November 19th - 29th, 2008

Burundi Burundi, one of the world's poorest nations, is emerging from a 12-year, ethnic-based civil war. Since independence in 1961, it has been plagued by tension between the dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority. The ethnic violence sparked off in 1994 made Burundi the scene of one of Africa's most intractable conflicts. It is now beginning to reap the dividends of a peace process. But it faces the formidable tasks of reviving a shattered economy and of forging national unity, but there is hope. The Power of Christ "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" - Hebrews 11:1 Hope springs eternal through the saving power of Jesus Christ.  And our team of 10 was determined to share this hope with the incredible people of Burundi. The trip was organized by E3 International Missions and First Baptist Church of Windermere.  E3's mission is to equip, evangelize, and establish.  Equip the nationals on the ground to spread the Gospel, evangelize to the people, and establish churches.   Our Mission Spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all who have ears, train local pastors to evangelize to the masses, and establish evangelical churches in Gitega, God willing. The majority of our team flew out of Orlando, Florida at 2:00 p.m on Wednesday the 19th.  We had a short layover in D.C. and another in Rome, before a forced one night stay in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The plane arrived in  the capital city of Bujumbura shortly after 2:00 on the 21st.  We were greeted by the translators and pastors that we would be working with for the week.  What a warm welcome we receieved, I can't remember the last time I've hugged and been hugged that many times!    Our final destination was Gitega, a two and a half hour ride up through the mountains. Gitega is situated on Burundi’s central plateau. Most of the surrounding area is devoted to livestock (cattle, goats, and sheep) grazing and the growing of such crops as bananas, peanuts (groundnuts), sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, corn (maize), sorghum, and coffee.   Above: The courtyard of our hotel in Gitega. View outside the hotel Streets of Gitega Gitega, Burundi How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" - Isaiah 52:7 We're finally here!  Praise the Lord, the long hours on the plane were well worth it.  The people are very warm and friendly, everyone is curious to see who these outsiders are and offer a friendly smile whenever encountered.  We were broken into teams consisting of two Americans and two translators.  Tammy C. and I were teamed together with translators Ildephonse and Esperance.  Above: Tammy C. and I  Above: The local organizers discuss strategy. Our site pastor would be Paul and we would be working the small village of Karerra just outside of Gitega itself.  We will be using the EvangeCube (click to learn more) along with other resources to share the Gospel with the locals.  The EvangeCube allows us to teach the story of Jesus Christ visually, allowing us to overcome the language and literacy barriers the could possibly hinder us.  The translators will be with us at all times translating to the people.  The plan is to have a bible study each afternoon with the new believers aimed at teaching the basics of the Gospel.  At the completion of the week each that attended the bible study will be provided with a bible of their own, in their language, along with other literature as well.  Each new church  will be provided with additional bibles, and other resources, to give out at their discretion.  The following day we headed out to our sites to meet the locals and begin evangelizing. Above: View looking down into Gitega from Karerra Karerra is located at the top of a mountain about 20 minutes outside of town.  There are no paved roads to get up there so the driving can be treacherous at best.  The homes were simple brick structures with very little, if anything, adorning the insides.   The children's wardrobe consisted of only what they had on their backs and most did not have shoes for their feet.  All that we encountered expressed that they were hungry and all seemed to lack adequate drinking water.  Your heart can't help but go out to these poor innocent children.   Banana trees were in abundance and most of the villagers tended to a small plot of land, growing potatoes and corn mainly.  There were goats scattered across the hillside and shepard boys stationed to watch over them.  While the women and boys were working, most of the men in the village seemed to be in the local bar.  Alcohol is a major problem here.  With no work, many of the men find themselves in the local watering hole by 9 a.m.  The locals ferment pineapple and banana to produce a strong ale.    The site pastor, Paul, met us each day at the drop off point and we would begin our door to door evangelism soon after.   Pastor Zachariah, the mother church pastor, was also on site daily preaching the good news.

Above: Pastor Paul and I.  Paul is the pastor of the church we are planting in Karrera.

Above: Pastor Zachariahand I pose for a photo.

Our days consisted of hiking through the village sharing the Gospel with any that would listen.  Large groups would form all around us whenever we stopped and the children were especially curious to as what these strange looking people were doing in their village. The people are incredibly hungry for the word of God.  They want change, and they know that they need the power of God to bring about that change.  These are people who take for granted nothing, who have lost loved ones to the war or had others die of disease and famine.  Many of the children have no parents to love them or care for them.  The only hope for this village and Burundi as a whole is the transforming power of Jesus Christ.  Without this bedrock,this truth,nothing else can be built, there must be a solid foundation.

Left: Tammy presents the gospel to the local villagers.  Tens of people would immediately surround you whenever you stopped to hear the good news.    

Above: Tammy and I teach the bible lessons to the new believers at the location of where they hope to plant the new church.  They currently do not have the money to buy the land, until then they will be meeting in Paul's home.

Above: I present the Gospel to the villagers with the EvangeCube.  

Above: Tammy was lead to provide a local family in need with flour.  How greatful the people were when they saw Tammy arriving.  What an incredible heart she has!

Above: Esperance shares the Gospel with a villager.  This incredible woman had four of her sons murdered the week prior by neighbors that practice witchcraft.  It's a hard life in Burundi and only with the power of Jesus Christ can any real change be achieved.

Above: A family listens as we present the life changing word of Jesus Christ.  The man in the green shirt had been one of the local drunks we encountered the day before.  This day was different and the Lord called him to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

Above: Local woman and her children listen on as we present the good news.

Pastor Paul and his family in his home pose for a photo.

Above: Paul's home is the one on the left

The Translators

Our mission would not have been possible without the hard work of our translators.  What a Spirit filled group!  They never voiced a complaint no matter how far we walked, how much they had to carry, or whether or not they ate, they just had a God inspired desire to spread His Word to all who would hear.  All of the translators were based out of Bujumbura and sacrificed a week away from their families to be with us.  

Above: Esperance eating an apple.  Little did we know that apples are a prized delicacy in Burundi

Above: Ildephonse and I

Above: David and I with the translators

Above: The translators pose for a picture before we depart from Burundi

The Children

It was heart breaking seeing children with no food, nothing to drink, no shoes, and only the clothes on their back.  Due to the war, many children are without parents and lack the basic necessities that we in the developed world take for granted on a daily basis.  Despite their hardship they still had smiles from ear to ear whenever we would snap their photo.  Such pure innocence, they truly are God's gifts.  

These children are no different than our own.  They could be sitting in our Sunday school classes, on your sons soccer team, or sitting at the next desk over at your child's school.  I kept thinking how blessed we are here in the U.S.  How much we have when so many have so little.  We all have something we can give to help these impoverished people.  

Above:  Children play with Pastor Paul at the site of where we hope to plant the church.

Above: We had the privilege of presenting the Gospel to one of the few schools in the area.  This one room is where all the students are taught.

Above: Tammy shares a drink with a needy child.

The level of responsibility that is placed upon these young children is staggering.  At one point we were conducting a bible study on the mountain top in the afternoon when a young girl approached, maybe 6.  On her back was a child, maybe 6 months old.  I watched this child care for the infant as if she were her mother.  Gently speaking with her,asking questions, and ensuring that she was all right.  

The Pygmies of Gitega

God allowed us the awesome opportunity of preaching to a remote pygmy tribe on the outskirts of Gitega.  After hiking 45 minutes through the mountains we (translator, national, and I) found ourselves in the center of a small pygmy village.  As we entered they surrounded us and began singing praises to God and dancing.  What a heart felt welcome.  We immediately took out our EvangeCubes and began presenting the Gospel to the entire village.  The Spirit was present this day and the entire village accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!  What an incredible feeling to have been allowed to be part of this incredible day.  The picture above is of the villagers singing and dancing after having received Jesus Christ as Lord.  

Above: Our Pygmy guide leading us through the mountains.

Above:  Mountainside trail

Above:  The deplorable conditions of the Pygmy's homes.  This is a photo of the sleeping area.

After seeing the conditions that these people were living in we knew we had to do something to help them.  We located a craftsman in town and hired him to build us doors for each of the Pygmy huts.  The existing ones had no doors on them  and they were worried about wild animals roaming in and out of their homes as they slept.  

The doors were successfully delivered and installed before we left.  While we did not get a chance to go back and see the final product, we were told they were praising God the entire time!  Our contact in Burundi says that the Pygmy women are still continuing  to come to the weekly bible studies! Praise God!

Final Numbers

Tammy and Ildephonse at the celebration dinner

E3 International Presents the Pastors with a Box of Supplies and Money for the Newly Planted Church at the End of the Week.

The Mission Team Gathers Outside the Airport Before we Depart for Home.

At the end of our journey we looked back to see that we preached the Good News to nearly 5,000 people, with 1771 confessions of faith!  Praise the Lord!  We planted six churches in the city of Gitega and equipped the locals to continue spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.  But this is only the beginning.  There are many more trips planned to return to Burundi this year.  And for those of us that will not be returning, there is ample we can do from here to help the people of Burundi.  There is an incredible need for clothes, shoes, food, water, and all the other essentials.  They are craving the Word of God, but they can't get it.  We need to find a  way to deliver the Word into the country so we can continue spreading the good news.  

Reflection

There are many more stories which I did not mention in this short blog; stories of the power of God changing the hearts and minds of the locals.  Stories of the hope Christ is bringing to this country.   Stories of how the missionaries grew in their faith more than could ever have been imagined.  God has done amazing things on this trip through us.  God has opened all of our eyes to these incredible people.  Burundians have so very little materially, but so much spiritually.  We all can learn a lesson from these wonderful people on what it means to live by faith.  They live each day not with the hope of what they can get, but of how they can serve God.  We in the developed nations have truly been blessed by the Lord, but with great gain come greater responsibility.  Responsibility to give back to those less fortunate, those who have not been given the advantages that most of us take for granted. 

I would like to extend a personal debt of gratitude to all the individuals who supported me financially and prayerfully.   God used you to make this trip possible for me.  This was your mission trip also.  You were with me in spirt.  I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.  May God Bless you always.  

We are currently in the process of setting up a non-profit organization to assist the people of Burundi and others around the world.  If you would like to find out how you can help these incredible people and others like them contact us at operationgoodnews@gmail.com.  Also, please visit  http://booksforburundi.blogspot.com/for additional information on how you can help.

Ezekiel a Watchman

 1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. 5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.'

 7 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for [a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood