Prayer = Breakthrough

We are at the end of our first month in Burundi.....it's been a great month! We can not believe how quickly time has flown and how we are adjusting to living in this complex but beautiful country. We want to tell you about some of the things we are most enjoying in working for Burundi Youth for Christ and living in Gitega.......

JEAN PAUL

Jean Paul

Jean Paul is the leader of the Gitega site regarding Burundi YFC's work. We do not think we will be able to describe him in a light that truly does his amazing character justice. He is so hardworking, often doing things behind the scenes, expecting no recognition. He is welcoming to volunteers from all over the World, always keen to inspire and help them make the most of their time working here. He has a very gentle spirits that guides people in their destinies. Humility just does not begin to explain of how meek Jean Paul truly is but because of this he is a greater advocate for Burundi YFC and his passion does not seem to wain. Please pray for him. Pray for strength and protection and for a healthy newborn baby in these next two weeks, as his wife is due to give birth.

HOMES OF HOPE

Gitega is our home. We are currently living in one of the unoccupied Homes of Hope built to house orphans. We live amongst 40+ wonderful children, varying in ages from 2 years - 13 years. There characters are all so unique and they all show precious signs of becoming great, wise Burundian Leaders who confidently follow Jesus. We will tell you about a few of the orhans. Ornella is a girl aged approx. 10 years old. She has a very calming nature and a silent wisdom. What Ornella does not say can be expressed in the looks she gives. She is keen to learn and not afraid to be different if she feels another way is more Godly. Ornella is kind and considerate and we believe she understands more than anyone realises.

Then there is Divine who is a similar age to Ornella. We both have a soft spot for her. Divine gives awesome hugs and often comes to find us. Hannah sees a lot of her younger self in Divine. Divine is full of a Spirit and not afraid to speak her mind. However, she is quick to apologise when she knows she has done wrong. Divine loves to serve others, she cooked crepes with Andy accompanied by pineapple and banana fried in sugar and cinnamon. She was keen to learn a new dish and was very skilled at it. She also wanted to he Hannah with washing linen and showed her the Burundian way to hand wash. Divine's outspokenness could mean at times her heart is misunderstood but she is full of pure goodness.

Desiree (known as Desi) is a little fireball, who is about 5 years old.

Desi (Desiree) & Andy

He has a face that would make any heart melt. He is the definition of cheeky and has an endless supply of energy. 

Last week, Andy managed to acquire a chameleon from a Burundian colleague to give to Hannah as an early first wedding anniversary gift. She called him Iggy and he has become an attraction for the children, particularly Desi. Now there is something you should know about Desi before we continue. Burundian children are taught to fear/beat animals so where they lack games to play they often mutilate frogs and crickets for fun. Dogs are seen as lower than rats, so have things thrown at them and are kicked. At Homes of a Hope we are trying to challenge this mindset, by Regis (The orphans 'papa') getting 'Bobbie' a Burundian dog for the children to stroke and take on walks teaching them a different way. Iggy appears to have become part of this also, as Desi would have been the first to kill him originally, but through demonstration he now loves stroking Iggy and holding him. It is so lovely to see such a gorgeous child appreciating God's creation.

Outside Home of Hope this week we were able to take the opportunity to bless some of the local children in surrounding villages within Gitega with some items of clothing donated by people in the UK (you know who you are!). It was so special to see how grateful these children who were wearing tatters and their parents were to receive, to what you and I is such a small gift. 

SHAMMAH HEALTH CENTER

One brief medical story since our last blog.......the Health Center delivered its first health newborn baby.......a sweet little girl! It truly is breathtaking to witness a be involved in the birth of a baby. Hannah was able to tie the umbilical cord, which was so special and she said it was amazing watching how calm and confident Zenon was throughout the delivery.....he really is an excellent physician!

Shammah's first baby 

Most of our blog so far has been telling you about what is happening at Shammah, so you are fully aware of how God is performing amazing miracles. This week we got to meet and work with Dr. Tom from Texas who is supporting the work of Shammah and is an amazingly humble Doctor with an ability to give people hope despite their diagnosis. He was a great encouragement to us and someone we plan to stay in touch with in the near future. He is hopefully coming back to work at Shammah again in August, while Josh and Nadine are back in Canada, which has blessed us greatly because he is a delight to work with and will give us some confidence in managing Shammah in a way that is pleasing to a God in the absence of Josh and Nadine. We had worried about this time initially, as we want to be able to keep clinic going smoothly whilst it's leaders are not there, but we have come to realise this is God's training for us leading up to what we have been called to do in a Nairobi. What a great God we have that he has gone before us in preparing this opportunity.......

THE FUTURE...

To be honest we had been feeling very heavy laden these past two weeks, because our hearts felt divided between two places we love.....Gitega and Nairobi. We had been feeling in adequate and unsure of our purpose in Burundi, because everyone else appeared to have a clear calling to just Burundi. This was leading to angst in our marriage and a retreating from God, to the point that when Douglas and Sally some awesome Spirit filled leaders from the UK came to Burundi to refresh the work God is doing with visions, prophecies and prayer we found ourselves shying away, feeling that nothing God could say would change how we felt. Then just last night we had a small leaving party for Douglas and Sally and at the end of the gathering Douglas turned and said, "I don't feel we can leave until we have prayed for you two specifically", we could not run, we could not hide. God had us right where he wanted us. The prayers led to an encounter with the Holy Spirit, where affirmations and encouragement flowed........

"Hannah God has called you to bring joy and fun to places and he wants to fill you anew"

"Andy, you are a man who is gifted practically, relationally in Africa we are good, but practically we are weak, you will bless Africa with your skills"

"Hannah you have a mothering heart that will speak to the orphans here"

"Andy, your wife may do crazy things, but she is being called to do radical things, you haven't seen anything yet!"

"Andy stopping worrying your going to miss 'it', your going to know when it is here" and Hannah do not be fearful"

And finally....."Hannah and Andy you have been called to change a Nation(s), and this nation(s) will sense the blessing you carry". (We sense this to be Kenya and possibly the UK as well).

To say God put us in our place and told us our value in him would be an understatement. We thank God that he hears our hearts and meets us right where we are! We recognise that Burundi is immense training to equip us for Nairobi. We long to help Hellen fulfill her destiny of bringing Jesus and good healthcare to the citizens of Kenya - rich and poor! Hellen who we call "Black Mama" is a warrior for a Jesus, despite great personal hurt she pushes forward for the glory of Jesus' name. She is a woman who inspires us beyond what words could say!

We are excited that Grace Hart and Sam Bridges two amazing Paediatric a Nurses Hannah has worked with have already committed to coming and helping Hellen and us make Lina Medical Health Services everything God intended it to be. It is only through collaboration a God can use each of us to bring his work to fruition. Who ever you are and wherever you are reading this, please know we love you and are grateful for your support in every sense of the word!

Things we need to fundraise for at present are:

- A midwife for Shammah Health Center, so that we can start to manage complex deliveries. A midwife's wage for one year is approx $2000-3000. We know with your help this is an achievable goal that will help bring lots of healthy babies into the World.

- We still need to raise £700 to ship The Ambulance for Lina Medical Health Services to Nairobi in September 2014, this ambulance marks the beginning of a new chapter for the work Hellen is doing.

Before we finish, we want to share some exciting news with you.....Hellen wants to learn from Shammah Health Center how to run Lina Medical Services in a sustainable way, so is planning to send Jassy her daughter to Burundi for one week to learn strategies that they can start before our arrival in a Nairobi this September. Hellen is trying to finance the trip for Jassy herself, as she knows it will benefit the work God has called her to. If you would like to bless her in this endeavour or help us to fundraise with the other two needs then please email us personally at andy_faulkner@hotmail.com.

BLESSINGS,

Andy and Hannah xxx

'Iggy' the Chameleon