PRAYER LETTER NO.37.

www.greatlakesoutreach.org

“In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emergence of a Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people. All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined, freely-gathered, martyr people who know in this life the life and power of the kingdom of God. It has happened before. It can happen again…”

Dear Tigers, 22 nd June 2005

I hope this finds you all well and aspiring to live out the ‘life and power of the kingdom of God’. It’s such a struggle, isn’t it, to really trust God and live out our faith for him, moving beyond biblical literacy to biblical obedience. Well, yesterday, we spent time with one such group of ‘ disciplined, freely-gathered, martyr people’ called New Generation. Having recently been awarded a prize as the best youth organization in Africa, they continue to live out a raw and vibrant faith in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Right now I have a fantastic team from South Carolina visiting and joining me in the work here, and so we enjoyed the day with the street kids down at the beach swimming in the lake with a hippo forty yards offshore, and then sharing testimonies during a deeply humbling and moving time together. Before we headed off to the beach in the morning, many of us listened with tears in our eyes as the founder, Dieudonne, recounted how he had begun the work a decade ago when someone felt sorry for him and gave him $5:

It was Christmas day 1993 when it all started. His father had just been thrown still alive into a pit and then covered over. Dieudonne felt terribly alone and destitute, with seemingly nobody and nothing in the world. But then he walked past some street children, and realized that he had $5 more than them at least. So he bought some sodas and shared the message of Christmas with them. Slowly but surely things have grown in the intervening years, and he now has sixty four children in his care. Last year he was able to return to the scene of his father’s murder and preach about forgiveness and reconciliation, and he showed us a photo of him with one of the group responsible for killing his father. He also spoke of a day when they were all going hungry as a group, and as they prayed they asked the Lord to provide not just someone’s scraps for them. Rather in faith they asked for the Lord to provide them with an amazing meal. At that very moment elsewhere in the capital, I was leaving an embassy function, and there was tray after tray of delicacies, all of which were to be thrown away. So I asked if I could take them for the street children, and a few minutes later arrived at New Generation’s office to hand over the Ambassador for Britain’s food to these cute little hungry faith-filled Ambassadors for Christ!

Through the years these little urchins have constantly seen the Lord answer their heartfelt pleas: “Give us today our daily bread”; and that is how Dieudonne wants to continue. Recently a major donor pulled out, and he has just emailed me today saying they have been kicked out of their house with no money to move elsewhere, so things are a real struggle just now – but they continue to trust him. Do intercede on their behalf.

Lizzie and I too have needed to trust Him all the more at this time, as Lizzie is going through a difficult pregnancy. She is coming up to four months pregnant, and a few weeks back we thought we had lost the budding little Bilbo Gilbo (doesn’t that name have a great ring to it?!). So after some bleeding, cramps and a pessimistic initial diagnosis from the doctor, she has been confined to bed rest and is flying back to the UK earlier than planned. Thanks so much for all the prayer support over the last while, we are now much more confident and hopeful that a feisty nipper will pop out sometime in December.

These remain key times for Burundi as various stages of elections take place. Much of the country is largely stable, but around the capital there is shooting most days, and many people live in total fear. For example, the lady who helps us out at home had to flee with her family for a few days as the soldiers came to her house; they all thought they were going to die, but they hid under the beds, and the soldiers passed by. At the weekend three people were blown up by a grenade just a few miles away in one of the suburbs, and another incident saw ten people killed at a church, including the pastor.

I am writing this at a seminar upcountry in Rumonge, as one of the team in front of me is teaching a group of church leaders. A number of the pastors invited have not been able to attend because a group of vigilante guards demanding payment have set up roadblocks around the city and are not letting people through. So things have been tense. Indeed as I write this forty armed soldiers have just stomped past to go and try to break up the demonstration. We are hoping to be able to get back to the capital after lunch in a few hours.

Strange as it may seem, however, life for us goes on relatively normally. With the visiting team we have traveled far and wide and had some great times of sharing – with orphans, widows, displaced people, university students, pastors, youth leaders and rural outreaches. We are all shattered and it has been a physically and spiritually stretching time; but it has been great to see the life and power of the Holy Spirit at work. Many have come to the Lord. Our efforts have not necessarily been slick or sophisticated, but in our respective weaknesses we are seeking to be a ‘Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people’. Thank God He is patient with us, because we are slow learners!

I’ll call it a day there. The above gives plenty to pray about. God bless you as you intercede for this land. Thank you so much. Lizzie and I are flying back to the UK next week. She may have to stay the next sixth months, which would be hugely frustrating, but we will take on board advice from the relevant people. As for me, I will have a hectic preaching schedule over the next few months there.

I came across a challenging quote last week: “The Biblical images to describe the work of the Spirit – fire, mighty rushing wind, flood etc – are exactly the sorts of things we pay to insure ourselves against.” Well, may God help us to make Him our Insurance Policy, and nobody or nothing else!

Take care and take risks, Simon Guillebaud