As I write this new entry I will have stayed in Kigali, Rwanda for ONE MONTH!!!! Wow God is good, He brings me into this new place completely changing my expectations, completely changing my thoughts of what this country is like, and more importantly He is completely changing my heart. For the 4 weeks I've been here, I've seen things that in all honesty I didn't want to see (but God showed me anyway), my stomach still is screaming WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, I now have a desire to one day adopt a child (whoever God leads me to as my wife BETTER AGREE lol), my definition of a hot shower here is lava hot water to the Arctic Circle in 3 second chains, I'm taking a taxi that my mom would have a heart attack if she saw what it was (a motorcycle, and don't panic mom cause you at least know I'm alive), but the most important thing He's showing me here is I'm not walking blindly by FAITH.
These past few weeks have been the hardest times of my life. I mean I leave the place I call my refuge, I leave all my closest friends and my family, I leave my nice and comfy bed and also my air conditioning, and I also leave thinking that my walk with God is okay. But after 4 weeks of being here, He's completely tearing my life to shreds, but in a good way. I'm currently in the process of getting permission to film a documentary about the genocide, but this week has been a living HELL for me because people have been sending me back and forth from one department to the other. I can officially say today that I want to pull a Brittney Spears and go into a barber shop and shave my head completely BALD just so I don't rip the hair out myself because of these departments. But it's been during this week, that God is showing me something that I really haven't confronted, believing HE will provide for me, no matter what the result is.
I'm homesick, my body has been battered and bruised from illnesses and a random allergic reaction, and I'm at times wanting to find the nearest mansion and ask the owner of the house if I may use his bathtub to take a HOT BATH. But the one thing God continues to tell me is ADAM I NEED YOU TO TRUST WHERE I'M TAKING YOU. Yesterday I finally finished reading Genesis and at the latter part of it, I kept on seeing something relevant to these chosen people of God. They were asked by something that they couldn't even see, maybe even going crazy from hearing voices inside their heads telling them to leave their homes and go out to a land that is promised to them. Abraham is told to leave his beautiful house, and starts living in a tent for the rest of his life, following a voice that's telling him that He will make his descendants as numerous as the stars. Now can you imagine this, looking up at the sky tonight and start counting them....do you think you can get to 6,000,000,000 in one week? These men of faith are given crazy instructions by an INVISIBLE GOD, and do you think they argued (yes many times) but they never stopped believing (if only Journey were around during that time to be God's messengers to these people).
But the final thing that I read in Genesis was the story about Joseph and boy did he have stories to tell his grandchildren. Clearly being the favorite child of Jacob, his brothers eventually plot to murder him, but end up selling him as a slave to the Egyptians. Now seeing that he was given blessing after blessing after blessing and after blessing before this, I wonder what must've been going through his heart and mind after this happened. I was completely wrong in thinking he was cursing God, because he never stopped trusting that God was gonna lead him out of this suffering. When he is finally reunited with his family, and confronting the brothers who sold him, he says, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant to do evil against me, but GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly of them"-Genesis 50:19-21
I can't even accept God at times for the pain I've been put through, yet He only does these things because HE wants to correct my ways and to help better my life for His glory. I am clearly on the Highway to Hell, yet He sends His one and only Son to be the sin offering for the entire world. He asks me to "Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understandings, and in all ways ACKNOWLEDGE HIM and HE WILL MAKE MY PATHS STRAIGHT," yet I simply turn my back on Him. Who am I to say that I'm a faithful servant of Him. These people need help, yet my friends say to me "Yeah you will never see me in this place." I'm a blind man walking in darkness, and He comes to me saying "My son, do not forget my teaching. but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of GOD and MAN." Clearly that voice I hear but can't see is telling me something right, and that voice is HIS WORD (The Bible)...... tell me how has your Faith in God been lately?
I pray and I leave you with this, if you do not see yourself walking in God's path right now.......turn around and return running to HIM, because He is waiting on you like a child running to a Father dropping his briefcase to simply EMBRACE YOU. The prayer requests that we ask for here in Rwanda is that the Lord may take away these nervous tensions in our hearts, and let GOD be in full control of the ministry He has placed us in with these children. And pray that the Lord may tear down the walls of my heart, and place a new desire in me to WALK NOT BY THINGS SEEN, but to believe in the UNSEEN. I love you all, and may the Lord bless you and guide you in whatever part of life He has placed you in.
Isaiah 43:18-19,
Adam Turnipseed
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
How and Why?
Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for the delay in this blog entry, these past couple of days have been rough for me. It all started last week when I went to Nymata to visit the church and my entire body that day decided to shut down on me when I got back from it. Ever since that day I've just begun to ask God, why did this horrific thing happen? Why could you allow such things as this to happen, and even to these children for crying out loud. I mean it seemed that the entire world around me turned black and white, and all I could hear was the same question in my head going on over and over again. Then a few days back my body was attacked again by an allergic reaction to the food I had, and I had to go to the hospital. Pretty much this week my mind has been wrapped around questions that involve "How and Why?"
I've been starting this year to read the bible in chronological order and for some reason after getting through 11 chapters in Genesis, I end up starting in Job (to most scholars and theologians the book of Job is actually recorded during the times of Genesis), and it is here that God really began to show me answers. Ever since coming into Rwanda, God has been testing my faith on a daily basis, and for starters the one thing I'm beginning to struggle with is not having the comforts I once had back in America. You see in the beginning, Job had it all ranging from complete wealth, to being admonished and respected by everyone around him. But the most important thing that he had in his life was God. Eventually the devil makes a challenge to God saying that Job is like any other man and will eventually curse Him. Now after reading that part, I was simply amazed in seeing God allow this to happen because Job is put through the worst "hell" imaginable, and at one point I was thinking, "Why could you be doing this to him God?" But through reading more of this I begin to see the picture in what God is showing me...."why do you question me Adam? I created you because I love you and I want the best for you, and yet you still doubt, still rely on other things before me, and above all things you turn your back on me? So Adam I ask you, How do I respond to you? By placing my only son on the cross because I WANT YOU TO BE WITH ME......
Being here so far has shown me how greedy and spoiled I really am. I see people on the street who don't have any arms. Some people who are crippled and can only walk by using their hands as feet. And also the children who live out on the streets get shot at because they are considered thugs by the society here. So who am I to question God for who He is, I mean I look at myself in the mirror and I say to myself, I'm incomplete. I look at the things I have around me, and I say that I need more. For Christ even mentioned to us in Matthew 6: 25-32 about these things. The birds of the fields have plenty of food around them and do you see them complain that they don't have enough food?
Today has been a day for me to reflect upon these things, and the one thing I can tell you is that I am one messed up person. I ask for so much, and yet I don't give back. God gives me His all through His Son, and yet I only give 0.1 percent of myself to Him. But in the end He showed me something that I still cry over. He gave me peace and strength in His words through Isaiah 43: 18-19 saying "Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old. Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." If you are going through these trials and periods in your life when you feel that God is not giving you enough, or you begin to question God in His motives......I ask of you to please do two simple things, "don't question or doubt Him", because in the end......He only does these things to us because He loves us, and wants us to GROW and MATURE IN HIM. If you can stand the lengthy complaints of Job, you see in the end that God showed him something he was lacking, and in the end, Job was blessed ten times more than he was before his suffering.
As I end this, I challenge you to go into a quiet place and begin to evaluate yourself, and through that period begin to see what is bothering you right now. After going through this time, I want you to talk with God and begin to tell Him the TRUTH about what your going through and let Him speak to you? Be patient during this period because the Lord will answer you, more importantly start digging through HIS WORD. The main prayer that I ask from you is for strength in these hard times I'm in, and also that my heart can begin to let go of the worldly comforts and start putting my heart into the things of the spirit. I love you all and if you have any prayer requests, please let me know.
In Christ's Loving Arms,
Adam Turnipseed
I've been starting this year to read the bible in chronological order and for some reason after getting through 11 chapters in Genesis, I end up starting in Job (to most scholars and theologians the book of Job is actually recorded during the times of Genesis), and it is here that God really began to show me answers. Ever since coming into Rwanda, God has been testing my faith on a daily basis, and for starters the one thing I'm beginning to struggle with is not having the comforts I once had back in America. You see in the beginning, Job had it all ranging from complete wealth, to being admonished and respected by everyone around him. But the most important thing that he had in his life was God. Eventually the devil makes a challenge to God saying that Job is like any other man and will eventually curse Him. Now after reading that part, I was simply amazed in seeing God allow this to happen because Job is put through the worst "hell" imaginable, and at one point I was thinking, "Why could you be doing this to him God?" But through reading more of this I begin to see the picture in what God is showing me...."why do you question me Adam? I created you because I love you and I want the best for you, and yet you still doubt, still rely on other things before me, and above all things you turn your back on me? So Adam I ask you, How do I respond to you? By placing my only son on the cross because I WANT YOU TO BE WITH ME......
Being here so far has shown me how greedy and spoiled I really am. I see people on the street who don't have any arms. Some people who are crippled and can only walk by using their hands as feet. And also the children who live out on the streets get shot at because they are considered thugs by the society here. So who am I to question God for who He is, I mean I look at myself in the mirror and I say to myself, I'm incomplete. I look at the things I have around me, and I say that I need more. For Christ even mentioned to us in Matthew 6: 25-32 about these things. The birds of the fields have plenty of food around them and do you see them complain that they don't have enough food?
Today has been a day for me to reflect upon these things, and the one thing I can tell you is that I am one messed up person. I ask for so much, and yet I don't give back. God gives me His all through His Son, and yet I only give 0.1 percent of myself to Him. But in the end He showed me something that I still cry over. He gave me peace and strength in His words through Isaiah 43: 18-19 saying "Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old. Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." If you are going through these trials and periods in your life when you feel that God is not giving you enough, or you begin to question God in His motives......I ask of you to please do two simple things, "don't question or doubt Him", because in the end......He only does these things to us because He loves us, and wants us to GROW and MATURE IN HIM. If you can stand the lengthy complaints of Job, you see in the end that God showed him something he was lacking, and in the end, Job was blessed ten times more than he was before his suffering.
As I end this, I challenge you to go into a quiet place and begin to evaluate yourself, and through that period begin to see what is bothering you right now. After going through this time, I want you to talk with God and begin to tell Him the TRUTH about what your going through and let Him speak to you? Be patient during this period because the Lord will answer you, more importantly start digging through HIS WORD. The main prayer that I ask from you is for strength in these hard times I'm in, and also that my heart can begin to let go of the worldly comforts and start putting my heart into the things of the spirit. I love you all and if you have any prayer requests, please let me know.
In Christ's Loving Arms,
Adam Turnipseed
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Eyes Wide Opened
"If the pictures of tens of thousands of human bodies being gnawed on by dogs do not wake us out of our apathy, I do not know what will."- Kofi Annan
This quote reflects my thoughts on what I've seen and heard these past few days in Rwanda. One of my biggest passions in life is simply learning the history of our world, and one of the most touching subjects I've ever studied about is about genocides. No I'm not a sick person of wanting to learn about the cruel torture methods people were given, and no I'm not into the violent patterns these demonic people were like, but I love studying these things simply because it motivates me to help those who are around me. One of the first gruesome things that I ever saw was back in tenth grade when I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Going through this museum you could see the gruesome pictures of people being shot, butchered, experimented on, and also you could see images of people who looked as if they were skeletons, but that's what they're bodies looked like after years of hard labor and starvation by the NAZIS. I even had the opportunity to actually visit a real concentration camp in it's original form, and going through the shower house/gas chamber, you could still smell where the bodies were killed. I walked away from that place saying to myself, this massacre was a great reminder showing the world to never let this happen again......but boy was I wrong.
Coming into Rwanda, I did know that they're was a very violent period here in the early 90's, and many people lost their lives here. But the one thing I didn't know, was the major piece of the puzzle, this wasn't a massacre, it was a cruel and vicious genocide. Yesterday my friend David had taken me to a small town called Nymata, only 30 minutes away from Kigali. It was here that he showed me a church, a place where I would a call a haven or a home, but it was here that my blinders were opened on how cruel and sinful our world really is. Now during the genocide, the people here couldn't even find a place to sleep, because the Hutu Rebels were acting like machines both day and night hunting down Tutsis like they were animals. In Nymata, there was a catholic church where over 2,000 people stayed as a refuge hiding from the rebels. You'd think that a place of God would be a safe place for these people, but once again....this world is full of sick and twisted individuals. The priest of this church allowed the rebels to butcher these people.....a priest, someone who is highly respected, someone who is a man of God......this man was no spiritual leader, he was just like the rebels. In the bible, God mentions that their are people who praise His name with their lips, but their heart is far away from Him, and this quote was in my mind while going through this church.
Now I want you to imagine yourself going through this church. As your walking to the door, you'll see on the floor grenade shells all over the place, and there is a metal door that has been bent and broken. When the priest told the rebels where they were, they knew the doors were shut tight, so for hours they decided to throw grenades at the church weakening it's structure. When you walk in, you see on the roof holes where the grenades were thrown. Eventually the rebels got inside after shooting at the doors for a while because the people were stacking up against the door trying to block them from entering. Walking inside you see row after row and after row with piles of torn and ratted clothing items......I couldn't even imagine what this place looked like with the dead bodies. After walking up to the alter, you see that the alter is stained all over with blood because that was where they murdered people. They had to pay them money if they wanted to get shot in the head, and if you didn't have the money...then you were given a slow painful death by the machete. You could even see the bullet holes on the walls, where the people were lined up and shot, right next to the communion box. Eventually David takes me to a wall in the back of the church and shows me the faintest look of blood stains on the walls.......but what he told me about those blood stains, made the world around me go dark. They had taken babies ranging from newborns to 2 year-olds and threw them on the walls like they were a rag-doll. Now my stomach can take pictures of seeing dead bodies.....but hearing or even seeing people butcher children, I wanted to throw up.
There is so much more that I saw while I was there, but just telling you these things now I believe can do the justice of showing you of how brutal the genocide in Rwanda really was. If there is one thing I need to tell you all, if you have ever seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda," NEVER and I MEAN NEVER AGAIN SUPPORT OR WATCH IT!!!! The people here in Rwanda do not support that man, because he only wanted money from this whole thing, and he really didn't shelter those people.
The one thing the Lord has laid on my heart, is simply that people here are in so much need. I came into Africa expecting it to be a time where I could do my good deed and show all the pictures of my experiences here, but I didn't expect to see something at this grand of a scale. Jesus mentions to us in the gospel how the Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few, and after being here for two weeks now, I'm beginning to sense in my life that my heart has been focused in so many pointless areas. I mean for example today I got a serious e-mail from my mom telling me that I had a $600.00 bill on my cell phone, and it was my fault for doing this because I wasting my time checking on my e-mails and wasting time harvesting up the crops that the Lord has given us here. Do I feel ashamed for this, your dang right I am, will I pay for this, most likely....but the biggest thing that I need to learn from this is to pick up the cross daily and follow Him.
As I close this thing out, my main prayer request is that God may change the desires of my heart away from my selfish desires, and have a heart that is focused on His Path and not mine. Sam Mugisha, the arch-bishop of the Anglican Church, has offered me a job here permanently to work with the youth. Now He told me to not worry about it, but in some way......a brick has been thrown at me now because I'm really trying to see what the Lord wants for me to do. Pray that the youth we're working with start to become receptive to the gospel and more importantly, that our hearts be bold and loving to these kids. I love you all, and thank you so much for the prayer and being part of this journey.
Isaiah 43:18-19,
Adam Turnipseed
This quote reflects my thoughts on what I've seen and heard these past few days in Rwanda. One of my biggest passions in life is simply learning the history of our world, and one of the most touching subjects I've ever studied about is about genocides. No I'm not a sick person of wanting to learn about the cruel torture methods people were given, and no I'm not into the violent patterns these demonic people were like, but I love studying these things simply because it motivates me to help those who are around me. One of the first gruesome things that I ever saw was back in tenth grade when I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Going through this museum you could see the gruesome pictures of people being shot, butchered, experimented on, and also you could see images of people who looked as if they were skeletons, but that's what they're bodies looked like after years of hard labor and starvation by the NAZIS. I even had the opportunity to actually visit a real concentration camp in it's original form, and going through the shower house/gas chamber, you could still smell where the bodies were killed. I walked away from that place saying to myself, this massacre was a great reminder showing the world to never let this happen again......but boy was I wrong.
Coming into Rwanda, I did know that they're was a very violent period here in the early 90's, and many people lost their lives here. But the one thing I didn't know, was the major piece of the puzzle, this wasn't a massacre, it was a cruel and vicious genocide. Yesterday my friend David had taken me to a small town called Nymata, only 30 minutes away from Kigali. It was here that he showed me a church, a place where I would a call a haven or a home, but it was here that my blinders were opened on how cruel and sinful our world really is. Now during the genocide, the people here couldn't even find a place to sleep, because the Hutu Rebels were acting like machines both day and night hunting down Tutsis like they were animals. In Nymata, there was a catholic church where over 2,000 people stayed as a refuge hiding from the rebels. You'd think that a place of God would be a safe place for these people, but once again....this world is full of sick and twisted individuals. The priest of this church allowed the rebels to butcher these people.....a priest, someone who is highly respected, someone who is a man of God......this man was no spiritual leader, he was just like the rebels. In the bible, God mentions that their are people who praise His name with their lips, but their heart is far away from Him, and this quote was in my mind while going through this church.
Now I want you to imagine yourself going through this church. As your walking to the door, you'll see on the floor grenade shells all over the place, and there is a metal door that has been bent and broken. When the priest told the rebels where they were, they knew the doors were shut tight, so for hours they decided to throw grenades at the church weakening it's structure. When you walk in, you see on the roof holes where the grenades were thrown. Eventually the rebels got inside after shooting at the doors for a while because the people were stacking up against the door trying to block them from entering. Walking inside you see row after row and after row with piles of torn and ratted clothing items......I couldn't even imagine what this place looked like with the dead bodies. After walking up to the alter, you see that the alter is stained all over with blood because that was where they murdered people. They had to pay them money if they wanted to get shot in the head, and if you didn't have the money...then you were given a slow painful death by the machete. You could even see the bullet holes on the walls, where the people were lined up and shot, right next to the communion box. Eventually David takes me to a wall in the back of the church and shows me the faintest look of blood stains on the walls.......but what he told me about those blood stains, made the world around me go dark. They had taken babies ranging from newborns to 2 year-olds and threw them on the walls like they were a rag-doll. Now my stomach can take pictures of seeing dead bodies.....but hearing or even seeing people butcher children, I wanted to throw up.
There is so much more that I saw while I was there, but just telling you these things now I believe can do the justice of showing you of how brutal the genocide in Rwanda really was. If there is one thing I need to tell you all, if you have ever seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda," NEVER and I MEAN NEVER AGAIN SUPPORT OR WATCH IT!!!! The people here in Rwanda do not support that man, because he only wanted money from this whole thing, and he really didn't shelter those people.
The one thing the Lord has laid on my heart, is simply that people here are in so much need. I came into Africa expecting it to be a time where I could do my good deed and show all the pictures of my experiences here, but I didn't expect to see something at this grand of a scale. Jesus mentions to us in the gospel how the Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few, and after being here for two weeks now, I'm beginning to sense in my life that my heart has been focused in so many pointless areas. I mean for example today I got a serious e-mail from my mom telling me that I had a $600.00 bill on my cell phone, and it was my fault for doing this because I wasting my time checking on my e-mails and wasting time harvesting up the crops that the Lord has given us here. Do I feel ashamed for this, your dang right I am, will I pay for this, most likely....but the biggest thing that I need to learn from this is to pick up the cross daily and follow Him.
As I close this thing out, my main prayer request is that God may change the desires of my heart away from my selfish desires, and have a heart that is focused on His Path and not mine. Sam Mugisha, the arch-bishop of the Anglican Church, has offered me a job here permanently to work with the youth. Now He told me to not worry about it, but in some way......a brick has been thrown at me now because I'm really trying to see what the Lord wants for me to do. Pray that the youth we're working with start to become receptive to the gospel and more importantly, that our hearts be bold and loving to these kids. I love you all, and thank you so much for the prayer and being part of this journey.
Isaiah 43:18-19,
Adam Turnipseed
Monday, April 4, 2011
The First Week: The Climb up the Mountain of Faith
Wow....it's already the start of a new week and I've learned so much here in Kigali, Rwanda. It's been a while since my last post because of some crazy situations. I had to buy a wireless modem for my laptop (which was relatively cheap) but after two days of trying it.....my anger would've been able to burn the house down because it wouldn't work. Eventually God provided a way for me to connect so I can officially say I'm linked-in at the house. But enough about my arguing.....God is Good so why does it matter.
My first week has been truly impacting because of the culture shock. I see children on the streets begging for money, the people here are driving around on motor bikes with dead chickens on there cart, and the one thing that I can't seem to understand.....the people here are very happy. I mean this place has a dark past (I'll get into that in the next blog, so be prepared for some graphic details), but everywhere I walk in Kigali, the people welcome you with open arms. I'm working at the Anglican Church's Day Care center in the mornings, and only after one day working.....I almost cried because all of the kids ran up to me hugging me and wanting me to hug them. The Arch-Bishops daughter inyett has taken my heart, every time she sees me, she screams A-D-A-MAH, and races to my arms with the cutest laugh and smile I have ever heard and seen. I understand now what Jesus meant when He said that we should have faith like a child, because just seeing inyett's face light up shows me how faithful she is to Christ and not even knowing Him fully yet.
God has shown me so much, and it's only been a week for me here. But I can begin to see why God has put me here......I was once in a country where blessings seemed to be everywhere, but all of a sudden I was beginning to worship the blessing more than the Creator who gave me that blessing. These past two years of my life have been dark, and it goes all the way back to the summer of 2009. My walk with the Lord took a big nosedive because all of a sudden, God took something away from me that I once cherished. It felt like the entire world went numb to me, and I started crying to God saying why did you do this to me.......I know I was messing up, but I was going to change for You. Then all of a sudden, He spoke to me saying, I have been answering all of your Prayers Adam......but now I need you to mature in your faith and Believe that I WILL HELP YOU. It took until April 3rd, 2011 for me to understand what He said to me that summer. My first church service in Rwanda was incredible.....it wasn't like an American Anglican Service because the worship was like southern gospel music, and the service was more free spirited than I could imagine, but it was the sermon that had woken me up. The sermon was describing the passage from Mark 6:45-52, and it was talking about the night that Jesus had walked on water. Now I want you to imagine yourself as a disciple in the boat, Jesus has told you that He needs to pray so He wants you to go ahead and go to the other side of the lake on the boat......If I was a disciple, I would think He is completely crazy because it would take Him probably the a day and half to get there. Jesus needed time to pray to His father, but it was through this time, that the Lord was shown how immature there faith really was. While the disciples were crossing the sea, a huge storm had started, and all through the night the disciples were rowing in pain because of the rough sea and winds to go along with it.....they were beginning to lose hope. By 4 A.M. they had seen a ghost out on the water.....and after crying this out, Jesus looks at them and says...."Take Heart, It is I, do not be afraid."
Now what you do learn is that Jesus "MEANT TO PASS BY THEM" and the point you see from this, is that God (Jesus) was trying to teach the disciples to be mature in their faith, even when hell itself is thrown on them. Sometimes in life, I know we feel that God isn't listening to us.....we feel cold, we feel like we're in total darkness, or worst of all we feel like God doesn't love us anymore. This is something that Satan has been using on me for two years now.....but after the service, God showed me that in order to be full to to the point of overflowing, I must mature you in your faith, which may mean you may not feel Him for a short or long time, but in the end, He will answer you in the most biggest way.
I have a blessed purpose now here in Kigali, and that is an opportunity to evangelize to the children in the Muslim community. David Mugisha, brother to Sam, and I are helping out with a local soccer team, which also means all the kids are pretty much Muslim. Our prayer request we ask is that God may guide us slowly with them, and that the Lord may show Himself to them by the love we give them. I love these kids so much, and the Lord has already established a connection with me to some of them. Pray that the harvest may be harvested, and if it's only one child, then it is still a victory. I love all of you, and thank you so much for being in my life. If you need prayer over anything just let me know.
John 16:33,
Adam Turnipseed
My first week has been truly impacting because of the culture shock. I see children on the streets begging for money, the people here are driving around on motor bikes with dead chickens on there cart, and the one thing that I can't seem to understand.....the people here are very happy. I mean this place has a dark past (I'll get into that in the next blog, so be prepared for some graphic details), but everywhere I walk in Kigali, the people welcome you with open arms. I'm working at the Anglican Church's Day Care center in the mornings, and only after one day working.....I almost cried because all of the kids ran up to me hugging me and wanting me to hug them. The Arch-Bishops daughter inyett has taken my heart, every time she sees me, she screams A-D-A-MAH, and races to my arms with the cutest laugh and smile I have ever heard and seen. I understand now what Jesus meant when He said that we should have faith like a child, because just seeing inyett's face light up shows me how faithful she is to Christ and not even knowing Him fully yet.
God has shown me so much, and it's only been a week for me here. But I can begin to see why God has put me here......I was once in a country where blessings seemed to be everywhere, but all of a sudden I was beginning to worship the blessing more than the Creator who gave me that blessing. These past two years of my life have been dark, and it goes all the way back to the summer of 2009. My walk with the Lord took a big nosedive because all of a sudden, God took something away from me that I once cherished. It felt like the entire world went numb to me, and I started crying to God saying why did you do this to me.......I know I was messing up, but I was going to change for You. Then all of a sudden, He spoke to me saying, I have been answering all of your Prayers Adam......but now I need you to mature in your faith and Believe that I WILL HELP YOU. It took until April 3rd, 2011 for me to understand what He said to me that summer. My first church service in Rwanda was incredible.....it wasn't like an American Anglican Service because the worship was like southern gospel music, and the service was more free spirited than I could imagine, but it was the sermon that had woken me up. The sermon was describing the passage from Mark 6:45-52, and it was talking about the night that Jesus had walked on water. Now I want you to imagine yourself as a disciple in the boat, Jesus has told you that He needs to pray so He wants you to go ahead and go to the other side of the lake on the boat......If I was a disciple, I would think He is completely crazy because it would take Him probably the a day and half to get there. Jesus needed time to pray to His father, but it was through this time, that the Lord was shown how immature there faith really was. While the disciples were crossing the sea, a huge storm had started, and all through the night the disciples were rowing in pain because of the rough sea and winds to go along with it.....they were beginning to lose hope. By 4 A.M. they had seen a ghost out on the water.....and after crying this out, Jesus looks at them and says...."Take Heart, It is I, do not be afraid."
Now what you do learn is that Jesus "MEANT TO PASS BY THEM" and the point you see from this, is that God (Jesus) was trying to teach the disciples to be mature in their faith, even when hell itself is thrown on them. Sometimes in life, I know we feel that God isn't listening to us.....we feel cold, we feel like we're in total darkness, or worst of all we feel like God doesn't love us anymore. This is something that Satan has been using on me for two years now.....but after the service, God showed me that in order to be full to to the point of overflowing, I must mature you in your faith, which may mean you may not feel Him for a short or long time, but in the end, He will answer you in the most biggest way.
I have a blessed purpose now here in Kigali, and that is an opportunity to evangelize to the children in the Muslim community. David Mugisha, brother to Sam, and I are helping out with a local soccer team, which also means all the kids are pretty much Muslim. Our prayer request we ask is that God may guide us slowly with them, and that the Lord may show Himself to them by the love we give them. I love these kids so much, and the Lord has already established a connection with me to some of them. Pray that the harvest may be harvested, and if it's only one child, then it is still a victory. I love all of you, and thank you so much for being in my life. If you need prayer over anything just let me know.
John 16:33,
Adam Turnipseed
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