RockTheDesert

Winding Down to Revenge

 
 
On the way back from Mugaruro, our bus driver, Manuel, invited us to his home to meet his family. Of course we accepted his invitation! He was one of our drivers last year. If we end up going out to dinner at night, we will keep a driver with us and then he will join us for dinner. So, last year, we went to the Ubuntu Residence for pizza (of course) and Manuel was our designated driver. Since he only speaks Kirundi, he sat next to Herve who ended up sharing the Gospel with him. By the time dinner was over, Manuel had prayed to receive Christ! We’ve had him as a driver several times since then. I hadn’t ever heard his testimony, so I asked him to share it with all of us. He said that when he became a Christian, it completely changed his life. He went home and told his wife – she was overjoyed because she was already saved. He said that his life is very different now. He goes straight home from work every day, instead of detouring to the bar. He doesn’t chase other women.

He now has money to buy food for the family and beautiful clothes for his wife. He lives in a walled compound in a modest, two-room home with his wife and three children. The main room had a small sofa, 4 wooden chairs, a coffee table, and a color TV! The kitchen was outdoors. We didn’t see inside the bedroom. Manuel told Dan that he wanted to give us one of his children – he asked his 4 yr old daughter if she wanted to move to America – she shook her head no and looked about as terrified as I felt! It really was an honor to be invited into their home. Manuel even bought us a round of Coca Colas! We prayed a blessing over him and his family before we left.

Saturday was our official rest day. I had picked up an annoying virus from all the coughing, sneezing, congested kids in every place that I had been. I spent the day napping, sneezing, blowing my nose, reading and packing. We decided to have a farewell dinner at a beautiful resort along the lake. The restaurant is outdoors and the breeze coming off the lake combined with the sound of the giant waves nearly lulled us all to sleep. The grilled fish was out-of-this-world good.  Along with a cold Coca-Cola, it was the perfect way to celebrate our trip!

On Sunday we attended church at New Life Church. Pastor Jeremie is the executive pastor. He and his wife Jeanne visited us in Arizona in January. They stayed for 4 days and we felt very blessed to be able to host them in our home. They had a great time in Arizona and Jeremie paraphrased a famous quote by Idi Amin, saying, “when you come to my country I will get my revenge on you” for your hospitality.”

Well, they have a lovely home and hosted us for Sunday lunch. Jeanne served fried fish, fried bananas, sliced onions marinated in lemon juice, rice, and sweet bananas for dessert. We ate on the front patio and savored every minute of the “revenge!”

Friday in Mugaruro

Dan had a full day of church follow-up planned on Friday. Two years ago, Dan and Charlotte (she’s from Florida and was part of our team) planted a church in a place called Mugaruro. Charlotte was deeply impacted by the experience and returned to America knowing that she couldn’t go back to life as usual. She was able to return to Burundi with us a year later. She and Dan visited their church plant and were encouraged to see that the church was growing and God seemed to be blessing the people who were part of the church. Charlotte continued to be in contact with the pastor of the church and Pastor Manasseh from the “mother church”. She finally knew that God was calling her to do something more than visit Mugaruro once a year – after a lot of prayer, she took the ultimate plunge and moved to Burundi in June of this year. She had only been in town for about 3 weeks when we got there. It was so great to see her and to know that she’s completely living and working by faith in this crazy endeavor. She found out that around 7,000 people live in this village. Approximately 200 people attend the church that she and Dan planted. The church now owns a small piece of land and has built a wonderful church.

Charlotte is determined to share the Gospel through prayer, words and deeds until all 7,000 people are a part of the faith community there! She and her translator, Ildephonse, have begun 2 Bible studies which meet every Saturday. She brings food and water to the church twice per week and spends time talking to people, praying for them and with them, encouraging them, ministering to the kids, and just trying to live out the Gospel of love. She is an amazing young woman with a huge vision of how God could redeem an entire community!!

We spent 2-1/2 hours doing person to person evangelism in Mugaruro. The team was pretty small – Dan and I, Ken and Sharlene, Charlotte, 2 translators (Ildephonse & Frank), Pastor Manasseh and eight men from his church. When we met back at the church for the discipleship meeting, the church was completely packed with kids and adults. Charlotte had witnessed to a group of men in a bar. They all wanted to pray to receive Christ but didn’t feel right about praying in a bar – they all followed her to the church and sat in the front row. When Dan asked who wanted to come up front to pray for salvation, these guys all stood up and came to the front to pray. It was amazing!

After the discipleship time, we went outside the church and had a good old fashioned "drug-burning" ceremony. One of the new Christians had pockets full of drugs - I wasn't sure what kind of drugs, just looked like piles of straw and weeds to me. Pray for the new Christians in this church, that their faith would grow strong, that they would be committed to studying the Bible and gathering for worship, that they would join Pastor Manasseh, Charlotte and the other Christians in the church in sharing Gospel and be blessed as they watch it powerfully impact the lives of all who live in Mugaruro!

 

Hippos and Pizza

On Thursday afternoon we headed to the Ruzizi River to look for hippos! Now, I am not really a hippo-type of person, but it's always fun to watch everyone else who is! I grew up practically in the backyard of the San Diego Wild Animal Park and went there a million times growing up. And I never became a huge fan of wild animals. (Or non-wild animals). But I really loved the park itself. Crazy, I know.

There was a garrison of soldiers stationed at the bridge (Congo is not too far from here). One of them happily accompanied us down to the river banks, armed with his AK47. He pointed toward a big island in the river. We watched as the island suddenly broke apart and became a bunch of swimming and floating hippos. Quite a sight to see. I have heard that hippos can run 40 miles per hour and I’m pretty sure that I can run about 1 mile per hour, probably a little faster if there’s a hippo chasing me, so I kept inching away from the shore, hoping I wouldn’t back into a sneaky crocodile in the bush. When everyone had their fill of hippo thrills, we paid our guide, piled back into the van and headed to dinner. 

The Ubuntu Residence serves our favorite pizza in the world. It’s a wood-fired, thin-crust, with delicious cheese, organic veggies and salami. It’s absolutely divine. And the setting is beautiful and relaxing. Except for the mosquitoes. The restaurant grounds are green and lush. Our table was under a giant coconut tree. There were crown cranes roaming around. Lake Tanganyika was just beyond the stucco wall around the property. So beautiful and almost un-real to be sitting in Bujumbura, eating pizza, drinking Fanta, watching the sunset, occasionally shining your mag lite into the waves, hoping to spot hippos.

Lunch at New Life Church

On Thursday morning, part of our team departed for the USA.  Calvin had to get back to work. Ray and Mary had to re-group and re-pack for their "E3/I Am Second" expedition the next week to Bolivia! The rest of us had a free day, but it wasn’t exactly a day off. We had the opportunity to go to New Life Church in downtown Bujumbura and minister to a group of widows and orphans who live on the streets.

 

This is a ministry that takes place every Tuesday and Thursday. Herve, one of the e3 Burundi Committee members, heads up this ministry. He usually shares the Gospel with these ladies, then helps to feed them lunch. Since Herve had to stay behind in Karusi for an extra day, we had the privilege of taking his place at New Life. We used the Proclaimer to play several chapters out of Luke.

 

Then Sharlene headed up a Q&A session about what they heard. We each shared a short Bible message.

 

Then lunch was served. They served the food in big, flat bowls. Everyone dipped their hands in a bucket of clean water then sat and ate the food without utensils. Ken and Sharlene were able to get a few photos of the food while  I wandered over to the outdoor kitchen and captured a quick little video with my Kodak. It’s amazing what they can do with a cooking fire, a couple of big pots and pans, some rice, beans, and little tiny fish.

 

The Kitchen from marina berryman on Vimeo.

We talked to one woman who told us she is not saved. She said she was a concubine, which evidently means “living together” in Burundi. They just couldn’t ever afford to get married. Anyway, she had a baby with her, probably under age 1. The baby had a soft, off-white, knitted cap on (in the photo above, you can see her and her baby right in the middle of the pic). It’s pretty unusual to see a baby with a cap on in Burundi. The climate is a consistent 85 degrees year round, even during the rainy seasons. That’s why it’s so lush and green. So, the woman was asking us to pray for her baby. She pulled the cap back just enough so we could see a giant, unhealed head wound. Like there had been a major head trauma that hadn’t recovered. She told us that she and her “husband” had been fighting; it turned violent and physical. He grabbed a knife and was trying to kill her. Then he threw the knife at her. She ducked down to avoid being hit with the knife. The knife went past her and right into the baby’s head. She had taken the baby to the hospital and they had treated the wound, but it wasn’t healing properly and they couldn’t seem to do anything about it. So, we prayed that God would heal the baby’s head. And we prayed that the woman would come to realize her need for salvation. I wish I could go right back there and talk to this woman. There is never enough time. And sometimes, by the time you understand the situation, the opportunity is lost.

Perspective

 

After Karusi, we went back to Bujumbura, picked up the missing / now-found luggage and went back to the King’s Hotel. When we walked into our rooms, it was like we had arrived at the Ritz Carlton.

 

 

The rooms seemed luxurious beyond belief! I took a shower and washed my hair. Twice! The rinse water = uugggh!! Dan finally put on clean clothes. We had a wonderful dinner with the team at the hotel restaurant. Fresh fish from Lake Tanganyika, covered in a spectacular sauce, rice, french fried potatoes. We also ordered avocado salad with tomatoes and onions. It was divine. We slept soundly under our mosquito net, in a king-size bed with clean white sheets, while the A/C cooled off the room all night. Perspective is everything when you’re in Burundi!

 

 

While I was definitely grossed out by my dirty hair (nearly dreadlocks), none of the villagers noticed it because they don’t have running water at all and clean, shiny, hair with all the right product in it just isn’t a priority. They just have as much water as they can carry back to their homes from their water source (sometimes a community spigot, sometimes a river, lake, pond, spring or puddle). They’ve never even imagined the luxury of a nice, long, hot shower. They usually have just 2 sets of clothing. One for everyday/working and the other for church.

 

 

They wear their clothes until they are literally rotting, threadbare, ripped to shreds, no elastic left in waistbands, missing sleeves, broken zippers, dirty, and way past what we would think is unwearable. Clothes are a necessity of life to protect you from the elements. I never saw a bedroom or even a bed in any of the homes I entered. They usually roll out woven mats to sleep on. Sometimes they have a thin piece of foam under the mat. Never saw a pillow or a blanket.

 

 

Their diet is simple – rice and beans are the staples. All else is a bonus – we saw a few people gnawing on sugar cane. Saw a few kids nibbling on a small boiled potato for lunch. Once in a while I saw someone eating a small ear of corn. That’s about it. Yet, it seems to be enough to sustain them for life and work. Makes me feel overfed, underworked, and shamefully discontent.

 

Cooking Over Fire in Karusi

The hotel staff did their best to accommodate our big group. It must be incredibly difficult to cook meals over an open fire for a large group of people – it was pre-daybreak when they started making breakfast and dark when they finished washing the last dish after dinner.

 

 Ken and Sharlene got a picture of the kitchen…

 And the plate prep area…

 And the dishwashing area!

On our final morning, Dan and I gathered the staff together for pictures and to give them a small gratuity - you would have thought we gave them a million bucks  - some of the guys went crazy, turning cartwheels, dancing, jumping in the air, posing for silly photos.

 

Our translators quickly built a rapport with the staff and ended up sharing the Gospel with most of them. I started noticing the dining room staff was joining us for our team meetings, devotionals, prayer and worship times. Several of them prayed to receive Christ as Savior. We gave Bibles to all who needed one. On the day we left, the lead dining room gal (far right in the photo) saw me in the hallway, pressed her hand to her heart, raised her fingers to her lips then extended a kiss and a wave to me. I was extremely touched by this gesture. She agreed to attend the new church we planted near the hotel!!

Unscheduled Stops

On our next to last day, we were heading to Kigoma camp for our final day of evangelism, when a young man stopped Dan and tried to talk to him in English. We thought he was a Christian because it seemed like he was talking about evangelizing. Our translator told us he was saying that he wanted to be “evangelized.” So, Dan and Stanley shared the Gospel with him. A small crowd gathered, mostly young men. They all prayed to receive Christ! These “unscheduled” stops are a great reminder to always be looking for opportunities to share with people who desperately need to hear the Good News! We would have walked right past him if he hadn’t stopped us.

 

While Dan was talking to the group of guys, a few young kids came over to listen. One little girl got her bare foot stepped on by an older kid. She started screaming hysterically. There was a puddle of blood forming around her toes. The child who stepped on her foot picked her up and tried to carry her down the street. She was still crying and in a lot of pain. Finally, Prosper picked up the little girl and we walked down the road to find her mom. I gave her an anti-bacterial wipe and told her to wash the little girl’s foot with soap and water then to clean it really well with the wipe. She promised to do that. I noticed that she had a bar inside her home – I saw a table and some chairs, a couple of men were in there smoking and drinking some kind of brew. I told her that I wanted to talk to her later and she agreed that I could come back and talk to her.

 

The next morning, we stopped at the bar to visit the little girl and her mom. The mom’s name was Francine. The little girl was Aliese. She showed me her daughter’s “clean” feet – they definitely were cleaner! Francine listened to the Gospel presentation. I asked her if she wanted to pray to receive Christ. She paused, then started talking, going on and on animatedly, somewhat defensively, and kind of preached a sermon right back at us! She basically told us she couldn’t be saved because she owned a bar and that was how she supported her family. Then she pulled Pastor Domitien aside. They walked over to the side of the building and I could see them having an intense discussion. Pastor Domitien motioned for me to join them. He said she really wanted to be saved, but felt like God wouldn’t want to save her because she was unworthy. She owned a bar. She owned a bar was because she was too weak to do physical labor. She was too weak to do physical labor because she had five abortions. She really wanted to pray. She wasn’t sure how she would manage if she had to close down her bar. She wavered, longing to surrender, and in the end, her faith won out. She prayed to receive Christ! I prayed for physical healing for her and for supernatural intervention and provision for her and her family. When we left her, I was overwhelmed with an intense feeling of anger. Not at Francine. I was angry beyond words at the person or persons who performed 5 abortions on this frail mom, rendering her too physically weak to work. I hope and pray that Francine’s faith in God will grow strong and that she will learn that He is loving and trustworthy and gracious and merciful.

Too Many Orphans in Karusi

There were many orphans in Kigoma camp - too many. After the civil war, a lot of displaced orphans were rounded up and placed here at Kigoma camp because many NGO's have a presence in Karusi and now they might have a better chance of getting aid from a relief organization.

 

 
We met a 10 yr old boy named Obadiah. He carried our Bible around all day. He had such a sweet, shy smile. At the end of the last day, he followed us back to our hotel. Pastor Andrew asked him a lot of questions. His story is not unlike many other stories you hear in a country scarred by civil war, devastating poverty and disease. His mom had died when he was pretty young, leaving his dad to raise him and his younger brother. Two years ago, Obadiah went to school in the morning and when he returned he discovered that his dad had moved to Tanzania. So now Obadiah is the head of his household. He and his brother still live in the same house. Once in a while, one of the moms in the village will drop off some food for them to eat. He can’t go to school because he has no money for books or a uniform. He’s had to grow up in a hurry. He asked us why his dad would do that to them – to just give up on life and abandon them for a better life in a different country without them…I was speechless and devastated. Dan spoke to him for a little while, trying to encourage him. We prayed with him. The pastor promised us he would look after him. I was weeping by the time he left. We gave him a can of honey roasted peanuts and a big water bottle to share with his brother. Big deal. We fed him for a day. It was more than I could handle or even verbalize until right now. I would have brought him and his brother home with me if I could have.

 

 

You know, you go to Burundi, you see things and experience things that are difficult to adequately put into words. You dutifully take pictures, chronicle your encounters with people, their encounters with Christ, the new churches, the revival in the country. You spin it positively because, yes, it is positive, God is at work, Burundi is undergoing a spiritual transformation. But then you meet someone like Obadiah. And your heart breaks and cracks wide open, spilling your guts in the red, dusty road, leaving a trail of tears down your sweaty, tired face, and a haunting picture of a little boy who needs a family burning a hole inside of you. And you realize, again, that life isn’t fair, but God is a God of justice and love. God loves Obadiah. He knows him by name. He has created him for a purpose. He will strengthen him and uphold him and sustain him. He will be his Father. He will train him in righteousness. He will seal him until the day of redemption. Because Obadiah told us, with a huge smile, that he is saved. He knows Christ. He loves God. He has hope. And a future.

The Hotel in Karusi

When we arrived at our hotel in Karusi, we started assigning rooms and roommates. We had 27 people on the team who were ready to settle in to their rooms. 
Right away I noticed about 4 dozen chickens walking around innocently near the kitchen. Let’s just say that every day we had an omelet (w/hot-pink salami) for breakfast and grilled chicken (too tough for a knife to cut thru) for dinner each night. Oh, except for the night we had goat, aka, “the night I cried when I looked at my plate.” I couldn’t imagine eating a goat – on my first trip to Africa, I had never even seen a goat up close before – I thought the goats were just weird-looking African dogs.
The hotel was somewhat primitive. Dan informed me that it was brand new - in fact it was still under construction when Dan and Auzelio visited there in April! I guess materials and skilled labor are hard to come by in Burundi. There was a small Honda generator which provided power from sundown (about 6:30pm) to around 10:30pm or whenever the World Cup game was over. Surprisingly, they had a beautiful, new, flat screen TV in the dining room (higher priority than mosquito nets – we had to bring our own). 

 

The rooms were pretty tiny - just a bed, small table & chair, pegs on the wall. We were very grateful for indoor plumbing and running water, although the water supply was limited so everyone had to take short showers. There was only one valve in the shower – cold water – very cold. That cold water actually felt pretty good after a long day of walking around on dirt roads in the tropical sun. There was very little water pressure. Not enough for me to wash my hair for 5 days. Don’t even ask. Notice the bright turquoise hat in almost every photo of me. The toilets had thin, useless toilet seats. They cracked and broke into pieces as soon as you sat down.

 

Dan’s parents duct-taped theirs together and tried to tape it to the toilet bowl. The next day the hotel staff removed it completely and they had no seat at all. Just the bowl. Yippee!  Every day when we returned at the end of the day, we noticed small improvements to our rooms – by the end of the week we had a toilet paper holder on the wall, a curtain on the bathroom window and a mirror hanging above the sink. This was probably because Dan paid daily for the rooms – influx of cash = upgrades!

 

The hotel staff did their best to accommodate our big group. It must be incredibly difficult to cook meals over an open fire for a large group of people – it had to have been dark when they started making breakfast and dark when they finished washing the last dish after dinner. I never got a picture of the outdoor kitchen. I can only imagine…no electricity, no hot water, chickens running around everywhere! Our translators quickly built a rapport with the staff and ended up sharing the Gospel with most of them. I started noticing the dining room staff was joining us for our team meetings, devotionals, prayer and worship times. Several of them prayed to receive Christ as Savior. We gave Bibles to all who needed one. On the day we left, the lead dining room gal (far right in the photo) saw me in the hallway, pressed her hand to her heart, raised her fingers to her lips then extended a kiss and a wave to me. I was extremely touched by this gesture. She agreed to attend the new church we planted near the hotel.

Karusi, Burundi - "New" New Vision

Dan and I were assigned to an area called Kigoma in the province of Karusi, Burundi. There was lush vegetation all around. Lots of bananas growing, mangoes, beautiful plants and flowers. In the morning we'd go separate ways, but by the afternoon we'd run into each other randomly in the middle of the camp somewhere. People were always quick to bring us chairs to sit and rest. We must have looked tired. Or old. Or both...

Pastor Domitien and Pastor Andrew inside the church

We've worked with Pastor Domitien from New Vision Church many times. His church in Bujumbura has planted several churches since we began going to Burundi in January 2008. This particular "new" New Vision Church was strategically planted in a displaced persons (re-patriation) camp. Pastor Andrew is the new pastor in Kigoma. He is a kind and loving pastor and he knows and preaches the Word of God.

This camp was within walking distance of our hotel. We did some research and discovered that around 12,000 people live in this particular camp. The people who live in the camp were forced to flee Burundi because of civil war. When they finally returned many years later, they found that their homes/land were now occupied by other people. Thousands of people were in this predicament so the government was forced to respond by creating these camps where people were given a postage-stamp-size piece of land and allowed to build a home on it. They also rounded up all the displaced orphans and placed them here because many NGO's have a presence in Karusi and they'd have a better chance of getting aid from a relief organization. 

Dan and I spent 5 hours every day walking up and down the roads in the camp, sharing the Gospel with every person we encountered. Sometimes it was a single person, sometimes a group of friends and curious passersby, sometimes it was with an entire family. Between the two of us, we shared with at least 100 people daily.

Romans 10:14-15

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ ”

Just back from Karusi, Burundi, Africa!!

(dinner at lakeside restaurant in Bujumbura) 

Dan and I returned 4 days ago from a wonderfully challenging e3 mission trip to Karusi, Burundi, Africa! This was my 12th mission trip to Africa since 2007. I'd have to say it was the best one yet! From the moment we landed in Bujumbura we knew that God was going to do a miraculous work in our lives and in the lives of the Burundi people.

(here's most of the team) 

Our team consisted of 8 North Americans, 7 translators, 4 e3 committee members and 8 TCCP pastors. It's always amazing to see how ordinary people, submitted to God's will and committed to God's work can be used in extraordinary ways to impact God's kingdom!

At the top of our prayer calendar, I felt led to include this verse from Colossians 4:2-3a, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the Word, to declare the mystery of Christ." I'm overjoyed to report that God answered that prayer in great abundance, as 4047 people heard a clear Gospel presentation, 2002 people professed faith in Christ, and 1168 people were discipled! We planted 8 new churches of various (Christian) denominations and many of these brand new believers became part of these new congregations!

(Guy in red shirt stopped Dan and asked him to share the Gospel with him) 

Did we hold huge, crusade-like revival meetings?? NO! Did we meet in churches, send out invitations and wait for the people to show up?? NO! How about billboards, advertisements, bullhorns and free t-shirts?? NO! We, by faith, went into the villages surrounding the new churches to be planted and went person to person, house to house, thru the banana plantations, up and down the mountain paths, willing to share the Good News with all who would hear it! We'd start to share with one person and soon we'd be surrounded by 10 to 30 people, listening intently as we used the Bible and the Evangecube to share the message of salvation thru Jesus Christ. There's no experience quite like it. Time seems to stand still as you find yourself actually preaching with clarity and conviction and all around you watch recognition dawn on people's faces, and you sense the power of the Word of God penetrating and convicting hearts of their need for a Savior...always - ALWAYS - every time - you realize you're watching a miraculous new birth take place. It can be quite overwhelming. And exhausting. And exhilarating. And humbling. Mostly humbling.

I've got a lot more stories to share. I'll try to post them all in the next week or so. Hope you'll check back often!!