#10- Baptism in Nyabihanga. Jerome Ndayisaba and I had the chance to baptize 88 people in the frigid waters of a little river outside Nyabihanga in Mwaro- one of the least evangelized places in all of Burundi. I shook for the rest of the day from the cold and ended up catching the flu! But what a way to get sick!
#9- My parents visit to Burundi this past April. My dad helped us build the tabernacle for the new church in Ngozi while my mom preached at the first ever Women's Ministries Conference. They loved Burundi!
#8-The mud-slide on the road back from Nyanza. Many of you read the story last November of when Balela and I suddenly faced over a meter of mud flowing across the highway on our way back to Buja. We slid through the mud in 4wheel drive first gear as people dived left and right to get out of our way! It was incredible.
#7-April 16th, 2008- the day the FNL rebels made their last assault on Buja. For over 8 hours the skies lit up with mortars, rockets, and machine gun fire. It was the most tense situation I have ever been in. God demonstrated His faithfulness to me in a very dangerous time.
#6-The Widdifield and Toller visit in October 2008. We had a great pastoral seminar and an incredible service in Gatumba. I will never forget the singing and dancing that night after pastor Doug preached- it was incredible. The joy on those people's faces was contagious.
#5- The opportunity to help facilitate the construction of 20 tabernacles across Burundi with the Mike Shaeffer teams. My favorite one was Gitega. One of the main trusses almost bent in half while we were raising it. It looked like an absolute disaster. Today the church is running over 130 people! Through just those 20 churches we impacted well over a 1000 people for Christ.
#4- Eating Burundian food at Alberic Ndayizeye's house with his family. Rice-umeceri, bananas-igitokes, eggplant-itore, beans-ibiharage, potatoes-ibiraya, etc.... Always prepared to perfection! We had great times of laughing, praying, and talking about life in Burundi and Jesus! He helped me so much in learning about Burundi.
#3- My times with Chris Ngendakumana. We had some of the best prayer times I've ever experienced crying out for Burundi, the church, our future ministries, lives etc... I will never forget the two times I was able to preach at his church and seeing people weeping at the altar as they cried out to God for revival in Burundi and the salvation of their friends. The brother eats, drinks, and sleeps the message of Prayer.
#2-Preaching on the streets of Bujumbura with Olivier Hazikimana with no sound equipment. Just us and two chains in our hands to illustrate our message. I've never been so nervous in my entire life, yet at the same time so blown away to see God moving in such a powerful way on the streets of a very wicked city saving lost people! We would have crowds of people stopping on their way through town to hear what the "umuzungu" had to say.
#1- The pastors' conferences at Kamenge with all of the BAGF pastors. I will never forget preaching and praying for the pastors there. They are the future of the work of God in that country. In particular, I remember preaching, in my opinion, the most powerful message I've ever preached "It's Time to Get Your Hands Up" and seeing God move in such a glorious way.
And last but not least, playing soccer with my friends like Pepe, Antonio, Matt, Paul, etc.. many of whom still don't know Christ, but God gave me so many chances to share Jesus with them. I believe that soon and very soon they will come into the Kingdom!
So many incredible memories! I believe many lives were changed and impacted during my 2 years there. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed and sacrificially gave to make it possible! Hopefully, God will open the door soon for me to be able to return.
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