By 10 30 am today we had been to two services! We knew that we were going to an 8 am English speaking service at the cathedral, followed by a 10am service at a local church in the suburbs. So it meant an early breakfast!
Claude preaching at the Cathedral
Local pastor with his family and ‘senior pastor Claude’ and his wife after the service
But when we arrived there, we discovered that the Government had decreed this day as ‘Heroes Day’, which meant that all activities, including church services, were to cease at 10 am so that people could attend a rally in the stadium. No-one knew about this until this morning! Once again, it looked as if our plans would have to change. But, in the event, the second church started their service early and we joined them at about 9 20 and the service lasted until 10 30, government decree notwithstanding! The two services were very different. Claude preached the same sermon at both churches, one translated, one not. The Cathedral service was more formal; the second one still followed Anglican liturgy but was more lively, much as we come to expect over here, with wonderful singing and lots of young people.
We were presented with two beautiful African baskets, as seen in the photo. They said that we could use them in our churches – for collections?
This afternoon we visited some hot water springs, a real oasis used by many people enjoying a leisurely Sunday afternoon. But to get there, we passed through one poor village after another -the worst examples of poverty we have seen in Rwanda. Quite disturbing.
Finally, we drove to a point where we could see three countries – Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. It was a really moving moment as we contemplated the very real but different issues affecting each of them. We had a moment of silence before praying for them.
Africa Glaven Mission 