Trip to the Village

This is Ben Johnson writing on Breana’s blog. This is a small excerpt of what I did in Burundi. My older brother Danny and I went up to two little villages in the country of Burundi. During this time, Breana was staying in the capitol city of Bujumbura with my brother’s wife, Annie. Danny and I left for the villages on Friday morning, and spent the night there Friday and Saturday night and drove back Sunday. The purpose of the trip was to take some of Danny’s goats, ducks and rabbits to give to the churches so that they could raise the animals as a church project. (A project that my brother runs called "Living Gifts." Here is a link to his facebook page.)

The first village we stopped at was called Munyinya (pronounced “Mu-nyi-nya”). It is a tiny little village without electricity or running water located up in the hills of Burundi near the Tanzanian border. The people there were very hospitable to us. They took care of us, gave us a place to stay, and fed us. We arrived Friday afternoon, about four hours after we had left the capital of Bujumbura. As soon as we arrived at Munyinya, we started building the duck pen and the rabbit cages. It took several hours to complete, and after that, we ate supper and went to bed.

The next morning we ate breakfast, and my brother Danny, Pasi and Raphael (two Burundians who had come along to help) finished making the rabbit cages while I finished preparing for the message I was to give that afternoon at another village called Cankuzo (pronounced “Chan-ku-dzo”). They finished the constructing the rabbit cages at about 10:00 am, and then we packed up some of the ducks and a goat to take drive over to Cankuzo. The drive took about an hour to get there. We drove on an old dirt road with lots of potholes. We arrived safe and sound, and a crowd of people was there to greet us.

They showed us around the church property. Then Danny, Pasi and Raphael started making the duck pen, and I continued with my sermon preparations. Once they had finished their work, they invited us to have a brunch with the elders. Once we had eaten the brunch, we went into the church for the service. After the worship, I stood up to speak. I spoke in Swahili and Raphael translated it into Kirundi (the language of Burundi). I spoke on Daniel 4 where Nebuchadnezzar became prideful about his great kingdom. I told of how the Lord proceeded to take everything away from him. My main point was that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. I also told about how everything that we have is a gift from the Lord. We have no reason to be proud because everything that we have is a gift from His hand. Instead of being proud we should be people of thanksgiving. After I finished, another man stood up and called people forward to repent. About 15-20 people came forward to repent! Praise God!

After the service we went back to Munyinya and relaxed some more. Then we went to bed. The next day we had the Sunday service and Danny spoke about David and Goliath. It wasn’t your typical message about how we have different giants in our lives and how we conquer them. Instead, it was how Christ is our David who sets us (the cowering Israelites) free from the giants of sin, death, and hell. It was a really good message. After that we ate lunch and headed home.

On the way back, a motorcycle pulled out into the road in front of Danny and Danny hit him. We praise God that everyone was O.K. The motorcyclist was injured but not too badly. They took him off to the hospital. The whole thing was not Danny’s fault. It was the motorcyclist’s. He was an inexperienced driver, who didn’t even have a license, and he pulled out in front of Danny at the last minute. Danny braked as hard as he could and beeped and swerved, but there was nothing more to be done. The police came and wrote a report. After we finished with the police, it was about 7:30pm.

We were about to continue on our journey when we discovered that the radiator was leaking. We bought a bar of soap and patched the radiator with it. With this method, we were able to make it home by stopping every once and a while to refill the radiator and re-apply soap. We finally arrived back home at about 11:00 pm. We were so grateful to the Lord for protecting us and for the work that was done.

Kigoma

Jambo from Tanzania! I apologize for how long it has been since I last posted. The internet in Burundi and Kenya was generally not the most reliable. Fortunately, it is typically accessible here, so you will be hearing from me more often.

 





     He’s a quick update on what we have been doing: In Bujumbura, Burundi, I spent two weeks substitute teaching at the Ephatha School for the Deaf. Ben helped me and spent some time observing at the eye clinic, which was on the same compound. He also went with his brother Danny on a ministry trip, which he will post about later. In addition, we helped at Discovery School Burundi in various ways. After this, we traveled to Kenya for Ben’s brother Steven’s graduation from Rift Valley Academy and then to Kigoma, Tanzania, where we are now. Here, we have been helping his parents with their ministry work. I taught at the Good News Girls’ Club last week and will be speaking at the ladies’ meeting this week. Today, I will be spending the day with Ben’s mom, Ruth, helping her with various things and visiting some of the ladies from the church with her. Ben is shadowing Dr. Pepper at Kigoma Baptist Hospital for the day.

 



     Praising God for what He is doing here! Both his creation and His work in Kigoma shows his power and might. It was not so very long ago that Dr. David Livingstone penetrated this area of the world to the risk of his life from disease or the people. Ujiji, the place where Henry Morton Stanley found him after most of the world thought he was dead, is a short drive from where I sit in Kigoma town. What change this place has seen! Animism still exists, but Christianity is a bright light overtaking the darkness (even the commercial buildings bear names such as “Grory to God Hotel”). Parasites are no fun (trust me—amoebic dysentery is not pleasant at all), but modern medicine can often cure such things quickly and cheaply. There is so, so much need, but God’s hand is at work and I marvel at what He is doing.