AN OPEN MISSIONARY LETTER TO CCR

Arrival at Kikago Airport

Dear CCR Family,

It is still hard to belief.   We wake up in the morning and it feels like a dream to be in Kikago (Chicago).   Yet this is real.   God called us to leave Rwanda to begin a missionary journey in Kikago.    Thank you for the blessing of our Send Off.   We have gone as your missionaries to serve Africa’s Great Lakes Diaspora in North America.   We are back to the early missionary days of learning to live, establishing a home, making friends, and praying for God’s guidance.    Out of this process came all that was good about journey in Rwanda.  We trust God will bless the same process in Kikago.

We have been fortunate to live in a 4-bedroom furnished apartment at a very low cost in the lovely Kikago suburb of Wheaton.   We are only 2 blocks away from Wheaton College.   Our oldest daughter, Sophia is home with us through her vacation.   In August she’ll begin Wheaton’s “In Chicago” program and actually be over an hour away from us on 2 different train rides.   We are savoring this season of us all being together again. 

Our air shipment has arrived with memories from our Great Lakes.    Our house is feeling more like home.   We hope some of you can visit us in the future.   We’re a bit tight, but can always find a little space for all of you.

Celebrating Sophia's 20th Birthday in Kikago with no power, but a fire

We’ve twice been without power since moving to Kikago.   Both times electrical lines were broken due to storms.   We enjoyed posting our power loss on Facebook and giggled at expatriates in Kigali who share every detail that makes Rwanda look a bit less than ideal.    Our neighbors and we did umuganda.   Our family joined another neighbor with a fire at night to have some light and conversations.   In a way we felt at home in the community, resiliency, and laughter of a 17 hour power outage.   (Some of our Kikago neighbors were without power for 4 days with no generator or inverter.)

Our kids are adjusting.  Ethan has been playing football (American soccer).  Also, today we registered him to begin the 10^th grade at Wheaton North High School.   We were proud of him that he chose more difficult academic subjects.  

Caleb is registering to attend the College of DuPage in August.  He plans to take dual credit courses that can be transferred back to KICS for graduation while also earning university credit.   We are proud of his resilient adaptation.

Ruth is taking a ballet class once per week and also frequently at Wheaton’s public library.  She has a way of bringing graceful beauty to our adaptation.

Timothy has done 2 football (American soccer) and 1 track (Athletics) camps.   He seems to be one of the fastest boys his age.

With all of us there are some struggles to adjust to America.   Home is not here.   Home is heaven.    Everything else is temporary.   Thank you for your care in our temporary situations and your prayers and concern for our family. 

We are in the process of finding a local church to place roots.   Thankfully, we have many good churches from which to choose.   In some ways, we seem to have too many choices.    We do not know exactly what God intends for us to do in Kikago, but we believe we first must find a church home so that we have others near us who can guide our discovery.   

As we go on this journey God has been surprising us with African friends.   We’ve met African missionaries a bit older than us who have settled in Kikago.  We need our bzee and they are nearby.

Also, on our first Sunday as we walked through a church parking lot we made eye contact with a familiar looking Rwandese family.   They asked, “Are you the pastor in Gaculiro?”   We visited and found they had moved from Kigali to Kikago a little before our journey and that they had in the past visited at CCR.  We’ve since been visiting each other and enjoying our shared journey.   Without a Sovereign God how could this happen?

Another time, Dave was driving through our neighborhood and thought he saw an angel.   A woman from our Great Lakes was walking with a hoe on her shoulder, baby on her back, and a bucket of dodo in her hand.    After convincing himself she was human, Dave greeted her.    Later we visited her family and found they were Barundi refugees by way of Congo and Tanzania.

This past weekend we had our first house guests, Yves Ntare Musiine and Nicole Kamana.   Dave will be performing their wedding in a few weeks in Indianapolis.   We enjoyed some extra time with them to plan for their future marriage.

We have yet to visit all of your family and friends in Kikago, but trust we will at the appropriate time.   We continue to discover that God has prepared the field in Kikago before we arrived.   There are Great Lakes Diaspora here from students to refugees to professionals.    One of the umudugudus near our own has their English signs translated to Kiswahili.  We sense we are just where God needs us to be for His glory.

You are frequently in our thoughts and prayers.   Thank you for the privilege of pastoring you.   Now thank you for the privilege of representing you as a missionary.   We miss worship at CCR and hunger for a day in eternity in which all nations and generations will worship together.

Imana ikurinde,

Dave and Jana

P.S.  We plan to see Gabriel Mugisha Jacobs in a few weeks and will pass on your greetings and post photos to Facebook.

OUR CCR FAREWELL BLESSING

As our family faces missionary adjustment in Kikago, USA we cling to the Farewell Blessing CCR gave us on our last Sunday.   Thank you for your love and care through our years in Rwanda.   Words cannot convey our appreciation.   Following is the Farewell Blessing spoken by CCR Senior Pastor, Brett Shreck.

Dave and Jana

Ecclesiastes 3:

For everything there is a season,a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.A time to embrace and a time to depart…

Our Senior Pastor, Dave Jenkins, his wife Jana and their children Caleb, Ethan, Ruth and Timothy are leaving us to follow another call in their life. Today is a time to mark the ending of their ministry here at Christ’s Church Rwanda and the beginning of their ministry in the Chicago area; it is a time to look back, and a time to look forward; a time for joy, and a time for sadness. It is a time to give thanks and praise to God for what the Jenkins have given us in our lives together.

Caleb, Ethan, Ruth, Timothy and Sophia who has gone on to university have all played an important role at CCR. We thank you for your willingness to share your home, your meals and your parents with us. We thank you for your faith and for the godly men and women we see you becoming. We thank you for your service and ministry to the church and to others. We appreciate that it can be difficult and a challenge at times to be the pastor’s children, and we want to let you know that you have handled that role with humility, dignity and strength of character. You have been a vital part of this church family and you will be missed. 

Dave and Jana, we thank you for your service to God, to CCR and to each one of us. Over these last seven years you have been our fellow workers in Christ. You have provided counseling, teaching and friendship. You were called by God to pastor us, to proclaim his Word, to baptize new believers and to announce the love and forgiveness Christ offers.

You have joined us in celebrating marriages, new births and adoptions. You have comforted us in times of sickness, sorrow and at the death of our loved ones.

You have provided leadership and guidance. At times you have challenged us. You have helped us mark our direction and have encouraged us along the way. 

Together we have served the Lord and shared in each other’s joys and sorrows. You have been important to us in our life together in Christ’s Church. You will be missed.

Offer the blessing:

That God will protect you and keep you. That he will go before you and prepare your path that you might live in joy and peace. That you will take comfort in the knowledge that his plan is one to prosper you and not to harm you. That his plan gives you a hope and a future. That you will find rest in the presence of the Lord who is with you always, even to the end of the age. And that your family will be blessed with righteousness by faith from generation to generation forever more. Amen.

1st Month in the USA

We have been in the U.S for a little over a month and are slowly getting settled. We flew directly into Chicago and Sophia and my Dad and a college friend of Dave's were at the airport to pick us up.

We stayed in a furnish apartment for the first 4 days while we waited to enter our furnished duplex that is slowly becoming home. My parents were with us for our first week and were a big help as we moved in to our Missionary Furlough home here in Wheaton,IL. It is a 4 bedroom duplex with finished basement which has a 2nd living room which is such a blessing. The place is fully furnished down to the linens and kitchen stuff! Our small air shipment has arrived and we have turned our downstairs den into our African hideaway! ( I still have several picture to hang and hope to have that done soon) I love our new place we are calling home and the only downside is we have one full bathroom( that is 1 shower for the 7 of us) but thankfully we do have a 2nd toilet!

We are really enjoying Wheaton! I had only visited this area for a day and a half so was not sure how much I was going to like it. I maybe still in the " I love everything" stage of culture shock but I am really enjoying it here. Wheaton has all the charm of small town America ( with her cute shops , restaurants and coffee houses) and then a short 45 minute train ride you are in downtown Chicago which is a really fun large urban place. I have already been 3 times to the city. We went once as a family and Sophia showed us around and we did a bunch of tourist stuff. The 2nd time was on Father's Day and we went to a Ugandan communities picnic! So much fun being with Ugandan's and of course the women put on a spread for the Fathers. We all commented it was like being with 40 Teopistas! Then the 3rd time it was just Dave , Sophia and I that went to see a play for Sophia's birthday.

The kids seem to be doing well so far. Timothy is in his 2nd soccer camp,  Ruth is enjoying the library and taking ballet classes,Ethan is doing summer soccer,Caleb is busy looking for a job, and all of the kids plus Dave are enjoying biking on all the fun bike trails around. We also became members of a community gym and I am enjoying going to strength training classes and Zumba!

We also have been busy just trying to set up for life here--visiting Churches( looking for our new church home), Drs appointments for school physicals and insurance, getting kids all registered for school and learning to shop -- with all the choices!

We have met several Rwandan and Burundian families that live close to us in an apartment complex. The funny thing is that there is both Swahili and English on the signs at the apartment. Who new we would live so close to an African community in the U.S.

We are having our first guests this weekend -- a couple that Dave is going to perform their Wedding in Aug from Rwanda but living in Indiana.

We miss our porch, pleasant weather, friends and worship at CCR!

THE NECESSITY OF OUTSIDE IN VOICES

On 27 February I wrote a column entitled, “The polarizing perceptions of Rwanda.” In the column I compared Rwanda’s leaders to historical figures that Jewish and Christian theologians call, “post-exilic prophets.” Approximately 2,600 years ago, the nation of Judah was in exile. While in exile her brightest youth became masters of foreign thought, language, and culture while never giving up their national identity. After exile they returned, and built systematic institutions of security, education, business, and religion. In the process their voices polarized the known world. They spoke as outsiders with inside understanding. The term prophet refers not so much to their mystical ability to predict the future as it does to their gifts of profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.

Allow me to use another term to describe why Rwanda is so polarizing – missionary. I am not writing purely about odd foreigners with romantic ideals, colorful personalities, and strong convictions. I am writing about a much older definition. One of my favorite seminary professors, Dr. Ed Mathews defined missionaries as “one sent by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of communication that creates followers of Jesus.” Let me make the definition more pragmatic. A missionary is one sent in God’s perfect timing with message. He is an outside in voice.

Though few dare use the term missionary to describe when Rwanda’s leaders speak to world powers who consider themselves gods, I think it is quite appropriate to use the term missionary to describe Rwanda’s role as an outside in voice. As can be expected those who consider themselves gods respond in polarizing ways when their godhood is threatened.

The catch about missionaries is that every culture needs them. Without an outside in voice not only does a culture slip morally it slips economically. Even the great economic power, the United States of America needs outside in voices to economically thrive. Some of America’s brightest economic minds are now arguing one way to restore America’s economy is through immigration reform. When economics meets good religious reasoning the term becomes economic missionaries. All cultures need an outside in voice to see a new possibility and launch entrepreneurial endeavors. The ethnicity, nationality, and race of these outside in voices is irrelevant. What is relevant is that they come sent with a message that is transformational.

From Rwanda’s current government, business, and religious leaders to her brightest youth scattered in the world’s top universities many Banyarwanda meet the definition of missionary. Conversely, there are many in Rwanda who look like traditional missionaries and are missionaries.

My best atheist and agnostic friends in the Great Lakes have whispered to me, “What is the deal with these missionary characters? Do they really hear God’s voice? Do they have some hidden agenda? How do they benefit from being here?” I am thankful for friends willing to be candid.

Jenkins' family Sent by CCR to North America

Please allow me to be candid. My mzee professor got it right. Is there evidence they have been sent? If no one from their country of origin is willing to raise their hand, and say, “We sent them,” they are not a missionary. Instead they are delusional. If they don’t have a message that inspires with its hope and goodness they are not missionaries. If their actions do not lead to transformation of a culture in all its many facets – education, business, and leadership – they are not missionaries. Some who claim to be missionaries are not missionaries. They and Rwanda are best served with a gentle conversation that leads to a quiet departure.

Yet, the vast majority of those who claim to be missionaries are speaking gentle transformational messages and building generational endurance. I am very thankful to have been considered such honor as mine, and to have served in the Great Lakes for so many years with so many inspirational comrades. They heard God’s call to leave all comforts of home. They came with no personal agenda. Their reward has been many earthly friendships and the hope of heaven.

Lunch with Clarisse Irabagiza in Cyikago (Chicago)

Many have asked our family as we transition back to our passport country, “Do you need to go?” We leave called. We would much rather stay in Rwanda. Yet, our community needs us in another location. Our parents have not had us consistently near them for 19 years, are getting old, and we need to be near. Our children are reaching university age in cultural transition, and need us near. The institutions we have built must be stronger than us. In order to become God’s intent we must relinquish the institution’s leadership. Lastly, we sense God wants us near the many Banyarwanda youth we have been fortunate to facilitate studying in the USA. We leave our home of Rwanda as missionaries to the USA because of our hope in our heavenly home.

My boss once spoke about this odd relationship as the ones who receive a missionary become missionaries themselves and inherit missionary rewards. He said, “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded (Matthew 10:40-42, New Living Translation.)”

Seven years ago, our family entered Rwanda with an idea of beginning an English based church with a good children’s program. All we had was a few friends who sent us and a few Banyarwanda friends who received us. The results have been more honor than a single man is due. If honor must be given to humanity it should be given to the community who accepted us as friends, nurtured our lives, dreamed, and labored with us. We are immensely grateful.

This is the last column I will write for Focus as a Rwanda resident for this season of life. Thank you for such a thrilling journey. I will go as your missionary to the USA. I will seek to be near your youth and give them my best pastoral care. I trust you will continue to share your abundant grace and kindness to my fellow missionaries. I also trust that the Lord will continue to use you as missionaries to our world’s powers. May God bless all.

WHO IS ON THE OTHER SIDE?

Yesterday we got through one of the scariest moments for missionaries - Who will be on "The Other Side?"  As we step off a plane in a city with few friends and start over.   Thankfully, yesterday it was Sophia Jenkins running with flowers and hugs, Gaston and Jan Tarbet plus Marsha Vaughn with vehicles, and then a quick trip to a temporary furnished home.  

In March 1993 it was Debra Carr for us at Entebbe.

On June 22, 2005 it was KIST staff in Kanombe.

A few years ago, we were doing the same for Jeff and Cheryl Cash.   You need to read their blog to see our common shared journey.   http://www.gentlyled.blogspot.com/2012/06/pushing-through-doors.html

We are so thankful and blessed by so many in our shared journeys.

Dave

JENKINS' FAREWELL DINNER THIS FRIDAY

Dear Friends in Rwanda,

Our family’s departure from Rwanda for this season is rapidly approaching.     On Monday, 4 June we will fly from Kigali to Chicago believing God has called us to go as missionaries from Rwanda to serve Great Lakes Diaspora in North America. 

Farewells have never been easy for us.    However, we recognize that with the limitations of this present age they are part of life.    God looks from heaven upon the troubles of man.   He sees the unfinished tasks in our community.  Then He calls individuals to leave all that is known and comfortable to serve others.   Farewells and awkward moments are part of this age as we await a new one.

Rwanda has been exceedingly kind to us.   There is no way we can repay the kindness.   However, we can say goodbye well.   Then we reside in hope.    It is our hope that our season away from Rwanda will be brief.  Beyond this hope is a hope in a day in which death will have no further hold upon man.  

Because of these hopes farewells are celebrations.   A new day is coming. 

Christ’s Church in Rwanda is hosting a Farewell Dinner for our family this Friday, 1 June at 6:00 p.m.   The cost for adults will be 5,000 RWF and children 3,000 RWF.    It would give our family great pleasure if you could join us that evening.

If you are able to attend please inform GAKIRE Vivian (0788-535-771); Nsenga Eron (0788-309-070); or NYAGAHURA Marguerite (0788-638-045.

Imana ikurinde,

Dave and Jana

GREAT LAKE'S COMMON SENSE COMPASSION

The last few weeks I’ve noticed our region’s media poking fun at Kenyan funerals and political maneuvering. Humanity has a dark side. Sometimes we use sympathy as a means to manipulate for selfish gain. Possibly Kenyan politicians are the worst at it. Yet, if Kenyan politicians do it, we all do it. There are nuances from district to district, and nation to nation. Yet, certain patterns of behavior are consistent from Mombasa to Bujumbura. When one dies we all gather to support the grieving.

A funeral service: Some of my peers and juniors have pointed out that funerals are the places where old wounds are healed so they don’t become generational cycles of revenge. (file photo)

My wife Jana’s childhood was spent in Kenya. We are in Nairobi a few times every year. We learned our basics of Great Lakes’ cultural understanding and good manners in Kenya. We’re offended at any who would manipulate sympathy for selfish maneuvering. Yet, we also are not convinced that every funeral is just an opportunity for manipulation. What if funerals are one of the events of life to display our common sense Great Lakes’ compassion?

Those who taught me Great Lakes’ culture told me that when a community member passes we all stop and do all we can to support the family. In their whispers they told me that those living in the fear of shadows would conclude we had sought the deceased’s death if we did not attend the funeral. Yet, they also taught us it is just good manners to attend and support. Some of my peers and juniors have pointed out that funerals are the places where old wounds are healed so they don’t become generational cycles of revenge. They have also pointed out that in the memories of the deceased the most important life lessons are taught. Missing a funeral is missing our community’s opportunity to remember the past with hope for the future.
My youth was spent in Uganda in the early 1990’s as AIDS decimated a generation. It seemed rare not to have a funeral per week to attend. At times I wondered if the social obligation to attend funerals wasn’t crippling both government efficiency and economic prosperity. Funerals were the trump card to miss professional obligations.

The season has changed, but Great Lakes’ common sense compassion remains.

On Monday, 21 May my family was startled to read on Facebook and over email that an old family friend, Berkeley Hackett, had passed. He was 70 years old, but as fit as many men half his age. He was a missionary peer of Jana’s parents and like an uncle to her. He had not sought personal prestige, but had built churches, schools, and scholarship programs. His life’s jewel, Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute seemed to be the source for both some of Kenya’s better basketball and computer brains.
We had no other choice. We boarded a flight on Thursday 24 May for the funeral on Friday 25 May. In the back of my mind I wondered if our region’s media cynics were right. What would the memorial bring?

As we reached Jomo Kenyatta’s Airports Immigration lines we wrote “Funeral” as our purpose of visit and “1 night” as our intended length of stay. The Immigration official asked a question and then pushed back our $50 USD payment for a Visitor’s Visa. This was a Transit Visa he concluded that would only cost $20 USD. He told us, “This is my decision and not policy. Don’t ask for this another time. Yet, thank you for traveling for a funeral. Let me help.”

I went to trade money with a Swahili and obviously Muslim family. They asked why I was in Kenya and I told them a funeral. They asked, “Who? What happened?” They concluded by asking Allah’s blessings on our journey.

The funeral was in Eastleigh. The road was a disaster. In the end we left our taxi and walked 3 blocks through the mud. Before we reached the church building the road returned to tarmac. A poor woman noticed Jana’s dirty sandaled feet, stopped her clothes washing, and washed Jana’s feet before we entered the church compound. This was no religious ceremony, but just Kenya’s best hospitality.

Facebook walls allow those of us with diverse friends who never meet to now do on our wall what we only once could do at funerals. Yet funerals are in a way much better. Social media helps us stay aware. Humanity still needs to hear words, laugh, cry, sing, dance, and touch. Funerals are that place.

Berkeley passed away in a gym shortly after exercise in the presence of Kenya’s 1988 Olympian DouglasWakiihuri. Douglas told the story of his gym friend. Most of us had no idea they were friends.

There were many speeches. Jana saw an old Kenyan pastoral friend, Johnstone Kapa. After the funeral he repeated his request for our family to return to Kenya to live and work. A Kenyan future seems unlikely for us, but it is good to be remembered and welcomed.

As predicted by media cynics there was a political presence. Kenya’s Minister of Education, Mutula Kilonzo’s daughter spoke. Her dad’s schedule kept him occupied, but she told stories of old. Berkeley was her dad’s friend when he was beginning a legal career and had yet to enter politics. He sent his daughter to remember a friend who “led from the back.”

The media cynics may be right about some who use funerals as a way to manipulate community sympathy. Yet, I still believe they reflect the best of our Great Lakes’ common sense compassion. When there is a community loss we all hurt. We respond by coming together to support the family. In the process we remember the past and find the future.

A few years ago I attended a funeral in Rwanda that I’ll never forget. A loved one had passed away abroad. The body was brought back to be buried at home. In the process a scattered extended family gathered from both our Great Lakes region plus Europe and North America. After the funeral 2 couples pulled me aside. Neither had ever had a “church wedding” in the presence of their complete extended family. For the next few days a possibility existed. On a Tuesday night in Kigali I performed a small intimate double wedding.
I had lunch that Tuesday with a media friend who writes for a Kenyan-based paper. He asked me what I was doing that evening. I told him a double wedding. He first thought it was a joke. Then I told the story. My friend smiled, and we both delighted at the power of Great Lakes’ common sense compassion. We knew the tragedy of a past that had left an extended family fragmented. Yet what could be better than a double wedding for a reunited family after a funeral?

A few may manipulate our sympathy. Yet Great Lakes’ common sense compassion is the substance of our lives. In it we find hope