"In the Presence of Saints": Actress Patricia Heaton Overcome with Emotion by Testimony of Forgiveness by Rwandan Survivor

Will Maule : Mar 4, 2019
Faithwire.com

"I felt such a spirit of love in the room, it was so big and so powerful. I thought ‘this is a little bit selfish of me, but I want some of what he has.' I thought, ‘I'm not going to leave here until he blesses me. It's such a beautiful gift and I felt like I was in the presence of saints." — Patricia Heaton

(Rwanda) — [Faithwire.com] Actress Patricia Heaton was utterly overwhelmed with emotion after meeting with a woman who says she has totally forgiven the man who murdered her entire family. (Image source: Twitter/Entertainment Tonight)

The Rwandan genocide broke out in 1994, when the government-backed Hutu tribe began to slaughter the Tutsi people. As a result of the brutal slayings, most of which were committed by machete, it is estimated that up to one million people were killed in the space of just a couple of months.

Despite growing up together as good friends, Callixte and Andrew were separated by one crucial factor — their tribe. As the genocide began to gather pace, Callixte found himself part of a mob that brutally murdered many members of Andrew's wife's family. He was subsequently imprisoned for 13 years.

"While he was imprisoned, I hated him," Andrew explained to ET Good Works. "My wife hated his wife, our children hated their children."

Wallowing in jail after the genocide finally came to an end, Callixte said he experienced instant regret for his heinous crimes, adding that he sought the Lord for forgiveness.

"I spent a lot of time in grief," he said. "I repented to God for my sins."

But there was to be an extraordinary moment of hope in this otherwise dark and demonic story of murder and betrayal, and it came through the extension of an olive branch between the two wives.

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