God Qualifies the Called
Written by: Stephen Henrich
The Bible is full of stories of God calling unlikely people to do great things for him - things that they simply could not have done without Him. It has been said that "God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called." God did just that today when, in a very moving service at the Kigali Kimironko church, the members of the AWHI team were all ordained as missionaries for Harvest Christian Church.
Pastors from every corner of Rwanda were present to pray over and lay hands on Matusi Heidi, Mutimukeye Jenn, Mbabazi Liz and Cyuzuzo Stephen. Becoming a missionary for Harvest Christian does not change our primary mission - to support women's cooperatives in East Africa and break the cycle of poverty- but it gives us the responsibility and the authority to advocate for other needs or prayer requests that we encounter. And there are many! From pre-school teachers who work unpaid to the desire for land to build a church and classrooms, the needs are too many to list. Rest assured that we will be reaching out and advocating for our Rwandan friends! With God's help and in His timing, prayers will be answered!
After the service we met with one of the most resourceful and successful groups of women so far! The small cooperative from Kabuga (10 women) received training from the Bishop's team, qualified for a $400 savings bonus and used that bonus to provide microloans to every member. These ladies immediately used the funds to increase their capital and to gain space in the marketplace to sell their wares. Now in their third cycle of loans, the personal savings in this group has grown remarkably!
Bishop Theophile decided that this group should receive $50 microloans this year and they were ecstatic! Number one on their prayer request list was increasing their capital and already God had answered their prayer!
We also participated in a fellowship exercise with the Kabuga women by giving one of our custom AWHI puzzles with bible verses on the backs of the pieces and AWHI donor names. They loved randomly selecting pieces and seeing which verse was on the reverse side. And then, true to their industrious nature, they completed about 1/4 of the puzzle before it was time to leave!
The puzzles were so much more successful than this blogger ever imagined they'd be. I had faith the size of a mustard seed on this and God made it one of the highlights of our trip! Do not delay next fall in signing up for a puzzle piece. The women absolutely loved them and will pray for you by name!
It's our last day and we leave for the airport late tonight. God certainly saved the best for last. We are thankful to Him for a day that will live in our memories for many years.
Praise God!
