Hopes and Fears

Three months have gone by, six cars have been driven, four guitar strings have been replaced, and an unholy amount of pineapples have been eaten. Burundi life so far has been an adventure.

Having said that, where on earth has it all gone? It seems like yesterday that I was apprehensively boarding a plane, spending the flight grumpy because this time I didn’t get any complimentary peanuts. Time has quite literally flown by, and now I get the chance to worry about returning to England.

For those who haven’t twigged yet, when I go back on the 29^th December, I’m going back by my lonesome, which is an adventure in itself, but a bit of a challenge considering I have 8 months to raise £4,000+. To fill in, I’m doing the worship track of The Message Trust’s ‘Genetik Course’ up in sunny Manchester, starting in September 2013. Your prayers and support would be hugely appreciated as I get going!

How are things going?

It’s been a fairly chilled out couple of weeks, but I’ve still got stuff to blog about. My guitar students, for example, have been making huge progress, and all are now managing to play a couple of songs each. Not bad going for about 10 lessons right? I’m still gutted to be leaving them at such a critical stage though, and will be praying and trusting them to carry on learning on their own, like I did!

I’ve suddenly realised that I have at least 5 great children’s songs that I haven’t yet taught to the TKS junior school, so have begun to rectify that at pace. The song that went down the best the other day was previously one of my least favourites – ‘Touch a finger, touch a thumb... every bit of you is special.’ But they loved it! The only slight issue is that I’m not sure how the tune goes, but it sounds alright my way. Good thing the children are fast learners, because there’s no mercy now, they are going to learn the rest of these songs!

Finally managed to take a trip to the central market the other day with a friendly Burundian who didn’t speak any English or French, so when I tried my very best to explain that I wanted to go and look at a particular T-Shirt again, we ended up leaving. Oh well, I ended up with a pair of very fake Barcelona shorts for the gym, which I managed to haggle down from 30,000fb (about £15) to 7,000 (about £3.50). They really do think we muzungus are chumps.

I was gutted when, on the same day, we visited the local music shop and I grabbed some Mexican Fender strings, which I’m still convinced are genuine. However, genuine though they may be, there were only five in the packet when I got home. Perhaps I AM a muzungu chump.

What’s not going so well?

There are so many things we can thank God for, because every minute here is proving a valuable experience. However, there are always things to struggle with. After one particular challenge I faced a couple of weeks ago, where the Dad of a new friend I’d made suddenly died of Malaria, causing the family to move back to America and destroying a potential friendship, I messaged someone in England expressing my anger and confusion. He reminded me that when you go to do great things for Jesus in places like Africa, or anywhere for that matter, the devil makes it really, really hard for you. That reminded me that we as missionaries and as Christians really are on the front line. That’s why we have the armour of God. Just going to share the verses I was given, because they were extremely encouraging for anyone who’s going through one of those situations where we feel completely abandoned:

If I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. – Job 23: 8-10

I know an incredible song which says a similar thing, too:

Even if the healing doesn’t come,
Life falls apart, and dreams are still undone,
You are God, You are good, forever faithful One.
Even if the healing doesn’t come. – Kutless – Even If

On a less critical note, I’ve got a dodgy back, probably caused by a gym trip, which wasn’t clever. Please do pray for it, because leaning over kids to work their computers is a big part of my job! The gym’s been pretty good otherwise, and I’m really feeling the effects. I can no longer fit my thumb and forefinger round my bicep, for example.

I’m hoping I can say this without accidentally bigging myself up, but please pray for the family as they get ready for me leaving. The younger two don’t really know what’s going on, but Mum in particular is struggling with the fact that she won’t see me in 8 months. I keep reminding her that it’d be similar if I was just heading off to uni, but I suppose in that case I’d still be in the same country. The number of people telling me to stay is really racking up, as my guitar students’ parents start to face the reality that I’m leaving and the school starts to wonder who will teach ICT and sing!

Summing Up

I’m honestly very excited about my return to the UK, if a little worried about one thing: Today I e-mailed the manager of Crowborough’s Waitrose – the one employer who seemed interesting in my advanced application. When he told me to contact him in December, I knew I’d be e-mailing him on the first of the month! Please pray into the situation, I guarantee that I’ll start to worry if this opportunity falls through. But God has a better plan than me. Must remember that.

There are so many things I still need to do in my final 28 days here. I need to check out the dodgy shop in town which sold Dad some fake, but apparently decent quality Beats headphones for about £12. I missed an opportunity yesterday to visit the waterfalls of Burundi, which I’m now desperate to do before I leave, and I need to complete Farm Frenzy 2 on one of the ICT computers, or my classes might lose all respect for me.

Let me leave you with another set of song lyrics which have encouraged me recently, the second set in this blog. Aren’t you lucky!

How many times have You found me wandering
In the rubble of yesterday’s hope?
Weighed down with burdens, barely standing, but
I am desperate to see You again,
To see You again.

I’m running into Your arms of grace,
With no reason to hide away,
It’s not the first time I’ve been in this place,
I’m coming home again.
I’m welcomed home again. – Beth Croft – Arms of Grace

God will always welcome us home when we turn to Him, realising that we’re sinners desperate for His love. Bless you.

Twitter - @andywisdom141