July 10th

Ministry Partners

"....Jesus left the 99 and went to save 1 that was lost." This is what Rev. Arlene Tatum told me when we were desperate because there were no people at one of the local churches we visited today.

We followed our usual morning  daily routine:  wake-up, update the itinerary according to emerging opportunities to serve and minister, have breakfast made of an omelet, pancakes, pineapple, and tea,  followed by  morning devotion which was led by Alfred Mupenzi.
After we did the loading of all the necessities into the van for ministry, we left the guest house at 10:00am. three things were on the agenda on our way: 1. Buy bread and Jam for our lunch sandwiches, 2. Pick up one of our chaplains named Zebedee and his wife who were our host today at their local church some 150kms  (93 miles or 3 hours drive) away from Kigali the capital city of Rwanda and 3. Meet the pastor from the Association of Pentecost Churches of Rwanda who is going to be our host for the next two days (Saturday and Sunday).

Our group posing for a photo

We accomplished the three and proceeded to the Foursquare church in Nyagatare that is pastored by one of the IRM Chaplains "Zabedee" reaching there at 2:00pm. We expected the church to be full and ready for us but to our amazement only two people were there one playing the piano and another welcoming those who might be coming in.
As a team we sat and had our sandwich lunch while waiting for more people to turn up. Arlene starting cleaning up the church compound and later Pastor Zebedee's wife was picking up the trash and throwing it at one specific place because there were no trash bins.
By 3:00pm, there were additional three people considered to be the choir who started singing from hymn books and praising God,
As a team we joined them and started singing and dancing and soon the number rose  from a hand full to 28 not including children like the Jewish tradition would say. Local children seemed particularly interested in Arlene and Chad before and after church.

Chad found that cookies are a good way to quickly make new friends

Arlene preached the message of salvation and we saw 25 coming to the saving knowledge in Jesus Christ and all 28 committing to the forgiveness of those who had hurt them as well as forgiving themselves.
While expressing how grateful the church was to host the team, a tearful Pastor Zebedee spoke the prophetic words from Philippians 1:7 that  says,"He who started a good work in IRM will bring it to accomplishment".
It was such a wonderful service and God's name was glorified.

That none would be lost

Alfred