Rwanda Update: One week left!

Hi friends! Here is my most recent update! Enjoy :)

It has been a whirlwind of a week for me! My mom was able to update everyone on the car accident I was involved in Monday morning. I greatly appreciate all of your prayers! I am doing much better today after resting for the last two days. My neck and shoulder are still stiff and sore and I do have occasional headaches but nothing serious so I am beyond thankful for that. God definitely had his hand over me and the others in the accident because no one was seriously injured and the accident had the potential to be very bad. I am also reminded how God has blessed me with great people around me, near and far, to help me through the last few days! Thank you again for all your prayers. They mean the world to me!

The truck that rear-ended our car sending us into the car in front of us! And yes the amount of stuff in this truck is illegal because he never had a shot at stopping!

Okay on to the happy stuff! I spent a fantastic weekend in Gesinyi with Pangras and his family. He has four children, three boys and one girl, and I can honestly say that they are family to me now. Noheli is the oldest and he works for ALARM in Kigali so he became my travel companion and big brother over the weekend. Saturday I had the honor of meeting Celestin and Pangras’ mother. She is the mother and grandmother of some of my dearest Rwandan friends and family! She was such a humble and amazing woman. She wants me to learn Kinyarwanda because she is too old to learn English! We had a great hour together! Below is a picture of me and Mama J

Gesinyi is in the western part of the country and it definitely brings a new meaning to “Rwanda: Land of 1000 hills!” It is absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking as you wind in and out of the hills. I was able to spend the rest of the day out in Gesinyi with Noheli and Danny (the youngest in the family). They took me to Lake Kivu (picture below), the market, and their favorite local restaurant where we spent the afternoon and evening with many of their friends! I met so many wonderful people. It was so great to just get away and relax for the weekend and enjoy the beauty of the land and the people J

Sunday morning Pangras took me on an hour ride on dirt roads and through the hills to his church. There are many different sister churches that have all stemmed from the main church. We visited a sister church on Saturday but attended church at the main church. There are about 1000 members of this church alone. It was a worship service so it was about 4 hours of singing! It was so amazing to hear a thousand voices filling the thousand hills of Rwanda. We sang and danced for hours together! We enjoyed a wonderful meal with Pangras and his family after church, and then we made the hour ride back down all of the hills to the bus station where Noheli and I took the bus back to Kigali. Below are pictures of the church with Pangras and some of his family and hills around Lake Kivu!

I can’t believe I have less than a week left here! The teachers and the girls are so amazing and I can’t believe that I have been able to spend a month here teaching and loving them. They keep telling me that I need to move here so I can teach with them all the time. In the pictures below: Amani the English teacher showing off his style! Silvey (French teacher), me, and Noa (Biology and Chemistry teacher)! And then me and Claire (the Kinyarwanda and Swahili teacher)! These are just some of the teachers J

Thanks again for all of your prayers! I can’t believe how amazing this opportunity is and how blessed I am to be enjoying God’s creation and people here in Rwanda. I want to share a Bible verse that I came across during my devotions this past week. It is a good reminder to me about why I’m here and that my flesh will get tired but God will always provide me with strength when I am doing His work!

Galatians 6:9-10

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at a proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

And I will close with another quote that comes from a song I heard while I was here. I love this song because it reminds me over and over again that my hands and my heart are to serve God in everything I do because I have given my life to Him!
 “Two hands. One heart. One life to offer you.”

I hope you are all doing well J Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and support that you each continue to give me! I look forward to seeing all of you when I return home in a week.

God Bless,

Uwitonze Keza Kelsey

This is Maja! She’s my roommate and dear friend who I’ve been staying and teaching with at IWE J