It is extremely difficult for me to be here right now, but I have the peace of Jesus, knowing I am where He wants me. That is my only comfort right now.
Please pray for Earl and family.
Rosel
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Ramona is dancing with Jesus.
Peacefully, on Fri. Nov. 27 at 10:00 in the evening, Jesus took Ramona home. The family needs your prayers.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Car and Crate
Hello family and friends;
God is awesome!!
We have some very good news! Life is not about material things, but we're very thankful for some pretty "basic stuff" that God's provided for in the last little while. I will simply post what I wrote on Sept.11
Sept.11 2009
Blessings to all our family and friends.
God is so awesome!! Isaac, Colton and I use the time to pray as we’re walking to school in the morning, and yesterday I prayed that the Lord would in His “almightyness and all powerfulness” miraculously provide a vehicle for us. At lunch, which is 1:00 P.M. here, Isaac and Colton came to Primary school as always so we can walk home together. Isaac had some very good news. Chrissie Chapman had told him that she had been thinking that it doesn’t’t make sense for us to have to walk so far to get to work/school/events, so she is blessing us with the use of her car!!!!!!!!!!!! When Isaac told me this I could hardly stop thanking Jesus. This may only happen in a few months, as Chrissie wants a car from Japan to replace her current one, but even the fact that this is the plan is comforting. Walking to and from almost everywhere is so tiring and hot, and very often we walk the 20 minutes to and from at least twice a day, sometimes three times.
So we didn’t post this till we got the car…….. WE GOT THE CAR!!!!!!!
And it’s got AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! Praise JESUS!!
The King’s School is filling in one tank of gas per month as Isaac uses it for school related things a lot, and for personal use gas we’re trusting the Lord, as this wonderful surprise isn’t in our budget.
This really opens the door for more ministry opportunities, which we’ve been praying about for some time.
We also received the items from in the crate. Back in February we had ordered bed and bath linens from Sears and drop shipped it to Vernon BC, which is where Pastor Ray and Maryanne’s home church was filling a crate to be shipped here. Our church put a bike in there for each of us, which is a blessing, and also a bunch of tools for Isaac to use. Isaac still doesn’t have access to the tools, which is frustrating, but there are storage issues that are beyond Pastor Ray or our control. It’s just the African way. The crate arrived in Bujumbura at the end of August, was tied up in customs for about 2 months, and then a few days after it’s release Pastor Ray and Maryanne went to Canada unexpectedly for three weeks for his dad’s funeral, so upon their return we finally got our long awaited stuff. Wow, it was like Christmas opening the boxes!!! We now have real pillows - down pillows - my neck and shoulders still almost cringe at the thought of what we were using before. You should have seen and heard Colton rejoice when he saw his bike in our living room, fully assembled!!! Isaac had brought the bikes home when we were at school in the morning, and we hadn’t told Colton. That was fun!
Colton can, however, only ride the bike a little ways on our street so he’s in sight of our guard. It’s not safe for a ‘mzungu’ boy to go out by himself, especially on a nice bike. So the only time he can venture out is if we go with him. After we had gone out a time or two on our bikes, it occurred to me that I’ve never once seen a female riding a bike in Burundi. There are bikes everywhere, thousands and thousands - it’s a cheap mode of transportation, however, there seems to be an unwritten rule that it’s only for the male gender. Females commonly sit on the rack on the back as bikes are used as taxis very much, but they never ride themselves. We’re accustomed to many comments and stares when we’re out and about walking, but people do a double take when they see us on our bikes.
The temperature “dipped” down to 24.8 degrees in the last week during the night 2 times. Till now we had not seen it go below 25 once, and I tend to watch it quite closely. Laugh all you want, but we felt cold.
Speaking of temperature, it’s almost unbearably hot in church most of the time. It’s got a tin roof that offers shade, but seems to intensify the heat; combined with the bodies of 7,000 people worshiping and dancing, the heat is stifling. I was curious what the actual temp. is in church, so I took our little digital thermometer to church in my bag a few Sundays ago. 33 degrees on the nose!!! And, that particular Sunday happened to be probably the coolest we had experienced. And keep in mind, it doesn’t last only a tidy one and a half hours, but at least three and a half hours, very easily four. In all honesty, the thought of not going to church some Sundays is pretty strong, but then when we think of the powerful move of God and the way we are encouraged and touched by the Father, we can’t stay away.
A question we’ve had through email is whether people can send us stuff. Absolutely! You can send it to:
The King’s School
Box 1560
Bujumbura, Burundi
Africa
We have no school today, it’s a Muslim holiday, so we’re about to go, I mean drive with our car and not with a taxi or walk (awful grammar, I know) to get some supplies.
Please continue to pray for Ramona and family.
We love you, and thank you all very much for your continued prayers, emails, and words of encouragement.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
The Froese’s
God is awesome!!
We have some very good news! Life is not about material things, but we're very thankful for some pretty "basic stuff" that God's provided for in the last little while. I will simply post what I wrote on Sept.11
Sept.11 2009
Blessings to all our family and friends.
God is so awesome!! Isaac, Colton and I use the time to pray as we’re walking to school in the morning, and yesterday I prayed that the Lord would in His “almightyness and all powerfulness” miraculously provide a vehicle for us. At lunch, which is 1:00 P.M. here, Isaac and Colton came to Primary school as always so we can walk home together. Isaac had some very good news. Chrissie Chapman had told him that she had been thinking that it doesn’t’t make sense for us to have to walk so far to get to work/school/events, so she is blessing us with the use of her car!!!!!!!!!!!! When Isaac told me this I could hardly stop thanking Jesus. This may only happen in a few months, as Chrissie wants a car from Japan to replace her current one, but even the fact that this is the plan is comforting. Walking to and from almost everywhere is so tiring and hot, and very often we walk the 20 minutes to and from at least twice a day, sometimes three times.
So we didn’t post this till we got the car…….. WE GOT THE CAR!!!!!!!
And it’s got AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! Praise JESUS!!
The King’s School is filling in one tank of gas per month as Isaac uses it for school related things a lot, and for personal use gas we’re trusting the Lord, as this wonderful surprise isn’t in our budget.
This really opens the door for more ministry opportunities, which we’ve been praying about for some time.
We also received the items from in the crate. Back in February we had ordered bed and bath linens from Sears and drop shipped it to Vernon BC, which is where Pastor Ray and Maryanne’s home church was filling a crate to be shipped here. Our church put a bike in there for each of us, which is a blessing, and also a bunch of tools for Isaac to use. Isaac still doesn’t have access to the tools, which is frustrating, but there are storage issues that are beyond Pastor Ray or our control. It’s just the African way. The crate arrived in Bujumbura at the end of August, was tied up in customs for about 2 months, and then a few days after it’s release Pastor Ray and Maryanne went to Canada unexpectedly for three weeks for his dad’s funeral, so upon their return we finally got our long awaited stuff. Wow, it was like Christmas opening the boxes!!! We now have real pillows - down pillows - my neck and shoulders still almost cringe at the thought of what we were using before. You should have seen and heard Colton rejoice when he saw his bike in our living room, fully assembled!!! Isaac had brought the bikes home when we were at school in the morning, and we hadn’t told Colton. That was fun!
Colton can, however, only ride the bike a little ways on our street so he’s in sight of our guard. It’s not safe for a ‘mzungu’ boy to go out by himself, especially on a nice bike. So the only time he can venture out is if we go with him. After we had gone out a time or two on our bikes, it occurred to me that I’ve never once seen a female riding a bike in Burundi. There are bikes everywhere, thousands and thousands - it’s a cheap mode of transportation, however, there seems to be an unwritten rule that it’s only for the male gender. Females commonly sit on the rack on the back as bikes are used as taxis very much, but they never ride themselves. We’re accustomed to many comments and stares when we’re out and about walking, but people do a double take when they see us on our bikes.
The temperature “dipped” down to 24.8 degrees in the last week during the night 2 times. Till now we had not seen it go below 25 once, and I tend to watch it quite closely. Laugh all you want, but we felt cold.
Speaking of temperature, it’s almost unbearably hot in church most of the time. It’s got a tin roof that offers shade, but seems to intensify the heat; combined with the bodies of 7,000 people worshiping and dancing, the heat is stifling. I was curious what the actual temp. is in church, so I took our little digital thermometer to church in my bag a few Sundays ago. 33 degrees on the nose!!! And, that particular Sunday happened to be probably the coolest we had experienced. And keep in mind, it doesn’t last only a tidy one and a half hours, but at least three and a half hours, very easily four. In all honesty, the thought of not going to church some Sundays is pretty strong, but then when we think of the powerful move of God and the way we are encouraged and touched by the Father, we can’t stay away.
A question we’ve had through email is whether people can send us stuff. Absolutely! You can send it to:
The King’s School
Box 1560
Bujumbura, Burundi
Africa
We have no school today, it’s a Muslim holiday, so we’re about to go, I mean drive with our car and not with a taxi or walk (awful grammar, I know) to get some supplies.
Please continue to pray for Ramona and family.
We love you, and thank you all very much for your continued prayers, emails, and words of encouragement.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
The Froese’s
Saturday, November 21, 2009
We ran out.
We went to Sabe Village again this morning to help feed the kids. When they see Honda and Libby’s familiar vehicle pull up they come rushing towards the vehicle with their cup. We prayed that Jesus would multiply the food, as there seemed to be an almost endless line up of children. We prayed as we handed out, seeing the supply decrease steadily; the last bit of food was served before we reached the end of the line. We helplessly ran out. This time it was my turn to cry as I watched the moms’ anxious faces when they saw there was nothing left for their little ones. I couldn’t help but to put myself in their shoes; if I couldn’t provide Colton with food…
I saw one mom sitting with a tiny one that wouldn’t stop crying. I went over and laid my hands on the baby and prayed the peace and comfort of Jesus into her. Almost immediately she completely relaxed and became totally quiet. Tears were rolling down my face as I prayed. The mom seemed touched as well.
The water has receded in the village, but it’s still very wet and muddy. The collapsed huts need to be built up from the ground, and the ones where only the mud was washed away and the stick structure remains are getting ‘remudded’.
Last week there was a woman with a tiny baby that came by, and Libby said she couldn’t refuse her. She’s 17, epileptic, has a 3 month old baby girl, has no family to live with - she was in dire straits. During the week she had a seizure and had fallen on top of her baby; thankfully the baby seems fine. Some women had told Libby that this young mom had told them that she was going to take the baby and walk both of them into the lake. Well, Honda and Libby now have both mom and baby living at their house. The mom is happier, she knows where her next meal is coming from, and the baby is gorgeous and smiles easily.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those of you who responded to my previous email, saying you want to help financially. Pastor Andrew phoned last night and said that Calvary Chapel is actually taking Sabe Village on as a ‘project’; so for anyone wanting to make a donation, on the memo line write ‘Sabe Village’, and send it to:
Calvary Chapel
30 McKenzie Ave.
Steinbach Manitoba
Canada
R5G-2E5
Calvary Chapel will issue you a tax receipt.
… it’s rained a fair bit the last 2 days, we need it, but Sabe doesn’t. Please pray that the government will take responsibility and re-locate this village to higher ground. As is, they know that there is some food coming in, and so they rest on their laurels, not doing anything to improve the lives of these citizens.
Please continue to pray for Ramona and family.
Blessings; The Froese’s
I saw one mom sitting with a tiny one that wouldn’t stop crying. I went over and laid my hands on the baby and prayed the peace and comfort of Jesus into her. Almost immediately she completely relaxed and became totally quiet. Tears were rolling down my face as I prayed. The mom seemed touched as well.
The water has receded in the village, but it’s still very wet and muddy. The collapsed huts need to be built up from the ground, and the ones where only the mud was washed away and the stick structure remains are getting ‘remudded’.
Last week there was a woman with a tiny baby that came by, and Libby said she couldn’t refuse her. She’s 17, epileptic, has a 3 month old baby girl, has no family to live with - she was in dire straits. During the week she had a seizure and had fallen on top of her baby; thankfully the baby seems fine. Some women had told Libby that this young mom had told them that she was going to take the baby and walk both of them into the lake. Well, Honda and Libby now have both mom and baby living at their house. The mom is happier, she knows where her next meal is coming from, and the baby is gorgeous and smiles easily.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those of you who responded to my previous email, saying you want to help financially. Pastor Andrew phoned last night and said that Calvary Chapel is actually taking Sabe Village on as a ‘project’; so for anyone wanting to make a donation, on the memo line write ‘Sabe Village’, and send it to:
Calvary Chapel
30 McKenzie Ave.
Steinbach Manitoba
Canada
R5G-2E5
Calvary Chapel will issue you a tax receipt.
… it’s rained a fair bit the last 2 days, we need it, but Sabe doesn’t. Please pray that the government will take responsibility and re-locate this village to higher ground. As is, they know that there is some food coming in, and so they rest on their laurels, not doing anything to improve the lives of these citizens.
Please continue to pray for Ramona and family.
Blessings; The Froese’s
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Food for the hungry.
We went to Sabe Village yesterday (Saturday), with Honda and Libby. These people, due to the flood, have not a crumb to eat unless it is given to them by some one, and Honda and Libby are the only ones that are bringing anything to them. The meal was very simple; a cup of porridge. But it’s better than nothing, and that’s what they’d have were it not for this.
The moms with the little babies were crowding around the 2 big containers holding the porridge with a look of desperation on their faces even more than the large-eyed children. Normally this culture has almost no regard for people standing in line, never mind if your baby is lethargic due to hunger. Very reluctantly they started moving back, somewhat forming a line, because they realized we would not start serving if we were almost covered with bodies.
The finances are not available to do mass feedings like in February of this year, so only the children and some women were fed. So they came by, quietly, holding their plastic cup to have it filled with what likely will only stave off death for a few hours for some. They sat down with their cup, again mostly quietly, except for some babies that wouldn’t stop crying. On Friday when Honda and Libby fed them, they had run out of porridge before all the kids had received some; on the way over to the village, Libby was telling us that she doesn’t cry very easily anymore, she’s seen so much already; but when they had run out and this little boy had come and she couldn’t give him anything, she had lost it. I didn’t want to experience this, so once there and the people were coming by, I got down, laid my hands on the container and asked Jesus to multiply the porridge like he multiplied the fish and bread for the 5000. There was enough, and they made the same amount both days!!! Praise Jesus!!!
The stench is almost unbearable at times; the smell of their filthy bodies and clothes only add to the disease infested surroundings that are contaminated by sewage. ( It just started raining, please pray for Sabe.)
I very earnestly ask you, pray that your heart will start hurting over the things that hurt the heart of the Father, and let that pain spur you into action to help where God leads you to, where ever that is. If you want to help Sabe, please email us at: ircfroese@gmail.com
Please continue to lift Ramona and family up in prayer. We need Jesus!!
In Christ,
The Froese’s
The moms with the little babies were crowding around the 2 big containers holding the porridge with a look of desperation on their faces even more than the large-eyed children. Normally this culture has almost no regard for people standing in line, never mind if your baby is lethargic due to hunger. Very reluctantly they started moving back, somewhat forming a line, because they realized we would not start serving if we were almost covered with bodies.
The finances are not available to do mass feedings like in February of this year, so only the children and some women were fed. So they came by, quietly, holding their plastic cup to have it filled with what likely will only stave off death for a few hours for some. They sat down with their cup, again mostly quietly, except for some babies that wouldn’t stop crying. On Friday when Honda and Libby fed them, they had run out of porridge before all the kids had received some; on the way over to the village, Libby was telling us that she doesn’t cry very easily anymore, she’s seen so much already; but when they had run out and this little boy had come and she couldn’t give him anything, she had lost it. I didn’t want to experience this, so once there and the people were coming by, I got down, laid my hands on the container and asked Jesus to multiply the porridge like he multiplied the fish and bread for the 5000. There was enough, and they made the same amount both days!!! Praise Jesus!!!
The stench is almost unbearable at times; the smell of their filthy bodies and clothes only add to the disease infested surroundings that are contaminated by sewage. ( It just started raining, please pray for Sabe.)
I very earnestly ask you, pray that your heart will start hurting over the things that hurt the heart of the Father, and let that pain spur you into action to help where God leads you to, where ever that is. If you want to help Sabe, please email us at: ircfroese@gmail.com
Please continue to lift Ramona and family up in prayer. We need Jesus!!
In Christ,
The Froese’s
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Ramona and Sabe village prayer request
Please pray for Ramona and family.
As I wrote last night, we’ve had rain every day since Sunday, which is greatly needed, but this is not the case for Sabe village. As of this morning, they have half a meter of water standing in their tiny village. This is the same place that was flooded with one meter of water in February. But that’s not the worse, there have been four deaths there this week; three children and one adult. One mom and baby died, presumably of AIDS, and the other two children of malaria.
So in the midst of grieving, this community of 1700, is living on the streets again. The national police had come this morning, but when they saw the scope of this situation, they left, knowing they did not have what it would take to help.
The ground obviously is already saturated at Sabe, and it appears we’ve just come into the rainy season.
Please pray for Honda and Libby; pray for wisdom (at Libby’s request), and resources, strength, peace, and whatever the Lord puts on your heart. These people need a lot of help, and a lot of Jesus.
Please pray for us as well, as we do what we can. There are so many things that are so hard to see.
Blessings, Rosel
As I wrote last night, we’ve had rain every day since Sunday, which is greatly needed, but this is not the case for Sabe village. As of this morning, they have half a meter of water standing in their tiny village. This is the same place that was flooded with one meter of water in February. But that’s not the worse, there have been four deaths there this week; three children and one adult. One mom and baby died, presumably of AIDS, and the other two children of malaria.
So in the midst of grieving, this community of 1700, is living on the streets again. The national police had come this morning, but when they saw the scope of this situation, they left, knowing they did not have what it would take to help.
The ground obviously is already saturated at Sabe, and it appears we’ve just come into the rainy season.
Please pray for Honda and Libby; pray for wisdom (at Libby’s request), and resources, strength, peace, and whatever the Lord puts on your heart. These people need a lot of help, and a lot of Jesus.
Please pray for us as well, as we do what we can. There are so many things that are so hard to see.
Blessings, Rosel
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Please pray for Ramona's healing.
Hey everyone;
Please pray for Ramona and Earl and family. Check out there blog at: earlramona.blogspot.com
We need a miracle!!!
We have a friend here who has AIDS (she was born with it),and she’s had ‘flare-ups’ in the past, where the disease seems to be a lot stronger. She’s had a ‘flare up’ now for over 2 months. We’ve talked a lot about faith and healing and praying, all of which she says she’s lacking in. She’s also lived almost 16 years longer already than the doctors said she would. Please pray for her as well.
We had a little bit of a tense Sunday last week. I’ll start at the beginning. Colton’s neck had been some biting creature’s meal, with about 8 or so definite bite sites. The following day it looked pretty awful, with a bad red and raised rash spreading on his neck and onto his face. We consulted some people from here, applied a few different creams to it, and it got worse. Sunday during lunch Colton said that he had a bad head ache. I went to lie down with him, and in his sleep he jumped really much 4 times. We had to go to CRIB at four o’clock for worship, so we had to wake him up and once awake, he said he was very tired, and still had a head ache. He looked quite unwell. We are aware of what the symptoms of malaria are, and extreme fatigue, head aches and intense dreaming are part of the symptoms.
Everiste picked us up and we told him what was going on. He said we needed to have Colton checked out by Dr. Euloge. With it being Sunday, that meant going to his house. He checked Colton, asked some questions and ordered a malaria test.
We went to Jabe Hospital, which is run by Iglese Vivant (“our” church), and received a (praise the Lord), negative result for malaria. So the bites where serious enough to cause distress in Colton’s body, but it wasn’t the dreaded “African killer”, as it’s sometimes referred to. Dr. Euloge prescribed meds., and in about a day and a half it was starting to improve.
Pastor Rueben’s good friend had a 12 year old daughter die of malaria a few weeks ago, a fellow teacher’s husband had it a few weeks ago, etc. It’s quite common. Please pray for protection for us from this horrible sickness. And yes, we sleep under a mosquito net every night, since day one.
Power cuts are continuing to be an issue. For the most part we can take it in stride, but sometimes it gets very frustrating, especially if it’s been off for 36 hours straight and all the food is 100 percent defrosted in the tiny fridge/freezer. It’s not uncommon to have no electricity for about 24 hrs., than on for 4-12 hrs., and back off. We also had the water shut off for a large part of the day for three days in a row. I kept telling myself, “Be joyful in all things, be joyful in all things.” On one of these ‘no water’ days, we had a wedding to attend, and had to walk to CRIB to shower.
The public is not happy about the power cuts because it’s costing people lots of money, especially businesses. To run a generator at these exorbitant gas prices puts a huge dent in any ones pocket, never mind the bigger generators needed to run a business. Never the less, we sometimes wish for a generator. Having access to the internet is also sporadic, more for some than for others. One of the teachers who’s here from Arizona couldn’t get on for three weeks! On a fantastic note, we’ve had hot water now for two days!! There was something wrong with the power lines having to do with the hot water tank since the second day of our arrival, and things generally take very, very long to be addressed here; so we’re very thankful for this luxury. It honestly feels strange to just stand under the water right away, and to not gradually, limb by limb, get used to the temperature.
We are supposed to have been in the rainy season since beginning of September, and if this week so far is indicative, we are finally starting it now. We’ve had almost no rain so far, with the exception of one good down pour about 5 weeks ago, and a few light rains here and there. This is very unusual. It seems many things are very unusual here this year. The power outages, which some say is a result of the lack of rain (hydroelectric dams too empty, others say it’s because Burundi buys power from the Congo and they owe so much money to the Congo that they are constraining the supply); the internet problems, water cuts. It’s an interesting time for the Lord to send us here. Anyways, back to the rain. Since Sunday we’ve had rain every day, and boy, is it refreshing!!! And other years it rains at about 1:00 PM, and often again at 4:00 PM; apparently so much so that you can almost set your watch to it; where as now it rains anytime of day, numerous times, and also during the night. In fact right now, at 6:25 PM, it’s coming down fantastically. The power has also been on without interruption since Sunday.
Everiste took us up country (into the mountains, big, huge, massive, elevation - 8000 + feet, wonderful, cool 20 degrees instead 30 +), and he said there will be famine in January/February as a result of the lack of rain. These people almost exclusively live off of the land, and most are extremely poor, so this is likely to be a huge challenge for the country of Burundi, as most of the people of Burundi live up country. With a population of 7 - 8 million people, the effects will likely be huge. Please pray about this situation.
You’re most likely wrapped up in Christmas activities already, where as here it feels nothing like the up coming celebration. In fact, if I wasn’t preparing Christmas art projects for my students and Fabi wasn’t practicing the Christmas program with the students within my earshot at school, you’d never guess it’s that time of year. There are no visible signs of the season, nor will there be with the exception of a very few homes decorating a tree or something. Christmas wasn’t celebrated in Burundi till about 10 years ago, and after all, can it really be Christmas without snow!!?? Praise the Lord, that manger contained the Savior of the world, whether dwellers in snow covered lands or not!!
Again, please pray for Earl and Ramona and family.
Talk to you soon.
The Froese’s
Please pray for Ramona and Earl and family. Check out there blog at: earlramona.blogspot.com
We need a miracle!!!
We have a friend here who has AIDS (she was born with it),and she’s had ‘flare-ups’ in the past, where the disease seems to be a lot stronger. She’s had a ‘flare up’ now for over 2 months. We’ve talked a lot about faith and healing and praying, all of which she says she’s lacking in. She’s also lived almost 16 years longer already than the doctors said she would. Please pray for her as well.
We had a little bit of a tense Sunday last week. I’ll start at the beginning. Colton’s neck had been some biting creature’s meal, with about 8 or so definite bite sites. The following day it looked pretty awful, with a bad red and raised rash spreading on his neck and onto his face. We consulted some people from here, applied a few different creams to it, and it got worse. Sunday during lunch Colton said that he had a bad head ache. I went to lie down with him, and in his sleep he jumped really much 4 times. We had to go to CRIB at four o’clock for worship, so we had to wake him up and once awake, he said he was very tired, and still had a head ache. He looked quite unwell. We are aware of what the symptoms of malaria are, and extreme fatigue, head aches and intense dreaming are part of the symptoms.
Everiste picked us up and we told him what was going on. He said we needed to have Colton checked out by Dr. Euloge. With it being Sunday, that meant going to his house. He checked Colton, asked some questions and ordered a malaria test.
We went to Jabe Hospital, which is run by Iglese Vivant (“our” church), and received a (praise the Lord), negative result for malaria. So the bites where serious enough to cause distress in Colton’s body, but it wasn’t the dreaded “African killer”, as it’s sometimes referred to. Dr. Euloge prescribed meds., and in about a day and a half it was starting to improve.
Pastor Rueben’s good friend had a 12 year old daughter die of malaria a few weeks ago, a fellow teacher’s husband had it a few weeks ago, etc. It’s quite common. Please pray for protection for us from this horrible sickness. And yes, we sleep under a mosquito net every night, since day one.
Power cuts are continuing to be an issue. For the most part we can take it in stride, but sometimes it gets very frustrating, especially if it’s been off for 36 hours straight and all the food is 100 percent defrosted in the tiny fridge/freezer. It’s not uncommon to have no electricity for about 24 hrs., than on for 4-12 hrs., and back off. We also had the water shut off for a large part of the day for three days in a row. I kept telling myself, “Be joyful in all things, be joyful in all things.” On one of these ‘no water’ days, we had a wedding to attend, and had to walk to CRIB to shower.
The public is not happy about the power cuts because it’s costing people lots of money, especially businesses. To run a generator at these exorbitant gas prices puts a huge dent in any ones pocket, never mind the bigger generators needed to run a business. Never the less, we sometimes wish for a generator. Having access to the internet is also sporadic, more for some than for others. One of the teachers who’s here from Arizona couldn’t get on for three weeks! On a fantastic note, we’ve had hot water now for two days!! There was something wrong with the power lines having to do with the hot water tank since the second day of our arrival, and things generally take very, very long to be addressed here; so we’re very thankful for this luxury. It honestly feels strange to just stand under the water right away, and to not gradually, limb by limb, get used to the temperature.
We are supposed to have been in the rainy season since beginning of September, and if this week so far is indicative, we are finally starting it now. We’ve had almost no rain so far, with the exception of one good down pour about 5 weeks ago, and a few light rains here and there. This is very unusual. It seems many things are very unusual here this year. The power outages, which some say is a result of the lack of rain (hydroelectric dams too empty, others say it’s because Burundi buys power from the Congo and they owe so much money to the Congo that they are constraining the supply); the internet problems, water cuts. It’s an interesting time for the Lord to send us here. Anyways, back to the rain. Since Sunday we’ve had rain every day, and boy, is it refreshing!!! And other years it rains at about 1:00 PM, and often again at 4:00 PM; apparently so much so that you can almost set your watch to it; where as now it rains anytime of day, numerous times, and also during the night. In fact right now, at 6:25 PM, it’s coming down fantastically. The power has also been on without interruption since Sunday.
Everiste took us up country (into the mountains, big, huge, massive, elevation - 8000 + feet, wonderful, cool 20 degrees instead 30 +), and he said there will be famine in January/February as a result of the lack of rain. These people almost exclusively live off of the land, and most are extremely poor, so this is likely to be a huge challenge for the country of Burundi, as most of the people of Burundi live up country. With a population of 7 - 8 million people, the effects will likely be huge. Please pray about this situation.
You’re most likely wrapped up in Christmas activities already, where as here it feels nothing like the up coming celebration. In fact, if I wasn’t preparing Christmas art projects for my students and Fabi wasn’t practicing the Christmas program with the students within my earshot at school, you’d never guess it’s that time of year. There are no visible signs of the season, nor will there be with the exception of a very few homes decorating a tree or something. Christmas wasn’t celebrated in Burundi till about 10 years ago, and after all, can it really be Christmas without snow!!?? Praise the Lord, that manger contained the Savior of the world, whether dwellers in snow covered lands or not!!
Again, please pray for Earl and Ramona and family.
Talk to you soon.
The Froese’s
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