Almost too much for words for me today

Well it is about 10:30 p.m. on Monday and words can hardly describe the day we had today.  As we might have mentioned in the blog yesterday it looked like we might get to attend the national genocide ceremony in remembrance on the 14th anniversary of this tragic event in history.  Well we got there and they moved us right up to front row near the official party and actually moved some of the families around so that we could seat most of the team and Peace.  We were a bit embarrassed by all of this.  During the next 3 hours it was one of the most draining experiences we have ever encountered.  They played songs that named the names of the people who were responsible for the 1993 genocide stating that they know where you and your family are and we are here, many live in Europe and many are still on trial waiting to be sentenced after 14 years.  Then one survivor after another got up and shared their story, most are to hard to even put on this page so I won’t give you the details.  As this part started many in the crowd started wailing in anguish as they were recalling the actual details of what had happened to their parents and other family members.  At this point I put away my camera for the day as I could not photograph any more of the victims.  There cries hurt to much.  As I listened to the cries in brought back earlier thoughts when I woke this morning at 4:30 a.m., jet lag I guess and I stood on the balcony of our hotel room and looked over part of the city and near by hills and saw no movement just a few blinking lights.  When the cries of the single individuals stated during the ceremony I thought what must it have been like 14 years ago as families witnessed these things and the cries came by the thousands all at once for 100 days.  They still continue today.  We need to make sure that this never happens again.  Rwanda is a proud country, beautiful in many ways, extremely clean no trash on the roads anywhere and new homes being built where ever you look.  One of the official Rwanda cabinet members spoke at the end and thanked all of the people who have come from other countries to help them over the years.  Helping them rebuild, provide jobs and schooling for their children, other things.  Pray with us that we in the West will never let this happen again any where in our world.  We can not sit around as we did in the past and do nothing.  These are our brothers and sisters and we need to stand with them and show them that we care and we will not forget them.  We had a wonderful time of prayer today with Peace and Ruth, praying for their ministries here and in Burundi.  We won't forget today what we heard and what we saw.  John