Jambo;
Isaac’s vegging on the couch with an IPOD, and Colton’s kicking his soccer ball around outside with our worker. Colton and Stany really enjoy each other’s company, and if one of the 3 soccer balls that we brought out from Canada holds air long enough, they’ll go at it for quite some time.
For the past few weeks Isaac’s been busy renovating and painting at Chrissie’s in the ‘baby unit.’ No, she’s not taking in new orphan babies; there are a few of the older CRIB boys that are living in them. Chrissie wants to paint the entire CRIB house in the next little while, so that will keep Isaac busy for some time. It’s a large 2 storey building with many bedrooms, washrooms, common areas, etc. I just hope that won’t be oil paint as well; Isaac hasn’t felt that good, nor has his appetite been what it should be the last few weeks from the awful fumes.
At the same time though, the school also has a ‘to do’ list that needs attention, so he tries his best to keep everybody happy. Between Chrissie’s, CRIB and both schools, there’s never a lack of things to do. There’s this one “hardware” store where Isaac gets a lot of the supplies from, and a few weeks ago, this guy who Isaac thinks is the owner, had said that we’re neighbours. The previous day Isaac had needed a doorknob, and this neighbour was not working, so the price for the doorknob was $55,000, roughly $55.00 CND. So Isaac asked this neighbour for the price, he said $35,000. Isaac said “how about $30,000” and the deal was made. So needless to say, Isaac now deals with this guy as it’s saving A.R.M. money.
Since I’m on the bartering subject…
There are many, many people selling their wares on the street, and if they see a mzungu, the car is beset with up to 10 people, all wanting to make a sale. There may be 4 or 5 selling cheese; one sells cheese that comes from Rwanda, one from the Congo, one from Uganda, one that is local. They’re all shoving their cheese into the car for us to smell, all insisting theirs is the best. One time we must have had at least 8 rounds in the car at the same time!! We had no clue which round belonged to whom. At the same time, there are 3 or 4 people showing us their fruit and vegetable selection, also pushing it into the car; after all, if it’s in the car, chances of you taking the product are higher. This is quite a loud ordeal, as the merchants are all very eager to make a sale. Isaac finds this stressful; I find it intriguing.
We know the prices of most things that we buy regularly, and many of these items we buy on the street. If you are mzungu the price is automatically increased. So when they realize that we know the prices, they are very quick to go down in price. The comment has been made “either they think the mzungu is very rich or very stupid!” In fact, a mzungu pastor at Jabe a few weeks ago said: “ I’m mzungu but I’m not stupid” in reference to having the wool pulled over his eyes.
Tomorrow is the third Sunday in a row that we will have an English speaker at church - hooray!! Tomorrow’s speaker is from Vancouver.
I’ll take you on a typical ride to church/up-town with us. Buckle up, it can be a wild ride!!
On the way to church are a number of groups, ranging in size from about 20 - 200 people that are walking. These are organized clubs, often with the walking club name on the shirt, which is always white. As far as we know, these clubs walk only on Sunday mornings. There are moms with tiny babies tied on their backs (no helmets),perched on the back of the ever present motorbike taxi (mototaxi)as it careens through traffic. There are boys that are pushing huge carts of beer and Fanta. For the male gender the washroom is where ever you need it to be. In one short stretch there are 2 buses (basically what we would call a ‘hippy’ van in Canada- there must be a thousand!!) with a flat tire that are affecting traffic flow. There are many bikes loaded down with massive bunches of bananas, huge sacks of charcoal, a tall rack of bread, a bed, 20 or more foot long pieces of lumber or steel bars (no joke); just to name a few “bicycle transportable goods.”
You need to keep your eye on other vehicles almost more than on your own driving because you get cut off very much and very often. A 2- way highway is a three lane road when ever the need arises, (which is almost more often than not,) not counting pedestrians and bikes. And let me tell you about bikes and pedestrians; they are everywhere!!
Coming up to our church street are the “regulars” - the women with their children sitting on the side of the street in the dirt, close to the smelly gutter. With their hand out-stretched, they hope and wait for generous church - goers to bless them.
This street is almost insanely busy on Sundays; imagine, 7,000 people flooding into 2 narrow gates, wide enough for only one car at a time. These gates are shared by pedestrians and vehicles; by far the majority of church goers walk. Getting on to the church yard is relatively easy; it’s altogether an entirely different matter getting off. You see, being from the west, we believe that if church starts at 9:00 A.M. you should be there by then. For Africans, this is definitely not the case. In fact, some leadership sometimes only arrives after 10:00. But this is fine because we’re still in worship. So coming to church is spread out over a period of over an hour, but after church everyone leaves at the same time. You need much, much patience as you inch forward. The police are always present, armed with their AK - 47‘s.
Some more fun facts:
1. Colton has a girl in his class by the name of Satellite… and Happiness. I like Happiness for a name. Yes, these are given names, not nicknames.
2. Other names that are heard here: ‘Perfect‘, ‘Innocent‘, ‘Blessing’ is fairly common.
3. I teach two boys by the name of ‘Prince‘, and one girl named ‘Princess.’
There’s a wonderfully cool, gentle breeze coming in through the window; I’m so grateful that the Lord sends these, especially at night time. It makes for a good nights’ sleep.
Good night.
Isaac, Rosel and Colton
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Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The deadly tongue
A very warm (pun intended) hello to you all!
For the last week or so this has been reverberating in my head and heart:
“… continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Phil 2:12b -13
I like how my study Bible expounds on that verse;
1. work out your salvation- Work it out to the finish; not a reference to the attempt to earn one’s salvation by works, but to the expression of one’s salvation in spiritual growth and development. Salvation is not merely a gift received once for all; it expresses itself in which the believer is strenuously involved - the process of perseverance, spiritual growth and maturation.
2. fear and trembling - Not because of doubt or anxiety; rather, the reference is to an active reverence and singleness of purpose in response to God’s grace.
Yikes!! For some days that’s a tall order - strenuous perseverance, spiritual growth and maturation?? Active reverence and singleness of purpose????
Check out the verse that immediately follows: v:14
“Do everything without complaining or arguing.” There are times when the only strenuous activity I’m engaged in is the wagging of my complaining tongue. “ Why doesn’t the government improve the infrastructure?… why don’t people do things this way, why can’t things be like in Canada???” It’s sometimes easy for me at this point to get down on myself about my maturity in Christ, or lack thereof. After all, we all know if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Listen to what James (3:6,8 - 12) says about the tongue: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole coarse of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”
The Bible doesn’t merely suggest that I shouldn’t complain, it’s a direct command!! “Do everything without complaining…” Everything!!! Man am I ever thankful for God’s grace!!! I’d be very foolish to think that I could ever attain to God’s high standards apart from His divine help through the Holy Spirit, and with “strenuous perseverance, active reverence and singleness of purpose.”
And if I douse the fire that I was about to deluge on someone before it erupts out of my mouth, I can take no credit, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Verse 15 goes on to say: “so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” This side of heaven no one will ever be “blameless, pure or faultless”; this is descriptive of only one Man that walked this earth - Jesus Christ!!! But, when we ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sins, and His blood covers the offence, God the Father looks at us through His perfect Son and He sees us as “blameless, pure, faultless, children of God without fault.” Hallelujah!!
Could you please pray with us that Jesus will continue to help us “shine like stars in the universe (Africa,) as we hold out the word of life.”?
For, and because of Jesus Christ;
IRCF
For the last week or so this has been reverberating in my head and heart:
“… continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Phil 2:12b -13
I like how my study Bible expounds on that verse;
1. work out your salvation- Work it out to the finish; not a reference to the attempt to earn one’s salvation by works, but to the expression of one’s salvation in spiritual growth and development. Salvation is not merely a gift received once for all; it expresses itself in which the believer is strenuously involved - the process of perseverance, spiritual growth and maturation.
2. fear and trembling - Not because of doubt or anxiety; rather, the reference is to an active reverence and singleness of purpose in response to God’s grace.
Yikes!! For some days that’s a tall order - strenuous perseverance, spiritual growth and maturation?? Active reverence and singleness of purpose????
Check out the verse that immediately follows: v:14
“Do everything without complaining or arguing.” There are times when the only strenuous activity I’m engaged in is the wagging of my complaining tongue. “ Why doesn’t the government improve the infrastructure?… why don’t people do things this way, why can’t things be like in Canada???” It’s sometimes easy for me at this point to get down on myself about my maturity in Christ, or lack thereof. After all, we all know if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Listen to what James (3:6,8 - 12) says about the tongue: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole coarse of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”
The Bible doesn’t merely suggest that I shouldn’t complain, it’s a direct command!! “Do everything without complaining…” Everything!!! Man am I ever thankful for God’s grace!!! I’d be very foolish to think that I could ever attain to God’s high standards apart from His divine help through the Holy Spirit, and with “strenuous perseverance, active reverence and singleness of purpose.”
And if I douse the fire that I was about to deluge on someone before it erupts out of my mouth, I can take no credit, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Verse 15 goes on to say: “so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” This side of heaven no one will ever be “blameless, pure or faultless”; this is descriptive of only one Man that walked this earth - Jesus Christ!!! But, when we ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sins, and His blood covers the offence, God the Father looks at us through His perfect Son and He sees us as “blameless, pure, faultless, children of God without fault.” Hallelujah!!
Could you please pray with us that Jesus will continue to help us “shine like stars in the universe (Africa,) as we hold out the word of life.”?
For, and because of Jesus Christ;
IRCF
Friday, January 8, 2010
Christmas Season Happenings continued
So… continuing from yesterday…
December 30-31 We went to Nyanzu lac - a beautiful beach about 2 hours from Bujumbura. We went with friends of ours. In the evening on the 31st, we were invited to a New Years party at Dave and Sheena’s.
January 1 2010 - We were invited to friends for another party.
As you can see, God really provided many friends to surround us during the Christmas season - a time that could have been filled with much homesickness. We truly are blessed by the people the Lord has put, and is continuing to put into our lives.
Fun Facts:
1. We have baby dedication at church every single Sunday, and some of the names are very interesting; but the one that takes the cake is this: twins, a boy and a girl named King and Queen. I’m not kidding!
2. Pastor Ray goes to the Congo (the border is about 15-20 minutes from our house) to minister, and has for some years already. One couple decided to honor Pastor Ray by naming their baby… Pastor Ray!
3. Isaac gets stopped by the cops soooo frequently for no reason, other than to check out the new mzungu, and that his papers for the car are in order. One day he got stopped three times.
4. A nice, sweet and juicy pineapple costs about 75 cents CND.
5. A regular box of Corn Flakes costs about $23.00 CND.
Debby the head teacher (she’s a teacher from England, married to a Kenyan,; he‘s head teacher in Secondary), asked me if I would be willing to do devotions with Nursery, Reception and year one, each class once a week, for about half an hour. I will also be starting with monitoring the year 4 CRIB homework group 3 days a week for an hour and a half. I start both of these next week
Please pray for much energy for me. We’re up at 6:45 A.M., teachers’ devotions start at 7:00, and schools’ out at 1:00 P.M. We come home for lunch, and than I need to go to CRIB for homework group 3 times/ week.. Some of you know about my struggles with fatigue; combined with the energy sapping heat, this will be a huge stretch. We’re praying about possibly dropping some other regular activities we do at CRIB.
Isaac is still spending his work days with Gentile, teaching him and keeping watch over him. This is going very well. Gentile is a pleasant, likeable guy. Now that we have the use of a vehicle, Isaac can do a lot more in a day. Instead of waiting for supplies he can now go and pick them up himself if they are available, and he doesn’t have to walk between Chrissie‘s, both the schools and CRIB. This saves a great deal of time. He was saying yesterday that his ‘to do’ list just keeps getting longer and longer. There’s so much to do since there was no one to do maintenance before we arrived. Also, the quality of almost everything out here is relatively poor, so things break down much faster than usual. If someone would set up a proper hardware store out here, wow…
That’s it for today, I’m tired. We get to sleep in tomorrow.
Please continue to pray for Earl, as well as for Ramona’s family.
Love as always,
IRCF
December 30-31 We went to Nyanzu lac - a beautiful beach about 2 hours from Bujumbura. We went with friends of ours. In the evening on the 31st, we were invited to a New Years party at Dave and Sheena’s.
January 1 2010 - We were invited to friends for another party.
As you can see, God really provided many friends to surround us during the Christmas season - a time that could have been filled with much homesickness. We truly are blessed by the people the Lord has put, and is continuing to put into our lives.
Fun Facts:
1. We have baby dedication at church every single Sunday, and some of the names are very interesting; but the one that takes the cake is this: twins, a boy and a girl named King and Queen. I’m not kidding!
2. Pastor Ray goes to the Congo (the border is about 15-20 minutes from our house) to minister, and has for some years already. One couple decided to honor Pastor Ray by naming their baby… Pastor Ray!
3. Isaac gets stopped by the cops soooo frequently for no reason, other than to check out the new mzungu, and that his papers for the car are in order. One day he got stopped three times.
4. A nice, sweet and juicy pineapple costs about 75 cents CND.
5. A regular box of Corn Flakes costs about $23.00 CND.
Debby the head teacher (she’s a teacher from England, married to a Kenyan,; he‘s head teacher in Secondary), asked me if I would be willing to do devotions with Nursery, Reception and year one, each class once a week, for about half an hour. I will also be starting with monitoring the year 4 CRIB homework group 3 days a week for an hour and a half. I start both of these next week
Please pray for much energy for me. We’re up at 6:45 A.M., teachers’ devotions start at 7:00, and schools’ out at 1:00 P.M. We come home for lunch, and than I need to go to CRIB for homework group 3 times/ week.. Some of you know about my struggles with fatigue; combined with the energy sapping heat, this will be a huge stretch. We’re praying about possibly dropping some other regular activities we do at CRIB.
Isaac is still spending his work days with Gentile, teaching him and keeping watch over him. This is going very well. Gentile is a pleasant, likeable guy. Now that we have the use of a vehicle, Isaac can do a lot more in a day. Instead of waiting for supplies he can now go and pick them up himself if they are available, and he doesn’t have to walk between Chrissie‘s, both the schools and CRIB. This saves a great deal of time. He was saying yesterday that his ‘to do’ list just keeps getting longer and longer. There’s so much to do since there was no one to do maintenance before we arrived. Also, the quality of almost everything out here is relatively poor, so things break down much faster than usual. If someone would set up a proper hardware store out here, wow…
That’s it for today, I’m tired. We get to sleep in tomorrow.
Please continue to pray for Earl, as well as for Ramona’s family.
Love as always,
IRCF
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Christmas Happenings
Amahoro - Peace!!
Over the next few days I will endeavour to bring you up to date with our goings on over the last month. Sorry for not posting regularly lately.
It’s hot - indoor temp. - 28.5 degrees, quite humid at times; it rains frequently, accompanied with fantastically loud thunder that sounds like it could almost originate in our back yard. Colton loves the thunder.
The flowers are blooming beautifully; when we got here 5 months ago we thought the vegetation was nice, but now that we’ve had regular rains for a few months, God is really putting on a show!!
Speaking of rain, many of you know about my super sensitivity to the sun (interesting how the Lord called us here, huh?), and so since Colton was a little tyke, when there was a warm, gentle summer rain, sans thunder, we would go and play outside, fully clothed, frolicking in the rain.
Well, we’ve had ample opportunity for this out here; our yard is fenced in with a 7 - 8 foot brick wall, so privacy isn’t an issue. A few weeks ago during a ‘thunderless’ and ‘lightningless’ rain Colton and I went out, and Stany, our worker, a normally relatively serious yet friendly guy, couldn’t hide the fact that he was quite intrigued by the scene. As we were chasing each other around the house we noticed that our deck was seriously slippery when the smooth cement is wet. Well, this could lead to only one thing - a Burundian skating rink!! We took a running speed or pushed ourselves off the house and sped across the deck. Very cool, but not cool enough! I sent Colton for dish detergent and then we were in business. Stany in the meantime is standing and watching us, chuckling as he’s watching two mzungus having fun.
We invited him to come and join us, and at first he declined; however, it was evident that he was curious about the experience, and before we knew what happened, he was in there like a dirty shirt. What a sight!!
Soon he was replenishing the water on the deck with buckets of water. What fun!
Isaac, who was trying to fix Colton’s popped bike tire nearby chose not to join the fun.
December 22 - Isaac’s birthday. (23 and holding!!) In Canada we always have both sides of the family over for birthdays, and we couldn’t stop now. So we had our living/dining area full of our Burundian “family” - people that the Lord has blessed us with out here. You should have seen the cake that I made… it looked quite awful! Isaac and Colton always opt for my ‘Midnight Cake’ for their birthday; I hadn’t made it here yet, due to the exorbitant price/and or unavailability of some of the ingredients. ( Would you pay up to $19.00 for a little container of cocoa?! Cream cheese and vanilla are not available.)Well, for birthdays you sometimes splurge.
Keep in mind, altitude, oven variances, flour, who knows what else (I suppose the skill of the baker would come into play as well), these are all contributing factors as to how your baking turns out. Well, let’s just say this oven is not like my convection one in Canada - in other words, do I want a big, medium or small flame. This determines the rate at which the bottom of the baking is burnt if I’m not right on top of things and every little while rotate and re-position the pan. So after the cake was dizzy from all the movement - and a bonus was it hadn’t collapsed from all the movement, I let it cool so I could invert it to ‘decorate’ it, which consisted of piping his age in the center and a border around the edge. The problem arose when literally about an eighth of the cake simply did a “land slide” on to the counter. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so Colton and I just stuffed our faces with the land slide. It was different than usual, especially the crumbly texture, but still tasted good. I had no choice but to incorporate the land slide crater into the piped border decoration. Our guests were very gracious in over looking the appearance of the cake.
God again proved Himself to have a sense of humor with this event. Before Colton was born I was decorating cakes at Penner Foods - fancy cakes - wedding, anniversary, birthday,… nice cakes. On top of that, I’m a ‘re-covering’ perfectionist, so this event had the makings of being disastrous. Strictly by God’s grace I found the whole ordeal amusing.
December 23 - Isaac’s at Chrissie’s working; Colton asked if he could do my toenails. He couldn’t open the nail polish bottle, so I tried. It was so tight that the bottle broke into pieces as I tried to open it, with a big piece of glass still attached to the cap. When it suddenly gave, it sliced into my thumb; yes, the one that previously, as a little girl had the encounter with the cement mixer. My hand, including the deep gash, was covered with nail polish, mixed with blood. Running water over it did almost nothing as far as washing the polish off, so, bracing myself against an even more intensified sting, I asked Colton to pour nail polish remover over my hand. Yikes!! Ouch!! WOW!! At this point I realized I needed to sit down… now… on the floor in the washroom if I didn’t want to faint and collapse.
Colton called Isaac and we went to the hospital to get stitched up. This proved to be a very eventful experience. I’ve not experienced it, but I would liken the repeated freezing needle on the outside, tip of my thumb to having a needle shoved under your nail repeatedly. Excruciating!! The rest of the story will remain untold for now.
Christmas Eve. - late morning. Honda and Libby asked us if we wanted to join them in distributing a Christmas treat to the kids at Sabe Village. Wow, what an incredible experience!! Each child received a lollipop, an orange Fanta, and two “doughnuts” - really they are small round portions of dense dough deep fried. We had enough for about 480 children.
The kids knew they were getting a treat, over and above breakfast, so when they saw us pulling into the compound you should have seen and heard the excitement. Some children could hardly contain themselves, and were lightly hitting their head with their fist. Once they were calmed down, they were taught more about Jesus, followed by singing. Once everything was organized, the children, single file, came and received their treats. Colton was asked to help with the distribution of the doughnuts. What joy to see him thoroughly enjoying himself as he smiled and bent down to look in the little ones’ faces as he handed them his offering. I kept watching him as I was helping nearby, and at times Colton’s face showed such great love and compassion as the kids filed by, a number with nothing on except a filthy, tattered shirt. I often wonder what all God will accomplish in and through Colton through experiences like these; things that will have eternal value and purpose, not just for the here and now.
What a beautiful sight, all these destitute ones enjoying an ’extra’. You might be thinking, “well why didn’t they at least buy healthy food?” You know, Jesus gives each of us so many “extras” every day, things we don’t need, but things He just enjoys giving us. It reminds me of Matthew 7 where it talks about us humans, though sinful, yet giving good gifts to our children, and how much more our Father gives us good gifts when we ask.
After this we went to Chrissie’s birthday celebration at CRIB. In the evening we had our Christmas at home, and Everiste and Annick dropped in.
Christmas day - 9:00 A.M. at CRIB watching all the kids open their presents that are shipped in from England, followed by Isaac assembling toys and things for about 2 hours. We were invited to friends of ours for lunch, together with some other expatriates. It was great - Christmas dinner outside on the deck, dessert (another one of my famous “land slide” cakes) under a sun sheltering gazebo, followed by lawn games.
At about 5 we went to Honda and Libby’s who had invited us to spend some time celebrating with the ‘Restoration of Hope’ boys - all 65 of them. These are street boys they’ve rescued and are providing a safe, godly home for them, as well as discipleship, a chance at a future, etc. You shoulda’ seen us dance to…. Boney M. Christmas songs, being piped into the yard via big speakers. Loudly!!! It was fantastic! So much fun.
If Boney M. members are still alive, I’d be curious to know their thoughts on a yard full of people in the middle of Africa dancing to “Winter Wonderland!”
December 26 - more time spent with Honda and Libby, and Libby’s parents who are out from the UK.
December 27 - we went to the local beach; me with my trusty sun-shielding umbrella.
It’s getting late, past 11:00, and we’re up and at ‘em at 5:45 A.M.
To be continued…
Over the next few days I will endeavour to bring you up to date with our goings on over the last month. Sorry for not posting regularly lately.
It’s hot - indoor temp. - 28.5 degrees, quite humid at times; it rains frequently, accompanied with fantastically loud thunder that sounds like it could almost originate in our back yard. Colton loves the thunder.
The flowers are blooming beautifully; when we got here 5 months ago we thought the vegetation was nice, but now that we’ve had regular rains for a few months, God is really putting on a show!!
Speaking of rain, many of you know about my super sensitivity to the sun (interesting how the Lord called us here, huh?), and so since Colton was a little tyke, when there was a warm, gentle summer rain, sans thunder, we would go and play outside, fully clothed, frolicking in the rain.
Well, we’ve had ample opportunity for this out here; our yard is fenced in with a 7 - 8 foot brick wall, so privacy isn’t an issue. A few weeks ago during a ‘thunderless’ and ‘lightningless’ rain Colton and I went out, and Stany, our worker, a normally relatively serious yet friendly guy, couldn’t hide the fact that he was quite intrigued by the scene. As we were chasing each other around the house we noticed that our deck was seriously slippery when the smooth cement is wet. Well, this could lead to only one thing - a Burundian skating rink!! We took a running speed or pushed ourselves off the house and sped across the deck. Very cool, but not cool enough! I sent Colton for dish detergent and then we were in business. Stany in the meantime is standing and watching us, chuckling as he’s watching two mzungus having fun.
We invited him to come and join us, and at first he declined; however, it was evident that he was curious about the experience, and before we knew what happened, he was in there like a dirty shirt. What a sight!!
Soon he was replenishing the water on the deck with buckets of water. What fun!
Isaac, who was trying to fix Colton’s popped bike tire nearby chose not to join the fun.
December 22 - Isaac’s birthday. (23 and holding!!) In Canada we always have both sides of the family over for birthdays, and we couldn’t stop now. So we had our living/dining area full of our Burundian “family” - people that the Lord has blessed us with out here. You should have seen the cake that I made… it looked quite awful! Isaac and Colton always opt for my ‘Midnight Cake’ for their birthday; I hadn’t made it here yet, due to the exorbitant price/and or unavailability of some of the ingredients. ( Would you pay up to $19.00 for a little container of cocoa?! Cream cheese and vanilla are not available.)Well, for birthdays you sometimes splurge.
Keep in mind, altitude, oven variances, flour, who knows what else (I suppose the skill of the baker would come into play as well), these are all contributing factors as to how your baking turns out. Well, let’s just say this oven is not like my convection one in Canada - in other words, do I want a big, medium or small flame. This determines the rate at which the bottom of the baking is burnt if I’m not right on top of things and every little while rotate and re-position the pan. So after the cake was dizzy from all the movement - and a bonus was it hadn’t collapsed from all the movement, I let it cool so I could invert it to ‘decorate’ it, which consisted of piping his age in the center and a border around the edge. The problem arose when literally about an eighth of the cake simply did a “land slide” on to the counter. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so Colton and I just stuffed our faces with the land slide. It was different than usual, especially the crumbly texture, but still tasted good. I had no choice but to incorporate the land slide crater into the piped border decoration. Our guests were very gracious in over looking the appearance of the cake.
God again proved Himself to have a sense of humor with this event. Before Colton was born I was decorating cakes at Penner Foods - fancy cakes - wedding, anniversary, birthday,… nice cakes. On top of that, I’m a ‘re-covering’ perfectionist, so this event had the makings of being disastrous. Strictly by God’s grace I found the whole ordeal amusing.
December 23 - Isaac’s at Chrissie’s working; Colton asked if he could do my toenails. He couldn’t open the nail polish bottle, so I tried. It was so tight that the bottle broke into pieces as I tried to open it, with a big piece of glass still attached to the cap. When it suddenly gave, it sliced into my thumb; yes, the one that previously, as a little girl had the encounter with the cement mixer. My hand, including the deep gash, was covered with nail polish, mixed with blood. Running water over it did almost nothing as far as washing the polish off, so, bracing myself against an even more intensified sting, I asked Colton to pour nail polish remover over my hand. Yikes!! Ouch!! WOW!! At this point I realized I needed to sit down… now… on the floor in the washroom if I didn’t want to faint and collapse.
Colton called Isaac and we went to the hospital to get stitched up. This proved to be a very eventful experience. I’ve not experienced it, but I would liken the repeated freezing needle on the outside, tip of my thumb to having a needle shoved under your nail repeatedly. Excruciating!! The rest of the story will remain untold for now.
Christmas Eve. - late morning. Honda and Libby asked us if we wanted to join them in distributing a Christmas treat to the kids at Sabe Village. Wow, what an incredible experience!! Each child received a lollipop, an orange Fanta, and two “doughnuts” - really they are small round portions of dense dough deep fried. We had enough for about 480 children.
The kids knew they were getting a treat, over and above breakfast, so when they saw us pulling into the compound you should have seen and heard the excitement. Some children could hardly contain themselves, and were lightly hitting their head with their fist. Once they were calmed down, they were taught more about Jesus, followed by singing. Once everything was organized, the children, single file, came and received their treats. Colton was asked to help with the distribution of the doughnuts. What joy to see him thoroughly enjoying himself as he smiled and bent down to look in the little ones’ faces as he handed them his offering. I kept watching him as I was helping nearby, and at times Colton’s face showed such great love and compassion as the kids filed by, a number with nothing on except a filthy, tattered shirt. I often wonder what all God will accomplish in and through Colton through experiences like these; things that will have eternal value and purpose, not just for the here and now.
What a beautiful sight, all these destitute ones enjoying an ’extra’. You might be thinking, “well why didn’t they at least buy healthy food?” You know, Jesus gives each of us so many “extras” every day, things we don’t need, but things He just enjoys giving us. It reminds me of Matthew 7 where it talks about us humans, though sinful, yet giving good gifts to our children, and how much more our Father gives us good gifts when we ask.
After this we went to Chrissie’s birthday celebration at CRIB. In the evening we had our Christmas at home, and Everiste and Annick dropped in.
Christmas day - 9:00 A.M. at CRIB watching all the kids open their presents that are shipped in from England, followed by Isaac assembling toys and things for about 2 hours. We were invited to friends of ours for lunch, together with some other expatriates. It was great - Christmas dinner outside on the deck, dessert (another one of my famous “land slide” cakes) under a sun sheltering gazebo, followed by lawn games.
At about 5 we went to Honda and Libby’s who had invited us to spend some time celebrating with the ‘Restoration of Hope’ boys - all 65 of them. These are street boys they’ve rescued and are providing a safe, godly home for them, as well as discipleship, a chance at a future, etc. You shoulda’ seen us dance to…. Boney M. Christmas songs, being piped into the yard via big speakers. Loudly!!! It was fantastic! So much fun.
If Boney M. members are still alive, I’d be curious to know their thoughts on a yard full of people in the middle of Africa dancing to “Winter Wonderland!”
December 26 - more time spent with Honda and Libby, and Libby’s parents who are out from the UK.
December 27 - we went to the local beach; me with my trusty sun-shielding umbrella.
It’s getting late, past 11:00, and we’re up and at ‘em at 5:45 A.M.
To be continued…
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
African Christmas - different but the same.
Belated Christmas greetings to you all!!!
I kept meaning to blog over the last two weeks, and yes, I know, intentions don’t amount to a hill of beans!!!
Christmas sure was different for us this year; almost no trace of commercialism in sight, no Christmas carols being played where ever you go, not one house decorated outside, no snow and sub zero temperatures : ), almost no Christmas treats, no mad dash to get the latest must have gadget, no turkey, no Santa (very thankfully!!), but praise the Lord, the true, joyful meaning of Christmas - the celebration of the birth of the Messiah, JESUS CHRIST, yes, that was as real here as it was out there!
The fact that the Father knew from eternity past that we would need a Christmas so that we could have an Easter has taken on a new deeper meaning. The ineffable love that was demonstrated by the Father and the Son when they both knew what was awaiting the Son. What perfect love!
In the weeks coming up to Christmas we were very busy, both at school and at CRIB. At school we put in many “overtime” hours getting ready for the school Christmas program. It was wonderful; Fabi wrote the play, which began with Adam and Eve and the fall of man, continued with Noah and the flood, went on to the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, what’s so wonderful about this is the fact that a very large percentage of the audience were staunch Muslim/Hindus!! A large sector of students in both primary and secondary are of these faiths; reason being we’re the only English speaking school in Burundi, and English is becoming more and more common as a business language.
And so this affords us the fantastic opportunity to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to these folks. Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God’s word will not return empty, but will achieve the purpose for which it was sent. These people heard the word of God, many through their own children’s mouths. I love that!!!
At CRIB we made a huge 3D wall mural out of felt/bamboo/fabric/paper, etc. of the nativity scene, as well as assorted Christmas decorations, snowflake placemats for the Christmas dinner as well as crowns for the King’s birthday, and cards for Chrissie and Dave and Sheena.
I have much more to write, and I will soon; time just has a way of running away, just like it did out there.
I do want to leave you with a warm thought though. Tomorrow morning we’re off on a tiny little mini holiday with friends we’ve met here. We’re planning on spending one night at a very basic they-may-not-have-running-water-or-electricity-$10-per-night guest house; but here’s the warm part: it’s very close to a pristine beach, complete with snorkelling!! What a rough life!!! No, seriously, a little R&R will be great.
But in the mean time, we wish you a blessed new year, filled with the love, joy and peace that comes only from our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Isaac, Rosel and Colton
I kept meaning to blog over the last two weeks, and yes, I know, intentions don’t amount to a hill of beans!!!
Christmas sure was different for us this year; almost no trace of commercialism in sight, no Christmas carols being played where ever you go, not one house decorated outside, no snow and sub zero temperatures : ), almost no Christmas treats, no mad dash to get the latest must have gadget, no turkey, no Santa (very thankfully!!), but praise the Lord, the true, joyful meaning of Christmas - the celebration of the birth of the Messiah, JESUS CHRIST, yes, that was as real here as it was out there!
The fact that the Father knew from eternity past that we would need a Christmas so that we could have an Easter has taken on a new deeper meaning. The ineffable love that was demonstrated by the Father and the Son when they both knew what was awaiting the Son. What perfect love!
In the weeks coming up to Christmas we were very busy, both at school and at CRIB. At school we put in many “overtime” hours getting ready for the school Christmas program. It was wonderful; Fabi wrote the play, which began with Adam and Eve and the fall of man, continued with Noah and the flood, went on to the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, what’s so wonderful about this is the fact that a very large percentage of the audience were staunch Muslim/Hindus!! A large sector of students in both primary and secondary are of these faiths; reason being we’re the only English speaking school in Burundi, and English is becoming more and more common as a business language.
And so this affords us the fantastic opportunity to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to these folks. Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God’s word will not return empty, but will achieve the purpose for which it was sent. These people heard the word of God, many through their own children’s mouths. I love that!!!
At CRIB we made a huge 3D wall mural out of felt/bamboo/fabric/paper, etc. of the nativity scene, as well as assorted Christmas decorations, snowflake placemats for the Christmas dinner as well as crowns for the King’s birthday, and cards for Chrissie and Dave and Sheena.
I have much more to write, and I will soon; time just has a way of running away, just like it did out there.
I do want to leave you with a warm thought though. Tomorrow morning we’re off on a tiny little mini holiday with friends we’ve met here. We’re planning on spending one night at a very basic they-may-not-have-running-water-or-electricity-$10-per-night guest house; but here’s the warm part: it’s very close to a pristine beach, complete with snorkelling!! What a rough life!!! No, seriously, a little R&R will be great.
But in the mean time, we wish you a blessed new year, filled with the love, joy and peace that comes only from our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Isaac, Rosel and Colton
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Ramona lives on in my heart
You know, I just can’t imagine Ramona… not alive. The same thing happens every time; she sits bolt up right with her radiantly beautiful smile and her eyes twinkling with sheer joy and happiness, and also a tiny bit of mischievousness. I like this picture though because this was her in life, and I know that the citizens of heaven are now enjoying this vibrant new comer.
Perhaps it won’t seem real until we come back and I see the family/physical/relational void she has left. For this reason I don’t ever want to come back.
This has been so very difficult; I can’t even begin to imagine Earl and my brother John, wife Carol and siblings Kevin, Randy and Becki. Please continue to pray.
Rosel
Perhaps it won’t seem real until we come back and I see the family/physical/relational void she has left. For this reason I don’t ever want to come back.
This has been so very difficult; I can’t even begin to imagine Earl and my brother John, wife Carol and siblings Kevin, Randy and Becki. Please continue to pray.
Rosel
Friday, December 4, 2009
In honor and in memory of sweet Ramona
Hello everyone;
Sometimes when you’re down you get kicked yet as well. Not a very positive way to start a blog, I know.
I cannot recall ever having felt as awful from the flu as I’ve felt since Wednesday, early afternoon. I’ve been so weak that the only thing I can do outside of lying in bed is going to the washroom. Yesterday when I managed to eat something, Isaac literally had to put the bowl under my face while lying on my side as he fed me. It’s not been pleasant. We’ll probably check for amoebic dysentery tomorrow - not a pleasant thought. I feel much better already than I did, but ‘much better’ is still not good.
And so, as I lay in bed on Wednesday at 7:00 in the evening, our time, 11:00 A.M. yours, all I could do was pray. The service for Ramona had just begun. Final goodbyes were being said; there would be deep, deep mourning, yet celebrating a beautiful life that lived for Jesus with abandon. Rejoicing over the fact that her pain wracked body is completely healed and liberated. Tears of sorrow and grief that only Jesus can understand, and only He can wipe away.
Throughout sweet Ramona’s three and a half year battle with cancer, I’ve prayed Romans 8:28 into the situation; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” That’s a promise that will not go unfulfilled.
I asked to be excused from my teaching responsibilities for Wednesday, the day of the funeral (I still can’t believe there was a funeral for Ramona.), so that I could go to Sabe again to help with the feeding, this time in honor of, and in memory of Ramona. Working with orphans in Africa was her dream and passion.
Colton fully believed that God would heal her here on earth, and was shocked when we heard the news on Saturday morning. Isaac and I both wanted to fully believe as well, but having lost a very dear friend a few years ago from cancer with whom we almost fully (99.9?) believed as well…..
I asked Colton if he was disappointed with God; he said he was disappointed, but not with God. Pray that he will come through this with a strengthened faith, and for wisdom for Isaac and myself as we help him process everything.
My whole family, all 10!!! siblings and my mom were there; I was the only one missing. This added much pain. It’s been years since we were all together, as we’ve lived scattered in 3 countries for years, now with us here in Burundi, it’s 4 countries.
There’s so much more in my heart, but I’ll leave it at this, at least for now.
Thank you very much to everyone that’s prayed for us, for personal emails, and for the blog comments.
It means so much to us, and the peace in the midst of it all is a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness.
Please don’t stop praying for Earl and family.
Love and blessings, IRCF
Sometimes when you’re down you get kicked yet as well. Not a very positive way to start a blog, I know.
I cannot recall ever having felt as awful from the flu as I’ve felt since Wednesday, early afternoon. I’ve been so weak that the only thing I can do outside of lying in bed is going to the washroom. Yesterday when I managed to eat something, Isaac literally had to put the bowl under my face while lying on my side as he fed me. It’s not been pleasant. We’ll probably check for amoebic dysentery tomorrow - not a pleasant thought. I feel much better already than I did, but ‘much better’ is still not good.
And so, as I lay in bed on Wednesday at 7:00 in the evening, our time, 11:00 A.M. yours, all I could do was pray. The service for Ramona had just begun. Final goodbyes were being said; there would be deep, deep mourning, yet celebrating a beautiful life that lived for Jesus with abandon. Rejoicing over the fact that her pain wracked body is completely healed and liberated. Tears of sorrow and grief that only Jesus can understand, and only He can wipe away.
Throughout sweet Ramona’s three and a half year battle with cancer, I’ve prayed Romans 8:28 into the situation; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” That’s a promise that will not go unfulfilled.
I asked to be excused from my teaching responsibilities for Wednesday, the day of the funeral (I still can’t believe there was a funeral for Ramona.), so that I could go to Sabe again to help with the feeding, this time in honor of, and in memory of Ramona. Working with orphans in Africa was her dream and passion.
Colton fully believed that God would heal her here on earth, and was shocked when we heard the news on Saturday morning. Isaac and I both wanted to fully believe as well, but having lost a very dear friend a few years ago from cancer with whom we almost fully (99.9?) believed as well…..
I asked Colton if he was disappointed with God; he said he was disappointed, but not with God. Pray that he will come through this with a strengthened faith, and for wisdom for Isaac and myself as we help him process everything.
My whole family, all 10!!! siblings and my mom were there; I was the only one missing. This added much pain. It’s been years since we were all together, as we’ve lived scattered in 3 countries for years, now with us here in Burundi, it’s 4 countries.
There’s so much more in my heart, but I’ll leave it at this, at least for now.
Thank you very much to everyone that’s prayed for us, for personal emails, and for the blog comments.
It means so much to us, and the peace in the midst of it all is a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness.
Please don’t stop praying for Earl and family.
Love and blessings, IRCF
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