A.W.R. …Another Wild Ride!
I have finally returned from our September trip to Burundi, and it was A.W.R. (another wild ride).
CYBER-ATTACK.
As you may have heard, I was caught in an airport cyberattack and couldn't get home due to a series of cancelled and delayed flights. After a couple of delayed flights, I finally ended up on an unscheduled trip to London, and then promptly got stuck there overnight. After all the kinetic madness, I found myself totally exhausted with my back locked up in an airport filled with angry humans. I thought I'd never get home again, but I finally limped in my front door after two-plus days of weary globe-trotting.
I'm resting comfortably at home, catching up on tasks and recuperating. I leave again in about three weeks for Cambodia, so I'm hoping to rest up fully and quickly. After I finish typing this letter and attend a Cambodia planning meeting, the Dodger game will be on TV, so there's a tiny happy SportsSabbath on the horizon, Lol! Go Blue.
BURUNDI FOR THE WIN!
The real wild ride, though, was our time in Burundi. It was a fantastic adventure with Jesus! 3 days of lost luggage on arrival, bone-jarring dirt roads, big juicy roaches… that bite you, daily power-outs, Muslim Imams drowning out our teaching with their LOUDspeakers, icky-sticky humid heat day and night, and a crazy cyberattack, all with God's Grace coating it all in a sweet sauce. Jesus wins!
As you are aware, we are now conducting classes in two different locations in Burundi. We had 75 students between the two cohorts. The students were excellent: needy, engaged, participatory, grateful, and ready to put their learning into action in their ministries!
Even better than that was the wild advancement of our leaders, some of whom have graduated from our first training cohort and are now co-leading with us and translating for us. It's wonderful seeing the transfer of authority and leadership to local folks. Steve Nkunzimana, whom you met in my last letter, was with me, ministering and learning, for the entire two weeks! He’s on fire!
Bujumbura Students
Rumonge Students
See it in Technicolor!
Check out some pics and videos at my website.
GOOD STORY:
While we were in Bujumbura, one of the ministries of the church that we work with was celebrating 10 years of launching micro-businesses for impoverished women in the city. Many of the ladies are Muslim. They come, receive a small loan, participate in discipleship, help with business needs, and build relationships with believers. It's incredible, 11,000 businesses have been started in the last ten years, and 500 women showed up to the celebration! God is doing extraordinary things in Africa; it's so good to join Him there, equip leaders, and add fuel to their fire. Thank you for impacting Burundi!
Celebration with 500 Women in the Microbusiness Program
GUT STORY:
Thank you for praying for my chronic gut health issue. I experienced only three days of relatively minor stomach problems during this trip, which is an incredible improvement. Please be praying that this continues next month in Cambodia!
CAMBODIA NEXT!
Cambodia will be a wild ride, too. We'll be packed tight into cars, driving and ministering all over the country again. We'll be launching three new training programs in two new regions, in addition to hosting four one-day pastor conferences between the three main locations. We'll be on Mr. Toad's wild ride again, driving all over Cambodia in an exciting adventure. Pray for safety on the road, along with effective ministry.
Pray that the ceasefire with Thailand holds and war doesn’t restart, which could hamper the work and further displace and harm the people. We leave on Halloween and return on November 21st, in time for Thanksgiving with my beautiful wife! Prayer is needed for all the things you know!
CHURCH PLANTING!
Since Jesus tells us The Harvest is Ripe, I'm writing a brand-new course on Church Planting, which I will field-test next month in Cambodia. Pray with me that God will use this new training material to encourage and equip existing churches in Africa and Asia to launch new church plants and planters.
YEAR-END ‘25
Thank you for your support of this year's ministry. Jesus has shown Himself large as a direct result. As the year draws to a close, I'm prayerfully seeking God's provision of the necessary resources to fulfill 2026 ministry plans. Would you begin to prayerfully consider a special year-end gift, beyond your current giving, to fuel the way forward into 2026? I'll write again on this as we approach the end of this year. Pray with me for God's provision.
God is doing great things; thank you for being a part of His plan.
- Chuckk
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