The one about learning patience

Once again, we apologise that technological limitations result in another limited, photo free edition of our prayer letter. Last time round we pointed out that we were travelling back to the UK for our visa interview. However, on arriving at the visa centre we were informed that we had been registered for the wrong visa category and did not have the appropriate paperwork. We are currently in the UK trying to figure out the way forward.

Essentially we are caught in a catch-22 situation, so your prayers in this matter are very much appreciated. As indicated in our last prayer letter, nearly all landlords and estate agents in Lille will not rent to someone without a visa (in fact some will not rent if you do not have a French bank account and are not employed in France). Yet to have a visa, one needs to provide evidence of accommodation for the whole time you are planning to stay. To increase the complexity, the expectation of the French authorities is that one's sponsor will arrange the accommodation. Within BMS, the onus is now on mission workers to sort their accommodation out.

Hence, the clearest pathway to a solution would be to find a Christian landlord willing to forego the normal bureaucratic hurdles. Ideally this would be in Lille, or somewhere in North France, but the situation is so complex that we would pretty much be willing to go anywhere in France, at least for the first year. As Regiane's project is not yet embedded in the French Baptist Federation, there is not really a local network of support we can tap into, so if anyone has useful contacts in France who could help with this process we would be grateful.

The BMS house we are currently staying in will not be available after June, so we are praying for a breakthrough sooner rather than later. However, if anyone has any contacts who might be able to help with temporary accommodation in the UK over the July-August if required, that will be helpful.

Not having a base, and therefore lacking the ability to set up an office has limited the work that we have been able to do. Most of what we can do consists of online meetings and reviewing documentation. Daniel has started assisting IBTS' Learning Centre in setting up Microcredentials. He is due to travel to Amsterdam for the 13th-17th of May.

1. Please pray that we may sort out our visa and accommodation issues soon.

2. Please pray that we may have somewhere to stay, from June onwards, be it in France or elsewhere.

3. Please pray for our physical health, which has suffered a bit of a battering from having to be continuously moving from one place to another. Pray especially for Regiane who can sometimes face quite severe pain.

4. Please pray that in the midst of all this, our first steps in our new ministries may be fruitful.

5. Please pray for Ana as she prepares for the end of year exams of her medicine course.

In all this, we can see the goodness of God prevail, and bring blessing out of trials. We are grateful for the opportunity to visit Daniel's parents, and to have Ana with us for Easter. Daniel has had the opportunity to preach a four week series on the Beatitudes at Southall Baptist Church as they continue to move forward after the death of their long-serving minister. We are very grateful for the fellowship with all those who pray for us, read our newsletter and so faithfully support the ministry of BMS World Mission.

In Christ,

Daniel and Regiane