Why Rwanda?

Did you ever wonder what is Hope Chapel doing in Rwanda?  Well as we start Good Rain 2017, here is one perspective:

Neal, Shane and John have the privilege of sharing God’s history and plan with a community of 60 pastors.  This year we will cover 1 Samuel and John.  Over the past 7 years, we have seen this group of very loosely affiliated rural pastors come together and form a close network of churches that support and encourage each other.  They have been given study bibles, study tools, preaching instruction and the rich understanding of the Bible that they need to truly serve their congregations.

Theophile Ruguriba, who they call Bishop, brought together pastors and started churches all over  Rwanda to form the Harvest Christian Church network.  Neal first came to Rwanda in 2010, on a survey trip designed to understand the needs of the Rwandan churches and  pastors.  During this trip he was asked to be a good rain by one of the leaders which is a “a rain that come over and over again”.  Neal has been faithful to this call.  Neal has returned to Rwanda every year to help grow these men and women pastors.  Neal has also brought many recruits on these trips – including Christina, Shane and John, as well as several pastors, the McDaniels, Jerry D’Agostino, and Peggy Scudiere.  These Rwandan pastors are good people, hungry to know and serve the Lord.  Retuning year after year has built lasting friendships, and has given both Rwandans and US visitors a glimpse of God’s intended kingdom.   

Many of these pastors have not completed high school.  [In Rwanda, you need to pay $350/year to attend high school – this sum is greater than many of these pastors make in a year.]  Hope Chapel (you my friends) are helping to support 20 of these pastors to go to high school.  Imagine yourself, a grown adult sitting in high school classroom for 9 hours a day, 5 days a week – surrounded by teenagers – these men are dedicated!   We will be celebrating at four graduations this year.

We will visit the Micro Seeds entrepreneurs – they each receive $65 to $100 dollar loans, and with these funds, they are able to start a business and support their families; food, clothing and shelter.  The funds are provided to small groups of women, together they are responsible for returning funds once a year – this helps the women keep the funds focused on their business and family.  We will visit with a Micro Seed Choir on our first Sunday – composed of women that escaped prostitution because of these loans.  The Genocide in Rwanda 22 years ago left families broken in so many ways.  Many of the survivors contracted AIDS as they sold their bodies to get food for their families.  It is both inspiring that  Josie (HIV positive), the woman that first brought together the HIV positive ladies in a choir and has helped facilitate the Micro Seeds collectives, is still alive.  She is a remarkable woman, once again showing how God can turn tragedy into ministry.

When we visited the rural churches in the past, we found that many of these churches were made of mud bricks and there were no windows and the only light inside the building comes from the gaps in the bricks. We asked why?  The Government, working to upgrade building standards for churches, now requires that all churches have glass windows.  Many of the pastors and congregations that we serve do not have the funds to install glass windows – therefore they fill in the windows with bricks.  This creates a very dark church.  The people still celebrate Sunday worship with all of the energy and enthusiasm that we see in fully lighted Rwanda churches – but having light in the church would be a really good.  [the Rwandan church celebration is very loud, lots of song and vigorous dancing, and many many hours – an exhilarating experience – even when they drag you out to join the dancing J.  And God confirmed that bringing light and electricity to these pastors and their communities is in His plan:

God provided a source for really exceptional military solar panels.  These P3Solar panels can be folded and will tolerate bending – unlike the solar panel type used on your roof.  This was ideal for rural people that would open the panel during the day and then use the system in different locations. 

God also provided the power supply manufacturer that understands Soldier solar systems and was willing to donate the cost of designing and building the harness that connects the parts of the system.  Protonex has been an important partner making so many systems available to the pastors.

This is our second year bringing full solar power systems to the rural pastors.  A “solar system” includes a foldable solar panel (military grade panels that generate 42 Watts in sunlight), controller, battery (to store the energy), LED lights, USB adaptors and the wire harness that connects all of the parts.  Last year we provided 20 systems, this year we will provide 25 systems.   We will hear about the impact of these systems on the Kingdom when we meet the pastors during the week.

You may not know this, but Christina is a remarkable preacher in here own right.  Seeing her knowledge and understanding of the scriptures in action has been humbling.  She reaches out to groups of pastor’s wives, sharing God’s encouragement of their extreme value as women and as children of God.  She is able create an environment where these women can open-up to discuss real problems in their daily lives - and solutions.  There is an amazing change in these women, as Christina addresses difficult topics in the company of many pastor wives, women like themselves.  This type of open communication is unique for these ladies – there have been few forums to bring even a few of these women together to share.  The impact on the self-esteem of these woman after these encounters has been a wonder to see.   In past years, the Good Rain team has brought together both the pastor’s and their spouses for two marriage retreats.  We are told that there have been dramatic improvements in how wives are treated by their husbands and how they have joined their husbands in their ministry.  Christina is working to understand the challenges of these hard-working women, to reduce their burden and increase their joy, and let them know that they are not alone. 

Perhaps what I find most amazing about the Good Rain outreach is that each pastor and their families will have impact on their community, now and for years to come.  When I look at them, I don’t just see a few hundred people that will preach the true Word and emulate the behaviors of a strong Christian family.  I see many thousands of people and multiple generations learning what the God offers us, and then making the decision to follow Jesus.

February 9, 2017

Pastor Neal Davidson and John Scudiere successfully escaped Boston before the February 9 snow storm arrived (with 12+ inches of airport-stopping snow).   Thankfully, Neal was able to move our departure forward one day to miss this storm.  Our wives shake their heads – “they always seem to be away when the big storm comes”.  Christina and Peggy are doing well and driveways are more or less clear.

The resulting extra day in Rwanda before teaching gave us more time to recover from the 24-hour trip.  It also meant that packing for the trip was accelerated – some things were left behind and some things were taken that one should not have been put in the bag! 

On this trip, any extra weight can be a real issue.  Neal and John arrived on Thursday, February 9, Christina Davidson and Shane Colwell will arrive next Friday, February 17.  Neal did a fine job negotiating with Delta airline to permit us to take two extra 50 lb bags at no additional charge.   With these extra two bags, the team’s total permitted weight for checked baggage is 500 lbs.  Sounds like a lot?  Well, when you are bringing 60 shirts, suits, presents, eye glasses, and ~300 lbs of solar system gear – the bags fill up quickly.  It is amazing how close we can get to the 50 lb/bag limit – so far we achieved exactly 50 lbs for each bag!

Our good friends welcomed us to Rwanda – much hugging and smiling….  Shared stories, pictures, presents.  And one common mantra – “we miss Peggy”.  [Peggy broke her ankle last year in Rwanda – our friends are eager to see her dance.]

John S.