The shirt off your back – almost, but totally voluntarily

Rwanda CRED Team – the story so far, well a little bit of it anyway!

Unlike many CRED teams who comprise at least one main cohort and so several of the team know each other beforehand, this team is made up of lots of individuals, or little groups of 2’s and 3’s, with the result that we were all mainly strangers to each other at the start of the trip.

But, you wouldn’t know it to see the team now, and indeed by the end of Sunday evening (day 2), there was a real sense of family between everyone.

This has carried on into the week, and the support and encouragement shown between the team members when it comes to teaching, or dealing with homesickness, or coping with the impact of the genocide memorial museum, or running the activities has been beautiful to watch. A definite sense that God wants us all here together, and has a reason for bringing each one of us to this country.

Watching the individuals come together as a strong unit has been very lovely, but equally wonderful is seeing the various individuals develop in personal ways – through increased confidence in their ability, stepping outside comfort zones and surviving, finding the real them inside themselves unhampered by the range of pressures imposed on them at home.

Lots of prayers for the individuals being answered, as they let go of various bits of inner baggage, and take hold of new dreams and opportunities

Today was a very special day in the week. Most of the time we are with the students of the Catch Up school, and that is great, don’t get me wrong. But this afternoon the Catch Up kids went home at lunchtime (not that they have any lunch), and instead we spent the afternoon with 27 of the kids who live on the streets of Kigali, and who Theoneste (GNPDR Street Pastor) looks out for as much as he can.

This was very spur of the moment, only being confirmed yesterday, and as a result the team had to pull together resources to provide the activities. They also did a little bag with some pencils, bubbles etc in for each of the street kids, but when I looked at the bags this morning they seemed a bit empty.

My mind went to the scripture that talks about giving the shirt off your back to the person in need (or something like that – apologies to any Bible scholars), and I put out an optional challenge to team members that if they would like they could see if they had a spare t-shirt that could go into the bags so that each street kid had a t-shirt to take with them.

I was blown away by the response. Within 5 minutes we had all the t-shirts needed, and more – a clear understanding that each of the team really are here for the right reasons, with a selfless heart and a clear desire to give of themselves in any way that they can.

Having seen that in the morning, and then how much the team embraced the whole afternoon with the street kids, as well as how the first half of the week has gone, I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the rest of the week, and how much more God works His purposes out through this lovely bunch of people.