Lights! Water!! Internet!!! All in One Day!!!!

After MANY hours without water and electricity we are happy as larks today to have both, plus the internet working!! It surely reminds me of how much I take such luxuries for granted in the good ole u.s. of a. And besides that, it's been a bit cloudy most of the day, thus cooler with lots of breeze. Refreshing!!

Until Wednesday evening we had been nearly 2 weeks without elecricity more than having it on; Wednesday was the Hope Africa University Day of Prayer with hundreds of students and many staff attending the 4 hour service. What beautiful worship and praise in Swahili, French, Kirundi and Enlgish. I tell you, they can switch from one language to another with utmost ease and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit is sensed in whatever language we praise in.

The Rector (University President) challenged us with many specific prayer requests for HAU including getting the Voice of Hope Radio station back on the air and getting government permission to secure plans to erect an antenna an hour up the mountain to facilitate the station being heard all over Burundi. The very next day there were reports of 4 specific requests having been answered!!
Electricity returned at 6 that evening and has been on about 2/3 of the time since. PTL and keep praying!!

Wayne 'n I had a delightful time of fellowship with our friend, Deogratias, out on the beach of Lake Tanganyika while enjoying the breezes and the view of the lake beneath the shade of a nice gazebo. It's refreshing to get off campus and take time for a lengthy, and long overdue visit. His family is doing well with the two older girls both studying at HAU. Many of you at Spring Arbor and former missionaries know Deo. He sends you his greetings :)

Well, as enjoyable as this visit is, there are papers to grade and lessons to prepare for next week's classes, so will sign off, hoping to hear from you, soon!!

BITS AND PIECES FROM HOPE AFRICA UNIVERSITY

Beautiful Balmy Bujumbura Burundi is becoming a bit of an endurance test as the electricity is off more than it is on for the second week running. Yup, it's a bonafide complaint living without use of our electric 'fridge and no fans to, at least circulate the very warm air. Over the weekend we fled the city to the cool and quiet of Kibuye two and half hours into the mountains. Oh, how awesome if the university were there!!

On the brighter side: classes are in full swing here at Hope Africa University in the 2nd and last semester of their school year. Seems different to have graduation in December, but it works for them! As always, it is delightful to teach students who are eager to learn. Our classes are in motion and we're looking to see where we can add some time for tutoring to encourage and strengthen speaking skills for students struggling with French while others struggle with English. Pretty amazing that they'll graduate with fluency in both languages! Of course, many students come to HAU with fluency in 3 and 4 languages!

This is my first blog and I'm looking to learn how to post photos....more later.