March to April 2010 News from Burundi

Amahoro, Pasika Nziza (Peace to you and a wonderful Passover)

Where did the 2 months go to? Studies, Training, Exploratory trip, Passover, Veritas training and Bible distribution. We had a real busy time and continue to see God’s hand of provision, salvation and divine appointments. Don’t you find that sometimes our daily routine becomes just that, a routine we sometimes do not see God’s agenda for the day and do not meet the people who have been set over our path for a purpose. The saying “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous” is a fact. By pure “coincidence” we have met a few of these divine appointments this month, of which 3 people made commitments to Christ, Hallelujah!

Briefly the one week we had no water supply for 5 days from the local municipality, the longest stint was 9 days. Anyway God gives us grace in these times. After visiting the local municipality offices I just had another major lesson in dealing with delicate issues in the local culture. Simply remain humble and patient, as the Holy Spirit indicated to me. Not long and I had two technicians in the car, off we go to solve the problem which was just one switch which have remained off for 5 days. On our way back to the office, I asked the question, do you guys pray to God? Immediately they answered we drink primuis, (local beer), with an immediate retaliation to, oh we are also Catholic. I started laughing and asked the guys why are they telling me there religion, my question was do you pray to God? The Holy Spirit spoke so clearly to these guys and at one point I thought well we will not have enough time to complete our conversation when they received a call from the office to respond to an emergency elsewhere. They asked please if I can take them there as they have no transport. I said you are welcome now we can complete our discussion. Praise God an hour later they committing their lives to Christ. Thank you Lord!

Tim and Jeanette van Aarde, our good friends in Christ, missionaries who live in Bujumbura and heads up the Burundi Mission with the purpose to train Pastors and leaders with the Veritas modules, had to visit SA for 2 weeks to attend Tim’s grandmother’s funeral. Tim is training with Ruben Safari (Burundian, Pastor, Scripture Union and Director of 8 countries, Veritas trainer etc). They started to train another a group of pastors in Muyinga (2 hours drive from Gitega and 4 hours drive from Bujumbura one way). Because of the unforeseen event Tim asked us to help train Veritas with Ruben in Muyinga. I tell you some of the most rural pastors attend this training in Muyinga. The training pace had to be slower than for the pastors in Bujumbura. At one stage Ruben and I were concerned that the Pastors were not able to follow us. But then on day 3 both Ruben and I saw a breakthrough. As we recapped the work we covered in the previous lessons the faces started to light up and answers flowing back, praise God! I realized that truly the need is great to train these rural pastors. We were thrilled to be able to be part of the team to train pastors in this region. Also Ruben is really the man of peace for this mission, he’s the quarter back and we must protect him as the team, ironically I find that he is normally the one that looks out for our wellbeing, lol. While we were in Muyinga over the last two weeks Diane met a young man who was on crutches and were selling handmade cards to earn an income. With Ruben and I away from the guest house, and no interpreter Diane continued to speak in her limited Kirundi and helped the young man read scripture from her Kirundi Bible. As he was reading the scriptures, he’s eyes started to light up and the understanding of the Gospel flooded his mind. By the time Ruben and I returned he was ready to make a commitment to Christ. Thank you Lord!

We remain on track to start training Veritas in Gitega, of which the 1^st group of pastors will be in Gitega. The official launch will be on Wednesday 28 April at 14:00. Really we sense that we are going through a self actualizing moment where all the years of preparation and trails and tests and focus to relocate to Burundi are culminating into this time of history…..We have been following God’s call which we have been walking by faith, and has now become a realization in our lives, Thank you Lord! I have seen anyone can fly into Burundi for 2 weeks with a purse full of money, but after all has been said and done you will leave empty handed, relieved of your cash giving great reports and photos of the visit and the “Work of God” but in reality the hearts of the people remained exactly the same, because you have just stepped into the biggest cultural trap in Burundi. The only way to train pastors effectively is to become one of the locals and to do the time, live understand, smell experience Burundi through the eyes and hearts of Burundians. Before we came in 2009 God gave us a very clear entry strategy, Luke 10:4-11 Do not take a purse, stay with the man of peace, do not move around but do ministry. This we have done, we did not bring bag loads of money, but rather allowing God to work His provision. Now when we are introduced to new people here, Ps Charles normally say we are from SA, missionaries to work with him and they have no money…lol. Money can buy you friends but love can earn you friends. The cultural lessons we have learned and are still learning has been and is going to be a huge key with the Veritas training in understanding how people here interpret the Bible. Now do not hear what I am not saying, we can use money as a disciple tool and some of our Norwegian friends are doing so very effectively, raising the standards of accountability and stewardship, always taking hands with us and understanding the cultural aspects.

On a lighter note, we were in Bujumbura 3 weeks ago for the Veritas training which is normally on Thursday and Fridays. We stayed over with Tim and Jeannette. Two NGO foreigners asked Tim to take them on a day outing to go visit the National Park Du Kahbira. Simple we thought, left early the Saturday morning in search of the “Game” park which should not have taken longer than 1 hour to reach. Shortly after our departure from Bujumbura it started raining, mist set in over the mountain passes and as a result we missed the sign boards, and happily continued the drive almost reaching the Rwanda border. The park according to the dated map is a massive park stretching about 4 hours drive in radius, well massive in context of Burundi. Eventually we found a game ranger, still dressed in his suited uniform at the very north of the park. He indicated that he does work for the park, but now a days there are no more animals, and he does not receive any remuneration from the government. He said we were the first visitors since 1997 to come to the park. He drove with us and showed us some of the park. The park used to consist of very dense forest which was an oasis to the chimps. Much of the forest today have been removed to clear land for subsistence farming. Apparently a concerted effort are being made to conserve the centre of the park, which remains untouched after the war, but we left the central park exploration for another day.

The local High School, is in a buzz, with the children unable to contain their excitement. As we visited the 7 classes on Monday and Tuesday, the delight in the hearts of the children were uncontainable. For months now they have been asking for Bibles, and we merely exhorted the children to pray and ask Jesus. Continually I challenge them, to test God and see if He will not provide to satisfy the desire of their heart to receive a Bible. We continued the religion classes with a small stock of Bibles which we took from class to class so the students could at least share reading a Bible and following the teaching. In November we received a large donation to buy Bibles for about 100 students, but sensed the timing was not right to give and also in my heart I wanted all 200+ students to receive a Bible, we did not merely want to give hand outs we wanted the students to receive the Bibles on merit. As we were nearing the time we should distribute the 100 Bibles, I asked God if it His will to provide Bibles to the balance of the students, in order that all the students may receive a Bible. A few days later I get a Face book message from a person who was attempting to contact me. The words, came God has told me to give you a donation. In my heart I knew this was God’s answer! The amazing testimony is that God answered the prayer and all 200+ students now have a Bible because two families were generous in their giving to God. We give praise to God for His provision.

Spiritual thought

What was the reason for the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira? We find the narrative in Acts 5:1-11. This raised my curiosity as I have just completed a study on the narrative of the Book of Acts. An immediate reaction to reading the passage might elicit a response of, is this true, or get out of here surely God is pro-life did the Holy Spirit kill this couple? Attempting to justify this event to believers can be a hot potato in the church. Many raise their opinions about the reason why the couple was killed, but these only remain the opinions of men. We must not preach what the Word of God do not emphatically say. Also our approach to interpreting scripture will really challenge our thinking. Here in Burundi I notice that the general approach to interpreting scripture is a legalistic approach to scripture, and there all the liberals shout, grace! No no wait. Having said that, most western cultures err big time on being very liberal to interpreting scripture. What we must find is the middle road.

In the narrative of Acts we find that the major theme is about The Holy Spirit, building the church. Disciples and apostles submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The church is the work of God, not man. It is God’s control which becomes so clear throughout the book. Holy Spirit heals who He wants to heal, not left to the direction of man. He even transports Philip to where He needed him for ministry. Then we read the passage about Ananias and Sapphira. Did they knowingly lie against the Holy Spirit? Did they knowingly attempt to deceive the all mighty God? Is it not God’s own control to exercise His judgment i.e. is God omniscient? In all accounts yes…..More importantly in v11 we read the consequence of God’s immediate judgment, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events”.

I want to highlight two aspects in this verse.

a) Fear of God – means having a great reverence for your husband, or being afraid.

b) who heard – both believers and non believers heard about this event which clearly illustrates that this event affected many people.

Have we maybe lost a bit of reverence for God? Does God take the rightful place in your thinking and your life? We cannot afford to be lulled to sleep in a bed of grace. Prov 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…” Rev 20 gives us a very vivid description of the day of Judgment, of cause God loves us and is long postponing in performing what he said He will do at judgment, this cannot be an excuse for us to explain away how severe the judgment is going to be for those who do not conform to His standard. I praise God as he chooses to reveal Himself through His love, His ultimate sacrifice, His ultimate revelation of who and what He is, through the messiah, Jesus Christ. We do not have to be afraid of God if you are living according to His law of love – Matt 22:37. However the reality is each one of us will face God's judgement one day, the question is will you live or die? We have this life to make a choice, this is the grace of God.

Other examples where God took immediate judgment are:

Achan in the book of Joshua (Jos 7)

Uzzah struck down by the Lord (2 Sam 6:6-7)

Prayer points

Please continue to pray as follow:

1. Peace for Burundi – for the upcoming elections while many political rallies are the order of the day, may God’s hand of peace prevail.

2. Pray for Gods Truth – the Gospel - to become known to all people in Burundi, from grass roots into the highest rank of government.

3. Bibles for Burundi – pray for resources to provide Bibles to believers

4. Students at local school – THANK God for answered prayer to provide Bibles to the students

5. Bernice – pray for her wellbeing and God’s hand of protection.

6. Veritas training – pray for safe travels to and from Bujumbura and for the pastors who are attending the training with us, for understanding how to interpret the Word of God. Also for the launch of the Veritas group in Gitega on Wednesday 28 April at 14:00.

7. Kirundi Bible commentaries – please pray for finances and donors in order to bless pastors with this invaluable tool.

8. Our Kirundi lessons are ongoing – please pray for perseverance and understanding, we see huge favor with the local where we use the Kirundi.

9. Pray for us – protection for our health, relationships, that no weapon from the enemy against us will prevail.

10. Divine appoints – ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into all divine appointments He has created for us and to discern His words of wisdom.

11. Vehicle – pray for the settlement of the balance of the loan.

12. Studies – THANK God for answered prayer – I have completed the next two subjects – Book of Acts and Homiletics.

Please stay connected with us on Face Book………

Much love

Anton and Diane