PRAYER LETTER NO.23.

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


Newsflash: 28/3/03, 8.27pm, Friday night - the President announced three hours ago on the radio that he will definitely hand over to the Vice-President on the 1st May, and there is full-on shooting and shelling going on as I type this. We have just been contacted through the embassy representative and told not to leave the house unless absolutely necessary.

Dear Tigers,

Howdy! I hope all is well your ends. As it happens, I was planning to send out another prayer letter anyway, so I’ll write a bit and see if anything else happens in the next twenty minutes! I have just had an awesome week – more on that shortly.

First though, I have an official report before me by Human Rights Watch about what happened in Burundi last month – stories of arbitrary rapes and murders by soldiers and rebels alike. Seven believers were holding an all-night prayer meeting in Ruyigi province when soldiers came to the house, took them away, and executed them all. I have just got back safely from the South, but when we left Buj to go there on Monday, a colleague warned me that in her part of town they were talking of an imminent rebel attack, and so I wasn’t sure if we would be stranded upcountry amidst full-scale war – as it turns out, it was yet another false alarm, and hopefully what is going on right now will peter out too, but it illustrates the tension and fragility of the peace process. Few people expect there to be a peaceful transition, and with just over a month to go to the key handover date, let’s pray Burundi is not as morbidly dramatic a place to observe on television from our cosy armchairs as the 24/7 coverage of what is going on in Iraq – not that there will be any cameras or significant interest in what is going out here (apart from people like you guys, I trust!)

Back to my wonderful week: I cannot think of anything in life that I would rather be doing than going into the hills and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who haven’t yet heard about Him, and teaching and empowering others to do the same. Two of us went to Matana a couple of weeks ago to train several dozen Bible students in Evangelism Explosion. Now we were back for the exams and actual visiting – enough theory, time to put it into practice! A sample day from my diary:

25th March: What a day! Slept atrociously in my tent, with my gut on fire from all the beans they are feeding us, and the nightwatchmen talking ridiculously loudly from 4am, so up at the crack of dawn to pray and prepare. No water so that’s three days without being able to wash – great feeling! Bought some horrible biscuits, which had a hint of paraffin in them, but I was assured that was on purpose to prevent constipation - as every good scout knows! I had a real sense of anticipation (no, not constipation!) for the day ahead. The potential is so huge, and we have put so much work into this. How would it go? Well, after the morning meditation, the exams took place. It soon dawned on me that most of them were going to fail. The Institute guys are doing a degree, and so are perfectly competent. That is eleven of them. But the rest, about twenty five, are at the Bible school, and some did not get beyond primary school level as children. We had packed a thirteen week course into just four intensive days, and it was just too much for them. The oral exams were abysmal, so by lunchtime Elihud and I, and the other trainers, were depressed and thinking it was going to be a complete failure. We had a team meeting, and agreed to reconvene after lunch, when we would go out visiting and at least show them how it was done…

… and HALLELUJAH! The afternoon was quite extraordinary. The fact that we are upcountry means that I am a novelty sight as a white man, so can't fail to draw a crowd. That is a mixed blessing when we are trying to show them how to lead individuals or small groups to faith. So off we drove in the minibus, dropping other groups off along the way. There were nine groups in all. I had five apprentices with me. We stopped off on the road outside two huts, which turned out to be grimy drinking dens. Within a couple of minutes of pulling up, there were forty drunks gathered around on benches and chairs to listen to us. I let rip, having to talk fast and loudly to try to keep their attention, mixing French and Kirundi. Seth translated where needed. Some laughed, some were distracted, some slobbered, and some listened attentively. Justabout all of them were willing to join in the prayer at the end, and they packed us off with some hearty back-slapping and banter.

Another few kilometres down the road, we saw two young lads collecting water at a pump. I thought that would be better - a smaller group, therefore more chance to keep their attention etc. But within minutes again, sixty school children had appeared out of nowhere. The kids gathered around us and wouldn't go away, so I preached again; when I said that we were leaving they all bellowed back in unison that we couldn't leave, but must carry on preaching. The same thing happened again twice, before we eventually headed off after praying for them all.

Then we stopped off in the middle of nowhere by an old man tending his cows. He must have been bricking himself as six of us men jumped out of the van and walked purposefully towards him! He was quite evasive, and I don't blame him, so a few of us withdrew. Then Seth accosted these two young lads on their bike, who stopped, and he led them superbly to the Lord after nearly an hour - it was so encouraging to watch. Meantime the others were witnessing to the old man, who opened up a bit more, as they took over the tending of his cows! The young lads prayed with Seth, who afterwards was buzzing; and I was buzzing that Seth was buzzing because empowering people to do the stuff is just so exciting. The lads said they would cycle to church on Sunday.

We drove back towards Matana, and picked up another group on the way who had also had a great time. So we were all singing away in the minibus as I drove them home, and when we parked by the church, they carried on singing jubilantly, so we did three more laps before coming to a standstill, laughing and praising the Lord. The feedback session was hugely positive. One student said to me: “Simon, you will have to find us more bricks to build a bigger church as the cathedral won’t be big enough at this rate!” HALLELUJAH! Apart from the two huge groups we addressed at first, thirty eight people were contacted, of whom twenty prayed to receive Christ. The lights had come on in nearly all of the trainees, and we were all praising the Lord. Hallelujah! The closing prayer was thunderous, and we headed off for a quality night's rest.”

The nine groups did three visits, each of about three hours, be it at the market, in the hills and fields, at the hospital or on the road. We blitzed little Matana, and talked personally to 213 people, of whom 98 wanted to follow Jesus. The guys are there for the follow-up, having arranged to meet the new converts and take them to church. It was indeed mind-blowing, and is so strategic, if people are faithful in putting it into practice, which they all seemed resolved to do. EE is what I prioritised the most this year, and it has paid huge dividends – praise the Lord!

Things have quietened down as I write. Thanks for your prayers, please keep them coming. My health has been a bit better. The SU team is working very well together. The nasty character who wanted to kill me a few years ago, Aloise, showed up again – the last time was with a grenade... so that added a bit of tension recently. Do pray for his conversion too. Life’s certainly never dull!

lol Gilbo