On the Mountaintop

Saturday we headed up Ruli mountain to the coffee washing station. This is a newly-acquired washing station, and means so much to the people of the region. We were able to see how the coffee cherries were processed. The integrity with which this station is ran is amazing. They truly go above and beyond! We presented one of our goats, named Rudy (Rudy the goat with Alex in this pic), as a surprise to the manager of the washing station, Alex. It was a bonus to him for his hard work and integrity, and he was thrilled.

But then was the highlight of my trip so far. There is a village at the very top of the mountain that has a reputation for growing the best coffee in all of Rwanda. It took about three hours up a VERY BUMPY twisty turny mountain with no guard rails or safety barriers to reach them. I was seriously scared for my life many times, we were climbing to almost ten thousand feet (at one point Kris looked at me and said "God did not bring us all the way to Rwanda to fall off a mountain!). At this village, Mbilima, they have been growing coffee for generations, and their reputation is impressive. Here's the awesome thing- there is a washing station much closer to them. However, Land of a Thousand Hills began to visit them and talk to them. They began to consider working with us instead. Our visit to their village at the top of the mountain was a monumental visit.

(the legendary Mbilima coffee farmers are in this pic to the right)

They thanked us over and over for COMING, for just SHOWING UP. They were so proud of their crop, and within five minutes of us showing up they were pulling us past the back edge of their village and down the sloping hill. We jumped down the ledge and there were the coffee cherry trees. The farmers' faces, old, wizened, focused, and proud, spoke volumes of how excited they were to show it off. We picked cherries as they showed us different aspects of harvesting the crops. And there, under the coffee cherry trees, relationships were formed.

We turned back towards the village, and as we headed back up the hill, the goats arrived. The villagers cheered and were very emotional. Kris stood among the goats, and the entire village circled around him. He explained that we wanted to do more than just business with them. That WE LOVED THEM and that's why we wanted to come. His speech was AMAZING! The villagers clapped and then several of them made their own speeches. They spoke of what an honor it was to have us come to them. They said it had been over FIFTY YEARS since ANY visitor had come to their village at the top of the mountain, and this showed them we were different. We really cared about them. I could literally hear God saying, "Yes! Well done!"

They then asked Kris to pray for them. He was wearing a baseball cap, and when he took it off I saw all the men in the circle nudge those wearing hats and motion to each other to take their hats off too since Kris did. Brought tears to my eyes. And if that wasnt enough, they then presented us with Fanta sodas in glass bottles. When you average out what their income is to what a glass-bottle soda costs here, that would be the equivalent of me giving someone a gift of $150. They cheered for us, laughed when Kris chose the orange Fanta that only girls here drink, and we fellowshipped on the top of Rwanda, with the thousand sloping hills as the backdrop. BEST. DAY. EVER.