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Dans cette lettre de nouvelles:

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NOUVELLE VEHICULE
SITUATION POLITIQUE AU MALI

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Quelle

a wonderful reunion when I returned to Mali last week! I baked a few cakes, and we did a big party "catching up" on the birthdays that happened while I was gone (so they got two birthday parties). It's so great to hold my kids in my arms again!

Now we're so ready to move forward again! The kids' summer vacation has nearly started, and already they don't have afternoon classes. They want to be occupied during the summer, and so I'll take time to teach them French again, as they profited a lot from that last year. We're also planning on doing a few Bible School courses in Bambara and orally for our older boys and future leaders from our village churches.

We are currently having 2 triple-bunkbeds made to have room for more children; one as-yet street kid will be moving in with us shortly (let me know if you'd like to become his sponsor). One bed costs $250, so we'd be thankful for any help with that.

At this point, we are holding off with having Elisabeth (Paul's step-mother) move in with the 7 kids in her care, the only reason being that we do not have any volunteers with us right now, and just have to have someone to watch the kids, especially with a few girls moving in. Please spread the word, or consider coming to help us for a couple of months yourself! The capital where we are is back to life before the coup.

We continue to give out rice to widows and hungry families as much as we can; just yesterday rice prices went up AGAIN, making it more expensive than ever. This is very tough for people, and makes our own expenses grow as well.

NEW VEHICLE

A few weeks ago Paul called me in distress, because both our pick up trucks (over 20 years old) had reached the end of their lifespans, and the kids were missing school because of the constant break-downs. In addition, way too much money was being put into repairs.

So the pick-up truck (only half that old) of a leaving missionary that was available immediately was a God-sent! He gave us the keys right away, and was so kind to be patient with payment. A third of the money was already raised, but we still had to pay $6,000. We'd be thankful for any help with that huge expense!

POLITICAL SITUATION IN MALI

Last time I updated you was in the middle of the 3 days of the worst fighting in Bamako where 70 people died; the counter-coup failed and as a result, the coup leader started arresting everybody who was not Malian and parading them on TV as "proof" of the neighbors sending spies to get rid of him.

In the course of that the military decided to hold Joseph who is only half-Malian (his last name is not); he was driving Paul and the team to do ministry in one of our village churches. Thankfully Paul was able to talk them into releasing him.

In the middle of May the 40-day deadline given to the interim's government ran out; the coup leader announced his return to power which was rejected by the international community. They made a deal with him, giving him a president's pension and some other things, so he would let the interim's president stay in power for the remainder of the 12 months given for new elections.

There was a big outcry among the population that hates politicians and prefers the military being in charge, and thousands of protesters stormed the president's palace and beat up the interim's president. He was flown to a hospital in Paris, and has since refused to return in fear for his own safety.

ECOWAS (the neighboring countries) have appealed to the UN to get their permission to march into Mali and stabilize the country as well as liberate the north. However, they did not receive their green light - yet - for lack of a detailed plan. So they are working on that right now, and expect to start their intervention in a matter of weeks.

In the north, the situation is worsening steadily, with the rebel army growing because of more and more foreigners coming in (thanks to Al-Qaida calling for them) who then train locals in jihad, even recruiting children as soldiers. They have just released another statement making clear that their goal is to impose sharia law on ALL of Mali. They already control two thirds of the country's territory.

So please continue praying for Mali, for peace, and for the intervention force to come in soon and "liberate" us without committing crimes against the civilian population.

Recent articles:

ECOWAS has Mali force troop pledge, still lacks backing (June 17)

Mali Islamist leader rejects independence (June 16)

"Mali ist dabei, Afrikas Afganistan zu werden" (17.Juni)

NOUVELLES RAPIDES

•       Our village churches - Paul continues to minister in Dara (45 min away) every week, and is back to doing ministry in Goro (2 hrs away), now that traveling there is safe again.

•       Book Translations - My book is being translated into German and French right now. The German translation will be released before Christmas; as for the French we have to pay $2,000 for the translation, and then have a publisher accept it. Any help with that expense would be very welcome.

•        Construction - In a few weeks we'll be painting the inside of the third building, which is going to be a big challenge since all the furniture and stuff is already inside (including me). We're hoping to finish this building in the near future, and then move on to the next phase, which is bringing in soil to flatten the ground.

•       Volunteers - We don't have any volunteers in Mali right now; if you'd like to come help us, contact me.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2.10)

Tout pour LUI,

Claudia