The 200 or so kids with whom I sat huddled on the floor of Father Rwagema’s one-room chapel were as mesmerized as I was by what we heard coming from the tape machine. First we heard the chanting of the large crowd—thousands of pleading voices—that had gathered in Kibeho to hear the visionaries communicate with heaven. The crowd cried out to Segatashya, addressing him by name and calling for him to summon a miracle . . . a miracle to give them faith in what they were witnessing and to help them truly believe in the apparitions.

Above the din of the crowd, arose the soft tenor voice of Segatashya as he reverently addressed Jesus: “Yes, Lord, I have told them many times,” the voice said. “No, Lord, they don’t listen . . . they always tell me they want a miracle. They won’t believe that you’re talking to me, Jesus—not without seeing a miracle or a sign.”

I remember how my heart swelled when listening to Segatashya speak that day and how touched I was by the sincerity and kindness that reverberated in his whisperlike voice as he patiently addressed the raucous crowd.

Suddenly a peel of thunder blasted through the tape recorder’s speakers, and the kids in the room jumped up in unison. We could hear frightened screams ripple through the hubbub of the surprised crowd. Then there were some cheers for the miracle that had just happened, followed by the calming voice of Segatashya as he urged everyone in the crowd not to worry about the thunder that had literally struck from out of the blue.

“Jesus says you shouldn’t be afraid; he would never do anything to harm his children,” the boy insisted. “No one here has been injured, pregnant women need not worry about their babies, and those with weak hearts will be well . . . yes Lord, I’ll tell them as you say . . . Jesus is saying that he gave you thunder so you would listen to his messages and not ask for miracles that have no meaning . . . because your lives are miracles. A true miracle is a child in the womb; a mother’s love is a miracle; a forgiving heart is a miracle. Your lives are filled with miracles, but you are too distracted by material things to see them.

“Jesus tells you to open your ears to hear his messages, and open your hearts to receive his love. Too many people have lost their way and walk the easy road that leads away from God. Jesus says to pray to his Mother, and the Blessed Virgin Mary will lead you to the God Almighty. The Lord has come to you with messages of love and the promise of eternal happiness, and yet . . . you ask for miracles instead. Stop looking to the sky for miracles. Open your heart to God; true miracles occur in the heart.”

That was the first divine message I heard Segatashya deliver and, as I said, it changed my life. That message opened my heart to the essence of all the messages that would be delivered in Kibeho. The simple honesty in this boy’s voice instantly made him my favorite among all the visionaries.

Less than a week after Father Rwagema played the tape of Segatashya for us, my household and the entire village was abuzz with news of Segatashya’s arrival in Kibeho. Ever since the original three schoolgirls began receiving visions of Mary some eight months earlier, I had noticed a profound change in both my neighbors and even strangers passing through town. People carried themselves a bit taller and walked along the road with more energy and purpose. Women who were weighed down by the huge baskets of food, washing, or firewood perched atop their heads (in traditional Rwandan fashion) thought nothing of stopping in the middle of the road to seek out news from Kibeho from passersby, especially news about Segatashya.

I can remember listening in on many such conversations from my bedroom window while I lay in bed reading or was kneeling in prayer in front of my homemade shrine.

“I hear that this Segatashya never even heard of Jesus before the Lord made him a visionary,” one of our neighbors said.

“A purely pagan boy—that’s what I heard, too! But they say he is a sweet, sweet child . . . and handsome! But I wonder why Jesus chose him, a pagan, when there are so many Catholic boys living in Rwanda?”

“The Lord moves in mysterious ways; no one knows the mind of God. But what I do know is that the mother of Segatashya must be very proud of him . . . I wonder if she’s become a Christian woman now that Jesus is visiting her son?”

I could see that I wasn’t alone in the favoritism I felt toward Segatashya. From the very start of his apparitions, the boy had developed a huge and devoted following; he had become a star among the visionaries.