15-19, covering such great events as Jesus being the True Vine, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the High Priestly prayer, and the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ. The pastors were engaged and asked great questions. I know that Neal and I cannot help but be greatly humbled, convicted, challenged, and grateful when teaching such incredible portions of Scripture.  

Finally, for the second year in row, my church’s contribution was to provide Study Bibles to the 12 pastors present that had not previously received them from the Good Rain Project. I was so impacted last year by the fact that these pastors are tasked with faithfully preaching the Word of God, but some have no resources to prepare with. Many of them have poor translations of the Scriptures with sections of the Bible missing from overuse. Though a Study Bible does not seem like much in terms of a theological library, it is a great first tool in aiding these pastors to become faithful proclaimers of God’s Word.

Shane Colwell

 Study Bible Give Away...Like Gold!

Beans to go!

Shane's First Post

Let There Be Light!

Our biggest praise for the day is that the last two missing bags arrived last night! This means that we now have all the necessary LED lights and solar panels for John to build the remaining solar systems for the pastors. The solar systems have been a big blessing to the pastors and there families, so we are so thankful that the bags arrived and the project could be completed before our return home. Thanks to all who having praying!

As for John, he is truly our resident “Macgyver.” It seems like every time I see him he’s either soldering some wires, troubleshooting the solar systems that pastors may have damaged over the past year, or building other contraptions that are way beyond my IQ to even be able to identify. He has also exhibited gentleness and patience in training the pastors how to use the solar systems. He is a humble and skilled servant, who is truly the unsung hero of our team.

Finally, today was another rewarding day of teaching and Q&A with the pastors. I taught John 9-12 before lunch, and Neal worked through 13 and 14 after lunch. The Lord really used this time to speak through the teaching to provide understanding. The pastors continue to amaze me. They remain engaged, with many taking copious notes, and ask good, and sometimes “interesting” questions. The teaching time ended today with Christina sharing graciously with the pastors about practical ways that they can love their wives. Christina has spent much time both teaching, and learning the needs and struggles of the Christian women here. Healthy, godly marriages are a challenge in this African culture, so Christina words were very timely. By God’s grace, they received challenges were great applause!

God to continues to bless our time here. Though each day is long, and sometimes draining, I find myself waking up each day with great joy at the privilege it is to be here serving and fellowshipping with these brothers and sisters in Christ half a world away.

Blessings,

Shane Colwell

 The Market:  100's of vendors side by side.

The Pastor's pick out their reading glasses.

Another Day in Rwanda

It is 6pm Tuesday, the house is dark (the electricity is out for the neighborhood), and there is lightening all around us.  We just made it into the door before the heavens opened up. 

Last night the plane arrived at the airport with some of the tardy bags – at least Shane and Christina now have new clothes to wear.  But the wayward 10 solar systems are still unaccounted for.  Neal is very diligent, i.e. very aggressive on the phone, he made sure that all bags were tracked down.  And with any luck at all, we will have the full set of solar system in our hands by 9pm tonight.  Of course, that is if Neal’s prediction that the rain will prevent the plane with our last two bags from landing at the Kilgali airport tonight.

It was a great day with the pastors – I led off the batting order with John Chapter 5, then Shane with Chapters 6 and 7, then Neal with Chapter 8, and a final bunt by Shane to start Chapter 9.  The pastors are amazingly good students – hungry for the teaching.  It really is a wonder to see.  Now we have taught a little more than 8 chapters in two full days – we will need a faster pace to actually complete the book of John in the next two and a half days – John has 21 chapters.  Neal says – no problem!  We have attached a few pictures from the training. 

Note: the building that you see in the photos is one that Hope Chapel helped build with our tenth-year Pass on the Blessing fund.  We supplied $20,000 to establish a revolving credit fund for the Rwanda church (the Harvest Christian Church network), they are able to borrow money to finance churches, improvements and repairs.  As money is paid back to the fund new loans are made.  This seems to be working well.

Christina went to meet with the second group of women leaders at the Hermon Church, which we refer to as the “tent church”, which meets under the tent Hope supplied.  She is in the next room recounting stories – I can tell you that she is very excited about what she learned and the interaction with these ladies.  But I will let her tell that story in a future blog.

Note: Many of the Rwanda churches rent their church space.  This can be expensive.  The concept is that Hope Chapel provided a tent.  The local church would purchase land and use the tent instead of paying rent for a building.  The savings from not paying the rent would be saved and used to build the church, then the tent would move to the next group in the network. 

We now have six solar system trainers – capable of repairing most problems that will be encountered by the pastors – they have spent the past few days teaching all of the pastors both the operation and repair techniques for these systems.  For the most part, this involves diagnosing the problem, making sure that red goes with red, black with black and then tighten the screws.  This is the part of the training that I did not complete last year, Peggy’s fall preempted this final task.  This time, the job has been done properly.

Tonight, we will have the balance of the solar systems, tomorrow I will pack the systems in their respective bags – then distribute these systems to the second set of pastors.  I am hopeful that we will get a discussion going between those that received the systems last year and those receiving the new systems.  I want them to share what they learned.  So far, I have heard stories of using the charged batteries to run the lights in churches, homes, and local community facilities.  Many of these lights were run from 7 to 11pm each night.  Some used the batteries to run their church organ, others used them to charge cell phones.  But no on used the systems for all of the above.  This is what I would like to change.  Some charged money to electrically charge cell phones, these pastors have effectively doubled their income.  This is an idea that we want to spread across the pastors.  This could be a straight forward way to reduce hunger, at least for the local families that receive benefit from the solar systems.

This has been a very successful and blessed trip – except for the minor inconvenience of the delayed bags – everything has gone perfectly.  Thank God.

Women Leaders: Meeting of Minds and Hearts

Muraho! 
This is Christina.  Today I met with 20 women leaders from the Zeraphath church in Kigali, along with our translator, Barbi and Madame Bishop Miriam (Theophile's wife; aka Mama Pastor).   It was raining so we met in the living room of our house which proved to be much more conducive to intimate and free-flowing discussion.   We began around 9am with a songs and a prayer voiced by a woman who said, "thank you God that we're even alive".  And then for the next 3 hours or so,  we heard captivating testimonies of God's intervention, redemption and miracles in their lives.  Stories where hopelessness led to God providing and revealing Himself, and their response of  obedient faith in the face of unlikely circumstances.  Many of the women were younger, somewhere between 25 to 40, I'd guess.  Of the twenty who attended, they had 65 children among them (at home, not present with us),  two were very pregnant, and one was a widow with 9 children. 

After proper introductions and greetings , I spoke about the heart of an effective leader: one who has a vibrant love-relationship with God and also is confident of the forgiveness we have in Jesus Christ.  I asked the questions:  Do we really believe these truths?  How could these deeply held convictions transform how I serve and lead?  We discussed how God's tender grace toward us can shape our ministry to others.  I encouraged the women to view these truths as the core of our hearts from which ministry must overflow into our families, our church service and into all relationships. 

Then this led to a spirited and very frank discussion of marriage.  We concluded that strong, vibrant marriages are a powerful witness to the saving, redeeming power of God's grace. What if amazing worship music and preaching spilled out the windows and doors of their church, but people knew that the marriages in that church were weak, contentious and fragile?  People would say, "God is not real.   God isn't strong enough to save those marriages".  And then the Message of God would be slandered.  (Titus 2:3-5)  Strong, loving marriages are evidence of God at work in the church.

Miriam then spoke very directly and frankly to the women about personal hygiene; making your husband a meal and dining with him; managing our words toward our husband (not nagging, complaining). Please keep in mind that we cannot fully understand the lives, culture,  and routines of these women.   There are few indoor bathroom facilities, few disposable feminine hygiene products or diapers, and poverty and hunger are pervasive.  Mutuality is not so common in marriage, and shame and misconceptions abound regarding sexuality.  What followed then were more questions about sexual problems in marriage.   Never have I even participated in, much less led, such a candid discussion of sexuality in marriage among Christian women.   And why is this?  Turns out that sexual difficulties and disagreements in marriage occur in every culture.  And if God designed sex in marriage, and He cares so much about marriage, why wouldn't we go to Him with these cares and burdens? 

Finally Miriam said we need to end the meeting and yet the ladies still had some points and questions to make.   Tomorrow we go to meet with the Hermon Church women leaders and Miriam said I should expect more of the same. 

I'm grateful and amazed that the Lord would bring me to this place to share heart to heart with these women.   He is working and blessing these churches, these women, and their marriages!

Lastly, last night I went on a four-hour visit to a friend from last year's visit, our translator Angel.  In the last year, Angel has married and just had a baby a few days ago.   It was an amazing inside view of family life in Rwanda, complete with advice about nursing, how to produce milk, and how baby girls cause more labor pains.  Both grandmothers, an aunt and the daddy were there.  Precious.
Here's the new family:

Second Sunday

Well, the thing they always tell you is that when it comes to doing mission work, flexibility is the name of the game.  Fortunately, this year's detour is not near as extreme as last year's.  Last year Peggy Scudiere broke her leg and had to have surgery.  This year, the four bags that Christina and Shane did not arrive with them.  It took 48 hours to figure out they were stuck in Toronto.  Their itinerary called for them to fly to Toronto from Boston, and then onto to Amsterdam and Kigali.  Due to weather delays in Boston they were put on a direct flight from Boston to Amsterdam.  But their bags went on to Toronto anyways and apparently in Toronto you have to claim your bag, clear customs and then drop your bag for the next leg.  Obviously they were not there to do so, and things got stuck.  It is tough to go 48 hours without anyway knowing where the bag is.  Shane had to buy some clothes to wear, and Christina got her gift of a Rwandan gift early.  As of now the bags are not here, which also means that 5 solar panels and about half of the LED light sets are not here either.  We do pray they arrive Monday night as expected so the technical training can proceed. 

In a sign of the friendships we have built here, Christina has spent much of Sunday afternoon visiting with Angel, her translator from last year.  Angel was engaged to be married with the wedding just weeks away in 2016.  This year, she had her first child the day before Christina arrived, so she is getting to see the new baby two days after coming home from the hospital.  God does indeed have a big family! 

Shane preached out in Kabuga this morning.  Aimee is the pastor there.  The new road is approaching their building and they will have to relocate soon, which is a tremendous challenge.  Shane preached from John 11 on Trusting God in Troubled Times, an experience he can easily relate to as his youngest son Chase has been diagnosed with a rare brain issue that will present a life long challenge. 

I got to preach at the Zeraphath church, which is the base church from which we teach. Christina sang as well and did a little pitch for her meeting with the female church leaders on Monday.  She isn't the only one who sang, as four different choirs sang as well.  The one pictured below is the Kids Choir.   The other picture below is from there as well. The picture of the two trees are of the ones they planted in honor of my Mom and Dad with the church building in the background.( I couldn't get it to upload over the slow internet.  I will try later).  Every time I think there are trees growing in Rwanda in their memory, it brings tears to my eyes.  God indeed has a big family. 

1 Samuel Finished

Today we finished the 31 chapters of 1 Samuel.  It was a challenging study, as the Rwandan Pastors do not know much Old Testament history and many of the ways God worked in the Old Testament are so foreign to the New Testament.  As usual, they asked many questions, many that challenged our ability to communicate through the language barrier and cultural differences.  But all in all, a good success.  We leave it at the feet of the Holy Spirit to finish the job.

Below is a picture of John training some of the Rwandan Pastors regarding the solar systems.  At the end of Good Rain 17 we will have deployed over 40 of them.  Each consists of a military grade foldable solar panel, a battery, two bright LED lights, a smaller LED light, and an adapter to charge cell phones. 

We deployed 20 of them last year, and at least 25% had issues.  This highlights the challenge that those who need the most help are the hardest to help. Despite the best efforts last year to train them in their proper use, many crisscrossed wires, tried to charge AC devices with DC, and the like.  So we try phase two.  The guys in the pictures are the most adept, and John is using the repair process of the broken systems to take them to another level with the hope they can help others.  John puts his full heart into it and well as his immense expertise.  But it will still take much prayer.

As I write this, Shane and Christina are about 3 hours from arriving in Kigali from Amsterdam.  They were supposed to fly via Toronto to Amsterdam and then down, but because of a delay they were put on a direct Boston to Amsterdam flight, which was way more expensive when we booked.  So they have a shorter flight time, but had a long wait at Logan.  Their bags went on to Toronto, and supposedly to Amsterdam and Rwanda. Hopefully that will be the case. 

When they got to Amsterdam, Shane was on stand-by, not seat assignment.  I got an email and we stopped and had the Pastors pray.  Minutes later we got word he had finally been assigned a seat.  God is goo.  Since there is only 1 flight per day to Kigali, it would have meant a 24 hour delay.  They would of at least got to see Amsterdam, but we are glad they will arrive on time.  I am ready to see Christina again.

Thanks for following along.