Jesus is alive healing and delivering people

Greetings from Bujumbura. I hope this finds you well and that you have a great celebration of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection this Easter. He is alive and He is working in power around the world!

Last month I had the privilege of spending 2 weeks working with a team of 12 from Flame International. (www.flameinternational.org) It was so encouraging to see God do deep works of healing in people’s lives. The team life was a great blessing too: with special fellowship and unity.

We spent a week each at 2 Anglican Dioceses: Buye and Matana doing a trauma healing conference, with 2/3 Anglican pastors, 1/3 other denominations ~ 100 pastors total.

I enjoyed teaching on belief systems and reconciliation and learnt a lt listening to the other talks. After 3 days of teaching, the delegates were put into groups of ~ 8, learnt prayer ministry skills and received personal ministry. God did more than we asked for could have imagined! One lady in leadership at Matana described how she had suffered so much during her life and felt her heart was all over the place but at the conference felt God had put her heart back together.

Later during the groups, something really beautiful happened. A Hutu pastor shared how he had suffered so much with many of his family being killed by Tutsis. A Tutsi pastor in his group told him he was so sorry for what had happened and asked him to forgive Tutsis. The Hutu guy then said he forgave Tutsis and asked the Tutsi guy to forgive Hutus for what they had done. He did and they then tearfully embraced each other.

Bernard, the Anglican Archbishop was blessed by the teaching and has agreed for Flame to return in November to go to Gitega and Makamba Dioceses and then next spring to Bujumbura and Muyinga Dioceses which will cover each of the 6 Anglican Dioceses. We are also planning follow-up and are meeting on Fri 9 April with him to discuss.

Training this month and a new camera

This month I’m spending more time developing trauma healing training materials. On 21-23, I’m co-leading a training in Kanyosha, Bujumbura (in the Church where I worship) for around 10 pastors from different denominations with my colleague Cyrille from Harvest for Christ.
Sadly last month my camera was knocked and fell on the floor, breaking the viewing panel. There is no other way of seeing what picture I’m taking so it is very difficult to take pictures which I could do with some more of before my talks this summer!! I would love to buy a new one if possible. I have a friend coming from UK in mid April who could bring it back if I order it. If you’d like to contribute to me buying a new one could you let me know how much you’d be able to give by 12th April so I can then order a new one? Thank you so much.

Prayer points:
- Pray for strength and anointing for me as I deliver training and prepare for future conferences until end May months, before returning to UK for 2 months.
- Continue praying for peaceful and fair elections as they approach – the first on 21 May.
- Praise that my brother, has now returned home safely from Afghanistan. Pray for him to adjust and as he prepares to marry on 5 June.

Last month I was in Kenya for a few days’ holiday which was really relaxing. I enjoyed spending time with Sheron G and seeing Hugh and Fikir G. Thanks again to lovely friends in Brockley.

Since returning, I have been doing quite a bit of preparation for the Flame conferences happening in March in Buye and Matana Anglican Dioceses and also working on trauma healing training materials. I had many topics I wanted to include but have been praying and asking God which ones are most important and have managed to cut them down to 15 which fits as 5 sessions / day for 3 days. (I hope to also do follow-up sessions perhaps a couple of months after each training.) I would love to produce anointed, easy to use and understand, materials – please pray.

I am currently writing a plan with training dates in 2010. This month I hope to continue the training preparation, Flame conference prep, as well as hopefully actually doing some training.

Last week I was honoured to have Steve & Lucy M to stay whilst they organised some things in Bujumbura. They’ve just moved to work in the north of Burundi to help disabled people. I also went to the Funeral of Mariko Ruratetereza, the father of Georgette B. Mariko was one of the early Christians in Burundi. The Anglicans, now celebrating their 75th anniversary year, came in 1935 and by 1940 Mariko had become a Christian and was involved in Christian ministry. He died aged 92, having served the Lord in many situations but also having suffered his first wife being killed in 1993.

Recently there have been some violent clashes between youths from 2 opposing political parties.

The price of training in Burundi

I would really like to ask your prayers for a breakthrough in the area of giving training in Burundi. There are some wonderful exceptions whereby you can find churches whose leaders are eager to learn and who will go to great length to facilitate training. However, mainly due to the actions of the UN and nongovernmental organisations, there has developed a culture in Burundi (and other developing countries) whereby people expect to receive a daily allowance (per diem), transport money (even if they walked or cycled!), food and possibly accommodation costs.

Very sadly this has infiltrated in the Church and Christian community here. It is easier to run training with an individual denomination but much harder interdenominationally. Many pastors receive little or no salary so these allowances have been a help but sadly there are now professional conference attendees. It is hard to assess the motivation of delegates when they are being paid to attend.

I have been invited to train in a number of places and I will have work but I would love to help more widely and just to see more relevant training of Church leaders. Please pray for change in this area!

Prayer points:

- Praise for a restful holiday, fresh joy and vision for 2010.
- Holy Spirit inspiration for the training materials and help as I start delivering them; for open doors.
- Smooth preparations for the Flame conferences; a mix of Anglican and other denominations, and God to prepare hearts.
- Peace esp. amongst the youth in Burundi.

I have been reflecting recently on sacrifice and what it means to say to God, “I will go anywhere and do anything”. It felt costly to come back to Burundi having enjoyed being amongst family, friends and Church in London. Yet I so want to be where I feel God wants me, embracing what He has for me in this season and releasing to Him all that I have left behind. One friend wrote recently that she has chosen to put on hold the possibility of marrying her long-term boyfriend so that she can pursue God’s call to Bible translation work. Wow. That is a hard call. Yet as CT Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him”. And He is faithful – thank you so much to those who have prayed – I feel I am starting to have some deeper friendships here.

I’m continuing with Kirundi study full time till the end of Dec then in Jan I will be preparing trauma healing training materials and from Feb onwards hopefully delivering training.

On 6-21 March, Flame Int. is leading 2 inner healing conferences in Buye and Matana. They are still looking for more team members so please be in touch if you are interested and I will give you more info.

My Church is having a bring and share lunch on the beach on Christmas Day which Olivia and I hope to attend. I pray that whatever you are doing you will have a very Happy and blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our wonderful Saviour. Thank you for all your generous praying and support this past year.

Faith under fire – Theo’s story

Theo is probably my best Burundian friend. We met back in 2002 in England at an MAM conference. He works with Rema Ministries as I do. Recently I’ve started to meet up and type his story. We’re hoping that a friend might be able to edit it and see if it can be published. Do pray for this!

Theo grew up very conscious of being oppressed as a Hutu and feeling that the Church reinforced this. He felt confused as the Jesus He knew and loved seemed so different. In 1993 at the start of the civil war, he fled Burundi to Tanzania. En route, on several occasions, he was almost killed. One time, a Tutsi friend from school saw him, flung her body over his and said to the soldiers, “if you kill him you must kill me first”. Theo then went through horrific experiences as a refugee in Tanzania but what amazes me is not only God’s physical protection but how he has saved Theo from being bitter and enabled his heart to be reconciled towards Tutsis through his wife’s family. More to follow.

Rema Ministries has launched the research paper I wrote about in September, called “Two People can’t share the same pair of shoes”: Citizenship, Land and the Return of Refugees to Burundi. If you would like an electronic copy please email me with subject ‘Rema Research’.

Prayer points:

Exponential growth in Kirundi acquisition.

Alpha Course starting in my local Church.

Peace and stability as Burundi heads towards elections in June.

My brother and his fiancée’s protection in Afghanistan.

Comfort and hope for my Grandmother.

My parents’ visit to Burundi on 27 Dec for a week, that they would enjoy it and be touched by Christians here.

Greetings once again from a hot and dry Bujumbura where we’re only having electricity about 24 hours on / 24 hours off.  So computer work, emails etc are not possible half the time.  It’s very frustrating!  I’m intrigued though to see how many Burundians are also reliant on their computers.  Things just seem to come to a standstill in offices when there’s no power – in Bujumbura at least.

Last week I spent a lovely week’s leave with my friend Debbie who came for the Alpha conference.  We spent some time at the beach and also visited the tea plantations in Kayanza, in the north of Burundi.  It was so good to have some time off and to be able to share with a close friend but also hard to see her go.  Having had the wonderful Alpha Team and Debbie here for 2 weeks, it seems very quiet now.

I am thankful to now be involved with a local Church which I’ve committed to initially for 6 months.  They seem to have a good mix of lovely worship, Biblical teaching and ministry in the Holy Spirit.  The pastor attended the Alpha conference and plans to start Alpha in December, firstly to help disciple people in the Church and then to reach out to others.  We’ve even sung, ‘You are Alpha and Omega’ two weeks running, in honour of the Alpha Course!

Burundi is grieving the loss of 12 more soldiers who were killed in Somalia last week.  Their bodies were brought back and flags have been at half mast.  What is so terrible is that, I am told, the US AID in Burundi is conditional on Burundi sending soldiers to Somalia.  Aid is not free!  The African Union peacekeeping mission there is made up solely of Burundians and Ugandans.  It seems a tragedy when Burundi needs to rebuild itself.

Fantastic Alpha Conference

Two weeks ago over 50 delegates from many different denominations and ministries came together for the Alpha conference lead by the Burundian Alpha Coordinator, Jean-Claude and a team from Holy Trinity Brompton.  It was wonderful!  The Catholic Archbishop came and addressed the conference and said that he would like Alpha to run throughout the Catholic Church in Burundi.  Let’s keep praying for this.  It would be awesome if 60% of the population in Burundi were exposed to the fundamentals of the Christian faith in their local Catholic Church. 

It seems Alpha has an incredible anointing on it and draws people to work together to build God’s Kingdom – something we saw at the conference. 

Alpha is about the beginning of the Christian life but the teaching can help lay a great foundation on which to continue growing in Christ.

Prayer points:

Praise God for all He did through the Alpha conference.

Praise for time away and fellowship with Debbie and the HTB Team.

For protection: a thief was recently caught and beaten, trying to burgle a nearby property.

My brother and his fiancé’s protection in Afghanistan.

For my Grandfather to know Jesus and have a peaceful end to his life.

Greetings!  I’ve been back in Burundi for just over 2 weeks already. Last week the President lead an evangelistic crusade with 100 000 people. I am told it was a wonderful time. I’m back into a fairly normal routine of our office Bible study and staff meeting at 7.30 each morning, followed by Kirundi study and admin plus continuing to develop contacts for the trauma healing training work. In the afternoons, 4 days a week, I have my Kirundi lessons. I feared I might have forgotten all my Kirundi whilst in the UK but actually I haven’t and it’s come back – praise God. I have a long way to go with Kirundi but I am saying simple things to people now and they understand which is so encouraging.

At the end of July I started experiencing quite a lot of shortness of breath which the doctor said was due to stress. It improved a bit but continued for sometime but thankfully seems to have stopped now. I think it has been quite an intense process from thinking I was flying back to Burundi at the end of July, to suddenly staying and visiting my grandfather in hospital each day to then leaving and really having to trust God with what happens to my family. It is a choice to believe that God is working out His purposes even though we don’t fully understand them and to keep praying with faith.

  Is there enough space in Burundi? - the answer is probably no.  Burundi is the most densely populated African country and the return of around 300 000 (out of a total 500 000) refugees from camps in Tanzania is resulting in a land crisis.  Most Burundians are subsistence farmers and rely on the land to produce their food. 

In Rumonge, after the killings in 1972, the President took the land left by those who fled Burundi and gave it to people working on nearby palm oil plantations.  This land has now been sold onto others but repatriates from Tanzania, understandably, want and need their land back yet those who currently live on it often have bought it from others and have legitimate documentation to confirm their ownership.  Few returnees, except the most desperate cases, are offered alternative land in so called ‘Peace Villages’ which are known to be on very poor land.  Burundians also have a deep desire to return to their ancestral land and find it hard to consider living elsewhere.  Some are saying that they are willing to fight in order to reclaim their land.  The Land Commission is encouraging people to share land but for many that is impossible as the land would be so small it wouldn’t produce enough food for their family. 

The situation almost looks impossible.  Can we pray and ask God for His supernatural intervention here?  Maybe for some creative farming methods which will enable better production of food, for grace and forgiveness amongst returnees and current land owners and willingness to share or be given and accept alternative land. 

Alpha conference - on Sat 12^th Sept, a team from Holy Trinity Brompton are coming to Burundi to speak at the Global Alpha Training here.  This includes my really good friend, Debbie Garner, who will be staying after the conference for another week to spend time with me.  The conference will be held at Mont Sion, the Catholic Mission, where YWAM taught back in April.  There are over 10 denominations attending, including the Catholic Church, Pentecostals, Anglicans, Baptists and Calvary Chapel, as well as people representing other ministries.  It will be interesting to consider Alpha in the Burundian context.  I think it is used more as a discipleship than an evangelistic tool here.  Pray for God’s anointing and especially for the Catholic Church (representing 60% of the population in Burundi) to endorse Alpha.

Update on my family - My brother Andrew has just become engaged to Sarah, also in the RAF.  They plan to marry at the beginning of June next year and hope to have a Church wedding.  Andrew goes to Afghanistan on 20th for 6 months and Sarah goes there in October to a different base for 4 months.  Please pray for their protection and salvation. 

Amidst the rejoicing over their engagement, there remains a lot of pressure on my family at present and at times I find it hard being so far away.  My Grandfather, Harold, was diagnosed with lung cancer last week.  The Consultant said, however, that it is likely his very weak heart will cause his decline before the cancer does.  His prognosis looks very poor and he is not feeling at all good.  Pray for his salvation, a peaceful end to his life and that I will be able to be with him then.

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers.

- Prayer points -

On Wed 29th July, I was packed ready to go the airport to return to Burundi when my grandfather, Harold, had a massive heart attack. I changed my flight back as the medics told us he wouldn’t make it through the afternoon. Praise God, instead he stabilised and was moved to Zachary Merton, a local hospital, to rehabilitate. I now hope to return to Burundi on Sat 15th August.

]]> http://alison.ijuru.com/2009/08/08/alisons-articles-prayer-letter-no-17/feed/ 0 http://alison.ijuru.com/2009/08/06/new-e-prayer-letter-signup-form/ http://alison.ijuru.com/2009/08/06/new-e-prayer-letter-signup-form/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:46:12 +0000 alison http://alison.ijuru.com/?p=75

I am really looking forward to having time with iNet to talk and pray through life here and hear what God is saying as I prepare to return at the end of July. 

Last week at the Flame conference, I caught another glimpse of amazing ministry here.  I feel passionate about God’s work here but it is costly and isolating living here – I miss friends, family and Church the most.  It’s a real loss for me and others having the Guillebaud’s move to the US for some time.  They have been such a blessing here to so many but I thank God the start of my time here coincided with them being here.  I pray they will be so blessed.

My parents have booked to come here for a week from Boxing Day which is a miracle!  I have a guest room and would love more visitors so please let me know when you can come!

Thanks for all your support, contact and prayers.  I’ll write again in August.

Flame inner healing conference in Buye

I think last week was the most powerful week I have had in Burundi ever!  Frederic and I joined Flame International in Buye Anglican Diocese for an inner healing conference.  We had around 50 participants: mainly pastors and Bible College students .

In the first couple of days there was some teaching on The Fall, the Cross, healing the human spirit and forgiveness.  People spent time repenting and releasing forgiveness to others.  However by the end of the second day things still felt pretty heavy.  We had quite a number of intercessors praying and we spent time really asking God for a breakthrough. 

It came the following day.  I shared a devotion on Ps 130, encouraging folk that this was their time for healing and then there was some excellent teaching on generational sin, emotional healing and soul ties. Many sins were confessed, incl. involvement in witchcraft and sexual sin and God healed people emotionally and physically.

Mark Leakey, born in Buye, spoke on ‘cleansing the land’.  He and another man repented on behalf of the sins of Europeans, incl. missionaries, against Africans.  Then Jean, the Diocesan Secretary, lead a very powerful time with the Burundians repenting for the wars and conflicts they have caused here.

Let’s go on praying protection, blessing and fruit for all who participated. 

Prayer points:

·         For safe journeys to / from Burundi and in UK.

·         Good meetings with iNet and clarity on the way forward re friendships / spiritual input and work.

·         Praise for my new on-fire housemate, Olivia, who’s representing GLO in Simon’s absence.

·         Quality time at home with friends and family.

·         For the Lord’s refreshment and renewal in England and in Burundi.

I have felt quite excited a few times recently when I have grasped some Kirundi structures and simple phrases.  It’s a long journey and rather lonely but feeling like you’re making a little bit of progress is encouraging!  Lessons have been sporadic as my tutor is often out of town for 2 weeks a month – I haven’t found an additional.  I try to practise with different folk and continue using the workbook I have.  I hope to go to a course at the French Cultural Centre but they keep changing the dates!  Next week I will visit Karuzi and Buhiga with Georgette Butera who is currently staying with me so I should be able to practise more. 

Whilst there I hope to visit the family of a friend, Genesite in the internally displaced people’s camp.  If you have my prayer card, you will have seen Genesite and me.  She died last week, leaving  3 dependent grandchildren.

This month I am thrilled to be joining Flame Int., with my Rema colleague Frederic, for a 5 day healing workshop in Buye Diocese (Anglican).

I will be visiting England from 20th June for just over a month (with a longer visit in 2010) for the iNet missions’ conference, meetings, speaking in churches and seeing family and friends.  Please be in touch soon if you would like to try to meet.

YWAM Belfast DTS share at Catholic peace and reconciliation week

The highlight of the YWAM time in Bujumbura was a week at Mont Sion, a Catholic mission.  (I was introduced to them by Spec, a former intern with Rema.)  In the mornings they helped at an orphanage; the afternoons were spent sharing about peace and reconciliation with youth – which were then televised.  It culminated with us sharing at the Mass of 5000 people, followed by a peace and reconciliation concert.  The team, 3 of whom came from Belfast, Israel and S Africa, shared testimonies of how God has helped them forgive.  I cannot overstate the warmth of welcome we received from our Catholic brothers and sisters.

Prayer points:

Genesite’s grandchildren – provision and comfort.

Flame healing workshop: protection, anointing, sensitivity to the Spirit and deep healings.

Real focus for the weeks before I return to UK – to achieve all God wants.

Confidence in using the Kirundi I am learning.