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?