Hi everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well and thank you for all your continued prayers. Things are really good with me. It’s hard to believe that it’s the start of August already and this trip is progressing rapidly. As ever the weather in Burundi is absolutely splendid. Good enough there was a small 10 minute shower last week and some thunder but nothing too dramatic.

Last week we were able to get a lot of work done on Muramba church and that’s continuing into this week. Without all the generosity of you guys though and many more besides it wouldn’t have been possible and it’s amazing to see how God can identify a need in Africa and through people helping and praying on the other side of the world, that need can be met. Once again our God is a great big God! It’s amazing to see how happy the people of Muramba are to see their church getting built at last and everybody is lending a helping hand to the builders, from small children to old ladies carrying everything from water to heavy rocks that they really shouldn’t be carrying but don’t seem to mind. They’d put a lot of men in our country to shame lol. Please continue to remember the people of Muramba in your prayers. Please pray that God will make provision for further progress to the church and that the spiritual and material needs of the people can be met.

The latest round of elections passed off very peacefully and there seems to be quite a lot of stability at present which is wonderful. Please pray that this continues. Reports however would seem to indicate that Uganda and Rwanda are both experiencing difficult times at present so please pray for these. Please continue to pray for Seth and his family and also for Jean-Paul’s. A number of areas within Burundi have no Christian witness to date so please pray that God can move mightily in these areas and rescue the people from negative influences such as local witchdoctors.

I was able to visit some other mission partners at the weekend in Muyinga province which is away in the north of the country next to the Tanzania border. It was a 4 hr drive from Matana. The guys that I visited are called Steve and Lucy McIlhenny and they are lovely people and are involved in some very exciting work in that area so please pray for them and for much blessing on all that they do. They have been in Burundi since January and so although they are fairly settled they still have many challenges to face daily so please keep them in your prayers.

Lastly please pray for the last few weeks of my trip. I am currently trying to think and plan a number of things which I can try and progress regarding Burundi for when I return to Northern Ireland. Please pray that the relationships I have been able to build up so far can be strengthened and that many of the areas which can be helped can be considered over the course of the next year.

Once again thanks for all your prayers and I look forward to seeing you all again soon,

God Bless,

Alastair Donaldson