Steppin' It Up A Notch

Well it's been just over a week since I got back from my short-term mission trip to Rwanda. We didn't have internet at our guest house, nor did I really have the time to write and post something when we did go to internet cafes. Now that I've had some time to process some of my experience, it's a good time to make a post, also, today is my birthday. I am now a quarter of a century old. I know that people are going to ask me "how does it feel to be 25?" and I think that it's the age when you know you're still young but you also know you're old (or at least getting there).
So, Rwanda.... there's so much to say and yet words will never be able to convey what I experienced. In terms of the project work, I got a little bit involved in almost every aspect: I helped with the surveying, putting together the model (it's like playing with Lego) and helped with the water test. I have to admit I was amazed at all that was accomplished in one week's time. In reality, there were only 4 days spent doing the work. There were also many times when I was just observing the other team members working and I wondered how they knew that whatever it was they were doing was going to work. But that's what you get with years of experience; you just know. The highlight of the trip for me was hearing Eddie's response after we gave him the presentation of our week's work. It was a special moment, that's all I can say. I am excited for him and his ministry. I would love to go back to help build it or to see it when it's fully built; Lord willing, I just might.
This trip is the best thing to happen to me since finding salvation in Jesus Christ. Even so, it was overwhelming at times. Visiting the genocide memorials was.... difficult, yet necessary given the scope of our project, and I'm glad we did see them. We were at one of the churches where people got massacred and afterwards I was dazed, I couldn't really think and the second church didn't really affect me much because I was still stunned from the first one. It's hard to explain but I was stuck in this rut, almost like a depressed state and some of the team saw it on my face when we went to get food. It took me 6 hours to get out of it, with some help from Jesus. I'm so glad I have Jesus to help me, unfortunately for a lot of Rwandans, they don't have that.
More to come on my experience, it's pretty late now.

Posted by Phil at 10:34 PM