Hello Everyone!
We have officially made it through one of our favorite months of the year and the kids have started school, which means we are able to take a deep breath and update you all on what God’s been up to here in Kigali!
We absolutely LOVE July because that is internship time! A huge part of why we are here in Rwanda is so we can run a month-long program for college age individuals who are interested in learning about missions in Africa. This year we had the joy of hosting eight young men and women, and we had a wild time! They spent the first week with a guest speaker from Mission to The World talking about spiritual health and the challenge of ambiguity in the field. They also went to the Genocide Memorial and did a bike tour, two very different experiences that helped them to experience the culture and history of Rwanda. The second week they spent preparing for and running a VBS at a church plant close by in a more rural area. The third week they went to Musanze, a 3 hour road trip away from Kigali, to run another VBS out there. They returned to the city the fourth week and spent this last week focused on street evangelism, visiting Word Made Flesh, learning about church planting with another guest speaker, talking about next steps, and how to navigate re-entry into America.
Throughout the whole internship, we were so blessed to spend a lot of time as a family with the interns; we had them over for dinner at least twice a week which was such a joy. We celebrated the fourth of July together, and in addition to Jackson's birthday on the 7th, three of them had birthdays while they were here! Our kids truly loved all the time we were able to spend with them, and if they went too many days without seeing them all, they would demand to go to the “intern’s house” to hang out. I was in my element as six of the interns were girls, and since I grew up in a house full of women, being surrounded by estrogen is truly my happy place. We spent many late nights in deep convos…or just laughing a lot. Getting to share all our favorite parts of Kigali was also a highlight…honestly even walking with them through some hard cross cultural moments was a gift; that’s just part of running an internship and it is truly a privilege.
On the negative side of things, we were continually taken aback by all of the hardships we had in the month. On the very first of many airport runs, our car broke down…and this was a sign of things to come. We had three working vehicles at the start of the month, and by the end we were limping by with one. Also, I think every week John had a different health issue, from bacterial infections to food poisoning to injuring his back…it was bizarre and we were extremely grateful one of the interns from last year came for two weeks to help with the kids…she ended up caring for them while John was recovering and I took over running the internship! God was gracious and kept the kids and I healthy for the most part, but it was very stressful trying to navigate all the roadblocks that kept popping up.
Before the interns started arriving, I had several moments of fear where I was anxious that the group wouldn’t get along, that their time here in Kigali wouldn’t be what they were hoping and expecting. I brought those worries to the Lord and He answered profoundly, even in the first few days. The interns as a group cared for each other so well, and after navigating a divisive experience (literally, half the group got stuck on one side of a chasm), their dynamic was united and were overall good to go, as long as they had a sweet lil’ treat in hand. Through all of the struggles our family went through, we had to surrender the idea of curating a perfect experience for the interns and trust that the Father had a plan and was taking each one on a perfectly individualized journey. We appreciate your prayers for us and for our interns, and we ask that you pray for them as they are all home now, that God would continue to speak to them and use this time formatively in their lives.
We are launching fully back into “missionary mode” now the kids are back in school, and we are grateful to be back into a less chaotic routine, although we miss our interns SO much! Please pray as we continue the slow labor of building relationships, seeking to serve the church, and share the gospel with our friends and neighbors.
With so much love from Kigali,
The Cliffords
