I.R.T. - Ruhengeri, Rwanda

Day three began in Kigali with plans to explore the city. However, those plans changed early that day when one of our first stops was to the ORTPN office. What is ORTPN you might ask? That is the name of a gorilla trekking company. That’s right, gorilla trekking! In the back of our minds we had been pondering whether or not we would dip into our personal savings and go hiking in the mountains to find gorillas. So, we decided to stop by the office and see if it was even possible for us to go. Upon first investigation, it looked as if there weren’t any openings during our time here and we almost wrote the whole adventure off. But then we found out that there were still openings, the next day! We all exchanged excited glances and pretended to debate for a few minutes before booking. This was a once in a lifetime experience that we just couldn’t pass up! The location for the trekking was in the volcanic mountains of Ruhengeri, about two hours away from Kigali, and we needed to be there at 7:00 the next morning. So our day of exploring Kigali turned into some morning sightseeing with plans to leave for Ruhengeri that afternoon. We weren’t exactly sure what our plans for that night were. We had a map of Rwanda, directions to Ruhengeri, and plans to check out some hotel options before leaving Kigali.

Luz Beard was wonderful enough to show us around some that morning (pictures are in my last post) and we met up with Kyle to see his office before going to lunch with them. While at lunch, we saw a lady named Mary who works with the Kigali International Community School. (The teachers had actually introduced us to her the day before when they were looking at the duplex.) When she learned that we were planning to leave that afternoon, she told us that one of her friends who lives in Ruhengeri was in Kigali right then and planning to head home any minute. She helped us get in touch with her and in a whirl wind of phone conversations and rapid packing we were on the road to Ruhengeri about an hour later following our new-found friend, Sue.

We had been told that the drive to Ruhengeri was amazing and that was the absolute truth! The road took us on a breathtaking ride where we could see the incredible hills of Rwanda around every corner!

When we arrived in Ruhengeri, Sue informed us that, since we didn’t already have a place to stay, we were staying the night with her. What a blessing! She was a fantastic host and took great care of us. She even loaned one of her long sleeved shirts to Becca R., tennis shoes to Becca E., and a jacket to me for our trekking adventure! We had a wonderful evening listening to stories about the work that Sue has been involved in. She is an Episcopalian missionary who is working with the church in Ruhengeri. She has also spent a number of years working in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

(with Sue outside her house in Ruhengeri)



(There are four volcanic mountains that you can see from Sue’s backyard.)


(The Episcopalian church that is right next to Sue’s house)


God was so faithful in keeping us safe and providing for us during our entire trip. Sue is just one of the many examples of this. We had no doubt that God placed this wonderful woman in our path!