monthly focus ~ women respond to truth in Rwanda

My stomach clenched as I heard the young black woman with baby on her back begin this story, because I had no idea where the Holy Spirit had taken her on her Faith journey that previous night—and as the messenger, I would be partly responsible for her actions.  I shot up a quick prayer “Lord, let what I said be Truth!”

And she continued:  “Because you said we should read the Bible each day, I was sitting by my door reading, when my neighbor came screaming into my home.  I stood up (she clutched the Bible to herself as she shared) and turned around and saw her husband running towards us with a drawn machete.    He yelled at me to stand aside. He was going to kill her. And last week—I would have let him.  But because you said we must stand on what God says, I told him that he could not do this thing.  He said, ‘Then I will kill you, too!’ I said, ‘That it might be, but that God does not want you to do this thing.  He wants you to be peace makers, and to communicate-- to work these things out, and to forgive one another.’ ”  And somehow, she was able to get them to sit down, to work things out, and to go home together! After saying this, she meekly said, “That is all I wanted to say.”  and sat down among a stunned group of women.

As a young Pastor’s wife years ago, I had once asked God to “Please send us to a place where people really want to know what we have to tell them.”   I had no idea what that would mean, but this year I believe that I had that prayer answered.

My husband, Doug Boisvert, and I are a part of EBM’s Tri-M (Mobile Modular Ministry) Missions team. My duties at home allow me to travel with Doug once a year, and this year’s teaching trip was in two different venues of one week each, in Rwanda, East Africa.  We had the privilege of having Pastor Richard and Richelle Howard of Village Baptist Church Aurora, IL, as teaching partners.  I will be speaking here of only the women’s modules, as that was where I took part.  Richelle and I each taught a course; I taught on Titus 2:3-5, and she taught Women Counseling Women.

What we experienced there, brought to life for me the happenings in Nehemiah 8:11-12.  It was the nearest thing to a revival that I have ever witnessed, and it happened two weeks in a row. 

Nehemiah 8:1 “All the people gathered as one…and asked Ezra…to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel.”

Tri-M brings Bible Institute level courses to those in restricted or unsettled areas at the request of the local church leaders, to train those who are already called and already serving as Pastors or Church leaders.  In this case, we came at the invitation of a cluster of evangelical pastors who told us that following the Hutu/Tutsi genocide in 1994, they could count 5 trained men remaining in the entire country to serve as Pastors. (Rwanda is a bit smaller than Maryland.)

Nehemiah 8:3 “And he (Ezra) read…early morning until mid-day…and all of the people were attentive to the book of the law.”

The ladies we taught (32 women in the first venue—with 15 babies under 2 years old, and 48 plus babies in the second) came and listened to teaching and asked questions from 9 AM until 3-3:30 PM every day for one week.  Not in plush auditoriums, but in very basic settings.  The first week was a painted cement block room, complete with a vase of tropical flowers, and the second was a mud brick structure with packed dirt floors that had to be watered each day to keep the dust down.  In this place, the women sat uncomplainingly on rough wooden benches— not even wanting to take a noon break, as they had traveled so far to hear this teaching.

Nehemiah 8:7 “…and the Levites explained to the people while the people remained in their place."

Richelle and I took turns teaching, averaging 2 ½ hour each per day, from notes that we prepared in manuscript form.  These notes were given to each of the ladies so that they might have something to take home for future use in their own ministries as the Lord leads. Resources are very precious.  Women at Village Baptist church had collected enough money to buy Bibles for each of the women in their own language (Kinyarwanda for Rwandan women, and Kiswahili for Congolese women who also came.).  One woman in her 40’s, who had sat serenely in the front row all week, came to me on the last day and said, “I had prayed that God would one day allow me to read His Word in my own language.  You have made that possible.  This is the first book I have ever owned.”

Nehemiah 8:8 "And they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading."

In Tri-M modules, we always use a translator-- often the same people who translate the notes for us.  This is to make certain that we not only communicate God’s word accurately, but with nuances that would be understood by the local people.  Hope was our 24 year old translator. She was 9 years old at the time of the genocide and because of strange circumstances, walked with a group of children the distance of a several hour car ride into a neighboring country to escape. When I expressed sorrow over all that she endured, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “We survived. It made us strong.”

Her husband Emmanuel translated for the men.  Her nursing daughter also attended our modules, so Hope occasionally was required to sit while translating.  That didn’t seem to bother little Esther a bit!  Please pray for the translators we use during modules.  My mind felt a bit like jello at the end of each day, and yet Hope essentially taught 2 modules without a break.  Stamina, wisdom, understanding of the concepts from God’s Word, and accuracy while thinking quickly are all required of a translator!

Nehemiah 8:9-12   “ ‘This day is holy to the LORD you God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people were weeping when they heard the Words of the law…and all the people celebrate(d)…because they understood the Words that had been made known to them.”

By the end of each week, many of the women stood to share what God had done in their lives through His Word.  This was done in a spirit of thankfulness for our part in teaching, and then with much singing and worship of our awesome God who had worked in their lives. In the first module, fully a quarter of the women confessed that they had realized that they were bitter and needed to forgive certain people—and had actually gone to them where possible, to make it right. This was not only ‘She hurt my feelings.’  This was in the context of the genocide, and we had many widows in the class.

Other women talked about their repentance over sin against husbands and children.

One woman said, “I woke up this morning crying in my bed.  I realized that I sinned against my children.  So I got up and asked for their forgiveness.” Her children were amazed and replied like only a child would, “Who are these people and what are they teaching you??? Whatever it is—keep it up! We think it’s great!” 

Another woman, after learning about godly love from I Corinthians 13:4-7 said with tears in her eyes, and holding out her open Bible, said, “I was treating my family like they were not even my family!  But we did not know…we just did not know…”

What a privilege to teach the truth and watch God “give beauty for ashes” (Isa.61:3)!

Then there was the woman who sat in the back, unsmiling, all week. On the last day, she stood to say this:   “My husband died in 1994.  After this I just withdrew from others.  But your class made me remember how much my husband loved me, and what it was like to be married.  You said that older women are to teach the younger women, and I have been avoiding them because it hurt so much to see them happy.  Now I realize that I have something to offer these younger women.  Now I am going home, and will begin to make friendships with them, to see if I can help them in their marriages.” 

Through this testimony tears ran down our translator’s cheeks.  She knew this woman, and her story:  One Sunday morning in 1994, this woman’s husband was preaching in a morning service.  Men came outside the church and created a disturbance, calling to the pastor.  He went outside to calm these men, and they slit his throat—and his wife began to withdraw from life. 

Psalm 107:20 says, “He sent His Word, and healed them”.

We watched it happen.  To God be the Glory.