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THE CHALLENGE OF LEAVING MALI

Sunday night (Jan 9) - The regional block of nations decides to impose sanctions on Mali after the coup leader and transitional president announces that the elections agreed to be held in February would be moved to December 2025. France is on the side of those nations and says it would also support troops moving into Mali.

Monday - Margit is scheduled to fly out that night. She got her PCR test result in the morning, while we did our test in the morning. In the afternoon her flight is canceled. Mali has decided to not let Air France into the country because of France's stance on the sanctions. Her rebooked flight is not until over a week later.

Tuesday - We received our PCR test results in the morning, as we're scheduled to fly out that night. We had received an insider tip that the vaccine mandate for arriving AND leaving Mali was starting that Friday, which is why we moved our flight up by a week. (The government has been so busy with the sanctions that that mandate has been postponed until further notice.) We were packing, when Paul's contact person tells him that there won't be any Air France flights tonight either. That is confirmed officially just a little time later. We get rebooked on the flight Wednesday night.

Wednesday - The doctor returns to do another PCR test of the five of us, so we have valid tests, when we arrive in Vienna. We're scheduled to fly out that night. We finish packing in the afternoon, including covering our beds up for our long absence. Late in the afternoon Paul gets word that there are no Air France flights again, and that there won't be any any time soon. The government is so upset with France that they have decided to not let France land their planes (ever) again. Air France cancels our reservation, rebooks us on a flight 10 days later. I call the Austrian consulate in Senegal to inform them of our situation. Late that night I find 5 seats on a flight with Ethiopian Airlines Thursday morning. Something goes wrong, when trying to use the local payment system and $2500 are lost (2200€). I download the app and am able to buy the five seats paying with our credit card. In addition to the lost money.

Thursday - Our flight is scheduled to leave Bamako at 11 am to fly all the way to Ethiopia, and from there straight to Vienna. We get up at 5 am, Margit comes over and books the same flight 24 hours after us, as she still has to redo her PCR test. We leave for the airport, and actually get on that plane and leave. We arrive in Ethiopia at 9 pm local time and have a nearly 5 hour layover.

Friday - We arrive in Vienna just before 6 am, but none of our five suitcases have made it. On the way out we lose Emmy's winter jacket. Our friend from church is so kind to drive us home with the church van. We start our quarantine.

Saturday - Margit arrives in Vienna, with her luggage, and takes the train home.

Sunday - We receive 4 of our 5 suitcases.

Monday - The last suitcase is delivered.

Wednesday - It's day 5 of quarantine, and so we take a PCR test to end quarantine and be able to leave the house again. Not being vaccinated, we can only go to the grocery store and playground anyway.

Thursday - Our tests come back positive. Quarantine continues. None of us has symptoms.

More pictures of our trip and of our time in Mali on our website here.

VILLAGE CHRISTMAS DISTRIBUTIONS

Because of the government following the Muslim calendar for the first time, all our Christmas events were scheduled on Sundays, when the kids are off-school. The distribution in Sebela had to be moved to another day, and ended up being on the 15th, with the one in the new village of Darala being the following day, the 16th. That was a lot of work for Paul! Thank you for praying for him.

This is the first time we've done all the shoe and toy/clothes distributions in public schools, and it has worked out really well that way. In Sebela, Paul distributed 800 pairs of shoes and 400 toys and stuffed animals. Every child received a gift, and Paul preached the gospel to everyone who came not just in deed but also in word. And he prayed with everyone to start a life with Jesus. He had great feedback from everyone. A few years ago the members of the village council had all become believers, and they all expressed how impressed they were with what we had done.

Darala the next day was a new village. Again Paul was allowed to do the distribution at the local public school. He had over 800 pairs of shoes with him, as well as a few boxes of T-shirts, and close to 900 of them were given away. When he preached the gospel, all the members of the village council, who had all come to see what we were doing, became believers in Jesus. So did the director of the school. The village chief sent someone to Paul to ask him to come back and explain the gospel in more detail to everyone. Not only was everyone in Darala excited, Paul was very excited to see all this fruit as well.

More pictures of our village distributions on our website here.

QUICK NEWS

•        Daily Blog - If you are not on Facebook but would still like to read my daily blog about our life (with the triplets), including pictures, you can do so on our website. Go to https://h2tni.org/blog/.

•        Sponsors Needed - We still have 4 children in the village of Dara that are looking for sponsors. They made drawings for their future sponsors for Christmas, hoping they'd soon have people who make their schooling possible. Look here to see who still needs a sponsor. A sponsorship is $60 or 50€ per month and half-sponsorships are also possible.

•        The Triplets - The kids loved life in Mali, the animals, the other children, and every day they still talk about everyone there, then saying they're in Mali. They've been enjoying having all their toys back, but by now they'd like to get out a little and go to a playground, which is not possible yet. Sammy seems to have enjoyed being back the most and is a lot more relaxed and happy than he was in Mali. As soon as we're out of quarantine he's gonna continue his physiotherapy.

•        Security Situation - The French pulled out most of their people before the end of last year. Thankfully the UN and EU has increased their presence as a result. Jihadists are still a threat, controlling big parts of the country, and always trying to expand their territory, and they could take advantage of the government being under pressure from the outside. At the same time there is the threat of the neighboring countries sending troops if the coup leader does not relent.

•        Permit & Deed - Every time there is a coup, new personnel is put into place and we have to start the whole process again. Now that they have stopped and picked up work again several times, Paul continues going to meetings so we can have our building permit and title deed soon. Please pray to that end.

•        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 - Please continue praying for Paul who leads the ministry all by himself. In January there is a lot of bills to pay, including the next installment of school fees.

•       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.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isa 43:2)

Trusting HIM,

Claudia (& Randy)