A Letter from Rwanda

June 2nd is fast approaching.  This date marks the wedding anniversary for my wife, Stacey, and I.  This particular June 2nd will be our 10th wedding anniversary.  It is also another anniversary.  Just a few short weeks after we were married we "adopted" our first child.  We decided to sponsor a young boy from Rwanda, named Gikundiro, through Compassion International.  His birthday is in July and at the time he was eight, just about to turn nine.  Now he is eighteen, just about to turn nineteen!  We pray for Gikundiro and his family every day.

Over the years we have had our own children.  We have been blessed with two beautiful girls, Emma (almost seven) and Ana (three).  At night when we pray as a family we always pray for Gikundiro and his family.  My girls are always quick to interject if they think that we have forgotten to mention him  They quickly chime in, "Dad, don't forget Gikundiro in Rwanda."  It has been really neat to see my little girls connect with this now grown man many thousands of miles away.  Even though they never met, my girls have a brother named Gikundiro.  They send him pictures that they color and he asks about them in his letters.  It's awesome to expose my girls to this at a young age.  I pray that this becomes "normal" for them when they are adults.  AS Christians we need to always be thinking both locally and globally because both are under the domain of God.

We recently just received another letter from Gikundiro and this letter touched my heart probably more than the other previous letters.  This letter demonstrated some answered prayer.  Whenever we pray for Gikundiro one of the things we ask God for is to guide him in such a way that he will be used to further God's kingdom among his own people of Rwanda.  This is a snippet from his most recent letter that struck me:

The [Compassion] project takes good care of us.  They teach us the word of God.  Read Matthew 9:2-3.  I am studying well.  We have a small church at school, and I am a leader in this church.  I end up wishing you to stay in Jesus.  Let him lead you.

Typing these words continue to stir my heart.  When we began to support him he was a young child and now he is a man.  At first his future was a little uncertain but now he is a leader in a church family.  I find it awesome that he sends us words of encouragement!  I am touched and humbled by this relationship separated by a few thousand miles. 

Truth be told, it seems to easy.  The impact on Gikundiro's life costs us less than an average monthly cable TV bill each month.  It also takes a little time set aside in prayer and the occasional letter writing.  But what an impact.  I thank God for this relationship and the growth in my son in the faith who lives in Rwanda.