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. So how about the language? Well, I've completed the first three-month course in these six weeks and I am still motivated. That does not mean that I can communicate or understand that much, but it is coming steadily. I've made a few clangers, because, as a tonal language, the pronunciation of a word can completely change its meaning. For example "gusura", depending on how you say it means "to visit" or "to fart". Suffice it to say, with all the different kinds of foods, I've been doing my fair share of visiting! Granny, alias Supergran, enjoys sharing these subtleties. She really is amazing - one of her classic comments was just an aside as we drove past a church - "Oh that is where Grandpa and I protected 6000 refugees during the war." I am living with an African pastor to learn the lingo as fast as possible. On the first day he said to me: "I know in Europe, what is mine is mine, but here what is mine is yours. So my wife is yours for everything, but no sex!" We all get on superbly -it is a typical bustling household. I woke up a few times with a rat in bed with me, but one evening managed to corner it and wallop it to death with my flip-flop. We have just had a vicious plague of what are called Nairobi-eyes; tiny flies which produce a second degree burn if you accidentally smudge them. On the health front I really praise the Lord daily, and certainly do not take it for granted. I have had nothing serious at all, just some flu and a month of athlete's foot on my cheek (i.e. ringworm). I am in top nick, playing basketball and volleyball with the locals - they wanted me to represent the town, but the matches are Sunday a.m„ so no go. On the security front things are mixed. I generally feel pretty safe, but there are regular kidnappings and murders. The army serenades me at 5.30 every morning, and war is just around the corner. Soldiers are a law unto themselves, and once came into our house. Emmanuel thought his time was up. He prayed ""Lord, I just trust that you are in control!" He went out to meet them, only to discover that he had been at school with the commanding officer! Meg witnessed from a hill soldiers beating through a swamp flushing out scared peasants and killing them at the other end. Just yesterday we were in a very dangerous area and there was a great explosion. I thought we were being ambushed, but thankfully it was just a burst tyre. A couple of times, at night, I had to leg it, but all in all it is quite stable for now. There are many opportunities for evangelism and we have had some quite extraordinary times. Here is my diary entry for the 14'h November... "arrived at Bisika to do a day's evangelism after a one-hour drive along cliff edges, through the hills, across a brook, and over a precarious bridge. Things didn't look good - yesterday had been a massive five-hour confirmation service, so many people couldn't face another heavy day. My plan had been to do a quick exhortation to evangelism, all of us to go into the hills to witness, and also to invite people to an evening meeting. Standard, boring, sit-around-the-table-being-polite, adult stuff. So I went outside with a tennis ball and soon had about thirty kids trying to pummel me from close range. A ball will be key crowd-pulling prop for evangelism in Burundi, I can't wait. Began very heavily, but praise the Lord for Jesus' parables. I preached from Luke 15 and related an adapted modern version of a kid running away to Kigali. The kids were responsive and overjoyed at God's grace, so we praised the Lord for a while, until I thought it was time to call it a day. They refused to leave, saying that we had to go on. Hadn't prepared anything, so in our half-hour break, looked at Psalm 139, v 23, 24, a call to repentance. And did they repent! Dozens came forward to confess sins, from witchcraft to adultery to hatred. Two girls hugged in reconciliation. Over forty people testified (took ages) and all of us as forgiven precious children of Almighty God worshipped at his throne of grace with uninhibited joy. Beyond anything I have experienced so far in Rwanda. Hallelujah! A group of us will return 13th-14th December for a mini-mission. This time they say they will be ready! No rain on the way back, so mercifully this time didn't get stuck in the mud. Just had supper, and as I said grace, Vicky burst out laughing "Simon, look at you, you are so full of the Spirit!" God, I love you so much. Come Lord Jesus..." Well, that brings me to a huge prayer concern. My vision is to do evangelism training and discipleship once I get to Burundi, mainly through the youth, alongside churches, proactive in terms of creating teams etc., but would you believe it, due to miscommunication at whatever level, I am being lined up for an administrative position! I simply cannot conceive that that is God's will and desperately do not want to get sucked into office work. The head of MAM is discussing my fate when he comes out to meet the bishop on 16th January onwards. Loyalty to an organisation comes with time, and so my loyalty both to the Anglican Church and MAM is not strong yet. I so want to stay with them; the ideal scenario is that I am seconded to Scripture Union, since that is inter-denominational. Please pray for wisdom and humility for me and others concerned. Well, I wanted to share so much more, but there is not enough space. Hopefully, here is plenty of ammunition to praise and pray with. I do miss family, friends, church, a bath, but not half as much as I thought I would. My social life is as rampant as expected - bed by 9pm. Friday and Saturday nights - it is really wild! Being surrounded by war, disease, death, suffering, grief etc. highlights the urgency of the gospel for these needy people. And it is no less urgent your end as well. My plea continues to be that we all live as if we believe eternity is our only home, and that everything else takes a distant second place. But not enough people do live like this. We so often give theological assent to Jesus being the only way to God's righteous eternal judgement on the unforgiven sinner, to the importance of world mission as well as evangelism in our neighbourhood, but how about the practical outworking of such statements? Keep challenging one another - iron sharpening iron – so that we continue being as available to the Lord as possible. Thanks to all who have written. I have replied to every letter I have received (all two of them – not quite!) - but I know some have gone astray, so if you have not received a reply to your letter it must have gone awol somewhere along the line. Gutted! Keep writing, I am gagging for news. Thanks guys. Keep praying, God bless you all. Simon Guillebaud