..FROM EVERY MOUNTAIN, AND FROM EVERY HILL

Jeremiah 16:16
 "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes in the rocks."

On August 3rd President Brent Thomas came to Bujumbura.  It was the first time we were able to meet him and his wife Carolyn.  They are from Calgary, Canada.  The saints here were so excited.
Transport was provided at Branch 2 and 3 so they could join us at Branch 1 for the Stake Conference-like meeting.  We don't have a district or a stake yet. The choir from Branch 2 sang and David played for them.

  August 5th we went to Uvira with the President, his wife and the Clawsons and Neeleys.  The people there were all gathered on a Tuesday to meet us. They treat us all like royalty.  While the President did some interviews, David taught piano and I did the chicken dance with the kids.

 This river scene in Uvira is always busy.

 Their main street offers a plethora of photo material.  The pictures would be better if we walked it, but the ride is crazy enough.

  A road grader came by and then they all rushed in to pick out the rocks.   Wish I knew why.  We assumed it was part of the road building process.

 Wednesday we were off to Bukavu, still in the Congo, but we took a road up through Burundi, crossed into Rwanda, and then into the Congo.  The trip was delayed in the morning by meetings, then the road was challenging so we were late arriving.  Sixty people waited 3 hours for us to get there.  They are an organized "group".  They want so much to be a branch so they can have consistent visits, manuals, and a place to meet.  President Thomas speaks beautiful French.  He spoke to them first and then opened it up to questions and answers and involved all of us in the answers.  

 The Orchid Hotel was four and a half stars, a very nice place on the lake.  I tried to get David's hand under the boat, but they were rowing way too fast.

 The walk to breakfast was a Thomas Kinkade picture perfect view.

The ride home was so much better.  It helped that we knew where we were going and we got an early start and that President Thomas drove so we could relax and see the sights.  

We started noticing lots of bicycles carrying hay on the road.  They seemed to be coming to a central place from both directions.  Then we saw them all together here.  

 

 This is a water point where people were gathered to fill their plastic containers.  There was a whole town of houses built by an NGO that were virtually uninhabited.  The people preferred their village.

 Burundi is known for it's coffee and tea exports.  The tea fields are a beautiful light green.

Back in Bujumbura, we stocked up on veggies at a local street market. 

I'm sure this is not the end of these trips.  They say there are 200 people waiting for baptism in Baraca which is south of Uvira.  It is very inaccessible.  Anyone have a large helicopter you would like to donate?

                  "From every mountain, and from every hill and out of the holes in the rocks."