One of the most important parts of our mission as followers of Jesus is to demonstrate hope! If we are honest, we will all admit that life is hard. It rarely works out the way that we think it will. Despite the struggle, we believe that God is providentially orchestrating all of it—by His grace and for His glory!
Paul encouraged the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago to keep their hearts anchored in hope. He wrote,“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). In 2019, let me ask you: Are you “overflowing in hope?”
At Hope Haven Rwanda, many of our teachers reflect hope. They not only offer hope to their students, they share it with our volunteers as well. We recently had the opportunity to honor one of our amazing teachers, Etienne, for his robust collaboration in the classroom. Mary Jo, a project manager now working in New York City, served alongside Etienne in the classroom for several weeks. She and Etienne operated seamlessly together, serving students, growing in understanding from each other and revealing the power of different parts of the Body of Christ working together!
Etienne is a model teacher, paving the way for dozens of others who host hundreds of volunteers at Hope Haven Rwanda each year. Serving as a “bridge” between our ministry here in Rwanda and committed investors in the United States, Etienne invested the time and focus required to orient Mary Jo to our best practices and to learn from her.
At the end of her experience in Rwanda, Mary Jo formed deep bonds with many students in Etienne’s class and even chose to personally join the Kugaba Initiative so that she could invest relationally in one student long-term.
We are so proud of our strong teaching staff. They not only demonstrate the highest level of competency in the classroom (as evidenced by our recent top-level scores in National Examinations), but they also genuinely love their students and know that they are part of demonstrating the love, hope and truth of Jesus Christ to this vulnerable community. We hire for character as well as competency—and that makes all the difference!
Our prayer is that we can infuse this community with the hope of Jesus Christ as they face an uncertain future. I pray that God will call you to share a transfusion of hope this week to someone you know. May God give you the grace you need to go and “overflow with hope!”