CrossRoads Christian Fellowship return from mission trip to Rwanda

Last Wednesday at 1 a.m. after 39 hours of travel, 19 people returned to Bigfork from a two-week mission trip to Africa. 

It was the second Mission CrossRoads Christian Fellowship in Bigfork has sent to their sister church, Eden’s Temple, in Butare, Rwanda.

CrossRoads began its partnership with their sister church when senior Pastor Mel Haug began at the fellowship. “I’ve always had a heart for Rwanda,” Haug said.

CrossRoads has worked closely with Eden’s Temple’s pastor, Jon Mulisa. Through Mulisa, CrossRoads has helped start numerous programs in the impoverished province of Butare aimed at helping the quality of life for locals.

While the main purpose of the mission was to help spread their faith, the missionaries also were able to check on some of these programs and see how they were working.

One program, called Eden’s Child, is a sponsorship program for youth. It cost $35 a month to sponsor a child. That cost helps get them an education, clothing and provides health insurance for their family.

On the mission they visited these families and took photos for the sponsors who were unable to make the trip.

“We wanted to make a connection for our friends here,” associate pastor Randy Passons said. Making those connections with locals was a powerful piece of the trip for the 19 people. Passons and his wife met their sponsored child for the first time.

“It was very emotional just to give that kid a hug for the first time,” he said.

Haug has been to Rwanda four times and said he could see the difference the sponsorship program was making.

“They just look better,” he said. “Their health is good. They’re just so full of love and they’re so full of life, it’s really something to see.”

Another program that some CrossRoads  members were instrumental in starting was a sewing school. The idea was brought to the church by Mulisa, as a way to help get poor women off the street and out of prostitution, by providing them with an alternate skill they could use to earn a living.

Mulisa had visited Bigfork for three months last year, and mentioned the need to purchase sewing machines.

A few women got on Facebook, and within days they had raised the funds.

Passons, Haug and the other missionaries were able to witness the graduation of the first class from the sewing school.

While much of their trip was also taken up with speaking and preaching, the group went with the flow, and found themselves taking part in other projects while they were there, like rebuilding a widow’s house.

Haug and Passons said they are inspired by the vision of Mulisa.

He has many goals to spread the Christian faith, and empower the people of Rwanda.

He has already been able to start a second sewing school and a second church. He runs a finance program for locals, where he loans them a small amount of money to start a business, or buy a goat.

“What John is doing is particularly in line with our mission statement,” Haug said. “My goal is that as many people as possible come to faith, but beyond that people learn to help themselves.”

The trip was also largely about building relationships with locals and members of their sister church.

Though the cost to send 19 people halfway across the world was around $50,000, Pastor Mulisa was adamant that their presence was more valuable than any amount of money.

“We do a lot of things, but more importantly they look at you and are amazed you came,” Haug said. “A lot of people send money but very few show up. We go to build relationships. We go to love and we go to encourage. If you’re just sending money, I’m not sure you’re really helping.”

For some of the missionaries, it was the first time they’d left the country or the continent. For some it was their first Mission trip. Passons said it was his tenth mission, but his first one outside of the North American continent. 

But for everyone, it was a life changing experience.

“It is life changing,” Passons said. “It is cliché, but you spend two weeks in that culture, you never forget it.”

Before they left for the trip, they studied the culture and history of Rwanda, learning about the genocide that occurred there 20 years ago, and how that affected the country and the culture. The group visited two memorials of the tragedy during their trip.

“I don’t think you really understand it until you see it,” Haug said. 

The group began planning the trip nine months before the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. The medical disaster didn’t halt the trip, as the region where Ebola has spread is over 3,500 miles from Rwanda.

“We would not have gone if we thought there was any danger,” Haug said. “We were very careful.”