Excerpts from Nathan Johnson's Diary...
Leading up to this trip I knew that it was going to be life-changing, and I guess, that makes it a little intimidating going into it, because you have to prepare yourself for it ... and for me, the only way I could do that was to make myself available for anything that God had for me. I wanted to go in with no hidden agenda, but with an open heart that said, "use me". That was the most important thing for me, and God really put that on my heart.
We boarded our flight on the Monday morning (29th of May) and I was kinda just feeling pretty pumped to be there with the team. There were 15 others in our team, and everyone seemed equally as ready and excited to go.
The flights were, well in a word LONG!!!! We flew from Sydney to Hong Kong, then had a stop there for a few hours, flew from Hong Kong to Bangkok, stopped there for about 2 hours, then flew from Bangkok to Nairobi in Kenya, then from there to some other tiny airport in the middle of East Africa, then to Kigali in Rwanda. So long!!! It was an experience.
The first day we went to visit the Genocide Memorial. It was so intense, and I don't think I was prepared for the evil that I saw. Over a million people innocently murdered 12 years ago. Children, women, men ... just senseless. We heard people's testimonies of what they went through ... man, it seemed so surreal ... almost like a movie. I just tried to soak it up, and just prayed. It definitely helped going there, it really set the tone for our trip.
So each day, the 15 of us would break up into teams of about 3-4 people and go into different orphanages and high schools and just speak to the kid. They would sing for us and we would tell them why we were there - to bring them a hope for the future and to tell them that God loves them. A lot of the people there have lost all hope for living since they carry such a heavy burden from the genocide. It was great to be able to speak life into their lives, and give them a purpose for living - Jesus Christ. I met so many people and heard amazing testimonies of how people survived the genocide.
I met a girl on the second day who was one of our interpreters. She was hanging with us when we spoke at a Uni in Kigali. I started to ask her about her experience of the Genocide (she was 8 years old at the time). She started to tell me how her whole family of 5 brothers and sisters, mum and dad and grandparents were all murdered in her home while they all slept. She was the only one who survived. I was pretty blown away. I just stood there and tried to comfort her as she told me the story. She told me how she was then made an orphan and had to fend for herself ... food, shelter. Now she is 20 and studying Law at the university in Rwanda. I was pumped to hear how her life had turned around after finding God. There were so many stories like this that we heard. My mind was blown away at how people could come out the other side of that kind of thing. It's definitely different to the 'hard times' we face in a western civilisation. A real eye-opener.
So for the next few days we made similar visits to orphanages and schools. We heard equally-amazing stories from all different people. We met with church leaders in the area and encouraged them, spoke to youth leaders, and toured surrounding areas. I spoke in a boarding high school, played basketball in the hot African sun and spoke in front of about 100 teenagers. God moved so much (lucky, cause I felt like I had nothing! ha.) and I came away feeling more blessed than they could ever possibly be.
On the Friday, we drove down to a university town called Butare, about 2.5 hours away from Kigali ... although on the bus we went on it took about 3.5 hours! Nice scenery though. We met up with some youth leaders (about 50-60) and did a mini conference for them. Some guys from our team spoke. In the afternoon, we put on an outreach event for all the people in Butare. It was so awesome, about 3 thousand people turned up at this soccer field and United played. It was hilarious playing soccer with some local kids. Phil Dooley spoke and it was such a great night. Heaps of people were saved and a woman’s foot was healed. I could tell the local people were so blessed. We tried to get back into the bus and were mobbed by hundreds of local kids. With tears in our eyes, we drove the 3 hours back to Kigali, inspired, tired and ready for another day.
The next day (Saturday) we had a bigger scale event on in Kigali. It was held at the Rwanda Stadium, although, it wasn't actually "in" the stadium, it was "at" the stadium ... just outside it ... ha ha, it was sweet though. There were about 10-12 thousand people. Wow, it was pretty awesome. United played again and Phil Dooley spoke too. There was just a really great atmosphere there. I felt so overwhelmed and crowded by the locals! Like a needle in a massive haystack.... we stood out so much. God really moved. For the alter-call, Phil asked anyone who wanted to receive Jesus to come down the front. The first person that came down the front knelt on the dirt in front of the make-shift stage. Every single person that came down after that (hundreds) knelt down too. I've never been so humbled in my life. I prayed for kids. And we worshipped into the night.
The last few days were much of the same ... well, same but different you know? Still trying to process it all. Met some great people, and went to some great local churches ... just hanging out with all kinds of people. I honestly didn't want to come home. I felt like I had learnt heaps, and was learning so much you know? Like, how we have things in our lives that we 'think' we need, but don't really. You know, the most important thing in life in relationships and family is knowing God.
I know that I have started a kind of journey with all of this, and I'm grateful that I could see all that I saw, and experience all that I did. The poverty, but the immense joy. The lack of food, and the hunger the people had for 'something more' in life. The way they lived, and the way they loved. Seeing people come to know Jesus. Seeing people's hearts on the way towards mending.
We packed our things and said goodbye. Vowed to come back someday. There were tears, and gifts were exchanged. Our whole team was empowered and inspired - exhausted and ready for the next stage in life.
All I wanna say is that God holds all life in the palm of His hand. He is the only source of lasting love and comfort and joy. I'll be back someday and not because I can change their world, but because God can.
