leaving tomorrow...

It is so crazy to think that we've been here for a month. It doesn't feel like it. I will definitely miss it here.



Overall, our team has been very sheltered from the abject poverty that is found in this city. But every once in a while we get a glimpse, and it is apalling. We live in a very nice rented house with some housekeepers to clean and do whatever other minor jobs we might need. The pastors and our friends take us to decent places and protect us from dangerus places. But once in a while, there's something that is just sad.



Like the AIDS kids begging in the market.

The drunkards wandering around spending their families' last pennies on Amstel beer.

The toilets that many of our friends use - little more than a hole in some concrete... and most people miss and it stinks.

The fact that most people cannot afford even the most basic of services and sometimes even food.

That the ladies of the church spent so much money on clothes for us when they themselves have nearly nothing - it brought us all to tears.



This place has definitely left a mark on me. And then I remember that I'm heading back home to my posh (granted not the greatest paying) job in the States serving high end coffee. The price of a triple venti white mocha at Sbux is more than the average person makes here in a couple days. The conversion rate is about 1200 Burundi Franks to $1 USD, and 60,000 BRF is decent pay for a month's work.



But that aside, there is much to be hopeful about. We have made good friends in Pastor Felicien, his wife Dina, the widows Rose and Rosina, and others like Djudonai (I spelled his name way wrong), Bosco, the choir members, and some of the youth among others. They have blessed us beyond what we could have every anticipated. There truly is a debt of gratitude that we owe to all of them.



Please continue to keep us in your prayers. And even more so, keep this church, Glory Outreach Assembly, and their pastor Felicien in your prayers. They have given so much and are still in need of so much just to get by from month to month. Felicien's story of coming back to Burundi and sacrificing as he has is itself quite amazing, and I hope to tell that sometime.



Amahoro (peace)