This is Moise (MO-ease, also known as Moses.)

He is from Burundi.  (Burundi is a small country bordering Rwanda on the south.  The countries share similar culture, language, and history.)

As the time came closer for us to come to Rwanda, we understood that we would be asked to staff the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that starts here in January.  We had some hesitations about this, mostly because we did not want to be thrust into a teaching role in a culture we are just beginning to understand.  I believe that the kingdom of God transcends culture in so many ways, but God has also given us much freedom and creativity not only as indivuduals, but in how we create cultures.  We don’t want to disciple people to be Canadian followers of Christ, but to be followers of Christ who live expressing the unique way God has created them.

SO… we prayed that there would be someone to work with us.  Someone who could lead the school, who would be capable, confident, and humble.  Someone who could help translate culture for us, whom we could learn from and who could learn from us. Someone sensitive, compassionate, and considerate who is also a good communicator.

Someone with a good sense of humour.  Someone who is willing to take on challenges (even if he is a little fearful). Someone who could become a good friend – that we would be a good team in part because we genuinely enjoy serving together.

As we have begun to work with Moise for the DTS he has already been (diligently) preparing for, it has become quickly apparent that our prayers have indeed been answered.  We are confident that there are times ahead where we will disagree and probably frustrate each other.  However, Moise is all that we have asked for, and I am sure we will discover that he is far more than we have hoped or imagined.