The Joy of Missionary Work

Sunday, Nov 21, 2010 was a very warm and humid day in Bujumbura but it was also a grand blessing in the lives of six new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! After sacrament meeting, we all traveled to where we have permission to use a pool for baptism.  These new members are pictured here along with the Elders that taught them true principles
.The three young ladies are sisters.  They were raised here in Bujumbura in orphanages.  Their mother died many years ago.  They are delightful and darling! They have an Aunt who is attending BYU-Hawaii!  When their Aunt found out the church had returned to Burundi, she contacted them and told them to come.  The missionaries have been teaching them for 6 weeks.
 There were 25 other people who attended the baptism in support, who sat under the shade of a very  large, beautiful,  flowering mango tree.  As they were getting ready, we sang the hymns together! 

There are four companionships of the young native missionaries! You can see that intown there are many very nice areas to tract! One of their frustrations is none of them speak Kirundi, so they can only teach those who speak French or Swahili!



For now they must stay in the city proper to tract and teach!  They are such fine young men with powerful spirits and strong testimonies!  They are an inspiration to be around!



Each sabbath day, we are anxious to see the new members and those who are friends of the church.  The speakers in Sacrament meeting teach in French and a translator stands next to the speaker translating it into Kirundi! Many times the missionaries are also translating the French into Swahili!  There are actually many languages here. One of the new converts told me that he spoke 5 different languages.
  Kirundi is only spoken here in Burundi, nowhere else in the world!  It is a very complicated language! Craig said that whoever developed Kirundi had lots of fun with secret codes because each letter in the verb complex seems to be a code for it's tense, it's person, it's mood and it's tone and it's relative position with  the next letter.  Every word ends in a vowel!  Craig is attempting to learn it! Tough language!

 We often get visitors from Uvira at the Sacrament Meeting.  They travel a long way, on a difficult road and continually plead for the church to be established in their city, which is across the Burudian border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo! The first sacrament meeting that was held,  over 70 came! None of them own cars. They many times arrive very early and just patiently wait!!!  They have had a few copies of the Book of Mormon for at least 15 years and have been patiently waiting for the arrival of the restored church here! They meet on their own to study the Book of Mormon each week.  They have developed the great virtue of PATIENCE!!

They are not complainers!  They always come with kind and loving hearts seeking the truth! There is always a spirit of love and acceptance when we gather together!! Father in Heaven freely lends His spirit!

 When we commissioned the chapel to be remodeled (two rooms into one large room), we didn't know that it would fill up so quickly.  This little chapel is nearly full each Sunday and we always have new, smiling faces!!  Father has been preparing many of His children for a long time!!  This IS the time for Africa!!!