I've done my fair share of traveling, I've been to Toronto, ON and Victoria, BC, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and San Jose, Costa Rica, London, England and Taipei, Taiwan, Cape Town, South Africa, Venice, Italy and many places in between. I've traveled with my family, my husband, my kids, my friends and even in groups of a dozen and more.
I've never traveled with a group as diverse and unique as the one I'm about to travel to Burundi with though - and I couldn't be more excited about it. We are young, and 'less young', parents, students, musicians, lawyers, pastors, mothers, professionals and wanna-bees. It's safe to say that most of us only met a few weeks ago and yet we are about to embark on what will likely prove to be a life-changing journey with each other, one that will undoubtedly have us leaning on each other as though we've been friends for years.
If you stopped any one of us to ask how it was that we came to be a part of this team, I believe you'd hear the same answer from us all, and that would be that the Lord had each of us in mind 'for such a time as this', and when we heard His call, we responded.
For many, if not all of us, that "call" pushed us out of our comfort zones, some of us more than others. Whether it was the length of time we would be away from our children or families, how we would come up with the finances, how we could fit it into our hectic work schedules, or how we would cope with the, shall we say, 'wildlife' we will most certainly encounter, we were all forced to "let go and let God". I think we're all glad we did, and we haven't even left yet!
Our "call" is taking us to Kayanza, Burundi on November 5, and I suppose you could say that the purpose of the trip could be categorized as "Spiritual Development". Greg and Lyle will be heading up a time of training for over 50 church leaders from the area, while the rest of us will be used in a variety of capacities as the FH (Food for the Hungry) national staff see fit, including working to further develop the crucial relationships within the community that the March SPAC team began.
We truly believe that these relationships are key to the success of this C2C partnership. In the book, "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, the authors discuss a major premise of the book as this,
"until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good."
It has been our prayer since we began meeting together that we would be open to being used in whatever way God intends for us. We are sincere in our desire to be used as He sees fit, and to serve our brothers and sisters in Burundi with a spirit of humility.
"...make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interest, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human from, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross."
Philippians 2:2-8
We are truly grateful for the opportunity to go to Burundi on behalf of the SPAC/FH C2C Partnership, and it is our hope that you will in turn partner with us by remembering us in prayer. Please pray for safe travels, our health and safety in Burundi, the leadership training, and for us all to be open and ready to be used in the ways God already has planned for us.
Please check back often while we are away, we won't have much accessibility to the internet, but hope to send a few updates when we do.
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