Sharing the Road With a River

Today I truly understood what “rain season” means! It rained all Thursday night and it continued

Part of the road to GIA when it is dry

through the morning on Friday. At 7:15am Friday, I started driving out to GIA….I was struck by how silent the town was! Usually, Gitega is bustling with people and a number of vehicles by 7:15am but today, there was a total of 3 cars and 2 motorbikes on the road.  The roads that are usually lined with people, were completely dead! As I headed onto the dirt roads, going into a valley, I realized I had to share the road with a river of water that was gushing into the valley. At times,  it was narrow passing between  a large hole in the road (with a branch stuck in it to alert drivers) and the gushing water. At times, I had to drive through small rivers as multiple streams crossed the road and met together. As I looked on the hillside, magnificent waterfalls originated overnight, poured down the hills and filled the cement

Beautiful flowers

water passages at the sides of the road. It was an amazing experience….I wish I had my camera to document the beauty and power of this morning.  It was a small reminder of how powerful our God is! GIA ended up closing for a RAIN DAY as many teachers were unable to be picked up due to impassible roads.  The more crazy thing.....4 hours later, the land was 90% dry. It was a crazy experience!

Mr. Micah

Joshua

Elijah

The soccer field covered in water

I just have to put some pictures of a soccer (aka football) game here in Burundi. This game is between GIA and a young national team.  The pitch is covered with water…they were out with 5 gallon buckets trying to get rid of some of the water just before the game. Even though some water was removed, there were still huge waterbeds on the field when the game started. Attached area a couple of pictures of the game!

GIA boys after the game

Savana

Mosquito nets are a necessity here in Africa, but unless they are used properly, they don’t carry out their purpose. The purpose of the net is to keep mosquitos out of the sleeping area so they don’t bite you when you sleep. I usually keep the net up during the day but put it down during the evening. The other night, I woke up with 7-8 mosquito bites all over….there was a mosquito in the net overnight! I did not know that a mosquito was in with me but when I woke up, I sure felt the damage. I could not believe that 1 tiny mosquito could create so much havoc!  Having a mosquito net is like being a Christian. Christ envelops us and  removes the sin in our lives and if we are diligent in staying in Christ, the effects of sin are covered by the blood of Christ. However, if we start to do things on our own and we rely less on Christ, sin gets in and without

Fixing a mosquito net

realizing it, we wake up deeply feeling its effects. Sometimes, it is just one small sin that gets into our lives but we do not recognize the damage it can do to us. As we are just past celebrating Easter, I am reminded of how great our God is and what He did for us. It was nothing short of a miracle that Christ was put to death but then rose to life 3 days later.  “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory  through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Cor 15:55-57)