Relearning an Old Lesson.

There is a joke in my small group, and among many Christians in general, that you shouldn't pray for patience - God will answer! In all seriousness, patience is a lesson that I think God has been teaching me for a long time now. I often joke with people that it is a lesson I have learned well and would God move on to a new lesson already?! I know that there is a reason for the lesson and all the waiting. I believe that God is using circumstances in my life to shape and mold me into who he wants me to be, into the person he can use. Sometimes I wish I knew more about his purposes, but I have faith that he has a purpose.



This morning I had coffee with an old friend, David. He was one of my best friends when I lived here before and I saw him nearly every day. He is very busy with work but he had this morning off so we met downtown. We talked about a lot of things; people we both know, the goings on in our lives since we saw each other last, how Rwanda has changed etc. One conversation was centered on past experiences here in Rwanda and how you need to have patience to work here. He admitted that even as a Rwandan sometimes he ran out of patience when working with Rwandans - people say yes when they mean no, they don't always take deadlines as seriously as you do, and generally things take longer than we might like. So you need to have patience.


This afternoon I was finally supposed to have my first interview with a policy and advocacy analyst at a Rwandan civil society organization. I was excited because finally I was going to get some real data, do something tangible on my research. That is why I'm here!! I went early to the appointment because I was not sure if I would be able to find the building easily. I had general directions - near that embassy, across from this building, opposite that building and beside this building. It turned out to be much easier than i thought so I called to see if he was available earlier but he was out of the office for a meeting and could we push it ahead to an hour from now? Sure, no problem. I decided to explore that area of town as I hadn't been there much before and I found out where a few ministries are that will be important down the road. It was a beautiful hot day so it was not a big deal. I found myself at a familiar hotel so I went to have a drink of fanta by the pool while I waited. Then I got another phone call - the meeting had gone long and could we please reschedule until tomorrow? No problem.

I knew when I was preparing to come here that things would not happen as quickly as I wanted them to. I knew that I would have to wait for appointments and that meetings would be postponed and rescheduled sometimes a couple of times. I knew that I would need to have patience.