Waiting........

We were excited that Mark's appointment came through in early December and the waiting was over and we were able to travel to St Thomas' Hospital, London to have a small device fitted under the skin which will monitor his heart. So far, no further problems have been detected and we hope this situation continues. We also spent time waiting for Andrea to have a small lesion removed from her face and this eventually was done this week and she has a nice bruised face for Christmas!

Then there has been more waiting as we reapplied for our visas, we are glad to say that these have been approved today, and we await their delivery. Medical clearance has also been given. Unfortunately, we will need to wait again before we can fly to Bardai as we will need to apply in person for long term visas in Chad, it takes about a week to complete the process. The flight to Bardai in early January has unfortunately been moved forward so we can't take it. So now we hope to fly to Chad on the 12th of January and on to Bardai at the end of the month. Just a little more waiting.

There is not much news from the hospital we understand that there have been few staff and that Dr Abdelkerim has been away for quite a few months, so it will not have been an easy time for them. It has been hard to wait here knowing this is that was the situation. One of the health care assistants keeps messaging me saying people are waiting for us to return. Dr Abdelkerim has now headed back and we hope to find him there when we arrive.

The church still has its temporary metal sheeting structure to meet in, not so easy as it gets colder, especially for the long evening service on Christmas Eve. They are waiting for the land title for some slightly higher ground behind the church and hope to build a new church there. If not, they will rebuild the old church in the same place, but this time with cement bricks and reinforcement with iron and concrete pillars.

We have five missionaries back in Bardai at present and they are rebuilding too and it seems that life is settling back to a new normal around the town.

As we have been waiting, we have enjoyed joining the church choir and have sung carols in the shopping centre, at the church drop in for those finding life hard, and in an old people home. We also joined with Christians from Wakefield churches helping with a Nativity trail through a local shopping centre. This week we will be singing at church and celebrating the arrival of the new-born king. We are also waiting for Ruth and Rebecca to arrive and we will celebrate Christmas in our own house in the UK for the first time in 14 years

The house has been prepared for new tenants and a lot of painting and repairing has been done, in the mean time we had some temporary residents when a couple from Iran who were homeless stayed just over a month with us.

We give thanks for:

All the medical care we have received

A chance to spend Advent and Christmas in our own home

Plans falling into place for our return

We pray for:

Flights to Bardai to be organised easily

Continued good monitoring results

Good settling back in Bardai

The Church to receive their land deeds

To close a prayer from our advent readings, An Advent Manifesto by Martin Percy:

God of hope, who brought love into this world, be the love that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought peace into this world be the peace that dwells between us.

God of hope who brought joy into this world, be the joy that dwells between us.

God of hope, the rock we stand upon be the centre, the focus of our lives,always and forever.

Amen

Mark and Andrea

P.S. Sorry that you did not receive this before Christmas, the visas arrived we are still planning to  leave for Chad on the 12^th. At the moment there is not a plane available to take us on to Bardai and so we hope that MAF will be able to fit us in to their busy schedule before the next programmed flight in February. We would really like to get back to a normal life and work at the hospital.