Susie Howe, our Director, is newly returned from Rwanda, buzzing after a really encouraging visit to APRECOM and meeting Jean-Paul and Paluku from LVLV to train them.

You can find out all about Susie’s time with APRECOM here, and the training with Jean-Paul and Paluku here.

Thank you so much for covering Susie’s time in Rwanda in prayer. It’s clear that God was walking with Susie throughout her visit. Alas, it wasn’t, after all, possible for Susie to cross the border to DR Congo, but Jean-Paul and Paluku were able to meet Susie in Kigali, and we believe God can and will work through them to equip LVLE’s team for their ministry.

Thank you for your prayers for the conference on witchcraft accusations in Nairobi, which took place at the beginning of the month. Susie and Carolyn were both present, representing BCT and SCWA and ensuring children remained at the heart of the conference’s agenda. There were some very encouraging outcomes to the week and we hope to see an enduring impact from it.

Carolyn has now returned home and has prepared a short report on the conference, which you can find here.

Please continue to pray for Susie, who is in Rwanda, visiting our friends at APRECOM.

You’re probably familiar with the story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses is in the desert, looking after sheep, when he notices a bush on fire but not burning. As he looks more closely, God speaks to Moses and tells him he’s the man to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt. It’s a wonderful story, but what do you suppose would have happened if Moses had seen a bush on fire and just shrugged and walked away? After all, he was in the desert. It would have been hot and dry. He may well have seen quite a few bushes on fire. But Moses is attuned to what’s going on around him. He’s ready to listen to what God wants to say to him. And when he hears God’s voice, it changes everything.

I wonder how ready we are to do the same. We can often be too wrapped up in our own concerns to notice what’s happening and too busy to make time to look and listen. Yet when we pay attention to people and events around us and keep our ears open to what God wants to say, remarkable things can happen.

Just ask Pastor Ngolo. He regularly walked the streets of Kinshasa, heading between his home, his church and his college, blissfully unaware of the street-living children all around him. One fateful day, God suddenly opened his eyes to these children and their plight. Before then, Pastor Ngolo hadn’t given them a second thought, but he now felt convinced God wanted him to serve street-living children. Fast forward 12 years and EPED, the organisation Pastor Ngolo set up, is thriving. The team is reaching children at risk throughout Kinshasa and bringing them the hope of a better future, in the name of Jesus.

If we keep our eyes open, God will sometimes reveal things which make us uncomfortable. This was certainly the case for Moses and for Pastor Ngolo. But it can also be a real adventure. If you take the time to stop, look and listen, who knows where your burning bush experience might take you?