With 5 days left.

Greetings from Tropicana[1]!

We got back last night from our trip to Nyanza-Lac. The entire weekend was quite eventful. Our drive from Bujumbura to Nyanza-Lac (a total of 120km) took 5 hours. About an hour into the drive the back right tire went flat. We pulled off the side of the road into this little village [2] to change it. Fortunately the van we had rented had a real spare underneath so we were able to change the tire without too much trouble - even though we had parked over the remains of an old fire & the van fell off the jack once. All in all it was quite exciting for the village we broke down in. We seem to attract large crowds wherever we go.

And we were off again. About 2 hours later we stopped at a little gas station/repair shop to get the flat tire patched, the spare tire filled with air, and the engine coolant levels refilled. While we were at that station we backed into a truck so I was given the opportunity to drive.

I have driven in Burundi! And not just on the main road, I've driven in & around Nyanza-Lac.

About 30 minutes later we drove past Pastor Felicien's mother's house. We pulled over & walked to visit her. Once back on the road we drove through & arrived at our motel in Nyanza-Lac at 11AM.

We were, by that point, exhausted. We slept for an hour or two and woke up around 2 to eat lunch. Pastor Felicien had gone to the church meeting to see how things were going there.

We were expected at the church at 3 and arrived there 30-40 minutes later.

Their singing & dancing choirs were quite beautiful. It seems as though their songs take one of 2 forms - simple, repeating "God alone is to be worshiped" songs or stories (like full stories). Liz preached & did a fantastic job. She's a real natural. I was distracted during most of the services by the street kids sitting on the side of the church. We were playing smiling & waving & thumbs up games with each other all during church. They really are desperately in need of love that no one gives them.

That night we were planning on having church service & then showing either Jesus of Nazareth or The Passion of the Christ on a projector we had brought, but their generator didn't produce enough power to run the projector so we weren't able to. Chris preached, Felicien elaborated, & then we all went back to the motel & to bed.

Sunday morning Pastor Felicien gave the 3 of us who haven't been to Burundi before names. Mine is Vyizigiro - which means, I think, "one who is trustworthy, one who can be trusted". He wanted people to think of us not as "Mzungu!" but as people with names. I'll have to let Liz & Susan tell you what theirs are. I don't remember.

Kieran preached Sunday morning & the main point of his message was not to simply beg from God but to cry out asking him to help you up.

We think it was well received.

We went back to the motel for lunch & left at 2 to come back home to Bujumbura. It's quite interesting how home-like our place here in Bujumbura has become.

On the way back we got another flat tire. It was slightly comical. We changed it in about 5 minutes & were all quite impressed with our newly developed tire changing ability. NASCAR here we come! We actually broke down right by the monument rock where Livingston & Stanley met in Africa. I had no idea it was here in Burundi. That was pretty cool to see.

We got back to the house & found that 1 of our laptops had been stolen & that there had been an attempted break-in in one of our rooms. We think we had left the laptop in our common room rather than locked in one of our bedrooms. Anyways, the owner of the house & the police got involved & one of the night watchmen spent the night in jail.

Today we're having lunch with one of the members of the church board at his house. I'm definitely excited to get to visit one of their houses. We haven't been in anyone's yet. We're also setting up a bank account with Diamond Trust Bank to facilitate our further involvement in Burundi. And we're meeting with a notary & the land owner to work toward purchasing that plot of land by the lake (it's absolutely
gorgeous). We're also having the second half of our knitting class this afternoon.

This week looks to be an arduous one so please pray for strength & protection for us.

Again, thank you and may God bless,
Matt


[1] The internet cafe we've been semi-frequenting in Bujumbura.
[2] The road between Nyanza-Lac & Bujumbura runs alongside Lake Tanganyika most of the way, and there are houses & little villages for most of its length.