Psalm 28:7: Cameras are restrictive- Languages are not

This weekend we went off to Lake Kivu in Kibuye, Rwanda. We started by taking a 3 hour bus ride there. Mmm, was that nice. Going down super windy Rwandan roads at 60 miles per hour with Rwandans sleeping on your shoulders and then ending up completely nauseous- that is the life let me tell you! But we got to our hotel- Hotel Golf- and found some definite positives and negatives. Positives: beautiful view, right across the street from the beach, pretty good food. Negatives: Sink and shower in our room didn’t work. Water is not a guarantee apparently. The first day, I walked around with some girls and took some pictures, then we had dinner, and I played Dutch Blitz with Kim, Lindsay, and Ross. Two Rwandan guys came up to us and asked how to play, and so we ended up trying to teach them how to play, which was really funny, and then they taught us how to play some version of poker. I really had absolutely no idea what I was playing, but I know that we won once and I got a lot of high fives for putting 7’s down, which are apparently higher than aces in their game…

Saturday, we woke up, had breakfast, and boarded two boats to go off to an island to hike. This island has tons, and I mean TONS, of bats on it. The sky was just full of them flying around, it was absolutely insane! We started off under them, and as we hiked up the mountain we ended up on their level, and then above them. They were so loud and really cool. When we got to the top of the mountain, it was absolutely incredible. I took a boat load of pictures, but you can’t even begin to capture how beautiful it is with a camera. I ended up feeling really frustrated because I couldn’t do the view justice, but I really wanted to capture it for everyone to see later. Our teacher from our peacebuilding class, Pastor Anastase, organized the weekend for us and came along, and he hiked up the mountain in dress pants and dress shoes. He’s such a great guy. Then we came down the other side, and there was pretty much no path at all. We were like puling branches aside, ducking under bushes, and fighting off trees to get back to our boats. Lots of pulled haired and bumped shins, but I made it out alive! We then boarded the boats and headed back. On the way back, a piece of paper flew out of our boat and into the water. Our boat circled it a few times, tried to move closer to it, and then before we knew it, our driver was pulling off his pants and belly-flopping into the water to get the paper. He swam pretty far out, but didn’t appear to come back with a paper, which was sad. The other boat said their driver thought it might have been his permit to drive, which would be super unfortunate. It was a strange moment in my life.

Then we got back and had some lunch and decided to play volleyball. Pastor Anastase showed us to this sand court which had no one around, but by the time we were done playing, there were a ton of children running around, lots of people watching, and a bunch of Rwandans playing volleyball with us! It was so much fun, and it was really great to play alongside some Rwandans- even though we didn’t speak the same language, hand gestures, high fives, and laughter goes a long way (as cheesy as that sounds). It was really cool to have something to be able to connect with them on, since we couldn’t connect through our words. Pastor Anastase came along to play too, still in his dress pants and shoes, and was one of the best ones there. That man never disappoints. Then a bunch of us went to swim in the lake before heading up to dinner. I got over my fear of jumping into lakes after jumping in at camp and getting a nasty bump/scrape on my leg, and it was probably the cleanest, and definitely biggest, lake I’ve ever seen.

Sunday we woke up and headed off, 23 in a mutatu, to church! There’s a beautiful custom here in Rwanda to share songs with your visitors. You sing them one or two, and it’s expected that they will sing you one or two back. I think it’s absolutely beautiful, and so joyful as well. When we got to church, both the children’s choir (so precious.) and the adult choir sang us a few songs each. Since pastor is fluent in English and Kinyarwanda, he would tell us what the songs were about after. It was really awesome to just enjoy the beauty and joy of the music first, and then hear what the message of the songs were, about following God and the promises He’s made to us. We sang “I’ll Fly Away” and “There’s no one like Jesus.” They also did introductions of all the visitors in the church, including us, which was really personable and cool. Then the pastor began his sermon, and Pastor Anastase translated for us. There were so many adorable children wandering around and coming over to where we were sitting, which was a bit distracting, but I still got most of the message! Then we left, had some lunch, and headed on home. But before we left the restaurant, that owner gave us a friendship basket full of fruits as a sign of the gratitude for the love they felt that we showed them over the weekend. It was really touching and just showed the amazing character of the people here.

Well, hope you enjoyed my weekend in Kibuye, because I sure did! Here’s some pictures- there's a ton- it's impossible to pic just a few!