Email from Dave

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement of the last week. Timothy spent a day last week on an I.V. drip. His fever broke. He is still coughing, but he is improving. Also, it appears that water only runs in our neighborhood about once every one to two weeks. We have a water storage tank that will last for about 5 days. We are trucking water into our home to stay supplied with water. I wrote the following letter to tell about my favorite oldest daughter’s birthday party. I hope you find it enjoyable reading.
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July 1, 1992 is a historic day in Jenkins’ family history. On this day, my favorite oldest daughter, Sophia was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has lived up to her name, and frequently amazed me with the wisdom that comes from her young mouth. Her social and cultural skills are exceptional, and she seems to be nothing more than an updated version of her mother, Jana. She is one of my favorite critics, and I know I can always count on her to tell me whether God really is speaking through my teaching and sermons. On of my favorite memories of her after church was her saying, “Dad. I usually don’t pay much attention to your sermons, but that was a really good one. You need to preach more like that.” Though she has great social grace, she also knows the value of tough lone decisions. One of my favorite memories of her involved a Saturday in which I was asked to resolve conflict in a local sports league in Kampala. At the end of the day, it seemed I did not have a single friend left. Sophia watched the whole thing. At the end of the day, she saw my weariness, and said, “You made the right decision, dad. The people from the other team really appreciated it. They thanked me for you after the game.” She was right, and in a few days, local radio stations were affirming the decisions. God has been exceptionally kind to us to have given us such a daughter.

July 1, 2005 was another historic day in Jenkins’ family history. After a little more than a week in Rwanda, my favorite oldest daughter, Sophia turned 13, and entered into a new stage of life. This is a time of many new beginnings for our family. Allow me to walk you through some of the journey that involves my favorite sermon critic.

Jana and I have dreamed and prayed about Rwanda since our first trip in 1999. We had always thought our role in the evangelism of Rwanda would be one of prayer and emotional and some logistic support for the first missionaries from Churches of Christ to enter Rwanda. Instead, God had different plans. One of our family presuppositions is that effective ministry comes from the strength of our family. We can not ignore our children, build “successful ministries” and expect for God to bless our family unfaithfulness. Practically, we have always tried to as much as possible incorporate our children into all that we do. In fact, as time has gone on, and on those rare occasions in which African church leaders reflect on what we have done to make the biggest impact on their lives they usually talk about the example of our family. Rarely, do I hear them talking about great sermons, ministry leadership, or cultural understanding (the usual sources of missionary pride.)

In the summer of 2003 I was privileged to travel to Rwanda with a group of university interns, Ugandan missionaries, and Sam Shewmaker for a survey. We would be gone for about a week, and I out of habit avoid travel away from my family. Jana and the younger children were unable to travel, but Sophia and Caleb were able to travel. Thus I brought them along. I had to argue just a little to include them in the group, and in one of my typical grouchy moments remarked, “These kids have more African experience than any intern. Their insight will be better. Also, after waiting 4 years for someone to take responsibility to go to Rwanda, maybe we ought to consider that our children are more likely to enter Rwanda as long-term missionaries than our interns.” I had no idea how prophetic my words were. The trip was wonderful, and again left me dreaming. Sophia, Caleb, and I enjoyed the drive, meeting Rwandan friends, and took a couple days away from the entourage to swim at a local pool and play catch on the beaches of Lake Kivu. I walked away thinking that Rwanda would provide a pleasant environment to raise a family. Sophia, Caleb, and I discussed what it would be like to move to Rwanda. (However, we continued to believe that it would be someone else other than us who God would give this grace to.)

The decision to take Caleb and Sophia to Rwanda in the summer of 2003 may have been one of the better decisions I made that summer. Last year as Jana and I wrestled with whether to move to Rwanda, we were able to include Sophia and Caleb in the decision. Again, Sophia’s simple wisdom spoke volumes to our decision. “Dad, there are lots of missionaries in Uganda. There are none in Rwanda. Some one needs to go. Dad, it will be tough, but we are the Jenkins. We can do this. Dad, I don’t remember what it was like to start the Kampala church. I want see it happen when I am old enough to remember it.” (I surveyed my 90 students at Oklahoma Christian this Spring Semester, and only 3 had ever seen a church planted. I pondered what we were doing for the future of evangelism if so few had ever practically conceptualized evangelism and church planting.)

However, to move to a new location with a teenager is quite a challenge, especially into a new country and culture where we had no ministry infrastructure to support us. Some would consider our timing to be unwise. However, the place of greatest safety in this world is in the will of God. Too many seeming coincidences have happened in the last year for us not to believe this decision is the will of God. God gave us an exceptional daughter. Allow us to tell about her 13^th birthday party. It may be the most significant event in our family’s history in 2005.

One of the most insightful summaries of ministry I have read says it is just being people’s friends, praying, and teaching God’s word. Sometimes we create plans and programs as a way to hide our relationship laziness. Thus we have arrived in Rwanda determined to make friends, and praying that God leads us to people who we can both give and receive a blessing from.

On June 20, our family got our last free moments before stepping onto an airplane at the Mall of America. Caleb, Ethan, Timothy, and I went looking for a birthday present for Sophia. We found a pair of earrings in a horseshoe design that seemed perfect for Sophia. We carefully hid them in our hand luggage, and headed for Rwanda.

When we found our home it appeared to be an almost perfect location for practicing the joyful discipline of hospitality. During our first week in Rwanda, our family began the process of visiting old friends, and making new ones. As we went through this process we invited people to our home on July 1. We were unsure what to expect, but the Lord brought just the right combination of people. We were blessed, Sophia celebrated a transition, and hopefully those who attended were also blessed.

On June 30 we frantically scrambled in our planning to host a party in a home we had only lived in for a week. We bought a cake, sodas, samosas (sort of Indian mini-hamburgers), and fruit to make a salad. Our American friends gathered ice cream. In the wee hours of the night, I found that I had hidden Sophia’s birthday present so well that I could not remember where I hid it. After a couple hours of searching Jana’s hawk eyes found it while I giggled at my own embarrassing forgetfulness.

On July 1 our first visitor was Sara Beth Matheny who arrived on a plane that day to survey the possibilities of working in Rwanda. Our next visitors were Sam and Nancy Shewmaker, and Greg and Sara Kendall-Ball. Then we were graced by Ancilla Akeyesu, the Director of Social Affairs in the Office of the President. I had met Ancilla on my visit in November. She came with her 3 sons who were the approximate age of our children. The next to arrive was Sam Mugisha and his wife Jackie. Sam is the Vicar of the Episcopal English church in Kigali. We first met Sam years ago in Kampala when as a student he gave us a tour of the Martyr’s Shrine. He seems to have a knack for being placed in locations to give others guidance. Next, one of our neighbors came with her children. Then Emmanuel, another Rwandan friend with a Ugandan heritage came with his wife and two children. He was followed by Anne Marie Kanyange who works in the Rwandan Human Rights Commission. Anne Marie is another friend I met during my visit in November. She came with some of her children and grandchildren. She was followed by Anne Gahongayire, the Secretary General for the Ministry of Gender with her daughter. The last to arrive was our friend, John Nkuranga, the Director of Protocol in the Office of the President.

Inviting a mixture of friends in a new location can be socially awkward, but we were pleasantly surprised by the interaction. At first, the children were quietly watching one another. However, with a little soda and birthday cake they were soon running and playing through our yard. The conversations among the adults seemed to flow easily. We just wanted others presence in our home for Sophia’s birthday, but each came with a precious gift for Sophia that blessed this transition year. We felt that we had received much more than we had given.

We continue to face our time in Uganda with growing anticipation for what the Lord may do through our growing friendships. Also, our children seem to be blessed by our first few weeks in Rwanda. We ask your continued prayers for their transition, and our much needed wisdom.

Imana ikurinde (May God keep all of you),

Dave