Frank Foreman Journal, March 2015
from CASR in Rwanda
JOURNAL OF CASR MISSION – MARCH 17-30, 2015
Franc met me at the airport and we drove over to meet Garry Friesen at the Africa New Life facility. We checked in at the guest house and had a delightful dinner with him. He is such a winsome energetic fellow. I think that we interested him enough that he is willing tocome down and talk with our students about Decision making and the will of God. We’ve emailed back and forth a couple times and he got Franc’s contact information. I then slept from 6 pm to 6 am and felt better. I spent the rest of the day waiting in the car while Franc shopped for stuff for the Lighthouse and the long drive down to Butare. On the way down, Franc finally filled me on the details of Pastor Paul's spiral down. He really had been stealing money from Compassion Ministries that was intended for widows and orphans. Compassion then stopped funding all 120 some AG churches in Rwanda because of him. He is still unrepentant and Franc thinks that he could end up in jail soon. I plan to write a detailed report about the issue while I’m here. I want get the details right and let Chris and the CASA board pray about what the right thing to do would be. We got here at about 8 pm and met David and Jane. I found the Lighthouse to be nearly complete. They've been using the repaired table saw and the boards to make furniture for most of the rooms. It looks great. Javin worries were unfounded. Yesterday was all preparing for a four hour seminar Saturday with the students and another one on Monday with pastors. Boy I love that. I feel like a fish in water. In the evening I talked to a small student's group. It was really good. There are more student groupsscheduled for today. I believe that Chris will be very pleased with how things are turning out. The container is still in Tanzania. But we're hopeful that it will be here before I leave.
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SATURDAY, MARCH 21 What wasn't so much fun was the Friday evening Worship meeting. I was supposed to give a little talk on worship before Franc preached. When he didn't show up until 9:30, I was thinking that I got out of it. But then he knocks at the door and I give up hope of going to bed early. I get in his car with Claudine and the girls and drive to the big University auditorium. It was good to see them again. They’ve grown, but are still cuties. Baby Chris stayed home. The AG worship team then sing and danced until 11. Paul and Mary Jane showed up and we hugged. I was primed to talk about Paul in Phillipi and worshiping at midnight in the prison. Midnight was getting closer and closer. Then at 11 Paul got up and preached on Paul and Silas in the Philippians jail. After him, I was invited up to talk. So I just filled in the parts that Paul left out. Then Franc got up and preached on Revelations 5 worship. 20 students came up and we prayed for them. Then more dancing and singing. I didn't get back until 1 am. And the seminar started at 8 am. So it was a very short night. But the seminar went really well. I wasn't able to fit any of my C.S.Lewis stuff in. But between 1-200 students didn't fall asleep for 3 hours. An hour of very perceptive questions and answers followed. Then a journalist interviewed me and had me email my PowerPoint to him. Now I'm collapsed in bed. Pastor David will pick me up at 8:30 tonight for another sermon tonight at an evangelistic meeting. I think I'll talk about Acts 16 again. Then two services at David's church tomorrow on Revival and False Prophets and Name it and Claim it and lunch out. Then finishing thePowerPoint presentation for the pastors' seminar. On Monday morning about 30 pastors will hear about True Faith, Prosperity, and Miracles.. Pastor Paul will be there. He scheduled me to speak at his church next Sunday. I really praying hard about how blunt I want to be. Please pray.     |
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MONDAY, MARCH 23rd - I was going to take a walk to shake out some of the stress. But a thunderstorm came on. We've had a hard rain once or twice every day since I've been here. But they last for less than an hour. The electricity flicks off 5-10 times a day. But it's usually not off for more than five minutes. The rain is slowing down now. So I'll take my walk as soon as I finish the email. Well, let me think where I left off the last email. Saturday evening, I was supposed to talk to another student group and I was going to speak about Acts 16. But it was to be a short talk. So I felt led to change at the last minute. I looked up Mark 9 and Mt Transfiguration. I've found that the Africans receive testimonies better. So I talked about the father with the dumb demon-possessed son at the foot of the Mt. I’ve always identified with this man and his plight. "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." And I gave my Lucinda testimony. It was a mistake. I was bawling so much at the end that I could barely finish. But the students were touched. Sunday I preached at the Anglican church twice. David's bosses remembered me from last year and were grateful. I again spoke on Great Revivals and False Prophets and Name it and Claim it. I included my Father's testimony and they received it well. At the church an American lady was there taking pictures for Saddleback Church. We talked a little between services. Ellen Bak is a little older than me. But she said that liked the part of my sermon when I talked about the 70's. She was a Jesus People at Chuck Smith's church back then. So we had a lot in common. She's a retired professional photographer. Saddleback sent her over to document Rwanda and see what ministries are open to them. So I invited her to visit CASA and she agreed. After church David, his wife, Jane, Franc, and I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Then David picked up Ellen and brought her to the Lighthouse. For about three hours we had a great time talking over our ministry, families, the church, missions and life, as she took a lot of pictures of the Lighthouse. Then David drove us over to the University. The guard didn't like her taking pictures of the building. Franc had to talk to him for a good while before he agreed to let us in. She took a lot of pictures of the woods and monkeys. She had been all over Rwanda and she said that was the most trees that she had seen. We then walked over to the front of the old administrative building where we used to have our student conferences. David was going to drive around and meet us. BIG MISTAKE!! We didn’t connect! We walked around the campus for over an hour trying to meet up with him again. It was okay. Ellen is a good sport and very adventurous. Finally we ended up just starting to walk back to the Lighthouse. That's when David finally caught up with us. He had dropped off his car already at the Lighthouse. So we just finished walking back with him. She took some more pictures of the back of the Lighthouse and took her leave. She gave me her email address and told me to send her over the information about CASA and she would send me her pictures. I sent her my newsletter about what we did in 2014 and a history of CASA that I updated. I'm really praying that she will get back with me and God will open a door into Saddleback. By the time I got to my room it was 5 pm. So I stayed up until 11 and got up at 5 to finishmy presentation for the Pastor's Conference. It was on True Christian Faith, Prosperity, and Miracles. God really blessed. The 30 pastors from the local area were very attentive and appreciative. They were very glad to hear the arguments against the false doctrine. And my testimony made it real to them. Again there was a lot good questions and conversation in the last hour. Pastor Paul was there most of the time. Some of what I said was pretty pointedly directed at him. But he smiled and ignored it pretty well. In the last hour he gave a comment that backed me up nicely. The more that I see of the Lighthouse, the more I am pleased with what CASR has accomplished. I really think that it will be ready a few months after the final container clears to go full speed. The student ministry is already about fully running. There is a doctor and the district prosecutor living in two of the rooms. Jane too lives in one of the rooms. The missionary apartment isn’t functional yet. But David says that they scheduled a British missionary couple to live in it for a couple months. They are to arrive in mid-April. I hope that it’s ready by then. I just talked with Franc. The container is on the border right now. He thinks that it might even get here before I leave. I hope so. |
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25TH - Well, I thought things were going to slow down. But not so!! Apparently the teaching part of the mission is wrapped up and now comes the logistical work. I sure enjoy the teaching part a lot more. But the logistical part is more urgent and almost as important. Tuesday was supposed to be a rest day. But Franc got a phone call Monday afternoon and wasn't happy. The container was indeed at the border. But the government was saying that it would have to be opened and inspected in Kigali. This happened two containers ago. A lot of stuff got broken as they untied all the cargo, moved it out, then moved it in, and then drove it to Butare loose. CASR also paid twice as much in taxes. So Monday evening I had the last of the student groups that I was supposed to preach to. It was the Anglican group. Franc was tired and stressed, but took me to the rain soaked campus to interpret. He was impressed when the student leaders asked the students from each of the eight Episcopals in Rwanda to stand and be recognized. It was a good way to show how the students at the university come from all regions of the country. I decided to preach on Acts 16 and God freeing us from the chains (the demon-possessed slave girl, Paul & Silas, and the jailer). Then asked them how many of them knew about CASR and the Lighthouse. Most of them did. So I told them about what we and CASA did in shipping over the containers. Then I told them about the problem with our container. And I asked Franc to pray and all of the student to agree that the governmental chains holding up the container would be loosed. Man, Franc in the students really prayed up a storm for about 10 minutes. I think that Franc felt better. The next morning, Franc made a bunch of phone calls and told that I needed to drive with him up to Kigali and talk personally with the Clearing Agent and the Lady that approves all the imports. So at about 11 am me, Franc, and his nephew make the long trek up to Kigali. We met with the clearing agent in a small, dingy office. He looked the the papers and Franc negotiated with him for about an hour. I told him that I had loaded the container and written the list of contents and could verify everything in it. I asked a few more detailed questions through Franc, shrugged, and said that it was okay but the big Lady would have to really approve it. So we drove over to the big modern fancy government building. It had metal detectors and police with rifles. I had to sign in and let them hold my passport while I went upstairs to see the big-wigs. After about an hour wait we were finally allowed to see her. When she saw Franc, she rolled her eyes. Franc told that she asked if he wanted her to do the impossible again. Then followed about 20 minutes of pretty loud and heated negotiation. It was about 90% Kinyan-Rwandan and 10% English. So she would be talking very emphatically in tongues and end with "NO WAY! IMPOSSIBLE!" Then Franc would should back "HAS TO BE!" followed by more tongues. Again I told her that I had loaded the container and made the list and could verify everything. She made a couple phone calls. Then went back and forth a couple more times; ending in "NO WAY, IMPOSSIBLE!" and returned "HAS TO BE". After about the fourth or fifth volley like this, the Lady took and breath, looked down, and said "Okay". Franc nodded and we left. In the parking lot I asked Franc what else we needed to do to make it work. He finally relaxed a little, smiled, and said: "Nothing. It's done." We had missed lunch, so we went to Bourbon Coffee had supper. Then we did some shopped in the packed market and made the long drive home. I was listening to "White Fang" by Jack London on some of drive and in the waiting rooms. So now the Yukon and pressure packed Rwandan government offices will now always be linking in my brain. We didn't get back until about 11 pm. So praise God!!! Franc said that the students prayed good. The container would still have to go up to Kigali. But it would come right down here to Butare. Hopefully, it would arrive on today or tomorrow. We went bed tired, but happy and praising God. But today brought more logistical challenges. After the late night, Franc didn't come to work early. So Jane and I walked down to the Asante office and met with Rita. I dropped off the gifts and talked about our sponsored kids. Both of them are now in Kigali. I'll give you the details when I get back. When I got back to Lighthouse at about 9:30, Franc was still not in. So I sat down with David and we talked the logistics of the 40 ft, 40 ton container arriving. Where were we going to put it. I thought they would drive it around the back of the building and put in the side of the building. It would stay there and serve as storage room and hold the generator. Right now on of the big class rooms is just a storage room. But when David and I walked around a looked, there was just no way. The rough little road in back didn't connect with the far side of the building. And the septic tank was there and couldn't bare all the weight of the truck and crane on it. Franc and David weren't thinking about bringing it around the back anyway. They assumed that we would just drive the truck to the front of the building, hire a big expensive crane once, pick up the container and lower in onto it's place. But when Franc arrived we talked about the logistics of this. I told them 13 meters by 3 meters by 3 meters and 18,000 kilos. They both sucked their teeth hard. I told them that it would have be a very big crane to do the job. It would have to lift the container over the beautiful front fence and not damage it or the side wall. Then it would have rotate the container 90 degrees and lower it 10 meters to a prepared pad on the side of building. There is no prepared pad and I was not sure that it could be done. Franc said that they have cranes that move two containers at a time. I told him that I wasn't sure that the theroad in front of the building would handle that much weight. I also told them that I would highly recommend emptying the container first and making sure that the cargo was out and safe before the the container was lowered that far. I advised them to have the people that actually drive the trucks and use the cranes to come out and look at the situation and make sure that it could be done. I then let Franc and David think about it. Hopefully they are. But Franc just came into my room and had me pull up the invoice for the container while he talked to someone on the phone i assume it was the clearing agent in Kigali. I had to clarify about what about 20 of the items were. It took about half and hour and they are still fussing about having a motor vehicle (the motorcycle) mixed in with the other cargo. It has to be cleared separately. Franc still feels like it will work out. I also spent about two hours with Jane and one of the workers that is making the cabinets for the rooms and doing such a good job. We went through each of the hotel rooms and I showed them where they needed to little cabinets in the bathrooms and what else each room would need to make them work for all the stuff that Americans bring and expect. Jane thought that it was very helpful. It is just not how Africans think. But I am confident that with the boards and the tools, they will be able to make these rooms first class by African standards and pretty darn good even by American standards. The bathrooms have hot water and the toilets work. And that is a very good start. |
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FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 27 The container won’t be released until after I leave. The hard Lady in the Customs office continues to be a problem. The motorcycle has to be checked in separately. It should be done in Kigali. But Franc says that it can be done in Butare just as easily. But then it can’t be cleared on-line. So things are still in negotiation. Franc walked in my room on Thursday and asked if I knew any millionaires. He said that the taxes will be way high. So we spent most of yesterday revising the costs and weights of the cargo. I’m a little queasy with it. The issues are pretty muddy and grey. Do you report the price that you bought it for or the price you could sell it for? We estimated weights on the high side to be safe. But they tax by weight also. So we adjusted the weighs downward. How the rules and laws are applied seem pretty flexible when it comes to non-profits. So Franc is still doing a lot of negotiating. But he said that it was worth the headaches. Just the differences in cost of buying the generator and the espresso machines here will pay for the taxes. I still have no idea how they are going to place the container when it gets here. Franc said that the crane company that he contacted in Kigali couldn’t get their big cranes down here. I told Franc to please not hurry the process on my part. I’ve done my part in helping to clear the cargo. They need to take their time and make sure that they can place the container safely. I still strongly recommended that they remove the cargo first and then place the container on a well-prepared foundation. Yesterday, I went through the storage room and photographed all that is in it. They are getting close to the time when they can place the artwork that Lelia sent over three years ago. They are some really good pieces. There is definitely some stuff that will not be able to use. When the container is placed, I talked with David about having windows and a side door put in it. They were already planning to do that. They also plan to more the extra stuff into the container. Then the present storage room can be used for class rooms. I am going to suggest that when the Lighthouse is opened, they use one of their empty shops to sell the left over building materials and stuff that they decide that they do not need. I have already suggested that they use one of the shops for a custom furniture maker. They have the tools, the materials, and are getting the expertise. At present only one of the shops is occupied and Franc is not happy. He leased it to a Christian who is not a very good businessman. He put groceries into the shop and opened it up. But he is rarely at the business to sell the produce. So customers don’t come because it’s rarely open. I have yet to see it open. Franc is learning how to evaluate proposed business leases. Yesterday, David and Jacque took me out to see the Compassion work. I was sad to see that the mushroom project for the widows had shut down. A thief had broken into their shed and stole their tools. And the plastic on the roof was weakened by the sun and torn by the wind in the valley. They ran of funds to buy the mushroom tubes. But they did have a cow! Not from the government, but from an American donor. I asked David how much it would cost to repair the roof and purchase the tubes to restart the project. He asked Jacque and they concluded about $300. Lelia and I will pray about it. They get the mushroom tubes in Rwanda. They cost about 20% of what they can sell the mushrooms for in the market. Then David took me over to his house. It is really a research farm. He experiments with plants and animals to see how practical it is for the poor to use to feed themselves and make money. He is using the portable plastic hot house that we donated and Javin brought over. It helps for the tomato plants. He showed me his mushroom house. He told me that they learned to grow the mushrooms tubes on raised shelves. Termites ate them on the ground. He had about ten pigs in pens; some big, some little. He told me that the big one had a litter of ten, but only one survived. I asked him why. He said that the vet said that they weren’t getting the right food. David could buy the expensive feed. But his goal is to balance the household scraps and local Rwandan plants to keep them healthy. He wants to make it practicable for the poor to raise them and keep them healthy. So he is still experimenting. He surprised me when he told me that pork was cheaper than chicken or goat meat. But then he clarified that it took a lot of chickens and goats to produce as much meat as one pig. He said that the poor preferred chickens or goats, because they can bring them into their houses at night for security from thieves. Some did it for pigs too, but is was much more unpleasant. At David’s house, I also met his wife, his 83 year old mother (his father died recently), his eldest son, a nephew, and his 3 year old granddaughter. I heard the singing of a meeting goind on in one room behind his house. He showed me another room with about 8 sewing machines in it. The women come in the morning for classes. If they graduate, they get a pig. There were also three young men surrounding a computer. David said they come there learn to use computers and for fellowship. He asked me if I was planning on taking my computer home or leaving it. I told him that it was new and that I would need to keep it. He said that was okay. His laptop had been stolen and all he had was one with a little keyboard. Now I’m kicking myself for tossing out my four year old laptop when I got the new one. He understands that the compassion part of CASR in on the back-burner while we finish the Lighthouse. But he is obviously itching to expand these projects when it is complete and making money. Yesterday evening I had supper with Paul and Mary Jane at a nice restaurant in town. I will talk about that in a separate report. But as we were leaving Ellen, from Saddleback Church, came in and sat down with an older man. So I went over and said hello. Scott introduced himself and we talked for a few minutes. He said that he had been to Rwanda 14 times and spends a month or two during each visit. He had been helping to train Rwandans in the concepts of customer service and quality improvement. He said that most businesses in Rwanda haven’t a clue. I told him about the Lighthouse and our plans. I told him that one of our major concerns upon conclusion of the building was providing good hotel and restaurant service. Saddleback has been making classes to teach hospitality skills to Rwandans. I told him that we would love to partner with them in this effort. We have classrooms and could house a school. We could sponsor interns to train in our rooms and restaurant and could hire them when they graduate. I told him that we really wanted to culture of quality. He nodded, but didn’t express any further interest as the 10 other people from their team arrived. I think that they are all staying at the quarters behind the Anglican Church. I will email Ellen again this morning and try to get Scott’s email address. Please pray!! This could be a real God Thing. Franc is completely focused on completing the building. But once it’s done he will need to shift gears very quickly. From what I’ve seen with his handling of renting the shops, he will need a lot of help and advice. Well, I have to get ready for the student graduation ceremony starting this morning. I’ve modified the sermon that I preached at Chris’ church after Kim’s funeral. I’ll talk about the ministry of reconciliation and being Christ’s ambassadors. Then the CASR board meeting this evening. Tomorrow lunch with David and a big evening student meeting on campus. Sunday I preach at Paul’s small English service and at one of his bush churches. Then dinner at Franc’s house. I haven’t met baby Chris yet! I’m looking forward to it. Then on Monday, the drive up to Kigali and the flight home. |
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 28, Yesterday, the morning was slow, but then it got really full. The graduates started gathering at about 11 am. The top floor is such a great venue for meetings. The graduation of the twenty some students attended by their families, pastors, and dignitaries (assistant mayor, chief of police) was very impressive. Over a hundred people were in attendance. A team of traditional drum players started things off. Ben arrived in the morning and was the emcee. I was told afterwards by the board that the pastors and dignitaries were pleasantly surprised. They were expecting Pastor Paul. Ben is apparently much more respected. My sermon was on reconciliation; first between Chris and Franc and then within Rwanda. I challenged the students to be ambassadors of Christ. It was very well received. I showed them the DVD: “As We Forgive”. I told them that Rwanda was gaining world notice in its attempt to work reconciliation after the genocide through the gacaca courts. They were becoming a cause for hope for many for Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, etc. Franc and David spoke and there was a catered lunch after. It is a beautiful setting for the student and pastor seminar and for the graduation. Chris, you will be very pleased with how the Lighthouse is turning out. I took another long walk to unwind. Then at 6 pm we had our CASR board meeting. It went until 9 pm. I gave my input and there was good communication. Ben, as chairman, took charge and led the meeting very well. I told asked David and Ben, how they would grade the results of the Lighthouse construction. David gave it an “A”. Ben said that it was 3 star at present. But when it is ready to open, it will be a five star hotel. We talked about the release of the cargo container and the challenge to place it in position. After what I’ve seen them accomplish in the Lighthouse, I am confident that they will figure it out. Franc clarified that the bank did advance them some funds for the construction. Once they see the present status of the Lighthouse, they will advance CASR enough funds to complete the project. They are all very confident that they can open in a few months. I got a text from Pastor Rob while I was in Dulles airport in DC on the way here. He asked if we still need a construction team to come over. As Ben said several times, he considers the construction phase of the Lighthouse complete. It is now just completing the interior with the supplies in the container. I emailed Rob back last week telling him that the construction phase of the Lighthouse was about complete. But please send over a large team this summer when we open. They can work construction on churches and widows homes. But they can also do a great deal of compassion work and ministry to children, churches, and the students. More on this later. I told the CASR board about how Jane and me went through each of the hotel rooms and making suggestions. I told Franc that he was about to face a major transition and a great challenge. He was about to transition from construction boss to business CEO. He will need to train and hire hotel room cleaners and restaurant servers and cooks. Franc talked about his goals at the graduation. He told the pastors, families, and officials that he wanted the Lighthouse to be known for the highest quality. I talked to the board about meeting up with the Saddleback church group and that hoped that they would be able to run a training program for hospitality workers out of our class rooms. They could intern their students in our rooms and restaurant and we could hire the best ones. They liked the concept. Please pray that this door will be opened. We talked about the empty shops. After Franc’s experience with failed business attempts in the shops that they leased so far, they should investigate other options. I told them it was fine with me if they hired people to run the shops for them. It is easier to fire an incompetent employee then brake a lease on an incompetent renter. Franc knows a Christian that wants to open a grocery store where the failed on now sits. I haven’t seen it open since I’ve been here. I told him to make sure that such a store would be able to service the mission teams and tourists with souvenirs and toothpaste and shampoo and such. The primary drawback with this model is that we would have make the initial investment for inventory. Franc will be exploring this option. But I told them that they had a big inventory of construction materials in storage. There is a great deal that they will not be using. I suggested that they hire someone to run a construction supply store for about a year and sell off the surplus. They liked the idea and will explore it. We also discussed opening a custom furniture store in one of the shops. They have the excess boards, the table saws and other tools and supplies. Their Butare workers are gaining the expertise. The boards could be stored in the container. Franc was concerned that this site is not zoned for manufacturing. They may have to make the furniture off site. It needs further exploration. They wanted a report from me about the reasoning around our thoughts about closing CASA. I told them about the challenges facing us last year; the declining donor base, the unsuccessful attempts to partner with churches after Franc’s visit, Javin’s new job and resignation, and Chris’ inability to come to Rwanda. I also told them about American laws concerning non-profits and how we needed to have a broad donor base to qualify. I told them that our present plans were to restructure to meet American laws. But I reassured them that we were planning on staying open and their partners. They were very relieved. Ben said that, on their part, it was much easier to function and gain leverage and get things done, if they could point to an American partner that backs them. They were not optimistic about finding another partner at this stage. The long, deep relationship between CASA and CASR cannot be quickly and easily replicated. From our experience trying to get on the radar of Africa New Life and Saddleback, I would agree. David talked about the student discipleship ministry. The pastors are very happy to volunteer to teach. It is going very well. The classes are trending smaller. Some of that is a result of the overhaul of the university system between Butare and Kigali. Many students are somewhat reticent to make a three year commitment to the discipleship program. David and Franc also reiterated that they really wanted to restart the compassion ministries of CASR. I reminded them that just Chris and I were the primary donors and all of our contributions went toward the loan payment. There was very little left over until the businesses started making money. We talked about how hard it is to raise funds toward a building payment. It is much easier to raise funds for the poor orphans and widows. I told them to pray hard that Pastor Rob would bring a big team over this summer. They can focus on compassion and donate funds toward it. I reassured them that once teams from around the world started coming and seeing the Lighthouse, the funds for compassion would begin to flow in. So I believe. We then talked for a long time about Paul. I will cover that in my final report on the issue. The last thing on the agenda was Jane’s plans. She has been so important to CASR’s functioning for five years. She is really Franc’s very good right hand. They all knew, but she officially announced that she will be married in July. The traditional wedding will be on July 4th. The church wedding will be on Sunday, July 5th. It will be in Kigali, but the venue and many of the details still have to be worked out. She is beginning to get a little stressed about it. Her fiancée’ has a good job at the airport. She plans to look for a job Kigali. But she asked to continue on at CASR until she can find a job. I recommended that CASR be as flexible and generous with Jane as possible. Ben, David, and Franc all agreed. She has been looking at and thinking about some potential replacements in her position. This morning I had a good long talk with Ben about his position is Kigali and about life and Rwandan business practices and challenges. The also helped me with my computer. He showed me how to edit my African pictures. Then he worked for a long time on how to trim and splice my video clips. It was a challenge for him! And if computer Ben sweated over it, it’s too much for me. But I’m very pleased that I can now crop and label my photos.
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SUNDAY, MARCH 29th, early morning Chris emailed me and suggested just selling the container and building a brick out-building in the space. When I arrived a couple weeks ago, I noted that the workers had thrown up a temporary roof underneath the ramp to use as a shop. They put the table saw and tools under it. It was a logical expedient. But it made me rethink the location for an out-building. The space east of the building is large, unfinished, and leads to the student classrooms. It is a very good location for outdoors meetings and recreation. They have all of the paving stones to complete it. They could easily put up a basketball hoop on the wall and a volleyball net or soccer goal. I thought that the games and fellowship and the students and mission teams could have would be really good. On the west side of the building, the ramp fills the entire space against the drainage canal and the ugly gas station. Under it are very sturdy columns. I believe that it would be relatively inexpensive and easy to fabricate good looking walls and a roof on the columns under the ramp. It would make a huge out-building to house the generator, store the building materials, and still have room to park two cars toward the rear. They now have a temporary gate in back. It could be replaced by a good sturdy gate and the building could be secured. They also need an emergency water tank. They were going to put it on top of the container. It could go over the roof of the out-building under the upper ramp. I explained the idea to Franc yesterday. He is contemplating it. We paid $13000 for the container 20 months ago. Franc doesn’t believe that anyone in Rwanda could pay close to that amount. But they can get some funds to help pay the taxes and complete the out-building. The Dean of Students in a friend of Franc’s. He is becoming more open to provide venues for student meetings. Franc said that fifteen years ago, the university made it very difficult to schedule Christian student meetings on campus. But in the last year, Franc has talked the dean into making it much easier. They have had a monthly Traditional Dance performance that packs the auditorium on the last Friday of the month. Christian monthly meetings in the auditorium have been scheduled on the last Saturday night. The leadership of the meeting has been rotated around the many Christian student organizations. But Franc has been frustrated coordinating the groups to work together. So one group will lead the meeting with mostly just its members. It leaves the auditorium mostly empty. This month CASR made a big push to get all of the groups to attend. I was to be their Muzungu speaker attraction. But they also brought down two famous Christian singers from Kigali. It worked! I arrived at the auditorium at 8:30 yesterday evening to the auditorium paced with 5-800 students. Litiane was one of the famous singers that arrived at the Lighthouse in the afternoon. I could tell that Jane was very excited to meet her. As we drove her over to the campus, we heard one of her songs on the radio. By the time we arrived the meeting had been going on for an hour or two. Each group had their own dancing choir. The other famous singer was a friend of Franc’s, graduated from the university with a law degree, and is a captain in the army. After him Litiane received a standing ovation. The students were really pumped! She reminded me of our Pastor Deborah in the leading of worship. I started preaching at about 10:30 again from 2 Corinthians 5 about the ministry of reconciliation, being Christ’s ambassadors, and Franc and Chris’ reconciliation. God blessed. It was short night and I will leave shortly for two sermons at Pastor Paul’s churches and an afternoon student Baptist student group scheduled at the last minute. Then supper at Franc’s. I am ready to complete the mission and start for home.    |
MONDAY EVENING, 8:30 pm, in Ethiopia Sunday was very full and there was no chance to journal. My brain is already blurry, but it will only get blurrier. So let me try to recount the full events on Sunday and Monday. Franc picked me up at about 9 am to take me to Paul’s church to preach. I talk about Paul in a separate document. I was going to preach on reconciliation, but I thought that bringing up Franc reconciling to Chris, but later alienating Paul might not be wise. So I decided to speak again from the heart. So I went to Mark chapter nine and spoke of the Mt of Transfiguration and the desperate father at the foot of the mountain. I wove in our testimony of Lucinda and emphasized God answering prayers with a “wait”. I tried this the week before at a students’ meeting and completely lost it. This time I brought some tissue and managed to make it through with only a minor break-down. It is good for the Rwandans to hear that the rich Americans also face insoluble problems only through faith. There was only one Muzungu there and he grabbed me right after the service and introduced me to eight year old son that looks a lot like David at that age. Except that he has an in-turned paralyzed foot and hand. We had to get out of the church to talk, but he was a very interesting fellow. I asked him where he was from. He said that he was from Holland and his name was Derek. Franc knew him and we talked together for about 10 minutes. He had a gray pony-tail and looked older. He said that his son, Benjamin, has Spina bifida, but is otherwise healthy. He said that his son is very intelligent and knew the Bible very well. He told me that my sermon really touched him. He had concerns about his son’s future. I told him that Benjamin means “son of consolation” and was the last son born to an elderly Jacob. He said that they named him that because he was 71 years old when the boy was born. We talked about God holding the future and that Benjamin’s ministry throughout his life will reflect his godly input. We prayed and he was touched. Franc told him that I was a retired colonel. He said that he was too. He said that he served in both the American and Dutch army and fought in Uganda to defeat Ide Amin. Later Franc said that he knew him and that he was a very interesting fellow with many stories. But he was never a colonel! I couldn’t figure out how he could be in both the American and Dutch armies. Perhaps he meant that he fought alongside American troops. He definitely fought in Uganda. Franc said that he attends Paul’s church sporadically. He and his wife used to be regulars, but she left because of Paul and attends another church. Franc then drove me to a village church where I ministered. I describe it in Paul’s report. Just two observations. The Rwanda kids are amazing. The thirty of them sat packed together on straw mats during the entire two hour service. The two and three year old wandered a bit. But they paid attention pretty well. Second, Franc was surprised when they had us stay for lunch. I asked what the mystery meat was. It was rabbit andin pretty good. I told Franc that the last time I ate rabbit was at my sister Jeanne’s house 40 years ago. I took my last walk that afternoon. It stopped raining the last week. I needed the exercise and really looked forward to the hour long walks with the beautiful views and friendly people. The Rwandan scenes will now always be connected in my mind to the audiobooks that I was listening to: Jack London’s “White Fang” and Howard Pyle’s “Robin Hood” in King James English. I’ll treasure the memories. Franc again picked me up at about 4:30 and we went to nearby Baptist Church for their student’s service. There were probably about 100 students there and another hundred congregants. Franc said that not many of these Baptist students went to CASR. But a couple did and attended my seminar and asked if I could address them on Philippians 4:5. So we all had a great time as I talked about all the exhortations in verses 4-8. Rejoice always, let your gentleness be known, the Lord is at hand, don’t be anxious about anything, the peace that passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds, and think on the true, noble, beautiful things. They may have enjoyed it more than me, but I doubt it. Franc said that it was kind of a break-through for us to be in the church. He thinks that they were underrepresented in CASA because Paul’s reputation made it seem like an AG sponsored organization. So I told Franc to tell the Pastor’s that Chris was a Baptist Pastor, which they announced to the congregation. Franc is hoping that more will sign up with CASA now. Afterward we drove over to Franc’s house for a final dinner. Baby Chris was sleeping so I played with the girls for a while and then gave out some little gifts. I also gave out a “Thank you” banner to Jane. She has been such a blessing and will be hard to replace. Franc had been talking about his good friend, the chief spokesman for the police. He said he wanted us to meet. I didn’t know that he would be invited to dinner. His name was Able and it turns out that he is a lot more than just a spokesman for the police. He is a colonel in the police department and a retired colonel from the army. If he had had a little more education and political connections, he would have been in charge of the entire southern province police department. As it is he is in charge of all the investigations. As such, one of his duties is talking to the press. For some reason, this was this lessor duty seemed more important to Franc impressed. I guess it’s because it’s what makes his name always show up in the papers. He is also a strong Christian and Franc’s good friend. His English was not quite as good as Franc’s. But it turned out that he really wanted to talk with me. So when I finally figured out who he was we really started talking. Lelia would have hated it. Because he really wanted to know all my opinions about the American military, politics, culture, crime, history… and he got me talking. Lelia doesn’t like it when her very opinionated husband starts blowing hard. But Franc and Able were smiling and loved it! Able was the most knowledgeable Rwandan that I have met about the outside world and the currents of the age and general history. He disagreed with me about some things. But basically he’s a Kagame man and would be a conservative Republican if he were an American. And would probably made a better president than our present one. But his English just isn’t good enough. Finally, after supper, baby Chris woke up and became the instant center of attention. Able took his leave and we took a lot of pictures. I think baby Chris he inherited Franc’s temperament. He is a very mellow even-tempered little guy. Again we got home late and Franc told me that he wanted to pick me up at 8 am. He wanted to stop and the clearing office and custom office in Kigali, have lunch with Ben, and then drop me off at the airport. So it was again a short night. I got up early and finished packing and hurried to finish my report on Paul and emailed it out. But it turned out that I didn’t need to hurry. Franc didn’t get there until 10:30. So I had plenty of time to give my parting presents and the last of my money to David, Jacque, and Rose. There was even time for one of the students to download his video of the graduation and a bunch of pictures onto my computer. But that late start made our time in Kigali tight. David went too and I wanted to spend some time clearing in my mind concerning his history. So we talked of his early life, his schooling, his time in England, Margaret Thatcher, his decades-long friendship with a German pen pal… His month-long mission to New York city, his rise in the Anglican church, the history of Anglicans in Rwanda and revivals in east Africa… Why he was kicked out of the church, how he got back in, and why he’s still okay with not getting paid… After spending a lot of my time trying to analyze Paul, it was a great relief to sit at the feet of a true saint. I wanted to be at the airport by 2:30 for the 4:40 flight. I will never use CheapOair online travel agency again! They truly live up to their name! During the last four days before I departed from the US they started changing my flight reservations. They called and emailed and told me I had to leave on Friday instead of Sunday. I called and complained to Ethiopia Airlines. After three calls and four emails and a whole lot of stress, they finally said that they fixed it. But the day before I was to leave, CheapO emailed me and said that I had to leave Sunday afternoon and not take the red-eye. I emailed them both and told them that I already had electronic tickets printed out for all my flights. So I thought that I would be okay when I didn’t hear back from them. But when Josh dropped me off at SeaTac and I checked into my United Airlines flight, they said that I had missed my afternoon reservation so all of my flights had been canceled. You talk about stress! But, boy, did my opinion of United Airlines go through the roof. I had to wait at the counter for about an hour. But United called Ethiopian Airlines many times. They succeeded in remaking my reservations. But their flight to DC was full. So they put me on priority stand-by. But they did check my bags in through to Kigali and put me through customs anyway. I had to sweat it out until the plane was nearly all boarded. But then they called my name. Praise God! The rest of the flight to Africa was exhausting, but not stressful. So as it got later and Franc took his time through lunch and waited for Ben to show up, my stress levels began to rise. We ate a Meza Fresh for my third time. It’s almost Mexican food and close enough to be really good. But it was getting close to 2 pm. Franc said that we still had time to go to the clearing agent’s office. So we went and Franc and this Indian guy yelled at each for half an hour. Franc was really unhappy that the guy wouldn’t bend. He said that because we didn’t have the actual copies of the cargo manifest they could not clear our container in Tanzania or Kigali. So it stayed at the port for a week and in Kigali over the week-end. The agent said that they had already paid the fees and we need to reimburse them before the container could be released. We asked him how much and it took ten minutes for him to come up with the sum of $1080. Now I wasn’t happy! That is very expensive parking! Franc yelled for a while more, but the guy wouldn’t budge. So we left. This is really on me. When Franc contacted me two weeks before the container was to arrive, I thought I’d already sent the papers to him. Then I found them in my file! It took me a couple days to reconstruct in my head what happened after we shipped the container way back in December. We were unsure of Franc’s mailing address. Javin was supposed to call and get the address, but he couldn’t get through on the phone. I emailed and Franc said the address was fine. So I put it on the back burner until I had the time. I never got the time. The house sold, Christmas came, the business sold, etc. etc. etc. I just clean forgot to send the papers until Franc called me. Then when ran in and sent the papers by UPS for a three day delivery, again Kigali said the address was inadequate and held the papers for an extra four more days. Franc showed me the envelop last week and it had my phone number on it instead of his. So they could not call him. That delay is what held things up at the port. So I told them that I would cover the expense of the screw-up. But Franc was still mad. He said that the shipping company could have shared the costs with us. But the agent said that the rules keep getting tighter and tighter on how they have to clear things and their liability keeps increasing. Boy, am I glad this is our last container! Now it’s past 2:30 and the traffic is heavy. Franc and David drop me off at the airport and we hug. I tell them to wait for me, because I am desperately hoping that there won’t be another screw up this time. I’m also hoping that the luggage isn’t too heavy. Carrying all of Javin’s left-over stuff back was a lot and they didn’t have a scale. I did go online and check the reservations with Ethiopian Airline three days before. They I emailed Ethiopian to confirm everything. But they didn’t get back to me. So sweating through three long lines until I finally get to the ticket counter at 3 pm for my 4:40 departure. The first agent looks at the reservation, checks it on the computer, and hands it off to the one that can speak a little English. He gets on the phone about five times over the next half hour as my stress level is pushing through the ceiling. Whenever I ask what the problem is he just holds up my hands to say wait. But finally he goes back to the computer for the fifth time and tells the other agent to take over and walks away. The luggage gets tagged, they hand me the tickets and I’m running up stairs at 4:15. But then there’s the passport agent that talks in a whisper and I can’t hear him. He can’t find the entry stamp on my passport! Yes, I arrived two weeks ago! Yes, I paid the fee! Do I have the receipt? Let me look. Ah, here it is. He checks the receipt from two weeks ago. He examines the passport for the 10th time and no stamp mark has miraculously appeared on it yet. Finally the senior guy next to him asks me if I’m supposed to fly out on the plane that’s boarding right behind us. I say Yes!!! And he waves me thought. But then there is another line and I can hear them calling my name over the speaker. A second time my carry-ons have to go through a scanner and I run to be the last one on the plane. Far and away the most stressful time on the mission was getting on the planes to leave and to return.
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OVERALL I was kind of disappointed that I went by myself. But it was for the best. The construction phase is essentially done. With the money that I brought from Chris, the final preparations for the seminars and the graduation could be completed. And with the complications with container, Franc, David, and Jane were really running hard the whole time that I was there. Hosting others that would have little to do at present would have stretched them more. Confronting Paul and Mary Jane was uncomfortable and difficult. But I really feel that God was in it. We just need to pray a lot for them. Somehow God needs to break through Paul’s hard head. Ben, Franc, and David are the ones that will make the final decisions. But overall, I was greatly encouraged. The responses of the students, pastors, and civil leaders to how the Lighthouse is turning out is great. They are very impressed, excited, and proud. I’m continually impressed that the breadth and depth of Franc’s reputation in the region. He knows so many leaders and they so respect him. But I think more important is the depth of David’s servant heart. His profile is not nearly as high as Franc’s in the Christian and secular community. But I believe that his reputation among the poor is unsurpassed in the region. Their prayers and thanksgivings to God for him will make CASR succeed as much as the good feeling of the community leaders. Thursday, April 2 I got a call from Franc today. He said that the container was released and they unloaded the motorcycle in Kigali. But they then shipped the container to Butare intact and unloaded it. They left the container on the truck and took it up to Kigali where they will sell it. So it’s all good.
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