BURNING
ISSUES
FEB 2011
WHEN
SMILES
RETURN
A BURUNDI SPECIAL
BROTHER YUN
SOUTH SUDAN
JAN RANSOM
PRAYER DIARY
PLUS ALL THE NEWS, UPDATES, REPORTS AND FEATURES YOU NEED
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Mission Aviation Fellowship
Serving the isolated people
of southern Sudan
Find out more: www.maf-uk.org/prayforsudan
Mission Aviation Fellowship
Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone CT20 2TN 29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD
Telephone: 0845 850 9505 Email: supporter.relations@maf-uk.org
Registered charity in England and Wales (1064598) and in Scotland (SC039107)
Cover Image:
An emerging leader in
the Church of Burundi is
all smiles after a Flame
International conference.
See page 10
CONTENTS
02.2011
04
Brother Yun
08
Three Questions - Jan Ransom
09
We Would Like To Thank...
10
When Smiles Return a Burundi special
14
Fleeing the LRA in Sudan
17
Prayer Diary
19
News & Reviews
All photography by Gareth Barton
Flame International is a Christian ministry with a
passion to reach out with God’s love to broken and
hurting people, particularly those in the poorest
countries of the world, and to see nations healed and
walking in forgiveness and reconciliation.
Through healing conferences, trauma workshops
and prayer ministry, we equip and train leaders in the
church, the military and in the wider
society, to impact their
communities.
PO BOX 424,
Aldershot,
GU11 9ER
Tel: 01252 336509
www.flameinternational.org
office@flameinternational.org
Registered Charity Number 1096374
OPENING REMARKS
The end of 2010 was a very busy time for
us with mission trips to southern Sudan
and Burundi followed by a weekend
hosting the ‘Heavenly Man’, Brother
Yun. His visit was especially exciting as,
aside from the joy of working together,
it gave us the opportunity to introduce
the work of Flame to large numbers of
people, many of whom we are delighted
to welcome as new supporters. So please
accept our warmest welcome if you’re
reading our magazine for the first time.
We hope that you will find it inspiring,
informative and useful and we encourage
you to pass it on to friends and family
when you’re done!
Our regular readers will note a new look
magazine for the New Year along with
a new logo, which will be phased in
gradually over the coming year. We pray
that 2011 will be a year that sees growing
numbers of people getting involved in
what is going to be our busiest year yet.
UPCOMING EVENTS
1/2 Mission to Far East
12/3 Prayer Day - St. Saviour’s Church
Guildford, GU1 4QD
13/3 Mission to southern Sudan
28/4 Mission to Burundi
17/5 Ladies Day - Chalke Valley
4/6 Prayer Day - West Street Christian
Fellowship, Crewe, CW1 3HE
12/6 Jan Ransom speaking at St. Thomas
Church, Trowbridge, BA14 8PT
IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Taking the weather with us - it seems that
rain is always likely when a Flame team
comes to town. The June 2011 issue will
look at the spiritual significance of rainfall.
www.flameinternational.org
02.2011Burning Issues
3
BROTHER YUN
The Man with
the Golden Key
Brother Yun joins Flame International for a
weekend to raise support for Chinese
missionaries heading into Sudan
4
Burning Issues02.2011
www.flameinternational.org
Wherever he goes he carries a small golden
key as a symbol of what God is both capable
of and wanting for each one of us. “If God
can release me from the solitary confinement
of China’s highest security prison,” he
declares as he waves the key before his
audience, “then He can certainly release you
from whatever is holding you.” This is the
central theme that Brother Yun delivers and
it’s an effective one. During two hectic days
of meetings - speaking to a total audience of
1,500 - people responded en masse to this
message of forgiveness, restoration and hope.
It’s not surprising really, when you consider
the extraordinariness of his story. After many
years imprisoned for his faith, he escaped
from Zhengzhou Maximum Security prison
from which it is reported that nobody had
previously escaped. He described how he
heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling him
to simply walk out of the heavily guarded
prison gate despite having had both his legs
broken. Risking being shot on the spot, he
Brother Yun takes time to minister restoration into the lives
of many who feel imprisoned by their circumstances.
wrote later that he obeyed the voice
(during his weekend with us he added that he
did this after a time of considering the wisdom
of such an idea!), and walked straight
through several prison doors that
were somehow left open, in front of many
prison guards,
across the prison
yard and finally out
of the main gate.
Brother Yun stated that it
was as if he had become
invisible to the guards
who stared
straight
through him. Although
many expressed doubts
that such a thing could happen, some prison
guards had apparently lost their jobs for this
'embarrassing mishap’. An official investigation
concluded that, "Yun
received no human help in
his escape”. Numerous
prisoners who occupied the same
prison cell have confirmed
these reports. He remains the
only person to have escaped from
this notorious prison. He was
picked up outside the
prison by a taxi
whose driver
said that he looked like “a
man in a hurry”. It was the
taxi driver’s small key, hanging
from the rear-view mirror,
which caught Brother
Yun’s attention
and became
the symbol for his worldwide
cont’d
ministry.
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02.2011Burning Issues
5
“
Even though
I walk
through the valley
of the shadow of
death, I will fear
no evil, for you
are with me; your
rod and your
staff, they comfort
me.
“
Students from Moorlands Bible College pray blessing and
strength on Brother Yun as he visits Holy Trinity, Aldershot.
6
Burning Issues02.2011
www.flameinternational.org
We were surprised however, to learn that
whilst he has become something of a
Christian celebrity throughout much of the
world, his fellow church leaders inside China
do not consider Brother Yun’s story remotely
unusual or extraordinary. What is unusual
(for a poor rural Chinese man) is his ability
to address large crowds and to communicate
with people from ‘paupers to princes’. So his
fellow church leaders commissioned him to
be their ambassador to the world - but not
because of his story. Imprisonment,
miraculous release, healings and revival are
simply the normal Christian life for the leaders
of the church in China. We heard that the
church in China now has around 150
million believers and that approximately
one million are added each month. It is
the experience of individual churches and
missionaries throughout the country to see 30
– 50 people turning to Christ every day. They
don’t describe it as revival but simply as the
Kingdom of God expanding!
Brother Yun with Taisto, his friend and interpreter, delivers
a message of hope and freedom for all who feel trapped.
BROTHER YUN
It is this message that missionaries from
the Chinese churches will take into wartorn southern Sudan with the help of Flame
International in 2011. It is a message that
the people of Sudan are desperate to hear,
many of whom can see no way out from the
situations and fears that have traumatised
them for years. A team from Flame will help
prepare the Chinese team for the physical and
spiritual landscape of a country that we know
very well.
If you would like to know more about Brother
Yun’s story then you can read it in full in his
hugely popular book ‘The Heavenly Man’.
A new book called ‘Living Water’ is a
collection of teaching and lessons from
Scripture, made all the more powerful by
seeing them reflected in the experiences
Brother Yun faced as a pastor persecuted in
China.
It was a privilege to host Brother Yun for a
few days and we hope to bring him back
again in 2011 for more of the same.
If you would like to support the work of
the Chinese missionaries as they work in
partnership with Flame then please contact
the Flame office at the usual address and
email.
A DVD of Brother Yun speaking at
St. Saviour’s Guildford is now available
from the Flame International office for a
suggested donation of £10.
www.flameinternational.org
02.2011Burning Issues
7
THREE QUESTIONS...
How would you sum up the original vision that God gave when you
and your friends formed Flame International in 2002?
I had a vision for healing broken women which started with womens’
conferences in the jungles of Borneo and with widows in Sierra Leone and
Burundi. In Sierra Leone the chaplains demanded that we return to teach
the men in the church, government
and military, and we saw the
strategic value of teaching leaders
who could multiply the teaching
for broader impact. The vision has
grown under the Lord’s guidance.
What has been one of the most
significant events since that time?
I think the response we get from our
conference teaching on “healing the land”
where many have forgiven and been healed
is most significant. I also remember being
in Kajo Keji, Sudan and Kirundi, Burundi when
rains came immediately after church leaders knelt in
repentance - it was miraculous and we really believe it
was as a result of their obedience.
JAN
RANSOM
What most excites you about
the coming year?
Growth of the ministry excites
me, to see more people healed
and lives totally transformed as
we pioneer into China, Armenia,
Israel and Congo. Starting a
ministry using “Generation Y”
young people to minister in some of the most traumatised places in
the world. I’m still excited by the word of God which states that
“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive
words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”
(1 Chorinthians 2:4)
And finally, to see our home support grow!
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Burning Issues02.2011
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WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK...
Our
special thanks for this edition goes to the Flame1000 Club. We now
have more than 150 people giving regularly, which allows us to plan
more effectively and underpin many of our projects throughout the year.
The
Flame1000 Club vision is to have 1000 people supporting our work
financially by giving £10 per month or more. Achieving this goal would
have an extraordinary impact on our work, allowing us to explore
opportunities and respond to invitations around the world.
So
to those already signed up - thank you. To those who’d like to join
the vision and receive a super Flame fleece - great!
Download a giving form from our website or
call the office if you’d prefer to be sent a
paper copy to fill in.
u
o
y
k
n
a
h
T
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02.2011Burning Issues
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A FLAME SPECIAL REPORT
10
WHEN
SMILES
RETURN
Burning Issues02.2011
www.flameinternational.org
Little Shimi is a 12 year old with a lot of
ambition. “When I grow up I want to be a
doctor,” she told me. In many ways she’s a
typical young girl who loves clothes (not that
she has many), music and school. And like
almost all of her fellow countrymen she has
the ability to deliver a startling smile that
flashes quickly across her face at a moment’s
notice. On the surface it’s easy to believe that
Shimi, with a roof over her head, food on the
table and an education is a success story for
a country emerging from war. But that’s just
the surface.
Burundi in East Africa was a united country
with Rwanda under the rule of Belgium
until 1962 when each nation gained full
independence. Like Rwanda, the Hutu and
Tutsi tribes form the vast majority of the
population. In 1972/3, following tribal unrest
and conflict in the south of the country,
the politically dominant Tutsi tribe sought
to wipe out the weaker but majority Hutu
tribe in a genocide that killed 300,000 and
caused another 300,000 to flee, mostly to
Tanzania. In 1987/8 fighting between the
two tribes caused the deaths of 150,000. By
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02.2011Burning Issues
11
1994 the political unrest reached a tipping
point, plunging the country into a decade of
civil war in which 300,000 were killed and
550,000 displaced.
Now Flame International has teamed up with
the Anglican Church of Burundi to run a fiveyear programme to minister to the church’s
leaders across the entire country and to train
them so that they are better equipped to
care for a population that has been left with
horrific emotional and spiritual scars.
I asked Shimi what she remembered of the
war and her smile disappeared in an instant.
After a time she told me about the ongoing
effects of the horrors that she had witnessed.
people there as “walking wounded”. “The
big NGOs have come and given us food and
shelter,” he said “but the people are still
carrying all their trauma and no one is able
to help.” This is what I saw in Burundi. They
are, like most of us, a proud people who
determine to put the past behind them and
to smile but behind the smiles are story after
story of appalling suffering.
I remembered a conversation I’d had with a
bishop in southern Sudan who described the
In a previous interview with Bishop Sixbert
Macumi he encouraged us to look past the
seemingly happy lives of the people in his
diocese. “People are initially closed to their
memories but with time they open up to tell
their stories,” he said, as the team arrived
ahead of a pastors conference. We found his
comments very insightful as we discovered
with one pastor from Makamba in the far
south of the country who after many days of
teaching and ministry publicly thanked God
for Flame’s teaching: “I benefitted a lot. This
country had war and I had wounds in my
heart because the rebels came to my home
and there was a lot of gunshot and grenades.
They expect pastors to have money so they
came and told me to open the bank. It broke
Mother of three, Mary tries to keep her eyes on the future for her
and her children despite seeing her grandfather hacked to death.
Shimi has a smile that could light up the darkest of places but
nightmares and flashbacks rob her of inner peace.
“
“
I saw my grandfather and brother murdered by rebels in our compound. They were shot right in front of me. We had to pick up what we could and run.
We went to live in Rwanda. We
came back recently. I still have
nightmares and flashbacks in
the day.
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Burning Issues02.2011
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A FLAME SPECIAL REPORT
flame
international
“In time,
people
will tell
us their
stories.”
Bishop Sixbert Macumi has welcomed the ministry of Flame International
because he knows that his community is suffering behind its smiles.
my heart and I was so frightened. So many
people were killed in this area and it broke my
heart to see so many dead bodies. They came
to me in my dreams, I would wake up tired
and sometimes I would fall out of my bed.
This teaching has helped me so much. Before I
had bad news and was so afraid. I have been
prayed for and now in my heart I am free.”
Burundi’s first elections took place in 2005
and the following year the last rebel group
finally signed a peace agreement drafted
in 2000. In 2007 the UN shut down its
peacekeeping operations and the country
has managed a fragile peace. But since then
a population explosion has increased the
country’s poverty leaving it in the world’s 10
poorest with the lowest per capita GDP of
any nation in the world and with under-15s
making up 45% of the population it is a
country whose future is on a knife-edge.
In many ways Shimi’s life paints a picture of
Burundi - seemingly successful but deeply
traumatised, smiling in public but crying in
secret. Flame International exists for this very
purpose - to minister to the broken hearted
and to set the captives free.
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02.2011Burning Issues
13
SUDAN FIELD REPORT
Running for their lives - many rural Sudanese have fled their villages to find safety in numbers within IDP
FLEEING FRO
One of our teams was recently ministering
in Nzara, southern Sudan when news
came through from the BBC of raids on the
outskirts of the town by the notorious Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA). It was a report that
highlighted the continuing threat to security
for so many rural Sudanese communities; it
explained why so many are seeking refuge in
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Burning Issues02.2011
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camps for internally displaced people (IDPs)
and it was a reminder that many are still
suffering the physical, emotional and spiritual
trauma of brutal conflict and abductions.
Our efforts in Sudan have increased over
recent years and we are now running
programmes for pastors in increasing numbers
camps on the outskitrts of large towns.
OM THE LRA
of dioceses, some of which are bringing
their teams together for greater impact. The
pastors, who will do almost anything to be
able to access the teaching for the benefit
of their frightened people, easily match our
effort. Two pastors from Maridi battled with
dreadful road conditions to get to a Flame
10-day school in Kajo Keji. When their vehicle
finally broke beyond repair they abandoned
it and made the rest of the journey on foot,
walking 30 miles through the night to make it
in time for the school.
The school gathered 30 pastors and leaders
from 4 dioceses that have been deeply
affected by the LRA. We invited students to
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02.2011Burning Issues
15
SUDAN FIELD REPORT
We will return this year to assist in the
running of 4 large, open-air conventions
for the public. Teams from each of the
participating dioceses attending the school
were challenged to train an additional 100
leaders by March in order to help minister to
the 1,000 - 2,000 people expected at each of
the conventions gatherings.
We need more support for our work in
Sudan - more prayer, more finances and more
people. Can you help? Please contact the
office if you would like to get involved in our
ministry to these hounded people.
“
Everyone is
traumatised
Rt Rev’d Justin Badi Arama, Bishop of Maridi, Sudan
These same pastors will take this message of
restoration into the IDP camps, the prisons,
the hospitals, the villages and the towns.
16
Burning Issues02.2011
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“
receive for themselves that which they were
being taught for the benefit of others. This
is both compassionate and strategic: these
leaders carry their own traumatic burdens as
well as those of their communities and so we
minister to them in the first instance so that
they themselves are healed and restored. In
so doing the teaching is transferred - it is no
longer Flame’s teaching that they take home
but it is now a part of them - they own it
and are able to speak from their personal
experience of its effectiveness. One young
man who visited a large local prison during
a day off from the school demonstrated
this sense of ownership and used his new
learning to speak to a large group and 13
men gave their lives to the Lord. At the end
of the workshops we took the whole team
back to the prison where we stood back and
witnessed the students teaching, performing
the dramas and ministering to the prisoners.
Every one of them was prayed with. One
young boy of 11, on remand for sexually
abusing a 4-year-old girl, gave his life to Jesus
and is now awaiting sentence.
PRAYER DIARY: FEBRUARY - MAY 2011
Thank you for supporting us in prayer - please feel free
to cut out this guide if you’d like to place it in your Bible.
6 Feb Thank God for the amazing opportunity
made. For the prayer meeting on Sat 12th, pray we
to minister in China including Tibet; pray for
will hear from God and move in the anointing of
good health and physical strength for the team
the Holy Spirit. Praise God for His faithfulness. Give
as their bodies adjust to the altitude, and for
thanks for all who intercede for Flame.
spiritual protection and God’s warrior angels to
surround them. Pray for miracles of healing for the
missionaries to whom we will minister. Continue
to pray for Sudan as the results of the referendum
13 Mar Pray for Val Batchelor and Anne Wickerson
plus a small team as they go into Sudan, flying to
Entebbe today and to Nzara with MAF on Tues 15th
become known on the 12th.
to conduct training, then to support the Nzara team
13 Feb The China team travel on to the Philippines;
when over 1,000 people are expected to attend.
pray for safety and good health, for appointments
set up by the Lord. They will be doing a “recce” visit
to see if Flame can minister to Chinese missionaries
in training. Pray for safe travel as the team depart
Hong Kong on the 19th for the UK. Pray for peace,
justice and constraints in Sudan as both governments
work through the results.
20 Feb. Give thanks for the goodness of God and
for those who support Flame in so many ways and
without whom Flame could not fulfil its calling. Pray
for more people to join our Prayer Carpet once a
at the three day convention, Fri 18th - Sun 20th
20 Mar Pray for the Sudan team as they complete
the Nzara convention today then rest before flying
to Maridi on Tues 22nd. In Maridi they will work
with Tito and the Maridi team to prepare for the
convention on Fri 25th - Sun 27th. Pray for an
anointing on the teaching and ministry, miracles of
healing, good health and strength for the team.
27 Mar Pray for the Sudan team in Maridi. They fly
to KajoKeji (KK) on Tues 29th to work with Joseph
and the KK team in preparation for the convention
month.
on Fri 1st - Sun 3rd Apr. Well over 1,000 people
27 Feb Thank God for open doors in Armenia;
team, for unity and strong fellowship and for an
pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of the
infilling of strength for the UK team.
Armenians to be able to really forgive the people
of Turkey for the genocide of 1915. Pray for
forgiveness and reconciliation to continue to take
place. Pray that we can take a team of intercessors to
are expected. Pray for the KK teachers and ministry
3 Apr Pray for the Sudan team in KK as they prepare
to travel by road to Lainya on Tues 5th. Pray for
safety and strength. The team will have KK members
and join with Raymond and his Lainya team for
6 Mar Pray for Flame’s trustees as they prepare to
Pray for the fire of God’s presence to change lives
meet on Fri 11th, for clarity of vision as decisions are
and many to come to personally know Him.
✃
Armenia this year.
training and the convention on Fri 8th - Sun 10th.
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02.2011Burning Issues
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PRAYER DIARY FEBRUARY - MAY 2011
10 Apr Pray for the Sudan team as they recover,
8 May Pray for the Burundi team as they start the
travel to Entebbe and return home on Weds 13th.
Muyinga conference and workshops, for good
Pray for restoration and good health. Continue to
health, for them to know the presence of God
pray for peace to prevail in Sudan.
and for testimonies of lives changed. Pray for good
17 Apr As we start the new financial year pray for
the resources to support the increase in missions and
relationship with Bishop Eraste. Pray for Archbishop
Bernard as Flame supports his vision.
the growth of the support staff. Pray for an increase
15 May Pray for Jan Ransom as she ministers to the
in prayer, for more travelling members, and young
ladies in Chalke Valley on Tues 17th and then at
people for the new youth initiative in August.
the Armed Forces Christian Uninon Cyprus ladies
24 Apr Alleluia, Christ is risen! Give thanks for Jesus
who took all our sins, pain, sickness and darkness on
the cross. Pray for Jan, Rosemary and the Burundi
weekend along with Liesel Parkinson. Pray for
restoration and strength and for both ladies to be
used mightily for the Lord as they teach and minister.
team as they prepare to go on Thurs 28th. Pray
22 May Pray for our partners in Sudan, Uganda,
for safe travel to Bujumbura where they meet with
Congo, Burundi, Israel and China, that our bond of
Alison Gill and the Burundi team members, then
friendship will strengthen in the Lord and together
travel to Matana by road.
many will be saved. Pray for opportunities to develop
1 May Pray for unity as the team minister in
Matana, for the presence of the Holy Spirit and for a
partnerships with churches, suitable humanitarian
organisations, and charitable trusts.
manifestation of the spiritual gifts as the team work
29 May Pray for the success of the new prayer
together. The team travel to Muyinga on Fri 6th, pray
meeting in the north and for this opportunity for
for safety and rest on Sat 7th.
Flame supporters to share in prayer and fellowship.
Children’s toys in Nzara, south Sudan
Photo: Val Batchelor
Burning Issues02.2011
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✃
18
This account of a young girl abducted
by the Lord’s Resistance Army in
northern Uganda was completely
shocking to me - that this sort of
thing could possibly happen in
our modern world. And what’s
more shocking is that so few
people seem to hear about it why isn’t this on the front
pages of our newspapers? I
met some boys in Sudan that
had escaped the LRA and I
will never forget them. If you
want to know more about
the challenges that Flame
tackle on mission in Africa
then I recommend that you
read this book! Sandra H.
NEWS & REVIEWS
Jan Ransom with Jeff Lucas and
Ruth Dearnley after recording the
‘In Good Company’ radio show
broadcast on Premier Radio late in
December 2010.
NEWSFLASH: Nov
2010, trustees Jan
Ransom and Jeremy
Clare travelLed
to Armenia to look
at ways Flame
International
can minister into
the trauma of the
t
sa
u
genocide that took
E
n
Joi WINAug place there.
W 6th
NE Jul -
g
r growin on
Join ou
’
s
n
a
f
of ‘
number to stay up to
ok
Facebo all the news
h
it
date w
d to
elops an
v
e
as it d
ents
r comm
add you ragements.
ou
and enc
1
201
~Thank Y
ou~
A huge th
3rd
2
Very special
thanks go to
Charlie
Brown, who
celebrated hi
s 60th
Birthday by ha
ving a great
party
that raised ov
er £2,000 for
Flame.
Cheers Charli
e!
E-mail: It is most certainly
I who am praising the Lord for
your visit. On this last Sunday
40 SPLA soldiers were baptized as
the result of your visit and your
wonderful work among
them. Thank you.
Fr Bob, Sudan.
ou
y
d
ul
Wo
speak
like to
for Flame?
anks to the
teams
at St. Saviou
rs, Guildford
and Holy Tri
nity, Aldersh
ot
for your har
d work and br
ig
ht
smiles, whic
h helped to
make Brother
Yun’s visit so
successful.
Join us for our first
Prayer Day in the north on 4th June at West
Street Christian Fellowship, Crewe, CW1 3HE.
We’re looking for passionate
people throughout the UK
who can respond to requests
from churches and groups to
speak about the work of Flame
International.
Contact the office for more details.
www.flameinternational.org
02.2011Burning Issues
19