In November of last year, we made one year as a Chinese congregation! There were tentative plans for a celebration, but because I was in the U.S. for such a long time, nothing was arranged. After I came back, however, we planned our big dinner. It was held last Saturday at a Chinese restaurant called Lao Tangren. (This is the same restaurant that I am the "manager" of, allowing me to get a visa.) We reserved a room in the back with a large round table and a Lazy Susan that could accommodate 20 persons. This occasion was not only to celebrate our first anniversary, but also to show appreciation for the pioneers' hard work. I and another elder hosted this dinner. For many of the brothers and sisters, this was their first experience eating Chinese food. With chopsticks, no less.
There is another recent development. Ever since we have become a congregation, many of the pioneers have been called to work at Bethel as full- or part-time commuters, LDC, or the Assembly Hall. Now most of the pioneers are in one of those categories. One elder and four out of the five ministerial servants are now Bethelites. The result is that though the weekend field service is very well supported, service during the week usually consists of me and the special pioneer couple, with a few joining in the afternoon. Our circuit overseer jokingly said to a brother in the Service Department that 'you created this congregation, and now by calling in most of the pioneers to work at Bethel, you are destroying it.'
In a way, this is a good problem to have. The proposed solution was to ask the branch for another language class, so that we can get some 'fresh blood,' as I like to put it, that is, more pioneers to support the ministry. After all, that is why we are a congregation in the first place, right? Anyway, that was our argument in a letter to the branch. We also mentioned that it would give the congregation greater stability if we had some married couples and 'older' persons (though that is a relative term, because the average age in the congregation is around 23 years), because you never know when some of these young ones will get married or move out of the congregation. In fact, we just had three sisters that graduated from SKE and were assigned out of Chinese. Benjamin and his wife Alice, who are the special pioneers (and he is the coordinator) also graduated from SKE and, thankfully, were assigned back to Chinese. Prior to this, I thought, I'm going to have a heart attack if they leave Chinese.
So the upshot is, the branch approved our request for a second language class. Hooray! It started at the beginning of this month with 32 students. One has since dropped, leaving 31.
Benjamin and I are the instructors. We are scheduled up to late May, after which I can finally get away for about a week or so on a trip to Tanzania.
So that's the latest. Next week is circuit assembly, then Memorial in April, and then....
Okay, it has been a long time since my last post. That's because I just returned from the U.S. after more than four months there. The situation is that my brother and his wife have been spending extended time in Germany, where my sister-in-law is from, taking care of her mother, who is seriously ill. So I was elected to house sit for them during that time. Also, someone needed to keep an eye on my parents, who are getting up in years. Although they are doing well for their age (my dad still drives at 92), one never knows what could happen.
So, here I was, in a big two-story house, with just a cat for company. She is 12 years old, and slowing down. Sometimes she'll eat, and other times not. And then, there was a day when she apparently couldn't make it to the litter box in time and made messes in various places of the house.
But, all that excitement aside, I did have access to my brother's and sister-in-law's cars, which gave me mobility, although at first I was completely unused to fast speeds on the freeways (in Rwanda, about the fastest you can go in town is 40 mph). So I preached with the Sacramento Chinese congregation five or six days a week. I also attended the English meetings of my parents' congregation. And this was an additional experience: I had the opportunity, on an informal basis, to sit in on a few vocal recording sessions and practice sessions at the Sacramento RTO.
In October I set a goal of putting 130 hours of field service time in, just to see if I could do it. Well, apparently not. After three weeks, I had 90, but was so exhausted that I unfortunately backed into another brother's car in the Kingdom Hall parking lot. My brother had previously added me to his insurance policy for just that reason. But I did manage 107 hours after all.
All that food in America of course resulted in weight gain, which is usually the case, of about 8 kgs. (17 lbs.).
Then there was the big TV at my brother's place, so that I could keep up with American football (something that never happens in Rwanda). Amazon Prime, Netflix ... so this is what I'm missing living in Africa!
Finally, it was time to come back to Rwanda. Carrying five phones, five tablets, and a laptop, no less. I arrived on a Thursday, and then it was time to "hit the ground running." On Saturday, there was scheduled the orientation meeting of the second Chinese class, then the regular congregation meeting, then the pioneers' meeting with the elders. The next day, Sunday, was the KM School for Elders. I had parts in all these. Even with jet lag. (Time difference between California and Rwanda = 10 hours.)
Okay, it has been 11 days since returning, and I had reasonably adjusted to the time here, but then yesterday evening my roommate and best friend Jacques and I went to this restaurant in town called Lavana. It is an upscale place and one that I discovered while checking the Internet in the U.S. as being the only place in Kigali where you can watch the Super Bowl on a big screen. (For Rwandan readers = championship match of American football.) Of course, while in California I followed the San Francisco 49ers, and now here they were playing in the Super Bowl!
The only drawback to this is that the game starts at 1:30 a.m. and finishes at 5:30 a.m., local time. So it was a struggle, once again, to stay awake, although drinking a Coke helped somewhat. We ordered fish tacos and pizza, my favorite in the middle of the night (ha!) and settled in, in the same room with about 30 people or so. There was some cheering, if one realizes that at least half the people were Rwandans and it is not their nature to be loud and boisterous. Except for this one couple from San Francisco sitting behind us, as well as a Burundian man from Toronto, who very obviously supported Kansas City.
Jacques, who knows nothing about American football, although he did tell me he played rugby in the past, was quite energetic and vocal, even hugging and dancing with the Burundian guy during particularly exciting moments. He even rooted for Kansas City, just to be contrary. So he got quite the experience, especially seeing the lavish half-time show. I hope he doesn't suddenly get the desire to emigrate to the U.S.
Anyway, it's back to the regular routine. Good to stay busy!
