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!