God must have His reasons...

July 24, 2006

I walked alone along the muddy six inch wide trails with the wind rustling the grass cushion on top of my head. The weight of the rock I carried pressuring my neck as my unaccustomed muscles adjusted to it. The grass tickled my ears and neck but it felt as though the flies that were buzzing across my sweaty nose were landing on other parts of my head. The question in my mind, “Did I wipe off all the spiders from this one?” I quickly swiped at the imaginary insects. The trail veered off several times and I kept a good look at the ground trying to keep myself from slipping. It was much more dangerous with the heavy rain that fell yesterday and today. In the quiet, I felt strangely unconcerned with the potential dangers of getting lost, insect bites or even snake encounters. I took a moment to thank God for the beauty of the mountains, the smell of wet soil and even the strength to do manual labor. Above me I heard, “Comara! Comara Muzungu!” I did not hear it initially… it was coming from so high. With the rock braced with my right hand, I glanced up to a small trail 200 yards away and saw a child waving to me. I smiled and waved back with my free hand.

I found my way back to John Gatari’s home. His U.S. sponsor is my friend Ruth Gaa and hanging in his temporary “old” house is a plaque in remembrance of baby Sean O’Donnell. There are also old pictures of Jesus on rotting paper and a calendar as well. Next to his old house is a small kitchen building. But most amazing is the new house that is in process of being finished. It is so tall and grand! It has tin sheets for the roof already installed and today we worked on carrying stone to put on the inside floor (which will be covered with cement). We also were digging out a larger compound.

Some friends of ours from Canada came with us. They are returning to Alberta on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, they wanted to have an experience in the village after spending 6 months working in Kigali building Christian Life Assembly church. Gary and Cindy Bruton and their three kids tagged along on a GFR Umaganda! Amazingly, they also decided to sponsor a family on the spot! Venencia came to help build as a volunteer and was still on the waiting list. When we saw her, we said, “Today is your day!” She was so surprised and it was really a miracle for her. There were lots of hugs and Venencia was close to tears many times.

The greatest part of this whole experience was knowing that Gary and Cindy are about to watch transformation before their very eyes. They got to see her at her lowest point… it is only a matter of months before this family will look completely different! Venancia’s house is covered by straw and is very dark inside. In the rain, we traveled down a very steep hill to take a look. I can’t believe we made it back up! We kept sliding and falling in the mud. Amber fell right on her back! It was funny to watch all the Muzungu’s with our good-traction gym shoes scramble to reach hold of the barefooted Rwandans hands to help us up. They definitely had the advantage!
We also saw another sponsored family today that just had a baby! It is a healthy little boy! Kendra and Aaron Jessen will be so happy to hear that their family is doing well!

I spent a lot of time today looking out over the mountains and listening for the sound of a motorcycle. I kept thinking at any minute Vianney would drive up and take off his helmet and surprise us with that big smile of his. It was sobering to be there on an Umaganda he didn’t have a hand in organizing. I miss him terribly. So many wonderful things are happening and I want him to experience all the beautiful changes first hand. God must have some reason for it, but I don’t understand it yet. Isn’t that the story of life??