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MALI - MOVING FORWARD

In Mali the numbers of those catching the Corona virus are still rising, though it's hard to know what the real numbers are, as only few testing kits are available. Even though that is the case, the government has also decided to lift restrictions, like much of the rest of the world, and so our kids are going back to school June 1st.

This has been a pretty tough time for Paul, keeping him more busy than ever. Mali being one of the poorest nation in the world, the children cannot use computers or other electronic devices to do their school work at home. Every day Paul has to go to their schools, pick up their school work, go photocopy it (and pay for it), return it to school, go home for the kids to do the work, and then bring what they have done back to the schools.

At the same time, he has many other responsibilities as our national director. He's still following up on us getting a permit to continue construction. Also, he was told that we needed to get our title to the land, and of course, nothing is easy, and nothing is free, and we don't even know yet how much money that is going to cost us this time. It was land the government gave us "for free".

Last time I told you that Paul and his family were about to move to our base, as well as Paul's 5 nieces and nephews whose mother died. Well, that never happened. It kept being delayed again and again and again, and when the government announced the lifting of restrictions, Paul decided it was not necessary any more. As for his nieces and nephews, they need to finish the school year at the school where they are at, and then they can move in with us in summer and start school near us in fall.

Please pray for Paul who carries so much responsibility by himself. He just turned 32 years old. Pray for his protection, strength, joy in the midst of everything, and wisdom to deal with officials and children.

MALI - MOVING HEARTS

The Corona crisis has increased poverty and hunger in Mali, where two thirds of the population already lived under the poverty line. For years we have been giving rice to widows and families in need, and that need has now multiplied. We have given away dozens of bags of rice in recent weeks. We thank every one of you who has donated so we could help these families. One bag of rice costs 31€ or $34. Today I want to share four short testimonies with you of what your donation has done:

This lady's husband died 4 months ago. She is a Muslim and is wearing the traditional blue clothes of a widow. After her husband's death, her only son who was supposed to take care of her, died as well. Her daughter in law returned to her family and left her children with this widow, who found herself alone with 4 little kids. When we gave them this 50 kilo bag of rice, they had not eaten in 3 days, so she was extremely thankful and kept saying, God bless you.

This widow has one child, a handicapped boy. Her neighbors would always give her and her son food to eat. However, because of Covid-19, the neighbors had no work or income any more and could therefore not give them any more food. When Paul showed up, they had just eaten their very last meal, just like the widow in the Bible in Elijah's time, and did not know how they would eat again.

Astan's husband married another woman and stopped giving her food or money to take care of her children. Finally she decided to abandon her children and leave him and them to return to her parents. When Paul gave her a bag of rice to feed her children, she decided to stay with her children, as she could now take care of them.

Rice is the staple food in Mali. For the past 15 months Aminata did not have any rice to eat or feed her children. She survived on eating millet, though she was not able to provide a meal for her family every day. Imagine her reaction when Paul gave her a 50 kilo bag of rice to eat. This is what your donations make possible in Mali!

AUSTRIA - MOVING OUT/IN

The Lord takes everything and turns it around for good to those who love Him (Rom 8:28). And now He has given us a new apartment that is more than twice as big as our current one, and costs less per month. And that would not have happened had we traveled to the US as planned. Because of the Corona virus, we had to stay in Vienna. Because we were in Vienna, Randy had all this time to be online looking for subsidized apartments and putting us on waiting lists for them. Because we were in Vienna, we were able to look at one when we suddenly found ourselves first on the list. Because we were in Vienna, we now have a new apartment we can move into July 1st.

As I said, we were on many waiting lists, sometimes one of hundreds or even thousands. They had told us in advance that it would take 2-3 years, as people that have been waiting longer are considered first. (It's been less than 1 year for us.) The reason we were eligible for a subsidized apartment was that we were 5 people living in a 55 m2 apartment (592 sq.ft.), which was too small. And we could really feel that! We don't even know where to put stuff any more! So Randy kept looking, and when a good-sized apartment came up, he put our name on it. We both had different ideas of what we wanted in an apartment, but in the end, we both love this one.

Maybe you remember how everything in Randy's lives comes in 3's - 3 marriages, we had 3 weddings, 3 children, 3 grandchildren, then another 3 children (triplets), and they were born at 3:33 pm. What are the chances! We were the third people to put our name on the apartment (and then dropped to 5th place). And guess what, our new apartment is house number 3, apartment number 3, and it's 133.3 m2 big (1435 sq.ft.)! As we were praying, and many others as well, we watched as our names moved up, and suddenly we found ourselves in first place. All this during the Corona-shutdown, when nobody could actually go look at an apartment. When we went to look at it, it was the first week where that was possible. By the way, it does have two bathrooms, which was a must-have for me.

After we decided we wanted it, we still had to hand in all kinds of documents, and we felt some warfare in the midst of it. But yesterday we were told it's ours. Randy has already started packing up stuff we don't need in boxes, though we have over a month before we are handed the keys. We also have to stay in our current apartment for 3 months after telling them we're moving out - unless we have favor and can shorten it.

Our new place has two levels, one on the ground floor, and the other one one level up. Both floors have a toilet, and the bathroom with a bathtub is upstairs. So is the master bedroom, and the kitchen. There is no kitchen in it, so we will have to buy our own. The bottom floor is one big room; once the kids are older, we're planning on dividing it to create three bedrooms for them. For now, we're planning on having our living room and office downstairs and live downstairs during the day, and then go upstairs for the night. There is a big park right next to the building, and it's right by the subway so we can get into town easily and quickly.

Please pray, as the next few weeks and months are not going to be easy in any way at all, moving with 3 babies and no car. It will keep us even more busy for a quite a while.

Apart from our upcoming move, we're doing well, and so are the babies. Samuel has finally started going to physiotherapy again, and is making great progress. Tamara is already starting to crawl, even though they are only just over 6 months old biologically! She's also talking more clearly than any of them and likes saying Daddy's name, saying "Dada" all the time.

Samuel day 256                 Tamara day 254                Emmanuel day 256

WEBSITE - MOVING ONLINE

A few years ago our website was accidentally deleted - so tragic, as I had put countless hours of work into it. Since then every try to get a new website up and running failed. I knew the Corona shutdown would be a good opportunity to work on it, if only I could find a solution, and then the Lord provided just that. So every little bit of free time I could find, I'd work on our new website. There is still a lot of work to do, it's far from finished, but it has gone live. Unfortunately it's only in English as of now, but I do hope I'll find the time to work on a German and French version as well.

We also have a new domain to make it easier on everybody, but you can still use the old ones. It is now located at

www.h2tni.org

QUICK NEWS

•        Summer Missions Trip - We had planned to travel to Mali this summer, as flights there will be restored by then, but the move to our new apartment now makes that impossible. We also have our canceled US trip we still need to make. What we know for sure as of now is that we'll be in Mali for Christmas; however, what is really sure these days!

•        Building Permit - Paul is still working on getting a building permit so we can continue construction, but to this date we have not received it. Please pray we get it soon.

•        First-Grade Teacher - We are still looking for a French-speaking first grade teacher to join our team. There is such a need for a good, Christian school where the children are treated with dignity and learn something. Many of our Muslim neighbors would send their children to our school. Please pray we'll find a teacher!

•        Malian Director Paul - Paul has been leading the ministry in Mali by himself for quite some time now and he's tired. Please pray for him!

•        Security Situation - Mali is becoming more and more radicalized by jihadists. Also, the population is rising up against the government, still not accepting the president's election. Please pray for peace, and for protection from jihadists.

•       Volunteers - Do you want to come change an orphan's life? Do you want to heal the sick? Preach the gospel to those who've never heard? Come to Mali for a season and let God change your life. No language skills needed, but French skills are helpful.

Make God the utmost delight and pleasure of your life, and He will provide for you what you desire the most. (Psalm 37:4, TPT)

Amazed by HIM,

Claudia (& Randy)