Only 11 days to go!

Only 11 days until I fly out to Burundi with Andy and Harry! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. I was thrilled to overhear them last week discussing the trip and how much they are looking forward to it, and I can’t wait to introduce them to the people and places I’m growing to love in Bujumbura :0)

Thank God for the boys’ enthusiasm and pray that it will increase and change to love for this place

Packing

I’m about half way through packing. It’s strange getting the summer clothes and sun cream out (I bought lots reduced at the end of the summer), but I’m looking forward to sunshine and warmth (weather forecast = sunny, average 30 degrees C, approx 30% chance of rain – no idea how accurate that is)! 

We’re also taking toys and books for the school, and chocolate, toffees, liquorice allsorts and cheese for ex-pats, as well as plenty of chocolates and biscuits as gifts. We’ll be bringing back Burundian coffee – either ground or beans, do let me know if you’d like some, apparently it’s very good. Did I mention 12 months of toiletries?! We’re taking those too, for a friend to store until August. That’s a LOT of shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste etc.!

Please pray for safe transit of our luggage, and that there are no problems at any of the airports. It’s quite daunting doing this journey without Jez, but good practice as I’ll have to do it alone with all the children at some point.

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” 

                                                                                    Deuteronomy 31 v 8

God has, time and again, proven himself faithful, and I’m absolutely confident that he will keep his promises to us :0)

Itinerary

This is our itinerary; it’s pretty basic as I’ve yet to contact some people to arrange meetings, and last minute arrangements are expected, especially with our Burundian friends, who have a much more relaxed attitude to planning than we do (both a good and bad thing!)

Thursday 9th        Depart Heathrow 7pm

Friday 10th          Arrive (via Nairobi and Kigali) Bujumbura 9.15am

                           Head to B&B to unpack, then to a hotel for lunch and a swim

Saturday 11th      See friends/sight-see (will define ‘sights’ at a later date!)
 
Sunday 12th        To Bujumbura International Community Church (BICC)

                           More seeing friends in the afternoon/evening

Monday 13th        Visit to Kings School

Tuesday 14th       Andy and Harry spend the day at the school (school day = 7.30am – 1pm)

                           I hopefully meet with ARM people to discuss my role in September

Wednesday 15th   Depart Bujumbura 5pm

Thursday 16th       Arrive Heathrow 5.45am 

We hope to fill in all the gaps with seeing friends, both Burundian and ex-pat :0)

Please pray for smooth flights and visas entries, good health and fun, as the boys get an idea of the place where we’re going to be living. Also that we are open to God’s leading on how we spend our time, and for positive, encouraging meetings with ARM staff.

Vaccinations

Thank you all for your prayers – Andy and Harry have finished vaccinations now, other than one or two boosters at 6-12 months. Harry was amazing. The first time he was okay, the second time he had a complete meltdown, but the 3rd and subsequent times he developed a great coping strategy and was able to deal with the injections in a way I couldn’t have expected him to, God is good :-D After our trip I’ll start Caspar and Felicity’s vaccinations. They had their freebie NHS ones in December and were totally non-plussed (the rarity of a whole tube of smarties in their hands helped). Felicity was really unimpressed; after an injection in each arm she looked at her arms and said ‘where are my ‘jections? I want my ‘jections’ . I’m not sure what she was expecting but her disappointment was countered by the smarties!

Thank God for helping Harry cope and that Cas and Fliss were so relaxed

February Funding

God has been so generous and we have faith he will provide...so we are determined not to panic.

We still need to raise £850 for next week.

This week we will need to buy Travel Insurance (£66), anti-malerials (£85).

Next week Jez will need to get $1,000 to cover accomodation, visas, food & incidentals and emergency cash.

We also still have a £250 deficit from previous costs.

Please pray for us to have trust and patience for God's provision.

Planning for August

Now the children are all back at school/pre-school, I am finally able to plan. My French is slowly improving and I’m hoping to start learning, and teaching the children, some Kirundi soon. There are no resources for this, but I’ve been told it’s a very ‘phonetic’ language, so if we can read the phrase and vocab lists I’ve printed off the internet, we can say the language. The only word I know so far is ‘Muzungu’ = white man/person!!

I’m also: 

continuing to make arrangements for the house and dogs

beginning to write a packing list (including angel delight, herbs and spices to add interest to rice and beans, hot chocolate powder, and other ‘essentials’ – and every size of shoes/clothes the children may need until we’re next in the UK) 

writing a timeline (leaving dos, moving out, holidays etc.)

trying to get lots of advice from other ex-pats on all of the above

planning a ‘UK Scrapbook’ for the children, with pictures of our dogs, home, church, friends and family etc. We hope you’ll help contribute to this over the next few months :0)

Thank God for helping me plan my time better. Pray that he’ll help me continue to stay focused and not worry about the unimportant things (dusting)!

Studying

I’ve started my online 13-week course, Explore, with All Nations Mission College. Studying with an online class takes some getting used to, but the course is great, and it’s wonderful to ‘meet’ other people who are in similar situations as us. I’d thoroughly recommend the course to anyone who thinks they might be interested in working with God overseas, it’s a great way to ‘explore’ whether God could be calling you in this way.

God’s unfailing, abundant provision :-D

Since our last post God has:

Provided the funds for me to do my course and continued funds for this trip (thank you for so many generous gifts)

Provided an extra day per week of child care for me to study (thank you Grandmas)

Blessed me with peaceful nights of sleep

Surprised us with the opportunity to become Mission Partners with a church in Scotland!(details at a later date)

Given us the time to prepare, and the courage, to speak at Thirsty, and at our main Sunday church service

Blessed us with many positive responses and encouragements from that...

And all of you, who read this, and support and encourage us in so many ways – we are really, really grateful :0)

“He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see what he has done and be amazed.

They will put their trust in the Lord.”

                                                                          Psalm 40 : 3-4

Allie xxx