What do you know about Slovenia? I knew virtually nothing until we went there this last week. And yesterday I got to preach at the biggest evangelical church in the country, which you’re probably thinking is a few thousand people strong. But no, it was maybe 130 people, because there are only about 500 evangelicals in the whole country! Out of a population of a little over 2 million people, that makes just 0.025%! I think part of this year’s purpose as we travel and preach around the world is highlighting areas of need. The week before we were in […]
Simon Guillebaud
A Call from Macedonia!
Greetings from a small village just outside Shtip in Macedonia! We’ve just had a stunning weekend of outreach alongside Brother Jimmy from Nigeria, who has been here 35 years and done incredible pioneering work during that time. Macedonia has 0.2% evangelical believers – that’s 2 out of every 1,000 people. The gospel needs are huge. Over this last weekend, I got the chance to blast around the country and speak at seven of those churches, each in towns where there was no other Christian witness. We arrived, preached, said goodbye, drove another two hours, preached again etc. Apart from the […]
Top 3 Life-Lessons from 20 years in Burundi
The above picture was taken on Day 1 of our world tour, as we set sail from England with the white cliffs of Dover in the background. Three weeks in, we still love each other(!), are in our 10th country, Romania, and have had some precious times. The only place I’m regularly posting is Instagram if you want to follow our movements: @simon.guillebaud I’ve waited a few months to allow my thoughts to percolate after finishing twenty years of living in Burundi, and all that I learnt in that time. There were, of course, many lessons from living in a […]
Crazy Miracles and Beautiful Stories from Burundi…
Greetings! It’s with great pleasure I can feed back to you about another explosively fruitful summer outreach with Harvest Initiatives in Burundi from the 4th – 18thAugust, just last month. Here are a few of the many stories: · At Mukike, a witchdoctor called Domitile repented as she heard our evangelists. She handed over her paraphernalia and gave her life to Christ – whereupon twenty others in her village did too, including her husband! · In Gihanga, little Simplice was blind. Our team prayed for him but nothing seemed to happen. His parents returned the next day ecstatic that he […]
The Adventure Begins!
After another frenetic and fruitful summer of preaching and family fun, the big day has arrived. Tomorrow we embark on our 33-country 10-month preaching and world-schooling tour. I feel a mixture of emotions – excited, daunted, and if I’m honest a tinge of fear. Why the tinge of fear? Well, we’ve got a good marriage (I usually describe it as great, whilst Lizzie says it’s good!), but I sense it’ll be tested in new ways this year on the road. And the kids are experiencing the pains of transitioning out of the stability of their home in Burundi. None of […]
Barred from School in Burundi?
Last year at this time I penned the following, which is the same situation today: Aaarrgh! I write this angry and sad and tearful and frustrated. And I want to write now whilst I feel deeply raw. I’ve said before how I love and hate Burundi in equal measure. I love the people – their faith, generosity, perseverance; but I hate the poverty, injustice and suffering. I’ve just had a horrible conversation with a wonderful woman. This is the hardest time of the year for folks here, because it’s back to school for the kids – or not, as the […]
More Miracles in Burundi!
A famous witchdoctor called Makari received what he thought were prospective ‘clients’ into his den. His reputation went before him and so our evangelists wanted to challenge his authority. When they revealed their identity, the power of God came on him and he fell to the ground. When he came to, he sat and listened to their preaching. He believed in Jesus and asked them to return two days later when he would burn all his charms publicly. When they duly returned, they found Makari had invited all his relatives and other witchdoctor friends. He declared before all of them […]
Blessed are the Peacemakers…
‘Shortly before racing in the 1993 World Championships in Toronto, his brother rings to tell him his parents have been murdered and their bodies dumped down a latrine. He still runs and gets a medal, the first Burundian ever to do so…’ Below is the link to Nkaza’s testimony that we put on film last year. It’s well worth a listen. He’s a national hero and using his influence for good. We support his organisation ‘Amani Africa Burundi’, and their latest strategy as peace-makers is to mobilise the youth nationwide to sign up to seven core values – integrity, honesty, […]
A Strong Bride on a Mission…
Listen to Onesphore, the new GLO National Director, as he shares his vision for the Church in Burundi, and what we are trying to do to help. It’s a big dream, and we’ll need lots of support as our network expands. Since this film was taken, we’ve drawn in folks from Malawi, Congo, Tanzania, Angola and Uganda for training. Love it! If this gets your juices going and you want to help, do get in touch.
Bird-Turd-Splattered at Buckingham Palace!
It was a memorable day in more ways than one… We’d only just flown in from Africa the day before, and for logistical reasons were coming in by car from Southampton (Lizzie, her Dad, and the boys) and by train (Grace, my parents and I) from Henley. When the British Ambassador rang me asking if we’d be willing to accept the award of an MBE – apart from thinking he was joking – I asked him if there were reasons not to accept that I might not have thought of. A small number of you have questioned the honours system, […]
Graduation!
Six years ago, there was an empty field. Now there is probably the best campus in the country. The day before we flew out, it was Gitega International Academy’s second graduation. Hot on the heels of gaining ACSI (international) accreditation in record time, it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the school’s progress and celebrate another year group’s achievements. The national TV cameras were there, and it was a superb event. Below are a few pictures. We’ve managed to raise £13,000 in the last two weeks for urgent (final) building requirements and equipping for the coming year. Once these last […]
GLO-ing from Strength to Strength!
PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS VERY SIGNIFICANT NEWS: After just two months shy of twenty years, I’ve stopped living in Burundi, as of last night. My beloved nation has blessed me beyond imagining – and I don’t use that as a cliché. I came as a single young nutter expecting to die before the age of thirty, and I now leave a balding mature-ish husband and father of three children! I came with dreams to see thousands come to Christ, and we were able to raise a movement that saw hundreds of thousands become followers of Jesus. I came to […]
Summer Speaking Schedule!
Maybe I’ll get to catch you over the summer, here are my movements: Saturday 23rd June – Gitega International Academy Graduation Sunday 24th June – Last preach and farewell at our church in Bujumbura, fly out in the evening Monday 25th June – arrive back in the UK Tuesday 26th June – Buckingham Palace to receive our MBE’s Wednesday 27th June – Long Crendon Baptist Church Friday 29th June – Sports day commentator at King’s school Saturday 30th June – Chez Whites GLO supporters 10-3pm, Tring Sunday1st July – Ivy Sharston in the morning, and then 7pm Saint Philips, Salford […]
The Marriage of the Year – Move Over Harry and Meghan!
In January, I shared with you ‘a fairy tale come true for the ugliest duckling in Burundi’. Well, on Saturday, he got married to his babe, Floride! Nobody, NOBODY, could ever have believed this was possible, from being the ugliest disfigured reject in Burundi twenty one years ago. God is amazing! In 1997, he had seven operations on his body, some lasting 8-10 hours, and was in a coma for four days. His body couldn’t take any more, and the surgeon said maybe a decade later more work could be done. In 2011 and 2012, we flew him to Kenya, […]
The Beginning of the End…
In two weeks’ time, we’ll be back in the UK, and our time as a whole family living together in Burundi will be over. I find that hard to take in. In fact, none of us actually wants to leave. We love this country, and we love living here. So it’s good to be leaving wanting more, rather than counting down the days wanting to scarper as soon as possible! On Friday night, we had a leaving celebration with our favourite Burundian folks. Over 19 years there are a lot of deep relationships. We invited 70 key people together to […]
Beautifully Alive!
The GLO Africa Cycling Tour 2018 was another absolute cracker! This time we had Tallis Woomert blasting around all week taking photos on his motorbike, hence the quality of these beautiful pics. If you want to contact him, his email address is tallis.woomert at gmail dot com, he’s a great guy – all picture credits are his. So the stats vary according to different cyclists’ gadgets, but all in all, we cycled for 7 killer days (2 easy ones actually, relatively!), covered 780km, with the most important statistic being 49,000feet of elevation. Ouch! Actually the most important statistic was all […]
Radical Grace
Today was a day feared by many, as Burundians went to the polls in a referendum on changing the constitution. We were told to lie low and stay indoors. As the day draws to a close, it looks like it has all gone peacefully, with the results to follow shortly – although we all know the result already. I had an important meeting upcountry, so went ahead with that, with the wonderful result that Gitega International Academy has qualified for international accreditation with ACSI, which is a massive feat, achieved in record time. Well done Freddy, Opondo, and GIA and […]
The Beautiful Beginning…
We waited four years and went through umpteen challenges to become totally above-board legitimate owners of this land, and now the work has begun with a vengeance! It’s hard for you to understand the joy in this 30second clip. PTI (Partners Trust International) took the inspired decision not to use big time-efficient diggers to excavate the hillside in a day or two, and instead hire about 250 desperately poor and hungry unemployed folk from the local community to earn just under $2/day to prepare the land for construction in due course. $2/day may seem ridiculously little to a Western mind, […]
Praying for Peace in Burundi…
This short blog is simply a call to prayer for Burundi as we approach the referendum on the 17th May. The referendum is to amend (or not) the constitution to change presidential terms from 5 to 7 years, renewable once. The clock on terms would be reset, so that potentially the current President could continue in power until 2034. There is little doubt which way the referendum will go. Burundi seems currently stable. We personally don’t feel in any danger at all, and our lives go on as normally as ever – which is the line that the government is […]
Amazing Grace Graduates!
Miracles do happen, dreams do come true! It’s with great joy I share with you news of Grace’s graduation. CONGRATULATIONS GRACE! What an effort! She was one of only two in her department to receive a special Dean’s Award for outstanding accomplishments – beautiful! When you know the back-story, it helps understand why I write of miracles happening and dreams coming true: She started her life down a toilet Good news stories from Burundi need to be told, please share with others, thanks to those who prayed for her and helped make it happen.