A Story of a Transformed Life in Rwanda
Submitted by Brad and Chelsea Carpenter
Christine: My name is Akingeneye Christine, I am a believer and a member of the Rugarama Friends Church. I have a husband and two children. I was trained in the D for D seminars. In the seminars I learned many things that helped me to change many things in my life.
I want to share my testimony about the transformation in my family in relation to the “4 key relationships” before being trained and after being trained.
My relationship with God: Before whole-life discipleship seminars I believed that going to church services and being in the choir was enough in my life with God. But after the seminars I set a goal to read the Bible two times per week and my family takes time each week to praise God together. During the children’s school vacations, we each take turn teaching from the Bible. The purpose of this is to disciple our children to study the Bible.
My relationship with Creation (Stewardship): Before being discipled I planted crops in our fields however I felt like at the moment without a plan which meant that the crops did not grow well, and we have poor harvests. After the seminars things changed very much. I now use fertilizer and plant with modern methods which has increased our harvests greatly! Now the field that used to produce 2 tons of crops produced 4 tons. Things have changed a lot! I planted fruit trees: guavas, mango, lemon, and avocado trees. They are growing well, and we are starting to harvest guavas.
My relationship with others: I used to visit people every once in a while, but with no plan. But now I make plans for who I will visit and when and I put those visits into our family budget. During these days of Coronavirus and mostly being at home, I have visited seven families.
My relationship with myself: Before being discipled I thought that drinking water was worthless. I mainly drank tea, porridge, and juice. But that changed after the seminars. Now I drink 1 liter of water each day. I have also taught my family to only drink boiled water (rather than bad water). Each week I exercise once by running 4 kilometers. As a family, during vacations, we play games as a family like cards and igisoro (a Rwandan game similar to Mancala).
The D for D trainings were impactful in many ways. I now have a plan for working and I set end dates for each task. In the pursuit of increasing our family’s resources I started a business of buying wood and then selling it to schools in our area and this business is going really well. Also I now have a bank account for savings and that is helping me save for the future. And I am in a savings group that helps me save each week.
The D for D teachings had a part in everything I have mentioned. I praise God because he is always with me and I praise the people who had a part in preparing the D for D lessons. I desire to see these lessons reaching many more people because they are very important for our everyday lives. Thank you. May Jesus be with you always.
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