Invitation campaign

Yes, it has been awhile since I last posted. A lot of things have been happening, not the least of which is that I got the flu twice, in October and November. (This makes 7 times in less than 2 years.) Fortunately, since I don't have much secular work—just a half-hour every week—there is plenty of time for preaching. Which means that getting sick, though not any fun, doesn't adversely affect my field service time too much.

But, there is a bit of exciting news: Our first Chinese meeting is scheduled for January 3, 2016! This will be a video public talk, with no Watchtower Study. We have access to a library of public talks from Taiwan, and so we will have a talk on the first Sunday of every month. It will be held in the back room at the same time as the English public talk. The theme will be "Why a Loving God Would Permit Wickedness."

In preparation for this inaugural meeting, we have created a special invitation that will be distributed to all the Chinese people in Kigali during the month of December. It has a photo of an actual meeting, with Chinese words imprinted on top, and a map on the back side, all with a glossy finish. Quite expensive these were, about $27 for 100 invitations, but if I were a Chinese person (come to think of it, I am), I would be very impressed.

What do you think of it?

Blaise and the fancy invitation he designed

Recently I got a new laptop, sent to me as a gift by a good friend in the States. It is a Dell Inspiron, this year's edition, 1 TB hard drive, 12 GB RAM. Oh, also I got two Bluetooth speakers. So I really have the latest! I have spent a couple of days trying to transfer all my files from the old laptop to the new one. (My former neighbor, Bernard, who was reassigned from Bethel to pioneering and now lives about an hour and a half away from here, got my old laptop.) On Monday, which is a study day, right outside my window one of the neighbors was doing laundry, with loud talking and a radio tuned to a rock station. I thought, why don't I try testing my new Bluetooth speakers, and at the same time give these locals a taste of Western classical music. After hearing Brahms Symphony #1 blasting out my window, what do you know but within a minute or so they turned their radio off! Ha!

Akagera National Park

What has happened recently? Well, about two weeks ago a Burundian brother named Papi stayed in my house for a week. He works in the Kitchen of the Burundi Bethel and was taking a holiday here in Rwanda. He has been accepted to the SKE in Burundi in December, which in view of all the recent changes at Bethel means he may stay at Bethel, or may be assigned to the field, who knows (anymore).

Anyway, it was enjoyable having a visitor, and I got to use my French almost exclusively with him, even though he could speak some English.

Claude, Jean-Pierre, and Papi

Then, this past Saturday, in one of the few times I have actually gotten out of Kigali for purely recreational purposes, a group of seven of us took a day trip to Akagera National Park. This large park is in the Eastern Province of the country, on the border with Tanzania (see shaded area on map).

I went on this trip even having the flu—and still have, at this writing—because let's face it, when else would I be able to have such an experience? OK, it was a challenge due to the way I was feeling, and unfortunately, we did not see even one of the seven lions in the park (which would be a miracle in a 1200 km² area) but we did see plenty of antelope, zebras, hippos, giraffes, etc.

We set out at 6:30am in our Land Cruiser and within two hours came to an important junction.

Innocent, Aurore, me, Emile, Epimaque, Taichi, and Serge

By the way, the brother in the above picture named Taichi is from Japan. In 2009, he attended the International Convention in Nairobi, Kenya, and after corresponding with a Kenyan brother he met there, he decided to move to Kenya and learn Swahili. So he has been in the city of Mombasa for the past two years. This trip to Rwanda was basically for the purpose of leaving the country to renew his tourist visa, but after spending a few weeks in Rwanda, he plans to stay a month in either Uganda or Tanzania, then fly to Japan and do some secular work.

Taichi said he loves Africa and wants to stay because as he put it, "the preaching is better here." It would be hard to disagree with that.

So we took the right fork at the junction. After arriving at Akagera, we acquired a guide who got in our vehicle and accompanied us for the next six hours or so as we traversed the length of the park. She was very helpful in explaining what we were seeing.

On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant where most of the group (except me) ordered brochettes. That's where we spotted this bird approaching our table. The video shows Taichi chasing it, all in the effort to get a photo. (My research revealed it is called "crested crane.")

Too much excitement for one day! Until next time...

Observations on a slow day

It’s Wednesday, and it’s a free day. Even the evening meeting is canceled, because this Saturday we are having our circuit assembly.

My neighbor, Bernard, the full-time commuter Bethelite, is preparing to move tomorrow. Bethel actually asked him to move to a house that is in the same compound as two members of the branch committee, in case of emergency, so I’m told. So Bernard and Claudine have all their furniture piled here in the courtyard, which is quite a bit considering that their place is smaller than mine. Anyway, my landlord Bosco is trying to get some Witnesses to replace Bernard and Claudine, realizing that a foreigner such as I am could always use someone close by.

By the way, Bernard told me that an announcement was made recently at Bethel, to the following effect:

In the near future there will be:

• no more housekeepers
• no more laundry
• a 25% reduction in personnel
• a reduction of special pioneers

These changes will apply worldwide.

This means that Claudine, Bernard’s wife, will lose her part-time job at Bethel as a housekeeper. Even Bernard’s job as a translator is at risk, because Bethel can either reduce the size of the translation teams, or just put projects on a delayed schedule. So Bernard is bracing himself for the possibility of leaving Bethel and returning to the working world. And he will probably have to change residence again. He seems to be taking it all in stride.

This is probably one of the most dramatic changes at Bethel that has occurred. What is its significance, you may ask?

As I am pondering this question, a more mundane thought occurs to me. I realize it is lunchtime, so I saunter over to this stuffy, hole-in-the-wall place that has cheap lunches (700Rwf = $0.93). I usually go to buffets, which, though they are more expensive, give you salad, fruit, and higher quality soup and meat. But today, I’m trying to economize, so the hole-in-the-wall place it is.

There is no printed menu, just an unwritten list of eight things (plus sauce, plus soup), any combination of which you can order.

Of course I’m the only umuzungu in the place, so I get plenty of stares. You get used to that, after awhile. But, hey, I can now order completely in Kinyarwanda! The girls there smile at me when I say:

“Ndashaka (I want) umuceli (rice), ibishyimbo (beans), igitoki (mashed cooked banana), imboga (vegetable), nta inyama (no meat = 300Rwf savings), ikivuguto (fermented milk = extra 300Rwf, but worth it).”

The only other things available on the menu are cassava, which is dry and starchy (no thanks), and chips, or French fries (also, no thanks). Sometimes they have noodles.

And they give you vegetable soup also! Not a bad deal.

After lunch, I take a little walk. It is interesting to watch people, especially what they are wearing. You see these T-shirts, for example, dedicated to the Marching Band of Round Rock, Texas, U.S.A., with a complete listing of each member of the band and the instrument that he or she plays. Hilarious to see this in Rwanda! Or shirts with Chinese characters on them. No doubt the wearers don’t have the foggiest idea of what the shirts are saying. They just think it’s cool to have a Chinese shirt.

So, I’m looking forward to the assembly this weekend. I’ve got a comment during the Watchtower Study, and am being interviewed for this part about preaching to foreigners (which I have done, many times).

Two of my Bible students, Peter and Shayan, have promised to come. By the way, remember how Shayan looked when I first met him? This is how he looks now:

When he walked into the Kingdom Hall with his hair cut and wearing a shirt and tie, everyone was shocked. Then he got a tailored suit (see above). Progress is being made!

OK? That’s the latest from your Rwandan correspondent. Signing out.

Landowner?

Latest news: my Chinese Bible student, Mr. Wang, is going back to China next week. :( His work here was temporary and so now he returns home. We will have completed six full chapters in the Bible Teach book by then. We do an entire chapter every Sunday afternoon for two hours. I have never seen anyone so spiritually hungry. He comes prepared and eagerly looks up every scripture. He buys me lunch at the restaurant when we meet for the study, which I think shows his appreciation.

He is almost on par with my other Chinese student, Mr. Liu, who completed five chapters in the Bible Teach book but then went to China, never to return. Mr. Liu, as I mentioned in a previous post, read half the Bible in only two months.

I told Mr. Wang what he is to expect about our work in China, so he is mentally prepared. He is the sort of person who I think could conceivably progress to baptism, as long as (and this is what I told him) he doesn't get distracted, especially by his work.

Well, I wish these students didn't have to go, but Jehovah will see to it that they get what they need spiritually. And we will find others here in Rwanda.

On another subject: a few months ago—if you can believe this—my neighbor Bernard convinced me to buy some land here in Rwanda! There is this area about an hour from here where the city of Kigali ends and the Eastern Province starts, on the way to a place called Rwamagana. A road separates the city from the province. The terrain looks like most of Rwanda--hilly and green. There are houses on both sides of the main road, but for some reason the properties on the Kigali side are three to four times the price of those on the other side. So Bernard, who already owns a plot of land on the Eastern Province side, told me that vacant land is a good investment—mainly because the authorities are planning to build another road perpendicular to the main road and the area will eventually be developed. So the value of properties can double in a year!

So the piece of land I bought is 40 meters by 23 meters, at a price of about $1 a square meter. Here it is only about two months later, and there is a brother who wants to buy my land at about 25% more than what I paid! Actually, I want to wait awhile before selling—at least a year, or I urgently need the money.

Never thought I would own land, especially in Africa!

Here are some photos of it:

Trip to Kibungo and beyond

This past week, I accompanied Philbert Munyankindi, who works at Bethel in the Kingdom Hall Construction Office, on his trip to some place with a long name (as are most), where he was to conduct a pre-construction meeting with the servant bodies of two congregations regarding remodeling of their 17-year-old Kingdom Hall. This village is located in the Eastern Province, close to the border of Tanzania.

I had actually asked Philbert, who does these kinds of trips frequently throughout the country, if I could go with him because I knew he would be passing through a town called Kibungo. The significance of this is, I had heard that my former Bible student, Liu Xin En, who went to China over a year ago and never came back to Kigali, was living in Kibungo. So this was my opportunity to perhaps locate him again.

This would be a three-hour trip each way from Kigali, plus all of Philbert's stops at various places such as ongoing Kingdom Hall construction sites, vacant plots for possible purchase and building, etc. Anyway, eventually on the way back we did make it to Kibungo in the afternoon. It turns out that there is a hospital operated by Chinese there—of all places—which is somehow related to the hospital in Masaka, the one I visited over a year ago that is close to Kigali. We were told at reception that the Chinese all left at 11:00 a.m. and returned home to their compound (bankers' hours?), and that the only Chinese person left was a lady doctor. So we went to see her, had a nice discussion, and left some magazines and a brochure. She said that there are 10 Chinese doctors at that hospital. She had never heard of my Bible student, Mr. Liu.

So we went into the main part of town and asked around. We ran into two other Chinese doctors in a store. Aside from the 10 Chinese at the hospital, apparently there are no other Chinese people living or working in Kibungo. So even though I was a bit disappointed, Jehovah knows that we tried. We did manage to leave some literature with these doctors, and who knows what the result may be.

It was nice to see the countryside once again, even though it meant my getting constantly stared at by villagers. Even the dirt roads in Rwanda are not bad, at least compared to other places in Africa I've been; it's just that this is late August, the end of three months of dry season, and the air is choked with red dust. So every time we encountered a vehicle going in the other direction, we had to close our windows to keep the resulting massive dust cloud out. We couldn't complain too much, though, because our truck was creating massive dust clouds behind us. The dust is on everything: roads, vehicles, clothes, people. Even the leaves of the matoke trees! (the "cooking" banana). So we are anxiously awaiting the rain—any rain—to clear out all this dust and make the air fresh again.

Pre-construction meeting

Kingdom Hall to be remodeled

Pumping water at a well

Kingdom Hall construction site

So this means that I have now visited the Western, Southern, and Eastern Provinces, but not the Northern Province, which has the gorillas and a famous national park. Oh, well, I guess the touristic stuff will have to wait....

Afghan refugee

A few Sundays ago, I looked out the window of the second story of the Kingdom Hall as the meeting was starting and saw one of the sisters with what appeared to be an interested man rushing up to the building entrance. He sat in the back and during the Watchtower Study even gave a comment! I could not, however, identify his accent.

So about 20 minutes after the meeting, I managed to meet this person. His name is Shayan and he is a refugee from Afghanistan. He has been in Rwanda for a little over a year and lives on a small amount every month given him by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). He said he had to leave Afghanistan due to religious persecution, apparently for being a Christian.

At that point in our discussion, I had assumed that someone in the congregation had offered him a Bible study, but apparently no one had. So we agreed to study in the Good News brochure, even several times a week, since his life here is characterized by absolutely nothing to do all day. He has no work, no school, he can't communicate with his neighbors and so spends most of the time in his tiny, unfinished concrete room with only a mattress on the floor.

Since that first meeting, he has come to the midweek night meeting and has downloaded every publication needed for that meeting on his phone. He has also downloaded materials in Persian (also known as Farsi), which is his native tongue. However, presently only the Greek Scriptures of the New World Translation comes in Persian. The walk to our Kingdom Hall takes over an hour each way. So I agreed to go to his place for the Bible study. Definitely the English is a challenge, but if we read the material in both English and Persian, he will understand it.

By the way, Shayan was found by the sister while she was doing search work, as encouraged by our circuit overseer. So all the effort we are putting forth to locate English speakers—as well as those for whom there is no other option—is certainly paying off!

New "restaurant" Bible study

My two Chinese Bible studies are solid, but of course, one is always on the lookout for more. So it was at this new Chinese restaurant called Carving Taste (味莊)—pronounced Wèi Zhuāng, and which happens to be right next door to the vehicle sales and repair business of my Bible student, Mr. Han—that I found a new study. I had been there before, of course, to see the wife of the owner, Mrs. Li, who after a few visits told me she wasn't really that interested. Then, I talked to the cook, who also said he wasn't interested, BUT, he said, he knew of someone else who was very interested in the Bible, someone who came to eat at that restaurant every evening. So I gave the cook my business card (which says in Chinese, "Jehovah's Witnesses, Promoting Bible Education"), wrote my phone number on the back, and asked him to give it to the customer.

A short time later I got a text message stating: "Hello. Are you Chinese?" in English, followed by those small little boxes you get when your cheapie cell phone can't read Chinese characters. So I responded, yes, I am Chinese but from America. I didn't hear anything for about a week (did I make a mistake by saying "America"?), so I decided to call this mystery person.

Anyway, it turns out his name is Wang Jun Bao (王君保) from Shanghai, he is 26 years old, has only been in Rwanda for a few months, and works for a medical company. He says he can speak to African clients in broken English, but when they reply in English he can't understand them. (I can identify with that, but in Chinese.) He then showed me his Chinese Bible and said that he is a Christian; the rest of his family are basically non-religious.

By the way, this first meeting took place at the Carving Taste Restaurant, and it lasted about two hours because he insisted on ordering lunch for me and my partner. This last Sunday, the second meeting at the restaurant, we did one entire chapter in the Bible Teach book. I had only prepared half the chapter—since that seems to be what we normally cover in one session—but he wanted to study the whole chapter! So we were there two hours once again, and the only reason we didn't eat lunch is because the electricity was out most of that time. (One wonders, how do restaurants function in developing countries?)

He said he tries to talk to his co-workers about the Bible, but they basically rebuff him. Then, he said his boss asks him to lie on occasion, which really bothers his conscience, so what should he do? (Note: From my experience, when a Chinese person has problems with dishonesty, considering how rampant it is, he or she is likely sheeplike and receptive to the truth. Yes!) I directed him to read Daniel chapter 3 and Acts 5:28, 29, to see Biblical examples of doing the right thing even in the face of persecution. He said he hadn't read as far as Daniel in the Bible, but did that story have something to do with fire?

So we have agreed to meet every Sunday afternoon at the restaurant and, at this rate, we may cover the whole book in just a few months.... If we can move a bit faster at becoming a Chinese group, maybe we can get him to come to a meeting!

Attending French congregation (a first)

Last year, I attended the Sunday afternoon session of the Kinyarwanda regional convention to show my support, even though I didn't understand much at all. This year—in fact, this past Sunday it was—when my congregation was attending the convention in Kinyarwanda, I decided that the bleachers, heat, and crying kids was not worth it. Instead, I attended for the first time the French meeting (Kigali Centre) at my Kingdom Hall. Yes, it was indeed the fulfillment of a promise I have made for the last 16 months, finally. It was great giving a comment during the Watchtower Study in French, reminding me of my days in the Biwi Congregation, Lilongwe, Malawi.

There were 11 of us from Kigali English in attendance at the French meeting, ones who for one reason or another didn't go to the convention.

It was nice seeing some of the Bethel brothers there: Emmanuel (with perpetual smile), Innocent, and Josué. I will load their pictures in this space someday.

I also met a Rwandan sister named Alice who told me that she has two brothers who are in the Chinese field, one in Nairobi Chinese (Kenya) Congregation named Frank, and the other in Beijing named Eric. Eric's wife is Chinese, and apparently they are thinking of moving here to Rwanda to help in the Chinese field. Hey, all help is welcome! So I gave her my contact information, she will pass it along to them, and maybe we will see a native speaker here before long.

Piano by Skype?

Interesting notes:

• I acquired three piano students while I was in the U.S. (ages 6, 10, and 14). We are continuing the piano lessons by Skype after my return to Rwanda! I never thought that piano lessons over the Internet would be possible, but my online research revealed testimonials from people who have done it successfully. Unfortunately, I don't have a piano or a keyboard here, just this app on my tablet called "Real Piano" that shows only two octaves, and which I have to hold up to the camera about 6 inches away for the student to see. Well, it works, sort of.

• I now have a 120-liter water tank in the bathroom! This was the bonus for paying a year's rent in advance. OK, it does not connect directly to the shower, so I still have to pour water on myself using a cup, but at least now there is enough water (six jerry cans' worth) to last a good while. During the entire week after my return, the water came on only once in the middle of the night for less than an hour. Now, with the water tank, when the water comes on—whenever that happens to be—the tank will fill up automatically. So I can sleep on while the neighbors are rushing out to the common tap in the courtyard.

• My Bible student Peter is now teaching me Kinyarwanda (for money) twice a week! I have wanted to learn some Kinyarwanda anyway, but in particular I wanted to help him out by freeing him from this security guard job that requires 12 hours a day (6pm to 6am), 7 days a week, and pays the equivalent of 14 cents (U.S.) an hour. He is a student at KIE, and has to walk two hours each way to this job, not to mention keep up with his studies at the university during the daytime. So after two lessons I can say, in Kinyarwanda, Ndi umushinwa (I am a Chinese person), which is an expression that may not necessarily be useful, seeing that it is obvious, but hey, maybe it will stop someone from shooting me someday, who knows.... (Observations: Kinyarwanda is basically phonetic, but then there are those double and triple consonants (aieee!) that are not always pronounced the way they look.) By the way, part of the deal with Peter is that he study the Bible more regularly and attend the Sunday morning meeting, which he was doing before he got this burdensome job. So is my offer a bribe?

• Due to the political unrest and violence in neighboring Burundi, many Burundians have fled to Rwanda. We have had a family move into our congregation, as well as a single brother. For young people in Burundi, it is particularly a hazardous situation because the military can and will enlist them. At least in Rwanda the situation is peaceful.

• The other day, while walking I came across some kind of religious procession—which I found out later was a once-a-year honoring of Mary—that I couldn't get around for some minutes. So, I decided to film it:

Never a dull moment!!

Circuit overseer's visit

Yes, I know, it has been awhile since I last posted. I had a great time in California for two months visiting my family, but now it is back to work in Rwanda.

No sooner did I get back here than I set about to reconnect with Bible students and prepare for the circuit overseer's visit—locals call it "special week." Daniel and Karen Hanau are Canadians and have been serving in Rwanda for 14 years. His circuit consists of Kinyarwanda congregations but they also serve our English congregation. In fact, this is their first actual visit since I have been here, because for the two previous scheduled visits we had substitutes.

The Hanaus

This was an opportunity, from our end, to provide an update on how the Chinese pre-group (formed in March) is doing and what we can do in the near future. Brother Hanau has been a strong proponent of starting something in the Chinese field—in fact, he and his wife said that before last year they had been praying about the matter—so it is a pleasure to work with him in what we would call an "uncharted area."

At the meetings for field service during the week, Brother Hanau said that since the direction of Jehovah's organization, based on Acts chapter two, is that we teach people the truth in their mother tongue, since this is their 'heart' language, Rwandans for the most part should study the Bible in Kinyarwanda. Since we are the English congregation, we should be looking for native English speakers, who will not generally be from Rwanda, but from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, the U.K., etc.

He emphasized the need to thoroughly cover our assigned territory—since English is considered a foreign language here—by doing "search work." This means going from house to house and looking for native English speakers. The best way to accomplish this is not by telling people, "We're looking for people who speak English." What happens is that all Rwandans, even those who know only a little English, will say "I speak English," because they don't want to appear uneducated. Or they will often say "I can try." A better opening line is, "We are Jehovah's Witnesses, and we are looking for those who do not know Kinyarwanda well." (Turi Abahamya ba Yehova. Turashaka abantu abatazi ikinyarwanda neza.) Yes, for me, this is going to require some practice!

Many of the 125 Bible studies in our congregation are with Rwandans, a few of whom speak no English whatsoever. So it is going to be a major shift in our mindset to follow the direction, even if it requires the turning over of Bible studies to the appropriate Kinyarwanda congregations.

So this week we got permission from the Kacyiru (Kinyarwanda) Congregation to do search work in their territory. The results were very gratifying. We found many native English speakers in this area, and kept detailed records for the purpose of calling back. Eventually, we can get around to the entire city using this method.

Additionally, the publishers will be making sure to note any Chinese people they encounter while doing search work. So the territory for our Chinese pre-group will continue to expand!

Finally, after the program on Sunday, Brother Hanau met in the back room of the Kingdom Hall with those of us in the Chinese pre-group, as well as any who had an interest in learning Chinese, to give us a pep talk, encouraging us in our efforts to preach in this language territory. Our next goal: arrange for a Chinese meeting!

Visit back home

Surprise! Yes, I didn't mention it before, but I returned to the U.S. at the beginning of April for a two-month visit. In May, my parents are celebrating their 60-year wedding anniversary, quite the big event! Here is a picture of my entire family:

And for the benefit of my Rwandan friends, I have included here some photos of my hometown of Sacramento, California, U.S.A. The impressions that Africans have of the U.S. come generally from movies, which do not always provide an accurate picture of what life is like here.

No, not everyone is rich. The streets are not paved with gold.

First off: Sacramento is the capital city of California, which is the most populous state of the U.S. Here are some of Sacramento's landmarks:

Capitol building, Sacramento

Tower Bridge, Sacramento

Sacramento has two rivers, one called the Sacramento River (running along the west side of the city), and the other the American River (dividing downtown from the north part of town). These rivers give Sacramento, which sits in a valley, a climate that is hot during summer days, but cool during the nights. It is also dry here, a condition which has not been helped by the four-year drought that has affected all of California.

The congregation I attended prior to coming to Rwanda was the only Chinese congregation in Sacramento, called "Oak Park Mandarin."

Here is a photo of the Sacramento Remote Translation Office (RTO), which at the time of construction was the only place in the U.S. outside of headquarters in which translating is done. Languages translated: Hmong, Mien, Navajo. There is also audio/video production done in these languages. It is like a Bethel outside of Bethel!

Brother Cheng Vue (translator), standing in front of Sacramento RTO
(Double Kingdom Hall downstairs, translation offices upstairs)

Finally, here is a picture of us doing cart witnessing with Chinese literature in front of a high-rise apartment building where many Chinese live.

Yes, there are plenty of spiritual activities taking place in this part of the world!

One-year summary of life in Rwanda

Sometimes I ask myself, why do I have this affinity for poor countries with turbulent histories? Perhaps there are several reasons. One is that such places are proof of the saying that "adversity breeds character." Those who have survived a civil war, a genocide, or severe persecution have developed strength of character and resilience that are...well, special qualities. Such experiences make you realize that material things, careers, positions, etc., are not the truly important things in life. And they teach you to be more compassionate toward those who suffer.

The result is that people in these countries are humble and receptive to the truth. 

So what do I have to show for my life after a year here in Rwanda?

Well, I have a decent place to live and a job privately tutoring 1½ students in English (the
"½" is the husband of one of the students, who comes to the lessons half the time). I also started teaching a Ugandan guy Chinese. Believe it or not, I was the beneficiary of a fair amount of money from a charitable organization. Long story on that one, but it does show Jehovah really takes care of us when we need it!

I've got loads of Bible studies—to the point that I have to schedule some time for door-to-door work, because the studies take up all my time.

Best of all, we now have a Chinese pre-group in the Kigali English Congregation! All of our hard work has paid off!

And now I am legally living and working here! Last month I got my residence permit, allowing me to stay in the country for two years! And a Foreigner's ID card!

Memorial report

The Memorial for Kigali English Congregation was quite the event! We had 218 in attendance, which was fewer than last year's, but bear in mind that we shipped out 20 publishers or so (but they went willingly) to form the English group in Nyamirambo, a neighborhood in another part of the city. So our attendance was pretty good for 80 publishers.

However, mentally expecting a larger audience, I was all prepared to stand along with 100 other people, but surprisingly, no one had to stand. More seats had been put out than the year before.

The other surprise concerned who showed up at the Memorial.

To begin this story, I had been trying to invite Mr. and Mrs. Han to the Memorial for some time. But Mr. Han went to China for a month during Chinese New Year to visit his relatives. Then, Mrs. Han went to Tanzania for a week-long holiday. So every time I went to their place of business to give them the invitation, they weren't there.

Finally, the Tuesday before Memorial, I made one last attempt. No one was there, so I left the invitation in Mr. Han's closed office door, with no explanation.

Then, the day of the Memorial, Friday, I got a free haircut from Mr. Han's younger sister. During the haircut, she asked me questions about God and the Bible, so I said, let's go into the office and discuss this. While we were in the office, in walked Mr. and Mrs. Han and their two kids. I asked him, did you get the invitation I left in your door? He said yes. I continued, well, it's tonight, do you think you can come? He said maybe. But before I could explain what it was all about, they all had to leave the room. I waited, but they didn't return.

So I didn't have high expectations for that evening. But when I walked into the Kingdom Hall that evening, guess what—there was Mr. and Mrs. Han, their two kids, and two of their relatives all sitting in the back row! One of the brothers said to me in passing, "You will have to help them." So I grabbed two Chinese Bibles from the back room—yes, we have a section in the library now with Chinese literature—and set about interpreting the English talk into Chinese for the benefit of the two relatives, who didn't speak a word of English.

During the talk, Mr. Han leans over and whispers, "So are the ones who eat the bread and drink the wine all the Christians?" So I had to fill in necessary background information: the anointed go to heaven, they rule with Jesus as kings and priests over the earth, etc.

About halfway into the talk, Mrs. Han told me the kids were falling asleep and they needed to leave. I asked her, could they hang on for just 20 minutes more? They did, and upon waking up they started running around. As they walked out the door at the conclusion of the meeting, I said to Mrs. Han: "One day, we will have a Chinese meeting in this building, I'm sure of it." She was very happy to hear that.

So the upshot was, there were 6 Chinese people (4 adults and 2 kids) who came to the Memorial. I also had one of my Rwandan students, Calixte, who came for the first time, but I couldn't help him because I was too busy with the Chinese. Sorry, Calixte.

It was exhausting but very gratifying.

As a postscript, when I saw Mr. and Mrs. Han later, I asked them, how much of the English talk did you understand? Mr. Han said 40%; Mrs. Han, 20%. I said, but Mrs. Han, your English is better than your husband's; how is it you understood only 20%? Then Mr. Han interjected, "But I've been studying the Bible longer than she has!"

So how was your Memorial?

Exotic fruits (with demonstration)

For those of you following this blog from places outside of Africa, we now devote this post to introducing you to exotic fruits found here, some of which you can't get at home. (And I would love to take samples back to the U.S., were it not for Customs regulations.)

To help us, we have impressed into service a brother at Rwanda Bethel, Pascal Habimana, who will enlighten you on the proper way to eat these fruits. Check out the video:

1. Tree tomato (tamarillo)

2. Passion fruit (maracuya)

3. Mango

Headquarters visit to Rwanda

Last Sunday, March 15, there was a special program at ETO Stadium in Kicukiro, topping off a visit by headquarters representative Paul Bruno to Rwanda. As you may recall, these were previously called "zone visits," but now they are called "headquarters visits." (One of the many organizational changes we are asked to keep up with.)

Actually, Brother Bruno is really from France branch, not from U.S. headquarters, but he represents headquarters.

So all of Kigali was invited to attend this program, which was presented in French and Kinyarwanda. (Sorry for those who could understand neither one.)

In the opening Rwanda country report, the Chinese field received an honorable mention!

After a summary of the week's Watchtower study article, Brother Bruno gave a translated talk about the subject of dew. We are all like dewdrops in the sense that by our preaching work, we provide refreshment and sustenance to people who are scorched by Satan's world, just like dew waters the vegetation. He made an interesting application of Judges 6:38 (dew from Gideon's fleece filled a large banquet bowl with water) to the combined efforts of all of us 'dewdrops' in preaching the good news.

He said there are three principal reasons for preaching:

(1) We unreservedly uphold Jehovah's sovereignty,
(2) We support the Governing Body and its mission to preach, and
(3) We resist Satan's efforts to keep the refreshing truths of God's Word from people.

Brother and Sister Bruno

All the missionaries and "need greaters" in Rwanda, in one photo!

It surprised me that there are only 14 missionaries in the entire country of Rwanda. It seems that the branch primarily uses local special pioneers to open up the work in certain areas or give support to the brothers in established areas. Since Rwanda is such a small country, this policy makes sense.

As far as the "need greaters" are concerned, aside from me, they all come from Canada or Europe. Not surprisingly, they speak English and French with little difficulty.

So that's a summary of our annual visit from headquarters!