Each week, Redeemer is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family for years who moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in September from Africa called "Well Sent". You can find more blogs from there personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor 

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One thing about our time in Burundi that I don’t feel like we have properly addressed yet is that fact that behind our family coming here are a great number of people back home who sent us.  We were sent in many ways and by many people.  And I am sure many of the people reading this blog are the same people who provided for us with financial donations, prayers and words of encouragement as well as support in many other ways.  Here are some of the ways in which we were “well sent”.

1. Many people donated generous financial gifts to help our family with the cost of airfare, visas, malaria meds and countless other pieces of this trip.  We are deeply grateful for all of your support.
2. My anesthesia group (Bellingham Anesthesia Associates) gave me the nine month sabbatical to make this trip a reality.  Our CEO also worked on many pieces required for this trip to come to fruition, including health insurance, credentialing paperwork and malpractice insurance issues.
3. Our children’s teachers in Bellingham were generous with their time in helping prepare our family for this time and specifically for helping Stephanie prepare to enter the world of homeschooling.
4. My band back in Bellingham “Runaway Truck Ramp” hosted a surprise party/fundraiser for the hospital here in Kibuye.  It was such a wonderful time with friends from work and our local church attending and giving generously toward the Kibuye hospital expansion project (https://www.whm.org/project/details?ID=19170)
5. The staff at the hospital where I work  threw another party two nights before we left for Burundi and took up a collection for our trip.  Again, we felt so deeply loved by the thought and effort that went into these two parties.
6. The hospital where I work also donated many supplies which I was able to bring with me to use in our work here.  We have already started using the ear tubes!
7. Our friend Ethan volunteered his time and skills as a real estate agent to help us rent our house while we are away.
8. As we were driving toward the airport on our way to Burundi, our dear friend Kim stood with her son Harper on the overpass by our house with a giant sign saying “We love you to Burundi and back!”.  
9. My parents have provided much support for us in many ways, one of which was allowing us to move in with them for the six weeks prior to our departure while our house was being rented.  
10. We have received many e-mails, phone calls and other personal messages of support and encouragement in the weeks and months leading up to our departure.
11. The week before we left, the elders of our local church (Redeemer) had a going away party for us.
12. And on our final Sunday in Bellingham, our church family (Redeemer Church) gathered around us, laid their hands on us and prayed for our family and for God’s work in Burundi. (redeemernw.org)

There are many other ways we were blessed by our friends and family and we want to again say, thank you, thank you, thank you.  We truly feel loved.

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers .... Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:16,18)

Each week, Redeemer is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family for years who moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in September from Africa called "Réanimation". You can find more blogs from there personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor

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Soon after we arrived in Burundi, I was informed by the dean of the medical school that I am a “Réanimationist”.  I am still not sure exactly what a Réanimationist is, but I have to admit, the title is pretty cool.  In fact, I am considering having business cards and T shirts made up.  Greg Sund,Réanimationist, MD.  

As to what the practice of reanimation involves, the answers I have received have been mixed.  As I now understand it, it does NOT involve copying cartoon characters.  And I am not in fact expected to bring dead people back to life.  And after some clarification, it turns out that I am not expected to give the power of vision to children who have gone blind from meningitis (yes, I was asked to consult on a patient for this very reason).  

From what I now understand, it involves a combination of anesthesia and critical care medicine, with an emphasis on resuscitation.  The reason my new title is important is because all medical students in Burundi are required to rotate through one month of “Reanimation”.  Given that the medical school here has no reanimationist, this requirement has gone unable to be fulfilled for many of the medical students (apparently, there are 3 or 4 “Reanimationists” in the country, but they do not have enough availability to get all of the medical students through this rotation).

So, I was asked if, during my time here, I would lead a monthly Reanimation rotation, with 6 students each month, in the hopes of getting 30 or 40 students through this requirement while I am in Burundi.  I said yes, and this past week, we began.  

Mercifully, they chose 6 of their best English speakers to ease me into this new role.  Our schedule involves 2 lectures each week, mornings in the O.R. learning about anesthesia, then spending 3 afternoons each week rounding on critically ill patients, which we are asked to consult on by various services (Peds, Internal Medicine, Surgery).  To be certain, this afternoon portion is a role I am far removed from back in the U.S.  I did 3 months of critical care rotations during my residency, but since then, the only time I am invited into the ICU is when someone needs to be intubated or needs an invasive line.  So, I am hitting the books, and trying to dredge up all those critical care memories that have been suppressed for years.

The first week has gone surprisingly well.  And I have actually found myself enjoying my time on rounds.  There are plenty of moments that involve me stepping out of my comfort zone (eg. rounding on a patient in isolation with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis).  But the students are wonderful.  They are diligent, and compassionate, and they are learning so much with so few resources (no ipads, no computers, and the only books they read are a handful of medical books in English which are kept at the hospital … then they are required to present all this information in French).  

So, the next time you are feeling less than animated … feel free to call me … Greg Sund, Réanimationist ….. MD.

Each week, Redeemer is going to post 2 blog posts each week from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family for years who moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes have lived in Burundi for the last 8 months and we wanted you to be up-to-date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's blog post in September from Africa called "Slow Of Speech". You can find more blogs from there personal blog here > Beyond Our Backdoor

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There is a lot I could write about my work at the hospital, but I suppose I will start with an answer to the question, “what has been the most difficult thing about serving in Burundi?”.  For me, the answer has been language.  The language of Burundi is called Kirundi.  It is in the same group of languages as Swahili.  The language used in business and politics (and healthcare education) is French.  Very few people speak any English at all.  This was not a surprise to me, and I spent a considerable amount of time before we came here preparing for this by studying French independently.  However, while it was easy to find computer based resources for studying French, it proved very difficult to find any native French speakers in Bellingham to practice with.  Add to this my aging 40 year old brain, which is not nearly as spongy as it used to be.    

So, what is it like for me to teach anesthesia to medical students and anesthetists in French?  Imagine teaching a discipline which took 12 years of higher education to learn, but with the vocabulary of a 4 year old.  It is hard.  It is exhausting.  It is often painful.  It is probably even more painful for them to listen to me than it is for me to struggle with every word.  But they have been gracious.  And I am encouraged by the other missionaries I am working with, most of whom spoke little or no French 2 years ago, and now are able to converse with great fluency, using complex medical terminology.  

Compounding this difficulty is the fact that most of the patients speak no French at all, only Kirundi.  As it turns out, there are almost no resources to learn Kirundi outside of Burundi.  So, I came with a handful of greetings and basic words (eg. water, coffee, chicken), but other than that, I’ve got nothing.  Thankfully, we now have a Kirundi language tutor to meet with us once a week to help us get at least a basic framework for communicating with the locals. However, I had my first lesson today, and my tutor’s parting words of encouragement to me were, “with you, I don’t know if I will succeed”.  I am hoping something was lost in translation.

In all this, I am comforted by the biblical account of Moses, who was self-described as “slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10).  And God’s response?  “go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak”.  I know that I cannot succeed in this based on my own ability to learn French and Kirundi, so, I go with the hope that God is with me and can use me even with my stumbling tongue.

Each week, Redeemer is going to start posting weekly blog posts from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family for years who moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes moved to Burundi for the last 7 months and we the people of Redeemer to be up to date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa.

Below is the Sund's latest blog post from Africa called "Why We Go".

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The excerpt below is from a book that has become very dear to me.  It is a book of puritan prayers, titled, The Valley of Vision.  Most of my mornings I start by reading over one of these short prayers.  These prayers are a daily reminder to me of the depth of my depravity at the same time reminding me of the grandeur of God's glory and goodness.  On my best day I am prone to forget these two great truths ... on my worst day I am prone to invert them.  

When Stephanie and I made the decision to take our family to Burundi to serve for 9 months, one question I thought I would often be posed with was, "Why are you going?".  As it turns out, very few people have actually asked me this question.  But I feel like it is an important one to answer, whether people are asking or not.  So, although our intention is to primarily use this blog to keep our family and friends updated on what we are doing while in Burundi and to share stories from there, I feel I need to start by trying to answer the question of why we are going.

The truth is that our motives are mixed, and some of these motives are entirely selfish.  Stephanie and I both love to travel, we love an adventure, we want our kids to gain a larger worldview.  But buried under all these selfish motives, is one motive that we hope is pure, and that really has very little to do with us, and that motive is our faith in a God who would love us enough to pursue us and reconcile us to Himself through the humble and sacrificial servanthood of His Son, Jesus. 

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” - Mark 10:42-45

This is the paradox and the beauty of the Christian faith, that God Himself became meek and lowly to serve us, and to adopt us into His family.  That is why we go.  We go, because He came to us.  We serve, because He first served us. 

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;

hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

 Let me learn by paradox

that the way down is the way up,

that to be low is to be high,

that the broken heart is the healed heart,

that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,

that to have nothing is to possess all,

that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,

that to give is to receive,

that the valley is the place of vision.

Each week, Redeemer is going to start posting weekly blog posts from a dear family who has been a part of the Redeemer Church family for years who moved to Africa to do medical education for 9 months. The Sund Family, Greg, Stephanie, Ella, Biniyam, and Mekdes moved to Burundi for the last 7 months and we the people of Redeemer to be up to date on all that they are doing and all that is happening in Africa. In Greg's own words, he has shared below why they wanted to go.

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” - Mark 10:42-45

(Greg) This is the paradox and the beauty of the Christian faith, that God Himself became meek and lowly to serve us, and to adopt us into His family.  That is why we go.  We go, because He came to us.  We serve, because He first served us. 

Below is the Sund's latest blog post from Africa called "Walking With The Poor".

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“Poverty is about relationships that don’t work, that isolate, than abandon, or devalue.  Transformation must be about restoring relationships, just and right relationships with God, with self, with community, with the ‘other’ and with the environment.”

What is poverty?  One topic that has become of great interest to me since coming to Burundi is that of transformational development.  The above quote is from a book that I have begun reading called Walking With The Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development by Bryant L. Myers.  This book has helped me better understand the complexity of  poverty as well as the importance of approaching development work from a holistic perspective.  In addition to this, more and more I am realizing how confused my thinking about poverty has been and how much I still have to learn.  

Walking With The Poor starts with a brief history of the idea of development work, an idea that did not even come into existence until the mid 1900s.  While the idea of “charity” existed long before this, the idea of working towards development and poverty alleviation was not articulated until  more recently.  Even once this idea began to be discussed, for decades many considered poverty just in terms of material wealth.  Over the last 20 years, the discussion has shifted as our understanding of what poverty is has become more complex. 

The idea of poverty being about broken relationships has shifted the entire paradigm of development work, and I have seen how this shift in thinking is playing out here at Kibuye and among other development groups working in East Africa.  As an example, the long-term missionaries we are working with at Kibuye spent an entire year of language study before settling here.  They did this because they understood that one cannot develop meaningful relationships with people without understanding and speaking their own “heart language”.  They also have committed to being here for many years, because as well, relationships are not developed and nurtured over a few weeks but rather over months, years and decades.  While I have learned enough French to get by in the hospital and teach the points I think are important for my students, my fluency in French is far from being at the point where I can truly relate to the people I am working with (aside from the few who speak English).  And my Kirundi is almost nonexistent, which prohibits me from developing relationships with my patients, our guards and our house-helper (all people who I desperately want to know more deeply). 

I will confess that to my shame, my motivation for coming to Africa has often been because I want to rescue needy people.  The problem is, I am just as needy as the people I came to rescue.  And I am learning that, historically, it is the people and groups who have come with this very attitude who have done the most damage.  My thinking, my attitude, and my heart all need changing.

Another aspect of poverty that this book discusses, which was new to me, is the “poverty of the non-poor”.  While those living in poverty are often trapped in a web of lies about their own self-worth and value, the non-poor are often equally entrapped in a web of lies about the significance of their (our) wealth and material possessions, believing that it is our cars, homes and retirement savings that define us, and sometimes believing that because we possess these things, that our value and worth is greater than that of those without these possessions. As Brad Pitt said in Fight Club, “eventually, the things we own, begin to own us”. Sadly, this has often been (and still is) true of my own heart, and is often reflected in how I live.  Oh Brad Pitt, you are as wise as you are handsome.

This idea of poverty being about broken relationships also is a great reminder to me of the Gospel.  It was God who has done the ultimate work of restoring our broken relationship with Himself, by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to save, to redeem and to restore us to our Creator and Father, who loved us enough to not leave us in our impoverished condition.  This is for me, the ultimate motivation to continue in this labor.  This is the source of our drive, as well as the goal for which we strive.  May God receive the glory for His work.  

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not." - Dr. Seuss

photo credit: Overture ll via photopin (license)

Although I never met Ronnie, although he was not famous, although we lived thousands of miles apart, he had a significant impact on my life and my faith, and I felt compelled to write a few words about him.  Back in 2010 I saw a video of a sermon preached by a young man from an Acts 29 church in Texas.  It was not your typical sermon, but was rather a series of 47 portions of scripture put together, memorized and recited before the church by a man named Ronnie Smith.  Something about watching this 28 minute video moved me deeply.  I saw in what Ronnie had done, something genuinely beautiful.  And when you experience something you believe to be genuinely beautiful, you cannot help but to share it with others.

And so, I committed myself to memorizing this work, which Ronnie called “The History of Redemption”.  I must have watched this video 50 or 60 times.  And I must have talked about it so much, that pastor Rob eventually asked me to write a weekly blog post on each of these 47 sections of scripture for our church.  And so, over the course of 2011, that is what I did.  I invested countless hours in reading, listening to, memorizing and writing, all catalyzed by what Ronnie had done.  He was a young man, about my age, and I knew nothing else about him, except that he was a faithful servant of Christ who was a part of a church in Texas.  

Last week, Ronnie was murdered in Benghazi, Libya.  He was living there with his wife and young son, and was working as a chemistry teacher at the international school, and he was shot dead while jogging.  I believe that God called Ronnie and his wife to move to Benghazi, one of the most violent and broken cities on this planet, because He (God) loves those people.  And Ronnie and his wife went because they had been filled with a hope that extends into eternity and they desired to share this hope with those who have no hope.  Although I never met Ronnie, and I still know very little about him, I am quite sure that he understood they very real possibility of facing death in a place such as this.  And still he went, to love and to serve the people of Libya and to love and serve his God and Savior.  Ronnie paid the ultimate price for his obedience to Christ, and I am confident that in the moments following his death, he heard the voice of God Himself gently whispering in his ear, “well done, good and faithful servant”.

Although today we are saddened and grieve the loss of Ronnie, his life was not wasted.  And today, be sure of this, that Ronnie is not sad.  

I praise God for Ronnie’s life.  His was a life lived with absolute direction and purpose for the glory of God.   And as we have brothers and sisters in our church preparing to move to the Middle East, motivated by the same love that motivated Ronnie, this is a painful reminder to me, to not only encourage them and support them and pray for their fruitfulness, but also to pray for their safety, to pray daily, to pray without ceasing.  It is also a reminder to me that ultimately our hope is not in the length of our days or what we accomplish, but in a God who can and will use our lives to bring glory to Himself.  For He can use all things for good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose.  Ronnie’s life was a testimony to his love for God, and now our prayer is that God would use his death as a catalyst for the forwarding of the Gospel and the hope to which we cling.  This is a worthy cause.  There is no greater cause.  

Below is the video of Ronnie preaching “The History of Redemption”:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” - Psalm 116:15

photo credit: a7fadhomar via photopin cc