Burundi 2007 Field Reports

Team Name: Buja B Team Members: Anitha R. Diane P. James M. Kathleen V. Luis R. Luly M. Miguel R. Renelle P. Susan C. The Promise of God 14-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B An outreach team accompanied a government minister and a truck to distribute insecticide treated mosquito nets to three small villages in an area known as Chibitoke where the president has humanitarian programs. The mosquito nets can decrease the mortality rate from malaria in children under five by 50%! The people were already gathered when the team arrived. The government minister introduced the group and then the leader of the outreach teams gave a Gospel message and called for those who wanted to receive Christ. Many raised their hands and prayed the sinner’s prayer. Afterwards, the team sang worship songs in Kirundi and the people just loved it! The worship was joyful and true. Wherever we go, we are bonded with the people through worship. Two team members shared testimonies. One of them, an 18 year old girl, told the crowd how she prayed for four years to be able to come to Africa with Times Square Church. She exhorted them to trust in God because he promised he would never leave them and would always take care of them. As she spoke her voice broke and she struggled to hold back the tears. The people were touched by her words. The government minister reminded them, after she spoke, that this young girl was evidence of the promise of God for their children and their children’s children. The villagers were then directed to form lines to begin the distribution of the mosquito nets. Each family received one mosquito net. Men Ministering To Women 09-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B The outreach team that went to the medical clinic today had prayed in their team devotions for order among the people waiting to be seen by the doctors, especially among the mothers and young children who were so desperate to be let in. They prayed that the women and the children would sit peacefully waiting for their turn The Lord answered all of their prayers. There was divine order and peace, and as a result many of the men brought in as translators and those managing the room where the malaria medicine was being given out had free time to minister to the mothers and the children. The team members were blessed to see the men ministering to the women, since men are often absent in the lives of these women. Lord, Which Ones? 09-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B One team member had specifically prayed that the Lord would give her discernment to know which children among the hundreds that come every day, are most in need of being seen by a doctor. Today as she walked through the crowd a man brought forth a little boy that looked sick but when she touched him she did not think he had a fever so she decided he was not an urgent case. Her team leader who has always given her freedom to decide which children should be seen, insisted that she take the boy to one of the doctors. The baby was diagnosed with meningitis and malaria and had to be rushed to the hospital. The Lord had answered her prayer through the insistence of her team leader! God sent forth his Word and healed them 08-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B The outreach teams were broken up into smaller groups and sent out to preach in churches across the city. For many, the call to preach came the night before or that very morning but no one was anxious, as we were all trusting the Lord to fill our mouths and give us a Word for the people of Burundi whom He so loves. One team went to a church in a neighborhood called Mutakura. The church was a large open church with just a roof and a dirt floor. The service began at 8:30AM and went until 12:00PM.The worship was beautiful as several choir groups sang praises to the Lord. As is typical of African churches, there was a moment of joyful dancing before the Lord. The Times Square Church team was introduced and each gave their name and a greeting to the congregation. Afterwards, we sang worship songs in Kirundi and watched the smiles light up their faces as they heard us sing in their own language. The team leader gave a brief message from Psalm 107 where the people cried out in their distress and God sent His Word and healed them. He spoke of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 and exhorted the congregation that God is able to call those bones from death and into life through His Word. After the service, the team met the pastor who is in the organizing committee and is in charge of transportation. We learned that he has founded an orphanage which currently houses and cares for 42 former street children. He explained that he was once a street child himself and God helped him, so he wanted to do the same for other street children. He began to take them in before he was even saved and became a pastor. We visited the small orphanage housed in a new-looking, neat brick building. There were children ranging from two to fifteen years of age. They were being fed rice, beans and some kind of stew and looked happy. Our hearts broke when we saw that the orphanage lacks even the most minimum amenities. There was no furniture, no beds, only thin straw mats strewn on the floor, but it was a home. We prayed with the pastor and asked God to send His provision for these children. In parting we also learned that the pastor has seven children of his own. The youngest was in hospital with malaria and we told him of the malaria medication that was freely available at the medical clinic. He added immediately, “Please, also for the orphans!” Lord, our eyes are upon you for you are Jehovah Jireh, our provider! Madame, please come! 07-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B One outreach team went to North Kamenge to participate in a church service and do a street outreach with members of the congregation. A man approached one team member asking, “Madame, please come! My mother is sick.” The team member and her group arrived at the mother’s house where she sat outside sleeping. She had a bad fever and could not bend her back at all. They prayed for her and she was healed and felt much better! Her son, who had brought them to the house, brought out the grandfather who had a broken leg fractured in may pieces. The bones were weak and he had not been able to walk in five months. They shared the Gospel and prayed with him and he accepted the Lord! The team encouraged him to believe God for healing. Iyo Mana Dusenga Irakomeye 05-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B One of the two outreach teams ministering in Bujumbura, visited a neighborhood called Kamenge, in the northern section of the city. They made a stop at the Eglise Fraternite Evangelique du Christ en Afrique au Burundi (FECABU), to pick-up church members who were to accompany them on the outreach as interpreters. Friendships quickly developed and as the team began to sing “Iyo Mana Dusenga Irakomeye” a worship song in Kirundi as they drove to Kamenge, one of the interpreters began to weep. She could barely finish the song and only managed to whisper” God bless you.” She was overwhelmed that we were actually singing in her language. Kamenge 05-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B Kamenge is a very poor area where people go hungry and unemployment is the norm. 90% of the people speak Swahili rather than Kirundi. Kamenge saw some of the worst of the war that resulted in hundreds of thousands being massacred in 1993. According to one of the interpreters from a local church accompanying the team to Kamenge, bodies were strewn everywhere in plain daylight. Most were women and children because the men were off to the war. Whole families were killed and houses were burnt down to the ground. Since then, many houses have been rebuilt, mostly with handmade mud bricks, but the ghost of a few homes destroyed by the violence remain. The team spent time with a group of women and children playing games, praying for them and singing worship songs in Kirundi. The locals welcomed the team warmly, especially the children who are fascinated by the umuzungus (caucasians) and so ready to love the visitors. We’re here for the Battle 05-Jul-2007 Team: Buja B A young woman the team met in Kamenge named Chantal, 22 years old, invited a few of some team members to visit her home, a humble two room mud brick house with a mattress on the floor made of what seemed like straw. Our interpreter asked her to pull back the sheet revealing the rags that functioned as a bed for her family of four. Chantal has AIDS. When our interpreter asked her if she went to the hospital for treatment, she affirmed that she did but not everybody was like her. Many still go to a local witch doctor, even some of the Christians. A team leader asked if we wanted to visit the witch doctor. The photographer traveling with us quickly said, “Let’s go. We’re here for the battle.” Part of the team headed for the home of the witch doctor to share the Gospel with him. When they did not find him at home, they began praying right in front of his house and then walked around it singing worship songs. As they stood in front of the house, they heard a familiar song: “I am free, free, free for ever more,” behind the closed door of the house across the road. After listening intently for several minutes, the team members realized that they were hearing a radio advertisement for the evangelistic rallies to be held in Bujumbura. Praise God! It almost seemed as if He were confirming that we were indeed in the right place at the right time. Two young women walked over and said they wanted to confess. One of the pastors with us prayed with them and they accepted the Lord right then and there! One of the team members asked one of the young women why she had decided to give her heart to Jesus, and after pondering the question unable to express herself, she finally explained that she had been thinking about doing so but could not make up her mind to do it until that very moment.

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