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