My dear friends,
Looking back on my previous update which I wrote two months ago, I see it was about the violence in the country, our children not being able to go to school, and our Hope Academies being closed, but our churches were open, we were free to move around, avoiding any unrest and we were still able to feed over 1000 children on a regular basis.
No one could have known that now, two months later, we along with most of the world, would be in lockdown, some unable to leave their homes whilst the unseen Covid 19 viruses rampages through so many countries causing multiple deaths and many mourning the loss of loved ones.
The thousand children we normally feed, remain hungry because the lockdown has stopped us from reaching them, (Please pray we find a way to feed them without breaking our restrictions)
Yet we have hope as we look to our God, the author and finisher of our faith, the one who said His plans for us are for good and not for evil, to give us a future and hope. He is the One who promised He will work everything together for our good and will never leave us or forsake us and we believe Him.
We stand on every word written in Psalm 91 and proclaim that no weapon formed against us will prosper.
We are staying at home, making sure we have established a routine to follow, that we are getting enough exercise and sunlight, and that schoolwork is not neglected.
We have set times for family prayer, praying not only for ourselves and our country and its leaders but also for our wonderful sponsors and friends who we know are praying for us.
One of the bright points in our life is that we have just been sent a small library of English children's books so that our French-speaking children can learn more English words, sentence construction etc
The books include an illustrated Children's Bible, Bible stories, Enid Blyton books, Alice in Wonderland, The Adventures of Benjamin Bunny, Jungle Book, Samuel Whiskers, Jemima Puddleduck and Thomas the little Engine (to name but a few!).
We all expect to be fluent English speakers by the time the lockdown is lifted!.
We send our love and blessings and pray you will live in peace and safety.
Sia and the children