| A letter from Simon Guillebaud, 17 December 2008 | |
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17 December Dear Warriors, Progress in Burundi I hope this finds you well. We are doing OK, counting our blessings as ever, but life's always challenging. I thought a more personal and detailed update was in order as I haven't written a warriors missive for a while. News on Sam from last week's prayer letter is that there is none. She hasn't come back to tell you how things are, but I hope she will. We have set the date for our big Kings Conference Centre launch. There will be a soft opening on March 7th, when we will start operating, and then the big one will be 22nd May. There is still much to do before March, so please pray on, that containers come through, that the right staff are recruited, that everything is done with excellence. Goretti and Meg are the key players on that one. Some have expressed an interest in coming out for the big opening in May, so if you want to book your room, do it now! I'll even pick you up from the airport for free! KCC is a huge push towards self-sustainability for SU. It's been a real headache at times, so now we're in the finishing straight, let's run strong (and then the real race begins!). Partners Trust International - things are moving forward amazingly. This time last year, the whole adventure began. We rented the land for a year, with a view to buying it for $400,000 before 31st December. The not-yet-believer owner was promptly offered $200k more but stayed with us on the basis of a verbal agreement only - quite incredible! Money came in from Fields of Life and the Bible school is being built right now, and it's looking good. GLO dug deep this last week and coughed up the last $110,000 so that the land cannot be reclaimed (the fact is, one of the richest men in the Great Lakes region really wants the land, and would have offered probably another few hundred thousand to get it, and as the owner of one of the major banks, he's been hassling the land owner to renege on his deal with us, so we had to nail it once and for all). So it is simply wonderful that we now definitely have this strategic piece of land to use for God's glory. Linked to the above, and because of the pound's devaluation to the dollar, and paying bills to finish the conference centre, and as a result of diminished giving due to the credit crunch, GLO is suddenly very short of cash to keep up with all our other commitments. Please pray that money comes in to meet all the needs of our strategic work. The SU Bible-reading notes for the nation have just arrived from the printer, and we need to get them out to churches countrywide quickly so that they are all sold and put to good use as soon as possible. The jogging outreach on Sunday mornings is going great guns. Each week more are added to our number, and people are getting converted regularly, which I'm very chuffed about. The film project with Seth is moving forward. We've a lot to do in a short time-frame. Please pray for inspiration and a great end product to impact millions of lives. We have a couple coming out for Christmas from the USA. I am praying their visit will be highly significant and strategic for GLO USA, which is now registered in its own right. May whatever God wants come out of it, I don't want to run ahead or lag behind him, so prayers for discernment please. On a family level: Zac turned three yesterday. My highlight of the day was listening to him at his own party bellow along with extreme gusto a line late with everyone as they sang him "Happy Birthday", not realizing he should just listen and smile! We love him so much. Grace has got horrible nappy rash from the heat, and it has spread further over her body, so she is often grumpy of late, and we'd love all her skin to clear up. Lizzie's doing OK, but life's draining in the heat and so we're both exhausted by evening. You may not hear from me again before Christmas, but here's wishing you precious times with loved ones, and rest and intimacy with the Lord. God bless you, Simon Guillebaud P.S. Ideas for Christmas: Copies of my book, For What It’s Worth, click Cows, goats (and other gifts) for Christmas for our orphanage, click Cards produced by child-headed households, click
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