Dear Friends and Family,
I was a baby for my first coup d'etat. According to my parents my antics distracted them from the gunfire as we sat on a mattress on the floor and Samuel Doe took control of Liberia.
These things are more stressful when you're older. I am too emotionally drained for antics, but thankfully have avoided hysterics, at least up to this point :).
Jesse and I barely managed to get our children home from school on May 13 before roads to and from the center of town were blocked so that soldiers could better defend against Burundi's attempted coup. We didn't have to sit on the floor, but even though the shooting was far away it was disconcerting, as were the following 24 hours of not knowing what was going on.
I was a baby for my first coup d'etat. According to my parents my antics distracted them from the gunfire as we sat on a mattress on the floor and Samuel Doe took control of Liberia.
These things are more stressful when you're older. I am too emotionally drained for antics, but thankfully have avoided hysterics, at least up to this point :).
Jesse and I barely managed to get our children home from school on May 13 before roads to and from the center of town were blocked so that soldiers could better defend against Burundi's attempted coup. We didn't have to sit on the floor, but even though the shooting was far away it was disconcerting, as were the following 24 hours of not knowing what was going on.
Some of those involved in the coup after they were captured
The extreme tension of those two days is over now, but life is still not completely back to normal. Protests have continued in several quarters of the city, and the protesters themselves have gotten more violent and have even resorted to terrorist tactics like throwing random grenades at (thankfully empty) cars parked in town during business hours. We have been sticking much closer to home than normal.
Many of our foreign friends have evacuated, partly because of the stress involved in remaining and partly because they're afraid things will get worse during the days of the elections planned for later this summer. Sadly, we decided it was wisest to ask the several volunteers who were scheduled to come out this month to stay home. But since there is no imminent danger-- our part of town is far enough from the protests-- and our ministries have been able to continue, we are sticking to our original plan to stay in Burundi until the end of June, when we leave for a six week visit to the US. Of course we remain prayerful and continue to exercise caution on a daily basis. Please continue to pray for peace in Burundi!
The extreme tension of those two days is over now, but life is still not completely back to normal. Protests have continued in several quarters of the city, and the protesters themselves have gotten more violent and have even resorted to terrorist tactics like throwing random grenades at (thankfully empty) cars parked in town during business hours. We have been sticking much closer to home than normal.
Many of our foreign friends have evacuated, partly because of the stress involved in remaining and partly because they're afraid things will get worse during the days of the elections planned for later this summer. Sadly, we decided it was wisest to ask the several volunteers who were scheduled to come out this month to stay home. But since there is no imminent danger-- our part of town is far enough from the protests-- and our ministries have been able to continue, we are sticking to our original plan to stay in Burundi until the end of June, when we leave for a six week visit to the US. Of course we remain prayerful and continue to exercise caution on a daily basis. Please continue to pray for peace in Burundi!
Just before we go we will have the privilege of welcoming Danny and Ann's new baby, our nephew, scheduled to be born by c-section June 22. Our part will be helping to deliver food to the hospital for them. (Hospitals here don't do food service). It will be even more special because Jesse's parents and youngest brother will come to Bujumbura for the event and we will get to enjoy time together. Pray for a safe delivery of a healthy baby for Danny and Anne.
During the weeks between now and then, Jesse will finish up the guesthouse building project, finish teaching his Bible overview study, continue his Leviticus Bible study, handle loads of administration and accounting for various ministries, and attend an international conference for brethren ministries in Rome, along with Jeremy Bassett and several of our Burundian colleagues.
During the weeks between now and then, Jesse will finish up the guesthouse building project, finish teaching his Bible overview study, continue his Leviticus Bible study, handle loads of administration and accounting for various ministries, and attend an international conference for brethren ministries in Rome, along with Jeremy Bassett and several of our Burundian colleagues.
I will train the seven teachers I hired two weeks ago (we praise the Lord for his help in that process), complete final evaluations of our current staff, help plan Discovery School's summer clubs, and arrange the class schedules for the next school year. I will also be homeschooling our boys, since their school closed a month early because of the unrest.
We praise the Lord that Discovery School sixth graders felt confident that they had done well on the important sixth grade exam, and that the school is now back to almost 80% capacity. However the school has definitely taken a financial hit. Since the attempted coup happened right at the end of the second trimester, many students left without paying their second trimester bill and have not returned for the third trimester. it will take every bit of what the school has in the bank to pay our staff over the summer, and we were counting on those profits to finish and furnish our four new classrooms. Much to our astonishment, 200 construction workers showed up on Friday, May 19 to pour the slab on the new building even though no one knew at that point who was in charge of the country. Thanks to them the skeleton of the new classrooms is finished and we are looking to the Lord to make a way for us to finish those rooms before September. Please pray about this along with us.
The new slab-- roof of the first floor; future floor of the second story-- in all its completed glory :)
We praise the Lord that Discovery School sixth graders felt confident that they had done well on the important sixth grade exam, and that the school is now back to almost 80% capacity. However the school has definitely taken a financial hit. Since the attempted coup happened right at the end of the second trimester, many students left without paying their second trimester bill and have not returned for the third trimester. it will take every bit of what the school has in the bank to pay our staff over the summer, and we were counting on those profits to finish and furnish our four new classrooms. Much to our astonishment, 200 construction workers showed up on Friday, May 19 to pour the slab on the new building even though no one knew at that point who was in charge of the country. Thanks to them the skeleton of the new classrooms is finished and we are looking to the Lord to make a way for us to finish those rooms before September. Please pray about this along with us.
The new slab-- roof of the first floor; future floor of the second story-- in all its completed glory :)
We would also ask you to continue to pray for us personally. Our hearts are heavy with concern for this special country and its people. Jesse has the added responsibility of keeping tabs on the intricacies of the political situation so that we can make informed decisions for ourselves and the various ministries we are involved in. Remembering that God sees the truth behind the many, many lies being published as fact in the media and will bring justice in the end requires an effort of constant mental self-discipline.
The boys and I are grieving the loss of our routine and the many foreign friends who have evacuated (especially the ones who are transferring to new countries and will not be back), and are working to find our footing in this "new normal". Some Burundian friends from Discovery have helped fill the void by coming to play several afternoons a week, and we are thankful that we live right on the large church property so that it is easy for them to come over. The Lord has provided a wonderful backyard for us where they all can keep themselves entertained for hours. Sometimes Jesse, Danny, and Jeremy even join in. Living on the compound has also made sticking close to home feel less confining.
Backyard soccer game in progress
Well, this isn't my most creative letter, but at this point it's quite a "coup" to have written one at all, so I'll close for now.
Blessings and strength in our Lord,
Jesse, Joy, Zach, Micah, and Elliot Johnson
