This is the most central spot in the kitchen we can find. Food will fly in any direction from this point and his arm isn’t good enough to hit the carpet yet.

Well after much prayer and discernment we have decided to stay in BC for awhile.   This decision has been a very difficult one to make and we appreciate all of you who were praying for us during this process.  We have very mixed feelings about the whole thing, but we do believe that God has us in Canada for now. Burundi is still on our hearts and we are very open to returning in the future, perhaps when our boys are a bit older.

When Jonas naps, John gets on the ‘kid games’ which is basically playing Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Train games.

Our life here has been a bit crazy for the last few months.  Major life events have been happening at warp speed.  Our third son, Owen, was born just 4 days ago, Dani had a major health scare during the c-section, we just bought a new house (a first for us!), I have been trying to decide what career options to pursue, Dani will be starting up work as a maternity doctor again, and of course, we are all trying to adapt and settle into our roles  back here in Canada.  All of these things have created an underlying stress that comes from feeling like we are floating around aimlessly without knowing exactly what the future holds.  Despite the state of things, we are finding ways to have fun such as swimming, skating, hockey, fishing, visiting family and for myself I am taking a French course at UFV just for the sheer joy of it.

Boy number three gave us the biggest scare with Danica

Baby Owen Hunter McKenzie was born by planned c-section on Oct. 24 2012. He weighed 8 lbs and is a beautiful, healthy baby boy with thick dark hair. John loves being a big brother and Jonas is a little indifferent! It is fun to imagine the three boys growing up together. Dani scared everybody during the c-section operation when she had embolic event of some sort. For all you non-medical people out there, the gist of it is is that a blob of foreign material entered her blood stream and caused her heart and lungs to act out. It may have been an amniotic fluid embolism or an air embolism that travelled up her veins to her heart and lungs, causing her to have an irregular heart rhythm, crushing chest pain, very low blood pressure, coughing, and a sensation of suffocating. When all of this started happening, the mood went from light-hearted to very serious in a hurry, and they whisked me and baby out of the operating room. Thanks be to our God, Dani was OK, which is a blessing when we heard the stats afterwards about how deadly an embolism like this could have been! Mom and baby are healthy and doing well, and we are settling in as a family of 5 at home.

We are really excited to get into our first house.

Well we are almost the new owners of our very first house that we will be (hopefully) possessing on Dec.1.  We really look forward to our first Christmas together in a new old country and a new house with a new baby and general newness.  We have never before in our married lives put down ‘roots’ in a place, so this will be the first time.  It feels weird to be 35 and to be doing this stuff now.

We will be sad to leave this place because it is finished just as we like it and babysitting runs cheap with Grandparents living upstairs!

So having a new baby around is a bit tough in a basement suite.  We feel a bit crowded in here with all the new baby stuff like car seats, new baby toys, #1 diaper boxes (so small btw), breastfeeding pillows, and multiple other things that babies need.  Overall it’s great and I wouldn’t change it, but we definitely feel like we have changed from an average sized family to a decent sized family.  I wonder how it would feel to have 5 or 6 kids…that would be craziness!

Well, that’s it for a little update on what has been happening in the McKenzie household over the last little while. It is exciting to be setting down some roots here in Abbotsford, but it also comes with a sad feeling for all of the friendships we made in Burundi that we will be leaving behind. It is hard when your heart is torn in different places, and it feels like you have to say good-bye to family, no matter where you end up deciding to stay.

With much love!

The McKenzies: Scott, Danica, John, Jonas, and Owen

This is where Jesus was crucified. The man down in the front ‘box’ sat like that for a long time. It looked like he loved Jesus. Tradition has it that Jesus was crucified right over the tomb of Adam…therefore becoming the new Adam.

What grace God (and Danica) have given me to travel to Jerusalem.  Of the many countries I have been to in the world I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this.  The variety of cultures and languages represented here are as diverse as the smells you experience walking down the narrow, uneven roadways.

This is a view from the mount of olives

The last few weeks in Burundi were great if you don’t count the loneliness.  I was able to learn a LOT of French in a short time as well as teach 15 pastors and Sunday school teachers from around the country.  I worked my way through an excellent curriculum created by Karen Jacobsen from Rwanda.  The students were hungry for the content and had wonderful attitudes towards learning.  There was a 3 hour period in my teaching where I just left the material that I was supposed to teach, sat down on a chair, and proceeded to tell the whole story of the Bible.  I think this is the best way to teach the Bible.  I am not that interested in authorship, literary criticism, or difficulties with some texts.  Instead, I like maps, dates, and characters.  I have to give thanks to Ken Esau who was my Old Testament teacher from my undergrad who taught the Old Testament in ‘stages’ which helped me understand it way better.  All in all the training was great and I felt the Holy Spirit as I was teaching.  Saying good-bye to everyone was not so easy and it was a mad rush of activity to get everything in order before leaving.

These boys were giggling like crazy as they pulled each other down the steps in these boxes. Children have been playing in these streets for thousands of years.

I had two options for the way home.  The first option was the direct(est) route that took me from Bujumbura—Dubai—Paris—Vancouver.  The other option was to go through Amman, Jordan and Jerusalem.  This option only cost $100 more and so I decided to capitalize on this very rare opportunity to see the Holy Land.

After I got on the plane I started to read ‘The Hobbit’ and I don’t remember much else for the next day until I finished it.  What an awesome book…I can hardly wait for the movie.

This was my favorite site in Jerusalem. Hezekiah’s tunnels. Not for the claustrophobic.

So I am once again a tourist.  This is a life of backpacks, tones of walking, hostels, meeting new people every day, and many foreign currencies in the wallet.  Right now I sit in Jerusalem in my dorm and reminisce about what I have seen in the last few days.  I am at a Catholic guest house that is on the Via Delarosa and from the upstairs terrace I can see the whole city.  I have seen the Mount of Olives, the Temple Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, the City of David, Golgotha, the tomb of Jesus and Mary, and many other things.  While all of these things are incredibly interesting, as a Christian I question the theological significance.  So many people come to this city to gaze upon the sacredness of ‘places.’  Both theists and atheists alike speak of a ‘spirituality’ of this place.  Does the Spirit of the Lord dwell in places like this…outside of any human body?  I guess some are quick to talk about places where an evil presence dwells, so why not have the opposite?  Almost every other sect of Christianity besides Protestantism has a rich history of attributing holiness to objects or places, whereas us protestants don’t know much about that.  Anyways, it was something interesting for me to think about.  Could I say that I felt the ‘presence’ in some of these places in Jerusalem…I don’t know.  I definitely felt like praying.

The site of Isaac’s binding and the center of the world. The Muslim’s have it (for now).

Tomorrow I leave Jerusalem and head home with a one-day stop-over in Paris.  I am super excited to see my wife and kids and all my friends and family.  All of you have been so supportive of us and I have been extremely humbled by your generosity.  I don’t know how much blogging I will do when I get home but I know it will be less.  We will keep you posted as things progress.  Shalom.

This may not be exactly where Jesus prayed, but it is close.

It has almost been a year now that I have been living in Burundi.  During my time here I have learned many things that no school could ever teach me, except, of course, the incredibly under-rated school of experience.  I used to scorn experience when I was a late-teenager as a card old people played in order to get their way, but as I walk down the road I see it is worth more than any degree one can earn at university.  Experience is not something you have to study for or explain to others…it simply comes as easily as tomorrow, all you have to do is pay attention.

During our staff retreat a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to everybody that to travel outside one’s own culture is one of the best ways to educate yourself.  You cannot judge the validity of your thought patterns in your culture until you have put them up against other thought patterns of foreign cultures.  One of the best ways to do this is to get out of the house, out of the country, and out of the continent.  It is only after having spent time with foreigners as a foreigner that you actually begin to see the faults in our own culture.  It is a truly liberating experience.  I traveled for 5 months right after I graduated from high-school and I would recommend this to anyone and everyone who wants to understand the world better.

After explaining the value of travel to the FH Burundi staff, my boss Philip Mato came up to me and told me an old African proverb that found its roots in the Borana Oroma people of northern Kenya (NOT the tribe of Barack Obama by the way, even if it sounds like it).  They said, “There are two people that can tell you about life 1) someone who has traveled. 2) someone who is poor.  I really loved this quote because I completely agree…meaning I agree with the travel part.  I am not someone who can really comment on the poverty part because I have never been poor, but after a lot of contemplation I agree with this proverb..as far as I am able.

For some reason God has chose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, but I don’t think he has chosen them simply to implement a law that becomes a great ‘equalizer’ when it comes to balancing out the whole world for the sake of fairness.  I believe that God chose them due to their innate qualities, not because God was just playing fair.  What qualities do they possess that warrant such a blessing?  As I have said earlier, I have lived with the poor of Burundi for almost a year now.  Not as the poor of Burundi, but with them, which is something only half as good.  I have noticed that they do have a faith that is real and vibrant.  I often catch the night-guard or nanny reading their Bible and praying…and they ALWAYS go to church or mass.

But there is something more substantial about the poor that make them rich.  God not only gives them faith, but also the capacity to have faith, which is something that deserves some observation.  A capacity for faith comes not from having things in your life, but from not having things.  The things that divide the rich from the poor are mostly material–from a literal point of view–and when we add these material things into our lives they create noise that prevents us from hearing God…AND from responding to him.  The poor have to trust God for the future.  When they pray for their baby that has TB, they pray as if medical treatment was not an option (which it sometimes isn’t).  I have found that they usually believe what educated people tell them without really questioning it  because they have not developed the capacity of an analytical mind due to their lack of education.  We in the west value this as one of the most important things in academic life, but the Burundians pass on this opportunity of questioning…this opportunity for criticism…to simply obey.  While the educated are debating the validity or precise nature of Biblical mandates, the poor are living them because that’s what they learned.  The highest quality of a good student in Burundi is obedience, not critical analysis, and in turn this has created humble obedient servants.

The poor know how to trust one another, take time to think, and to rest better than westerners do.  They have worked the spiritual disciplines of meditation and silence into their lives.  Many of them walk miles and miles each day, which gives them time to think and reflect on their life.  Our cook used to walk 28km each day…14km to our house and 14km home.  He is probably pushing 70 years old and I bet he has had more time to think about life than many people.  I remember the days when I would have a commute in and out of the city when I had a job in construction and I remember how much I loved that time to play worship music and connect with God.  Alas, the time is gone and getting it back is something we have to fight for because these times only come for those who “seek it with all their heart.”

So the poor are rich, and we are poor.  The poor still lack education, health care, and many other things…some of which are really necessary for life and don’t create the noise that I was referring to earlier.  This is the reason why I am here.  To teach them, from a rich person’s perspective, what faith in God really means.  You see the irony here I hope.  It is like the rich young ruler preaching to the 12 disciples…or worse still…like the Pharisees preaching to the common folk.  I know many things about ‘proper’ theology that they don’t, and they know many things about faith that I will never know because I will never be poor.   Unless I choose it.  I’ll have to talk to my family about that one hehe.  Shortest conversation ever.

Another dynamic that I need to talk about here is the history of Christianity in Burundi.  I come from a country that has had a rich tradition of Christianity.  Our constitution was written by Christians and before that our ancestors were Christians in Europe.  Perhaps there have been thousands of years of Christian influence influencing the government tradition as well as at the grass roots level.  Now that we find ourselves in the 21^st century, Churches in North America are slowly dying due to lack of attendance while secular humanism is on the rise.  In Burundi we find the exact opposite.  Christianity is only around 100 years old here, and you can still see traces of animistic worldview in the practices of the people here.  Despite this fact, around 80 percent of the population go to church on Sundays and call themselves Christians.  I don’t know if there is even such a thing as an atheist here.  You are either Muslim or Christian.  Due to the fact that there have only been about 100 years of Christianity here, it has not permeated the culture as much as it has in North America.  This is most evident in the governing bodies which are among some of the most corrupt in the world.  Infidelity is a problem and questionable morals are found in even some of the most devout.  In Canada, whether the atheist wants to believe it or not, he/she hold many Christian values without knowing it, such as the fact that it is wrong to steal, wrong to accept a bribe, and wrong to be unfaithful to your spouse.  All of these things may be seen as legitimate to some Christians in Burundi, depending on who you talk with.

So yes the poor are rich in faith but also in their potential for developing a country that may one day surpass our own as being a model of integrity and righteousness (If things continue on their current trajectory). From a strange theological viewpoint, their poverty at this point in their development is one of the best things that they have going for them.  I think the Boran people are exactly right when they say that it is those who are poor and who have traveled that know the most about life.  I am the man who has traveled and they are the people that are poor.  Perhaps between the two of us we can find our way.

 

The life of a bachelor in Burundi not at all uncommon this time of year.  It seems that many wives flee the country during the summer to get some R and R in their home country.  There are several reasons for this.  First of all, it is supposedly really hot here in the summer so they want to escape the heat during the dry season.  Secondly, the kids are out of school so it is a perfect time to go home and re-introduce them to grandparents and old friends.

Last Sunday at church there were three other men just like me whose wives have left them for their lands filled with milk (not powdered) and honey.  We are les maribataires as they say in French, which is a mixture of husband (mari) and single/alone (célibataire).

Dani told me that I could have a monkey when she is dead and buried…or if she is in Canada and I am in Africa.

The first night that Dani and the boys were gone I felt a wave of loneliness pass over me as I walked past John’s empty bed.  That was when reality set in.  It’s funny how you feel like you want some time alone sometimes and when you finally get it there is something missing. Or maybe that it was not quite as good as you expected it to be.  I have always been a very independent person—to a fault many times—but over the years I have become more dependent on those I love.  It makes sense to me that I depend on Danica for things, but to depend also on my children for things is a new thought for me because it feels like I do all the giving in our relationship.  All you parents out there I’m sure can relate to this.  To say that I need them is too strong, but to say that they give me something that I could not find anywhere else in the world would not be overstating it.

I feel exactly like this

So I am a maribataire in Burundi.  It actually has its perks.  Let me paint you a picture:  I wake up in the mornings to the sound of my  cook grinding coffee.  I sit and read the internet world news as I sip my  grade ‘A’ Burundian coffee and think about how hard life is.  I grab my materials and head out the door, getting into my car that my night-guard washed the night before.  This night-guard has already swept the driveway and fed the chickens by the way.  When I return home for lunch, I find that my bed is already made, my clothes are already washed, ironed and sitting in a nicely folded pile in my room.  The house is spotless because all the floors everywhere have been both swept and mopped and the windows have been cleaned.  There is a meal waiting for me on the table with my Franks Red Hot sauce, salt and everything else that I like prepared perfectly for me.   After I have finished my lunch—this is the best part—I stand up and leave the table!  Isn’t that awesome!  My whole life I have not been able to do that but here in Africa it is possible…no…more than possible…it is encouraged!  I try to remind myself that I have it hard here and that people that are called to missions have to make sacrifices that others to not.  I try to remind myself this as I am eating banana-cream pie that Gideon made for me personally.  Do I have any sponsors left?

All in all life here is definitely more difficult here in Burundi than it is in Canada, but this is not to say that everything in Canada is better.  It is pretty hard to beat Gideon’s banana cream pie!

We had a staff retreat last week and we had a great time with all the staff from Food for the Hungry Burundi. The other white guy is Shep Owen who is the regional director for FH East Africa

Prayer Requests/Thanksgivings:  Dani has a bad sinus infection that just won’t go away.  Pray that God would heal her and that she would be feeling better and would have more energy for the boys.  She also gets pregnancy insomnia which prevents her from getting the rest she needs.  For me, I will be studying French intensively over the next month then I have to teach Sunday School teachers how to teach Sunday School better in all the provinces.  Pray that I would be able to prepare and deliver my trainings in French very well so they are bien compris.

Wow what a week!  I had been looking forward to this week for months and now it  has finally happened.  I never knew that I would both participate in an exorcism and witness a lion kill a wildebeest in the same week…it was definitely a week to remember.

Translated “never again.” This is a genocide memorial in Burundi that we stopped at to show Mom and Dad

It started in Kirundo, where I did the second segment of the crusade.  I brought Dad Neufeld with me in order to expose him to rural Burundi and he loved it.  There were many Haiti comparisons—which I expected—and there were many new experiences for him as well.  All in all the crusade went even better than the last one as far as I could tell.  The people were very receptive to the worship as well as the messages.  Many people came forward to receive salvation and this always makes me happy.  While I was performing an alter-call, one of the ladies that came forward started to manifest a demon, so I separated her out from the rest of the people and got 4 pastors to pray for her.  When I finished up with leading the other people to Jesus, I returned to the lady and began to pray for her.  The demon was very resistant and would not release his grip on her after praying for her for awhile.  I left the Burundian pastors to pray for her because they told me that they had much experience in these kinds of things…which was good because I do not.  All in all I was happy with my time in Kirundo and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.  Even the Safari that I was going on the next day.

Such a beautiful landscape in Tanzania

Dani, Mom and Dad Neufeld, the boys and I all headed out to Tanzania to see the Serengeti.  I have been waiting almost a year for this trip and when it finally arrived I was really pumped.  We drove from Bujumbura to the Mbalegeti Lodge in the middle of the Serengeti over a period of 3 days.  Staying on the Serengeti is one of the best experiences I have had.  There are people that hear hyenas, zebras, elephants, and other wild animals outside their room.  Unfortunately, we did not get such noises outside our room, but perhaps our experience of the wild was even better. inside our room.  As we entered our room the porters helped us get settled when all of a sudden I noticed a rather large snake on our windowsill…inside the window, not outside.  After pointing this out, everyone kind of freaked out because it was between 6-7 ft long.  Dani and Mom picked up the kids very quickly, and I proceeded to ask the Tanzanians in the room what kind of snake it was and how dangerous it was.  They told me that it was not poisonous, which made me very happy, and when I looked at the size of its head, it did not look like it had very big teeth, so I tried to catch it.

The smile on my face masks the terror in my heart

You can’t see me in this picture but I am standing on top of the couch on the left. The snake is hard to see, but it is on the ground

The head of this snake had the consistency of porridge after we were finished

Just so you know…every single African is absolutely TERRIFIED of snakes.  This is mostly because they all know someone who has died of a snake bite and also because for some people there is a spiritual element involved as well as a physical one.  Being from Canada, I did not share this phobia so naturally I simply wanted the thing dead.  I hopped up on top of the couch as one of the Tanzanians handed me a pinching tool for catching snakes.  I promptly pinched the snakes tail as the head began to flail.  As the rest of the Tanzanians in the room saw the head of the snake start to move frantically around, they informed me that they were mistaken on the species of snake.  They told me that in fact this snake was poisonous.  Thanks for that!  At this moment two things happened.  The first thing was that every single person in the room except for Dad ran out screaming.  The second thing that happened was that the weight of the reality that I was holding a Black Mamba (Google it…I dare you) by the tail started to get my heart-rate going.  After shouting aloud that I was not very happy with the people that told me it was not poisonous, I realized that I was going to have to be very careful with this one.   It was wrapped around the coffee table and the couch, which prevented it from being able to bite me because I was standing on the very top of the couch.  I was holding on with all my might because the strength of the snake was challenging the grip that I had on its tail.  At one moment I had the opportunity to pinch it in the middle of its body and I capitalized on it.  As soon as it felt the pinching tool on its mid-section, the head came around super fast and started attacking the tool.  When this happened, I saw another opportunity to pinch it in the neck, and I took advantage of this moment.  The second I got it around the neck, it went berserk, flailing and shaking, trying to free itself from my grip.  I pulled the snake out from around the coffee table and under the couch, realizing that it was at least 2 meters long, possibly more.  I paused for a picture (naturally) on the way out the door before I put the snake down on the ground in order to crush the serpent’s head before it could bite my heel.  Finally the evil snake died and I was able to Google Black Mamba’s.  Wow.  Lucky it died before me.

The snake in the room was only the beginning of the adventure.  The next day Dad and I went on the best safari that I have ever been on in my life.  It was all self-driven and we were able to see things that people rarely ever get to see…such as lions killing a wildebeest.  We saw the whole thing, from the time the wildebeest was running till the time that he ate dirt.  It was an amazing spectacle and our guide was even surprised.  We also saw a leopard, which is rare, as well as elephants, hippos, crocs, buffalo, and a few thousand wildebeest and zebra.  It was simply stunning and was a theology lesson for me…our God is a creative God.  I have never seen beauty like I saw on the Serengeti…it was new to me.

These elephants were a bit smaller than the ones I saw in Botswana, but still very impressive

So we are home now with many memories and many stories.  We get to enjoy the next week with Mom and Dad Neufeld and continue our adventures.  The prayer requests/thanksgivings for this week are obvious.  Thank God that he blessed me so much during my preaching and also that he gave us such a good experience in Tanzania.  God is good!!

Thank you for all your prayers.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that I could ‘feel’ them.  When I was preaching I had a ‘calm’ on me that is hard to describe, but words like confidence, creativity and peace come to mind.  My one desire for myself is that I would preach from my heart, and that is exactly what I did.

This is the best traslator that I have had for my whole time here. I have such a respect for people that can move between languages quickly.

Before I left for the crusade, I had a request from one of my South African friends for him to accompany me on the voyage because he was curious what God was going to do.  His name is Peter and he is a great mixture of English, Australian and South African.  He was great company for the ride up and down to Muyinga, and also took great photos while I was there.

When we arrived at the soccer field where the crusade was to take place I met a man who I believe was demon possessed.  He spoke a language that was unknown to everybody there and it was not one of the normal 4 (English, French, Kiswahili, Kirundi).  I got a weird feeling from him but I thought little of it because people like this are everywhere…especially at places where God is planning to move.

Every time I see this picture I crack up because: 1) I am wearing a suit 2) I am playing guitar 3) I am on stage 4) I am in Africa

I practiced guitar for an hour and a half or so and felt quite comfortable playing all the songs through.  The reason I had such a peace about the guitar is because the worship leader that is leading us was awesome.  By the time that we actually played on stage in front of the people, he had such a fluidity and spirit about him that was essential for leading worship in this context.  In fact, all the songs that we had chosen were not effective at all.  He actually invited a bunch of Burundians up on stage from the crowd and then the worship got kicked into high gear.  It goes to show…if you want to worship in a North American context, bring a guitar….and if you want to worship in an African context, bring a synthesizer.

My friend Tim went up and preached first, preaching the story of Joseph out of Exodus, and touching on other passages from the New Testament.  It was very good and I appreciate his preaching style…probably because he comes from the Reformed tradition where exegesis is very important.  After he was done we had a short worship set and then I went up and preached my sermon on forgiveness.  I told a few different stories from my own life and other stories from people in Burundi that illustrated my points.  Overall I was more than pleased with the way that things turned out and I know I can attribute all of that to the Holy Spirit.

Many of these children decided to give their lives to Christ.

After I was finished preaching I facilitated a ministry time that invited people up to the front who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts as both Lord and Saviour.  It was mostly children that came forward, which was very interesting to me.  I led them all through a prayer of repentance and after that the various local pastors also prayed with them one-on-one.  I had never done anything like that before and I felt surprisingly comfortable.  Some people after the crusade told me that I am a gifted evangelist.  Maybe I am…I have never thought about that.

There were way less people than expected…kind of a blessing for me, but kind of disappointing too

I arrived home safely, but the drive was far from safe.  Overall I see this trip as a success and I am excited to head out again tomorrow to do the same thing in another province.  Please pray that this would go well as well.

We started with 19 numbers, representing 19 days until Mom and Dad Neufeld come to visit

I have actually been looking forward to this day for a long time.  In 5 hours I get to go and pick up Danica’s parents from the airport here.  This will be the first time that any of our family has come to visit us and I am really excited to host them.  It is one thing to hear the stories and read the blogs from Africa, and it is a totally different thing to actually be here and see it for yourself.  Thank you again for your prayers…be encouraged that they are really working!

The mom was giving me that look, that ‘I will mess you up if you touch’ look.

It is a wonderful thing to see baby chicks when they are one day old.  I was expecting little greasy babies like mammals produce, but instead they were little fluff-balls of various colours.  The thing that amazes me the most is that there are around 10 chicks, and all of them can do a disappearing trick under mom.  Mom makes this low rumbling sound and like well-trained soldiers, the little chicks form ranks under mom’s wings.

The night guard was kind enough to leave his cell phone and charger nearby so the mom can call the necessary people and inform them on the sizes, genders and names of the little ones.

Multiple times a day John requests that we go outside and see the baby chickens (les poussins).  I keep telling him that he must keep his distance because the mother might peck him if he gets too close.  I love watching the little battle go on in his brain between the desire to approach and abuse and the command to keep his distance.  He resorts to getting sticks or throwing little rocks to try to appease the desire while obeying the command…I know someone else like that who has lived with that tension for 35 years.

I told him to make a face like he was staring into a nameless void of bliss.

An American family moved into town with 4 kids and they have AWESOME English.  We went to the pool with them today and had a great picnic with them.  Their names are Joel and Janette and they are both family docs, which is nice because they will be teaching at the same university as Danica.  They are very nice and we get along quite well.  They had previously spent some years in Mexico as missionaries so their Spanish is great, but unfortunately now they are thrown into French which is quite a bit harder…or so they say.  I’m sure we will get to know them a bit better.  I really get the sense that they are obedient to what God calls them to, which makes me trust them that much faster.

This boy is getting older FAST

Sports day for everyone at John’s school. John was team blue.

Yesterday some good friends of mine named Tim and Janette came over to our house because they had something to ask of me. They are currently organizing a HUGE Christian crusade in Burundi that will be executed in 7 different provinces country-wide. In each province it is expected that at least 10,000 people will show up…possibly more. This crusade is so big that even the President’s wife is involved in planning it. Unfortunately the original speaker that they had planned to use jammed out on them at the last minute and now they need someone to help speak. They asked me if I would be able to speak in the first two provinces. One of the reasons that I was asked to speak is because I go to a Bible study with Tim who is the guy who is organizing the whole thing. It just so happened that I mentioned something I felt God saying to me before I even came to Burundi which was that through me God would bring thousands into his kingdom. We weren’t even talking about the crusade or anything like that, but for some reason he felt that the lack of speaker coupled with what I felt God saying to me before I came to Burundi was enough of a coincidence for it to not be a coincidence. Never before have I ever done anything like this and I’m thinking in my head, “can I even do this?” This would be so far above me. Yes I am willing, but is it God’s will? After some prayer and the presence of many external confirming circumstances I decided to accept.

Despite the poor photo quality, I had to include this picture because it communicates so well how John felt about earning a 3rd place ribbon.

I need prayer. The enemy has been trying to come against this crusade in various forms and I anticipate that I will be attacked as well because of my involvement. Pray that God’s kingdom would come to Burundi and that people would make decisions to follow Jesus. The topic for the crusade is forgiveness and reconciliation which is a great topic to mix with the Gospel. Pray that I would have boldness in speaking and that I would be able to communicate the Gospel with clarity and focus.

Madam Solange’s class. When the ants bite and the mosquitoes sting, or when he’s feeling sad…he remembers a few of these favorite things and then he doesn’t feel so sad.

In addition to the speaking, they have also asked me to lead a short worship set between the plenary sessions. I can count on three or four hands how many times I’ve led worship in a Bible study/Prison setting. Playing in front of 10,000 people is something that Bono does, not Scott McKenzie. Pray that I would bring the spirit of worship to the crusade. That people would experience the Holy Spirit, that hearts would be softened, lives transformed, and people forgiven.

I took Dani to the place I had been a couple of weeks earlier. Very pretty

I know that there are so many more people who are better qualified than me that should be here, both for the speaking and the worship leading, but the truth is that there isn’t because of logistical problems and other unforeseen reasons. This is a monumental opportunity with much potential and it has fallen in my lap. I am not the type to freak out and get really nervous…it’s not the way I’m made, but I do know when I am in over my head and that is the reason for this blog. God bailed me out with the savings groups and I know he is capable of bailing me out with this crusade. Please pray…

It all started when I read the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert and came across a part where they talk about starting savings groups in churches.  This idea was quite new to me and I wanted to learn more.  I had heard about micro-finance and how lending agencies give small loans to promote business in developing countries.  I heard they were very successful and that the pay-back rate was very high…especially among women.   However, this book did not recommend micro-finance (MFI), but savings groups instead.

I began to talk to some people about savings groups, and it turns out that they are one of the best bang-for-your-buck development programs in Africa right now.  They have a very high degree of success rate (>90%), they do not require any outside funding, they reach the poorest of poor, and they are 100% sustainable…meaning that when the person/NGO that formed the group leaves, the savings group continues for years afterwards.

These people have assembled to participate in a weekly savings group meeting

There is one particular model called VSLA (Village Savings and Loans Association) which I was attracted to the most.  In this model, groups of between 10-25 people meet weekly to purchase shares by depositing money into a metal lock-box.  The price of a share varies for each group, depending on the economic situation, but each member is obliged to purchase between 1-5 shares each week.  Over a short period of time the money in the lock-box begins to grow and (only) the members of the group are allowed to take loans from the box…up to 3 times the amount of shares that they have purchased at a pre-determined interest rate.

There was one weakness with the VSLA model in my opinion.  It did not teach people why they are saving…and why would it?  It is a secular model.  This is why I introduced 8 additional teachings on topics like conflict management, prayer, God’s word, and other Biblical worldview topics to lend purpose and direction to the group members.  The goal is to grow up into all that God has for us, not to simply have more money.

So last January I began the formation of savings groups with FH Burundi.  I traveled to Kenya to take a one week course on the different kinds of savings groups taught by Laura Hunter from FH Washington DC.  It was a great course and very eye-opening.  She had started a bunch of savings groups in Mozambique a few years back and it was great to see her pictures.  I came home from the training with big plans to start 100 groups in 2012.  Perhaps a bit ambitious.

Even the goat is getting in on the action. He probably won’t like the teaching on Matthew 25 though…

It took me about 2 months to finish a 90 page manual on how to form and manage savings groups in Burundi, and the final copy is still not finished.  We have to get the whole thing translated into Kirundi so that the field agents can use it easily.  I also had to travel up to the various FH regional offices in different provinces and do full day trainings on the mechanics of savings groups so that the local staff would have a good idea of how to implement this program.  The ideas were very new to many people but they were all excited to try it out.

There was one problem that I could not get over that kept staring me in the face.  It was simply the fact that I have received trainings on savings groups, read countless pages on their formation, written a 90 page manual, and yet have never started one myself.  I haven’t even seen one in action!  Strangely, this did not bother me at all.  I think I have always been the type of person to throw myself in over my head…after all, it’s the best way to learn how to swim.

It turns out that God provided a flotation device for me.  While I was visiting other NGO’s in Bujumbura to research their involvement in savings groups, there was one particular NGO called CARE International that had just ran out of funding in their savings groups budget.  They had already formed over 7000 savings groups in the country and had incredible amounts of experience with them but unfortunately this was coming to an end.  They told me that they had to lay off 10 field agents who are super-qualified and that I could hire them if I wanted.  Like a child in a candy shop I began to salivate and vibrate slightly.  They gave me all the résumés of the potential candidates and I selected two of them who have been forming groups for minimum 4 years each.  One named Jocelyn who has managed over 2000 savings groups, and the other Patrick who also has extensive experience.  I took a bit of time to show them the difference between the CARE savings groups model and FH Burundi savings groups and they picked up on the differences very quickly.  Now I have two ‘experts’ on savings groups who can teach not only FH staff members, but me as well.  Godsends

As of now, we have 37 groups in the process of being formed.  I could never have imagined that things would be so successful.  There are around 1000 people who are involved in the savings group program with more being added shortly.

She said that savings groups are a great thing for the local population because there is so much poverty on their hill. Nobody there has the opportunity to save or borrow money, so there is a lot of wasted money. She also says to buy clothes for her family she sells things that do not belong to her, but now they will have a ‘social fund’ which will make this practice unnecessary. She is confident that members of this group will gradually improve their living conditions over the next year.

Now that things are underway with the savings groups, I will be turning towards Sunday School curriculum.  There are hundreds of kids (maybe even over a thousand) who gather every week for Sunday School but the teachers have no curriculum so they end up simply memorizing scripture.  So before I return to Canada for the baby, I want to train Sunday School teachers on effective teaching and hand over a usable Kirundi curriculum that will sustain them until I return.

Prayer requests:  Danica has started teaching in the university again, even though she is not feeling 100% yet.  Pray that she would be able to prepare well and teach well so that the students will really benefit from her teaching.

The Shire

Well it’s nice to have Danica back in Burundi.  I missed her a lot.  Unfortunately she is still feeling terrible and spends most days in bed, which is something I hope will not last too long.  The boys are constantly climbing on her and competing for her attention so sometimes I just have to get them out of the house.

Of all places, this reminded me the most of Canada

Yesterday I took them up the mountain to a place called Ijenda where there is a nice hike/walk to the top of a hill where one can see a nice view of the surrounding area.  I was invited up with a bunch of missionary/ex-pat friends and rode up in the back of Paul and Rebecca Mosley’s SUV (their blog: pamosley@blogspot.com ).  They have been good friends of ours and have been very supportive throughout our trials.  They have two boys as well, so we do monthly ‘date night’ trade-offs where we watch the other couple’s kids and they watch ours.  It has been nice to be able to start to explore some restaurants in town.  There actually are some hidden gems!

This is my friend Stephan. I like him because he has a beard. We watch Lord of the Rings together. He is German. The boy on Stephan's right has pinworms.

Altogether we were 19 people, which is quite a crowd of Germans (from Black Forest), Americans (upstate NY), Belgians (Flemish), Danish (I think there is only one kind), and Canadians (Anglophone).  Altogether we spoke 5 languages, with the preferred language being French because all the kids use French as a play language.  The German, Danish and Belgian kids don’t speak English (yet), so French is the unifying language with them.  With the adults I am the weakest in French, so they decided to speak English.  It always humbles me to discover Europeans who speak so many languages.  I grew up in an area of the world were English is all I heard for the first 13 years of my life.  After I moved to Abbotsford I began to hear Punjabi and pick up a few words, but the exposure to foreign language was very limited.  Now I am immersed in a culture where most people (including foreigners) speak 3 languages.  I have a lot of catching up to do.  Even our cook and nanny–who both do not even have high-school education–speak 3 languages (Kirundi, Kiswahili and French).

It is so much easier to understand the french of these boys than it is understanding adults

The hike was awesome and the boys loved it.  Outings like this are so important for John because he is able to play with kids that are a few years older than him and that come from a similar culture (European).  At the top of the hill the other kids were doing things like collecting bugs and making forts out of twigs which John absolutely loved.

The hike was low-grade and well marked

We all assembled in a restaurant after the hike and had brochette and fries, which is a very popular local dish.  Brochette is basically skewered meat that comes in beef, fish, goat or chicken.  It tastes awesome and I would have to say that it is one of my favorite foods to eat with salt and pili pili (hot sauce).  After dinner we were blessed with s’mores.  Yes, you read it right s’mores.  Rebecca Mosley brought a bunch of Hershey’s chocolate bars, Graham crackers and marshmallows, and we were able to have an authentic American/Canadian experience.  This was new to the Europeans and they loved it.

The drive to Ijenda is perhaps the most beautiful in the country

I have come to realize over my time here that Americans really are like us in so many ways.  When I lived in Canada I would focus on our differences—like the way we say ‘sorry’—but ever since I have moved here almost everything about them feels like they come from the same place that I do…especially the people from the mid-west who speak with the same accent as us.

Traffic can mean many different things in Africa

In a place like Burundi, when you hear English it comes in many forms with many different accents.  For example, people who speak Kiswahili usually speak the Queen ’s English with a very strong accent.  Some of their vocabulary is different and their pronunciation is very poor (in my opinion of course), but their comprehension of the language is very strong.  People that have Kirundi as their mother tongue have a unique accent that actually is more easily understood to my ear.  Europeans vary in their accents, but their command of the language is most impressive.  With all of these differences in the way people speak English, when a white person walks up to you and starts speaking American English it is like something inside me relaxes.  I don’t have to fight to make myself known.  I can use the most obscure slang or reference pop culture off the cuff and they are right there with me.  It is like a breath of fresh air.  I can recognize American/Canadian English in 3 or 4 words because it stands out as being so different than anything else around here.  I’m sure my accent sounds so incredibly out of place here, but people say that Canadian accents are easier to understand because we pronounce all the consonants, unlike the Aussies or Brits.

This (the hat of) Paul Mosley, someone who we met online (sounds bad but its not) who has helped us out a lot with settling in. He works with MCC, so already we were cut from the same cloth

Prayer Requests:  For Danica’s courage and strength to hold.  The physical condition as an influence the emotional state and I think praying for the emotional state is important at this stage. For me, I am currently trying to plan how to implement Sunday school curriculum in my different churches up-country.  Pray that I would figure out a good way to empower the teachers to empower the kids.  Thanksgivings: 1)The boys have not been sick for a long time 2) Danica is back safe 3) Savings groups are growing at a very fast rate.  Thank you for your continued support and prayers!