First ever English regional convention in Rwanda

It was a milestone, a history-making event. We had, for the first time in Rwanda, an English regional convention!

Since there are only two English congregations in Rwanda, both located in Kigali, obviously we didn’t have the wherewithal to put on the 50 or so parts needed for a regional convention, though circuit assemblies are not a problem. But in the past, most of the publishers just attended a Kinyarwanda convention, leaving only a few (including me) to find a way to get an English program. Here are some possibilities: travel to Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, the U.K., or the U.S. But there is expense involved in doing that.

But only a few short weeks ago, it was announced that from August 19-21 we would be having a streamed (recorded) program in English! We would use the double Kingdom Hall in Nyamirambo, where one of the two English congregations is located. This was a logical choice, because although in Remera we have two auditoriums, the parking area in Nyamirambo is far larger.

There were two screens set up in each Hall. The program, from what I understand, was recorded from the Jersey City Assembly Hall, U.S.A., back in May—three months earlier—and featured almost all speakers from Wallkill Bethel, which is why I didn’t recognize many of them. So we got top quality! And everything with an American accent!

The result was that we had a peak attendance of 198. With three baptized! This included my student David Minani. In August 2015, David started studying with a brother named Bosco in the congregation, since the two were classmates in school. Bosco completed the Bible Teach book with David, but since Bosco is new in the truth himself, and hadn’t even started the God’s Love book, he wanted someone with more experience to study the second book with David. So that is how I ended up with this study. So now Bosco is about one chapter ahead of David in the God’s Love book. So this means that David got baptized a year almost to the day from the time of his first study! That is something you don’t commonly see these days. David is making remarkable progress, even having privileges such as helping to put together the territories for search work and setting up the Chinese witnessing cart. Oh, I should also mention that he is part of the Chinese pre-group. We told him he couldn’t participate in the cart activity until he is baptized. Well, now he can. Also, he wants to be a regular pioneer at the first opportunity. The sky’s the limit!

The three baptism candidates. It was somewhat strange to see them answering the questions of a recorded baptism talk speaker. The speaker even said after the first question, "I didn't quite hear that answer." So they had to say "yes" twice to that question!

Bosco, David, and me

Public witnessing cart...in Chinese!

Yes, we now have a Chinese witnessing cart! This was something our circuit overseer recommended some time ago. So one Saturday Benjamin and I scouted out areas downtown that could be suitable for the placement of a cart. An important location is the Chinese supermarket called T2000.

Though many Chinese shop there, we decided that in front of T2000 would be too crowded. So we turned our attention to the hotel called T2000 (same ownership) around the corner, and especially across the street from the hotel entrance, which is in front of a hardware store.

We found the landlord of the building and had a nice discussion with him in his office. At first he wanted to charge us “rent” if this was going to be a regular thing, every week, but after we told him that we give our publications for free and never ask for money, he was willing to let us place our cart without charge, adding, “Anything that helps people learn about God and the Bible is good.” Yes, unlike in the western world, here in Rwanda people do appreciate spiritual things.

So now we have a standing arrangement: every Saturday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm! (including umuganda) This has been in effect since the end of July. In several weeks' time, a number of Chinese people have looked at the cart from across the street or from a passing car, but we have yet to have a Chinese person approach. A few Rwandans have come up, asking why we don’t have anything in their language, so we usually have some Kinyarwanda tracts on hand. Or we might direct them to a nearby cart that has their language.

Slowly but surely, Chinese people will get to know our regular presence at that location, and so we have to be patient!