Saturday, Feb 16, 2019 

The temperature is typically in the high 20’s to low 30’s C (mid 70’s to low 80’s F) in Bujumbura during the day and in the mid 20’s C ( low 70’s ) at night and it can be a bit humid.   If you don’t have a breeze can be a bit ‘sticky’.

It was a warm night, however we were so tired that most of us slept soundly. The night was very quite and we were woken up at 5 am by the morning ‘ call to prayer ‘ from the local Mosque and soon afterwards we could hear the chatter from the birds as they began to become active.  We read our morning devotions and at 7:30 am we went to the breakfast area of the complex ( the Swedish Mission ) where we were staying for some coffee, bread, bananas and omelettes.

At 9:00 am, Doug arrived at the complex with Tyler Schulz, who has been helping in Burundi and we headed up to the Overlook Hotel which is situated on the crest of a high point in Bujumbura.   The view from the Hotel was spectacular.  

While we were there, Doug let us in a study of Daniel 6 & 9 after which we took some time to reflect on the story of Daniel and its application in our lives, followed by time in prayer, particularly for Burundi, the Congo and the work being done there.

At 12 pm we drove to a local restaurant and had a wonderful meal before heading back to Doug and Deanna’s house.   

After a short rest we walked to the local market for challenge shopping.   We were divided into two teams, one led by Jeff and one led by Michele.   Each team was given a list of items to buy and their quantities.  The challenge was that everything was written in Kirundi and the teams had to barter for the items on the list.   Each team would be judged according to accuracy of the purchase, the price we paid and the amount of time it took to buy the items.   As soon as we arrived at the market, we attracted a lot of attention and locals got a good hour’s worth of entertainment at our expense.

Having procured the items we needed, we walked back to the house and started preparations for the evening’s festivities.  Travis, Tyler, Sherry Schulz and their daughters , Nathalie, Jillian and Lauren joined us for an evening of socialization.  Before eating, we split up into 4 teams to play outdoor Dutch Blitz.

 

After we ate, after which we had a short celebration for Avery’s birthday.

 

Doug drove us back to the Swedish Mission where we spent a little time reviewing the day as a group before we went to bed.