Rwanda Prison Ministry

Here is a photo of Dave and me at one of the prisons in Rwanda where Joyce Meyer provided packages for each prisoner--filled with much needed and appreicated toiletry items and books about Jesus.

Interesting thing: prison uniforms are in HOT PINK. I guess you couldn't escape into the woods and expect to hide very well wearing hot pink!

After Joyce spoke to these prisoners (many who were in there because of genocide deeds), she invited them to receive Jesus and have freedom in their hearts. Hundreds raised their hands and prayed the ageless sinners' prayer.

That's what it's all about...

Rwanda

Dave and I just returned from several days in the tiny country of Rwanda in central Africa.

Twelve years ago right now there was a horrible genocide going on there--unspeakable killing, beating, raping, torturing of neighbors, friends and family which lasted 100 days. All because someone said one kind of people was inferior to the other and must be eliminated. Including the children...

We were there to be a part of Hillsong's great plan to bring Hope and Peace and Forgiveness back to Rwanda after all those horrific days. Mark and Darlene Zschech felt God leading them to organize 100 Days of Hope this year to counter those awful hopeless ones.

While there we visited a genocide Memorial in Kigali (the capitol city). It was one of the hardest things I have ever done--to walk through those rooms and hallways of videos and pictures and stories of the dastardly deeds. The hardest of all was the room dedicated to the memory of children. I wept as we walked through, reading the captions on the giant-sized photos. Name, age, favorite food (ranging from chocolate to potato chips); favorite toy (a ball, a stuffed animal, a truck); best friend (quite often "mommy" or "daddy" was the answer); and finally, the way they died..."bludgeoned" and "hacked" and "shot" and "stabbed" were common answers.

Needless to say, I couldn't take any more. I had to go outside and wait for Dave on a little bench in a small garden just outside the building. I felt like vomiting.

You can imagine how the survivors must have felt (and actually still feel) when it was all over. There's not a person on the streets today without a story to tell. Not that they want to tell it--shame and guilt weigh heavy on their souls. Everyone has suffered--the victims as well as the victimizers.

It is time for a change.

Joyce Meyer and her team were holding services in a huge stadium while we were there. The stadium was the same place where people had hidden during the genocide, hoping for safety--only to be attacked with guns and grenades--and no way to escape. This past weekend was different.

The praise and worship music wafted its way to heaven as the voices of thousands of set-free Rwandans lifted their faces to the God who brought them through the disaster and now promises them new Hope. P&W leader, Jackie, radiated the love of Jesus as she led us all into the presence of God.

Special music by Delirious! was heavily anointed--bringing us even closer into the presence of the Lord. (Okay, Delirious! isn't my type of music--I still prefer Southern Gospel--but anointed praise gets my attention!) It was so easy to just let Jesus minister to our hearts.

On the last night God poured out His Spirit in such a marvelous way that everyone was saying God has begun a new thing in Rwanda. That hurting place has become a healing place. Even after the service was over, thousands of people hung around, not wanting to go away from that wonderful presence of the Lord, and enjoyed another hour or so of more praise and worship with the JMM music team.

Not everything went easy in the planning of the events of that weekend (the devil was scared of losing his playground)--but in the end, the Lord accomplished what He wanted done in the hearts and lives of hundreds of thousands of hurting Rwandans.

Something new has begun.

In July Hillsong will wrap up the 100 days with a concert in that same stadium. Boy, would I love to be there!

Snakes!

Nhlanhla, our guard/gardener found two "baby" snakes the other day in our back yard. He dutifully killed them, saved them to show us, then got rid of them.

Needless to say, Levi (5) and Kayla (8), who were visiting at the time, were thrilled to see them. Dead or not, Levi drooled. He was very excited that there had been snakes in my backyard.

Later on, same day, but after 9pm, we returned home to the news that Victor, the night guard, had unsuccessufllly tried to kill the mamma snake. about 4 feet long. hmmmmm.

I wonder if she's missing two of her children...

I got into my "First Field Guide to Snakes & Other Reptiles of Southern Africa" book and began to look up info about our snake.

It's a molesnake. No harmful venom. It is a constrictor. No worries.

No worries? It's a SNAKE.

Dave says all snakes are poisonous. But the book says farmers appreciate the mole snake. It is very helpful to get rid of little mole critters. Squeezes the life from them, and eats 'em up, then moves into the burrow. Not too bad for the snake--Bed and Breakfast in one swift move. Although we do appreicate the mole-termination, we just don't care for this kind of terminator to hang around and raise a family!

Couldn't she just eat the mole and move on to the next yard?

One more thing the books says about the snake...it's bad tempered. It will bite if messed with. Venom or no venom, I don't want to be bitten by a snake.

So I hope between Nhlanhla and Victor, they'll get rid of the thing!

It's never been boring on the missionfield.

Y'all come!

Ewwwwwww

Dave and I had just arrived with Kayla, Levi, and Trinity at the Rodgers house. There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky that framed the house and we were all thrilled to see it...

Then suddenly we saw it. Sitting there on the veranda, basking in the sunlight on one of the tiles.

It was enough to make us forget the lovely display in the afternoon sky.



SPIDER! HUGE! Ewwwwwww



It took all my authority-voice to get the kids to go in the house and not stand over the thing to inspect it. I don't think I spoke more than 3 or 4 octaves higher than normal.



Once inside, they stood at the sliding glass doors (closed, thank you) to watch the grand execution.


Joyce, the housegirl, grabbed her weapon and proceeded to anoint the thing with deadly "sunblock."

He'd never see the sun again after this...blocked forever from him...

After his little dance of death (really weird), he rolled up into a tight little ball.



Dead.

Or at least we THOUGHT he was dead.

Would Raid fail?

When we were ready to leave the house, we thought it would be cool to hover over the critter and lament his untimely demise.

But he wasn't there. Ooooooo. Had Raid indeed failed?

Then we spied him, over there, in the corner. He had managed to give us a final shivver of curious dread with his last effort to move into a quiet spot to die.

This time he was very dead. Finished.

Ah, the non-boring life of the humble missionary. (Come see us!)

p.s. Extensive internet research reveals that it is a banana spider, non-aggressive, non-poisionous.
yeah, right. just a cute little fuzzy...

What Was He Thinking?

Sometimes I wish I knew what God was thinking…
Sometimes I wonder why God allows things to happen like He does…

Yesterday one of my favorite southern gospel musicians, Anthony Burger, died suddenly, leaving his wife to raise their three small children alone. He had just finished playing “We Shall Behold Him” as a piano solo while on a Bill Gaither Homecoming cruise, when he collapsed on the stage. They figured it was a heart attack. He was only 44.

This past weekend the little two-year-old son of our security guard, Nhlanhla, died after only two days illness—with what they thought was the flu. Nhlanhla is a rare Swazi husband and father in that he truly cares for his family, working hard to take care of them and living his life as a true example of a Christian.

And my beautiful 15-year-old granddaughter, Tori, brings up yet another question. She has some sort of painful problem with her back that continues to be a puzzle to the doctors. Tori is a very lovely person, inside and out. She’s kind and helpful at home, caring for her four brothers without complaining (including 2-year-old twins).

Tori isn’t rebellious like a lot of kids her age, is obedient even when it may not seem like the right thing to her, and most importantly, she really loves Jesus (check out

Tori's blog

).

Why does she have to deal with this physical problem?

My own mother had a full life, living every day for Jesus. She died in her sleep just as she had always wanted, having suffered only the usual old age ailments. Yet last week my brother’s mother-in-law passed away after a long and painful illness. She had been a Christian most of her life.

So why are these people and others like them allowed to go through such trials?
Doesn’t God care?
What was He thinking?
I sure don’t have the answers.

Today I read the Acts account of Peter and John and the crippled guy at the temple gate. Peter just told him to be healed in the name of Jesus. And the next thing you know he’s running and jumping and leaping and praising the Lord, just going wild in front of everybody, fully healed.

Why can’t I pray for people and they are instantly healed like that?

I know when God directs, the plan is better than my human mind can understand. His events always have a better outcome than my shortsightedness can guess.

Like the guy at the temple gate, the plan for his healing began at his birth. What a huge disappointment it must have been to his parents for him to be born crippled. But God’s plan was for his story to be told for the next 2000 years, to encourage people like me to know that His plans have purpose.

And I do know this: I can trust Him. Anthony Burger’s wife and kids can trust Him. Nhlanhla and his family can trust Him. Tori can trust Him.

And I also know that my God can do anything. So I’ll just lean on Him as I pray for these dear ones. He’s the giver of life and health. He is the one who gives that very remarkable "joy unspeakable" and the precious "peace that passes all understanding."

And He does have the answers.

Grandmothers always show pictures...

(it's an unwritten rule)

While their parents are gone for a couple of weeks, Pop and Meemaw are watching the kids.

Is this a treat, or what! Here's a bragging photo of our Swaziland mks (missionary kids) l to r, Trinity 2, Kayla 8, Levi 5.

Off We Go...

Dave and I are heading out again for Swaziland tomorrow. To our "Other Life."

Please be praying for us to have a safe trip, to stay healthy, and to be effective workers in the field for Jesus.

Whatever God has planned for us, we want to do it with all our might. We want to do it right. We want to be effective for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We want to see little ones come to know the Lord, the One who can turn their lives around, bringing hope and joy and peace.

Thanks for you prayers.