Prayer Letter

We were quickly back into the routine of things with the start of term in early September, and with Joel now in school too and able to go to the canteen, we have been able to have a little more study time during the lunch break as well.

Roger's class has continued with the same teacher and mostly the same students. Ingrid started with a different teacher with two classes being merged together, as there were only two students from her last class continuing after the summer. The mix has gone well and language learning is progressing, although three of her class left at the end of term so there will only be 4 members when we start back in November! We're definitely getting a feel for the transitory nature of life in missions, it's lovely to meet so many wonderful people, but hard to keep saying goodbye. Luckily, one of the couples that left in October are heading to Chad, so hopefully we'll be able to catch up with them again in N'Djamena next year.

Life is now a mix of trying to acquire as much French as possible before we leave, and organising a big move. Trying to think in advance of everything that we might need for the first 18 months is quite daunting, especially when you know a lot of things can't be found in Chad. The Ministry of Health in Chad has also recently changed some of their processes and we need to seek their authorisation before we can work at the hospital, so we've been spending time trying to put together the supporting documents for that.

The boys seem to be getting on well with their new schools. Joel happily walks in to school every day and after a shaky start, Mark seems to be getting on with the new routine in the elementary school. It's quite a step up from the Maternelle school and a lot more is expected of them, including homework!

He is also expected to speak a lot more French and his day is split into lessons with his normal class and then time with his French language teacher with the other children in the school that have French as a 2nd language, about 40 in total. It's certainly helped as his French has progressed significantly in the last couple of months. His main teacher told me that although he was very quiet to start with, he is now chatting to his classmates in French and joining in all the exercises when he can, a great answer to prayer!

We took some annual leave over the school holidays, and have had some lovely family time with visitors from Bali, England and Scotland.

Praise God:

That we have been able to put together the requested supporting documents for the Chadian Ministry of Health.

That the autumn school term started well and the boys have settled in their schools.

Prayer Requests:

That the upcoming visa applications for the family will go well.

That we can all glean as much French language as possible in the next two months.

That the preparations for moving go smoothly, including acceptance for the boys to the French school in N'Djamena.

Thank you for taking time to journey with us, we really appreciate all your prayers and messages.