You can leave the island, but you can't escape it...
I'm sitting in this internet cafe listening to westlife on my computer, and i cant turn it off! I told the guy that they were from the same island and now he's trying to convince me to give him their email addresses.. he thinks im holding out on him... i am not... "I would give you them if i knew them", I promise earnestly!
He did however want me to write down their names for him.. i worringly remember nicky, mark and kian... i think im missing one...
Answers on a postcard to the internet cafe in Gitega!
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Go in Peace?
Finally found some internet! In fact, not just internet, but electricity! We've been out in the sticks for the last week, so facebook and all those luxuries have been hard to come by! But it's been a great week. We have been running a pastors conference in reconciliation and peacebuilding, and it was an incredible time. The team has done amazingly, really stepping up to the plate and preparing so well for the talks we've been taking. I've been so impressed and blessed by seeing them work so well as a team and also individuals this week!
However, the interesting thing is that it was a week that very nearly didn't happen!
Cast your mind back a week to Sunday morning. Rema Ministries, the team running the conference has arrived and is packing our stuff on top of their landrover ready to leave in a few minutes. At this point in time, someone hands me the number for the US embassy in Bujumbura. I call them to make sure that it was okay for us to travel upcountry, what with the trouble that had been going on. He tells me that there is NO WAY we should be travelling upcountry, and that they are currently ''hunkered down'' in town! So, this changes things for us.... I gathered the team together and we sat down and talked and prayed about this recent development. As you can imagine, we were a little on edge...
We prayed and felt God telling us to ''go in peace and protection", but i remained very aware of this warning from the embassy... We asked the head of the ministry Theo, an incredible man, what he thought. He called the 2nd in command of the police in Burundi! We're running in well connected circles! And HE said the compelte opposite of the embassy, that upcountry was completey safe and the city is the dangerous place! So, we are faced with this crazy decision... Two pretty reputable sources saying completely differnet things! So, what could we do?
We went to prayer again, and heard the same thing, that we should go in peace. After a quick early morning wake up call to the head of YWAM NI back in Belfast to confirm our decision, we decided to go with the advice of those on the ground in Bujumbura, and who likely know the situation, and headed upcountry!
We believe we made a wise decision and one based on God and His plan for this outreach. And we were so blessed by this past week of ministry and the pastors we met, that we realised that this truly was God's plan for us this past week.
We recognize God's hand in our outreach and the things that have happened, that He truly has been our protector! Things are still touch and go in Burundi, so we appreciate your continued prayer and thoughts!
We are staying and working in an incredible Youth for Christ orphanage this week, the kids are amazing, and we're looking forward to playing with and learning from them, seeing God's face in them this week after the pastors last week!
Hope all is well wherever you read this from,
Blessings,
tom
However, the interesting thing is that it was a week that very nearly didn't happen!
Cast your mind back a week to Sunday morning. Rema Ministries, the team running the conference has arrived and is packing our stuff on top of their landrover ready to leave in a few minutes. At this point in time, someone hands me the number for the US embassy in Bujumbura. I call them to make sure that it was okay for us to travel upcountry, what with the trouble that had been going on. He tells me that there is NO WAY we should be travelling upcountry, and that they are currently ''hunkered down'' in town! So, this changes things for us.... I gathered the team together and we sat down and talked and prayed about this recent development. As you can imagine, we were a little on edge...
We prayed and felt God telling us to ''go in peace and protection", but i remained very aware of this warning from the embassy... We asked the head of the ministry Theo, an incredible man, what he thought. He called the 2nd in command of the police in Burundi! We're running in well connected circles! And HE said the compelte opposite of the embassy, that upcountry was completey safe and the city is the dangerous place! So, we are faced with this crazy decision... Two pretty reputable sources saying completely differnet things! So, what could we do?
We went to prayer again, and heard the same thing, that we should go in peace. After a quick early morning wake up call to the head of YWAM NI back in Belfast to confirm our decision, we decided to go with the advice of those on the ground in Bujumbura, and who likely know the situation, and headed upcountry!
We believe we made a wise decision and one based on God and His plan for this outreach. And we were so blessed by this past week of ministry and the pastors we met, that we realised that this truly was God's plan for us this past week.
We recognize God's hand in our outreach and the things that have happened, that He truly has been our protector! Things are still touch and go in Burundi, so we appreciate your continued prayer and thoughts!
We are staying and working in an incredible Youth for Christ orphanage this week, the kids are amazing, and we're looking forward to playing with and learning from them, seeing God's face in them this week after the pastors last week!
Hope all is well wherever you read this from,
Blessings,
tom
Saturday, 19 April 2008
The Reality of Reconciliation
Hi friends,
Burundi is not a place that often makes it onto the news, for some reason the problems and issues here never really make it onto the world scene. So, I’m sure you aren’t aware of the last few days in Bujumbura. Here’s an excerpt from an email that an amazing contact of ours here Simon Guillebaud sent out, before you read it though, know that we are all safe and sound on the team:
‘Last night was the biggest attack on the capital for several years. Earlier in the day policemen were stationed on every street corner and rumours were flying around. Then at about 8:45pm gunfire and shelling kicked off in a big way as the FNL rebels embarked on an audacious/futile attack on various military installations about town. We had fourteen people in our lounge for home-group at the time. It is a surreal thing to listen to the big thuds of shells landing, the occasional whoosh of a rocket hurtling through the air, and the rattling of machine gunfire whilst knowing that it is all real, that people are dying - maybe friends - certainly plenty of innocents caught in the crossfire.
This morning I rang various people to check they were OK. American friends across town had a gun battle going on right next to them on the street. They shifted their 3-year-old and newborn into the corridor on the floor and the kids managed to sleep through the incredibly loud noises. Ours slept through as well, but it was all a bit further away from our part of town. Shadrach, who works for us, came to work and asked to be excused. Two of his children were missing, as they’d fled during the night and got separated. He’s looking for them right now.’
So, there it is. As you can hear it’s been a crazy few days. We could hear these events unfolding pretty clearly from where we’re staying in the capital. This is something that for us isn’t commonplace at all, but for those whom we are working and staying with, this used to be an everyday way of life that everyone hoped would stay in the past.
So, this blog is a call out for prayer for our team, and also for this country. We as a team have prayed about our program over the next few weeks, and we feel God telling us to keep it the way it is. He is our protector and our provider, our strength and our shield. Please pray as we travel upcountry that we will have a safe journey surrounded by God’s overwhelming presence.
Some of you may think us crazy for staying, but you should know that as Simon said, hopefully this is an isolated incident. Also, unfortunately this is the consequence of seeking to work in reconciliation. Divison and violence is real and exists in the world today, and this is just a small part of it here in this corner. As the word says, God ‘gave us the ministry of reconciliation’ (2 Cor 5:18) and to truly be involved in this ministry, to be peacemakers, I suppose it means that we have to go to the places that are in need of peace.
You should however know that we are not taking unnecessary risks or putting ourselves in places of obvious danger. We seek to be as 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16), wise in the way of making smart decisions about things like this, and innocent in remembering that we have a God who is assuredly our protector, living in the realisation that being here in Bujumbura at this time and in the will of God is a much safer place that safely back at home in Belfast outside of His will. Our God is a faithful God, and we believe in His sovereignty and love for us.
Please pray for us as we live and minister here, and also for those who live here and those perpetrating this violence, that they would be convicted of their actions and lay down their weapons.
One quick story…
Around about 8:30 the other night, a few students and I sat down to discuss a few things that have been causing conflict on the team, a slightly tense situation ensued, and then the fighting started in the background. Although we realised that we couldn’t continue on without these team issues being solved, this fighting in the background served us as a reminder that we are here in Burundi as a team, that if we can’t sort out these relatively minor issues here, then what chance does this country have of even beginning to address it’s history of conflict? What chance does OUR country of Northern Ireland have? We seek to live lives that not only teach about reconciliation, but LIVE it too. A group that loves each other deeply and ministers out of this spirit of unity and love.
Monday, 14 April 2008
Namahoro from Bujumbura!
Greetings from an oddly rainy africa!
i never expected africa to be so rainy! thankfully though, its the good warm kind of rain and not the cold miserable variety we in Belfast are used to!
apologies for the lack of puncutuation of pretty much any kind, and no doubt before this is over spelling mistakes, but keyboards are pretty different here, and im not sure its worth the effort....
anways, things are going great here. the team are doing well, and ministry is exciting. we just finished a morning of walking a group of students through the forgiveness journey, a separate ministry of ywam belfast. it was a good time of interacting between our two teams, and they had lots of questions that we attempted to answer! please pray for this group of young men as we seek to lead them in this journey.
the next few weeks are going to be pretty busy! this week we're with these students and also doing some outreach in a slum of Bujumbura. Next week we will be going up country to run a pastor's conference on reconciliation, please pray for wisdom for us as we speak to these pastors, that God would give us grqce and words to say that would inspire and challenge them, and likewise that they would do the same for us! After that we go to work with a youth for Christ orphanage for a week and then for the following week on to other ministries in the rural area such as prison and militqry camp ministry. It's a packed time!
Please pray for the staff of this outreach, that we would knozw how to lead well and to inspire and disciple these students as best we can, and for the students that they would have a good mission experience and also be open to God changing and moving them.
How about a few random highlights to finish??
¤ Catching up with the team at YWAM Kigali, hearing all their adventures up to then and looking forward to being a part of some more.
¤ Some quality bonding time with the affectionately named "Sparky the Cockroach" in mine and Rowan's bedroom...
¤ Being inspired by some INCREDIBLE people we've met here. In particular, a guy called Simon and a lady called Georgette.. Remind me to tell you more about both of them.
¤ Standing in front of a Burundian church singing a song i wrote about reconciliation in Kirundi, the local language, and seeing the looks of surprise on peoples faces. Pretty fantastic!
¤ Realising that in Africa, time is really more of a suggestion rather than something concrete!
¤ The bird that sits outside my bedroom window and sounds EXACTLY like the beeping clock in 24. Fans will know what I mean by that!
Okay, we're going to meet as a team in a few minutes and i'm still in the city centre! Will update again soon hopefully,
Until then,
t
i never expected africa to be so rainy! thankfully though, its the good warm kind of rain and not the cold miserable variety we in Belfast are used to!
apologies for the lack of puncutuation of pretty much any kind, and no doubt before this is over spelling mistakes, but keyboards are pretty different here, and im not sure its worth the effort....
anways, things are going great here. the team are doing well, and ministry is exciting. we just finished a morning of walking a group of students through the forgiveness journey, a separate ministry of ywam belfast. it was a good time of interacting between our two teams, and they had lots of questions that we attempted to answer! please pray for this group of young men as we seek to lead them in this journey.
the next few weeks are going to be pretty busy! this week we're with these students and also doing some outreach in a slum of Bujumbura. Next week we will be going up country to run a pastor's conference on reconciliation, please pray for wisdom for us as we speak to these pastors, that God would give us grqce and words to say that would inspire and challenge them, and likewise that they would do the same for us! After that we go to work with a youth for Christ orphanage for a week and then for the following week on to other ministries in the rural area such as prison and militqry camp ministry. It's a packed time!
Please pray for the staff of this outreach, that we would knozw how to lead well and to inspire and disciple these students as best we can, and for the students that they would have a good mission experience and also be open to God changing and moving them.
How about a few random highlights to finish??
¤ Catching up with the team at YWAM Kigali, hearing all their adventures up to then and looking forward to being a part of some more.
¤ Some quality bonding time with the affectionately named "Sparky the Cockroach" in mine and Rowan's bedroom...
¤ Being inspired by some INCREDIBLE people we've met here. In particular, a guy called Simon and a lady called Georgette.. Remind me to tell you more about both of them.
¤ Standing in front of a Burundian church singing a song i wrote about reconciliation in Kirundi, the local language, and seeing the looks of surprise on peoples faces. Pretty fantastic!
¤ Realising that in Africa, time is really more of a suggestion rather than something concrete!
¤ The bird that sits outside my bedroom window and sounds EXACTLY like the beeping clock in 24. Fans will know what I mean by that!
Okay, we're going to meet as a team in a few minutes and i'm still in the city centre! Will update again soon hopefully,
Until then,
t
Monday, 7 April 2008
Greetings from Heathrow (and thankfully NOT Terminal 5!)
Heathrow airport is great...apart from one thing, there are hardly any seats to be found, and so, I'm consigned to a space on the floor for the 4 hours before i can check in to my flight which leaves this evening.
So far, this journey has been nothing if not hassle free...a few moments have even had me rejoicing in the goodness of our God. Sometimes, the little things in life that could seem like coincidences are the places that I like to see God working...a few examples of which I've seen in the last few hours!
My bag is pretty full for my trip over here, I'm taking a few extra things which means that I don't actually have a lot of room for my own stuff! On top of the necessities for an African adventure, I have a guitar and a kids play parachute (the latter of which is taking up no less than HALF of my rucksack). The flight from Belfast to Heathrow had a baggage allowance of 20kg, and despite my best efforts a month ago to try and convince them to give us a little bit more, this was where our allowance stayed. The unfortunate thing was that they told me my guitar also had to be taken into account in this 20kg allowance, and it weighs about 8kg alone.
Now, when i weighed these two items last night, they came out at around 25kg total, and after adding a few things to the bag this morning, I just decided not to weigh it again for fear of actually knowing how overweight I was going to be.
Amazingly, on arriving at the airport today, the girl at the check in desk weighed my bag and sent it through and didn't give a second glance at the guitar before waving it through too. She didn't weigh my guitar and add it on to the amount, which saved me about £50! (It's £7 extra for any extra kilogram you have in your luggage)
Then, I got to Heathrow, and, as I said, no seats... I just came into this internet point, intending on spending £2 for 2o minutes of internet (pricey!) I went up to a machine, which proceeded to eat my £2.... Then I realised that someone had already put in £6 and then left. I only had to add another £2 into the machine for it to give me a voucher for 120 minutes of internet (which guarantees me, not only internet until i check in...but a seat too! :D)
These things are small. These are small moments in a day that it's easy to miss, when it's easy to miss the working of God. But my prayer is that my life won't be a series of small moments of seeing God's power, rather, that I will see God working in BIG ways, in incredible ways, ways that I couldn't have imagined. Ephesians says:
"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms." Eph 1:18-20
The same God that raised Christ from the dead is that God who is present right now. The God who did this great work, is the same God who can do the same today. We just don't expect as much. In 1 Corinthians 4:20, it says "The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power", and in my Bible, I have written beside this verse 'Let's see the power then!' This is what I want, I want this trip I'm just embarking on to be a time when I experience God power in it's fullness, not just in these small, seemingly insignificant things, but in the BIG things. The things I read about in the Bible and wonder if they could ever really happen to me.
Let's see the power.
So far, this journey has been nothing if not hassle free...a few moments have even had me rejoicing in the goodness of our God. Sometimes, the little things in life that could seem like coincidences are the places that I like to see God working...a few examples of which I've seen in the last few hours!
My bag is pretty full for my trip over here, I'm taking a few extra things which means that I don't actually have a lot of room for my own stuff! On top of the necessities for an African adventure, I have a guitar and a kids play parachute (the latter of which is taking up no less than HALF of my rucksack). The flight from Belfast to Heathrow had a baggage allowance of 20kg, and despite my best efforts a month ago to try and convince them to give us a little bit more, this was where our allowance stayed. The unfortunate thing was that they told me my guitar also had to be taken into account in this 20kg allowance, and it weighs about 8kg alone.
Now, when i weighed these two items last night, they came out at around 25kg total, and after adding a few things to the bag this morning, I just decided not to weigh it again for fear of actually knowing how overweight I was going to be.
Amazingly, on arriving at the airport today, the girl at the check in desk weighed my bag and sent it through and didn't give a second glance at the guitar before waving it through too. She didn't weigh my guitar and add it on to the amount, which saved me about £50! (It's £7 extra for any extra kilogram you have in your luggage)
Then, I got to Heathrow, and, as I said, no seats... I just came into this internet point, intending on spending £2 for 2o minutes of internet (pricey!) I went up to a machine, which proceeded to eat my £2.... Then I realised that someone had already put in £6 and then left. I only had to add another £2 into the machine for it to give me a voucher for 120 minutes of internet (which guarantees me, not only internet until i check in...but a seat too! :D)
These things are small. These are small moments in a day that it's easy to miss, when it's easy to miss the working of God. But my prayer is that my life won't be a series of small moments of seeing God's power, rather, that I will see God working in BIG ways, in incredible ways, ways that I couldn't have imagined. Ephesians says:
"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms." Eph 1:18-20
The same God that raised Christ from the dead is that God who is present right now. The God who did this great work, is the same God who can do the same today. We just don't expect as much. In 1 Corinthians 4:20, it says "The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power", and in my Bible, I have written beside this verse 'Let's see the power then!' This is what I want, I want this trip I'm just embarking on to be a time when I experience God power in it's fullness, not just in these small, seemingly insignificant things, but in the BIG things. The things I read about in the Bible and wonder if they could ever really happen to me.
Let's see the power.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Is that a veil or a mosquito net?!
Although they may look somewhat similar, these two things are obviously used for very different things, and yet both have played a part in my last few days! Yesterday was my sister Gemma's (or, the now "Mrs Bingham's"!) wedding. It was an incredible day, the service was lovely and everything for the rest of the day went without a hitch! A great day was had by everyone who came I think! Here's just a few photos of the day:
And, so, that's where the mosquito net comes in! I stayed behind here in Northern Ireland so I could be at this wedding, and so, now that it's over, I'm pulling my rucksack onto my back at lunchtime tomorrow and starting off on a pretty long trip to Mid-Africa (a journey that will see me touching ground in the following places in a period of about 36 hours.... Belfast-London-Uganda-Ethiopia-Rwanda and then the following day, a 9-hour bus trip to Burundi!) So, needless to say I've stocked up on some good books and music to keep me busy on this journey!
I can't believe that I'm actually going now! Seeing the teams off at the airport nearly two weeks ago was one thing, it seemed a little unreal then, like it wasn't really happening, and yet now, here I stand about to head off....and this time, it's me....and it's for real!
As I sit here on this blustery April afternoon, snow is falling outside my house! It seems unreal to me that this time in two days I will be standing in 30 degree heat in the middle of Africa.
I've been talking to Erin, the DTS school leader about this sort of thing recently. Something I hear a lot is that people fight again Christianity or becoming a Christian because they think their lives are going to be boring.... Honestly, I can't imagine living a more exciting life than the one I lead right now! Not that this is the reason why I believe what I believe, but it certainly doesn't stand against it!
I've been realising the honour that it is for me to be able to serve God in this way. The honour that it is for me to be called by Him to this place for this time. And yet, the responsibility of such a privilege also lays heavy on me.
Please pray for me as I leave this city tomorrow, that I would be able to be ever increasingly appreciative and thankful for the honour that it is to serve God in this exciting life.
And if you think about them, lift up a prayer (and a glass?!) for the newly married Chris & Gemma!
And, so, that's where the mosquito net comes in! I stayed behind here in Northern Ireland so I could be at this wedding, and so, now that it's over, I'm pulling my rucksack onto my back at lunchtime tomorrow and starting off on a pretty long trip to Mid-Africa (a journey that will see me touching ground in the following places in a period of about 36 hours.... Belfast-London-Uganda-Ethiopia-Rwanda and then the following day, a 9-hour bus trip to Burundi!) So, needless to say I've stocked up on some good books and music to keep me busy on this journey!
I can't believe that I'm actually going now! Seeing the teams off at the airport nearly two weeks ago was one thing, it seemed a little unreal then, like it wasn't really happening, and yet now, here I stand about to head off....and this time, it's me....and it's for real!
As I sit here on this blustery April afternoon, snow is falling outside my house! It seems unreal to me that this time in two days I will be standing in 30 degree heat in the middle of Africa.
What a crazy life!
I've been talking to Erin, the DTS school leader about this sort of thing recently. Something I hear a lot is that people fight again Christianity or becoming a Christian because they think their lives are going to be boring.... Honestly, I can't imagine living a more exciting life than the one I lead right now! Not that this is the reason why I believe what I believe, but it certainly doesn't stand against it!
I've been realising the honour that it is for me to be able to serve God in this way. The honour that it is for me to be called by Him to this place for this time. And yet, the responsibility of such a privilege also lays heavy on me.
Please pray for me as I leave this city tomorrow, that I would be able to be ever increasingly appreciative and thankful for the honour that it is to serve God in this exciting life.
And if you think about them, lift up a prayer (and a glass?!) for the newly married Chris & Gemma!
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