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It's Crunch Time! Updates from Kigali // October 2025 //

Happy fall, y’all!
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We hope you are sipping apple cider by a bonfire and breathing in the smell of crispy crunchy leaves extra for us, as we are over here in our perpetual summer and feeling a bit sad we’re missing the BEST season America has to offer…but on that note…

Rachel was able to sneak away for a whirlwind trip to the US, under the guise of seeing a sister graduate from firefighting school, but she took the opportunity to cram her itinerary full of time with family and friends, visiting our home church and even doing a little missions presentation (without her emotional support public speaking spouse!!), hiking, shopping for things we can’t get here, and so much more. It was a really sweet time that filled her up with love and encouragement, and she is ALMOST over the double jet lag two weeks later…almost

While Rachel was away, John was not only solo parenting, but he continued on his teaching journey. The class he was doing on Hermeneutics finished, and they are looking to graduate fairly soon. He started an English class with a group of seminary students who are attending classes in Uganda on a sister campus to the bible college here in Kigali.

Another exciting opportunity came through in an unexpected way: a bible college run by the Anglican church asked John to come and do a Hebrew 2 course. A missionary friend who moved back to the US taught Hebrew 1 last year, and so this has proved a unique challenge to pick up such a difficult subject with a group whose first language is not English! The Anglican bible college is one of the few in Kigali that is accredited, and so students of all denominations are flocking here to get their necessary degrees.

Please pray for John as he navigates teaching the true gospel to individuals from many backgrounds, and for them as they learn to discern the truth, that they would find their feet on solid ground.

A few other developments to share, first is that the internship applications are officially LIVE!! Please share with friends, family, your church, your little brother, anyone you know who is considering if God is calling them to missions in Africa. This year interns have the possibility to visit other MTW fields in Ethiopia and Kenya as a way to explore more than one of the amazing countries Africa holds. Please don’t hesitate to respond to this newsletter for more information on how you or someone you know can get started in the application process.

Secondly, a local church reached out to John and another missionary and asked if they would be interested in essentially taking over the English service the church offers in the afternoon. Currently it is very small and over fifty percent of the church is the worship team, but we are prayerfully considering if this is an answer to our prayers for a vibrant church to be a part of here in Kigali. John had the privilege of preaching there already, and we are cautiously optimistic that this may prove to be a way through a lot of the red tape we have previously run into when considering how to plant a church.

With so much love from Kigali,
The Cliffords