PRAYER LETTER NO.68 Sunday, 20 February 2011 00:00 When Alli first saw him, John didn’t have a face. (If you’re not too squeamish, there are photos which you can click on at the bottom after reading John’s story) Ten years ago, Alli would drive through Kayanza market and see a hooded little child beggar, with a clawed stump of a hand, demurely approaching passing vehicles to ask for anything they might give him by way of food or loose change. And they often did give something, in haste, so that he’d just stop invading their space and get out of their face. There can be so much in a name. Alli, from Canada, one of my favorite people on the planet, is one of a handful of missionaries who has been here through thick and thin, during those dark war years. Very few of us white people living in Burundi are so loved and integrated that we are given a Kirundi name. It’s a badge of acceptance. She is one of those few. Burundians don’t know her as Alli. Her real name is Mbabazi, which means ‘Mercy’. One day Mbabazi stopped at the side of the road, maybe for too long. John came and invaded her space with his face. Beneath the shroud and behind the clawed stump which vainly sought to mask his melted features, was a precious little boy, horrifically scarred and scared. His melted face melted her tender heart. Mbabazi had mercy – she had to, because that is who she is Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.67 Sunday, 27 June 2010 00:00 Bitter/sweet or sweet/bitter news of death in Burundi…   Sarah is dead. The funeral is today.   It seems so wrong. Many prayed and fasted - some believed and even claimed - but all hoped that God would heal her, yet finally she lost in her protracted struggle against breast cancer. The night before she graduated to glory, frail Sarah had called her six children around her, and with poignant strength of voice told them she was leaving soon. She then gave each advice about the future once she had gone. And now Peter has had to break the news to the kids, although the youngest is only a toddler (born 2 weeks before the mastectomy) and cannot possibly comprehend what has happened. On learning of his mother’s death, 4-year-old Dedi blurted out: “O Papa, if Mama is with Jesus, will you take me there too?”   It seems so deeply wrong in this case because of Peter’s story. The sting of premature death (she was thirty one) is always doubly painful, but God’s intervention in healing Peter seemed to suggest He would surely do the same for Sarah.   Peter is one of the most godly men I know. His testimony is a powerful one. He was a wild womanizer and musician who worked for Burundi’s secret service, and so got up to all sorts of colorful and unsavory acts before his conversion. I first met him about eight years ago when he’d been miraculously granted leave from prison. He was very sick, and needed medical treatment, but the head of the prison had refused him permission, saying: “You’ll only ever be allowed out of here over my dead body.” Under the influence of a massive fever, Peter had replied: “You will watch God take me out of here under your very nose!” He returned to his cell, and an overnight prayer meeting was convened. Nobody was allowed to leave before the Lord had answered their petition. They prayed through the night, and after 9am, one of the group said: “I believe the Lord’s just told me that you’ll be released by 4pm.” They packed his bags in faith, and at 345pm a prison officer opened his cell, looked at his packed bags, and said: “Who told you that you are to be released? Give me your telephone!” Peter replied: “I have no phone. It was God who told us!” And he walked out of prison past the head honcho who had said “over my dead body”.   Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.66 Tuesday, 30 March 2010 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Greetings from Burundi! GLO is hosting a team from Sheffield right now and last night I invited Theo to come and share his story with us of what happened in the Burundian bloodbath of 1993. It was incredible. A book is being written on his life, so below are just a few snapshots and some challenges he drew out of them. Keep reading, it's well worth it: At the end of 1993, tens of thousands of Burundians were being murdered on both sides of the tribal divide as genocide kicked in following the assassination of the Hutu President. As a Hutu, Theo had to flee, or otherwise he would be killed by the other tribe, the Tutsi. He walked several hundred miles through the bush into Tanzania. On the way he had a number of extraordinary escapes. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.65 Tuesday, 12 January 2010 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team, God is great! Yesterday I emailed one of my closest friends in Burundi, who runs what I believe in due course will be the most strategic Christian ministry in the country. I had some incredible personal news for him. I'm changing his name here to protect his identity and that of his organization, as things are too volatile right now - these prayer letters get forwarded to all sorts of people and could easily end up in the wrong hands. (One of our key people was murdered a couple of years ago in front of his wife and kids as a result of his work with M's). So 'Peter', founder of 'Burundi Bible Ministry', started BBM two years ago. We got our Masters together at All Nations Christian College, England's leading mission training institution, and he was sponsored by John Stott no less because he is so gifted. As with any pioneer ministry, Peter and his wife have been under interminable stress and pressure. There were so many calls on his time. Ministry as well as family finances were permanently stretched to breaking point. It was unsustainable. As GLO we want to get behind the most strategic leaders in the country to empower and release them to accomplish their God-given dreams. Yet many leaders are stunted in their effectiveness because they simply can't afford to live and pay the bills. So my email was to tell Peter that we had agreed to finance the building of his house, to free him up from so much added tension and pressure and thereby help him more fully concentrate on God's work through BBM. His reply was as follows: Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.64 Monday, 24 August 2009 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  We had high expectations. Each successive year our Harvest for Christ summer campaign has been both bigger and better. But could we really surpass last year's amazing outreach stories and impact? Some of you have told me how you struggle to believe the numbers and the testimonies I share. They seem so off the chart. All I can say is that this is a movement of God, involving hard-core passionate disciples who are willing to step out and risk all and suffer for their King, and He responds to their obedience in great power. We sent out 436 young firebrands for the first two weeks of August to 33 largely unreached parts of Burundi. There's so much to share but I'll have to limit myself to just a few typical stories and I'll give you the statistics too. Here goes: Fidel had lain paralyzed in bed for seven months. He'd sought healing from both normal doctors and witchdoctors. Then the team came, full of faith, and commanded him to stand up and walk in Jesus' name. He stood up, and the next day walked the six mile round trip to and from church where he testified to God's power with tears of joy. Others gave their lives to Christ as a result. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.63 Sunday, 14 June 2009 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, "Come," then He will continue to say, "Come," through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ's "Come," That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus. Have I come to Him? Will I come now?" (Oswald Chambers) Dear Team, I've just preached my last sermon in Burundi. I'm packing up and leaving. That's it. The journey's over – at least this stint is, and at least for a while we'll be elsewhere. But Burundi still beats in my blood! I'm not prone to nostalgia or excessive introspection, but my sermon on Abram's call allowed me briefly to look back at the incredible joy of living dangerously for Jesus in this precious land. It's just over a decade ago that I arrived, having left behind family, friends, career, security, etc. I'd had most of my money stolen in Rwanda, got mugged on my first day by street kids, didn't know where I'd work, listened to regular shooting and grenades/shells going off, and with only a few hundred dollars in the world was believing and acting on what God said to Abram: "Leave (everything) and go (where) I will show you." Well, true to His Word, He showed me alright! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.62 Tuesday, 24 March 2009 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team, I don't know where this email will go, but I want to get something down on paper/computer. My emotions are raw. I've just seen Sam again... Two weeks ago she showed up, eight months pregnant, and confirmed the worst news – tests revealed she was HIV+. The following Sunday, our baby Grace was very sick and so I stayed at home to look after her. That's the only Sunday in many months that I was at home, and I think it was providential, as Sam rang. She'd been hit by a car and given birth to a dead baby. She wouldn't be released from hospital unless she paid her bills, which needed paying immediately (unpaid bills here means imprisonment). So I was able to help get her out of hospital and avoid jail. Sam, 28-years-old, is at the bottom of the world's pile. Her system is slowly shutting down. Her leg is oozing puss. She has nobody in the world to look out for her. And she came back to see me just now. She is 'one of the least of these' that Jesus was talking about (Matt.25); and so what I do for her, Jesus says, I'm doing for him. Somehow she is Jesus for me today. And what should I do with this Jesus sat in front of me...? Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.61 Wednesday, 04 March 2009 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team, We had seven days to find $80,000 to buy a crucial piece of land. Did we make it? Read on... This week, I've experienced both highs and lows on my knees before the unfinished cement altar in what will be soon be Bujumbura's new Episcopal Cathedral. It's a stone's throw from my office, and it's where I go to pray - particularly on Wednesdays, which is my prayer day. I love it there. A half-built church resonates with me: it speaks of work in progress, a long way to go, messy but constantly evolving, and hopefully becoming steadily more beautiful. Over the last few months, the builders have gotten used to my showing up, taking my shoes and socks off, and stomping up and down, either singing on the guitar or seemingly muttering to myself. Then one day I asked permission from the foreman if I could share something with them all as a group. He agreed. So one lunch-time, as they munched away during their break, I took the opportunity to tell them about the Master Builder. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.60 Thursday, 08 January 2009 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team, I have a confession to make: I smoke marijuana each Sunday morning before going to church, and I don't feel bad about it. In fact, it's my highlight of the week. More on that below... I hope the New Year has gotten off to a good start, and I want to ask you two questions:  - What is God saying to you (presuming we believe God speaks) about your life in 2009?  - And will you follow Jesus wherever he leads you this year? I don't in any way claim to have a hotline to God in terms of constant audible-voice experiences, but I do believe he is constantly speaking, if we'd only switch off the car radio/TV/Ipod/email long enough and really seek to listen to him. Silence is threatening to so many of us, but surely that's when we're able to hear God's voice. During the early part of last year, he spoke to me Sunday after Sunday as I drove to church. I would see thousands of people congregating on the beach and then jogging around together. If they were on the beach, then they weren't going to church. If they weren't going to church, then they weren't hearing about Jesus. So it made me think that Jesus himself would probably prefer to go to the beach than to church, as he said he hadn't come for the healthy but for the sick. Well, I decided to do both beach and church! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.59 Thursday, 11 December 2008 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Christians have bumper stickers and catch phrases. Believers have creeds and promises. Disciples have scars and stories. Dear Team,  I'm feeling raw. I want to share that rawness with you, so apologies in advance if the jumbled thoughts lack coherence, but please feel the anguish with me: Today's my prayer day. There's a half-built cathedral a hundred yards from my office, so I often go there, take my shoes off, and stomp up and down praying in the cool and quiet. After about an hour, this young lady interrupted me. Now you have to understand, I spend my life out here getting asked for money. It's relentless and draining to deal with. So I thought to myself, whilst 'in the Spirit', as she approached me: "Just go away, leave me alone, can't you see I'm praying? Don't you dare ask me for money!" Her lips were quivering. She was dressed reasonably well, but she looked rough with beads of perspiration on her nose. I could tell she was scared to approach me. But she was also desperate, and desperation triumphed over her fear as she tentatively but boldly broke in on my special time with God. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.58 Wednesday, 19 November 2008 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Greetings from Burundi! I've just written to a friend to respond to his question, "What's happening with you?" and thought I'd fill you in: "Where shall I start? We have so much to be thankful for. Zac and Grace are generally very healthy. Lizzie continues to have the constitution of an ox, with the beauty of a fat cow (a woman is referred to as a cow here in the marriage ceremony, and fat is good, so that's a compliment!). I am recently over some dysentery and so am firing on all cylinders again. Health is not taken for granted, as German friends are evacuating today because of their sick baby, following on from some American buddies last month. Sat at my desk at dusk in humid Central Africa, I've just done a live breakfast radio interview for a station in freezing Canada – very surreal! The interview was to talk about how God has amazingly opened the doors for us so that three containers that have just arrived from Edmonton have been released without any 'charges', something simply extraordinary as customs issues pretty much have to involve corruption. But no bribes with us, no weeks of bargaining and pleading, and five new donated vehicles as well as many other things are now ours to use for God's glory. So many people around the world were praying. This saved us tens of thousands of dollars, and we're all thrilled. Imagine the scene: as the containers were being unloaded, we had ten volunteers trying to ward off a hundred customs officials who were prowling around trying to steal anything when backs were turned! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.56 Wednesday, 08 October 2008 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Are you ready for some weird, wonderful and whacky stories of God at work in Burundi? Some stretch credibility, particularly for a Western mind, although an African wouldn't blink twice about what I'll share with you. It's quite long, but it'll blow your mind, and is worth the read... My last letter was asking you to pray for Onesphore and his band of fearless disciples as they piled upcountry into unreached areas to share the love of Jesus in word and deed. Well, as usual, I am beautifully blown away by what happened. If you take a fresh look at the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, you could almost substitute 'Antioch' or 'Ephesus' with 'Burundi' and it would read in a similar vein. Here's a sample of what happened: In Muyinga, a prostitute called Victoria was kidnapped by cannibal witchdoctors who took a bite out of her thigh but found she tasted bitter (it sounds almost comical except that it is true – one of the female members of the team later on asked to see it to verify that she wasn't lying, and the mouth-shaped wound needed serious medical treatment). So the witchdoctors didn't eat her. Instead they cursed her and she became dumb. For three weeks she hadn't said a word when the evangelists arrived. She'd gone to the local administrator to press charges, and he challenged the team: "If you want us to listen to you about your Jesus, then do something for this girl." They promptly gathered around her, prayed in Jesus' name, and Victoria began speaking again! The whole community was blown away by this obvious demonstration of God's power. The administrator promptly offered them land to build a church, and two months on there is a church of a hundred members meeting there. Victoria is now a reformed ex-prostitute. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.57 Wednesday, 08 October 2008 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  She lunges into my face with an open mouth, makes contact, and pushes. Whether it's my nose she's latched onto, or my cheekbone, or my chin (or even occasionally when she hits her intended target, my mouth!) she pushes hard and continues breathing through her nose. Grace is learning to kiss, and it's a very wet process. Her efforts are clumsy but committed. She's nearly 12-months-old. I'm her Daddy. I love her, and I think she loves me! Click here to see the little beauty. (C, have you got those pics on the web?) There are worse things you could be called than 'clumsy but committed'. 'Clumsy' may simply be a reflection of limitations, whereas 'committed' reveals the positive heart attitude. The Greek word for worship is 'proskyneo', and means literally to lean forward and kiss. I want to give God my best worship - indeed I am totally committed to that - but even my best efforts are at best clumsy in relation to his glorious perfection. But if, when I reach out to him, he feels similar to how I feel when Grace slobbers on me, then I know he's just thrilled! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.55 Friday, 25 July 2008 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Do you love the truth enough to live it? Dear Team, This is as exciting as it gets, so read on! "The last two weeks in Burundi have witnessed amazing scenes. I've just received a report about what the twenty three groups of Harvest for Christ evangelists got up to. Ten in each team, they went to fourteen unreached areas, not knowing what they'd eat or where they'd sleep, and had a massive impact. I know some reports tend to be quite evangelastic(!) in terms of exaggerated numbers, but I assure you these guys are the real deal. I'll just translate Onesphore's summary: 'From our door-to-door visiting and outreach, 15,890 people believed and prayed to receive Christ, including 47 witchdoctors and 16 Muslims. We burnt talismans and objects of witchcraft in 49 families. There were 45 miraculous healings, including 4 mentally ill and 11 demon-possessed people. 8 couples on the verge of divorce repented and want to make their marriages work. 2 people about to commit suicide were talked out of it. 308 people were trained for follow-up in different churches.' Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.54 Friday, 18 April 2008 00:00 Dear Team, Last night was the biggest attack on the capital for several years. Earlier in the day policemen were stationed on every street corner and rumours were flying around. Then at about 845pm gunfire and shelling kicked off in a big way as the FNL rebels embarked on an audacious/futile attack on various military installations about town. We had fourteen people in our lounge for home-group at the time. It is a surreal thing to listen to the big thuds of shells landing, the occasional whoosh of a rocket hurtling through the air, and the rattling of machine gunfire whilst knowing that it is all real, that people are dying - maybe friends - certainly plenty of innocents caught in the crossfire. This morning I rang various people to check they were OK. American friends across town had a gun battle going on right next to them on the street. They shifted their 3-year-old and newborn into the corridor on the floor and the kids managed to sleep through the incredibly loud noises. Ours slept through as well, but it was all a bit further away from our part of town. Shadrach, who works for us, came to work and asked to be excused. Two of his children were missing, as they'd fled during the night and got separated. He's looking for them right now. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.53 Thursday, 20 March 2008 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  This morning I read about some truly authentic followers of Jesus – unnamed and unsung heroes of the persecuted church in North Korea, of whom plenty are now martyrs. Many believers (under probably the most oppressive regime in the world) recite daily the Lord's prayer, and then also the five principals of faith. Those principles highlight their expectations and understanding of the costliness of following Jesus: 1. Our persecution and suffering are our joy and honour. 2. We want to accept ridicule, scorn and disadvantages with joy in Jesus' name. 3. As Christians, we want to wipe others' tears away and comfort the suffering. 4. We want to be ready to risk our life because of our love for our neighbour, so that they also become Christians. 5. We want to live our lives according to the standards set in God's Word. Wow! I don't envy their circumstances, but I do their authenticity! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.52 Monday, 31 December 2007 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." If you want to see which 'plodder' wrote the above words, and what he managed to do with his life, then see below - it's quite an encouragement and a challenge... we can all do it! Dear Team,  Happy New Year! I wonder how you feel as you enter 2008 - excited? daunted? Well, whatever other word you might choose to use, God help us to be faithful through both the highs and lows, the peaks and the troughs, of the coming year. I think both 'excited' and 'daunted' are good words to describe how I feel. I'm excited because we have seen God's hand so massively at work thus far and anticipate more incredible times, and because it is such a privilege to serve the King of Kings. I'm daunted because we have such big audacious plans and dreams for the transformation of Burundi which we can't do on our own, and because on a family level we're taking vulnerable new baba Grace back to Burundi with it's decidedly ropey medical facilities, along with the usual security, health, poverty, political etc issues. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.51 Friday, 26 October 2007 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Greetings from Africa! How are you? I hope you're well. On my end, I feel crushed and I feel elated. There is so much bad stuff going on, but also some incredible stuff. Life is so raw out here, so black and white, such a rollercoaster of highs and lows. It would be so much easier to remain aloof and keep an emotional distance from my adoptive people, but I want to care and I choose to care, although it hurts to care... I sit listening to friends pouring out their hearts. Burundian men don't cry – as the local proverb puts it, 'A Burundian man's tears flow inside his belly' – but John does shed some tears as he shares how his pregnant wife Sarah has recently mysteriously died, leaving young David confused at home and Daddy absolutely devastated. Peter and Ruth have had their fourth and very late miscarriage, and are clinging to God to get through the anguish. Alfred comes in and tells me two members of his family have died in my absence. Privat shows up to work after a sleepless night listening to renewed bombing, with the radio reporting eleven dead as factions of the last remaining rebel group kill each other. DD shares how the streetkids' project simply doesn't have money for them to eat, whilst his 3-year-old daughter is recovering from being raped. Unemployed Ildephonse looks at me imploringly in the eye and talks of his wife and four kids who have nothing and he can't provide for them. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.50 Thursday, 30 August 2007 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Should it be WWJD or WDJD? 'What Would Jesus Do?' can be a good question in some situations, but it can also be a cop-out at times when we plainly see from the Bible what Jesus did, what his disciples did, and what he expects us in turn to do. J.B.Philips commented after months of in-depth study and translation of the book of Acts: "These disciples didn't make acts of faith, they believed; they didn't say their prayers, they really prayed; they didn't hold conferences on psychosomatic medicine, they simply healed the sick... The Spirit of God found what he must always be seeking - a fellowship of men and women so united in love and faith that he can work in and through them with the minimum of hindrance." And yes, the Spirit of God is still seeking the same thing. The last two weeks in Burundi have witnessed such a bunch of men and women. I've just received a report about what the twenty three groups of Harvest for Christ evangelists got up to. Ten in each team, they went to fourteen unreached areas, and had a massive impact. I know some reports tend to be quite evangelastic(!) in terms of exaggerated numbers, but I assure you these guys are the real deal. I'll just translate Onesphore's summary: "From our door-to-door visiting and outreach, 15,890 people believed and prayed to receive Christ, including 47 witchdoctors and 16 Muslims. We burnt talismans and objects of witchcraft in 49 families. There were 45 miraculous healings, including 4 mentally ill and 11 demon-possessed people. 8 couples on the verge of divorce repented and want to make their marriages work. 2 people about to commit suicide were talked out of it. 308 people were trained for follow-up in different churches." He goes on: "A famous witchdoctor at Ijenda, Joselyne, gave her life to Christ. Her sister refused to believe, but brought over the demon-possessed neighbour. The latter hadn't eaten for three days, and Joselyne's sister challenged the believers: "If you heal this girl, I'll know that you are serving the one true God." God duly healed the girl, and 21 people (including the sister) promptly gave their lives to Christ. Elsewhere a group of evangelists were arrested and taken to prison. One lad whilst in his cell led two people to Christ! Another team were beaten up, but continued preaching." That's just a sample. You get the idea! Praise God! What would Jesus do today? The same as he did back then. What should we do today? Surely the same as his followers did then! I know most of us want to be used by God and to see His power at work through us, but how much do we really want it? What's it worth? What is stopping us or holding us back? I mean, there was (for the early followers) and will be (for us) a cost to this. He wants nothing less than full surrender. So that's my personal challenge today, and it hits me hard. 'What Did Jesus Do?' is straightforward enough to verify. Whereas my concern with 'WWJD' is that it might allow me to justify by conjecture a more moderate and tame response to the wild and dangerous call to follow the costly way of the cross. What do you think? Let's do it! Simon Guillebaud PS Didn't really mention prayer requests in the above, so here goes: the political situation right now is very fragile, so please pray for wisdom for the Christian President, for the Government to be able to move forward in unity, and for lasting peace and a rebuilding of the economy. On a more personal level, Lizzie, Zac and I arrived today in the USA for a number of weeks of preaching. May they be fruitful and impacting times of ministry. Lizzie is seven months pregnant, so we value your prayers for a healthy new baby in two months' time. Finally, we are still looking for the right person to run the conference centre we're building. Any ideas? Thanks!   PRAYER LETTER NO.49 Monday, 28 May 2007 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal." Dear Team, It's so very easy to take our eyes off the goal. So many things compete for our attention. We're bombarded with apparently urgent tasks which need doing. For me in Burundi I've found myself almost overwhelmed recently with the number of 'plates' I seem to be juggling, concerned that one or more will come crashing to pieces when my guard is down. Well, the good news is that they are all still in the air at the moment, and I don't doubt it's because of the likes of you providing us with firepower from around the world. This last weekend's outreach got my eyes firmly back on the goal. In general, these trips are the times when I come most alive. I drove our SU team on terrible roads into the bush with a number of volunteers and dropped each one off at a different school with sixty Bibles. The subsidized price for a Bible is just over $4, but that is still far too much for most people (hard to believe, maybe). The system we introduced was that any member of the Christian Union could have a Bible, and they could pay by installments for however long it took. Then the money collected would be used to buy more Bibles, so that each school had a constant supply, and nobody could have the excuse of not having one. There were whoops of delight wherever we went, and many students were touched by the Lord. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.48 Friday, 20 April 2007 00:00 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 Team,  What are we waiting for? It can happen again... Last week, a group from Cheltenham joined the Scripture Union gang upcountry for part of a youth camp. Numbers had been limited to 300, but in the end 450 came, saying that we couldn't keep them away, they were prepared to sleep outside under the stars. There were eight youth sharing each double mattress. The conditions as always were very basic, but the students' thirst was insatiable, and the Lord moved in powerful ways. Over the four days, many repented, and most who had arrived unconverted left with a vibrant new-found faith to take back to the dozens of schools represented. Investing in the youth is so very strategic. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.47 Thursday, 08 February 2007 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  The last six weeks have seen some of the most seismic changes in B's recent history. It could not have been more (positively) tense, dramatic and exciting. The whole country has been gripped, tuning into the various radio stations almost by the hour, to see whether this nascent democracy would pull through or crumble in the face of a ruthless and corrupt Party Chairman, whose Machiavellian behaviour showed utter contempt for the rule of law. So what has happened? I'll sum it up as briefly as possible: At the turn of the year, the very overtly Christian President sponsored a huge evangelistic outreach at the national stadium. Personally, I don't think it's his job to do that as an elected politician, but that's another issue. It was a powerful time, at which he promised that the year 2007 would bring big changes. Within a few days, two wrongfully-arrested journalists, and then six alleged coup-plotters were released, undermining the autocratic (Muslim) Party Chairman, who (it is widely accepted) had ordered them to be locked up. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.46 Wednesday, 20 December 2006 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Oops, I wrote this before Christmas but have had email problems, hence you only receiving it now. So here's wishing you all a belated Very Merry and Meaningful Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am so deeply grateful to all of you for your interest, support, prayers and contributions. This last year has been huge for GLO, with significant changes as the work has been growing steadily. Tens of thousands of lives have been impacted through our partners, and your role in empowering and releasing them to do it is absolutely key. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.45 Friday, 20 October 2006 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Team,  Contrast these two pictures of life in Burundi: 1 A few weeks ago, some people spotted the bloody body of a prisoner floating in the river. When they investigated further, they found nineteen bodies skewered on a long branch like a kebab. The Governor of Muyinga Province initially completely denied the reports, but human rights groups went and took photos of the bodies, verifying the gruesome claims. It turns out twenty six prisoners had been taken out and murdered in this brutal fashion. Only because of the press' making a big deal of it has it come to public knowledge. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.44 Tuesday, 22 August 2006 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers,  I hope this finds you well. I am involved in gospel work because I believe that 1) it is true, and 2) it works. The following should certainly encourage you: One of the amazing local believers we support in Burundi is Onesphore, the founder of a group called 'Harvest for Christ'. For the last two weeks he has sent out 140 trained young people without money to ten remote unreached areas to share the Good News with the people they come across. The results have been phenomenal. I'll give you just a sample from his email to me today. The young evangelists spoke to about 16,500 people during the two weeks. Approximately 5,500 gave their lives to the Lord, including twenty witchdoctors. Six couples about to divorce were reconciled. Three people about to commit suicide were saved. One of them had been cheated on by her husband, so she went to the witchdoctor for advice, but he abused her trust by making her pregnant. Just as she was about to kill herself, the young preachers pitched up at her door and led her to Christ! At twenty different destinations people burned amulets and charms. Two churches were planted. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.43 Tuesday, 30 May 2006 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers,  "To pray 'Give us this day our daily bread' and then refuse to share it when the prayer is amply answered is blasphemy!" Do you agree? I don't – not the blasphemy bit at least – but it makes a point. Whilst having a wonderful time preaching in South Africa a few weeks ago, I was handed an article written about the Eastern Congo.* I knew that this kind of evil stuff was going on close by, indeed I know plenty of people who have suffered similarly horrific ordeals, but the author highlighted afresh our complicity in 'developed' nations in the worst conflict since the Second World War. I have the article in front of me, and I quote: Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.42 Friday, 14 April 2006 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Easter People,  Hi! I hope this finds you well. Today is Good Friday, and Sunday is Easter – but how many of us want Easter perks without Calvary pain? A friend of mine wrote: "We are more concerned with happiness than holiness. We seek to be served rather than to serve. We want a church that makes us feel good rather than one which challenges us. So often we opt for a religion that costs us little. We stress our rights, not our responsibilities; our freedom in Christ rather than our debt to Christ; our security rather than our sacrifice." Hmm... I have just got back from an amazing youth camp. We (Scripture Union) invited about three hundred strategic leaders from schools around the country to come and spend four days together – at a cost of just $3,000, which shows how far money can go out here. The living conditions at the school we hired were basic in the extreme (no running water for four days, so some very grubby hands and noxious smells!), but amazingly nobody got seriously sick, and we had a wild time. They were so spiritually hungry, starting at 630am and continuing until 1030pm. For these guys, following Jesus is no picnic. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.41 Tuesday, 21 February 2006 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "Either we wake to tackle our 'to do' list, get things done, guided by our morals and whatever clarity we may at the moment have. Or we wake in the midst of a dangerous Story, as God's intimate ally, following him into the unknown. If you're not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well, then, you don't need a Guide. If you haven't found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won't need a seasoned Captain. If you've settled in your mind to live as though this is a fairly neutral world and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then you can probably get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques. Maybe. I'll give you about a fifty-fifty chance. But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life He offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be. There are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God knows where, too much at stake. You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation. Narrow is the way, said Jesus, how shall we be sure to find it? We need God intimately, and we need him desperately." (John Eldredge in Waking the Dead) Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.40 Thursday, 27 October 2005 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers, Hope all is well your ends. I'll be honest and say that things haven't great my end, although I chide myself for feeling low when I compare myself with the sufferings of those around me. I've been ill for a week now, having got back from another amazingly fruitful outing in the bush. Last time we had been there, some Muslims, angered by the Jesus film we were showing, had crept under the van and sabotaged the engine so we couldn't leave - that film always provokes a response! The living conditions of these weekends are often so grim that they knock me out for extended periods. I am due to go tomorrow to a refugee camp miles upcountry for a few days, but we'll see. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.39 Thursday, 29 September 2005 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers,  These are potentially incredible times for Burundi! The new President is very clear in all his dealings that he is a follower of Jesus. I heard through a friend of his wife that he gets up at 4am to pray and read the Bible before starting on his day. He has set aside three hours every Monday morning to meet with church leaders for advice and prayer. So for all those years during the war that people were prophesying we would get a Christian president, I struggled to believe it, and yet here he is – O me of little faith! It is far better at this stage than any scenario we could have dreamed up. Praise the Lord! There are still horrific problems, of course, so this is no time for complacency. Please keep praying for the President (Peter Nkurunziza), that he would stay humble, uncorrupted, and alive. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.38 Wednesday, 24 August 2005 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers,  These are potentially historic times for Burundi. Imagine listening to shells landing and bullets being fired, on and off, for the last twelve years. Rape and pillage have been routine experiences for many, including plenty of my friends. Twelve years is a long time... but God's people have continued crying out to Him, clinging to their hope in Him, and reaching out to the lost for Him. Freddy, my best Burundian buddy, once pleaded with me, "Simon, please don't stop shedding tears for Burundi, because many of us Burundians have no tears left to cry." Well, many tears later, our hopes are rising. Freddy just wrote to me: Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.37 Wednesday, 22 June 2005 00:00 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,  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. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.36 Tuesday, 10 May 2005 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "There are plenty of Christians to follow the Lord halfway, but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends, and honours, but it touches them too closely to disown themselves." (Eckhart, 15th century mystic) Dear Tigers,  Well, here's to moving towards the halfway mark, and beyond! Over the last few weeks I have been preaching upcountry with a number of people who counted the cost and were prepared to give up possessions, friends, and honours, and even to disown themselves: Pastor Juvenal was the only man in his whole area to refuse to 'contribute' financially to his tribe's rebel cause. He also preached from the pulpit that the church members should not side with the rebellion or resort to armed conflict. Consequently, the rebels came on a number of occasions to kill him. However, as with the martyrs of Revelation 12v11, who 'did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death', he was prepared to disown himself and die. He survived many close shaves. Recently, with the disbanding of that rebel group, the commander who had tried to kill him sought him out and shook his hand, saying: "Congratulations! Truly you are a man of God! We tried to get you, and were determined to kill you, but God always protected you!" The commander invited Juvenal to the demobilisation camp to preach to the several thousand troops, who were duly amazed to see the famous rebellious(!) pastor still alive. Many of them repented and turned to Christ. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.35 Wednesday, 16 March 2005 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear tigers,  Hope all is well your ends. Two quotes have struck me recently, one by a Muslim, the other by a Hindu: Ayatollah Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah in Lebanon, said to Brother Andrew: "You Christians have a problem." The latter enquired: "What do you think our problem is?" Fadlallah replied: "You are not following the life of Jesus Christ anymore." Andrew asked again: "So what do you think we should do about that?" "You must go back to the Book." Referring to the Bible, Mahatma Gandhi said to a group of missionaries: "You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature." Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.34 Monday, 31 January 2005 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers,  Do you believe in witchcraft? Sorcery? Demons? Satanic power? This story might challenge many of us with our worldviews: A few weeks back I had a much-anticipated visit from Saleh, a converted Muslim sheikh. He shared with me his extraordinary story. He was born into a Christian family but educated away from home, and became a Muslim when he was 14-years-old. He was initiated into folk Islamic practices involving sorcery. The higher he rose in Islam, the more witchcraft he got caught up in. To obtain satanic powers, he engaged in bestiality, made evil potions, and created blood bonds with people (I'll spare the details!). He was able to woo almost any woman he wanted, and used his powers to bewitch a Christian lady in the church choir whom he married. She would pray for him, but he was always alerted through his satanic powers when she was praying, and would interrupt and warn her that he would kill her if she carried on. He became very rich, because he could take whatever he wanted from shops by blinding the owners of the shops he visited. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.33 Monday, 13 December 2004 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "We are at war, and the bloody battle is over our hearts. I am astounded how few Christians see this, how little they protect their hearts. We act as though we live in a sleepy little town during peacetime. We don't. We live in the spiritual equivalent of Bosnia or Beirut (or Burundi!). Act like it. Watch over your heart. Don't let just anything in; don't let it go just anywhere. What's this going to do to my heart? is a question that I ask in every situation. And thinking of life as a journey reminds me to stop trying to set up camp and call it home. It allows me to see life as a process, with completion somewhere down the road. Thus I am freed from feeling like a failure when things are not finished, and hopeful that they will be as my journey comes to its end. I want adventure, and this reminds me I am living in it. Life is not a problem to be solved; it is an adventure to be lived." (Eldredge) Dear Tigers,  How's the war going your end? Enjoying the journey? Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.32 Tuesday, 16 November 2004 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org Dear Tigers,  What makes you come alive? I have just read the following: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive... Sanctified resignation has become the new abiding place of contemporary Christians... Christianity has come to the point where we believe that there is no higher aspiration for the human soul than to be nice. We are producing a generation of men and women whose greatest virtue is that they don't offend anyone. Then we wonder why there is not more passion for Christ. How can we hunger and thirst for righteousness if we have ceased hungering and thirsting altogether?" (Eldredge) Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.31 Monday, 06 September 2004 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." Dear Tigers,  I am challenged by the above quote because although I dream of peace in Burundi and Congo, the obstacles in the battle for lasting peace often appear insurmountable. Yet through the eyes of faith, and facing up to the grim realities on the ground, with costly and concerted perseverance, we will see war turned to peace. There are seven weeks to go until the deadline runs out for elections to take place. They will be the first elections since those eleven years ago which led to the genocide. Things are hotting up, and these are critical times. So please pray. Similar to last week's horrific school massacre in Russia, a few weeks ago saw renewed mindless violence just 10km from the capital. Here's one of the emails I got through on what happened: Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.30 Wednesday, 30 June 2004 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org "Only those who risk going too far find out how far they can go." "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore." Dear Tigers, Greetings! I hope this finds you well. The above quotes are there because I was talking to someone recently after preaching, and he said: "The risk-takers in our land have gone to ground." Is he right? Isn't risk-taking a prerequisite to faith? 'Is our faith respectable, moderate, calculated, sober, with as little tension with the world as possible?' God help us to live lives worthy of His calling... Things have kicked off again in Central Africa in the last few weeks, and an update was due anyway, so here's what my best Burundian friend wrote a few days ago: "The war in the Eastern Region of Congo resumed two weeks ago. About thirty thousand people with majority kids and women are refugees on Burundi territory now. Burundi which is just turning in a corner from eleven years of civil war. Last year we were classified as the second poorest nation of the world. I want to say that these refugees are in a very critical situation. They have no food, no drinking water, no blankets, etc. Last week, I visited one of the centers where these people are gathered, I felt so sad and angry. Africa is dying just because of poor leadership. Congo is a so rich nation with all kind of resources but people are dying every day with guns and hunger. I cried to see them fighting for water to drink. I decided not to go there again as I have nothing to give them but I am praying, trusting God for a miracle." The area affected is one I know well. I have preached there several times, including a while back when I shared from Matthew 25 and the parable of the ten virgins: Jesus is coming, no-one knows when, but are you ready? Many of them responded, many others didn't. I drove in their direction two days later on my motorbike only to be turned back by a group of soldiers as killing was taking place up ahead. An undisclosed number died, so for them the message they had heard was particularly relevant, and I wonder if they were indeed ready to meet their Maker. All of us need to be ready, whether we are living in a war-zone or not. Lawlessness continues around the country. Another good friend wrote to me today: "Bandits came for the 3rd time this year and took whatever they wanted minus our lives, after a week I was down and admitted with malaria++++. But they did good to leave one trouser which I used to go for treatment. But I have forgiven them." The SU team is still doing great things in schools, with churches, seminars etc. The AIDS project continues to make an impact, as does the work with the orphans and streetchildren. Hopes for lasting peace remain high. The leader of the largest rebel faction which has recently been reintegrated into the government has been going around churches confessing and repenting for his part in the bloodshed. He is one of the favourites for the presidency at the October elections if he wants it, so if his conversion is genuine, that would be very exciting indeed. Our appeal for the youth training and conference centre is progressing well, with $75k already donated of the $300k required. Still a long way to go, so if you have any contacts with trusts or foundations, or any bright ideas, do get in touch with me. God bless all of you for your involvement. I am also trying to increase our prayer base, so if you have friends on email whom you think would be interested in praying for this part of the world, do forward this to them or give me their emails – that is a very real way of being involved in our work. Meanwhile, in Darfur, Sudan, an estimated 3,000 people are dying every day from government raids and forced starvation. If it takes you five minutes to read this email, then that equates to another eight lives lost in this horrific government-sponsored tragedy. Hundreds appear to have been abducted into slavery. As many as 1 million are expected to die by Christmas if the UN does not act to stop the Sudanese government. The world sat by and watched the Rwandan genocide, and it looks like it will do so again. So please check out www.iabolish.com/darfur and engage in this issue in a practical way, as well as praying passionately for these voiceless 'unpeople', who are just as precious to God as you and I, though clearly less privileged. Indeed, we are surely not called for privilege alone, but for responsibility. As Robert F. Kennedy said: "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each one of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." How much more so for the people of God! That's enough from me. Lizzie and I are on great form. We thank you for your prayers. We continue to strive to be risk-takers, consenting to 'lose sight of the shore' and knowing that 'the call of God will never take us where the grace of God will not keep us'. May it be the same for you. In Him, Simon and Lizzie Guillebaud   PRAYER LETTER NO.29 Tuesday, 06 April 2004 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers,  Ten years ago today, the presidential plane was shot down as it came in to land at Kigali airport, killing both the Rwandan and Burundian presidents and precipitating the most clinical and 'effective' genocide of recent times, with around one million faceless 'unpeople' being hacked to death with machetes in the ensuing three months. Among the dead were many family friends. I was a carefree university student at the time, blissfully unaware of what was taking place, happily drinking, clubbing and doing lots of sport whilst in Central Africa neighbours turned on each other and in the extreme even killed members of their own family who belonged to the other ethnic group. Ignorance was indeed bliss. But now, ten years on, this part of the world has become part of my very essence. My inner being grieves, groans and yearns for lasting peace, knowing just a little of how much people have suffered and are still suffering in these parts. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.28 Friday, 23 January 2004 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers,  "Sometimes Christians act as if they did not expect their prayers to be answered or their goals met." I read that today, and then crawled along the road in our seemingly dying car into Hertford to the Ford dealership, having been succinctly told the night before by the man at the garage: "It's xxxxed." Lizzie and I had prayed, and I was thinking, "Lord, please, I don't want to use up loads of your money on this." But this evening I picked the car up, and the man who handled it said to me in bemusement: "I don't believe it! Should've been £1,200-2,000 in damage. You must have the man upstairs looking out for you, I tell you. Ain't never seen this 'appen before, somehow one bit of the cam belt tensioner was lying on top of the cam belt, just balancing, should have broken the belt, the cylinder head, the lot. I just can't believe it. You musta been praying or summink. Amazing!" I told him I had, actually, and yes I believed God had answered my prayers. We both chuckled, and I left thrilled and encouraged at loads of money saved and another example of God's goodness. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.27 Monday, 24 November 2003 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers,  1140pm. I am sat next to my precious 25-year-old cousin, Deborah, in the Intensive Care Unit in Cambridge. Two nights ago it took paramedics half an hour to cut her out of the wreckage of her car after a crash in the rain. Following several hours of surgery (slicing out some of her liver, dealing with the punctured lung, trying to stem the loss of blood, and assessing the multiple fractures), things looked bleak when I arrived; but twenty four hours later she is still hanging in there, and has a bit more colour in her lacerated, bruised, swollen, and stitched up face. She brought tears to my eyes just now as she squeezed my hand and tried doing the 'thumbs up', the wonderful feisty battler that she is. So I am writing this letter as a plea for prayer in what the doctors are saying is the key time – the next twenty four hours – when they will open up her tummy again and perform some more major and complicated surgery. The longer she lasts, the more positive we can become. She is a strong believer, and was returning from a Christian conference when the crash happened. Back in 1996 we drove a truck together through twelve countries from the UK to Kenya, and ended up touring Rwanda and Burundi before I was ever called to work out there. So I love her dearly, and am desperate for her to survive and make a full recovery. Her parents are flying back from Singapore right now, and her four sisters are scattered around the globe. Many are praying, and I'd love you to join them. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.26 Wednesday, 10 September 2003 00:00 www.greatlakesoutreach.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers, Greetings from a newly-married and honeymarooned man! Yes, Lizzie and I are just back from three fabulous weeks in France, after a superb wedding on the 16th August. The only issue of concern on our big day was during the vows – we had learned them off by heart, but Lizzie hesitated at one point and forgot 'to love, cherish, AND OBEY' – so I'm slightly worried that there'll be insurrection in the ranks at some stage!!! We have found a tiny flat in Ware (Hertfordshire) and moved our stuff in yesterday, in preparation for one 'normal' year in the UK (probably the only normal one we'll ever have!), before heading back out to Burundi in 2004. Everyone said we couldn't possibly spend our first year of marriage in a war zone, so I have reluctantly heeded advice, but having done so am actually really excited about one year of further missiological studies at All Nations and real quality time with my wonderwoman! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.25 Wednesday, 09 July 2003 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers, URGENT PRAYER FOR BURUNDI PLEASE!  Well, guys, this is another SOS plea for urgent prayer as another attack is unleashed on the capital. The rebels infiltrated from the South at the beginning of the week, and that is where our offices are. My source at the UN two days ago said 27 are dead, but various people are updating me through each day, and both the death toll and numbers of people fleeing are rising. I have had no news from my precious colleagues, and I long to know they are alive and OK. So you will appreciate how heavily this is weighing on me; and the feeling is exacerbated by the fact that I am currently in the USA (South Carolina) doing a lot of preaching and sharing about Burundi. SC is one of the safest, nicest, friendliest and wealthiest places on the planet, in sharp contrast to Burundi, and I am trying, amongst other things, to sensitise people here to make them aware of how horrific things are elsewhere in this sick world beyond their own back yard. I have experienced nothing but fantastic hospitality and generosity, but I can't help feeling internally shredded and confused by the gross disparities between these nations in terms of justice and wealth distribution, and by the thoughts of my imperilled loved ones in Burundi sheltering from the shelling and grim stuff going on RIGHT NOW as I write/you read this. In my last meeting as I shared with the guys, I just burst into tears, which took everyone by surprise, including me, although the wonderful group handled this blubbering Brit with amazing aplomb! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.24 Friday, 02 May 2003 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org BP2260, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa Tel: 00 (257) 962411 "Safety is not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God!" Dear Tigers,             PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR BURUNDI!         I recently came back to the UK, and I got out just before things heated up somewhat. Below is an email from my flatmate out there: "Now it really is happening in Burundi and you are not here to inform the international media of our plight! I got back from Bukavu last Saturday when it really got nasty.  Mortars started landing on Thursday and things got progressively worse.  Saturday night around 10.30pm the most almighty noise zoomed over our heads.  Everyone literally dived for cover.  We were holed up in the corridor for two hours. It was a mixture of exhilaration and terror as we counted the seconds between launch and landing, closing our eyes while we waited for the impact.  A couple of mortars landed 200m from the house. We were called to an emergency meeting on Sunday and by Tuesday we had evacuated with reports that the rebels had stolen mortars from the army and would use them." Another friend wrote: "I can't believe you left us in this war zone! You had a lucky escape. The rebels started bombing or shelling Bujumbura last Thursday at 6am. It went on all day until the evening and they began getting closer and you could hear the rockets whistling through the air and then landing. However, we weren't really scared as we thought they would never come to Kinindo, and we carried on as normal. We all went to the pool and had a lovely time with the shelling going on as background noise! Then Saturday night it started the same time and you could here them whistling over the house and crashing as they landed. WE WERE KACKING OUR PANTS!!! People kept calling us and saying: "Get outside!" then someone else would call and say: "Get inside and hide in the corridor!" Apparently the rebels were launching rockets from the lake. Manuel was trying to tell us that all was fine, and kept saying: "No problem!" and then one landed very near and he jumped in the flower bed! ...thirteen people were killed and more than forty injured. On Sunday everyone was panicking and we have heard all sorts of rumours. The Tearfunders have evacuated to Nairobi. However, since Saturday night all has been quiet despite anticipated attacks. I went to the American embassy on Monday night and they said they thought the shelling would continue but they reassured us that the rebels didn't have very powerful rockets." You can imagine my mixed emotions as I read the above, wanting to be with my precious friends and colleagues at such a time. Anyway, praise God that things have again calmed down, and over the last few days nothing of note has happened. On 1st May, the new (Hutu) President took over from the previous (Tutsi) one, and theoretically the former will be in charge for the next eighteen months until free and fair elections will take place. These remain critical days for the nation, so please continue praying. I am back in Blighty and travelling all over the place, preaching about a hundred times over the next few months, before getting married in August. Then it looks like Lizzie and I will be at All Nations Christian College for at least one vaguely normal and stable year of marriage(!), before heading back out to Burundi. She will probably do a diploma whilst I do an MA, specialising in Islamics (Islam grew by a staggering 15.2% in Burundi last year, so we urgently need to be equipping the Burundian Church to engage in that area). We have set up a charity in the UK called Great Lakes Outreach (GLO), and the directors have agreed on this first year, which I hope you do too. The needs remain massive out there, so please do keep supporting us. The team I have left at Scripture Union are highly capable and on fire for God's work. The Sunday before I left was a very emotional one. We were running a youth camp for three hundred pupils over four days. There was no running water at all so it was quite a smelly affair! However, these guys were seriously passionate and it was a wonderful time of worshipping, sharing, and teaching. During my farewell preach, I said I was returning to England for a while, and for some we may never see each other again on this earth. My voice faltered, and a number of us were crying. We were all full of faith, ready for anything that might come our way, looking forward to heaven, and rejoicing in that security despite the desperate state of the nation. Still, it broke my heart to think of what might happen to some of them before Lizzie and I return next year. A dear Burundian friend pled with me: "Please don't stop crying for Burundi; there are so many Burundians who can no longer cry for themselves." So, thanks for all the prayers, tears, and loving support. What a mighty God we serve! God bless you and keep each one of us razor-sharp and making the most of every opportunity, Simon Guillebaud   PRAYER LETTER NO.23 Tuesday, 01 April 2003 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 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!) Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.22 Saturday, 01 March 2003 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org BP2260, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa Tel: 00 (257) 962411 Dear Tigers,  I thought I'd write a letter before the war begins in Iraq and little insignificant oil-less Burundi is even more forgotten than usual. I don't want to open a can of worms, but I feel so deeply angry at the world's injustices, and outraged at the moral high ground that the USA and the UK claim right now. I mean, this morning as I write I am listening to the sounds of shelling and machine-guns as people are being murdered a few miles away – RIGHT NOW! And who kindly makes the weapons for these misguided Burundians to blow each other's limbs off? The good old 'Great' British arms industry, which is the second biggest in the world – do you know which is the biggest? And who organised the assassination of the first democratically-elected president of Congo, plunging the nation into four decades of bloodshed, in which in the last three years alone about THREE MILLION people have died, just in the East across the lake from me? The good old USA (through the CIA, but don't tell anyone). And that's just in Central Africa... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.21 Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Tel. No. (00257) 962411 www.su-burundi.org  An old man was walking along the beach. From a distance, he saw a figure moving like a dancer on the seashore. As he drew closer he saw that it was a young woman. She was not dancing but was reaching down to the sand, picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. "Young lady, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" "The sun is up and the tide is going out, and if I do not throw them in they will die." "But young lady, don't you realise that there are miles and miles of beach and thousands of starfish all along it? What's the point? You can't possibly make a difference." The young woman listened politely, paused, and then bent down. She picked up another starfish, threw it into the sea, and replied: "Well it made a difference for that one!" Dear Tigers, Well, what difference can we make? Where shall we start? What is the point, with all we are up against? I am currently in South Africa on a preaching tour, and for three days my life has been consumed with Bongani. You probably know the films - Three Men and a Baby / Little Lady. For us, it was Three Men and Little Bongani. Meet the team: Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.20 Thursday, 05 December 2002 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org BP2260, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa Tel: 00 (257) 962411 Dear Tigers, PLEASE PRAY FOR BURUNDI!  Someone once asked me: "How much do you want of God?" What would you answer? Their answer was: "Because nobody has less of God than they want." Do you think that's right? It could also have something to do with how much I let God have of me... An example: Last week, I was with Tearfund in Makamba, in the far South. The team had just completed a corporate three-day fast to plead with the Lord for the release of their colleague and friend Adelbert's sister, who was kidnapped two months ago by Mai Mai rebels. He was near giving up, and presumed she was dead. But when we drove back to Bujumbura together, he phoned up straightaway and heard that she had been released on the last day of the fast! We were all blown away, and one of the team said: "When we've got so much power available in prayer and fasting, why don't we use it more?" It made me think that maybe it is because we simply don't want that much of God... How hungry am I to see Him work in my life? What price am I willing to pay? Do I really believe what I profess regarding His absolute right to my life? Or do I simply pay lip service to the lyrics of the worship songs I lustily sing in church on Sunday? Hmm... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.19 Monday, 14 October 2002 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org BP2260, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa Tel: 00 (257) 962411 Dear Tigers,  Just back from upcountry after a manic weekend, smelly and with four days of shaving to catch up on, dropped the crew off, and was greeted with news that my colleague Christella's 28-year-old brother was killed by the rebels yesterday where we spent the night. Yet another casualty in this mindless war. Then arrived home to find the Tearfund guys I live with unable to get back to their work in Uvira, just across the lake in the Congo. Their office and house has been pillaged by rebels, but none of the staff have been killed as yet. Life is never dull out here, just cheap... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.18 Friday, 30 August 2002 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org BP2260, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa Tel: 00 (257) 962411 Dear Tigers,  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! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.17 Wednesday, 24 April 2002 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org 86 Dropmore Road, Burnham, Bucks, SL1 8AU Tel: 07762 364338 "If you have to calculate what you are willing to give up for Jesus Christ, never say that you love Him. Jesus Christ asks us to give up the best we have got to Him, our right to ourselves." (Oswald Chambers) Dear Tigers, I wonder where we are at in our calculations... I have just returned from seeing someone in hospital who gave up the best she had, her right to herself. Great-aunt Rosemary Guillebaud is in a coma, and may die any time now. But, like Supergranny Guillebaud from my last prayer letter, here is another amazing woman of God about to graduate to glory. She went out to Africa in 1925, and amongst other things over the next decades translated the Bible into Kirundi. She has been used in the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of people - so it was sad to see her so feeble and frail. But what a reception awaits! I prayed with her in Kirundi, not knowing if she could hear, although she did open her eyes a couple of times; and I choked a little as I thanked her for her example and vowed to continue in her footsteps in Burundi to see that nation transformed for Christ. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.16 Friday, 28 December 2001 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.su-burundi.org 86 Dropmore Road, Burnham, Bucks, SL1 8AU Tel: 07762 364338 Christmas Day, 6am: As the sun rises, hundreds of people are gathered along the shore of Lake Tanganyika to be baptised, and many others to share the moment. The atmosphere is buzzing on this joyous occasion. About a dozen churches are represented. But they are all in different groups, singing different songs, with different leaders. The result is an undignified chaotic cacophony- nobody seems to know what is happening or who is in charge- it's a mess... and as a picture, it aptly reflects the state of the church in Burundi: there is a lot of fruit in these days of extreme suffering, but also a lack of unity within the Body of Christ or clear godly leadership from the front. Dear Tigers,  Howz things? It's been four months since the last prayer letter, so I thought I should update you. I am back in Burundi for the Christmas break, in order to keep up with what is going on in the office, as well as at a broader level. It is a joy to be back home, but things are very delicate. More on that in a moment. I have just been to visit a friend who was recently diagnosed with AIDS. She was lying in her hut, looked visibly more emaciated than before, and is dying. Her errant husband was murdered in the genocide in 1994, leaving her as a widow with three children to bring up. And now she too will die. So who will look after them? Yet another three to add to the mind-numbing statistic of AIDS orphans in Africa... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.15 Monday, 20 August 2001 00:00 "Everyone dreams, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they may act out their dreams with open eyes to make it happen." (Lawrence of Arabia) Dear Dreamers of the Day,  Greetings from the South of France, where I have just come on our family holiday. In the 3 months since the last prayer letter, I have preached on c.90 occasions around the UK, and had some powerful and fruitful times, but also very tiring ones, so I figured a break was in order. Yesterday I jumped 50ft from a cliff edge into the river below, and now feel slightly bruised as a result- but it was an awesome sensation stepping out into nothing and sailing through the air! The weather here is perfect, the landscapes are stunning, we are feasting like kings, enjoying each other's company etc. and, as in Louis Armstrong's song, I say to myself, 'what a wonderful world!' Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.14 Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 STOP PRESS: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it IS DEAD. NOT ME, JUST THE EMAIL ADDRESS. For the foreseeable future, my new one is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Website: www.su-burundi.org Mobile on travels: 07762 364338 Dear Tigers, ON THE BRINK OF ANOTHER GENOCIDE?  Last Sunday just before leaving Burundi, I preached in a vibrant church in a slum near the Congolese border called Gatumba. The message from Matthew 25 was: Jesus is coming No-one knows when So are you ready? Many repented and came to Christ. Two days later, I was on my motorbike going in that same direction when I was stopped by soldiers and ordered to return to the capital- "Come back later. They are fighting up ahead in Gatumba." Rebels had moved across the border and were attacking the army. Many died- God knows how many it was- but it made me think back to our time together, and the relevance of God's Word. Were those who died ready? Am I? Are you? Are we living with a sense of urgency, as if we believe the gospel is the absolute truth for absolutely everybody?... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.13 Sunday, 01 April 2001 00:00 Dear Tigers, PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR BURUNDI!  "There are those who like to say 'yes', and there are those who prefer to say 'no'. Those who say 'yes' are rewarded by the adventures they have; those who say 'no' are rewarded by the safety they attain." (Keith Johnson) How are things? I hope that all is well your end- that you are enjoying the adventure of living rather than the safety of existing, that you are getting excited by and investing in the eternal rather than the temporal, and that you are aspiring to being biblically obedient rather than just biblically literate. I am currently in the rolling hills of the north of Burundi, at our biggest youth camp to date. My tent is pitched on a classroom floor next to a latrine which has overflowed; so it smells a bit, but at least it is flat and dry, and I wake up to the awesome view of the sun rising above the dense early morning mist nestling in the valley below. There are about 350 of us here for 5 days, and it is extremely tiring, because these guys are so thirsty for God's Word. This morning at 640am, I felt quite pious and holy as I went up early to the meeting room to set a good example for the kids, only to hear and realise from a distance that I was far from being one of the first. About fifty were already praying and crying out to the Lord in earnest. I guess things are so obviously desperate here that we know we need to be praying. Poor old beautiful Burundi! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.12 Monday, 26 February 2001 00:00 Dear Tigers, PLEASE PRAY FOR BURUNDI!  Hi! Hope this finds you well. I hadn't planned on sending out a prayer letter so soon, but things are not good at the moment (that is an understatement, I assure you). So the following is a rushed scribble, and it will probably turn out to be jumbled and unordered, but the priority is to get people informed and praying. As I write this, I can hear gunshots. Many (no idea as yet how many) have been killed in the last two days. Various colleagues are hiding in different suburbs of the capital, afraid or forbidden to leave where they are. Things are extremely tense. Stray bullets are flying all over the place. Thousands have fled their home, even here in the capital, and are sat with their meagre worldly possessions on the street corners, unsure what to do. A huge shell has just exploded a couple of miles away. We are listening to people dying. The whole experience is typically surreal... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.11 Tuesday, 23 January 2001 00:00 Dear Tigers, PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THIS NATION!  Hiya! How are things? I hope 2001 has got off to a good start for you. I've been having an awesome time this end. It's only a month since the last prayer letter, but emails are still arriving with people asking if I am alive, so I thought I'd update you. When people heard on the TV news or read on the front page of all the newspapers back home that a Brit had been killed, I was probably the most likely candidate; but no, it wasn't me. I'll be around a bit longer. I didn't know the poor lady in question, but a Burundian friend of mine was caught in the same ambush; he was one of four survivors who were stripped naked and told to flee, leaving the other twenty one to be shot dead. You can be sure he now wants to make his life count... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.10 Sunday, 24 December 2000 00:00 "Look around, and be distressed; Look within, and be depressed; Look to Jesus, and be at rest." Dear Tigers, PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THIS NATION!  It's Christmas Eve. I've just preached to a bunch of youngsters about Christ-'God-in-flesh'-Incarnate. What unfathomable love, that He should leave the comfort and security of heaven to get his hands and feet dirty on this God-rejecting planet! What awesome news! And urgent, too. I guess that's why I wanted to get this letter out before tomorrow- I will be preaching upcountry, near where I was earlier on in the year (Prayer-Letter No.7), where the rebels had just sent down the chopped-off heads of a bunch of soldiers they'd captured. Things are meant to hot up over the Christmas period, and we have been told by the embassy to stay in the capital. But if we always did as we were told, we'd not do very much at all! I can't imagine the early disciples consulting/adhering to the recommendations/dictates of the respectable and politically correct local authorities of their day, before setting out to storm the gates of hell as they preached the gospel. So, within reason, we've got to take risks; and actually, I think following Jesus was probably meant to be a risky business... Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.9 Tuesday, 05 September 2000 00:00 New Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it BP6300, Bujumbura, Burundi "Men who want no mists must be content with the plains. But give me the mountain! It will be but a little while, and, the mists evaporated, the mountain will stand out in all its grandeur." (Anon) Dear Tigers, PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THIS NATION!  Hi guys! I hope this finds you experiencing 'life to the full'- whatever Jesus meant by that- with its highs and lows, joys and sadness, peaks and troughs- for what it's worth, I think that He meant at least two things: a) life was never meant to be dull, because we have the bigger picture; and b) it's not meant to be easy, but the end result is worth everything. So we aren't, we surely can't, we simply mustn't, be content with the plains. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.8 Wednesday, 05 April 2000 00:00 Dear Tigers, PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS NATION!  Hope all is well your end. Things here on a personal level are fine- no more death threats, SU seeing awesome fruit in the schools, united team, won the Burundi Squash Championship last weekend(!)- but the situation in the nation is deteriorating further, if that is possible. Inflammatory demonstrations are planned for tomorrow, the petrol shortage is further crippling the already defunct economy, several hundred thousand people are still languishing in enforced camps within a few miles of here, rebels have just sent down the heads of seven unfortunate soldiers, with their respective ID cards stapled to their ears, etc. The peace talks at Arusha are supposedly coming to a climax, although whatever the outcome is, some groups have already rejected it. Mandela as negociator has his work cut out, and the consensus is that if the talks fail, it'll really hit the fan. Burundi is already a nation at war, but instead of the current steady trickle who are dying, it would mean 10s of 1000s dying almost overnight- bloody carnage-and it'd all be back to square one. Let's stand against it in Jesus' name. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.7 Saturday, 22 January 2000 00:00 Dear Tigers, How's things? Good Christmas and New Year's Eve? Hope so. My end was unbelievably hectic, with an amazing streetkids party, the launch of an excellent AIDS project, seminars, promoting and distributing the coming year's Bible-reading notes nation-wide, lots of travelling, preaching and showing of films, and a 4-day Bible camp for c.150 schoolkids. I'm noticeably washed out and grumpy, and in need of a break, as much for those around me as for myself! The economy is barely functional, corruption is increasing, and there is the daily tension of knowing it could really hit the fan at any moment. I've received death threats and am being blackmailed, so have to vary all my routes and sleep at different locations. Whilst playing rugby on the beach with the lads and swimming thirty yards from a hippo, I look up the hills at a camp where refugees or displaced people are dying every day. It's all so surreal- and yet it is all so very, very real. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.6 Friday, 22 October 1999 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear tigers, Hiya! Hope all is well your end- always a pleasure to get news, so do keep it coming. I've been back a month now, after a crazy ten weeks in Europe. It was so exciting for me to go all over the place sharing about what God has done in the last year out here, and to exhort people to live like they really believed the gospel is true. The response was huge, and although tiring, it means from my end that loads more people are now involved in the work through prayer and giving. Thanks so very much for being a part of it. My sister's wedding was great, had a holiday with the family in France, a bit of quality time here and there with mates, and just one night during the whole stay at home doing nothing but watch the TV. Read more...   PRAYERLETTER NO. 5 Tuesday, 25 May 1999 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it BP 6300, Bujumbura, Burundi Dear Tigers, Howzit going your end? It's 3 months to the day since I last wrote, and a whole load has happened. In the meantime, I haven't added to my comprehensive CV of Tropical Diseases, remaining pretty much in top condition, apart from self-inflicted damage when taking a flying jump over a hedge without checking what was behind it; also had a spectacular bike crash down a steep hill, all my fault, flew over the handlebars, and lay dazed in the dust but praising God that nothing was broken- in fact, the people who ran to the rescue thought I was a right weirdo to be so delighted to be in a bloody mess! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.4 Thursday, 25 February 1999 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers, LOADS TO PRAISE FOR, LOADS TO PRAY FOR. So what happened after the last SOS prayer-letter? Amazing. On the morning of packing my bags in Rwanda, we prayed that the Lord would confirm afresh the call to youth evangelism in Burundi. I'd been praying for the last couple of months that the door would open to work at Scripture Union (it transpired later that they'd heard I was around and were praying for the same outcome!). That evening in Kigali, I was with my boss from England at a guesthouse, and who should stop for the night but the head of SU Burundi, on his way to Tanzania!!! It was quite extraordinary- 3 men from 3 different countries in transit to 2 other countries crossing paths for just a few minutes at the same guesthouse in a city of half a million people, praying for the same things- we all clearly saw God's hand in this. Whatdya reckon?! Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.3 Friday, 08 January 1999 00:00 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Dear Tigers, Hi guys! Hope all's well, that you had a fun Xmas and 1999 has got off to a good start. Xmas Eve we slaughtered a sheep, shoved an exhaust pipe through its backside, and grilled it slowly over charcoal in the ground- lovely- but my Aunt got food poisoning. Xmas day saw all 3 of us preaching in the bush, and a number were converted, which was a joy. Afterwards I hugged a baby, and "it" promptly urinated on me! Dysentery has been a pretty regular companion over the festive period, so I wasn't on top form at all, missing family and mates a lot. And New Year's Eve saw me all alone, depressed, utterly fed up. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.2 Friday, 20 November 1998 00:00 Dear Tigers,  Address until the end of December: Inkuru Nziza, BP 105, Kigali, Rwanda Greetings from Rwanda! Hope this finds you well. To set the scene: I'm in the middle of a cloud, there is thunder and rain; ten minutes ago I could gaze 50 miles to a row of volcanoes, the tallest just shorter than Mont Blanc, and maybe in a couple of hours it will be really clear again. Byumba is over 6000 feet above sea level and the views are majestic. Because of the rainy season and changeable weather, there is often no electricity or water (8 days was the longest without any, but that was more because the rebels trashed the main electricity station!) I'm sat at my Auntie Meg's and Granny's place having a break from language study. Read more...   PRAYER LETTER NO.1 Sunday, 20 September 1998 00:00 Until December, my address is: B.P.17, Byumba, Rwanda Dear Tigers,  How's it going? This is my first prayer letter since I was last in Rwanda 16 months ago. In the meantime, I've finished a year at Bible college and I'm now off on October lst to Rwanda and Burundi for a minimum of 2 years. The plan is to spend the first few months with my Granny at Byumba in the North of Rwanda, so that she can teach me the language, and then I'll move down to the capital of Burundi, Bujumbura. I'll be sending out these letters every few months to keep you up-to-date, and my aim is that they have the reciprocal purpose of you guys praying for me, and my challenging, encouraging and motivating all of us in our daily walk with the Lord. That's the plan, and I welcome any feedback, positive or negative. Read more...