GOD'S HAND

Dear Friends and Family,

 

One of our Burundian co-workers, Phineas, shared that when one of his sons was just starting to walk, he thought it was funny to throw himself backwards towards the wall.  They have a big family with six children now, and this was one way for this little one to get attention.  Many times Phineas stuck out his hand to catch his son's precious head seconds before it would have banged into the wall or the floor.  His son would laugh and continue to play, having no idea that a giant bump on the head had just been averted.  Phineas reminded us that we have no idea how many times a day God in effect puts his hand out and protects us.  Sometimes we see how He has saved us, but there must be many more times we aren't even aware of.

 

Why all the talk about protection?    Several weeks ago the film team went out on a Saturday night to show films in Gatumba.  They had a large crowd numbering over a thousand, and many were saved.  The church elders asked them to return on Sunday night, but the team said no, they all had other committments. On Monday morning we all heard the news—unidentified men with guns had crossed the border from Burundi into Congo on Sunday night and massacred more than 30 innocent civilians (you may have seen it in the news) in a local bar—a bar that is just down the street from the church.  There is no telling what would have happened had there been a large crowd just across the street watching films.  We praise the Lord for protecting the film team and his people in Gatumba, as well as the whole film ministry, which would have been forced to stop showing evangelistic films if there had been an incident. 

 

 

Film viewers                                 Gatumba casualties

 

That same Sunday, we returned from downtown only to discover that the box where all the power lines enter the church compound had caught fire and almost burned down one of the Discovery School buildings. By the time some men nearby saw the fire, broke threw the metal grillwork surrounding the box, and extinguished the flames with sand, the fire was inches from the wooden rafters of our preschool building.

 

 

Electric box with soot marks... phew!

 

PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS HAND OF PROTECTION!

 

PRAISE HIM FOR HIS PROVISION!

 

God has provided in some amazing ways over the past few months for both our family and the ministries we are involved in.  Zach started school at the beginning of September, but we weren't planning on sending Micah to preschool because it is so expensive.  On the second day of school, some friends here who work for an international organization came to visit and saw that Micah wasn't in school.  The next day they called and offered to pay his whole tuition.  Micah loves his class, and having only one child at home has made it much easier for me to focus on the Discovery School in the mornings.

 

          

Micah's Classroom                       Zach and Friends Silly Faces          School Boys

 

The new portable buildings at the Discovery School are working VERY well, and Melissa, our volunteer from SC, has been doing a great job teaching the 3^rd primary (equivalent to US 2^nd grade) class.  On top of that, last week a friend told me that a new American embassy employee who had been relocated here from Australia had brought some books just to give away.  WOW!  I went to check it out and ended up coming home with about 100 free books for the Discovery School.  Many of them fit perfectly with the thematic units the teachers are already teaching!  Then, a family in NC purchased a math curriculum for the school, and Jesse's Dad was able to bring it with him when he returned from the US this past Thursday.

 

   

 Melissa teaching in a portable         DS kids show off the new books

 

Last year God engineered our introduction to a man who has an audio Bible ministry and has done a lot of work distributing solar powered MP3 players programmed with the Swahili Bible in Congo.  He gave us 60 MP3 players and the software to install the Kirundi audio Bible.  Yesterday Jesse gave each one of the 35 elders attending the current Bible School session (Jesse taught Bible Survey this past week) an audio version of the Kirundi NT and the Swahili NT on these special players.  They smiled as they received them, but after Jesse explained how to use the power button and they heard the sound of Kirundi scripture coming from the speakers they broke into spontaneous applaus.  This is such an oral culture.  These leaders will gather groups of family and friends to listen to chapters read aloud in the evenings and then lead a discussion.  Last year Jesse gave out regular MP3 players with the Kirundi audio Bibles, and we have already heard reports that twelve people in the listening group have been saved, so this will have an exponential impact, especially since these players are solar, which will mean the elders won't have to pay a local businessman to charge their player on a car battery.  As a result they will be able to listen much more regularly.  Praise the Lord!

 

        

This month's Bible School students          Wow! It really speaks Kirundi!

holding up their MP3 players

 

PRAY WITH US FOR… these upcoming events and prayer requests:

 

*That we would have the energy we need to finish all we have to do before we return for furlough on November 2^nd.  Only 3 weeks left!

*For health as we are battling bad colds/flus.

*For Joy as she finishes compiling and writing text books and editing the lesson plans to incorporate the Discovery School's new resources. 

*Thank the Lord for the successful completion of the Bible Survey course Jesse taught to 34 elders at the Timothy Bible School.  Pray for the students as they continue with other courses that their study of God's word would benefit them and their local churches.  Pray for Jesse as he grades exams and tallies scores.

*We will be working on a video to show all of you as we travel.

*We will be organizing a memorial service for Jesse's grandmother (who was loved by so many here) for the greater assembly community—not an easy task—to be attended by many, including Jesse's parents, and Ken and Melli.

*We will be hosting a team of 5 people from the U.S. at the Discovery School the last week of October.

*We will also have houseguests (not related to the team) the last week of October

*Jesse will be finishing up the Bible Study series he is teaching on Hebrews at the Gatunguru assembly (finishing before we go will mean teaching on Saturday afternoons as well as Thursdays).

*Jesse needs to finish training Lucien (Discovery School Administrative director) to track the school finances on the Excel program Ning created for us, and meet with MANY people to settle things that will be happening while we are gone. 

*He will also be spending lots of time at immigration getting our special entry-exit permits so we won't lose our long-term visas. Unfortunately, those permits are extremely expensive.  There are also many ministry needs (such as tires for the film ministry vehicle- see below) as we try to leave things well

 We are trying to leave things in good order and plan ahead for some needs while we are gone.  Please pray for God's abundant provision.

*Please pray for smooth and safe airplane travel and for the Lord to provide a vehicle for us to use while we are in the States.

 

We can't wait to see many of you in person over the next few months!  Lord willing, we plan to travel up the east coast to see Ning and visit CMML starting a week after we get back.  Then we'll be in the Charlotte, NC area for Christmas.  The plan is to head to the Midwest in January and make it all the way to the west coast in February.  We will also be seeking out some good medical care for Jesse—pray that he will find some relief and that even in the midst of travel our time home will be restful for all of us.

 

See you soon!

Jesse, Joy, Zach, Micah, and Elliot Johnson

 PS-- The Discovery School now has a facebook page, for those of you who do that. You can search for Discovery School Burundi.