Again we had a special reunion with one of our new missionaries. Sister Emelyne Kwizera is the first sister missionary from Burundi. We knew her in the branch in Bujumbura during our first mission. Three years ago when we first met she talked about wanting to serve a mission. Her road to this day has been long. She was born in a village outside of Bujumbura. Her father was killed during the Hutu Tutsi war, and her family sent her to Kenya for protection. Many Burundians sent their families to distant countries to escape the genocide. She grew up in Kenya and decided to return to see her mother and other family members about the time we arrived in Burundi. Her mother was in the village, which was too far from the city to allow here to go to school or find work. So, she lived with an uncle in Bujumbura. Having joined the church in Kenya she was thrilled to see that the church had come to Bujumbura, but her family members were not so happy about it. They made her choose between a home with them and the church. She chose the church and the Malabi family took her in as a member of their family. She completed her mission papers more than 6 months ago, with President Malabi interviewing her and submitting her papers. (On a side note, because of the difficulty of getting passports and visas and processing and delivering calls in DRC, missionaries often wait a long time to be able to serve. I asked two of the new elders how long it had been for them. For one it took 15 months. The other said 8 months.) When Frere Malabi was arrested and imprisoned, his family moved to Dar es Salaam and Emelyne went with them.
We're so thrilled that we get to spend a transfer with Emelyne in our mission.
In her initial interview on Thursday Brent talked to her about the love and support given to her by the Malabi family. He asked her if she knew that Frere Malabi was still in Kinshasa. She said that she knew that he was in Kinshasa and was in prison. Then she began to weep openly.
What a joy it was for Brent to tell her that he is now a free man and is still in Kinshasa trying to get documents to join his family on Tuesday.
Friday after our day of meetings with new missionaries and just as she was about to leave the mission office to go to her first assignment, Frere Malabi arrived. It was a tender and joyous reunion of "father" and "daughter" as they saw each other again for the first time in many months.
We are privileged to experience some most unique and tender moments with saints in the mission field.
Emelyne has faced many unimaginable challenges in her life and has more to come. She speaks only Kirundi and English. She will have to learn French and Lingala on the job, as a missionary. I offered her encouragement and promised her that if she did her best, the Lord would help her to do more than she ever imagined. I could speak from experience about his bestowal of the gift of tongues. I reminded her that she has done many hard things in her life and conquered all. She smiled knowingly and told me that yesterday she spoke in English with her companion, who has good English, but they had agreed that today she starts speaking French! What a great young lady!
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