Christmas Letter

It is true what they say about 3 year olds. You can them a great toy, but the thing that holds their interest is the box it came in.

Merry Christmas!! We have been in Christmas mode with vigor the past 3 days. Christmas Eve was spent with Rebecca’s family and the past 2 days with Paul’s. It has definitely felt a bit excessive, at least as far as the food, but that is tempered by the awareness that in 10 days we will get back on a plane to Burundi and not have any of the holiday goodies readily available to us. I think I will be happy to be back on rice and beans for about 2 days before I start missing cookies and breakfast cereal.


It is also sobering to remember that we will not be back for Christmas in the USA for five years! That will be disappointing. Rebecca and I are already wondering what types of Christmas decorations we might take back with us now for Burundi next year. (Rebecca did notice and old artificial tree in storage in our shed in Bujumbura.) So all we need are some lights and ornaments.


It is late, and difficult to find time to write this week with family visiting from out of town, and many wanting to see us in our last 2 weeks. So I am going to take a shortcut here and post our Christmas letter for anyone who is interested. For those of you who follow the blog, there is nothing new, but it does sum up our situation to date.

Rebecca was the author of the letter, fyi.


Dear Family and Friends,

The past six months have offered big challenges for us as we left interesting, comfortable jobs in New York, sold our home, and moved to Burundi (Central Africa) in July. We are now working for a Christian organization called Mennonite Central Committee. Here’s what the organization says about itself: MCC seeks to demonstrate God's love by working among people suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression and natural disaster. MCC serves as a channel for interchange by building mutually transformative relationships. MCC strives for peace, justice and the dignity of all people by sharing our experiences, resources and faith in Jesus Christ.

As a couple, we’re sharing the position of MCC Representatives for Rwanda and Burundi. We oversee the program and take care of a small group of North American volunteers. Much of our work involves our support of local Burundian and Rwandan Christian organizations, doing work on the ground. They are involved in active peace-building and reconciliation work: this part of the world has seen a lot of bloodshed, between the ’94 genocide in Rwanda and 14 years of civil war in Burundi (just ended, we pray!). Our partner organizations are helping divided communities live together, find healing for trauma, and assist people who were once enemies to work together on income-generating projects. We also support a reforestation project and a school for marginalized Batwa (pygmy) children. We’re including details about a Christian organization in Rwanda, Friends Peace House, and their efforts to reconcile released prisoners with survivors of genocide.

On a day to day basis, we meet with partners, help them through the process of writing grants, follow up on their projects, give them funds to carry out their work (in Burundi, that means handling big wads of banknotes) and just talk with them. The greatest joy in this work has involved getting to know people like Onesphore, Delphine, Cassien and Cecile – people who have gone through great tragedy, but have a passionate love for Jesus Christ and a real desire to serve their own people. Running a household in Burundi is a lot more work, so that takes time. We also are studying French (Rebecca) and Kirundi (Paul). We thought Oren might learn some French from his part-time nanny, Denise, but he definitely has a long way to go. He’ll start French-language preschool in January, and sooner or later, we’re sure he’ll be able to understand what’s going on. For a lot more details on the people we’ve met and our impressions, visit our blogsite: pamosley.blogspot.com

One joyful fact has left us feeling a bit like yo-yo’s. We moved to Burundi when Rebecca was 6 months pregnant. Because of the need for a repeat c-section, the recovery afterwards and the very poor state of health care in Burundi, we decided to return to the USA for our second son’s birth. Paul stayed in Burundi a month longer than Rebecca and Oren, doing a ton of travel and scrambling to leave our work in a sustainable place. On October 29, a day after Paul returned to Baltimore, David Henry was delivered according to plan. Imagine exhaustion, jet lag, culture shock, oh, and here’s your new baby! It was a lot to get used to all at once. But David has been such a calm child and a joy to us all. We’re even getting some sleep at night these days. And we are thankful for this unique opportunity for Oren to live in the same town with his grandparents and cousins. We’re all forming important memories that will need to carry us through at least two years of separation.

As we hear daily news from Eastern Congo, just across the border from Burundi, I am thankful once more for who our God is. Jesus chose to be born to an impoverished family in a country under foreign military occupation. As a child, he fled from a massacre in Bethlehem and became a refugee in Egypt. He never used the power of wealth or weapons but paid the ultimate price to demonstrate the power of love and forgiveness. Our God in Jesus thought it was worthwhile to stand with those who suffer, rather than those who cause suffering. And on the cross, he showed us the costly way to live an abundant life, in spite of suffering: to love our enemies as much as our neighbors. He is the kind of God people in our region really need. This is the hard-edged, risky hope of Christmas for us this year.