Out of Africa

Saying goodbye to Avril at Pinnacle 19.

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent

enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of

saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us….

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith

.
No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master

builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

---Bishop Untener of Saginaw

It is my turn to be up late, unable to sleep.  We are at about T – 18 hours from departure from Burundi.  We are holed up in the small but very comfortable apartment adjoining the home of some German missionary friends.  They have generously let us use it in our last week as we have moved out of our house entirely and have, just yesterday surrendered the key to the landlord, having completed all cleaning and inspection.  We left on very good terms with him.

Flashforward 24hours--  We are now sitting in Heathrow airport waiting for our final connection to Zurich where we will do some visiting and ground travel to Stuttgart to visit our German friends who had left Burundi last year.   But I will talk more about that when we get back to the US.

Looking back over the last 5 days is worth some reflection.  How does one leave a home and community?  What do you do in the last hours as you set aside a way of life?  These were questions that we did reflect upon before the final hours were upon us.  I would encourage anyone who is leaving a place to reflect and plan before the last hours are upon you.

The last week itself remained busy and passed quickly.  The biggest responsibility we had left in the first half was making our final trip to Kigali to drop off our SALT  volunteers, Julia and Matt who were returning to the US at the end of their assignment.  Although it felt like a bit of burden in the very last days, we were grateful for the chance to make a final visit and have real closure with our partners and service workers there.

The highlight event (besides closing our bank accounts) was a dinner we hosted at the guest house we staying in, for all of our partners, the host parents of our SALTers, and our other service workers and local staff.  We were about 18 all told. 

It was not unlike other such events we have had in the past weeks.  There was dinner, speeches and counter speeches, prayer, and gifts.  We felt that we left Rwanda well and at peace with everyone there. 

The next chapter for the new reps. who will be based in Kigali, will be quite different as MCC is now registered as an official INGO in the country.  This will come with many new opportunities and challenges that were not part of our experience when we were the Reps. 

I should mention that we did take advantage of the drive upcountry to drop in on some friends.  Samantha and Isai Torres, are missionaries that arrived about the same time as us, and set up a center for vulnerable children, in Bukeye.  They have 2 young children.  Their mission is called Cries of a Child and they are currently building a clinic in this remote rural town.

It was good to share and pray with them on our final visit up country.  We had lunch together in the Kabira Forest Guest House at the top of the hill in Bugarama. 

We got back to Bujumbura from Kigali on Thursday afternoon and went to dinner with our Ethiopian friends.  It was Rebecca’s Birthday (pretty minimal this year) but we did have a fabulous Ethiopian meal, complete with coffee and Café Gourmand pastries. 

Friday I closed our Burundi bank accounts and Rebecca and I took shifts closing the house.  Our staff had pretty much cleared it out while we were in Rwanda and there was not much to do.   By the afternoon we were able to return it to the landlord and ended our stay in the house on good terms.

Saturday was a special day and we planned it as a family day to do some of our favorite things.  Rebecca and the kids stopped off at Musee Vivant while I ran a quick errand.   (I gave one of our old computers to Odifax, one of our house staff who also works as a pastor.)  From there we went to Café Gourmand for lunch.  We took some photos of Oren’s icecream sundai and the pastry counter. 

In the afternoon we went to Club du Lac Tanganyika for the last time.  We swam in the pool and lake.  Jennifer Price stopped by and we chatted.  We left there and stopped by Pinnacle 19 to say good-bye to Avril the chimp.  Avril knows David very well and immediately took his hand and led him to the trampoline. 

We spent about 45 minutes there then headed to Ubuntu for dinner.  Ubuntu is a place of special significance because it is where we had our first meal out in Burundi.  In fact we were brought there the very first day of our arrival to meet the MCC team.  To have our last supper there gave us a sense of closure as it was  a place we loved to go. 

We shared our last meal with very special friends:  Pastor Emmanuel Ndikumana and his wife Asele.  Also friends that we have known since our first days in Burundi.  Emmanuel Ndkikumana is one of the truly prophetic voices for the Burundian church. 

In fact, Sunday morning (the next day) he was preaching and gave an inspired message based on Acts 4-6 to the church regarding corruption and distraction as tools the devil uses to undermine the church. 

The last church service was fairly emotional as well.  We were asked to come forward and give a testimony.  We both talked about how the BICC congregation was really a home for us and the place where we really established sustainable community bonds in Burundi.  Both through the church and the small group that we formed out of it.  It was here where I also shared the poem at the beginning of this blog.  It was read at the funeral of Arch Bishop Arhur Romero.  It captures a bit how it feels to leave, not having completed nearly as much was set out to do.  The work is far from done, but we are no longer the people called to do it here.

We were prayed for and commissioned.  Sent back to the US to bring what we had learned from Burundi back to the US.  We took pictures of ourselves with several good friends (they are here in the blog).

We went home and finished packing.  Miraculously I was able to get all 9 of our suitcases into the car with our family.  Fortunately people who wanted to see us off did not meet us at the apartment expecting a ride! 

We said goodbye to our friends Samuel and Sabine, who had been hosting us, and headed to the airport at 4 pm.  We found on arrival, about a dozen wellwishers. 

At that point things began to get very surreal for me.  First handing off my cellphone and all my keys to Felix made me feel almost naked.  I am never without those things and the idea that the car, the office, my house, and the phone were no longer mine to use really made the feeling that the job was over sink in heavily. 

It was not so much a feeling of freedom as one of loss, like a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders and I found that without that I was not able to keep my feet on the ground and was blowing away like chaff in the wind.

I really understood, at that moment that this was it.  We were not coming back after our nomal one month vacation in the summer.  There is no ‘back’ to come to now. 

Patrick and Michael in the Bujumbura departure lounge

To add to the surreal feeling were some surprise passengers at the airport.  Both DRC service workers (Patrick and Michael) were getting on the same flight for completely unrelated reasons.  All of us flying together was completely by chance.  I also saw Ali Blair, another old friend who was dropping someone off at the airport.  Ben Carlson was getting on the flight as was another father from the Ecole Belge—Marcus, Nicola’s husband.

Having this huge number of people I knew all going out with us added to the strangeness of the whole departure.

Nonetheless. We left without incident on Kenya Airways which stopped in Nairobi where got on a British Airways 747 to London and Zurich.

We are currenly in Zurich where we will take a train to visit some of our German missionarly friends and then do a professional ‘debriefing’ /reentry retreat to help us make the transition back to our culture smoother.  I am looking forward to that.

The poem at the beginning captures a bit what it feels like to leave.  So many seeds we harvested that we did not plant, but also so many seeds we planted that we will not be the ones to harvest.  Some will grow and flourish, other will wither and die.  But we are no longer the tenants in that place.

This is the first time in nearly my life where we are not going to something.  The future is unknown for us and the past 6 years are so rich that looking forward will be difficult.  I pray that the 'Grace that 'brought us safe thus far will be sufficient to lead us home.

 I plan to add one more entry to this blog once we are back on US soil and we begin a new season in our lives.  

A Farewell to Dogs and Other Adieux

Saving money, we decided to send David and Oren by airfreight.

It’s awfully difficult to sleep during our last days in the African Great Lakes region. So much to think about and process and plan for. So many details to think through. So on this last day in Kigali, I find myself up at 3 am, giving Paul a boost for one of the final blog posts of our sojourn in Burundi.

This past week has contained a wonderful, dizzying blend of final visits with friends, mixed in with frantic disassembly of the house we have lived in for 5 years (we moved to it near the end of our first year in Burundi). Actually, we moved into 2 houses that were completely set up, and included lots of other peoples’ useful things (and a little junk). We’ve done little to diminish the contents since.

And so, in spite of sorting and clearing things out for our leaving sale more than a month ago, I’ve found out in the past week that our “empty” closets and drawers still seem remarkably full. I have thrown away at least 3 rice sacks full of precious kid’s artwork. I have filled about 10 large baskets with random items that I can’t imagine how anyone would use, but they aren’t quite trash – and shown them to our house staff, who miraculously “disappeared” about everything.

Alongside that, I’ve been packing up all the useful pots, pans, dishes, pharmaceuticals, bedding, books, and misc. for the Rep replacement couple to take on. That’s all in one pile. There was another huge pile in the garage (once we liberated the garage) for a new volunteer to set up her household in Gitega. All categories, including furniture. There was our row of 8 suitcases, bound for Europe and then our new home in Baltimore. Another suitcase for our last week and trip to Kigali. Various piles of leftover things that would bless one friend or another. Some things to donate to our church.  And I’ve just been spinning from one pile to the next, dropping things off in the appropriate location, pausing to check Facebook to see if someone has agreed to buy this or that piece of unclaimed furniture or want to rent our beautiful house starting in August. I will confess that with all this packing and clearing out, I’ve been as close to having my head explode as I’ve ever been in my life. Because almost all of the sorting and packing has taken place between the hours of 8:30 pm and midnight, to leave room for the RELATIONSHIPS!

We have had some very lovely, meaningful final visits with people who have been important to us. On Tuesday afternoon, we invited our house staff to come share Fanta’s with us, together with their families. I had seen Odifax’s children the week before when I dropped him off at home with their newborn baby (after paying the hospital bill). It was so wonderful to welcome them with their 4 older children and newborn to come see our house. Finally his kids know where Odifax has spent his working hours, and they got to meet Oren and David. Our substitute cook Ghyslaine also brought her 6-year-old daughter. All the kids really enjoyed trying out the trampoline and rolling around on the

scooters. Gaspard, our night guard, couldn’t bring his family from up-country, but we enjoyed seeing him happy in his new job, back with the Hieberts. And Marceline came a bit later, with her now healthy 2-month-old Jakin and her husband. It was a joy to serve Fanta’s and snacks with this group, to share speeches. Very moving at the end as we asked our staff to pray for us, especially for Paul’s employment moving back.

We didn’t get a photo of it, but right after that staff party, we met the whole Miller clan for dinner at a new-to-us Chinese restaurant. There was so much to talk about and share about – our faith heritages, how Free Methodism gets worked out in Burundi, the realities of life here as foreigners. Our kids had their own table and enjoyed themselves, giving the 6 adults (including Janette’s parents) time to really talk and share. We were grateful for that quiet, meaningful time of closure with these good friends.

On Wednesday during the day, we kept working on chores – Paul finally completed the process of moving ownership of our vehicles to Scott. Oren and I snuck away to Buja Day Spa for an hour – I had promised him one last outing to do a pedicure together. It’s not just pampering to get that kid’s feet in better shape! He hates shoes, and his feet really take a beating around here.

Our collective family activity that afternoon (after continuing the brain dumping with our replacements) was the disassembly of our beloved trampoline. Scott and Anne Marie and kids worked together with us so that they would know how to put it up again when they are fully established in Kigali. It was certainly not an easy project! Getting all those springs lose under hundreds of pounds of pressure took all of us pulling together. We were glad to have fully used the trampoline the day before with our staff’s kids.

We took some moments that evening to recognize that it was our final family teatime on our own veranda in Burundi. It was a lovely evening, made sweeter with thoughtful music that Paul finds and a Good Earth/Rooibos blend in the pot. The mountains of Congo were even a faint shadow for us behind the dry season haze. We have enjoyed many wonderful evening moments in this spot as a family.

Later in the evening, special friends from our church bible study came to pay us a final visit. Goretti Niragira, and her daughters Sonia and Ariane have become dear companions on the journey as we have talked and prayed over the past two years. There are many requests that we have seen answered over those years, and several big ones that we are still waiting to see fulfilled. The waiting and hoping and trusting in God together have drawn our hearts together. These ladies blessed us with a unique map of Burundi, cut out of local fabric.

Sonia, Ariane & Goretti

On Thursday afternoon, we took time off to meet with members of the Carlson family for a really unique outing. The women of my Wednesday morning ladies’ bible study blessed with the farewell gift of a photo shoot, done by the very talented Mrs. Kristy Carlson. She offered to help us document special places and events of our life here in Burundi as a memory (one that would fit more easily into our suitcases also!). So Kristy brought over her son Myles (Oren’s friend) as her second shooter and we messed around our house for a while. We took our dogs for a little walk to buy milk at the local boutique a few steps away. We mimicked family teatime. And then we headed off for the zoo!

Oren and Myles digging holes at the beach.

Our kids just love their close encounters with wild animals, so we did all the normal things you’ve read about in past blogs: scratching the leopard behind the ears, pulling the banana snakes out of their cage, feeding Kita the chimp peanuts. We even agreed to feed one last guinea pig to the ever-ravenous crocodile (how else does a third-world zoo animal get fed??).

 Our last stop was Pinnacle 19. I guess messing around with animals has been a theme of our life here! We had a lot of fun playing with Avril, who even wanted us adults to pick her up and cuddle her this time. It was a gorgeous evening and we were so glad that Ben and little Neo could also join us for a final time of drinks and conversation. It’s always so meaningful to discuss this transition with other expats who have been alongside us during this journey.

On Friday afternoon, we enjoyed a very different kind of closing event on the beach. Our MCC Burundi partners organized a “Fête de depart” for us at Petit Bassam, a fairly new children’s playground. Oren was thrilled to have an occasion to go back there one more time. For most of the evening, through the dinner and speeches, Oren, David, Samuel and Luke had a blast, jumping on the vast bouncy castle, trying out the trampoline with the harnesses, going on the little train ride and the carousel, even swinging on the modern swing sets – all of these attractions are absolutely unheard of anywhere else in Burundi.

On the adult side, we had a good time of speeches and sharing, between our partners and ourselves, remembering many times we have passed through together. 

It was actually a real encouragement to see these partners organize such an event and invite us to attend. It certainly shows the strength and maturity of our Burundi partner coordinators. 

Their work is effective (not just in throwing parties) and their personal testimonies continue to inspire us.

On the way home, we made one final stop at Ice World, one of the kids’ favorite spots. Oren can now fluently order his ice cream creation of choice in French, with all the changes he wants to make to it. That night for me was the final push in packing and sorting – Paul was starting to panic about whether we would be ready to move out of our house the following day. With reason. I stayed up til 3 am, working on emptying the final corners, and still didn’t finish.

Oren ordering at Ice World

But we still had FINAL YOGA. A really nice group of people accompanying us, right to the end of our term. For the final session our Ethiopian friends Genet and Melkamu joined for the first time! 

Final Yoga brunch

We still had a few moments to linger over coffee and cinnamon rolls (though we used plastic plates and all the broken mugs I hadn’t packed up). In between, a guy came to buy our old beat up salon set. It was incredible to see the way he transported it out of our house: the three-seater sofa, 4 armchairs, 1 coffee table, 2 side tables and cushions all went onto the back of one bicycle. Who needs a pick up truck??

By 11 am, we were in a frenzy of moving out. Well, we didn’t move the entire contents of our house to the nearby apartment on bicycles ourselves. We actually did hire a pick up truck and taxi to help us out, both of which were fully loaded and rolling by 11: 45. We were glad to have some friends and volunteers stay to help us move boxes in and out. We also needed to fit in a final visit with our newest volunteer, Sata, and with our old nanny, who dropped by with her basket gift. There are definitely different categories of final visits, we’ve found. One group of people wants to bless us and pray for us and share with us—I’d say those are visits from friends. There have been a whole other round of visits from “clients,” who always also come with a request or need. Several clients have found it incredibly difficult to part from us, and have come to say adieu two or even three times, with a request every single time. This leaving process is starting to get far too expensive for us! We’re starting to understand why many Africans do not announce their final departure dates until just a few days before they leave: this doesn’t represent lack of planning, but rather fiscal wisdom.

Which is a second reason we were finding it more and more pressing to MOVE OUT OF OUR HOUSE!!! First reason: it was almost impossible to finish the packing when our children were circling behind us, pulling things out of boxes and out of the trash, creating new messes, and needing to be fed meals, which create more mess. So, on Saturday afternoon, we loaded most of our packed suitcases into Melkamu’s car and dropped them off at the guest apartment of German missionary friends Sam and Sabine in a far away neighborhood. What a Godsend to land in that peaceful, well-appointed and equipped little hideaway!

There was also the dog drop-off. Our predecessors, the Hieberts, are back in Burundi. They agreed to reclaim their old dog Bella, and also to foster Noël (who will go to our replacements in January) for the time being. The Hiebert girls were so excited to see their new dogs and we are so grateful and happy to be leaving them in a loving home. But it was clearly very hard for Noël (who has never changed owners or even slept outside our compound in her life). Noël was literally climbing back into the car with us as we tried to pull out and she had to be leashed and held onto tightly. She literally worshipped Paul; so to be parted from her master is very, very difficult. Bella seemed to take it all in stride, fortunately.

We closed off the evening with a final dinner together with other German friends, Markus and Nicola and boys. They have been in Burundi almost as long as we have, and we have shared a lot together. Our oldest boys have been in the same class the whole time, and Frederick has really encouraged Oren to learn and use playground French over the years. One thing we will really miss when we leave here is the daily interaction with other parents as we all drop off and pick up our kids at Ecole Belge. There is always a chance to check up on each other, to share a word of sympathy or just a smile. It’s been a real place of connection in our close-knit community.

And so, at 9 pm, we were finally moved out of our home. We landed, exhausted, back in our guest apartment. The work isn’t totally finished. The house is not completely ready to surrender to the landlord. There are still final tasks to do. But we were able to move out, as planned, on Saturday. Whew!

Bonus video: Rebecca holding Avril the chimp at Pinnacle 19.

Démissionné--Ask Not for Whom the Drum Beats

Nestor, one of the 10th graders at Hope School this year, leading the drum corps and bidding us farewell.

With less than 2 weeks, (13 days) left before our departure from Burundi, we are definitely in the final countdown.  Strangely I am finding the task of chronicling these final days challenging to the point of onerous.  Why after writing almost weekly for 6 year can I hardly stand to finish?

Maybe there is just too much to say, or maybe I don’t feel like I can capture in language the feelings surrounding this final push.  Or perhaps it is simply because we seem to have things to do from early morning until late in the evening.

I am being unhelpful in sitting to write at this moment.  Rebecca is doing most of the triage of personal belongings and we have 8 suitcases sitting in a guestroom that are being filled slowly.  Putting 6 year of stuff into 8 suitcases will be tough.  Most of the furniture and larger items belong to MCC or the landlord, but there are so many things the kids made, or that were acquired.  Not to mention gifts and a year’s supply of Burundian coffee.

I am enjoying my last evening in our rocking chair which has been in our bedroom the past six years and where I composed many a blog on a late Sunday evening.

Rebecca was sorting kids school and artwork this evening and David and Oren each get a suitcase to fill themselves with things they want to keep.

The biggest challenge for us is that we have to get everything of ours and MCC’s out of this house as it will not be rented beyond our departure.  We were hoping to find some friends who might want to take it but failed to do so, much to the disappointment to the landlord as well.

We are at home this week and have only one more trip out of town planned before our departure.  We were, however, out of town most of the past week for some final visits to partners and for a formal presentation of the new Reps. to our partners in Rwanda.

School ended last Friday, and the kids went everyday but the last.  We packed our bags the night before and headed upcountry to the Grand Seminaire in Burasira, and for a visit to the Hope School.  It was the last day of classes for them on Friday, but the biggest celebration was reserved for us.  Innocent, the leader of our partner organization who has become a friend over the years, had organized a farewell ceremony for us.

Oren on first visit in 2008

We arrived at 10 am to find the drum corps already set up ready to play for us.  They did a very nice set of dances, songs, and speeches.  Rebecca and I both spoke along with a half dozen others. 

It was hard to take in all the times we had been here in the past and appreciate the finality.  I remember our first visit within a week of our arrival and Oren standing amidst the Batwa children, looking almost at home.

Our kids were not nearly into all the speeches and songs this time around.  But after several hours of introductions, we went into one of the classrooms with the teachers and the Batwa elders and had a meal together. 

Salvatore (an elder) and wife

We received many gifts, some local fabrics, some batwa woven mats, and some paintings and woodcuts done for us.  The woodcut had a picture of Burundi and two people caring a building on their heads.  It was custom made for us and represented the many years we supported the Hope School.  (I have to say the image of being weighed down under a building for 6 years was strangely apropos to how it has begun to feel toward the end.) 

We also received a painting with a photo of us on one of our first visits.  There were many more speeches and expressing of appreciation.   The teachers and the Batwa elders were very warm in their expressions of gratitude. 

Speeches were followed by a lavish feast each of us received a plate of fried a half dozen fried plaintain bananas piled high with spaghetti topped with some brown sauce and a large hunk of meat on a bone.  It was more than I could eat, but I was glad to see that the children outside were given food as well.

We drank the traditional ceremonial fantas and coca-colas.  After some final words we made our way back to the seminary in the late afternoon.

Leaving the seminary is at least as difficult as saying good bye to the school.  The kids always loved to stay the night there.  We went and visited the farm and the kids fed the cows and pigs.  We took a short hike around the grounds.  We remembered days gone by of Jodi living here, and then Teri-Lynn last year. 

We planned to stay the night and asked the sister for the old rooms on the second floor of the guesthouse where we used to stay.  Soeur Anesée was thrilled to see us all and we left her a shawl for cold nights.  The evening was perfectly clear and we had a fantastic view of Scorpio directly overhead in the inky night sky.  (Something you can only see in the Southern Hemisphere.)

We had roast rabbit for dinner and after a good night’s sleep, enjoyed the homemade bread, honey, guava jam, omelettes and Burundian coffee with fresh cows milk.  No food at the seminary comes from more than a few hundred meters away. 

We said good bye for the last time and took our leave, and headed on to Kigali.  We arrived in the early evening and found Mark and Angela Sprunger (our area reps.) who have been living at the Amani guest house.  The Stoner-Eby’s arrived later.  We had dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant with our SALTER Julia and the rest of the gang.  The World Cup was on so it added to the festivities of the evening.  The World Cup is religion here in Africa.

The next morning was Sunday and I took the Stoner-Eby’s to the Kinyarwanda service at the Friends Church.  (the church we partner with.)  I thought it would be a good introduction to the 3-4 hour service experience.  It did not disappoint in longevity.  Rebecca stayed home with the kids as David had been sick with tonsillitis for several days and Oren and Luke did not want to go either.

We got back home midday and began having meetings after a short visit to a park. 

Sunday evening was special because it was Oren’s real Birthday.  He wanted to celebrate it as a family at Meze Fresh, one of the best Burrito places in the world, right in Kigali!  We gave him a little metal teapot he wanted so he could have tea in the morning.  He was very happy to get it.  It was also a day to celebrate because he read his first chapter book (150 pgs) all by himself!  (It was Stink and the super galactic Jawbreaker).

Beginning Monday, the time with partners was fairly intense as we had a very full schedule and I took the Stoner-Ebys for interviews with partners all day on Monday then we had a big meeting of all the partners together to discuss program issues on Tuesday morning.

At this meeting, which as on July 1^st, I took the opportunity to officially acknowledge the handover of our position to the new Reps.

Yes we are now ‘démissionné.  French for decommissioned.  It was a significant moment and from that point in the meeting the Stoner-Ebys took over the chairmanship of the meeting.

It is a strange feeling to be done with the official part of our job, although this is primarily to give us extra time to pack up and move everything out of our house.

We drove home the next day (Wednesday). 

From that point forward we really feel the end is upon us.  We have done errands like getting the dogs rabies shots, we are having last meetings with friends who are still in town.  I cleared out my desk at the office.

Sunday was church and I managed to get a cool picture with 3 generations of MCC Reps, as the Hieberts have moved back to Burundi to work with the Mennonite Brethren Mission Network.  I think I can really appreciate how they were feeling at the end as they handed the program over to us.  I am sorry they were not back sooner in our term.  Their kids will start at the Ecole Belge this fall.

We were invited to lunch at the home of our Ethiopian small group friends.  That was followed by our second to last small group at their house.

Today we began titling the cars over to Scott Stoner-Eby, and his has proved to be a complicated process now.  For expats and others here in Burundi, there is a new step now in buying or selling a vehicle.  You have to get a tax ID number and a financial attestation.  This adds an interesting new set of worm tunnels in the already Kafka-esque process of titling a vehicle to get mired in. 

This past week penultimate yoga with
Patrick and Yolanda visiting among others.

I should be able to finish the process in a few days and many many trips.   It was funny.  At one point 20 of us were lined up in front of a desk occupied by no one.  I had no hope that they would even arrive as it was the last hour of the day.  But we all stayed and waited nonetheless until we had to go home.  The humor in this was that I found I was not even impatient.  I am now, finally, used to this.  I may have finally acquired the much-coveted Burundian patience that allows one to suffer all things, and bear with all delays.

The days ahead are pretty mapped out.  We have a luncheon with our house staff tomorrow.  Our last day in the house is Saturday.  We will have yoga (last one) then get a truck and move up to Samuel and Sabine’s house (some German missionaries) so we can finish cleaning.

We go up to Kigali again the following Wednesday through Friday then fly out of Burundi on Sunday July 20^th right after church.

I don’t know if there will be another entry from Burundi, but will add some thoughts when we get to Switzerland for some professional debriefing.