Dear Friends and Family,
Soup from a stone—fancy that! In the classic story, hungry soldiers arrive at a town that doesn't want to share. All the people hide their food until the soldiers begin to make a large pot of stone soup. Then, as the soldiers comment that stone soup is good by itself, but is even better with a tiny bit of salt, cabbage, rice, etc… the townspeople rush to raid their larders. Each contributes something, and they make a stone soup fit for the king himself. When it is finished, they gather to share a huge feast.
Two weeks ago our family was in Mutaho, a small town about three hours north of Bujumbura, where I was leading a week-long teacher training seminar for the teachers at Hope School for the Batwa, Burundi's smallest ethnic group. The educational part of the training went extremely well. The concepts of using movement during instruction and encouraging students to think at a higher level than just basic memorization were new to the teachers there, and it was fun to help them discover the joys of hands on learning and critical thinking. The highlight was a sample lesson on erosion—we divided into groups and competed to see which group could think of the best methods to keep their little "hill" from eroding.
During the week, however, I noticed conflict among their staff, and God brought the story of Stone Soup to mind as a way I could encourage them to work together. I suggested that, though of course it's a limited analogy, God is like the soldiers in the story, standing in the town square and calling out to us all to bring our gifts to contribute to the "soup" of the family of God. We may choose to hoard the gifts he has given us, but if we do our life won't be nearly as delicious—imagine living solely on cabbage! God has purposely chosen not to give us all our own small bowls of ready-made soup. Instead he has given us each a few special gifts as ingredients to share. We have to depend on each other if we want to create a delicious soup that will be a feast for His whole church and spread a tantalizing aroma that beckons those that are not yet part of the family of God to come and join the feast. As I shared the story and watched their reaction, it was a good reminder to me as well—how privileged we ALL are to be able to bring our small tomatoes of time and energy, and our small onions of training and abilities to contribute to the soup of God's kingdom!
On the weekend of Sept. 21, an assembly just up the hill from us hosted a huge conference (the one I mentioned Jesse attending). He definitely wasn't the only one there—they estimated that there were around 3000 in attendance . As a part of the conference, the film team showed films on Friday and Saturday nights--through this and the preaching of God's word two hundred and twenty people were saved!!
Yesterday Jesse had a meeting with the Emmmanuel Churches' Bible Training Committee (the assemblies here work together to send strong teachers from older assemblies to newer ones that are struggling with false teachings). Jesse went into the meeting discouraged—he wasn't feeling well and we knew many of the men on the committee, all godly men that we greatly respect, were frustrated by a perceived discrepancy between the practical support that the Bible training seminar ministry receives and that received by other ministries. This frustration had kept them even from making a schedule of trips they would like to lead. We spent some time in prayer asking God to use Jesse despite how weak he felt and to break through whatever was keeping these men from being willing to put aside their frustration and do the work needed to come up with a vision and a practical plan. God worked in mighty ways and answered that prayer beyond our wildest dreams. The meeting lasted for about six hours, and Jesse didn't get home for lunch until 4pm, but during the meeting God gave Jesse some ideas (like appointing one person to be responsible for the schedule and accountable for setting things up) that helped get things rolling, and He also broke down some barriers—for the first time some of the men who had blamed the lack of seminars on lack of resources admitted that the real problem was that they were too busy to go. Jesse encouraged them to choose some other men that they trusted and commend them to the Lord for the work of training others, and by the end of the meeting the Bible Training Committee had come up with a list of ten trusted younger men that they will ask to step forward and serve the Lord by going on 7 day teaching seminars. They even agreed to send one or two of these men along on film trips to do 2 day seminars—a cooperation Jesse has been praying about and suggesting for at least a year now. PRAISE THE LORD!!!
We also have lots of things for you to pray about. Please pray not only for the safe (and relatively easy J) delivery of a healthy baby, but also that we'll get the birth certificates and passport for our new little boy (yes, another boy J) quickly so that we can be back in Burundi by October 23rd for the official opening of the new Bible School building. Lord willing, Jesse will also teach a course on Christian disciplines the last week of October.
We also have lots of things for you to pray about. Please pray not only for the safe (and relatively easy J) delivery of a healthy baby, but also that we'll get the birth certificates and passport for our new little boy (yes, another boy J) quickly so that we can be back in Burundi by October 23rd for the official opening of the new Bible School building. Lord willing, Jesse will also teach a course on Christian disciplines the last week of October.
Continue to pray for our health-- Micah had malaria for a second time just after we returned from Mutaho, then developed a bad case of bronchitis. Zach has had parasites twice more. Jesse's root canal has turned into string of seven appointments, and what's left of the tooth is still hurting. Thanks to your prayers, I am keeping some food down, but I still throw up at least once a day and am dealing with the increasing 3rd trimester fatigue.
Pray with us for God's provision for the ministries we are involved in (fuel for film trips, Timothy bible school operating budget etc…) and also for our upcoming personal expenses such as medical bills and Zach's school fees. Please also pray with us that the Lord would provide for a family car. We are realizing more and more that we need a vehicle that is available for our use on a constant basis. Our land cruiser is used so much (by us and others) for ministry things that we can't ever leave car seats in it and it will often not be available to take Zach to school.
Pray for our relationships with the community here—usually Jesse's lifetime in Burundi makes our lives easier, but it can also make things difficult because people have impossibly high expectations of his cultural understanding. Last week someone asked if they could borrow our car for a friend's wedding. Jesse said, "If you can't find another car, you are welcome to ours," and he said OK. He succeeded in finding another car, and so we didn't worry about giving him ours. Imagine our surprise when we found out the next day that he was telling everyone we lied by promising him a car and then not following through! If he had talked to any other foreigner besides Jesse, he would have made his request much more straightforward (He actually wanted the use of two cars all along.)… but Jesse is supposed to be always able to read between the lines!
Pray that our time in Kenya will be a time of rest and refreshment.
We will head to Nairobi tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 5. Before we go, there is still lots to get done—I think our current batch of soup is being prepared in a pressure cooker!!! I have finished the first grade lessons for the month of September, but need to meet with the new first grade teachers to go over them, as well as take care of many little details of things the teachers will need this next month, but that's nothing compared to what's on Jesse's plate. The assembly health clinic has been struggling recently—since Phinneas, the godly man who used to run the clinic, went back to school, things have not been managed well, and the clinic is losing money instead of making enough to sustain itself. The employees are getting a reputation for being lazy and not treating patients with the compassion that should be the hallmark of a Christian clinic. The Burundian community's interconnectedness makes personnel changes very difficult, so the assembly leaders asked Jesse, who they feel doesn't have the same conflict of interests some of them face, to come up with a plan to save the health center and to make the decisions about personnel changes. They have had many meetings on the subject over the past few weeks and have come to a plan they think will work, but Sunday morning before church he has to present the final list of which employees they will ask to leave. The leaders will then put the plan in motion once we are gone. Please pray that God will give Jesse wisdom and that every facet of the health center solution will glorify God.
Thank you all for the cabbage of attention to this email, the carrots of praise and prayers that you bring before the Lord on our behalf, and the potatoes of provision that you contribute to the soup of God's kingdom in Burundi!!! We thank the Lord for you!
Jesse, Joy, Zach, and Micah Johnson
