Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We are so thankful for your prayers and partnership in the gospel. Here is a glimpse of what the "Days of Christmas" were like for us.
12 people comin'
A team of 12 folks from the Charlotte, NC area will arrive in Burundi on Feb. 22 to work at Discovery School for a week. Lots of planning and preparation is happening on both sides of the ocean to ensure that much can be accomplished in that short amount of time.
Last June's team from the same church
11 guests a knockin'
It's many more than that, actually. A huge part of Jesse's ministry is meeting with people, hearing and helping to solve problems, praying with people, and determining which practical needs we can and should contribute to. What the average Burundian hopes for this time of year are two meals that include meat (one on Christmas day and one on New Year's) and a set of new clothes to wear to church on New Year's Day. Sadly, that is out of the reach of many in this country, ranked the hungriest nation in the world in the 2013 Global Hunger Index and the 3rd poorest nation in the world according to the projected 2013 per capita GDP figures (adjusted for purchasing power parity) from the International Monetary Fund. The holiday season always sees a rise in hungry people, especially widows with children, knocking at our door. Please pray that Jesse will continue to have wisdom and patience as he faces both the constant interruptions and the heavy burden of need.
10 Christmas flip books
There are now over 120 Emmanuel Churches in Burundi, and the Sunday School lending library has only 5 intact flannelgraph sets of the Christmas story. This always causes some consternation, as every teacher would like some kind of visual aid for their Chistmas lesson. In order to ameliorate this problem, I asked some DS teachers to dress up and staged some Nativity scenes, which we then photographed. I was able to raise some money for printing by selling copies to my missionary friends to give as Christmas gifts, and Rheagan, our volunteer from Scotland, printed and laminated ten copies just in time. She met with SS teachers from our local assembly and showed them how to use the book, and as a result more than 400 children "saw" as well as heard the story of Christ's birth the Sunday before Christmas.
The angels-- not photoshopped at all :) The shepherds visit baby Jesus
9 Bible studies
This coming Thursday Jesse will begin teaching a Bible study series on the book of Ephesians at the Gasenyi Emmanuel Church about 20 minutes (by car) from our home. He will be teaching every Thursday for several months, so nine sessions is just a guess J. He loves teaching and is really looking forward to this opportunity to share God's word.
8 cousins playing
Jesse's parents and his brother Luke and family travelled north from Kigoma, TZ to join the Burundi Johnsons (our family as well as Daniel and Anne's) for Christmas. It was a huge blessing to have time together and to enjoy watching the kids and listening to their laughter.
Family picnic
7 days of sickness
Unfortunately a stomach bug swept through the whole extended family, and for much of our time together there were several people stuck in bed sick. Elliot escaped, but the rest of us took our turns. Jesse's fibro pain spikes whenever he is down with something else, and Zach's weight continues to be a concern, so we find things like this harder than might be expected. Please pray that there would be less health struggles to weigh us down in the year ahead.
6 tense meetings
Another major struggle involves recent tensions in the assembly leadership. For the past 7 years Jesse has been on the committee that oversees all the Emmanuel Churches' joint endeavors (primary schools, health centers, Timothy Bible School, deaf & blind school, evangelism efforts, Emmaus correspondence school etc… ) and he has been integrally involved in helping set and carry out the vision of these many ministries. This has stretched and developed his leadership, listening, and problem-solving skills. Ideally, the result of these meetings should be synergy in the work of the gospel through collaboration, and this sometimes means compromising on personal opinions and agendas. However, when it comes to staying true to scripture and to preserving the priority of the spiritual aspect of the work, there can be no compromise. Long meetings that demand hours of prayerful preparation and leave Jesse completely wrung out have become the new norm. Please pray that the main issues of contention would SOON be resolved for God's glory and the furtherance of the gospel.
An "un-tense" meeting :)
5 months left to build
We hope to return to the US at the end of May to share about God's work here, refill our tanks a little, and attend Jesse's brother Ben's wedding on June 7. We plan to stay until the end of September, so before we head back, the new classrooms Discovery School needs for next school year need to be completed, or at least close to it. So far there is no money in the building fund. We estimate that 34,000 USD is the minimum amount needed to build and furnish the new classrooms necessary for the 100-125 new incoming students. That will bring us to a total student body of around 770 students and over 60 staff. What a privilege and opportunity for the gospel! Besides the absolutely essential need for more classrooms, there are other needs such as a permanent computer lab building with an attached bookstore/school supply store, and a dining hall. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide for these huge needs, as well as for our travel to the U.S. and a way to get a round while there.
Last April we built the first two classrooms(shown above) of what we pray will be a multi-story classroom block. We would love to continue this project, but open classrooms like the one on the right are a good second option. (34,000 would build three of those open rooms as well as divide an older, larger classroom in half).
4 good books
God has used books as a huge encouragement to our family in the midst of everything. Jesse's brother Danny gifted him an excellent devotional book on Colossians that we have both appreciated. Zach read his first chapter book in December, and received his first "real" Bible with no pictures on New Year's Eve. He started with the first verse and is now in Genesis chapter 5. It has been a delight to watch him reading God's Word for himself. I have been reading The Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings to the older boys, and both series have led to excellent times of laughter and discussion.
3 Christmas parties
Each Christmas we host a gingerbread party for our international friends and luncheons for the Discovery School staff and the Burundian friends that help us out in and around our home. All three were a great success.
Gingerbread Party Happy Teachers
2 surgeries
We were blessed to be able to be a part of two successful major medical interventions for which we thank God. Adelin, (a casual laborer who had been working at the local deaf school) had a massive brain tumor that was pushing out his right eye. We were able to help him get to Rwanda, where a surgeon was able to remove the tumor. The biopsy showed that it was not cancerous! Praise the Lord! Adelin is back in Burundi, walking, talking, and able to work. His only limitation is no longer being able to carry things on his head. Wow!
Shania, the eight year old daughter of an Emmanuel Church family from one of the poorest areas near the capital was brought to us with osteomyelitis (bone infection) in her left leg and a high fever that indicated the probable start of a system-wide infection. We hurried her into the hospital. After extensive surgery and almost two months in the hospital, she is healthy and walking around. Now almost ready to go home, she is a completely different child. We praise the Lord for our friend and co-worker, Casey Conaway, a nurse who helped extensively in both cases.
A Christmas program on TV
Each year Discovery School students put on a full blown Christmas extravaganza for their parents, complete with singing, traditional dancing, a nativity play, and an appearance by Pere Noel (the Belgian version of Santa Claus) who distributes sodas to the parents and goodie bags to all the children. This year we told the whole story of God's rescue plan. The preschoolers recited a finger play about creation, 1st and 2nd told the story of the fall, 3rd and 4th dramatized the nativity, and the 5th grade explained salvation and Christ's second coming. The church was packed with over 1000 parents in attendance, and as an added bonus a large chunk of this year's program was videotaped and shown on National Television. We are so thankful for this opportunity to share the gospel, for the incredible efforts of my Burundian teachers as well as our two international volunteers, Rheagan (from Scotland) and Samantha (from South Africa) and that the Lord helped all to go smoothly.
The audience of attentive parents 5th grade girls doing a traditional dance
Preschoolers preparing to perform Joy narrating the drama
Wishing you and yours a wonderful 2014,
Jesse, Joy, Zach, Micah, and Elliot Johnson
