Burundi=Desert-Like?

It isn’t unusual to hear random things about security on a daily basis. Whether an assassination plot or a shooting. I was sitting at a dowry for one of my co-workers when I heard about a shooting that had taken place in the city center the day before. Apparently the government has banned all moto taxis this week due to the fact that they are trafficking too many guns into the city that are used in assassinations. This didn’t go over too well with the moto drivers. There was a demonstration downtown where there was a mob rushing down Uprona St. There were some shots fired…who did the shooting? I don’t know, police or moto drivers? I don’t know. Was any one killed? That isn’t certain either. What is certain is that the government banned motos for a week to lessen the guns that were being trafficked for assassinations. Ah Burundi…
Meanwhile I attended my first dowry on Saturday night. A dowry is the event before a wedding where the man has to pay the woman’s father a dowry in order to been given her for marriage. This dowry is being given to compensate the loss of work from the daughter, since the family is losing one worker to another family. This includes a lot of going back in forth and a payment in cows and gifts. It was fun and interesting. Next month the wedding will follow.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed and in wonder of exactly what God has intended for me here. I know without a doubt that God has called me to Burundi. But I can’t help thinking, why has God asked me to leave behind the great ministry and relationships in that ministry to move to Burundi? I was working alongside an amazing Burundian family in DC. I love them so much, we were so close. And here, how will I become close to a family like mine back in DC when there are so many cultural factors at play. Jone and Jackline love me, but in the beginning they didn’t have a choice but to open their home to me, I was helping them adjust. I am nearly brought to tears when I call them every Sunday and the kids get on the phone and say, “Jillian, Jillian? I miss you, ndakakundah, I love you” as they are excited it’s me. This morning was a killer as Ngabire, the 7 yr old girl got on the phone and in clear English said, “Jillian I have picture of you on the wall. You are with babies in Burundi. Who are these babies?” (I had emailed a picture of me with some kids here in Burundi to the Parkers for them to take over to the Busoneras, my Burundian family.) I think she was a little jealous that I was loving on some Burundian kids other than her;) No one could ever replace the Busonera kids in my heart.

This week was a rough. It was a little overwhelming trying to keep my head above water through a ton of people scheduling different meetings for me and rescheduling meetings that didn’t happen. All the while I am trying to grasp my role, understand my quickly approaching responsibilities and all of WR programs, and attempting to understand the culture. Put on a thick layer of “I don’t speak French or Kirundi”, buying a car in Africa, and skype freezing in the first 3 minutes of every phone call and you would be thinking in circles too! Actually it feels like my thoughts are hitting a cement wall... And at the end of the day, who wants to hear about the turmoil-some thoughts swirling in my head when I can't put a sentence together in English much less French. My pen has been burning the pages in my journal.

God knows my needs . Even though I don’t always realize it (or acknowledge it), I know he knows them. During my quiet time today I was really frustrated and trying to write out my thoughts. I asked God to “help me to feel his love.” I didn’t know what that looked like tangibly, but I asked it…and God answered. Tonight I received a call from my good friends in Kenya. We talked for a while, and talked through some of my thoughts. When we got off the phone, I couldn’t help but feel anything but loved. God had answered my prayer to feel his love. And he used the Mendonsa’s to show me that.

Burundi may not be easy…but I know this is where he’s brought me. Bob and Julie brought up a great verse that really made me think. They shared Hosea 2:14 with me. “Therefore I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.” I may not have expected Burundi to be a desert or a place where I would feel so alone with so much happening and going on, but it is. What Bob and Julie said really resonated to me. Even though being in deserts is never fun, if he brought me here, he brought me here for a reason. He is speaking to me, or trying to speak to me. But I need to be so close to him and in the word every day to hear him… I can’t hear him if I’m not listening for his voice. And sometimes he takes us into the desert--or in this case, Bujumbura Burundi, so that he has us all to himself. As of right now, God definitely has my attention!