RockTheDesert

Burundi Forecast

This week of Easter prep has collided perfectly with our e3 trip prep, producing a perfect storm of very little sleep, FedEx runs, a bedroom loaded with half-packed suitcases, and a late night venture into Walmart for toiletries, Pringles, and Raid. This is all part of our pre-trip M.O., I mean, how does anyone leave the country without kind of going a little crazy first? 

Dan and I should arrive in Burundi by next Wednesday. We look forward to working with our ever-expanding team of Burundian pastors, translators and friends. We will visit Muyinga province to plan for our summer expedition, follow-up with churches previously planted, and help plant a new church in the Bubanza province. We will also hold a Leadership Development Conference for pastors where we teach and model evangelism and church multiplication. We will also introduce a new tool for discipleship called "I Am Second." 

In the midst of all this, we have produced a Team Berryman Prayer Calendar which you can download HERE! We would love to have you join us in prayer for the next couple of weeks as we have so many things packed into our days in Africa. If you're interested in following our activities in real-time, Dan will send out regular Twitter updates which are posted to his Facebook page. Make sure you are his Facebook friend and if you're on Twitter, follow @daninreallife.  

From Zanzibar to Burundi

Here's more of Dan's updates via Twitter via Facebook from Zanzibar and his transition to Burundi. He and Auzelio will be there for 8 days before the next team arrives. They will follow up with many of the churches that we have helped to plant since e3 started working in Burundi in 2008. It's so cool to follow-up: it's like watching your babies grow and mature!

Had a mystery bite at dinner. Spit out a shell or exoskeleton? It was either a whole spice or spicy bug... Ug... Just thru up a little again. After 2-days of no one accepting Jesus, I stood in awe watching the miracle of salvation. Very cool. God is very good. Thank you Jesus. ‎"... dark as night & deep as death broke the light of thy salvation..." that describes dramatic contrast of salvation. In Zanzibar at Chinese restaurant celebrating. The table next to us is full of Chinese. Refused, denied permits, mocked & intimidated. But on Zanzibar 3-Americans & 20-Tanzanians told 1017 people about Jesus & 198 accepted. The Zanzibar Christians cannot believe so many prayed for Jesus. They are excited and hopeful. Zanzibar has 1.2 million people & fewer than 10,000 Christians & fewer than 45 churches. In 5 days Christian population increased 2%. Today is a good day in Zanzibar. Today, I reach into my suitcase & get a clean pair of pants! Umm... So soft... So clean... Fresh smell... Just finished "spice tour" in Zanzibar. My love affair w/ spice tea continues. My spice tea love is getting out of hand. I'm buying it in unlabeled plastic bags by the kilo. There is a Quaker church in Zanzibar that was established in 1800's. Today it has 2 only members but they are still faithful. Good news! There is no (very little) malaria in Zanzibar. I feel better about bites now. Took tour of St. Monaca's Church & my hotel. My room is over the slave cells. Church w/ Dr. Livingstone ended slavery in Zanzibar. Remembering how @berryman & I met. We would show up early or stay late & accidently meet up. My spicy tea relationship is out of control. I need to end it. We brought 60lbs of tracts from USA & more from the Tanzania mainland. The Islanders liked gospel of Matthew most. God's word is powerful. Sharing Jesus w/ tour guides. Nice rejections, saying that they need more evidence, saying it's hard to go against culture. When a muslim needs more evidence, he means prove Jesus is God or man, prove virgin birth, but don't use Bible, and only answer yes or no. Watching "God Provides" videos from Crown Financial w/ Tanzanian church leader. Last dinner in Zanzibar on the beach, sun setting, traditional sail boats, freighters loading on beach, acrobats, singing... Travel day. We move from Zanzibar to Burundi. We go from hot & humid to humid & hot. Watching Thursday night football in Zanzibar on Friday afternoon. Best travel day ever! We've been sharing Jesus w/ young woman in Nairobi for couple hours now. Pray for her salvation. We have arrived "home" in Bujumbura. Good night. Sobering thought: if Final Judgment were today, everyone (over 99%) in Zanzibar would perish. Sad reality: in Zanzibar the people are poor, but the Zanzibar people are rich, very rich, compared to the people of Burundi. Getting ready to connect w/ e-mail for 1st time since leaving for Africa. Looks like I'm 400 behind. :-( Little progress connecting to digital world. Power out in Bujumbura. Rainy day in Bujumbura, but we still can have dinner at Ubuntu w/ in country missionaries. FINALLY! Local missionary has 6 children visiting her in the city from the village. One of them is wearing a Christ Lutheran shirt!!! This week New Life Church in Bujumbura trained church members to share Jesus around their new campus using e-cube. Over 200 heard 80 prayed. The wife of the president of Burundi asked us to go to her church tomorrow. I guess we'll go.

 

Zanzibar via Dan via Twitter via Facebook

God is doing some amazing things in Zanzibar. Keep praying for seeds to be planted and sown, for the churches in Zanzibar to be strengthened and encouraged, that they would be committed and passionate about sharing the Gospel now that they have been trained and equipped by Dan and his team, that they would faithfully disciple all believers, and that ultimately God would grow His church and be greatly glorified!! 

The following is Dan's daily chronicle on his current short-term mission trip with e3 partners to Zanzibar. He posts to Facebook via Twitter (@daninreallife). I copied all his Tweets and pasted them into paragraph form for easier reading. 

Last time I wore these pants I was leaving the USA. I wore them for the next 17-days. Yes, they're like a good friend. Boarding Group 1! Does this nullify my "mission" trip? Need to fly across USA then Atlantic then Europe then the Sahara then a little more. Still waiting to board. Need to go back to gym, bags are all too heavy. Going to Africa. Landed in Chicago waiting for connection at Manchu Wok, why? Tradition! On flight leaving USA, need to turn twitter "off". I can send, get DM's, get text, but can't afford to listen to all of you. Miss you guys! In Chicago & London, experiencing cross cultural dress. People carry large, bulky clothing. They call these items "coats". Strange. The American team has assembled. We are 3 strong. Zanzibar, here we come.

Made it to Nairobi. Best all around flights ever. Thank you, United Airlines & Kenya Airlines. 1 more flight to Zanzibar. Leaving Nairobi, home of the world's hottest airport. I'm sweating like a dog in Chinese restaurant. Arrived in Zanzibar w/ all our bags. Bags look a little looted. TSA took my can of Raid, but we're in business to plant churches. Staying at a hotel in Zanzibar that used to be the slave market. Carried 60-pounds of scripture tract & gospels to Zanzibar. I had booklets in suitcase, carryon, pockets. Pray Isaiah 55. Wow, a tourist bus full of white people pulled in front of hotel (old slave market). Hope they don't think I'm part of interactive show. Woke up from sound nap dazed & confused. Rushed to opening ceremony. I'm an hour early. Wished I'd brushed my teeth or ate a pack of gum.

Pastor's story: his sister converted to Jesus, as muslim it was his duty to kill her, thru a miracle & sister's testimony he comes to Jesus. The influence of 1% Christian population ended slavery in Zanzibar. I have a new love - Spice tea.  In Zanzibar, 1st man prayed for Jesus as crowd made fun of him. Just shared my lunch (bag of peanuts) w/ children around church. Tanzanian children very well mannered unlike rest of Africa. Need prayer for health, not well in Zanzibar. Also, pray for new Christians & the muslims who mock them. 1st day in Zanzibar 168 heard the story of Jesus, 35 professed Jesus as Lord. Hard to do when all your neighbors are muslim.

Slept good last. Many crazy dark dreams. Best dream was of ice cream sundays & shakes. Rod this is a prophetic dream. See you at BR [Basking Robbins] in Dec. Zanzibar lunch yesterday: hand wash (village water) no towel, no tools just fingers, ate w/ wet hands, OOPS! & my 1st coconut (whole thing). Today In Zanzibar, shared Jesus w/ 79 people, all muslim. 1 man was an iman. None accepted Jesus. Muslims wanted proof Jesus is God or a miracle. Pray that God will speak to the people of Zanzibar in dreams & visions. Thank you for prayers. My health has improved! In Zanzibar, no new Christians attended Bible studies but 1-church new Christians came undercover of darkness. Spent night in prayer & study. Spoke in church using Pastor Jim's notes from last week: Eph 2:4-10, Acts 18:28, Gal 2:20. God is good & provided me a message. Praying for my USA church services in Phoenix: Harvest Bible Chapel & Christ Lutheran. Miss you guys. In Zanzibar church buildings are good construction, but churches are few & members very few. Most Christians came from outside Zanzibar. At 1-church only Pastor's family, 1-American + 3-Korian missionaries showed up. Why? Fear. Muslims burned pastor's house 3-days ago.

Spoke at 2nd church Zanzibar today, 7 people attended. We met in house, we prayed, sang, took an offering & preached. In Zanzibar we have worked w/ 9-churches, shared Jesus w/ 382 people & 107 have put faith in Jesus. Zanzibar: major rain this am. Hot, humid pm w/ major bug plague. We ate at tourist stop along sea wall. Fresh sea food all crawling w/ bugs. Confession: found Internet cafe near hotel during break Sunday, spent my 1st 30-min adjusting NFL fantasy team. Sorry. Got strange "green" drink for breakfast in Zanzibar. Hmm. What is it? Blah, blah, blah? Oh, it's avocado juice. Didn't know it was a drink.

Working at a house church in Zanzibar that muslums regularly stone during prayer - worship services. Someone just prayed to make Jesus Lord of their life in Zanzibar. God is good! Found a group of Christians. We gave them gospels of Matthew. They dug right in. I thought some finished book before we left. Prayers are being answered, people in Zanzibar are trusting in Jesus for salvation. Muslims called after us for prayer. God is glorified. Came across rare Christian family, they were born & baptized Catholic, sent kids to Lutheran school, learned that Jesus was the Way to God. In Zanzibar, my translator was busy, praying w/ convert. Woman came to us. I gave pastor e-cube. He started sharing Jesus. She prayed too. Zanzibar Pastor has not given me the evange-cube back. He keeps sharing Jesus.

 

 

Set The Captives Free

Dan is still somewhat being held captive in Burundi - he's made it to the airport - 1st flight out - cancelled - haven't heard if he's left yet, but here are the Tweets he's sent while waiting - last one came about 2 hours ago (5:46am AZ).

• Hitched a ride in the back of a UN truck to the Bujumbura airport.
• Egyptian Airforce has just finished training exersise in central Africa & has joined us in Burundi airport.
• Still in Bujumbura. 1st flight today cancelled.
• We made thru security & are waiting for next plane. Good news! Food & drink is on Kenya Airlines. God is good! & we are eating.
• Sitting in Bujumbura airport lounge w/ fellow Kenyans & Chinese travelers: eating, drinking, listening to rap music. Waiting...
• Central African proverb: "Hurry! Hurry! Brings bad luck." aaaggghhh. Still waiting in Bujumbura & willing to risk bad luck
• Still in Bujumbura airport... Another free meal... Strength fading...

Famous Last Words/Tweets

Just when I thought @daninreallife was done with twitter updates, a bunch more came through. I'm thinking the volcano eruption must have caused a delay in transmitting the following tweets...

• Auzelio is trapped in Burundi. No flights to Europe today. Something about a cloud & volcano? Got a roommate again.
• Got slammed at the airport. Almost made it out of Burundi. Please send money & cookies & @berryman
• Giving up. Thought I would catch up on work while stuck in Burundi, but internet connection not friendly.
• Auzelio found another Brazilian. Now 2 men from Brazil, in Burundi, at same hotel, jabbering away hugging each other. God help us.
• On assignment in Burundi: it took 3-hours but I posted 8-photos on Facebook.
• We've gone native, we heard about AFMIN, we showed up, we got a free lunch.
• After lunch, we were invited to sit on stage & introduced to conference members. In attendence, president's wife. Only in Burundi.
• No evacuation plan for travelers in Burundi. Power off, internet down. Going to read in hotel courtyard.
• We took the local bus in Bujumbura. The most passengers at 1-time was 18.
• AAAAHHHH!! The bus stopped for fuel! Fill the bus w/ passengers & then go get fuel. AAAAHHHH!!
• We are at New Life church in Bujumbura for the widow feeding. Widows & their children get 2-meals a week here. We get to share Jesus.
• Visited central market in Bujumbura, bales & bales of donated clothing from USA for sale. Amazing volume.
• They tried to pick Auzelio's pocket in market. People start yelling at Auzelio. Finally translator says Auzelio needs to be more careful.
• When you coming home dad? I don't know when, but we'll have a good time then sons. Still in Burundi. Maybe home Sunday but flying standby
• Like all trips I over packed. This Burundi trip is consuming all resources.
• I start Day 4 of Burundi Captivity by slipping into the filthy clothes from previous days, step outside into the thick smoke & humidity...
• Why do East Africans treat visitors as highly esteemed guests of honor?
• I'm sorry Gatorland, I just visited the Bujumbura zoo. WOW! We got to feed the animals other animals.
• I've been cleared to fly. God willing I will return Sunday night! Thank you Jesus.
• God is good! Mostly clean clothes today & an airline ticket home!

Burundi Via Twitter - Part 3

Here's the rest of @daninreallife's tweets - he's in Burundi, Africa, on mission with e3 partners ministry, nearly done with about 2 weeks of ministry, meetings, evangelism, training, follow-up, discipleship with Burundi nationals who are being equipped to carry out the Great Commission in their country. Dan will be traveling back Sunday & Monday. We will meet up at a Missions conference in Illinois. Can't wait to see him and I know he can't wait to be back home!

 

• We moved out of Bujumbura into "underdeveloped" region of Burundi. Want to see the opposite of America? Come to Burundi w/ me in June!
• Karusi, Burundi is the Garden of Eden. The hotel is like a different kind of Biblical place, only cooler.
• Best store name seen on Burundi mission trip, "SURPRISE", it is a cosmetic store. Endless possibilities...
• Karusi doesn't have power. Huge town almost completely dark. No moon. Stars amazing. You need to come to Burundi in June & see this.
• Traditional Burundi dinner: peas, rice, chicken, bananas & goat. Served in small storage containers & on baking sheets.
• The other American asked if the hotel had internet. The LOOK from hotel worker ???? Answer: Internet? What's that?
• Generator right outside my Burundi hotel window. I think my brain is going to explode. At least the hotel has water (in buckets).
• Things in Burundi are better than last year. Today they told me zipper was down before I spoke. Last year they didn't tell me.
• Karusi is a lot UNDER developed. We will evangelism here in June. If you want to be challenged, uncomfortable & share Jesus, then come w/ us
• Observer today, watching e3 Burundi leaders teaching other pastors. We're using the Bible. Thank God! Pastors taking turns reading Bible.
• Burundi get it, salvation thru Jesus not church. Class attended by 13 pastors & denominations: Baptist, 4 Sqr, AOG, Penticostal, Methodist
• Participating in an evangelism example, pastors going out to share Jesus, holding hands. How could there be so much war in Burundi?
• It's rained all day in Burundi. Hotel has no running water. Thinking about showering under roof drain. Is this socially OK here?
• In Karusi, Burundi our hotel doesn't have water. It does have plumbing. Most of all it has cold Coca-Cola. How does Coke do it?
• Every resturant has a couple of kids hanging around... Yep, goat is the special & only choice.
• Jeep broke down again tonight: wheel sheared off. Stuck in Karusi. But scheduled evangelism tomorrow for pastors. We'll walk to share Jesus.
• We were delayed by construction traffic. 1 car zigzaging among working graders, loaders, dump trucks & excavaters. Cool!
• We shared Jesus w/ 387 people + many more children. 135 confessed Jesus as Lord. Pastors in Karusi, Burundi excited about evangelism
• 2-days to go in Burundi. Amazing mission. Accomplished much. Still much to do. Burundi pastors ask prayer for elections, muslims & poverty
• Truck broke down, again standing in rain storm at road side market.
• Truck still on mountain in Burundi. We fought storms, army road blocks, floods but made it back to Bujumbura.

Burundi Medical Trip

  Dan and I and a team of 20 others, including 12 medical professionals, are headed to Burundi on our first-ever e3 Medical/Church Planting trip. Dan has gone ahead of us and has been sending updates via Twitter. If you don't already follow @daninreallife, it's easy to sign up for a FREE account at www.Twitter.com.

Here's what Dan has twittered so far. First one is most recent. Scroll down to the bottom of this post, and read the updates in reverse order to get a good idea of what Dan has been up to for the past 4 days!

• Visited government clinic. They have no one to help. Who cares more for the people? Church or government?
• Visited church medical clinic in Burundi. They have helpers in color-coordinated uniforms to fetch water, register patients, pick up trash...
• All new church sites visited. Please pray for government permit for medical clinic & tax free status for medicines.
• In Burundi, repeat of yesterday, find new church sites & see medical clinic. 1-change, did zipper check before I left.
• Missions teaching me about spiritual battles. Spent awake time reading Bible, praying, singing. In your face demons
• Poolside breakfast after sleepless night in Burundi. Coffee, please.
• Thank you Jesus! a/c just came on in my room. Love miracles. Quick thermodynamics calc: room temp should achieve 78 in 11 hrs. I'll take it!
• Midnight in Burundi. Fell asleep early...Oops. Now wide awake...Bummer.
• 20 oz fried fish fillet w/chips last pm; celery soup, toasted ham & cheese sandwich w/fried egg tonight; +all fruit is in season. Luv Burundi.
• Sitting on the patio in steamy Bujumbura waiting for dinner, surrounded by 1000's of mosquitos. God have mercy on me, please.
• One new church is along the river full of hippos. The only wild animals left in Burundi are hippos, crocs, monkeys. Survivors
• Visited new church sites & clinic in Gatumba, Burundi. Met w/church leaders, clinic manager...then noticed my zipper was all the way down
• Losing bug bite contest in Burundi. I've got 7 bites & only 1 fat, bloody mosquito has died.
• Horrible neck, arm & chest pain before I left for Burundi. No pain at all now but @berryman has neck pain before she leaves for Burundi??
• Hot night last night, cheap hotel manager in Burundi has my a/c set in the low 80's...just like I do at home...never mind
• 5am in Burundi: got to sleep in lumpy bed last night. It was awesome. Better than airport & airplane. God is good!
• Falling asleep waiting for my food in Burundi. Forgot what a miracle "fast" food in USA is
• Back to the hotel for dinner. Hotel has guests & bar has a popcorn machine. Oh how far Burundi has come since the end of the war
• Pastor's meeting along Lake Tanganyika at sunset. Fires flickering on the beaches; the city lights from the Congo beginning to twinkle. Ahh.
• Spent night in airport to save $100, spent next night on plane, when I arrived the Burundi made me take a shower before our meeting
• Showered (cold), shaved & feel human again. Sitting on the patio by the pool at the Source de Nil in steamy Bujumbura drinking coca-cola
• Left for airport at noon from Phoenix to Chicago to Washington to Rome to Ethiopia arrived in Burundi - 3pm 51 hrs - 9 time zones later
• On plane in Rome half way from DC to Ethiopia
• So far all 3 flights have been completely full.
• Chicago was cold, DC was cool, felt good. Ethiopian airplane HOT as PHX. Oh well
• On the plane! Remembered my mileage card & got to pre-board. Life is good.
• Leaving USA, for a while I'll only be able to send & post. I'll miss you guys. Hopefully internet 'on' in Burundi. Hopefully phone 'on' too.
• African hospitality: because I'm a man & tall, I've been escorted to the front of the line & offered food by African travelers
• Checked in @ Dulles. Spent night in airport (that was uncomfortable). 1 more long day & night & day of travel to Burundi.
• Midnight in Washington, now what do I do?
• Boarded 1st flight to Burundi for medical & church planting mission. Flight is FULL.
• Cool benefit already. Airport has NFL games. I don't have them at home.
• Oh Yeah! Burundi Medical Mission 2009 is underway. Advanced team is in airport waiting for a llllooooonnngggg series of flights!
• Just finished duct-taping Walmart duffle...ok, for sure, last trip for this bag...almost out of tape

Start here - scroll up from here, reading in reverse order!

Last of the Harvest

Summer is over...there's a chill in the 90 degree days - I took a look at the remnants of Dan's summer garden- surprisingly, we've got lots of cayenne peppers on the vine. I just don't know what to do with 300 cayenne peppers - bottle my own tabasco sauce? I had to take a final picture of the last tomatoes on the tomato plant - can you spot them in between the dehydrated twigs and leaves? I'm not sure what those wicked looking green branches are - must be a drought-tolerant weed. Oh, wait, Farmer Dan just informed me that those green branches are actually part of the tomato plant - maybe there is hope for next year's crop!

  

Check out these juicy beauties...

 
And now, I'll just pull back the camera for some perspective with a little help from a freshly picked, red jalapeno pepper...

 

Yes, that's a coffee saucer. Maybe we should grow our tomatoes indoors.

Nature's Bounty

My husband, @daninreallife, is the nature lover in our family. He doesn't mind extreme temperatures. He loves to putter in the yard regardless of season or climate. In the winter, he goes to extreme measures to ensure his citrus trees stay warm and protected from freezing. In the summer, he waters the yard, the roses, the planters, the garden with great regularity and frequency. He's always re-adjusting the sprinkler timers for optimum coverage, always trimming the roses, putting shade covers over the garden, fertilizing the yard. It's his thing. This year he thought it would be great fun to have a few tomato plants, some peppers, and a few green onions growing in the garden. These are salsa ingredients that we could use up quickly and easily, even when the bumper crop came in. I was all for this idea. I've been anticipating some juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes for months now. Since I never frequent the backyard - at all - I couldn't wait to smell the tomatoes, chop the peppers, mince the onions and stir them together into a chunky, delicious pico de gallo.

Dan returned from Africa on Saturday evening. Went to church yesterday then came home and crashed. Today was the day to harvest nature's bounty. I sent Michael outside to assist in bringing in the crop. Gave him my new pruning shears and told him to take a bag or box with him to fill with salsa ingredients.

The green onions did really well. They are monstrously large and their spicy aroma is pungent and intoxicating. We got three bell peppers. One jalapeno. One cayenne pepper. One big, green tomato. One small, pear-shaped, yellow tomato. And one sun-dried tomato. Oh, didn't you know that there's such a thing as a sun-dried tomato plant? I didn't either. I think you have to time them just right. With the exception of the three tomatoes pictured above, the rest of the tomatoes literally disappeared. They are gone. They must have dehydrated and then vanished into thin-air. There's no other explanation. I wish I had set up a time-lapse camera over the past few months to watch the progression. I'm sure that our two separate heat-waves where the temps hovered at a scorching 113-114 for three days at a time contributed to the vaporization process. I'd like to believe that the rest of the tomatoes were mercifully raptured to a better place than Phoenix in the summer.

Question: Should I cover my sun-dried tomato in olive oil then save in a jar in the refrigerator for a gourmet recipe that needs one luscious, chewy, sun-dried tomato?

Or should I press it completely flat and put it in a scrapbook?