PRAYER LETTER NO.18.

Gilbo@cbinf.com www.su-burundi.org
BP2260, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa Tel: 00 (257) 962411

Dear Tigers, 30th August 2002

This morning, as is customary, a member of the team opened in prayer with: “Lord Jesus, thank you that we woke up this morning, that you protected us through the night and have brought us to the beginning of a new day…” It could just be ritualistic words, except that when shells are landing around the capital, you really do mean it. I have only been back a week, but on two nights there was massive shelling, I guess with the closest shell landing a mile from me, but much nearer some of my colleagues. In fact, ten bullets went through the bishop’s house. It keeps you on your toes – well, it should at least, but I had my earplugs in and slept through it all whilst the others in the house were gathered in one room together, and wondering whether they should wake me up!

Thank God all our guys have been protected, and the office was undamaged, although it was near the main military installation being targeted at the time. Not such good news greeted me on my arrival, as my flatmate was upcountry assessing the damage of the latest rebel incursion. She had refused to pay a ‘contribution’ to the rebel cause, and this was perhaps the result. So at the time I was boarding the plane in England, the rebels were pillaging the health centre, setting the ambulance on fire, and nearly killing Claver, the main colleague there. He was shot at four times, and hit twice, but they were only minor injuries, and he was back wanting to work the next day! Some people out here are simply amazing.

So there is the usual mixture of encouragements and discouragements. As I drove to preach at a new church on Sunday morning, having been at the lakeside at 7am to see several hundred people baptised, I was full of joy, because the Body of Christ is growing fast. But then this old lady hobbled across the road. Her sunken eyes were utterly lifeless. I tooted for her to get out of the way, and she stopped in her tracks, expressionless. I had to swerve, as she wouldn’t bother moving. I felt like crying – she was the living dead – a picture of complete despair…

As I listen to the shooting and shelling, and see the desperate poverty, I am gutted that fifteen months after my departure, things haven’t got any better. In fact, they may even be worse; and the Burundian Franc was devalued by 20% this week, which will further cripple the vast majority who are desperately eeking out an existence. Picture the family where they share one pair of shoes, so whoever goes into town wears them that day, whilst the others stay at home. I bought an evangelist friend of mine a pair of shoes. He sheepishly asked me, explaining that every time he preached he borrowed a pair from somebody different, but everyone was getting fed up with him, and it was all so shameful for a ‘man of God’. Meantime senior Christian leaders are bitterly taking swipes at each other on the television, which is a tragic witness. Unity remains elusive. Hopefully at Scripture Union we can play a role in helping restore it.

I came back here last week in order to be in time for SU’s Jubilee - 25 years in action in Burundi. We had a big celebration, and it was a joy to see how the Lord has used the organisation over the years, and kept it going through some difficult times. It was the main article on the televised news in the evening, so we got lots of positive coverage and publicity. Pray on for unity in the team, headed up by my boss, Safari, and pray for an ever-increasing impact on the nation through our evangelistic outings, AIDS program, children’s work, Bible-reading notes, and training of pastors. The opportunities are HUGE.

On a personal level, I am thrilled to be back. My time at All Nations Christian College was superb, and amidst the studies I was able to fit in a couple of hundred speaking engagements over the fifteen months, where there was much fruit. Time with family and friends was also precious.

But Burundi is where I am called, and so it is good to be home. I have deep peace in being safely at the heart of God’s dangerous(!) will for my life. I’m happy with how little Kirundi I have forgotten, although I have come out with the odd clanger. On day one, when a bloke asked me what I did, I told him I preached Jesus and AIDS, to which he burst out laughing, and asked if I really was preaching AIDS, or rather warning against it! I’ll get there eventually.

Health-wise, it hasn’t been a great start, because some sort of allergy kicked in as soon as I arrived, so I don’t know where I will live, am currently lodging with mates, and I dread the prospect of conceivably always suffering from asthma, blocked nose and itchy eyes when in the capital. Please pray into that, it does get me down.

But how can I complain? I asked a colleague the other day how he managed to smile so much, bearing in mind his personal circumstances. He replied: “Simon, how can I complain when I have my Jesus?!”

What do you answer to that?

Love in Christ, Simon Guillebaud