Burundi Bound-update!

So the four of us will be flying to Burundi for a 6 week stay in Jan/Feb. I am sooo excited to go! You can see Burundi is just south of Rwanda. It's a tiny little country.


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We will be flying into Bujumbura and driving to Kibuye. I couldn't find it on google maps. It's located at 6000 feet in rural Burundi.

I love to travel and see the world. I guess it's in my blood. Thanks, Dad! I grew up seeing his slideshow of the 8,000 mile bike trip (a ROAD bike in 1975!)- from Detroit, MI to LA Paz, Bolivia- so it's been a part of who I am-
David and I had hoped to have a 2nd child that would be a year old -to get required vaccinations for this trip- and Clayton was born 6 days before the estimated deadline of "end of December 2009". Seriously. It really did work out that way.
So here we are- 2.5 months before departure- trying to plan it all out. It will be about a 25 hour flight journey- so this could get really interesting. :) I'll definitely have to blog!

Anyway, here's our support letter- and we'd love for you to join us on this journey in whatever capacity- excitement, prayer, funds- we welcome it all!


Dear Friends and Family,

As most of you already know, we are headed to Africa this winter. We will be spending 6 weeks in Kibuye, Burundi. This is a trip we have been planning for several years. I am currently in my 4th year of medical school. There is a shortage of medical professionals at Kibuye Hospital and in Burundi as a whole. So I will be working with the doctors there to bring quality medical care to the patients. Adrienne will be taking care of Bentley and Clayton, and helping out in whatever way she can with the children’s program run by World Relief. In addition, this trip hopefully will give us broader exposure to the medical needs in poorer areas in the world to enable us to see what role we can play in bringing medical care to people in need.

I will be working at Kibuye Hospital, an 82 bed general hospital in a population area of 250,000 people. There are 10 health centers that refer to Kibuye and have radio contact with the hospital for service by the ambulance. Hope Africa University (HAU) in Bujumbura has established a Health Sciences division for training nurses and doctors. Kibuye Hospital is one of three teaching hospitals for the HAU medical school. In addition to general medical services, Kibuye Hospital has a program of outreach into the community to help the handicapped (particularly the blind); a child survival program run by World Relief; and a small factory that produces a high protein cereal to prevent and treat malnutrition.

We would like to invite you to partner with us in this trip. We need your prayer. It is not going to be an easy trip. I will be working long hours at the hospital. It will be our first long international trip with the boys. Would you join us in prayer? Pray that God uses this trip to help us to define the role that foreign missions will have in our lives going forward. Pray that God uses us to meet needs in Burundi, that we can be of service to the people and the mission there. Pray that we advance the cause of Christ by our service in Burundi. Pray for health and safety--Burundi is not an especially safe country to visit. Pray for the people of Burundi, that the work of Christ would be done among them.

In addition, we would like to invite you, to join us in funding this trip. Travel to Africa is not especially cheap which is one reason we have elected to go for six weeks instead of 3-4 weeks. We would also like to be able to leave a financial gift with the hospital when we leave to fund further operations there.

Love
David and Adrienne
and Bentley and Clayton

If you would like to donate, please send a check made out to FMWM (Free Methodist World Missions) with Crawford-Africa in the Memo line to:
VISA Ministries
Attn: Alison
PO Box 535002
Indianapolis, IN 46253

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