God's Amazing Work in Rwanda

Sometimes missionaries like to have fun. Last Saturday we borrowed a couple of kayaks and went down to Lake Muhazi. A very bumpy road and 2 hrs journey-- I think we got on the wrong road, we were told it's a 45 min. drive. Anyway we had a great time. Took a picnic, and I found a good tree to relax under and read a book while everyone else took turns kayaking. As we finished our picnic on an empty lot by the lake, the owner of the lot next to us invited us over to see how he was developing his property. I said a silent prayer that this would be a ‘God-connection.’ We met Emmanuel who could speak English and we mentioned in passing that we were considering looking for a lakeside property we might develop as a youth camp and training center. He said he was a Christian and immediately began casting a vision for exactly what we were thinking of. Emmanuel said he would like to help us look for a site. We are constantly amazed and humbled at the evidence that God has been at work in minds and hearts long before we got here.

In Rwanda, the last Saturday of the month is known as Umuganda (community work) Day. Men and women in a neighborhood gather to work on a community project or clean up the neighborhood. Though this work is not required of non-Rwandans, we find it an opportunity to meet people in our area. Last month they had a organizational meeting after the work and the zone leader whom we had already met asked us to introduce ourselves. After the meeting, we had numerous people introduce themselves to us. They have been so welcoming and helpful to us. At our last U day about 100 people turned out. Our zone leader, Emmanuel, is the export manager for a coffee company here. He organized us into work parties to repair some bad places on a neighborhood street. After greeting me he said, “I have heard that you have worship and prayer in your home. Is it okay if I join you for that.” You can guess my answer! At the end of the meeting Chris and I walked up the hill in a line of people and when we got to our street, a big man introduced himself and welcomed us to the neighborhood. He pointed to his house about 150 metres away and said he would like to have us over for tea soon. He asked us where we were from and when we said the U. S. A., he said, “Oh, my daughter is in the U. S. She is studying at Oklahoma Christian University.” Okay!

2007 Mission to Raja-Boro, Sudan

It was one of the most complex and faith-stretching experiences I have ever been involved with. It was a mission to serve Darfur refugees in Jesus’ name. One of the greatest challenges was defining where and how the mission could and would take place. Another was coordinating the planning, funding and communications with 22 men from 5 countries, some of whom we didn’t have direct connection with until hours before departure on the mission from Kenya.

While some of our team were gathering in Nairobi from Bangkok, St. Petersburg, Lusaka, Zambia and Accra, Ghana, others were leaving from Arizona, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. We all gathered in Nairobi to finalize our documentation to enter South Sudan. On July 17, our team began the journey north in two shifts to arrive on consecutive days at our destination in south-western Sudan where we had heard there were refugees needing help. But we had no ‘hard’ information about the place (other than that the runway was short and the rains were heavy) and no communication with anyone in the area. I felt like we were ‘flying blind.’ So we had a contingency plan to do a quick survey before landing and be prepared to take off for another location if there was a hostile reception in Raja.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people were praying for ‘people of peace’ (Luke 10, Matt. 10) to receive us when we landed. The first group to land were met by the leaders of the town and the county and immediately taken to the offices of the Commissioner of the Raja County. They were introduced, welcomed and assigned a place to camp on the edge of the town of Raja: the compound of the Red Crescent. The ‘green light’ was given the second half of the team to fly in the next day. I was on that second flight and was surprised when I was met by Edward, the acting Commissioner of Raja County who said, “Are you Sam?” When I said yes, he said, “Please your transport is over here.” He immediately bundled us all into two pickups and took us to the county offices. It was hard to believe the warm reception, the cooperativeness, the offers of help, the desire to understand our mission, the provision of bedding and transportation put at our disposal ... all of this, without any advance notice that we were coming!! It was a huge encouragement to all of us. At the same time, it was disappointing that the refugee camp was 63 miles away and by some reports inaccessible by road. We saw serving Darfur refugees as a primary purpose of the mission. How could we possible get there? The first few days in Raja were spent setting up camp, organizing ourselves into teams for different tasks, getting to know the town of Raja, prayer-walking through its streets(?), surveying and serving in local medical facilities and, very importantly, meeting and beginning to build relationships with a stream of people who came by our camp to greet us and find out what our mission was. We also interviewed local U. N. officials, other aid missions, the police, army and local government departments to find how get to and serve in the refugee camp. It was decided that we would need to send out a scouting team to the area to check out the condition of the road and living conditions in the camp.

We sent out our ‘Caleb Corps,’ a team of young men, guides and police guards who made the arduous 5-hour trip to the camp by motorcycle over a rugged forest track through rain and marshes. Their mission was to make a brief survey of the needs in the camp and to determine the feasibility of the larger team getting there and doing something to help the 'internally displaced people' there. The corps arrived there late in the afternoon and checked out conditions and needs in the camp. They surveyed what they thought we could do and what it would take for a larger crew to get there. Because the security situation was unclear, this team of scouts was under orders to return the same day. So the any set off on their return journey about 4:30 p.m. already close to exhaustion from exposure to the tropical sun and physical exertion. They dragged into Raja a little after 9 that night completely worn out but optimistic about what our mission could do.
That weekend we began to plan in earnest for a mission to Boro-Medina. The hospital, the police and the Islamic school in Raja each offered to loan us a vehicle to get to Boro. Our friend, Isaac Suliman, the chief of police arranged an armed guard to accompany us. Our part was to provide fuel for the vehicles and food for the drivers and guards as well as all the supplies we would need.
On the Monday, after many delays and much indecision, we set off for Boro-Medina. It was an arduous four-and-a-half-hour drive. We arrived a couple up hours before dark and immediately went to work setting up camp. Some slept in the camp director's office area, others had tents in the yard.
The next morning Dr. Mike Smith and Glenn Berkey left camp early to set up and organize a medical clinic. Other members of our team served as assistants, interpreters and maintained order in the lines of people. That day more than 500 hundred patients were interviewed, examined and treated. Some of the common diseases were typhoid, tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments and a number of cases of epilepsy. Others of our team did prayer-walks throughout the camp, prayed for mothers and their children. We found that there were few men in the camp. Surveys were made of the local school, available housing, water supplies, airstrip, medical facilities, roads and availability of food. We had previously made arrangements with local World Food Program directors in Raja to help with distributing food supplies to hungry people in the camp. The WFP had a large tent in Boro that was locked. There were food supplies in the tent, but no arrived during our time in Boro to unlock the tent and make food available to the people of the camp. We actually spent on parts of three days at Boro.

The Journey...
In my view, the most important story of our journey was the many small and great acts God did in response to prayers of so many of our friends who were in regular intercession for the mission. As an example, one small act of God that blessed me in a big way was the woman from Gibraltar who sat next to me on our flight from London to Nairobi. As we walked up the jetway in Nairobi, she pulled me aside and asked me to accept a $100 bill for our Sudan mission. Wow! A complete stranger (angel?).

For me personally, the greatest struggle was inside of me; my personal struggle to truly trust God in all this. I had never taken on the responsibility of leading so many (over 20 men including my two sons) from so many places, to such a remote location with so little knowledge about what was there, what the mission would be and whether we could actually even land a plane there.

Two Milestones on the Road to Rwanda

We are praising the Lord for two major milestones on our road to serving God again in Africa.

These two events took place last Thursday. First we loaded a 40 ft. container with three other families planning to serve in Rwanda. Most of the shipment was books and other supplies for the new mission in Rwanda, but it also included personal effects for the families going. It was a hot and rainy day, but we got the container loaded in about 6 hours.

The second milestone was more important to us personally. For some weeks we have been agonizing over whether to sell our house or make it available to missionaries on furlough on a month to month rental basis. We thought we could leave our house furnished and our furniture in place. Through prayer and advice from others we decided that was not a workable idea, so we put the house on the market. Quite honestly this was a big struggle for me: to liquidate everything again for the fourth time in forty years and to again be homeless. Knowing also that we are in a real estate slump we anticipated that we would likely take a huge loss on the sale or worse yet, get on the plane for Rwanda with an empty, unrented, unsold house on our hands.

A week ago Wednesday night we asked the prayer group we are a part of to pray for a miracle as the house went on the market; to pray for a buyer who wanted the house as much as we needed to sell it. God blessed these prayers and the step of faith! Again this Wednesday night our friends were praying with us for our house to sell. The next day, the fifth day the house was on the market we got two offers for the house, one for the full asking price and the other for $1000 less.

We accepted the latter offer because it is a cash offer and the buyer agreed to delay the closing day until August 13, two weeks after I return from a mission to South Sudan. That will give us time to pack and move out. How gracious and kind our Father is!! Please praise God with us!!

Remembering William Siang'andu

Nancy and I have been joining many others in mourning the loss of William Siang'andu to malaria. William came from humble beginnings and supported his family as a bricklayer and builder. He was educated through the 10th grade and later studied at Manzini Bible School in Swaziland where his potential and vision for ministry in the kingdom was nourished.
 William and Eness traveled with us over lake and land last summer for five weeks from Zambia through Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Their purpose on the journey was to learn all they could about how to care for orphans which has become a huge need in much of Africa as a result of war, genocide, AIDS and other diseases. It was a great joy to us to see their vision for ministry grow as a result of their experiences on that journey.
Only weeks ago, William had accepted a position on the staff of Mapepe Bible School where he would have the opportunity to influence many for missions in Zambia and beyond. He fell ill to malaria as he has so many times in the past, before Eness and his children had actually joined him at Mapepe.
I am left to wonder what can be done about one the scourges of Africa: Malaria. How can we continue to prepare soldiers for the battle and then see them fall before they reach their potential to a debilitating disease that is so hard to eradicate, but so easy to control?
For now, we want to say that we join with many others in the family of God in expressing our deepest sympathies in what is a loss for all of us, but especially for Eness and their children. May we not forget to hold up our sister Eness' hands during her time of grieving. Our prayer is that she may somehow be able to carry on with their dream of caring for orphans in the nurture of the Lord, and that God will provide for her in this important ministry.

Doing Something about Darfur

A few weeks ago I woke up in the morning with Darfur on my mind. I had recently read a news story that George Clooney had said that the United States ought to do something to ‘Save Darfur.’ Well, I agree, but think about it. Does the United States have any interest in Sudan? Not really. Maybe to prevent some terrorism or to get some oil. But Christians ought to care enough about the genocide going on there to care and to do something.
Let me go back a few years... to 1994. I was teaching at the Nairobi Great Commission School and hell was happening in Rwanda. I went to interdenominational meetings to discuss how we should respond to the horror in Rwanda. Ken Bolden and I talked with our faculty about what we ought to do. Should we shut down the school and take our students to Rwanda or Tanzania and help in the refugee camps? Well, in the end we did nothing. I have regretted that decision for a long time.
And now there is genocide in Darfur. There are Arab Muslims killing, raping and burning the villages of Muslims who are black. Can Christians stand by and do nothing about this? How am I going to feel 12 years from now if we do nothing? Of course, it's not about me or how I feel. It is about the NAME ... the Name we wear. What would Jesus do?
I proposed going into the area with multiple small teams prepared and accompanied by experienced spiritual mentors late this summer. The purpose would be two-fold: 1) to serve the suffering by demonstrating Jesus' compassion, and 2) to learn and teach what it means for African and western Christians to work together in a context of suffering, servanthood, submission and simplicity with Spirit-led lives. These teams would arrive at different times overlapping with others, would devote a minimum of 10 days in the area, be prepared for unpredictable circumstances and rough conditions, and would work under the supervision and planning of local leaders. More to come ...

I Choose to Suffer

On January 16th, the Jinja, Uganda mission team experienced a tragic loss when Adam Langford and Moses Kimeze, died as a result of a vehicle accident. They and their driver were hauling coffee beans from Mt. Elgon for the redemptive business at the Source Café, when the vehicle lost
control and rolled 50 meters down a steep slope before hitting a tree. Witnesses arrived at the truck moments later and found Adam's body near the vehicle-he most likely died instantly in the crash. Moses, a young church leader and director of the Source Café, died a few hours later in a nearby hospital. We covet and seek your prayers in this overwhelming loss. Pray that God’s presence will be among Adam’s family, friends, and team in their grief and as they travel to be together. Pray that God’s presence and provision will be with Moses’ family and the many people his life touched, but especially his wife Irene and three children – Rachel, Tyler, and Zach.

"... we need more people who are willing to enter into the suffering of others whether they can help or not. I ... choose to suffer for the sake of others." - from Adam Langford’s last blog entry.

Adam’s body was returned to the United States accompanied by the whole Jinja mission team. Meanwhile, former Jinja missionaries, John Barton and Mark Moore flew to Uganda to comfort Moses’ family and to attend his funeral with the Christians there.
I was among those blessed to attend Adam’s funeral in Oklahoma, to meet the family and to celebrate a life well-lived. It was obvious that Adam had made a difference in people’s lives wherever he lived. My thought now is, “Where are the young men like Adam and Moses, men of integrity and passion, who will step up and take their places? Who will live lives of service with a readiness to suffer for others, so that our friends may not have died in vain?” Moses and Adam made their choice. What will you choose?

We Can Do it Too!

One of the most vision-expanding experiences for those traveling with us this summer was to see Kenyan missionaries at work in Tanzania. They were active in ministries that include both urban and rural church planting, World Bible School follow-up, a weekly radio broadcast and a vision for a Christian school, to name a few. It dawned on our team, “Hey, we can do this too!”
When the team returned to Zambia they reported the highlights of our trip to the national annual lectureship. The enthusiastic response was, “Okay, how can we get involved?’

Significant Quote “On this trip you have come with the Shewmakers. Next time I want you to come with your fellow-Zambian missionaries.” – Tim Talley, missionary to Tanga, Tanzania.

God has Wowed us Again!

Whenever Nancy and I make such a trip it is full of many imponderables and questions all along the way. We always have to pray for people of peace who will receive us or treat us kindly, give us advice, introduce us where necessary and show us around their area. We asked you to join us in praying for these blessings and it has been a joy to see God at work making provision for us in marvelous and unpredictable ways with many surprises. He has wowed us again!

In the last two weeks we have traveled with our Zambian friends to the north of Zambia by bus. There we boarded the Marine Vessel Liemba, a ship on Lake Tanganyika for the 4-day, five hundred mile journey to Bujumbura in Burundi. On board we learned that our ship would not travel all the way and we would have to stop off in Kigoma, in Tanzania overnight and look for another ship. In the harbor, we ran into the first engineer of the Bwiza. He offered us passage on his small cargo vessel, a sixteen hour run to Bujumbura.

In each of the new countries we traveled, we had to deal with new and unfamiliar languages, customs and currencies. Finding accommodation, changing money, negotiating transportation arrangements around the towns all had to be worked out through tedious attempts at (and breakdowns of) communication.

As one of many examples of God's provision of unlikely and unknowing angels, we found a young man named Cyprien checking his email in an internet cafe the day after we arrived in Buja. He had lived and studied in Canada for 14 years and had his own software company. When he noticed that we spoke English he immediately introduced himself, began translating for us and assisting us toward our goals in other ways. He borrowed his sister's car and became our driver for the next two days, introducing us to religious leaders and officials that helped us learn about missions needs and opportunities in the Burundi, even advising us on evangelistic strategy for planting churches though he did not claim to be a Christian himself. By the end of our three days in Burundi we had people calling us and coming to where we were staying to visit with us, including someone from the university and another from the ministry of finance, encouraging us to send people to serve in that nation. The timing of our visit there came just after the signingof a peace agreement that many are very hopeful will signal the end of a 12-year ethnic conflict.

Your partnership in prayer is vital to the success of what we are doing this month. The development of our mission here in Rwanda is unique in my experience in Africa. In less than one year, God has provided a legal registration and local governments around the capital of Kigali are offering us land for churches and other ministry development. The government estimates the cost of this land at under $1000 an acre even in strategic locations in the city. All this has occurred before even one church has been planted by our people. Praise God for his provision and grace!

Leaving from Lusaka

Nancy and I are in Lusaka, Zambia gathering our team for an overland mission journey into the heart of Africa. Praise the Lord that on Friday he provided the passports for the Zambian brother and sister that were lacking them.

Our plan is to take a bus to Zambia's port town on Lake Tanganyika (the longest and second deepest lake in the world). We should board ship this on Friday afternoon and reach Kigoma, Tanzania on Sunday morning. There we will survey the town and district for mission possibilities and then find land transportation if possible to Bujumbura in Burundi. We have no missionaries in Burundi, so we will survey the prospects for one or two teams to enter that country. From there we will take a bus to Kigali, Rwanda.

Please pray for 'men of peace' (Luke 10) along the way to be advocates and guides for us in places where none of us know the languages or the laws and conditions in the countries we are going for the first time.

Pray that God will give us 'spiritual eyes' to see the realities and needs that call for the mission of God in those places and in the hearts of the people we meet.

Some of you have been aware that we have to been planning and praying that we would be able to accompany three prospective missionaries, Nathan Holland and Danny and Katie Reese on a survey trip in Angola this summer. God's answer to all these prayers for the Shewmakers is: Not Now! We have run out of time waiting on the necessary documents from Angola.

However, we would request that you keep praying that the door will open for the others to get their visas. They have a plan B that will allow them to leave two weeks later and we are praying that God will open that door of opportunity.

Rwanda's President Kagame visits Oklahoma Christian

Christian Chronicle

BY ERIK TRYGGESTAD Tall, slender and unassuming, Rwandan President Paul Kagame spoke softly about rebuilding his country and investing in its key assets — the Rwandan people — during a recent visit to Oklahoma Christian University.

It was hard to envision Kagame, 48, as a military commander who served in a revolutionary army in Uganda and later led the Rwandan Patriotic Front to end the 1994 genocide in his home country.

But Oklahoma Christian President Mike O’Neal compared Kagame to liberators such as George Washington and pledged his school’s support of Rwanda’s education goals.

“This is a family of faith,” O’Neal told Kagame after a question-and-answer session with the school’s students, faculty and visitors from other states and the United Kingdom. “We want to be your friends and brothers, as we are all God’s children.”

This fall the Oklahoma Christian will provide five full scholarships for Rwandan students, on the condition that they return home after graduation to help their country. The university plans to add two scholarships each year until the total reaches 11 students and will offer additional half-tuition scholarships for Rwandans.

Kagame thanked the school for its decision to “actively support our drive toward our vision.”

“Oklahoma Christian is an institution known for academic excellence, anchored in Christian faith ... and service to its students,” he said.

Kagame, who won a landslide victory in 2003 to become Rwanda’s first democratically elected president since the genocide, visited the 2,000-student school after attending an education conference in Montreal, Quebec. Kagame accompanied his wife, Jeannette, Rwandan ambassador to the U.S. Dr. Zac Nsenga and a number of cabinet members from the African nation.

The president answered questions from students about how Rwanda is promoting unity after the devastating, ethnically charged genocide that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives 12 years ago. Kagame’s government has attempted to redraw lines of political districts and downplay the distinction between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis that sparked the conflict.

One student asked what steps the president has taken to avoid the corruption that plagues other African nations. Kagame said that Rwandan law now requires everyone — including the president — to disclose their income and its sources.

"Corruption has been a very serious problem in countries on my continent," he said. "It has hindered economic development in other countries and we recognize that."

After speaking at a luncheon and receiving an honorary degree from the school, Kagame addressed a joint session of the Oklahoma Legislature and met with the state’s governor. Gary Bishop, president of church-supported World Bible Translation Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and his wife Donna presented Kagame and the First Lady with embossed Bibles.

Kagame said he chose the school as a stop during his visit to North America at the invitation of O'Neal, who visited Rwanda in November 2004.

Richard Lawson, an Oklahoma Christian graduate and founder of St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software Inc., and his wife, Pat, made initial contact with the Rwandan government and invited O’Neal and his wife, Nancy. Dave Jenkins, then a visiting missionary at the school, joined the group.

Jenkins now serves as the first full-time missionary from Churches of Christ to Rwanda. From his home in the capital, Kigali, he read reports of the visit in Rwandan newspapers. “The Lord is doing something far beyond what any of us could anticipate,” he said in an e-mail message from the African country.

In the summer of 2005, 12 students worked as a mission team to Rwanda. Six more students will travel there this summer, accompanied by Oklahoma Christian faculty members Bryan and Holly Hixson. David Johnson, a faculty member at Faulkner University, Montgomery, Ala., and his wife, Marlea, will teach in Kigali this summer. Kyle and Luz Beard plan to move to Rwanda as missionaries later this year.

Sam Shewmaker, longtime missionary to Africa and facilitator for African church planting for Missions Resource Network in Bedford, Texas, offered Kagame “a belated — though deeply felt — apology that the government of the United States did not come to the aid of the people of Rwanda in their darkest hour.”
“This fact is a stain on our national honor for which we are deeply sorry,” said Shewmaker, who has visited Rwanda and plans to assist church members in future mission work there.

“We look forward to a harmonious working relationship with Rwanda that expresses Christ’s spirit of compassion and service,” he said.

The Rwandan president said that he hopes the scholarship program will be the first step in ongoing cultural exchanges between the Christian school and his country.

“We in Rwanda value these continuing contributions,” he said. “We trust that this is only the beginning of the road that we are to travel together.”