The next morning we had to return to the hospital for another lab test for Sister Kasonga.
 While we were sitting waiting for the results, a man approached the sister missionaries and spoke to them.    The sisters gave him a pamphlet and got his telephone number.  Then another man approached,  briefly spoke with the sisters, and took a pamphlet.  The doctor treating Sister Kasonga gave her his number and took a pamphlet, as did the doctor who treated Elder Evegna's knee.  Everywhere we go people come up to us and ask us about the Church, about what we believe.  People who are guards at the airport, guards at the embassies, people who work in photo stores, in glass cutting stores.  Just about everywhere we go there is someone who is curious about the Church.

     I have wondered about the reasons for the success of the church in Burundi, and Alma chapter 32 may contain the answer.  In this chapter it talks about the poor receiving the gospel.  Poverty has forced them to be humble, so they are ready to be taught.  "…for he had beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word."   "Because ye are compelled to be humble, blessed are ye."   Even better, it says,  to humble yourself without being forced to be humble.  "…because ye were compelled to be humble, ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?"  Anyway, interesting theory.  And, by the way, Sister Kasonga has parasites.


The last trip to the border of the Congo, we saw cows,

                                                                                                           

a rain swollen Ruzizi River,

goats,

            

chickens,

and, last, but not least, my favorite photo of the day, a nude man washing himself in the river by the road.                           

     One night this week the zone leaders asked us to come with them to visit a young family.  The mom is 7 months pregnant and has some cysts on her ovaries that are causing her pain and a problem at an episiotomy site from the last pregnancy.  We arrived at their house well after dark, traveling rutty, dirt roads that don't look like they have seen many automobiles.  We parked out front and entered through  a corrugated metal gate.  Walking through a dirt courtyard that had several low lines with laundry hanging on them, we passed by maybe 6 other houses that shared the same courtyard.  We visited with the family and found out they didn't have money for medicine to help the mom with the pain, let alone money for the surgery that would be necessary following the delivery.  The mom asked if Gary would give her a blessing, and so he did.  So much need here, so little money.

     We have been trying to get a Congolese visa for a young missionary from Togo who has been called to serve in Uvira, Congo.  The woman at the Embassy desk has been difficult to deal with, each time asking for something new that she hadn't mentioned the time before.  We ended up coming to the Embassy 7 times, and because of the number of visits, we became acquainted with one of the guards on a first name basis.  We brought him Church pamphlets and a book of New Testament stories for children.  About the 5th visit to the Embassy, he asked to meet with the full-time missionaries to find out more about the Church.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Perhaps it was necessary for us to come so many times because the Lord knew "Nestor" was ready for the gospel and just needed enough time to ask to hear about it.  Friday, Nestor met with the full-time missionaries for the first time, the same day that our missionary's visa was ready.

     One of our sister missionaries has been sick for 5 days, so today we took her to the hospital to have her checked out.  We had to pay 5,000 BIF for an appointment to see a doctor, which  is approximately  $3.40.  We sat in a narrow hallway in a line of people waiting for their turn to see the doc.  We were told to go see the doctor in room 1.  And there, on the brown door, was a square piece of paper with the number 1 written on it in black magic marker.  The paper was taped to the door and probably has been there a long time because the edges of the paper were all curled up.

     From this office, we headed to the lab for some tests to be run---blood and urine tests which cost a whopping $20 total.  While we were waiting for the sister to finish her tests, a man came down the hall carrying a small, purple casket, just like the casket the little boy in our Branch was put in. The man was followed by a group of about 15 people.  They all proceeded down the hall and outside to a waiting pick-up truck.  I imagine an infant died in the hospital, was placed in the tiny casket, and then was taken straight to the cemetery for burial.

     Tuesday the 15th of Sept. we had Mission President Thomas and 1st counselor in the area presidency, President Ellis here in Bujumbura for a zone conference.  I must admit I had a problem with a concept that President Ellis introduced. In his talk to the missionary zone leaders,  he quoted D&C 58:10 and interpreted this scripture to mean that here in Bujumbura the missionaries should only teach the "rich (self-sufficient),"  the "learned (those who know how to speak French),  the "wise and the noble."  That means don't teach the poor or the people who only speak their native tongue, Kirundi.  That means most of the baptisms we had had recently should not have happened. Silly me.  I thought the gospel was for ALL people, that Christ invited ALL to come unto him.  I guess not if they are poor or speak Kirundi.  Here we are in Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, where the native tongue is Kirundi, and we don't want to bring the gospel to the poor or to those who only speak Kirundi?

      I have been an active member of the Church since my baptism in 1967.  For 47 years I have taught out of various lesson books, taught from the scriptures, listened to Conference talks, worked with at risk kids at ARTEC, and went through brief training at the MTC.  Nowhere in this time have  I heard the policy espoused that President Ellis talked about.  Have I been living under a basket?  Have any of you heard about this idea from the D&C?

     We arranged for Gian Franco to prepare dinner for the 8 of us after zone conference.  He has moved from the hotel to a small house not far away.  This house is now his restaurant,  and he hosted us in style in his dining room.  The food was fantastic!  Lasagna, not your traditional kind but one he learned to make in Italy, green salad, potato salad, appetizers, drinks.  Dessert he took special care with---he soaked fresh strawberries in an Italian wine for several hours before he served them.  Rather awkward.  I was the only one to eat the strawberries.  I felt bad for him, as his special dessert sat untouched at 7 places at the table.

Gian Franco is standing at the back of the table.  Gary is taking the photo, so is missing from this shot.

ORPHAN UPDATE

THE TWO LITTLE GIRLS, ANNA,8, AND ODETTE, 12, HAVE SETTLED IN VERY NICELY WITH PRESIDENT DIEUDONNE AND HIS FAMILY.  THEY HAVE STARTED SCHOOL, AND THEY SEEM VERY HAPPY.

GILBERT, 18, WAS STAYING WITH US, AS WAS HIS OLDER BROTHER, MESHACK.  GILBERT STARTED SCHOOL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD CLOSE TO US.  TODAY WE TOOK HIM TO LIVE WITH A LOCAL FAMILY WHO VOLUNTEERED TO TAKE HIM IN.  THEY NEED TO GET HIM ENROLLED IN A SCHOOL NEAR THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO HE FEELS HE BELONGS AND THAT HE IS ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING.  THESE 3 CHILDREN ARE IN GOOD SITUATIONS FOR THE PRESENT.

GILBERT IN WHITE AT THE GATE OF HIS NEW TEMPORARY HOME.

AND THEN THERE IS MESHACK.  

ABOUT THE SECOND DAY  HE WAS HERE, HE DIDN'T COME HOME ONE NIGHT.  WHAT DOES A 20 YR, OLD WHO HAS NEVER BEEN TO BUJUMBURA BEFORE DO OUT ALL NIGHT IN A STRANGE CITY?  HE HAD PROMISED WHEN WE TOOK HIM IN THAT HE WOULD ABIDE BY THE SAME RULES AS THE OTHER BOYS WHO LIVE BEHIND US.  STAYING OUT ALL NIGHT DOES NOT QUALIFY AS LIVING BY THE MISSIONARY CANDIDATE RULES.  HE CAME ACROSS AS SOMEONE WHO STRETCHED THE TRUTH, (ALL RIGHT, LIED) WHO WAS NOT REALLY ENGAGED WITH THE OTHER YOUNG MEN HERE.  AFTER ANOTHER WEEK OR TWO, HE ONCE AGAIN STAYED OUT ALL NIGHT.  WE TOLD HIM HE WOULD HAVE TO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO LIVE.  DAYS PASSED, AND THEN HE CAME TO US LAST FRIDAY SAYING HE WAS GOING TO LEAVE OUR PLACE ON MONDAY, BUT THAT HE WANTED TO ATTEND CHURCH WITH US ONE MORE TIME ON SUNDAY.  SUNDAY CAME, AND HE SAID HE WAS NOT GOING TO CHURCH, BUT INSTEAD HE WANTED TO STAY HOME AND WASH HIS CLOTHES.  AT THAT POINT I OPTED TO STAY HOME AS WELL, BECAUSE  WE DIDN'T TRUST HIM.  

A FEW MINUTES LATER, REMY AND GILBERT CAME TO THE DOOR TO TELL US THAT MESHACK WAS ANGRY WITH US FOR REFUSING TO GIVE HIM ONE OF OUR MISSIONARY SUITCASES, AND SO HE WAS THREATENING TO GO TO THE POLICE.  FOR WHAT I DO NOT KNOW.  THIS MADE GARY MAD, AND HE WENT OUT AND CONFRONTED MESHACK, TELLING HIM THAT HIS THREATS WERE NO WAY TO TREAT PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN HELPING HIM.  HE TOLD HIM TO GET OUT IMMEDIATELY.  

MESHACK STORMED OUT OF THE GATE, SUPPOSEDLY GOING TO BRING THE POLICE.   WE CALLED AIMABLE TO SEE IF HE WOULD COME TO OUR HOUSE  IN CASE THERE WAS A CONFRONTATION WITH POLICE.  A FEW MINUTES LATER, MESHACK RETURNED WITHOUT THE POLICE AND WE STARTED TALKING TO HIM.  TURNS OUT HE IS ACTUALLY 25 YEARS OLD, HAS A WIFE AND BABY IN TANZANIA, AND HAD BEEN TOLD  BY HIS OLDER SISTER AND BROTHER THAT IT WOULD ONLY TAKE 2 WEEKS BEFORE HE WOULD BE ON HIS WAY TO AUSTRALIA.  WE GAVE HIM THE MISSIONARY SUITCASE, GOT HIM PACKED UP AND PUT HIM ON A BUS TO TANZANIA.  WE WERE ALL HAPPY HE WAS HEADED HOME TO HIS FAMILY--INCLUDING MESHACK.

     One part of serving here in Bujumbura that is a constant is having to say good-bye to elders as they are transferred.  Last week we took 5 elders to the airport to catch a 2:45am flight, and it was hard to say good-bye.  Tshimanga, Kalala, Ngongo, Kabwe, and Mwenken.  They have been so cute, so fun to work with in English that I have become attached to them.
I will miss them!  So grateful they were a part of our missionary experience here in Burundi!












     Each missionary, after receiving his/her call, must write a letter of acceptance, which is then sent to Salt Lake.  Egide is a young man here who just received his mission call. He wrote an acceptance letter which I found quite touching.  He comes from a poor family, his parents only speak Kirundi.  But when we visited with them (Egide insisted we come and meet his family), I don't believe I have ever felt so humbled by the gratitude, by the welcome we received.  In Egide's acceptance letter, he bore his testimony and then stated, "Since the start of the creation of man, God has used simple people to further his work.  In the Bible, we see the story of Joseph and his brothers, the story of David and Goliath.  We see Joseph Smith, a simple, young boy whom God used to bring for the the fulness of the gospel in the latter days.  And Jesus Christ himself, born to a simple family.  We note that it is these people who come from poor families that God has used throughout the ages."  And Egide is one of these poor people who will help further the work of our Heavenly Father.

UH OH!


The gutters here in Bujumbura are humongous!!  They swallow cars if given the chance!

UH OH II  !  ………………………………………………………………………………………...

We woke one morning to find that the papaya tree which had been standing in our back yard was now lying flat on the ground in our back yard.  

No problem.  We pulled it back to standing position and propped it with an old piece of metal.  Here's hoping it will make it!

Relief Society Activity

I went to my first Relief Society Activity last week which was a demonstration of how to cook crepes, rice and meat.  The activity was scheduled to start at 11:00am, but didn't really get under way until about 1:00pm and lasted until about 4:00pm.

This is Sister Clementine who used the time to do her wash in her multiple buckets and then put the clothes out on the lawn to dry.

This Sister is mashing garlic, onions, celery stalks to put in the rice.

This Sister is washing the vegetables in a pail of soapy water.

 This is Jacqueline, our Relief Society President, chopping up the vegetables.

Some of the younger sisters of the branch mixing the crepe batter.

Sister Nana working on the meat part of the meal.

 Everyone had a good time!  They do love to laugh.

The crepes were yummy, as was the rice.  The meat was a bit tough.  But I was proud of them for actually having a Relief Society Activity!

     Big changes here in missionary land!  Seven of our elders were supposed to leave last week due to transfers that came in.  Unfortunately, because of airline ticketing problems, they are not able to leave until Friday, Sept. 12th.  That would be fine except that we already received their replacements plus two more this past Sunday and Monday.  And 4 of their replacements are sister missionaries!  That is very exciting here in Bujumbura, as there have never been sister missionaries here before. It is a first!  The 4 sisters are in an apartment together, and that leaves all 12 elders in one apartment till Friday when the elders are set to leave.  Can you say "slumber party?"  We hauled 2 big mattresses from our house over to the elders' apartment, plus bought 2 more singles.

     Monday we took the sisters to do some food shopping.  Remy accompanied them to the market to show them how to get good deals, how to use Burundian money.  Here they are after shopping, heading to the truck with their blue bags.  One of the sister missionaries is from Madagascar.  Her name is Randrianarina.  Say that 3 times fast!

 After shopping, we headed to a meeting with the 2 branch presidents who will have the sisters serving in their branches.  After that meeting, we needed to talk to the presidents for a few minutes, so the sisters left the office.  We expected to find them standing in the church waiting for us, but about 10 minutes later when we came out, we found them out on the busy street already preaching the gospel.  They are great!

One of our new elders had hurt his knee 8 days earlier at the MTC while playing soccer.  The knee was quite swollen and we were asked o take him to the doc to have it checked out.  It took us all day, from 9:00am to 5:00pm to accomplish this task and involved going to 2 different hospitals and sitting and waiting.  Finally, they decided to drain his knee and prescribed meds and a knee brace.

Two small examples of men vs women in Burundi:

Gary and I were lugging a wooden table from one building to the other at the church.  A couple of sisters saw us and jumped up from where they were sitting to come help.  I was thinking that was really nice of them, but that I was doing fine.  Imagine my surprise when they went to Gary, offering to take his end, leaving me with mine.  Gary politely declined their offer, and we got a chuckle out of it later.  Then, the day we spent waiting in the hospital, there were no more available chairs, so Gary sat on the floor in the hall and I remained standing.  A nurse saw our situation, grabbed a chair from another room, brought it over and presented it the the sitting Gary.  So interesting and so different from home.  

     Two snapshots of life in Burundi:

     We had the 2 recently orphaned boys and our Remy in the backseat of the truck while doing an errand downtown.  There was a man selling strawberries nearby, and Remy remarked he had never tasted a strawberry.  Neither had the other two boys.  These are young men from 18-21 years old,  and none had ever even tasted a strawberry.  We bought some and gave them to the 3 boys in the backseat, and from the slurps and happy eating noises, I think it's safe to say the strawberries were a hit!

     We have seen a new use for flip-flops.  There is a young man who works downtown trying to help cars park on the street, in the hopes of getting a small tip for his help.  This young man has no legs,  and to get around, he swings himself along the sidewalk, up and down stairs, with the strength of his arms and torso muscles.  He wears the flip-flops on his hands to protect them from the asphalt, cement, rocks, dirt, etc.  We also saw a young man totally bent over at the waist who was forced to walk on all fours.  He, too, was using flip-flops on his hands as protection.

And Two Good-byes :

     Our young friend from Canada, Jonathan, has been here working for UNICEF.  Tuesday we dropped him off at the airport so he could return home.  He has a scholarship to get his master's degree in refugee law at Essex University in England.

An interesting sidelight:  Jonathan is featured in the September edition of the Liahona (Ensign).

We are going to miss his "muzunga" face!   He is a lot of fun to talk to, and he often translated for Gary, as he speaks beautiful, fluent French.

The second good-bye is to Fiston, one of the candidate missionaries who has been living behind us.  

Today we took him to the airport so he could leave on his mission to Brazzaville, Congo.

We tried to talk him through everything he would encounter in this little airport and inform him about how to find his connecting flights in other airports.  He was amazed that there are actually toilets on airplanes and the thought made him laugh.  He is our chatterbox missionary.  So often you could hear his loud, happy voice chattering away in Kirundi out behind our house.

     Saturday morning we had a baptism for 9 people.  It was a fantastic meeting, the congregational singing was beautiful, the spirit , strong.  The carpenter, Claude, his wife, Agrippine, and 2 of their children were baptized, plus another couple and 3 singles.  That totaled 6 men and three women.  We had reminded the young man conducting that everyone who was baptized should be given the opportunity to bear their testimony.  After the baptisms were complete the young man conducting started asking for testimonies, but he started with the men, went to the boys and then stopped.  The 3 women were sitting there, having been totally ignored.  I asked one of our missionaries why the women had not stood to bear testimony, and he told me the person conducting had not asked them.  African chauvinism had reared its ugly head.  I told Gary, and he went into action.  Four gold stars for him!
From the back row, he made his way to the front, stopped the meeting and asked he 3 women if they wanted to bear their testimonies.  And they did.  Following that, and as the meeting was about to end, Gary again went to the front and started to give an impromptu short talk on how women were loved and valued by our Heavenly Father and how we (men) should all respect, love, and value women as well.  That the Church of Jesus Christ was for all people, not just men.   I was so proud of him, of how he handled the situation!

     Next day, Sunday, were the confirmations.  Once again the male domination was in full display.  The new converts were called up, one by one, to be confirmed.  First, Claude, then, Claude's son, then every other male of the species.  Finally, Claude's daughter and then, last AND least, Claude's wife.  We'll have to have a talk with the missionaries and/or branch president and suggest that couples and /or families could be done consecutively.

     Sunday afternoon we were invited to a celebration of their baptisms at Claude's house.  We were sitting there waiting for things to get under way when the phone rang.  It was a panicked President Dieudonné  telling us that the 2 orphan girls he was caring for AND his 3 year old son were missing!
We left the celebration and went to pick up Dieudonné.  All the children had been at Primary together, but when Dieudonné finished with his priesthood meeting and came looking for the kids, they were nowhere to be found.  They had been missing for 1 1/2 hour----2 girls brand new to Bujumbura and a 3 yr old boy.  Remy (young man who lives behind us) and the girls' brother were out looking for them, as was Dieudonné's wife.  As we were headed toward the neighborhood where Dieudonné's house is located, the phone ran.  It was Remy telling us he had found the children.  That was 1 hour and 40 minutes too many of missing kids!  Turns out, Primary let out about 5 minutes before priesthood, and the children didn't see Dieudonné and assumed he had already left.  The 3 yr. old told them his family always took a bike to get home, so the 3 of them got on the back of a transport bike, told the driver the name of the area where they lived, and headed "home."  Unfortunately, nobody knew the address of their house.  When Remy found them, they were still with the bike and the driver, with no money to pay for their ride.  But everyone is safe and sound,  and we adults are breathing again!

                                                                      Gone fishin'

 
                                                 These birds sing like robins on steroids!

               Tried to capture the bats flying in front of this moon but was unsuccessful

     Wednesday, the 27th President Mabishwa brought 10 would-be missionaries from Uvira, Congo  to Bujumbura to apply for passports.  We flooded the Congolese Embassy and spent 4 hours filling out applications and getting photos taken.  Afterwards we took them all for lunch at Silhouette.

                                       Here we are at the Embassy filling out paperwork.

We dropped them at the location where they were to meet their transportation to go back to Uvira and headed to a branch presidency meeting.  While we were waiting for the meeting to start, we got a frantic call from the Uvira group.  Their driver had not appeared at the appointed time, and they needed us to drop everything, come quickly and take them to the Marché de Sion to catch transport back to Uvira before the border closed at 6:00pm.  We rushed them to the Marché and then hurried back to the presidency meeting.  Another 12 hour day today.

        Thursday evening we got word the orphans had arrived in Bujumbura.  It was 5:30pm when we got the phone call, so with darkness closing in, we made arrangements for them to spend the night at Gian Franco's hotel and hurried to the location where their transport had dropped them.  They are such cute kids.  The older 2 boys had such a pleasant attitude about them, and the 2 little girls had easy, hopeful smiles.  Names and ages are:  Meshack, 20;  Gilbert, 18;  Odette, 12;  Anna, 8. 

They only speak Kirundi, so we took Remy with us to translate.  When we pulled up at Gian Franco's hotel, he was all spiffed up and awaiting us at the curb.  They seemed genuinely delighted with the rooms, and we ordered dinner for them, leaving them in Gian Franco's capable hands for the night.

The next morning, Friday the 29th, we picked up the kids and their belongings at 8:30am.

We rendez-vous-ed at  Branch 2 with two branch presidents to place the children in members' homes.    President Dieudonne offered to take both girls into his home, which is quite amazing when you consider he has a 3 year old son, a 17 year old orphan girl he is raising, and his living room is about the size of my bedroom closet at home.  We thought the 2 boys would be split between 2 different families, but as that was about to happen, the oldest boy was emotionally distraught and began to cry.  SO  we offered to let the boys move in with our candidate missionaries in the little house behind our house so they could stay together.  We were curious about what their little sister, their dad, and their mom died of, since they all passed away within the last few months.  The brothers told us it was because neighbors, who wanted their property, cast evil spells on them, causing them to die.  O.K.  Wonder if that is listed as the cause of death?