God’s Love Doesn’t Need to be Spoken in Order to be Felt - Our Team’s First Day in Kigali

Day 2: Hermond Church

Written by: Jen Coppinger

The second we arrived in Kigali, we were being served. Wait a minute…didn’t we come here TO serve, not to BE served? The love that these beautiful, Rwandan people show is beyond words, but I’m going to try to put it in words anyhow. It is their FIRST nature to be of service, in an extremely genuine way. Is it my first nature to be of service, or is it my second or third, as long as it is comfortable for me? Wow, I’m already so humbled.

When we arrived in Boston, the 7 of us fumbled and bumbled with our 21 pieces of luggage, to find carts, to load them from the curbside, and push them through the airport. They were falling off our carts and I think I broke out in a sweat more than once. Fast forward almost 24 hours and we land in Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda. We walk downstairs to baggage claim and there were about 5 men with carts, and 75 percent of our luggage already loaded on. They helped us to our cars and loaded the luggage and again, they did all the heavy lifting. They really would not allow us to pick up one bag. 

This morning I woke up with a terrible headache and nausea. When Bishop Theo came to our villa this morning, he became very concerned with my health and wanted to pray for me. Before I knew it, a gentleman was walking through the door with two types of tonic for me to choose from so that it could help with my nausea. 

I can’t even begin to express the greeting we received when we showed up at church this morning. Wait…let me back up…we were actually initially greeted by the sounds of singing and praise to the Lord. You could hear it through the streets, bellowing out the windows and doors of the church. Is this what Heaven is going to be like? We made our way in and we were greeted by hugs and smiles and “welcome” and, “You are our family, we love you and this is your home.” It was overwhelming. It was the most beautiful experience of my life. A whole room of people that spoke a different language than us, but yet at that moment we were all speaking the same language from our hearts; gratitude, love, kinship, Jesus. We didn’t need words. It was the action of love and humanity, it spoke so loud.

Our first full day in Kigali and the message was, “Are we setting an example of a Christian, by being like Jesus?” Are we living to appease God or please God? Everything I’ve learned about seeing others through the eyes of Christ, everything I’ve ever experienced about that all came to fruition here in Rwanda. I see these people through the eyes of Christ. It’s beyond powerful. I came here knowing very little about this culture, their way of life, politics and their language. It was like a blank canvas and they poured color all over it today, the brightest colors you can imagine.

I have a feeling this week is going to grow me more than anything has up to this point in my life. We are all so blessed to be experiencing this and be to be transformed in this unique way from the inside out. We are here to serve, and be served and that is what it is all about in God’s kingdom. It doesn’t matter who has what or how much. Without the love of Christ to share with others, we are all in poverty.  There is a gift that has been given to us today that costs nothing. I’m excited to keep learning how to be a better servant this week from our new friends. It’s really as simple as that.

Our team toured the Hotel des Mille Collines at the end of the day. The hotel was at the center of the movie, Hotel Rwanda. It housed about twelve hundred people during the genocide in 1994. The team found this painting below inside the hotel which is thought to resemble the Rwandan people.

A painting inside the Hotel des Mille Collines