Paul & Kathryn Weber
380 Louisa St., Kitchener, ON, N2H 5N4
Email: psweber@saintmail.net Phone: (519) 745-4545

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For some of you it has been a long time since you heard from us. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your persistent prayers and continued love shown to us by your gifts. Unfortunately one of the effects of living in a developing country is dealing with poor communication. We had no idea, but for the last 6 or more months many servers were blocking our emails because of their origin. For those of you who didn't receive our July/Aug. update I am sorry but will try and bring you up to speed without dragging things out too long for those who are already "au courant" (up to date). We packed up our things into our container for storage the end of July and said many good-byes to newfound friends and acquaintances. We assured the Chains that Lord willing we WE'RE coming back to serve with them. It was hard to say goodbye after 2 years of fruitful ministry leaving many co-workers both national and missionary wondering what they would do with out our help. Our service in Chad was appreciated by many as we took the load off them, allowing them to focus more effectively on the ministries to which God had called them. Though our experiences in Chad ranged from difficult and discouraging to exciting and illuminating, God gave us the strength to carry us through and we rejoice in the opportunity we had, focusing the light of the Gospel in Chad.

After making 2 attempts to leave the south the weather finally cleared enough the day before we were to catch our plane. We drove the 500+ km to the capitol in a Peugeot station wagon through about 200 or so kms of the worst mud one can imagine. Many other vehicle were stuck and even the 4wd following us had to make a second attempt at a muddy slope that took us around an overturned tractor trailer. On several occasions I had to pour water from our thermos on the windows in conjunction with the wipers to be able to see the road. (The kids loved it!) We then had a flat and the spare was the same! God is good! We were near the headquarters of a European road crew. They treated us to cool water, fresh coffee, TV, air conditioning, and BATH ROOMS! Thank God for flat tires J The boss of the road crew then gave us authorisation to take the new road (yet unopened) the rest of the way! PTL. After 12hr we arrived in the capitol N'Djamena and looked forward to the many hassles of the airport the next day. To our amazement everything went smoothly and our plane was even on time! Aug. 7th we arrived back in Toronto to a grand welcome from our families.

Yes we are back and living in our house in Kitchener. We are thankful to the Lord for this house, it meant more than can be measured for the kids to come "home". We thank you for your unfailing prayers. Why haven't you heard from us? Well we hit the ground running and we ARE trying to contact you all. Our first weeks were spent debriefing, seeing family, and registering for school. We are thankful to the Lord for Heritage who has worked with us to meet our needs as Kathy takes courses there towards her ACSI teaching certificate. It is the only ACSI certified teaching program in Canada. When we return to the field Kathy will be the only teacher at the school for missionary children. Her course load is heavy and consumes about 60+ hrs weekly and I type many of her assignments for her. We have been involved in one conference together and Kathy has spoken to one ladies group so far. I have been to 3 conferences as well as preparing our material and making contacts while picking up much of the work around the house. Due to our support levels I have also been force to take a part time job that fortunately allows some flexibility so I can make more contacts.

What is ahead? As many of you know much of our support is supplied by a fund that was left to the work in Chad. But that is now over. We were some $900 short on our monthly support and the fund supplied about $2200 monthly. That leaves us $3100/mo needed in new support before we can go back to the field. WOW you say. A couple of quick comments of where this money goes. Just as a churches budget is more than its pastor's salary, a missionaries support (budget) is more than salary. Aprox. 17% is ministry funds, 9% covers overseas health provisions, 5% towards travel etc. What we actually live on for food, clothing, household supplies etc. is roughly 25% of our support requirement. Even though it is cheaper to send a missionary today $ for $ value than it was in the 50's. These are modest amounts considering life overseas isn't really cheaper, things like gas in Chad is $1.50/litres, potatoes are $2/kg when available, and a (live) chicken that might feed 2 costs $5. Well bringing this all into perspective it seems like a lot of money but a bundle of wood can be broken one stick at a time. Many support us less than a coffee a day and it makes a difference. You don't need to give $100/mo to begin supporting a missionary. As little as $5 is receiptable. For your encouragement the first $800/mo we receive in new support will be matched by a former missionary to Chad. The Lord has blessed Hellen Keller and she wishes to give back to the Lord by reaching Chad in this way. For those who don't like writing a lot of cheques or fear they might forget, there is TEAM's ACT program. (automated contribution transfer) You can inquire about at TEAM's office (1-800-295-4160) At small amounts it does take many people to support one missionary but this is a good thing as this means many will pray. Work on the front lines requires much prayer for vital work.

Being involved is more than money, prayer is the most vital, effective and often most difficult yet only costs you discipline. Anyone can be involved! If you are not involved in our ministry and would like to reach the lost in Chad by partnering with us I would encourage you to begin by participating in what some have called a 20/20 program with us. First this involves praying for us 20min. a week. A missionary cannot fight the battle on the front lines without solid prayer partners. That amounts to less than 3 min. daily. If you don't know what to pray about I can send you some helpful hints or a weekly prayer guide. We are people who are tempted in every way that you are. Missionaries do not have some extra spiritual shielding or temptation immune shots. Once you have committed to pray for us please let us know and should you feel led, you can beginsharing financially in our ministry with $20/mo. (less than a coffee a day!) You will then be actively helping Focus the Light of the Gospel in Chad. Should you want to send occasional or one-time gifts please mark them for our ministry account.

We look forward to returning to Chad Aug. 2001, please pray with us to that end. That God will give strength for the work Kathy has taken on, and effective learning. Pray for good adjustment for the children to Canadian culture. For maturity, good friends and social adjustment. Pray for new contacts with those who would partner with us for His kingdom. For peace in Chad and maturity in the church as many suffer for their faith in surrounding countries. ( Nigeria, Niger, Libya, Sudan) PTL Chad is still open. II Thes. 3:1-2 Finally pray for our needed $3100/month and $6500 for on field ministry travel in onetime gifts. We look forward to meeting the needs of those involved in vital ministries in Chad by maintaining equipment and teaching their very special children. Just as an aside, in Chad most missionary families have at least one parent that is an M.K. We are also excited about the outreach into new areas in Chad like the Salamat and look forward to seeing how we can be a help to that ministry. Some 75 of the 115 language groups in Chad, mostly Muslim, are still without any knowledge of Jesus Christ. Is God calling you to pray, to give or to go?

Please write and ask questions... we are home now and can at least work at the speed of Canadian phone lines or postal system J Many thanks for your prayers,