November 1, 2004

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Pasadena, California! I’ve had a very interesting four months in the United States. I arrived at the end of June in time to attend the General Assembly of the PC(USA). Moving directly from Butare, Rwanda, to the GA at Richmond, Virginia, was quite a change. The types of issues discussed were things that would never come up in Rwanda: non-traditional marriages, gay ordination, and the uniquely Presbyterian take on the “essential tenets” of the faith. Rwandans, however, are aware of much of the debate in the United States over these issues and watch our proceedings with some concern. This is also true of the African churches in general. The eyes of Christians all around the world are upon us, especially those of the Reformed bodies in Africa. When I return to Rwanda, I know that my colleagues, students, and friends will question me about theological trends in our church and that my answers will help to shape their perceptions of the West and the direction that the churches here are taking.

During my first three months in the United States I was working at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. This is one of the great Anglo-American libraries of the world. Before my last mission term in Rwanda, I studied at the Huntington for one year, researching the life of John Winthrop, the leader of the Puritan migration to New England in 1630 and the first governor of Massachusetts. Between July and August of this year I was able to finish this research and will now be able to complete the writing of my Winthrop biography. I will be returning to Rwanda with quite a bit of research material and hope to have the job completed within about six months.

I have also been traveling around California and several other states, giving talks and sermons on my ministry in Butare, Rwanda, at the Faculté de Théologie Protestante de Butare. So far I have visited churches in California in the cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, and Monterey. I have also visited Tucson, St. Paul, and Detroit. During my last two months in the United States (November and December), I will be living in Washington, D.C., and will be participating at the United Parish of Bowie in Maryland by preaching and teaching. And I will be visiting at least one church in New Jersey. In all the groups that I have addressed there has been a great deal of interest in Rwanda and a continuing interest in Sudan. People have also been warm and friendly and very supportive. I’m going to return to Rwanda refreshed and energized.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the churches that have invited me to come and speak, and I would especially like to thank the various people that have been kind enough to put me up for a day or two, and in one case for over a week. I’ve made many new friends along the way, and I will try to keep in touch with you all. And please don’t hesitate to send me email messages; I love to get them.

I will be leaving for Rwanda on January 3, 2005, from Dulles Airport in Virginia. About a week after I arrive the college program will begin, and I will be teaching three of the four classes (the equivalent of freshmen through juniors). In the next academic year I will be developing two new courses in mission history and in the history of the various Christian denominations in Rwanda. I will also be supervising several senior theses—or memoires. In the French system in which we work, the seniors must write a memoire of from 80 to 100 pages prior to graduation. They must defend this in front of a three-judge panel of professors and an audience that usually includes the entire student body and their family and friends. This is a very important event in their lives; and I suspect that preparing my four students for this and judging the work of other students will also become a very important part of my life, too, in the six months or so after I return. The judges have been known to be merciless questioners; and if the students perform badly, it reflects on the professors too—as it should.

While traveling around California and other states, many people have asked how they can pray for me, the college, and the work of the churches in Rwanda. Please pray for all of our students (about 80 of them) as they continue to proceed through our four-year program. All of them are very poor, and many also have families to look after. Pray that the Faculté will succeed in preparing them for ministry in the very difficult circumstances of Rwanda. Pray that the churches of Rwanda will continue to labor faithfully in their ministries of reconciliation, care for HIV/AIDS patients, and for the widows and orphans of the genocide. As for me, please pray for health and safety, that I may be able to continue to do the work to which the Lord has called me.

Bon fete de Noel,

Michael Parker

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 44