Play For Hope

Day 15-The Final Day :( 

So we have come to the end, and unfortunately the last day was pretty rough for me.  I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat, coughing and sneezing.  I felt pretty miserable.  But if there was any day to get sick, I guess it was best to be at the end, and not in the middle when all the main stuff was going on.  We left pretty early this morning for Butare.  We were supposed to visit a genocide site here, and have a little bit of time to shop for souveneirs before heading back to Kigali.  We took a bus that was about an hour and a half long.  The morning started on an interesting note as we were literally seconds late for the bus.  Our driver actually blocked our bus in to let us get on as it was trying to leave, but unfortunately Serieux had rode separately from us and was like a minute behind, so right after the bus left he arrived. :)  They have buses that run every 30 minutes however so it was not that big of a deal.  Instead I got to go to the bathroom in my first ever paid for hole in the ground!! ;)  All I can say is I am so glad I carried some toilet paper with my in my fanny pack everywhere I went! ;)  So we eventually got on the bus and were headed out for Butare.  Josh and I noticed that the bus drivers here have certain signals for the other bus drivers.  I never could figure out what they mean, but they had at least 10 or more signs that they would use with their hands out the window in passing another bus!  As we were riding I could not help thinking about how beautiful the land is here!  We were going up and down mountains as we got higher you could see all the lush, green land below.  It was so beautiful!  God is so amazing with his creation!

When we finally arrived in Butare we took motos to what we thought was the other genocide memorial.  We learned that it was actually a cultural center! ;) So, we just explored the city instead and got a few souveneirs.  Josh and I sat with Serieux for a while and just chatted about life, which was really nice!  I am going to miss him so much!  He has such an incredible heart for this ministry and for people in general.  He is always such a blessing to be around!  We talked about marriage in the Rwandan culture, which was very neat.  Apparently when you get married you also have some people who serve as accountability for you.  If you are ever going through a hard time or fighting with your spouse, they come in and help the two to solve the issue.  This was such a smart thing to me!  I think if people did this in America, a lot more marriages would survive.  Instead, Americans try to hide the problem until it explodes and both sides become too hardened to want to try and solve the problem.  The culture here seems to have so much more wisdom about people than we do here in America.  I think when materials get in the way and try to solve our problems, we lose grasp of the fellowship of people that God created to help us in times of need.  I know that this country is in so much need physically, but many of these individuals are well above us in understanding true joy and fellowship.  

After this Josh and I got some snacks for lunch from a grocery store and then we were back on our way to Kigali.  By this point in time, I was starting to feel pretty miserable, and this bus ride back was completely full.  Josh and I were squeezed on a row with another lady right by the door. I kept sneezing and coughing and couldn't stop.  I didn't have any water or anything, and there was no stopping on these rides.   I am sure everyone on the bus was getting annoyed with me, because I was getting annoyed with myself.  :)  But there was nothing I could do.  When we finally got to Kigali, we waited for another bus to take us back to Serieux' home.  We finally arrived back at the house and Francine had food ready for us.  Josh and I quickly packed our bags and then sat down for our last meal.  Francine was so gracious to us!  She made us all of our favorite stuff from our meals.  We had peas, and prines, the juice I love, and the beef macaroni that Josh loves!  :)  It was great!  Shortly after dinner our taxi was here and we were headed back to the airport.  It was so hard to say bye to Francine, and Harmony!  Harmony was such a blast this whole week!  And little Honora was so precious!  We did manage to say our goodbyes and headed up to the airport.  Serieux met us up there with a going away gift of African Tea!  :) My favorite!  He is so sweet!  Well, we finally said our goodbyes.  It was sad to have to leave, but at the same time we are both ready to get back to the states and tell everyone about our experience!  The check in at the Rwandan airport took a ridiculously long time!  It was crazy!  But we made it to our flight.  As soon as we got on the plane I took 2 NyQuils and was out!  ;) It was even hard for me to wake up to eat my meals, ha! ;)  But I felt well rested getting back to the states, since I practically slept through all 3 flights! ;)  Now my stomach is trying to get readjusted to American food, but other than that things are going well!  I miss Rwanda already!  I hope and pray that everyone is still doing well there!  What an incredible experience I had!  I love Rwanda with all my heart!  I hope and pray that God will send us back soon! :)