Amahoro y'imana The Peace of God

Transcription

1 Eyes to the Hills Updates, stories, and prayers from the Lutheran Church of Rwanda, the Young Adults in Global Mission program, and me, your friend and ELCA missionary, all from within the Land of One Thousand Hills.

2 Amahoro y'imana The Peace of God I often sign off my s to colleagues using "God's peace, Janelle." When I write that, I feel as if I am among the church universal in a moment of passing of the peace. In seminary, we learning specifically learned that the passing of the peace in worship served a specific purpose--a unifying purpose. It was not a time to chat about the past week or greet the friends you didn't get to checkin with before the service; rather, it is a moment intended to connect us in the fullness of what God gifts to us: wholeness. It's difficult to imagine the entirety of what happens in that moment throughout the world, but it stands a moment of reflection. When we shake hands or embrace, kiss or simply share the words of God's peace, we are not simply connecting to those in our immediate presence. We are reminding ourselves and one another that we are nothing without God, and that we are nothing without each other, that there is something that connects us beyond our own understanding. I sign my s with "God's peace" because I do not do this work alone and neither do you. Only together are we whole. And so, as much as I enjoy sharing news from this corner of God's creation, I likewise love to hear from you, too. Please do not hesitate to share any questions, thoughts, prayer requests, or prayers in response to my newsletters. It's been a joy to communicate back and forth with people to either share more about the LCR and the YAGM program or simply to celebrate each others lives and/or ministries. We may currently live very far apart from one another, but we are bound together in God's peace wherever we are! As for life in Kigali, a lot has happened since my last update. In this sixth issue you will find reflections and pictures from my final site visits to the YAGM volunteers, the final YAGM retreat of , visits from bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, a seminar prepared by ELCA pastors, preparations for the upcoming YAGM group, and updates in the Lutheran Church of Rwanda. May the peace of God be with you all!

3 Picture #1: YAGM Katie Romano spent many days out in the field with the YWCA Kayonza office. As part of my final site visit, I was able to join Katie and Early Childhood Development (ECD) expert field director, Bona, to see one of the ECD programs in the Kayonza District (above). In addition to this field site visit, Katie led me on many visits to neighbors and members of the Kayonza Lutheran Parish, sharing with me the relationships that had been most formative during her year. We also enjoyed time with Katie's host family, Pastor Shema, Jacky, and two of their children, Clever and Derrick. Picture #2: As I ventured to visit with YAGM Amanda in Rwamagana, I learned that Rwamagana Lutheran School's basketball team (coached by Amanda) would have a rematch game against St. Aloys School. After spending the day seeing Amanda's routine at school assisting students with research, providing support to teachers, and helping work-learning interns with their tasks, we (Amanda, me, the team, and roughly a 40-student cheering section) made our way across town to St. Aloys. It was incredible to watch the game and Amanda's coaching of the team--and RLS WON!

4 Picture #3: During previous visits to YAGM Ryan in Kamembe, I was able to meet his colleagues at both of the schools where he worked during the week, but I never got the chance to see how Ryan helped in the classroom. This final visit provided that opportunity as I shadowed Ryan in two classrooms at ChildCare Academy (pictured above) and in the library at St. Matthew's Secondary School. Throughout the year, Ryan wasn't only committed to his students and teachers, but also to vocational discernment. Over Kamembe's best brochettes and chapati, we alsogot to sit, reflect on, and speak about what's next.

5 Picture #4: YAGM Kristin began working with the YWCA Huye office during the last half of the year in addition to supporting students in thesis writing at the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS). As one part of the visit, Kristin and I headed to the YWCA and went out again on a field visit to a local project teaching women to cook small, inexpensive snacks made from local ingredients to then sell in support of their families. Kristin worked diligently to record and write-up interviews of success stories for the YWCA Huye office's final report as this program cycle nears its end [above]. We also visited with two families that welcomed Kristin in throughout the year. Shoni, the daughter of Kristin's good friend Honore, could not get enough of Kristin as we sat, singing, and eating dinner in Honore's home. Back near Kristin's home, we had time together to speak about God, discernment, and ministry as she heads to seminary in the coming year. Picture #5: Having spent time with YAGM Hannah at the YWCA Ngoma office on the last two visits to Kibungo, our final visit focused on her work with Pastor Evangeline [above], the relationships that emerged from her work with the LCR, and visiting friends in Kibungo. In one incredibly busy day, we visited Pastor Evangeline and her husband in Rukria before heading off to help transport cement to the Sakara Lutheran Church. However, before heading down the valley to Sakara on the next hilltop, we made a detour to visit Pastor Mulisa and the LCR Bible School. En route to Sakara Church, we also greeted Kibungo Parish parishioner Serafina, her son Ganza, and her new baby daughter. Ganza joined us to drop off the cement and visit with Pastor Nyundo in Sakara before heading back toward Kibungo. These are but some of the people and communities who impacted Hannah's year of formation and accompaniment. Past, Present, and Future They arrived in Kigali for final retreat, having said goodbye to the communities they had been woven into over the past year. These are not easy moments for the volunteers--they tend to stir up emotions. During our final retreat, we gathered around each other in order to sort through what was what and how to honor all that was the last year while looking forward to what was to come- -the journey of service they were just beginning as they headed back to the USA. Our first full day together, we looked at the past. YAGM Hannah led us in a time of affirming one another for the love, joy, and hard work shared over the past year. In a reflective exercise we named the things we would miss, the things we wouldn't miss, and the things we would carry with us. We gave each other space to laugh and cry and eat cookies. Our second day we stayed in the present. With a few hours for last errands in Kigali, the YAGM enjoyed moments on motos and around the city one last time. We relaxed into the needs of the hour for the afternoon, writing evaluations, reading and napping. Caught between the past and the future, we put memories, hopes, and fears in a hat and laughed the afternoon playing a cherade-like game called "Fish Bowl" before gathering with Kigali friends for an evening out enjoying brochettes and chips over hours of conversation. And on our third day, it was time to look at the future. Between meals, it was time for oneon-ones, talking about what had been, but also beginning to unravel what was to come. YAGM Amanda then asked us to take on different personas, asking questions of one another we anticipated from communities back home. (Just how do you answer the question "How

6 was your trip to Africa?" when it was a year in Rwanda filled with as many joys and sorrows as any other year of life? Regardless, we must keep telling the stories.) We then ate dinner at Bishop Mugabo's home alongside General Secretary Pr. Prince, Treasurer Rogero, Assistant G.S. Meshack, and the Bishop's office administrator Monica. (Top three pictures below) The LCR shared gifts with the YAGM to thank them for their service to their communities and the wider church. And then it was departure day. Packing and cleaning by morning, sharing and worshiping in the evening before heading to the airport, YAGM Rwanda spent one last packed but gracefilled day together. In our final worship (last two pictures below) we each held two candles, lighting one from flame of the one beeswax candle we had carried with us from Orientation to retreats throughout the year. And as the main candle grew dim as the wick finally burned away, our light still shone bright in all that was to come. The YAGM Rwanda cohort came open and willing to see what it meant to be a person of faith in a global church. What they learned over the course of their year has already and will continue to shape and form them for years to come. For our companions in the LCR and Rwanda who accompanied the volunteers, for the ways the volunteers accompanied their communities, and for the body of Christ throughout the world who makes relationships of confession, forgiveness, service, and unity possible: Thanks be to God.

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8 The YAGM program is excited to continue serving alongside the Lutheran Church of Rwanda for a fifth program cycle. Pastor Kate Warn's leadership of the program in its first three years provided an incredible foundation for the ELCA and the LCR to engage in direct service together by providing a year of service, learning, and formation for 17 young adults who served in nine different communities of the LCR. After a very successful year of service for the five young adults who completed their service only a few weeks ago, the LCR and I are preparing to welcome our largest YAGM group yet--seven individuals! In addition to returning to two previous sites, this YAGM cycle will also include an entirely new placement. Please pray for Pastor Caleb [and his family], Angel, Anna, Evangelist Gadi as they prepare to welcome a volunteer to their ministry for the coming year! Welcoming Visitors to the LCR

9 Rev. Dr. Andrea Walker, Global Mission Director for Madagascar, Central, and West Africa, collaborated with Pr. Mulisa (Director of the Theological Education and Leadership Development Program of the LCR) and the LCR leadership to provide a seminar on Lutheran Identity, sacramental theology, and homeletics for the pastors of the LCR. From June 18-21, Rev. Dr. Andrea [forground, right] taught alongside ELCA colleagues leaders Rev. Themba Mkhabela [background, right], Rev. Angie Shannon [foreground, middle], and Rev. Lamont Wells [foreground, left]. The seminar was held in the newly remodeled classrooms and dorms of the LCR Bible School buildings in Rukira. [The LCR continues to broaden its global relationships, especially among diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. Here Bishop Keshomshahara of the NorthWestern Diocese in the ELCT (middle right) joins Bishop Mugabo (middle left), General Secretary Pastor Prince (left), and Pastor Nyundo of the Kigali Parish (right) at the Kigali Parish's Kinyarwanda service. Over the course of this visit, Bishop Keshomshahara and his General Secretary Pastor Kigembe presented a weekend seminar ot the Kigali Parish on stewardship and leadership for the pastors of the LCR. Additionally, in a ceremony during the Sunday service, the bishops and general secretaries of the respective churches signed a formal partnership agreement between the LCR and the North-Western Diocese. Bishop Mugabo shakes Bishop Keshomshahara's hand during worship in welcome and greeting [above, left]. Additionally, the Presiding Bishop of the ELCT, Bishop Shoo, [above, right] visited with the leadership of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda while in Kigali for the All Africa Conference of Churches General Assembly. Bishop Mugabo invited him to worship, preach, and preside at the Kigali Parish, and he delivered a powerful sermon about God's love and our call to live into that love as people of faith. The relationship between the ELCT and the LCR has always been special in part because the original six pastors of the LCR were trained

10 as pastors in the ELCT. Bishop Mugabo continues building wider bridges between the churches as he seeks their support in theological education for pastors of the LCR. Please join us in prayer for the collaboration of the church universal! YAGM Rwanda These young adults have taught and learned; given and received; gotten lost and have been found; read and written; walked, moto-ed, and bused around their communities and the country that welcomed them in. They have worshiped. They have prayed. They have sang. They have cried and they have laughed. And in all of this, they have accompanied their communities in Rwanda through their lives and service, their communities in the USA through newsletters, blogs, calls, and texts, and their community of faith around the world as they witnessed to the relationships God provides. And now, they have gone back to their communities in the USA, searching and seeking for ways to continue to participate fully in global community even from a new place.

11 Please join me in prayer for Amanda, Katie, Ryan, Hannah, and Kristin as they journey into a new chapter of their service and accompaniment. God is calling them to extraordinary places in the year and years to come. May they continue to know their strength in vulnerability, their power in the hope providing by Christ's life, death, and resurrection, and their family across the globe who remains connected to them not only through Facebook, Whatsapp, or , but also in the wholeness of God's peace that surpasses all understanding, uniting us together as one body in Christ. God bless you and keep you. Smile upon you and be gracious to you. Look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amahoro y'imana abane namwe. The peace of God be with you all. I stand here because of you! Did you know that the ELCA is one of the only remaining church bodies that supports missionaries in service without requiring them to raise their own budgetary needs? It is through the generous financial support of congregations and individuals and the efforts of the Global Church team in Chicago that we are able to continue to relate to our companions around the world as partners in ministry, working shoulder to shoulder as we do now. The support you provide extends far beyond expense reports and budget lines; when we build one another up, we remain connected in mutual learning, sharing, and prayer! A special thank you to those who have committed to sponsoring my participation in God's mission in Rwanda and the YAGM volunteers serving here. Faith Lutheran Church, Pioneer, CA Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Vacaville, CA St. Marks Lutheran Church, San Francisco, CA Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA

12 Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Granite Bay, CA The Revs. Nancy and Richard Lund, Helotes, TX Bethany Lutheran Church, Batavia, IL Immanuel Lutheran Church, Pepin, WI Redeemer Lutheran Church, Ramsey, NJ Murakoze cyane! Imana ibahe umugisha! Thank you very much and God bless you all! Thank you, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Ramsey, NJ! A quick shout out to you all for your lovingly written and decorated cards that helped the YAGM celebrate the Easter Season. They arrived to Kigali just in time for me to share them with the volunteers on their final site visit in May. The birthday card was a joy to receive as well! Want to learn how to financially support me through sponsorship or by contributing a donation? Please reach out to me or the ELCA's Global Church department (globalchurch@elca.org) for more details and information. hear. see. read. learn Visit more sites related to the LCR and YAGM Rwanda provided in the links below. Songs from choirs of the LCR and other ministries are waiting for you at the SoundCloud link located in the middle of the icons below. If you'd generally like to learn more about YAGM Rwanda and the ELCA, check out the weblink on the far left below. Also, visit the YAGM Rwanda Facebook page and "like" us there. Feel free to me or follow-up on more of my thoughts by heading to my blog using the two right links, respectively. Grace and peace to you all!

13 Copyright 2018 ELCA - YAGM - Rwanda, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because at some point you shared your interest in following the work of the Church in Rwanda, the Young Adults in Global Mission program, and my experiences as a participant in that work. Please enjoy quarterly newsletter highlighting happenings in this part of the world! Our mailing address is: ELCA - YAGM - Rwanda P.O. Box 5692 Kigali, Kigali Rwanda Add us to your address book All thoughts and opinions included in this newsletter are my own or from colleagues who I have asked for submissions. Thus, the opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer or the church bodies (ELCA and/or LCR) for which I work.