Children's Day

Children's Day started almost immediately. We arrived in Rwanda on March 29,2006. Our first month we lived with Pastor Ngondo's family. When we had visited Rwanda back in 2004 we stayed with him, his family and the orphans of the Mpore Pefa Orphanage. Our beloved Pastor went home to be with the Lord in October 2005. Just a few months shy of when we would arrive. We worked with Pefa as Elim Fellowship missionaries for our first two years. We now attend Celpar Church and have relocated to Kanombe in June 2008.

After a month the orphanage moved to it's new location and we rented the property the orphanage had now vacated. We lived there and began hosting mission teams and got to know our neighbors. Many of our neighbors happen to be 12 and under. Many of them stopping in at all hours of the day or following us home from church.

We had wonderful visits with the children. Singing songs, sharing tea, telling stories and just hanging out. We realized we could not continue this as many visits in a day and came up with the idea of Children's Day. We thought about calling it Bible Club, however we had many Muslim neighbors and those of traditional religion. We did not want any children to be left out, thus the name Children's Day.

Every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30, rain or shine children would come. First the children came from just our own village. But soon the word went out over the hills. "Kuwakabiri, saa kumi nigichi, biscuit at Mama Muto's." Translated as Tuesday, 4:30 at Mama Muto's and you get a biscuit. Of course a biscuit really is a plain milk cookie. Sort of like a bigger animal cracker in square form.

We would play soccer in the field below, sing songs, have a bible story and then of course each child received a biscuit on there way out. It became more difficult though as more children came. First there was 10, then 15, then 30. When the numbers reached over 30 we realized without a translator it could get a little dangerous. So we stopped the soccer and just went with singing, dancing, bible stories and of course our famous biscuit. At Christmas time we did gift bags. Thankfully God provided us with a translator, Eric who is now part of our family.

We saw God work miracles. After 30 children, the numbers grew every week as word carried through the hills. In the end we had on a regular basis 200 to 250 children. At Christmas 325.
There were many testimonies of children giving their lives to the Lord. You could hear the children sing the songs they learned every day, every where. You could see a difference in them the more weeks went by. Tuesday became a very special day for them. A time and a place just for them. A place to laugh, dance, sing and share. It was a safe place. Parents, thankful their child had at least one hour a week of "something special".

One of neighbors who is of Muslim faith told us all her children sing the Christian songs. They even changed the day at the mosque since all the children were at Children's Day.

We thank the Lord for all our special memories. When Children's Day came to a close since we moved and thought we were coming back to America on a more long term basis; sadness is all we saw and felt. In our hearts we pray somewhere, someone will begin a special day for these children. If not we know for over two years Tuesday became special for them. A day they will tell their own children someday.

As we live in Kanombe, Children's Day will be one of our first events to begin. We look forward to the day it will begin. It probably will not be on a Tuesday, but we know it will be special, for all the children, for us and more importantly for the Lord.