Life is Hard. God is Good.

I have a T-shirt that says “Life is hard” on the front, and on the back it says, “God is good.”  I feel like I repeat that phrase to myself ten times a day.  Life is hard, God is good. Life is hard, God is good. Life is incredibly hard right now. Filled with manipulation and betrayal.  But, God is good. Why? Because He has given me some pretty amazing friends. Because He has called my family to spend the last two years of our lives in this beautiful country. Because He is working in our lives. Because He is still in control.  God has blessed us, is blessing us, and will continue to bless us.  The Bible is full of examples of hard times happening so that His glory is revealed. This happened so that they might know He is Lord…this happened so that His glory would be revealed, etc.

The month of February was a blur and March has been downright hectic.  Most days in February felt like I was wading through thick muddy water, surrounded by even thicker fog, unable to see what was lying just ahead in the murky pool.  March has been full of exciting events, that unfortunately were moderately dampened by the said “water” and “fog” that was brought about by the said “manipulative and proud Christians.”  

For those of you who have not heard my clarinet did make it back to me safe a sound on February 22^nd.  After being separated for one month and five days it was a delightful and beautifully sounding reunion.  

On March 2^nd, I had my Appalachian State audition for the school of music. It did not necessarily go according to plan. The internet was less than corporative, but thankfully, the clarinet professor was flexible and understanding.  I ended up emailing a sound recording and it was definitely one of my lesser performances, not worthy of a scholarship. But like I said earlier…this happened (poor audition) so that God’s name would be praised.  If I do receive a scholarship (I’m still waiting to hear back from them on the results and any scholarship opportunities.) my only response will be to praise Him because I know that my performance was not scholarship-worthy.

On March 8^th the Injyana Orchestra Rwanda performed for the first time ever. It was a smashing success! It is estimated that around 400 people were in attendance. This was a huge event for Kigali and Rwanda.  As far as we know, it was the first full-orchestra ever in the country. We had musicians ranging from 12 to 50 years old and everything from a bassoon to a harp in our forty member orchestra.  It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of.

On March 15^th the Young Kigali Musicians performed at a private dinner party.  The Young Kigali Musicians are eight musicians that come from three different families:  three violinists, a cellist/pianist, two clarinetists, a French hornist, and an ever-reliable piano accompanist. This dinner party was not just your average run-of- the-mill dinner party.  This dinner party was a unique experience because it included guests like the U.S. Ambassador, a Rwandese woman, Jolly Dusebe, who was recently named one of Africa’s top twenty most influential women, and several important doctors in Kigali and surrounding towns.  The Young Kigali Musicians performed ten pieces total, with several combinations of quintet, trio, duet, and solo pieces.

 

And then two days later on March 17^th we gave the same recital, but this time for the general public. We anticipated twenty to thirty people and we easily had over seventy in attendance!  Again, classical music is a really big deal in Rwanda.  It was so exciting to see the amount of many people who came to support us.  The recital went very well.  The weather was pleasant and the power stayed on!  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the previous Friday night.  The power did go off for fifteen to twenty minutes during the performance so we took an unexpected and very dark intermission, and life went on. 

On March 22^nd, we had the annual KICS Talent show led by the student council.  It was a rather successful night; people appeared to enjoy themselves and everything went according to plan. Along with overseeing all of the acts and performers, I too, performed a duet with a good friend of mine, who is also an active student council member, and we ended up winning for the overall high school category. Adam’s fifteenth birthday was on Friday and was celebrated with two of his closest friends and then celebrated again with his dear family on Saturday night.

Rainy season has kicked in, full steam ahead, or shall I say, full stream ahead?  Lately, we’ve been having long and unknowing endings to our power outages… three hours, six hours….who knows? Internet has been on and off depending on the weather…ah, Africa. I actually quite enjoy this aspect of living here. It makes me appreciate things like reliable electricity or internet and it also makes me realize that I don’t need either of those things to survive.

Speaking of Adam and the rainy season, KICS had a football match on Saturday morning (soccer game for you Westerners) and it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.  They may as well have been playing water polo. It had been raining pretty steadily all morning and the rain did not cease during the game.  The dirt field was fully transformed into a mud pond and the clean and professional team was transformed into a wild and dirty mess.  It was certainly an exciting match! After all it’s not every day that a team can come back from a score of 0-3 and end up winning
4-3!

Our much needed, two and a half week break begins on Thursday.  Things are slowly winding down for the year.  As I embark on the last few weeks of my high school career and the last couple months of my time in Rwanda, I strive to make as many memories as possible and bring glory to God in everything I do.  Life is hard. This is fact. But God is always, always good.