Second Home (Day 7)

This post was written by Megan Harvey

Sunday, May 19, 2013

It’s Sunday morning, and I have to be honest a little part of me wants to be in Greensboro picking up my Starbucks and meeting my high school friends in the Bur-mil parking lot. I would love to see faces of friends who have become family, jump in to help out where I see a need and know there are delicious treats waiting for us at hospitality. But, as you know, we are thousands of miles from this being possible, or so I thought.

We arrived at Karangazi Parish around 9:30 a.m. when the service was supposed to start at 9:00 a.m. (sound familiar?). We rode up in our 20-passenger van making us the only people who didn’t walk to church. As we walked in I was still feeling a little sad to be missing my Redeemer family. I sat down crowded by kids, a baby was quickly placed in my arms and I started receiving smiles and hugs from the most familiar faces in all of Africa. See, something I had forgotten this morning when I was moping around missing America, was that we have family here. We have brothers and sisters with wild kids running around. We have brothers and sisters bringing their friends, cooking hospitality food, and loving each other and us well because of our one common factor: the word of the Lord.

Along with the Rwandan version of worship, dancing, prayer and even announcements, we got to hear a message from Tripp. It was wonderful to hear him share with our Rwandan family the similar struggles of hurting hearts, sickness, doubt, broken relationships and drug abuse. We also get to share in their common joys: healing friendships, protection and care, the truth of God’s goodness and the uniting of family.

After the service we were ushered into a small room to fellowship and enjoy lunch with the leaders in the church. I am constantly blown away here by the way we can hardly communicate with the people using words, but laughter and smiles tell a story of their own.  So, although being home can never be replaced, a second home is always welcome and I have found mine here.