There are a few annoying things as always that are still going on I am struggling with right now, but also a few good blessings in the midst of it. This is the good life. The issues I am having right now is that my water heater in my flat broke last Sunday. I told a guard about it, then a day or two later I told another guard. Still nothing being done. So I went and told the owner last Thursday. He said 'oh yeah I heard about that. Ill go get a new one and it will be taken care of no later than this afternoon'. It wasn't taken care of that afternoon. I gave him my number unless he would need to call me for anything. No call. It is now Wednesday the week after, and I have gone by his office everyday since, and strange enough, he is never ever there. Well, no water heater means no hot water. That means no shower. I don't shower in the cold, there's no way. And this cold water is not just cold. It's frigid, completely unshowerable. So I guess I'll just keep going by his office, and maybe I'll actually catch him in it sometime. Until that happens, if that happens, as often as I can, I'll be going by the new site in Nyarutarama to have showers in the washroom block there. At least it's something. I had a shower there last Tuesday night. I tried again on Saturday, but all the water was screaming hot, so I could only really splash it on myself from a distance. I don't think I've gone this long without a proper shower since I was like 14. But by the grace of God I am fairly sure I am not really smelling at all yet, helped in part that I have been avoiding an physical exertion due to the fact that a shower afterwards is unlikely. Don't want to make a bad problem worse.
In lighter news, perhaps some of you remember me discussing the problem of my having lost my plane ticket in my first week in Rwanda. Well I have been going into the Ethiopian Airlines office everyday and working through this procedure, which turned out to be much less of a procedure than I thought it would be, at least, on my part. The people there had to get a copy from my travel agent in Canada of my original ticket. Once they got that, they emailed the Ethiopian Airlines head office, the ticket got black listed, yada yada yada, many other things that they do, all of which I really don't know. In short, I picked up my ticket yesterday, and it didn't cost me a thing. I heard rumors the lost ticket would be like $150 US to get it back. Thank the Lord I didn't have to bear that burden. That would've been terrible. No cost at all, and the people at the office were awesome about it. So I am set for my departure on Wed. April 25, coming in to YVR on Thurs. April 26 at roughly about 8pm. I get to go through Paris on the way too,... joy! I am not a big fan of France actually (some of you might know that). There's a lot of reason why I am not a fan of France because of the connection with the 94 genocide here in Rwanda. Ill explain it to anyone who wants to know about that when I get home. But anyways, I have my ticket again!
Wallet Theft Attempt Number 2: The constrast of experience. So many of you may remember when something happened over here in Rwanda to me and everyone started saying I had been beaten up and mugged or something. Now I did have my wallet stolen, but that was the extent of it. I had only been here about a month, and I didn't know much. Some street punks thought they saw a naive, rich mzungu, and they went for my wallet. They guessed well and made off with my wallet. Well anyways, that was a long time ago, and I have learnt a bit since then. Just on Monday I was walking along the street with my messenger bag over my shoulder near the Ethiopian Airlines office, and just after I crossed the street, this guy about my age crossed right in front of me, mumbling something in Kinyarwanda. He stopped and stood right at my right and then this guy at my left grabbed my left arm, bent over and started shaking. For a second I had a slight flashback; this was essencially just like what happened way back in June when I got robbed. I immediantely ripped my left arm away from the guy to my left shouting Heyheyheyhey, saying basically I wasn't accepting this. Then the guy to my right who was trying to sneak his hand into my bag stepped back about a foot and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I pointed my finger at his face and told him to get away from me. I am sure he didn't understand what I actually said, but he got the point and took off pretty quick. So it is nice that I can say for sure that I have at least learnt something in my time here in Rwanda. The guy clearly spotted me as being some tourist who just got into Rwanda and knew nothing. He was sadly mistaken, and maybe he will learn not to judge people as stupid and naive because of the color of their skin quite so easily.
Well I am really seeing things move forward towards moving into the new Church in Nyarutarama so well, it really seems crazy that I will not be part of all that everyone is talking about happening in the next couple months. For the grand opening of the new church, they have even invited the president, Mr. Paul Kagame to come. That is not saying he will come, but that would be awesome if he did. But at least there should be a few very important government people showing up I imagine. A new time of mzungus just came into the YWAM base here the other day as well; they were all at our church on Sunday. It just feels odd that now as so much is happening, it's about time for me to wrap up and head home. But that is the way it is. And I do certainly hope that if God is willing I will be returning to Rwanda one day, and I'll get to see this Church in their new building in all the glory that will come with it. No more dirty tent. The building is really beautiful. Want to see? Go look at the pictures. You will get an idea of what I mean.
This is not to say I am not excited about coming home though. I am going to miss it here in Rwanda, and I will miss the people I've gotten to know, and all these awesome kids. Maybe I'll just steal a couple of the kids and bring them home with me. My hockey bag is certainly big enough to bring at least 3-4 of them. Customs might be more difficult though... Anyways, this is not to say I'm not excited about coming home. It is going to be so awesome to get to see everyone again. I am really looking forward to it. Canada is my home, Vancouver is my neighborhood. And it is about time for me to come home.
Anyways, this is enough for now. I will have another journal up soon. The week of mourning in memory of the 94 genocide is coming very soon. Remember, April 7th is the day the 100 days of slaughter started here in Rwanda. But I will talk about that a bit in my next journal. This is all for now. Thank you for reading, God bless you massively in all that you do, and I'll see you all soon! Oh, also I plan to send out another newsletter fairly soon. Probably only one more from here in Rwanda, and then maybe one more when I get home. That's all, bye for now!
