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!