Greetings from Kigali, Rwanda! After a long but smooth trip out here, we touched down on Friday night in Kigali in the late evening. It was well after dark so we headed straight to the hotel to get some long-overdue sleep.

Having never been to Rwanda, I really didn’t know what to expect when I woke up the next morning (bright and early…thanks jet-lag!) and stepped outside to see Kigali in daylight for the first time.  Wow. This place is so astoundingly beautiful. The rolling hills that are a combination of lush vegetation and all kinds of buildings condensed closely together.

Today was a day to get over jet-lag, get oriented, and to start our trip by answering the question “Where in the world are we?”. After a breakfast on the hotel patio overlooking the city, we met for devotions, and were also introduced to a few members of the Wellspring Team here in Rwanda.

In the afternoon, in the theme of learning more about our surroundings, we hopped in a van, went for lunch, then were given a driving tour of the the city of Kigali, with stops at the wood market, as well as a local food market. Both markets were loud, busy, and so interesting! Kigali is a rapidly growing and busy city. It’s very clean and felt incredibly safe. People are everywhere, and every square foot of land is being used for something. It contrasts affluent, security gated villas in the same block as mud hut housing for the very poor. Being The Land of a Thousand Hills, the ever-present rollings hills were a bit disorienting, but thankfully we had Jeff Komant as an excellent tour guide!  By the time we returned back to the hotel, I felt like I had started to understand a glimpse in to the history of this country, and a basic understanding of what life is like in Kigali today. So much to take in, and my jet-lagged brain was working overdrive to process it. But after day one, I’m thankful for a basic understanding of where in the world we are.

After the tour, we walked down the road to a wonderful coffee shop. I’ve heard from friends who have travelled here before that Rwandan Coffee is the best. I can now personally vouch for that! We enjoyed loading up on caffeine that (barely) carried us to a very early bedtime.