Introductions

Hello again. Aug.13 /09
Introduction’s that I should have done the first day:
Pastor Ray and Maryanne Bale - A wonderful couple from Vernon, B.C. Initially they came here for 3 months; that was 7 yrs. ago!! Pastor Ray is very involved in The King’s School, the CRIB home, at the Nyakabaga orphanage, in the Congo orphanage together with Pastor Rueben, and he preaches at Jabe church about once a month. Pastor Ray and Maryanne have two married daughters in Canada, and 12 grandchildren. They adopted Boss David when he was just 4 months old; he’s a very intelligent and inquisitive 5 yr. old now.
Everiste and Anick - A beautiful Burundian couple we are blessed to have in our lives. Everiste has been a huge help in getting us settled in. Everiste studied High German so that he could go to Germany to get his degree in agriculture. It’s pretty cool to be able to speak High German to him. He has an agricultural project up country, and he’s getting more involved in shipping “good” cows in from Tanzania that actually produce milk, versus what he calls “useless” cows that just cost money but don’t produce milk.
Just like Pastor Ray, Everiste wears many hats; he’s also Chrissie Chapman’s administrator. They have 4 kid’s. Next week we are helping them move into a house that is much closer to us than where they currently live. We’re looking forward to having them closer.
Deo and Rosa - Another lovely Burundian couple. Rosa is due with baby # 4 in a few weeks. Can’t wait!!
Honda and Libby - They are currently in England, as that is Libby’s home country.
Dave and Debbie - also currently in Debbie’s native (England?)
Chrissie Chapman - Chrissie’s been here for 20 yrs. She’s also from England. She started CRIB - Children Rescued in Burundi, during the genocide 10 yrs. ago. She’s the head of The King’s School here. Currently she is in Manitoba, getting one of her kids settled in at The King’s School in Wpg. Someone offered to pay the way for her daughter so that she could experience life out there.
Aime and Kristelle - Aime is an administrator. His dad was the ambassador to the States for years, so Aime lived in the US for some yrs.
We have the honor and privilege to work with all these very gifted and wonderful people serving under ARM.
Last week Friday Maryanne took us to Club du lac, which is a beautiful resort on the beach. It seems very out of place in this poor country. In the afternoon we all went to Nyakabaga orphanage. There was a Samaritan’s Purse team from Ireland , so Colton had the privilage of partaking in some of their activities, while Isaac and I got acquainted with some of the mama’s and aunties. A “mama” is a woman that was married; an “auntie”has never been married. These are the caretakers of the kids. Everyone in Nyakabaga, also called New Hope,is Congolese, from a village about 15 miles from the Burundi border. Four yrs. ago there was a massacre in this village and 266 people got killed. The survivors make up New Hope. We already love this place. These kids have so very little materialistically speaking, but they are very passionate about Jesus Christ - so poor yet so rich!!
When it was time to leave, one of the mama’s said Colton couldn’t leave. We assured them that we would come back often.
When we got home, Isaac was going to fold some of the laundry that we had previously rushed out to get off the line and spread out on our living room furniture to dry so that the smoke from Renevah’s cooking wouldn’t “smoke” it. Isaac was commenting on how interesting it was to dry underwear on our coffee table; this was almost immediately followed by a shocked: “Ugh, there’s ants in my pants.”. It truly is an adventure living here.
On Sunday we went to Jabe church. WOW!! WOW!! WOW!! Need I say more? 7,000 people worshiping the Lord - African’s at that!! The lead pastor, Pastor Edmond, had the first message, followed by a guest pastor from Rwanda. It was powerful. It was on giving people “Jesus injections”, not just a little of Jesus on the surface, but injecting, pouring Jesus into people and being vessels that He can use. I love that!! We also spent time repenting for the atrocities of the genocide. Vivante Jabe is under ARM, one of 120 ARM churches in Burundi, with hundreds in other parts of Africa.
We went to Pastor Ray and Marryanne’s for lunch and the afternoon. At 5:00 we headed to Nyakabaga again. They have a service there every Sunday evening. They were already worshiping when we got there; what a beautiful sight, these people that had everything snatched from them by evil, now praising their Protector and Provider, their Joy and their Strength. Two of the teens had a very passionate message, followed by a word from the visitors - Isaac and myself. We had previously been informed that this is expected from visitors. This was followed with more worship, getting more and more joyful with each song. Space is tight under the canopy where we were, but the rows we started with soon dissolved as we danced for Jesus. One mama came over to me and motioned for me to dance with her. I had to be careful that I wouldn’t trip over these two pieces of bent re-bar sticking out of a concrete slab. At one point it struck me that I was dancing for Jesus with an African lady on top of a sewer cover. What joy!!!
After the service, 17 of us piled into an old, “hippie” Volkswagon “bus”. We were dropped off at our gate to be met by our ever smiling and friendly guard, Junavard. He wrapped his skinny arm around Colton again as he walked us up our short drive way. Inside there was a real treat awaiting us; there on the table was a cake!! You see, Burundian’s don’t do dessert, so we had pretty much laid even visions of sweets to rest.
But we are blessed to have Renevah as our cook, (temporarily)who has much experience cooking for “muzungus”, white people - and knows about their sweet tooth. However, there are very, very limited ingredients available, and anything beyond a basic, unfrosted, occasional cake will remain a delicious memory for the most part. Having said that though, there is another orphanage right next to The King’s School that sells pretty good cinnamon buns. So that’s a real treat.
Anyways, we had a good first Sunday in Burundi. The One who called us here is taking very good care of us. Not surprising at all.
I keep asking Colton how he’s doing, if he’s adjusting well, what’s going through his mind. After a few days of this he said: “ Mom, I don’t need to adjust. This is exactly how I like life. It’s just like in Mexico.” But let me add, Mexico times 10 or 15!! For those of you who don’t know, we’ve spent a fair amount of time in the “real” Mexico - not resorts. You see poverty there as well, but nothing like here. But anyways, now you know that Colton’s in his God created forte.
We really like this place. It’s feeling more and more like home. The people are generally very friendly. God has richly blessed us with friends already, Jabe church is a Spirit-filled, Christ-centered place where we can go to be fed, we have a good home and a beautiful yard, and so much more. The Lord is providing
We are spending a fair amount of time at CRIB. The crate that contains Isaac’s work tools doesn’t arrive till the 29th, and I don’t start at school till Sept. 1st, so we have the time to do this. Yesterday I spent hours doing girls’ nails. I did them really fancy with different designs. Isaac answers countless questions pertaining to life in Canada from the older boys, and Colton plays hours of soccer, goes to Chrissie’s pool or the beach with the kids., draws, or just hangs out with them.
The kids at CRIB are all Burundians that were rescued during the genocide 10 yrs. ago. It’s so much fun to see them come running up to you when you walk into the gate and they wrap their arms around you. It reminds me of crumbs and ants, but not in a bad way. If there is a crumb on the counter, it is completely beset with ants. These are great kids; they all attend The Kings School, except for those that have already finished year 11 - secondary only goes to year 11. ( I’m getting used to saying year instead of grade.)
I wonder when I’ll be able to post this blog, as we haven’t been able to get online for a couple of days.
I love this: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” 1 Co 5:20
So often we as Christians just do lip service about the power of God, never mind God Himself. Or we may believe that he is all powerful, but not in our situation. That’s like saying our situation has God stumped, that He needs a plan B. Let me gently remind you, God’s plan A - Jesus Christ, is ALL sufficient.
Love, love, love, Rosel…. For Isaac and Colton too