eric & his story

Everywhere Hilliary and I go here, we never fail to gather a following of adorable little children. My favorite is when a kid we have never seen, catches a glimpse of us and immediately rushes over to hug our legs with all their might. I LOVE the children here. They brighten my days immensely and whenever I’m with them, I can’t help but think of how precious they must be to God if they are so delightful to me. Every Saturday we spend the morning playing with kids and it’s my favorite day of the week. We taught them a few English games and they taught us some Rwandan ones as well. They loved to pick Hilliary and I ☺
Yesterday was another long church service, but I loved it and it was the first time that I didn’t feel completely uncomfortable. We taught the children the song “Jesus loves me…” and we performed it during the service. I also led two English worship songs, which the congregation seemed to enjoy. During the nearly two hours of music every Sunday, it’s like a huge dance party. The place becomes absolutely alive with dancing, shouting, and joy… I thoroughly enjoy watching the people here worship. Their faces light up and they become like little children who delight at the presence of their Daddy. It’s beautiful.
One of my students Eric hung out with us a bit last night. He’s an ridiculously hilarious 24 year old who is in my English class. He’s especially funny because he doesn’t try to be, but always ends up doing things that make us crack up. He has an especially difficult time pronouncing certain English sounds and tries to copy the motion of our tongues when we speak—his tongue ends up flying all over the place. He is greatly eager to learn English and everyday in class, he raises his hand, and jumps up whenever I call on him even if he doesn’t know the answer! I found out a bit about his life tonight while studying for our first English exam tomorrow..
He came to Kigali from a small village in 1995 after the genocide was over. Both his mother and his father died during the genocide, and as they left behind 10 children, his brothers and sisters sent him to the city to try to find work. Even though he was the oldest, he was only a mere 11 years old when he came to Kigali completely by himself. He used to sleep on the street, spending the days begging and he eventually got into drinking. He randomly met Pastor Beatrice and her brother after peeking into their church one day when he was younger and he’s been with them ever since. He lives with Pastor Bea’s brother, helping around their house by cleaning and cooking during the day, and works as a security guard at night. This leaves him with approximately 2 hours a day to sleep. Despite his hard circumstances, he is seriously one of the most joyful people I have ever met in my 21 years of life. His spirit exudes deep joy and he constantly has a warm and genuine smile spread across his face. He is only one of the beautiful people we’re blessed to be around every single day. I am really beginning to care about the people here..
I’ve also been feeling not so great the past few days and haven’t been able to do all I want to. It’s really not that serious but Beatrice was almost insisting to take me to the hospital yesterday haha! Then her mom Kristine found out last night and immediately burst into our room with a deeply concerned face to pray for me. It was very cute
Prayer requests:
-health so that I may continue to be able to teach and carry out our daily activities.
-For my heart to be open to really experiencing life with the people here. To be able to enter into their joy and their pain and experience it alongside of them.