By Bruce Warkentien
What a fantastic way to look at life. This is a phrase we heard at the Family Fellowship Sunday night at Tierry and Kristella’s house. Tierry is Immaculee’s (our friend and partner in Rwanda) brother and once a month the family (parents, brothers, and sisters) gathers at the home of a family member for praise and worship to celebrate what God has given them. This Sunday we had the pleasure of joining their 25 plus family members. This was a special Sunday as the family was giving praise and thanksgivings for 2015 and requesting His grace and glory for 2016. I have been amazed by the deep Christian faith exhibited by our Rwandan friends. At both the Sunday service and the family fellowship you could feel the overflowing reverence present in their hearts for God.
As a father, it brought me to tears to witness the love and respect Karen receives from the Rwandan people. At Evangelical Restoration Church on Sunday morning, with 500 plus Rwandans, they recognized Karen, later asked our team to stand and recognized me as Karen’s father. The relationships she has built 10,000 miles from home is overwhelming. At the family fellowship I was recognized as Karen’s “papa” and asked to give a house blessing for Tierry and Kristella’s new home. Normally I would have been nervous but I already felt that I was in the midst of great friends and God was in that room standing right beside me. “One glory is followed by another glory” is being experienced over and over again as we move through our first few days in Rwanda.