University Chapel | Carl Wilkens (September 28, 2017) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00good morning are you always a quiet
2. 0:05Bunch
3. 0:11reputations hard to change record none
4. 0:19in the wait a minute
5. 0:20hard to change a bad reputation easy to
6. 0:24change a good reputation you do
7. 0:28something stupid on the weekend and that
8. 0:31good reputation is gone and in Rwanda
9. 0:35skates it wasn't a weekend it was 30
10. 0:37days and if anybody knows anything
11. 0:42affect some of my Rwandan friends have
12. 0:44told me each time somebody asks where
13. 0:47I'm from and I mentioned Rwanda they go
14. 0:49oh you know because all people seem to
15. 0:53know is genocide so this morning I want
16. 0:56to start with something beautiful if you
17. 1:00look at some pictures will will keep my
18. 1:03slides probably up a fair amount of of
19. 1:05the time but this is a gorgeous little
20. 1:09country and when I say little you could
21. 1:11probably fit I don't know six seven of
22. 1:14them in Michigan but in growing country
23. 1:17the economy and everything I won't I
24. 1:19won't go into my spiel about it but I do
25. 1:22want to just show you a little clip
26. 1:23these guys were hired by the Rwandan
27. 1:25government to do a tourism film and this
28. 1:29isn't their tourism film but they were
29. 1:31so blown away by how beautiful the
30. 1:34country was oh yeah I like this song go
31. 1:36ahead give it some volume
32. 1:38they were so blown away with how
33. 1:40beautiful the country was that when they
34. 1:41got home they put their favorite clips
35. 1:44on Vimeo so all you have to do is google
36. 1:48Rwanda Vimeo
37. 1:50and you will find this eight minute
38. 1:52Clinton and I'm hoping you'll do that
39. 1:55because it's part of helping people
40. 1:58understand
41. 1:59Rwanda has so much more than just a
42. 2:03reputation of genocide
43. 2:05well the pineapples are astounding they
44. 2:08talk about a land of a Thousand Hills
45. 2:09whether you're looking at giraffes or
46. 2:12volcanoes there's this mystical quality
47. 2:15about the country - one of my friends
48. 2:17who survived lost most of his family we
49. 2:20went to a game park it was his first
50. 2:22time to see the beautiful animals in his
51. 2:24own country and at the end of the day he
52. 2:26said I'm so proud of my country and it
53. 2:29was so good for me to hear those words
54. 2:31no trash on the streets there in Kigali
55. 2:34I would tell you it's it without a doubt
56. 2:36for me the cleanest I've been a bunch of
57. 2:38countries around the world clean this
58. 2:40city I've ever seen it's interesting in
59. 2:43fact when you get there on the plane
60. 2:44they'll tell you before you get off the
61. 2:46plane plastic bags are illegal in this
62. 2:49country if you have any plastic bags
63. 2:51leave them on the plane but it's more
64. 2:54than just clean streets and development
65. 2:57it's how do you rebuild trust I'm a posh
66. 3:02right oh yeah right there picking some
67. 3:07coffee beans look at those hands no
68. 3:10doubt these hands have delivered babies
69. 3:12maybe smack naughty bottoms I don't know
70. 3:16what these but today women largely are
71. 3:19rebuilding trust and rebuilding the
72. 3:22country if you guys were the Parliament
73. 3:24in Rwanda 30% of the seats by law are
74. 3:27for women that's the constitutional law
75. 3:29in Rwanda but that's not the practice
76. 3:31not 30 not 49 50 64 percent of the
77. 3:36parliament in Rwanda are women I could
78. 3:38go on with you yeah that's a big whoa
79. 3:40look at us we're we're what 250 how many
80. 3:43years are we after independence sure why
81. 3:46not you good job
82. 3:50we're like 250 or whatever years 40
83. 3:54years from Independence and democracy in
84. 3:56our country and we I think we barely
85. 3:58broke 20% in Washington DC so so there's
86. 4:02many things to celebrate in Rwanda and
87. 4:04there's many wonderful things happening
88. 4:06but it's often hard to to appreciate it
89. 4:11without kind of getting a bigger picture
90. 4:14and part of that is the genocide so
91. 4:17we'll spend some of our minutes this
92. 4:18morning in Rwanda in that time of the
93. 4:21genocide with our family believe it or
94. 4:24not I was a college kid like you maybe
95. 4:28maybe you're more serious at studying
96. 4:31than I was but right after my wife and I
97. 4:33graduated I shop high school shop
98. 4:36teacher she was business we got married
99. 4:39and a week later a week after graduation
100. 4:42married six weeks later we moved as in
101. 4:43Bob way our daughters were born in
102. 4:45Zimbabwe worked there and Zambia came
103. 4:48back got an MBA and in 1990 we moved to
104. 4:52Rwanda our family was really young
105. 4:54that's actually a picture in France
106. 4:56we're trying to learn French our home
107. 4:58was really comfortable because Rwanda
108. 5:00french-speaking country home was really
109. 5:02comfortable there as you heard I was the
110. 5:04director of addre the kids were just
111. 5:07having a great time and then Lisa
112. 5:09constantly even today she's always
113. 5:11grabbing the babies in in a healthy
114. 5:14legal way she just she loves kids and
115. 5:18and Shaun was out there those
116. 5:21stereotypes about half-naked kids
117. 5:23running around Africa that's my boy his
118. 5:26friends all had money more clothes and
119. 5:29shoes on but he'd be out there and this
120. 5:31is key guys for four years our kids were
121. 5:35building relationships in our
122. 5:36neighborhood for years a war started we
123. 5:40won't get into the history of the war
124. 5:41but we're busy we're building schools
125. 5:43operating clinics with the war you get
126. 5:48people chased out of their homes living
127. 5:50in these little stick banana leaf
128. 5:52covered structures our work expanded
129. 5:54from building schools to working with
130. 5:56people and displaced you're not a
131. 5:58refugee if you don't cross a border so
132. 6:00you're internally
133. 6:01placed but then that that night of April
134. 6:066 1994 the president's plane is shot
135. 6:10down I've purposely kind of stayed away
136. 6:13from some of the typical terms
137. 6:14vocabulary people often trying to
138. 6:17present this as a tribal story this is
139. 6:19not a tribal story the in fact the two
140. 6:22groups of people I would say loved each
141. 6:24other I'm not even going to give the
142. 6:25names right now you know it many of you
143. 6:27and you can find on you all I want to
144. 6:29say is the two groups of people loved
145. 6:30each other more than they hated each
146. 6:32other because they married each other
147. 6:34all the time so this is very much a
148. 6:36family story of people who speak the
149. 6:38same language eat food together drink
150. 6:40banana beer together singing the choir
151. 6:42together but this family is going to be
152. 6:45injected with a poison and that poison
153. 6:49is gonna be by a small group by I always
154. 6:52kind of try to pick something I don't
155. 6:54want to pick a person but I'm a visual
156. 6:56learner and so I'm just gonna pick a
157. 6:59chair here and this is gonna represent
158. 7:02the group of people who are planning
159. 7:04what will become known as the genocide
160. 7:07alright
161. 7:08men and women edge kindly educated boy
162. 7:11in one of their homes they found
163. 7:12Hitler's Mein Kampf they these folks
164. 7:14have yeah this group of people is saying
165. 7:18we will never share power and they are
166. 7:21the ones injecting the poison and you
167. 7:23know if there is one thing that Jesus
168. 7:25kept saying in fact before he was born
169. 7:27the angels were saying it hey hey down
170. 7:30there don't be afraid fear is so
171. 7:34powerful we have we go off air yeah but
172. 7:36what else no no come on back here to
173. 7:38fear for a minute fear fear disables our
174. 7:41memory fear shuts down what we remember
175. 7:44Peter he's the guys are in the boat and
176. 7:47there's a storm and they're like we're
177. 7:48dying and then oh Jesus they saw Jesus
178. 7:51feed thousands of people they saw him
179. 7:53hug hug hug lepers they saw him do all
180. 7:56kinds of stuff but fear disables memory
181. 7:58and they're like we're gonna die and
182. 8:01then Jesus is like you know and I think
183. 8:06one of them started laughing if you
184. 8:08haven't seen those because you guys were
185. 8:09young when these came out they were so
186. 8:11exciting for us back in the
187. 8:13when was this this was in the mid-80s
188. 8:16maybe this series on the book of Matthew
189. 8:19you can find it on YouTube now I think
190. 8:21they call it the Living Bible and in the
191. 8:24story of Jesus and the storm one of the
192. 8:26disciples after talk Wyatt are you
193. 8:33kidding me even the wind and the waves
194. 8:36obey this man minutes later they landed
195. 8:41on shore they happened to land at a
196. 8:43cemetery and these guys come running out
197. 8:44of with chains hanging and they're gone
198. 8:47fear disables memory they don't remember
199. 8:50what just happened out there Jesus work
200. 8:52but Jesus he's like the master of no
201. 8:57fear I've been waiting
202. 9:03I can imagine Jesus saying to wrap my
203. 9:07arms around you men ever since you were
204. 9:10born I've known you I followed you
205. 9:13before you were born
206. 9:15come here and he heals them they're like
207. 9:19we want to go Jesus no no you got
208. 9:21another job and he sends them out and
209. 9:24they tell people fear this group is so
210. 9:29successful and we won't get into their
211. 9:31different methods with the radio in so
212. 9:32many ways of injecting fear into the
213. 9:35lives of the thinking of the people of
214. 9:37Rwanda that the families are gonna be
215. 9:39torn apart and they're gonna start
216. 9:41killing each other in in in in in you
217. 9:44know education terms we use this there's
218. 9:46a big technical definition for genocide
219. 9:49but I want you to look up here I I made
220. 9:52this little thing on paintbrush probably
221. 9:54ten twelve you know I've been I've been
222. 9:56traveling to schools for about 14 2004
223. 10:00to 17 was that 13 years now and I wanted
224. 10:03people to get an idea where it is
225. 10:05genocide come from we know the tragedy
226. 10:07of the side see IDE words you know
227. 10:10suicide homicide where does this thing
228. 10:13Genesis I come from thinking this is my
229. 10:15world would be better without you in it
230. 10:20don't you wish that was a rare
231. 10:24idea I'm sure as soon as I say that you
232. 10:27got synapses firing in your brain
233. 10:29because that sounds familiar to you
234. 10:31you've heard that before and and how do
235. 10:34we change this thinking from my world to
236. 10:37our world and for those of us who are
237. 10:40crazy about the teachings of Jesus it's
238. 10:43not our world
239. 10:44it's our father's world and Paul says
240. 10:47we're all invited to the table by God
241. 10:50who are any of us to disinvite anybody
242. 10:53from the table so with genocide we're
243. 10:56really looking at one of the worst forms
244. 10:58of that kind of us in them but it's
245. 11:03everywhere that division division of
246. 11:06people the plain here's a calendar April
247. 11:121994 that's Wednesday night the plane is
248. 11:14shot down the Sunday before is Easter
249. 11:19Sunday we're camping with our family
250. 11:21pretty peaceful Wednesday night the
251. 11:24plane is shot down by the following
252. 11:26Sunday almost all the foreigners well
253. 11:28this will happen so fat will be gone
254. 11:30will be evacuated this will happen so
255. 11:33fast
256. 11:33Thursday night though I forgot to
257. 11:35mention my mom and dad were visiting at
258. 11:37the time so you enter that dynamic into
259. 11:39the story here because soon Teresa and I
260. 11:43will be making a decision that I'll stay
261. 11:45and she and the kids will go to safety
262. 11:47and won't get into all of that that
263. 11:49right now but I'm if you look here right
264. 11:51in the center of the continent this tiny
265. 11:54little country here Rwanda and you zoom
266. 11:57in we just did it really fast to our
267. 12:00neighborhood that's not a super sharp
268. 12:02picture how I could have picked a better
269. 12:03one on Google Earth but there's our
270. 12:06house and surrounded by mud brick tin
271. 12:09roof homes the house we were renting
272. 12:11Thursday night a gang comes with clubs
273. 12:13and machetes to our house and out of
274. 12:16those little mud brick tin roof homes
275. 12:18come our neighbor ladies and they stand
276. 12:22up in front of these guys this was our
277. 12:24son's best friend grandma they stand in
278. 12:26front of these guys with clubs and
279. 12:28machetes and they say no you can't go
280. 12:29into that house and they start telling
281. 12:31them stories stories about taking
282. 12:35somebody to the hospital in the middle
283. 12:37of the night
284. 12:37stories were mostly stories about our
285. 12:40kids playing with their kids you see
286. 12:44stories are so powerful I can't I can't
287. 12:46believe we're long years we've been
288. 12:49teaching a class called English all
289. 12:51through grade school high school college
290. 12:52you know it's storytelling you know if
291. 12:57I'm going to storytelling class and I
292. 12:58know their stories can save somebody's
293. 13:00life I mean that's what Jesus was all
294. 13:03about stories stories shaping the way we
295. 13:06think the way we feel and the way we act
296. 13:10these neighbor ladies are telling
297. 13:12stories and they turn the guys away our
298. 13:15family has grown when we got there a
299. 13:18young lady came to live and work in our
300. 13:20home a young man came in the evening as
301. 13:22the watchman and they were marked as the
302. 13:25enemy they were being blamed their whole
303. 13:27group doesn't matter you know it's like
304. 13:28just because you were born in
305. 13:29Switzerland or New Zealand or because
306. 13:31you were born and you grew to more than
307. 13:33six feet tall or not not anything of
308. 13:36your own character you're marked as the
309. 13:38enemy and so when the killing started
310. 13:42and it started within 45 minutes of the
311. 13:44plane being shot down and everybody they
312. 13:46had prepared they had killing squads
313. 13:48that in the paperwork that the UN a guy
314. 13:52had come to the UN there were 2,500 UN
315. 13:54soldiers there we had three years of war
316. 13:56then we thought we were gonna have peace
317. 13:58and UN soldiers were there to help that
318. 14:00happen and they came to them with plans
319. 14:03one guy he just wanted to get his family
320. 14:05to safety code name jean-pierre if you
321. 14:08get a chance to see the documentary
322. 14:09ghost of Rwanda then you'll learn more
323. 14:13about this it's a PBS Frontline again
324. 14:15you can find it on on YouTube
325. 14:17jean-pierre will give them documents
326. 14:19saying we can kill a thousand people
327. 14:22every 20 minutes by using other people
328. 14:27not not a bomb people to people garden
329. 14:32hose machetes clubs with spikes driven
330. 14:36through the end of them and when so when
331. 14:39the killing starts and all the embassies
332. 14:40make the decision we're getting out of
333. 14:42here they say we're leaving but you
334. 14:43can't bring any Rwandan s-- with you
335. 14:46yeah serious
336. 14:50talk about you know I just talked about
337. 14:55genocide against people who just because
338. 14:57of where they were born or you know some
339. 15:00physical characteristic or something
340. 15:02like that but here we were saying we
341. 15:06will help everybody except I'm talking
342. 15:09we international community I'm talking
343. 15:12with great shame will help anybody
344. 15:18except the Rwandan s-- you would think
345. 15:21today when you go back to Rwanda that
346. 15:22there would be this festering bitterness
347. 15:25and resentment and stuff and maybe there
348. 15:27is some I've never sensed it I get back
349. 15:29there every year sometimes twice a year
350. 15:31but we made that decision the American
351. 15:33government we said we'll get our people
352. 15:38out but don't bring any Rwandan s-- with
353. 15:40you if you bring Rwandan sital put
354. 15:43everybody at risk at the roadblocks and
355. 15:45I'm not saying that there's not reasons
356. 15:47for these different logistics there are
357. 15:48reasons for everything that we do but we
358. 15:50got these pathways in our brain that we
359. 15:53need at times to rewire there's a guy
360. 15:55right now I've been really interested
361. 15:56listening to him Rick Hansen I hope some
362. 16:00of your podcasters my boy got me started
363. 16:01on podcast this one is the greater good
364. 16:04and Rick Hansen is looking at the
365. 16:06neuroscience of happiness if you google
366. 16:09that one I mean do it right now if you
367. 16:12want the neuroscience of happiness Rick
368. 16:15Hansen and he talks about how we can
369. 16:17rewire our brain our mind can change our
370. 16:20brain which can change our mind you
371. 16:22gotta check out the podcast but my wife
372. 16:25and I our family is our first priority
373. 16:28you understand everybody understands
374. 16:30that you know but our family had grown
375. 16:34so my wife and I went in the bedroom we
376. 16:36talked we prayed we made the decision
377. 16:40that I would stay we didn't know how bad
378. 16:42it would be we didn't know how long it
379. 16:44would be we didn't known 800,000 people
380. 16:48would be killed we didn't know it would
381. 16:50go on for a hundred days but what we
382. 16:53knew were the two people in her house
383. 16:55would most certainly be killed we were
384. 16:57confident of that and there was this
385. 17:00enormous respect in Rwanda for foreign
386. 17:03that might be another rewiring we need
387. 17:07to do of our brain in America this
388. 17:11enormous respect and welcome welcome we
389. 17:14are so glad you come to my home I will
390. 17:16give you the best I have in my home I
391. 17:18won't give you what's left over
392. 17:20in fact I'll give you stuff I won't even
393. 17:22give myself and my own children because
394. 17:25we value you so much we're so grateful
395. 17:28you've come to visit us come to be a
396. 17:30part of us and so with that enormous
397. 17:33respect for foreigners I thought maybe
398. 17:35if I stayed those 2 people wouldn't be
399. 17:39killed because eventually somebody's
400. 17:41going to do something you know we had
401. 17:432,500 UN soldiers we got a whole
402. 17:45international community we know how to
403. 17:46respond quickly to different situations
404. 17:49but unfortunately in this story the
405. 17:52genocide will not be ended by the
406. 17:54outside rebels people who had fled
407. 17:57Rwanda 30 years earlier lived as
408. 18:00refugees came back as soldiers wanted to
409. 18:02come home through year war laid down
410. 18:05their guns but when the genocide started
411. 18:08the planners of the genocide launched
412. 18:10their horrible these guys picked up
413. 18:12their guns again and and the the Rwandan
414. 18:18Patriotic Front are the people who will
415. 18:21end the genocide they're the ones who
416. 18:23will drive the extremists out of power
417. 18:25and and out of the country so this is
418. 18:29the actual day with the kids leaving you
419. 18:31look at them sitting there they don't
420. 18:34look terrified and I gotta take this
421. 18:36moment today I'm sorry I'm here by
422. 18:38myself you'd be getting a much much
423. 18:41richer picture if my wife was here with
424. 18:44she's working today spec home we live in
425. 18:46Spokane but look at the kids
426. 18:48it's an enormous testimony to me look
427. 18:51how calm they are and that's not just
428. 18:53calm for a picture you asked Lisa were
429. 18:55you afraid she's the one sitting there
430. 18:56with her legs crossed
431. 18:57no no why not because mom wasn't afraid
432. 19:00we often have no idea how courageous
433. 19:04some quiet people are it's so easy those
434. 19:08of us who are loud you know yeah and the
435. 19:12quiet ones
436. 19:13deep strength deep grip and my wife
437. 19:17wouldn't describe herself as courageous
438. 19:18in fact when students asked her what was
439. 19:21it like we afraid she says I got just
440. 19:25enough courage just enough and she was
441. 19:28focused on the children and so she'll
442. 19:31take them to eventually to Nairobi we'll
443. 19:34have the gift of talking every day on
444. 19:35the radio in my home I will have not
445. 19:38only the young man and the young lady
446. 19:39but the pastor the Rwanda Union mission
447. 19:41pastor you know the seventh-day
448. 19:43Adventist Church is the largest
449. 19:44Protestant church in Rwanda and hold on
450. 19:48for a minute in this context from saying
451. 19:50Amen I know some were brown about to and
452. 19:52it's okay you can but this was an
453. 19:54enormous okay sorry I want to take a
454. 19:56drink and I keep this is an enormous
455. 20:01opportunity for the seventh-day
456. 20:03Adventist Church at the time of the
457. 20:05genocide if you look at seven million
458. 20:06people and you say like one digit
459. 20:09300,000 are seventh-day Adventists an
460. 20:12enormous opportunity but it's not just
461. 20:16the Adventist church as an institution
462. 20:18that will fail or the Catholic Church or
463. 20:20the Baptist or the Methodists or the
464. 20:22past Pentecostal it seems like all
465. 20:24institutions failed individuals even
466. 20:29individual congregations were like Jesus
467. 20:32with skin on but pastor Sariah the the
468. 20:37financial officer the treasurer for the
469. 20:39Adventist Church and his wife came and
470. 20:40stayed with me she would help us with
471. 20:42food she bought food from the thieves he
472. 20:45would give me this deep this wonderful
473. 20:47advice I'm kind of sometimes I could
474. 20:51spend a little more time thinking before
475. 20:53I do something sometimes pastor Soraya
476. 20:55is this deep thinker and he I said to
477. 20:58him after three weeks of 24/7 curfew in
478. 21:01our house I said pastor we got to do
479. 21:02something outside and he says well if
480. 21:04you're gonna do anything outside you've
481. 21:06got to build a relationship with the
482. 21:08people in power
483. 21:10this is Colonel Darcy sermons Ajo
484. 21:13most Rwandan snow this name he was in
485. 21:16charge of the city of Kigali during the
486. 21:18genocide he was captured afterwards
487. 21:20tried he's in prison for the rest of his
488. 21:22life for his role in the genocide
489. 21:24he gave me a travel permit he seemed
490. 21:28very concerned about my safety
491. 21:30he sent me to an orphanage this this
492. 21:32whole idea of finding allies we usually
493. 21:35look to friends to find allies but in
494. 21:37this situation we're gonna find an ally
495. 21:40among and I put quotation marks the
496. 21:42enemy now a mindful I know we're on a
497. 21:47campus and we got time here so I've got
498. 21:49four minutes in these four minutes I
499. 21:52want to just tell you a brief story of
500. 21:55during that time of the genocide
501. 21:58I'm busy bringing food and water with my
502. 22:01friend Gus ekwa to these children they
503. 22:04were dying in the orphanage there had
504. 22:06been 80 kids and their parents are
505. 22:07looking for a safe place for the kids
506. 22:09one hundred and eighty two hundred three
507. 22:10over four hundred kids little graves in
508. 22:12the parking lot from diarrhea dysentery
509. 22:14Soga sequin iock adamant and gassy
510. 22:17Cabaye the way he's helping me bring the
511. 22:19water but at home he's got people in his
512. 22:22house and when the killers come he's
513. 22:24saying bernard your daughter's must be
514. 22:26hungry here take these chickens if we
515. 22:28had more time this morning we would dig
516. 22:30into these three values don't start with
517. 22:32inclusion inclusion seems too scary too
518. 22:35hard at times start with just general
519. 22:37respect every single person born and the
520. 22:41image made in the image of God that
521. 22:44respect and value which then lets us
522. 22:46learn the stories and from the stories
523. 22:48we can come to the empathy that's listed
524. 22:51up here I'm the Slayer thanks thanks
525. 22:54thanks I'm sorry I didn't give these
526. 22:56guys some Trant me a call when you write
527. 22:59out your talk a man's guide I just
528. 23:01didn't write it out but thank you you're
529. 23:04doing awesome
530. 23:07from that story yeah we can launch into
531. 23:11powerful conversations of respect
532. 23:13empathy and inclusion gets equal well
533. 23:17and I will show up at the orphanage one
534. 23:18day with a load of water and we'll find
535. 23:21out that there had been a threat the day
536. 23:22before to empty the orphanage they said
537. 23:25we're coming tomorrow we're gonna kill
538. 23:27everybody here we know you're hiding the
539. 23:28minority group here anyone just we're
540. 23:32gonna come and kill the minority group
541. 23:33that took see people we're gonna come
542. 23:35and kill we don't care if they're Hutu
543. 23:36or Tutsi we'll kill everybody
544. 23:38and I show up unbeknownst what not aware
545. 23:42of what's going on we have about a two
546. 23:44or three hour standoff for some reason
547. 23:47they don't come in while I'm there the
548. 23:49the kids here you can see in this
549. 23:52picture they've seen these guys outside
550. 23:54they've seen the killers kill their own
551. 23:56family they recognize him they know him
552. 23:58by name the the the short version of the
553. 24:02story the leader who's there for some
554. 24:05reason he's tunneling this guy's hold
555. 24:07off hold off while I'm there I'll
556. 24:08eventually get in touch with a guy at
557. 24:11the Red Cross fill up and he'll send me
558. 24:14some police officers and I'll ask these
559. 24:16police officers if they can watch over
560. 24:18these kids for me and it was a hard
561. 24:22decision but I will leave looking for
562. 24:25help at the advice of the lieutenant
563. 24:27I'll go to the Colonel's office he's not
564. 24:29there but his secretary will say the
565. 24:31Prime Minister's here well they had
566. 24:34killed the prime minister and now
567. 24:35there's a guy who's part of this team
568. 24:37who's in charge of the genocide John cam
569. 24:41Banda and in any case that secretary
570. 24:44will say ask him and this man will stop
571. 24:47the massacre now there's a lot in that
572. 24:50story to unpack and I'm not going to
573. 24:52take the time where we don't have the
574. 24:53time here in fact if you guys want to
575. 24:56read more about this I made tapes to my
576. 24:58wife and children during the genocide so
577. 25:00when it was over I had about 8 hours of
578. 25:02tapes and I wrote a little book I got a
579. 25:04few in a box up here if you'd like
580. 25:06you're welcome to come and help yourself
581. 25:07whenever I go to school yesterday at
582. 25:09Waverly High School in Lansing wherever
583. 25:11I go to school I just leave if you want
584. 25:13if you can make a donation kind of pay
585. 25:15it forward thing or there's a web site
586. 25:16in the back later if you wanna make a
587. 25:17donation but you can read the stories
588. 25:19but let's fast forward now that Massacre
589. 25:23does not happened I am able to get out
590. 25:27get reunited with my family fast forward
591. 25:30to the summer at 2015 I'm back in Rwanda
592. 25:34with high school kids here we're
593. 25:35standing in front of 200 men and women
594. 25:37in a prison labor camp these people have
595. 25:40confessed to killing their neighbors
596. 25:41there's no fence the story of
597. 25:43restorative justice in Rwanda is is an
598. 25:46incredible story but we take these kids
599. 25:48to prison the warden says would you like
600. 25:50to talk to
601. 25:51prisoners and income five prisoners we
602. 25:55have two amazing hours of conversations
603. 25:58with the prisoners but one in particular
604. 26:00he said his name was Greg wah from Yoko
605. 26:03Banda and I said wait a minute
606. 26:05that's the name of the leader of that
607. 26:07killing squad I only told you about that
608. 26:10one instance I had many other encounters
609. 26:12with this man when I looked in his face
610. 26:14I didn't recognize him it was 20 22
611. 26:18years at that point I hadn't seen him
612. 26:20but I thought is this the same guy here
613. 26:22in prison 20-some years later at the end
614. 26:24the warden says well if we're done I
615. 26:26said wait a minute sir I got a question
616. 26:28and I looked at this man and I started
617. 26:31speaking to him in French I'm I'm
618. 26:32feeling sick to my stomach I'm feeling
619. 26:34as sick as I almost probably not but
620. 26:37almost as sick as I was that day
621. 26:39twenty-one years ago when we were
622. 26:40surrounded by this killing squad I'm
623. 26:42confused I'm not sure what am i didn't
624. 26:45expect to ever run into this guy I asked
625. 26:47him a couple questions he initially he
626. 26:49answers then he quits talking to me and
627. 26:52starts looking at the floor another lady
628. 26:54from the prison wonderful talk about
629. 26:55respect empathy inclusion she comes
630. 26:58behind him she puts her hands on his
631. 26:59shoulder she translates into Kinyarwanda
632. 27:02he then answers in Kinyarwanda and after
633. 27:04several questions i say what kind of car
634. 27:06did you drive he says a green Mercedes
635. 27:08station station wagon and I know this is
636. 27:11the guy I mean that day he didn't kill
637. 27:14everybody but he had killed they say he
638. 27:16and his gang were responsible for
639. 27:17killing maybe 2,000 people I said that
640. 27:20number so quickly I can't comprehend
641. 27:23that this is my friend Johnson he was
642. 27:25one of the little kids at the orphanage
643. 27:27Johnson had seen Gregoire kill his
644. 27:30mother and 20 29 other neighbors I only
645. 27:34knew a little bit of Johnson's pain and
646. 27:37I knew some of my own trauma but I'm
647. 27:39back in prison
648. 27:40this guy finally said to the warden okay
649. 27:46um maybe I can come back another day I
650. 27:49mean it was awkward awkward sign maybe I
651. 27:52can come back another day the warden
652. 27:54says sure sure
653. 27:55well he says to the guy next to Gregoire
654. 27:58who's a pastor in prison for genocide
655. 28:00says to this genocide Oh pastor you want
656. 28:04to pray for all of us
657. 28:05this is the warden in the prison says
658. 28:06that we have prayer we're supposed to
659. 28:09shake a-shake here I don't want to shake
660. 28:10hands a messed up I get back to my room
661. 28:13that night I have a Skype with my wife I
662. 28:15said Teresa she comes on skype it was
663. 28:18just audio how you doing how was the day
664. 28:20she's so excited to hear about each time
665. 28:22I go back to her I said it was terrible
666. 28:23I met the guy who killed Johnson's
667. 28:25mother I don't even want to tell you his
668. 28:27name he's a killer after about 30
669. 28:30minutes of difficult conversation I said
670. 28:32honestly Teresa I don't know if I'm
671. 28:35gonna be able to sleep tonight and then
672. 28:37I remembered something I want to leave
673. 28:39you with and I do thank you for these
674. 28:41extra minutes I'm sorry I know you
675. 28:43didn't give them to me I just taken them
676. 28:47I started reciting to charissa these
677. 28:51five truths that I hold when I'm knocked
678. 28:54down and I got to get Ries entered God's
679. 28:56always with me God takes great
680. 29:09d-light in me not because of what I do
681. 29:12or don't do but because I miss child
682. 29:15God's love comes my heart often that's
683. 29:22through music there's so many ways that
684. 29:24God does it I'm saying these out loud to
685. 29:26Teresa
686. 29:27God has everything I need for every
687. 29:32situation and together fix that together
688. 29:40we are going to make it and something
689. 29:44clicked in my head before I said number
690. 29:46five but I went ahead and I said to
691. 29:49Teresa number five
692. 29:50God is my shepherd my redeemer
693. 29:55I said Teresa if these five things are
694. 29:58true for me and I believe them with all
695. 29:59my heart they've resented me again and
696. 30:01again
697. 30:01you know journaling is just a massive I
698. 30:04learned right here from pastor Dwight
699. 30:05back in 1998 about journaling and and
700. 30:08taken bible scripture and putting it
701. 30:10right there I now cut and paste and put
702. 30:12it in the middle and I make it in little
703. 30:13phrases and I color the words and I just
704. 30:15saturate my mind in the word and and as
705. 30:17I as I've done that again and again I
706. 30:19said Theresa if these five things are
707. 30:21true and I believe them with all my
708. 30:22heart for me they gotta be true for
709. 30:31Gregoire the first one's easy if you've
710. 30:35been a Christian for long you can say
711. 30:37that oh gods with you got the second one
712. 30:40try that one on to put in there for a
713. 30:44year I practiced that and last summer
714. 30:472016 I went back to prison and I met
715. 30:51Greg whan purpose
716. 30:52Greg West said I actually recognized you
717. 30:55a year ago when you came in I apologized
718. 30:58for my anger for not one to shake his
719. 30:59hand that day we stood up we shook hands
720. 31:03we actually embraced and when we stepped
721. 31:07away were both wiping the tears from our
722. 31:09eyes I don't know about his journey and
723. 31:13his guilt but I know my freedom was
724. 31:17enormous do I get to pray here at the
725. 31:19end or you have somebody I can do it
726. 31:22let's stand up let's pray
727. 31:28father Shepard Redeemer you've invited
728. 31:37us all to the table we're all your
729. 31:39children you take great delight in us we
730. 31:44need to have a few things rewired in our
731. 31:46brains God we got to spend time in the
732. 31:51world of the other we got to spend time
733. 31:54learning the stories of the people right
734. 31:56next to us and the people on the other
735. 31:59side of the globe and as we learn those
736. 32:01stories we know that your spirit will
737. 32:05bring into our hearts will that mind
738. 32:08that was the mind of Christ that will
739. 32:09welcome welcome people into our hearts
740. 32:13welcome people into our homes welcome
741. 32:16people into our country because that's
742. 32:19the way you showed us in the life of
743. 32:22Jesus we love you Lord we cannot believe
744. 32:26how patient you are with us and how
745. 32:28you'll always love us so we don't want
746. 32:32to ask you to go with us now we want to
747. 32:34ask to go with you that's our prayer in
748. 32:37Jesus name Amen