"..that He may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?"

Sunday, June 26, more of Father's children willingly covenanted to serve Him and keep his commandments. Here, we have a missionary, Elder Tshituka and a young man who has been team teaching with the missionaries, because of a recooperating Elder Manganda. It is a great opportunity for this young man to have this missionary experience. He is planning on a mission in just a few years. Frere Juvenal and Soeur Verdiane are the parents of Axcel, their 8 year old and guardian of Felix, the other young man in white, that they took into their home as family. Frere Juvenal was able to baptize these two boys. Joy truly filled their hearts this day!

This was another family situation. "Papa Elias" is the grandfather of Frere Thaddie on the far left. Thaddie was so excited that his Grandfather had sought baptism. Have you seen a happier countenance??

Soeur Aniciette is a mother of three. We have seen her at the church meetings for many, many months.....but when the new chapel was announced close to her home, within walking distance, she was the first one there to help clean the building and the chairs....and request baptism!

This young man, Fabrice, has been requesting baptism for months but has been attending school interior of the country. This made it difficult for him to receive the missionary discussions. Since July 1st is the Burundian National Independence Day (celebrated since 1962), he had 10 days for the holiday and was able to be taught. He has latched onto Elder and Sister Frogley as he calls us "Mother" and "Daddy". He speaks four languages and loves English. Of this day, he said, "I am so happy!"In the church history of Burundi, Egide Nzojibwami, is a well known and respected name. He and his wife, Beatrice, were instrumental in establishing legally the beginning of the church here in Burundi. They now live in Canada and recently came back to visit in Bujumbura. While here, they invited us to come to a family gathering of about 60 people. They have really large families. We offered to bring a projection of the first vision and they invited all of their family. The two men pictured here are Egide's brother, Frere Salvator, and Salvator's son, Christophe.

When Elder Frogley emailed this photo to Egide and wrote him, Egide wrote of being overjoyed. He said,"I never thought I would see the day, when someone else in my family would join the church!"

Elder Tshitumbu and Elder Muenyi taught these two young men. I wish you could have seen their smiles as they came up out of the waters of baptism.

In total, there were nine new members. Behind them, is Frere Juma, who has only been a member a few months using his new priesthood authority to act in the name of his Savior and baptize many of these fine people.

"..as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing o bear one another's burdens, that they may be light; yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that he may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life--

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" (Mosiah 18:8-10)

Our own little miracle.......the new font.

Sunday was the first baptism in our new font. As you may recall, we already had a baptismal font built near our chapel on the second story of the building. If you remember, the font leaked water, lots of it, into the business positioned right below. It really did some damage and then when the workers thought that it was fixed, it leaked again. So our landlord said, "No more. This cannot be repeated. You will have to come up with another alternative." The first font is still there but we cannot use it.Elder Frogley began to brainstorm with the Landlord. She was wonderful and really wanted to help us. There was formerly a little dress shop in this large room and the owner talked the proprieter into moving to another space, so this baptismal font could be built close to the chapel. This was the beginning of our little miracle. This new font is located in the same building complex on the ground level but kitty corner from the chapel. It is a room that will soon have four dressing stalls and a closet for the baptismal clothing and towels, etc. When a baptism occurs, the plan is to hold the service in the chapel, walk to this font room, have the baptisms, and then return for the conclusion of the meeting.

This photo was taken right before the first baptism in this font. This is Frere Philbert who was baptised by Frere Methode. It was a miracle that this even happened here and now on the day it was suppose to. We have been planning and waiting for the completion of this new font for over three months. We were so excited to finally be able to use it.

The night before the baptism, the Evansons and we went to check out the font because the workers had said it would be ready for use on Sunday. When we got there and unlocked the door, the room and font looked wonderful. Because of the height of the font, the ceiling had been raised for functionality and repainted. The tile work was wonderful. The workers had cleaned up the room and also put up nice draperies. As we looked closer at the font, there was no faucet! "NO FAUCET??".... and no other way to put water into it. There was also no drain. "WHAT?" We were all in shock. We just could not believe that it had not been built into it and just laughed so we wouldn't cry. All the hardware stores were closed....so we could not buy a hose. So we prayed for a little miracle. Craig called the missionaries to confirm the baptism and warn them that it might be at the pool again. They asked if it was possible to use the font. He responded that unless there were some kind of miracle, it would be at the hotel pool.

So Sunday morning, Craig and I left very early to see if he could gerimander a hose that we had seen outside in the breezeway that had the ends cut off of it and feed it through a window early enough to get the font filled in time. The other option would be to go to the Source de Nil Hotel again and have the baptism there, which we had been doing for three months. As we arrived, there was a hose already fed through the window and as we entered....the font was full!!!! The workers had kept their word and we would be able to baptize.

As we remembered how it all started, we felt deep gratitude for the miracle that the first branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Bujumbura had it's first font for personal and meaningful baptisms. We also found out from the workers that the faucet and drain will be put into the font this week after cutting a hole through the outside wall for the plumbing. Did having a font really matter that much???

"Except a man be born of water....he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;"

(John 3:5)

June 2011: A Month of Many Blessings

The greatest gift in the month of June was the division of the first branch in Bujumbura, which in six months to the day of it's establishment had 127 members. There is now a Bujumbura 1 Branch in the South of the city, and a Bujumbura 2 Branch in the northern end.The river is basically the dividing line.

We are still "running" each day to keep up with all that must happen here in Bujumbura. You will see Elder Frogley in the Quincaillerie (hardware store) as well as all over the city. He is a "fix-it" kind of guy and he does ALOT of fixing!!

We are continuing the English classes for the missionaries each week.

They are progressing nicely.

We have had another Elder's quorum branch activity, which was another Soccer/Frisbee activity. All of the young men that you see gathered around Elder Frogley came over from their Technical School to come and play. None of them are members.....yet. They always ask who we are and where we meet. Elder Frogley is teaching them about the church, in this photo. We have had several come to the church or meet with the missionaries.

Then there were many members that came out to play, too. Here you see Elder Mpoyi, Frere Methode, and Frere Salvator after a very hot game of soccer. Each great missionaries !!

Many, many preparations have happened in trying to establish "a face of the church" by meeting with the Senators, Cabinet members, Parliamentarians, Commissioners, the Chef de Cabinet and the Chef de Protocal of the President of the Senate. And finaly the President of the Senate himself. Here is one of the government buildings .

This is a waiting room t0 meet with the President of the Senate. Elder and Sister Evanson were with us that day. They are such great individuals with hearts of gold! We love them!

We had a wonderful Relief Society Activity where Sister Veronique taught the ladies how to make Candied Peanuts. Sister Frogley was asked to give a message on Order in the Home.

We also have worked very hard to say "goodbye" to our past Zone Leaders, Elder Kintembila and Elder Mouselle. It was very hard to have them go. We gave them a royal send off because they would not see the Packers before going home. These Elders did have an opportunity to talk with the Packers on Skype. That was a brilliant idea.

We also have two new wonderful missionaries, Elder Tshitumbu and Elder Muenyi.

To honor the two Elders leaving, the Sunday before their departure, the missionaries all wore their suits. They all looked so great. Don't you think so??

These fine Elders have many needs, we have one in the hospital right now. He had to have a double hernia surgery. So we spend alot of time with them trying to help them with temporal, physical and spiritual needs.

They are our friends!

Frere Johnson helped us find a fabulous building. It is very close to the Kamenge and Cibitoke Quartiers. It took alot of jostling but Elder Frogley was finally able to secure it. It used to be a school, so it is very large. It had not been inhabited for over a year, so it was VERY dirty. The Buj 2 branch members came last Saturday to DEEP CLEAN the building and clean 100 adult chairs and 20 primary chairs. They began by flooding the upstairs with many buckets of water, squeeging the upstairs water to the stairs,(which was a muddy waterfall) and then remopping. Bids are being taken now for remodeling to fit the needs of the church.

Here is a photo of the new building from the street. Amazing, huh?

Along with the dividing of the branch are two new Branch Presidencies.

Bujumbura 2: Pres. Hatungimana, 1st C.-Frere Simon 2nd C.- Frere Thomas with Clerk, Frere Jean Rene and Elder's Quorum Pres. -Frere Salvator.

In the Bujumbura 1 Branch, Branche Pres. Malabi, 1st C - Frere Aimable, 2nd C - Frere Minos

Here is another photo of the entrance into the new chapel building.

Presidents Packer and Mutshail were very busy this weekend with callings and sustainings. It was wonderful having them here. There were 15 new ordinations to the Melchizedek priesthood.

During that same week, we had a wonderful Zone Conference, which means our Mission President Packer and his wife, Sister Packer traveled 600 miles to come to Burundi from the mission home to be with us!!!

It is always a blessing to have them share time with us. They met with each missionary and were delightful as usual to share and plan with. It has been six months since we've seen them but we are so grateful for all that they do. They have a huge mission and many difficult places to get to. They have 130 missionaries to attend to as well. Communication is difficult because internet and power, in general, in Africa is just NOT GOOD. (Thus the reason there has been no new post on this blog for a month.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There IS "opposition in all things", nonetheless the Master has said,

"...establish churches throughout the land and ordain priests and teachers over every church..

...notwithstanding many churches, they are all one church.."Mosiah 25:18-19,22

"...this is my church." Mosiah 26:22

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Pioneers in the Heart of Africa

From the first day in September of 2010 that the missionaries taped up the hand-written sign to announce the reestablishment of the church and to hold the first sacrament meeting in Burundi, the eastern dwellers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo came! They had already been pleading in emails to Salt Lake City for years for the priesthood authority and missionaries to come to bless their lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  

They came into the new little rented chapel and were hoping then that it would be soon that they could begin having baptisms.  They were told that the time was not yet. Their disappointment was real and a bit of agitation became visible when the man at the right who is known as Moise, stood and said, "Brethren, we have waited for years. Why is that a problem now?  Let us calm down and let God do His work."



Their sacrifice just to attend was not small.  They had sacrificed much to come and partake of the sacrament and make their wishes known. It was a great blessing to see their deep commitment and desire to follow the plan of Jesus Christ.




Some of the senior couples, expressed again their deepest desires and how they had been studying together. They reviewed with the missionaries their pattern of vigilance.  They were meeting in large groups three times every week.  When we asked what they were doing, they answered that they met every Sunday to worship, pray and read the Book of Mormon together.  They could not administer the sacrament because they had no baptism and no priesthood.  They met on Wednesdays to study from an old Institute manual that we are not sure how they had.  They said that they also met on Mondays.  When we asked them why, they looked at us like we should already know and answered, "For Family Home Evening, of course!"  They had very few Books of Mormon and requested more especially in Swahili.  They asked when they could serve missions as couples.  They asked how old their sons needed to be to serve as missionaries. But alas, they left to return across the border to their homes in Uvira, Baraka and Fizi, which is 30 kilometers and more, paying transport money and not knowing when they would ever have opportunity to come again because they had paid a huge price already just to be there that one Sabbath Day.



One month later in October 2010, President Jeffrey R. Holland came to dedicate and bless the land of Burundi in a private but powerful ceremony overlooking the city of Bujumbura.  He asked to meet with the few members and many friends of the church in the new little chapel.  Here again in largest numbers were the group who pled for baptism from the R.D.Congo.



Again these wonderful people were told, but this time by an Apostle of the Lord, that they would need to keep studying, keep meeting and praying.  Keep obeying the commandments.  They were told the time is coming but not yet. Again, they had sacrificed and pled for baptism and the priesthood of God. Again, they had paid a huge price only to return home not knowing how long they would continue to wait and pray for these blessings.



During the month of May 2011, eight months after the missionaries arrived (besides the many years, up to 14 years, that many have been waiting to gain membership) a small group has been traveling and staying in Bujumbura to receive the missionary discussions.  The sacrifice has been marked.....but their determination has been incredible.



Through it all, there has never ceased to be m-u-c-h opposition.....with each of them, with the missionaries serving them and with life in general.  Another force was definitely trying to keep these blessings from these fine individuals.

Even after much teaching and preparing on the day of the planned baptism, everything fell apart.  Doors closed and just finding a place for baptism was not happening!  Prayers were answered and miracles began to happen when we thought it just could not happen on that day! 

Leadership had scrambled looking at 6 other hotels and two other private pools trying to find a place.  A new member, Domin, had vision and led Elder and Sister Evanson to where she knew we could have the baptism.  They called Elder Frogley and said, "It is perfect.  We can have the baptism at 5:30 pm. at the Univeristy of Burundi after all of the swimmers go home."



So just at dusk, about 6 pm with excitement and gratitude.....................................



......it finally happened!!!! Five families and other individuals gained entry into the waters of baptism with proper authority!

As the lights of Bujumbura began to twinkle in the evening light, these individuals who had waited soooooo long and sacrificed sooooooo much, came up out of the waters with huge smiles, satisfying chuckles and much praise and gratitude to their Heavenly Father and their Savior for the great blessing of baptism.  The Sabbath Day brought each of them to confirmation and then the Priesthood blessings they had so long awaited.



That night, it seemed as if all of heaven looked down on them and smiled. These people are pioneers in the heart of Africa...but now the stone continues to gather strength and size.

"...in this the beginning of the rising up and the coming forth of my church out of the wilderness---clear as the moon....." (D&C 5:14)



TIME TRAVEL???? IT IS REAL!



Doesn't everyone wish they could time travel back into the past???  Well, when we stepped on the last flight out of the U.S.A., we must have stepped into a time machine because we literally have gone back in time by at least 50 years.



Not only do we see many modes of travel by land........

But we see many traditional things still used on a dailly basis.  Tradition in Africa is very important!  It is also very good for people to remember where they came from.  I have seen this instrument in use.

These are the traditional Burundi Drums.  We hear them weekly here.  The local people love them and so do we.
Is the traditional music the only music?  No, of course not but if there is more, it is usually on a radio.  The average person does not own a radio.  One of the workers here just got his first one.

Many of the same skills that were used hundreds of years ago are still being masterfully used now.  Pot and basket making are still wonderful art forms here in Burundi.

There are no fast food restaurants here.  This photo was actually taken in the Congo but it is the same here in Burundi.  There are many "egg-boys" who sell boiled eggs on the street everyday.  As you can see, they start out with many in the morning, walk about the city  and sell many.  They usually sell peanuts along with them.  They even carry little packets of salt, if you would like.

For the average people, machines are not available just good hard physical labor. 

Here, the use of carbon paper for receipts is the norm.  In the more modern stores and businesses the receipts are carbon copied.

In the stores that we shop for groceries, these are our receipts  all hand written and checked over twice to make sure it is honest. Of course, the currency is Francs Burundian or FBU.

This is the front yard of our apartment building.  This is the motorless push mower our gardeners use.  In this photo, you can see how far they have gone by the line of long grass waiting to be cut.  It takes a day to cut a 12 ft by 12 ft. piece of lawn.  They go over and over it until it is even.  It takes  5 days to complete cutting the front and back lawn.  Then, they start over again.

These newer kinds are on sale here in many hardware stores.

For those who cannot afford the push mower, which are most,  they use a machete just like this.  Many times they will bend 4 inches on the end into an "L" shape and swing the tip to cut the grass.  We see this everyday.  In the city, if there is a large stretch of land, there will be 4 or 5 men all swinging their machetes, as Elder Frogley says, "like a 9 iron"!

 Remember the typewriter? Well, typewriters are on sale here as brand new items in the office supply stores.

Remember the cassette players?  These are really for the high tech persons here. These are the newest recording items they carry, if they have them at all.  The average person does not have one.

This is a coal iron.  You lift the top with the handle, put in your charbon, which is like charcoal, you have a hot iron in a few minutes.  I see people ironing with these on "Mission Street"  all of the time.  It is really handy because there are not many electrical outlets and many times there is no electricity anyway when the power goes out.  I cannot keep ironing with my iron when the power goes off.

There are many open air products.  The vendor will spread out his goods on a tarp and people come with their basket and buy what they need.  This item is Cassava Root.  They do this with beans, rice, grains, etc.  There is no overhead for buildings or furniture or utilities....and no middle man.

Remember the treadle sewing machine?? My great grandmothers had these.  No electricity needed.  There are many, many of these in use everyday on the streets.

Here is a man on 'Mission Street" who uses his treadle machine to make men's suits.  If the power goes off, no problem.  His feet and legs just keep going!!

Let's talk about garbage.This is the backyard of our apartment. Therefore, this is the system we use.  All of the garbage in the apartment building goes into the old bathtub.  These three men came to take the garbage.  They empty it into large baskets.  It is usually very wet and smelly from all of the rain.  ICK! 

 Then they carry it to the front barrier gate, past the guard house and dump it into the waiting truck. It takes about 5 trips but it happens every week or so.

In the early picture on garbage you saw a barrier gate with a guard shack, where the guard sleeps all night.  Here we are at the missionary apartment standing in front of their barrier gate.  In the well - to - do areas there are large fences usually with razor wire on top and guards to open the gate when you drive up and honk twice.  There are no garages or garage door openers.  There is sometimes a carport inside the gate. On the outskirts of town the neighborhoods don't usually have fences and they homes a very close together.

 Cooking is another story.  The average person uses these clay pot grills.  They have no conventional ovens or stoves or microwave ovens. They put their pots on the charbon, which is like charcoal (you can see it here).  It is alot like dutch oven cooking only trickier because they have no Dutch ovens.  Most of their cookware is thin aluminum so it heats really fast and hot. Most of the pots have no lids so they do alot of stirring.

Here is one of our elders starting to prepare some food for their dinner.  You can see they use the mortar and pestle on a regular basis.  They grind up cassava root, manyoke leaves and bell peppers. They will also grind up corn and grains.

Here you also see that they do not have a washer or a dryer. Even the well to do people may have a washer but no dryer.  We do not even have a dryer.  But we do have a clothesline that works well.

Even though everything is done a bit slower, you have plenty of time to do it, because there are no distractions in your way...like television, movie theatres.  People talk alot more and go to bed earlier....especially when the power goes out. People don't  have alarm clocks but they have hundreds of birds to wake them up at dawn. 

"...let every man esteem his brother as himself." D&C 38:25