"Love in Action" to the street people

Since our arrival, Charles has been leading a group of students in a discipleship group. He has been challenging them on making a difference in their community. One of the girls, Gaga, had a vision to be able to feed the street people and beggars and to share the gospel at the same time. This past Saturday, our group of 24 leadership students from GIA, and staff, carried out this vision of "Love in Action". The following is an recollection of how the day went.

LOVE IN ACTION WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE; THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS

We truly thank God for being with us and enabling us to put love into action today. We were provided with a compound area where we could control the number of people we let in. We needed to be strategic with this event as without proper control, a riot would have ensued. We had expected to feed about 50 people, but we ended up letting in about 150 people, not counting our GIA students, staff and volunteers of over 40 people. Unfortunately we had many more street people that came but we could not let them in as we were already stretching the food as much as we could. Staff and some GIA students gave up their bread from 1 meal to be able to serve bread and 2 ladies from the community volunteered to cook beans and rice for this day.

There were many children, many babies, many old, many handicapped and many young people. Some that came were so hungry that they needed more food than what we could give. Even though they were hungry, they had some of the biggest smiles and brightest laughs. We thank God, those that came in the gate were all able to receive something to eat and drink. Our discipleship team and a few other students who joined us did a great job of serving our guests.

Two students, Gaga from Grade 9 and Eloge from Grade 8 shared the gospel. Also Benigne, who is the Administrative Assistant of GIA and a local pastor, shared the gospel. At the end of her message, she invited people to receive Christ.. Benigne then asked Charles to lead them to Christ. With a brief explanation of what it means to receive Christ as one’s Lord and Saviour, he

led a prayer for salvation. Around 90 people responded to receiving Christ into their lives.

5 bowls of rice and 4 bowls of beans

Sharing the Gospel

Getting water ready to serve

After that, food was served and people ate. We were limited with plates and cups so we fed one section of people, took the dishes back, washed them and sent them out to serve another group of people. We organized the people into groups of 10 and with some groups, we put the beans, rice and bread onto a platter for them all to share. At the end, we thanked everyone who came and 3 people from the crowd thanked us for inviting them and feeding them. The whole event went very well. The students were more than touched. The staff and volunteers as well as students all agreed that we need to do more of these love in action events. This was quite a learning experience for our children who came face to face with the people who literally go hungry for days.

Washing hands before eating

Serving beans and rice 

Getting the bread ready to serve

Enjoying the babies

GIA student with a mother's baby

There are many people to thank who made this practical, love in action possible, but the list is long. The one who must never be forgotten is our God. We thank God so much for what He did today. May He receive all the praise and honor. Love in action today was simply amazing! Thank you all for your partnership in God’s ministry with us in Burundi. Your prayers and support not only energize us; they truly lift and encourage us.  We share all the joys with you all. May God richly bless you today and may you see God work in mysterious and wondrous ways!

Serving water to the people

If you would like to donate to our mission, you can donate through the Youth for Christ Edmonton website or Bridges of Hope website earmarked "burundi mission".

http://www.yfced.com/index.php/donate/how-to-donate
http://www.thebridgesofhope.com/index.php?p=Donate

God Bless,

Charles, Darla, Savana, Elijah, Micah, and Joshua Balenga