Merry Christmas to each of you our family and friends:
As the year comes to a close we can look back on His faithfulness and forward with confidence of his presence with us through each situation; be it hard or easy; hectik or calm; enjoyable or frustrating. He is faithful, He is Emmanuel ever present and loves each one of us. He came to provide salvation for us, sinners, not because we did anything to deserve it. A plan set in motion since creation, to restore our relationship with him that was broken by our sin in the garden. Sufficient for each of us no matter where we are. How amazing that the creator values each of us and wants a relationship with his creation.
One of the special things this time of year is the baptisms that take place just before Christmas. They are held quite publicly in the river (or some body of water) nearby. Not only does it draw a lot of attention to their declaration to follow Jesus but very significant being near Christmas when we celebrate the arrival of Jesus as a babe, bringing salvation. As usual our annex “church districts” gathered together, baptizing several hundred. Pray that these newly baptized will hold fast to their faith and grow in their relationship with the Lord.
Since our last writing we did go to Bongor. We did not have to take canoe & moto to the school but did ford several hundred meters of flooded road as well as the school yard being flooded. In spite of the challenges we still had a good turnout of some 20 teachers for biblical instruction and literacy. I did get a canoe trip to see the school’s offices which were under water. It took until the end of November for the water to make the centre of town accessible. During the month of October Kathryn also taught in 3 other villages as well as a biblical training here on the station for the Moundou schools. She had been wondering if it was worth continuing with trainings for Moundou. Even though there close to 30 church run schools in the city participation has been low to very few. The school room we use to host such trainings typically holds 20 ish participants. On the day the of training, by registration time we already had over 10 teachers… very unusual as promptness is not a cultural thing. By starting time we already had over 20 and by break-time we had 51 teachers and had to move to a much larger room! By the time we were to go to Tchaguine the oil road had been fixed and we were able to go no issues. During the month of October over 230 teachers from over 50 schools in 6 districts had received chronological biblical instruction or effective literacy training.
In November we moved (temporarily) to N’Djamena for Kathryn to teach about 40, 1st and 2nd year pre-service teachers at CEFE, the church’s teachers training centre. Training them in effective literacy teaching is vital. While there, we read a news article which highlighted the need as 80% of students in middle school were not capable of reading at grade level.
While there, I helped design the solar system that, Lord willing, will provide stable power to the entire Ministry Support Centre. A 3-phase system capable of 45kva output that should supply most of their power in the coming years. Though N’Djamena is the capital and a large city it continues to struggle to provide reliable power even to a portion of the sprawling city, with blackouts lasting from a few hours to over 2 weeks this past year. With being away for trainings on a regular basis, my time at home is largely consumed by regular maintenance (fixing toilets, chasing electrical problems etc.) so other projects like the new water tower, though nearing completion, have slowed down. One such maintenance issue being a mouse that got into the control box of our backup generator and chewed through a number of the wires.
Regarding our health, we are thankful that Kathryn’s foot has seen a marked improvement, though hours of teaching does have a significant impact in regression. I have resumed some of the medication prescribed for my heart issues and the episodes are now quite infrequent. Pray that I will be able to get testing needed in country before returning to Canada so we can make clear decisions moving forward.
We are extremely grateful for each of you and your faithful prayers for us. We are also grateful for faithful financial support from many of you. Thank you to those who have increased your regular commitment, especially during these difficult financial times. We are also humbled by those who have given one-time gifts towards our support. We have received enough that we can begin to make concrete plans for another year or so of service.
Some other crucial prayer requests are for a manager for the print shop here that produces affordable material for not only us but many mission(aries) and the local church. The lady who has been producing materials for the dozen or so vernacular bible schools has been at home for a year battling cancer and is evaluating how to be most effective moving forward, likely from her home country. This needs someone on the ground to be her hands and feet for this ministry that supplies most of the new pastors for the every growing church. Kathryn’s ministry continues to grow beyond her capacity and she is beginning to have to cancel trainings to fit others in. Most recently a government school inspector saw her material and wants her to present it to heads of all the 70-some government schools in his district in the capital. We spent the first week of Dec. at our annual field conference where we were also made aware that in the next 5yrs 50% of our TEAM missionaries will likely be retiring. Please pray with us as the harvest is ripe and the workers are few.
Again we are grateful to you and our Lord for our provisions, wishing you a very Blessed Christmas and may this next year be filled with His goodness towards you.
Paul & Kathryn
E-Transfers can be sent to team@teamcanada.org by putting “for the Ministry of Paul & Kathryn Weber” in the note.