Beloved Body of Christ

So much has happened in the past week-and-a-half!  We'll try to keep this brief, but we want you to see the beautiful people we've been meeting.

A couple of Sundays ago, we went with one of the existing choirs at Hope Africa University to a Free Baptist Church where they were ministering. It was a tiny church building, but Burundians know how to fit "just one more" on the benches, so we all found seats for the service.  It was in progress when we got there at a few minutes before 9am, and we worshipped until about 1:15 pm!  No less than four choirs sang...and there were two sermons.  Burundian Christians look forward to their worship services all week, and they make the most of them.  We were blessed by the freedom they have in expressing their joy as they worship, sometimes dancing and shouting to give praise to God.

We worshipped again with a group of young people on the Tuesday after that. Our family was invited to the "birthday party" of a graduate student who is in our university choir, Christelle.  She wanted her 30th birthday to bring glory to the Lord, and be filled with praise and witness to his salvation, so...instead of having her friends over for food and drink, she had them over for songs and prayer and preaching!  It was a spirit-filled time, right there on her front lawn. Close to forty people attended.  The team singing Kirundi and English worship songs was absolutely beautiful in tone, harmony, fluid transitions...it was a taste of heaven. Then our family was asked to share some songs, which we did, followed by the preaching of the word.  A dynamic young preacher spoke powerfully on Jesus as "the Beloved Son of God," and our place a beloved sons and daughters when we are IN CHRIST.  He spoke in English and had a Kirundi translator...they were such a well-matched team in preaching, it was sometimes hard to tell who was the preacher and who was the translator! Again, it lasted hours...and then our family was asked to come inside the house and eat with Christelle's family (a special privilege).  We got to know her family (all 8 siblings, plus parents and extended family). It was wonderful to spend some time with a Burundian family, especially this vibrant, Christian family.

Jeff and Gabe visit with Christelle's Dad and nephew

Grace with Christelle and her sister Sarah

 Did we mention that we went sightseeing that morning? It was a national holiday, so we took time to see the Living Museum (the closest thing Burundi has to a zoo) and one of the sites where Stanley and Dr. Livingston met (remember the line, "Dr. Livingson, I presume?" Yes, this is one of the places that claims that notariety...a huge rock commemorates the event).


Nile crocodile smile

 
Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the "Up country," the mountainous region which comprises most of Burundi's landscape.  The higher elevation means it is cooler, and has fewer mosquitos.  It is almost completely rural (though we stayed in Gitega, Burundi's second largest city).  Several trips to various villages allowed us to take in the charming countryside with its banana trees, coffee and tea bushes, huts by the roadside, roaming cattle, and people, people, people!  Though less densely populated than the capital city, EVERYONE seems to be on the winding dirt roads...carrying loads of everything imaginable: charcoal, sacks of rice, bananas, cooking oil, cattle fodder, manioc roots, etc.  The things they transport by bicycle and on foot are astounding!

Banana trees with manioc in foreground

 I will close by telling you about the warmest welcome we've ever received...given to us by forty or fifty widows at the Mount Hope location of Sister Connection.  At first we thought no one was there...then a handful of women came out the front door of the building, calling out greetings and singing a song.  The song grew louder and more joyful as more and more and MORE women poured out to greet us.  We were all on the verge of tears...it was so unexpected and beautiful.  After we were invited in, we learned that the widows were there for an all-night prayer gathering to pray for the upcoming summer retreat.  So we exchanged words of greeting with them, explaining that the Greenville Free Methodist Church in Illinois of the USA had sent us to see the good work that God is doing among them, and to affirm the bond we have as members of the body of Christ...to tell them that we pray for them.  Guess what? They pray for us, too!  Praise the Lord for the many people we are able to call sisters and brothers.

Sister Connection widows...Sisters in Christ!