Happy New Year

Dear All

With only one more day in 2012 we would like to wish you all God's richest blessing for the coming New Year 2013.

Our Christmas was effected a little with the adults of the house hold having all having a stomach bug, which we are only just still recovering from. The children have been mostly well though Gabbie had a little bit but seems fine now.

The children are off school this coming week and will go back on the 7th January. Paul will return to work on Wednesday though he is hoping to have Thursday off with the family to have a day out together when hopefully we are all feeling well. Paul will take this in exchange for the work he did on Christmas Eve when the office was closed and also some time that he has spent over Christmas putting the November figures together.

Well thank you too you all for your prayers and support throughout 2012, it's been a difficult year and we would not have managed it without all your prayers and support. God Bless you all as we enter into 2013.

With love from us all

Paul, Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella

Happy Christmas

Dear All

We arrived safely back from Dodoma on Saturday afternoon, the drive went well though at one point we had to almost stop as the rain was so heavy we could not see more than a few feet in front of us.

Today we had a service at Iserv the church we attend, we had the Christmas service  last week which the children took part in before a number of the church travelled for Christmas. This evening we joined some others at the house of a couple that work with SIL for something to eat and then to sing Christmas Carols. The British section managed to introduce the American section to three new tunes for them for three carols, Away in a Manager, Oh little town of Bethlehem and Angels and It came upon a midnight Clear, most of the Brits knew the tunes the Americans use.

MAF is now closed until the 2nd January here in  Tanzania, but Paul will spend some time in the office tomorrow to make sure all the cash and banks details are up to date before the year closes as he was away in Dodoma last week, so just needs to sort the Dar side out.

We would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas, as we remember the birth of our Lord and Saviour.

God Bless you all with all our Love Paul, Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella. 

In Dodoma

Dear All

We all travelled to Dodoma on Sunday after our churches Christmas service and lunch. We managed to arrive by about 7.30pm so not to late after dark.

The family is on holiday here though Edith is doing some work in her MAF training coordinators role. Paul is working mainly on the November figures and is being helped by Neville in the UK. Please pray that we manage to get this all completed be the end of the week as we close the office on Friday for the Christmas break. We hope to join a Christmas meal with the national staff here in Dodoma on Friday afternoon/evening.

Please pray for a safe trip back to Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

Please pray for us to all have good health Paul and Gabriella mainly have not been feeling so well and Edith has been having long nights with disturbed sleep.

That is about all the news for now.

God Bless and love from us all

Last Week of School

This week is the last week of school for John-Luke and Gabriella for 2012, they will finish on Friday with a Christmas Assembly for the whole school. Edith continues to help in Gabbie's class three days a week and then has one day at the Nuro centre.

Suzan has now travelled to Uganda and will be staying there until the new year, but Lillian will be staying with us until after the New Year.

Neville left for England on Sunday and will continue to help Paul from there until January when he will God willing return for a further three months. Paul will take on the main work of the preparation of the November accounts this month. Paul will be in Dar this week and then working in Dodoma next week. We will all travel to Dodoma on Sunday after the church's Christmas service and then Edith, Lillian and the children will enjoy the cooler weather of Dodoma whilst Paul continues with the work. We will travel back in Saturday the 22nd December. The office will be closed from the 22nd until the 2nd of January so we are looking forward to a good Christmas break.

Paul has been making some good progress on his emails so he is now almost up to date with them.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

God Bless you all

Christmas is coming

Dear Family & Friends

On Saturday was the start of Christmas events here in Dar when we had the Christmas Fun day craft fare at the school to raise money for two charities and also for the school. It was a hot day and all went very well though we do not know yet how much was raised.

There are two more weeks of school and on the last Friday there will be a Christmas assembly at the school which the children will be part of. Then our church will also have their Christmas service on the following Sunday, which the children will again be taking part in the service, so we will all stay in Dar until after the service, then we will all travel up to Dodoma for the following week, so Paul can do the work he needs to there, we will then return on the Saturday before Christmas. Please pray for a safe trip particularly on the Sunday when we hope to arrive in Dodoma before dark so need to leave by 12pm from Dar. It was this journey last year that I had my accident after being blinded by a lorry, as I was too late leaving Dar and had to drive the last hour in the dark. This time though I will be with the family so will not be alone so even more reason to have a safe trip.

We will be back in Dar for Christmas.

Suzan Edith's sister will be travelling to Kampala on Friday and will stay there until in the New Year but we will have another 'sister' Lillian here who is staying with us until January.

Please pray for strength for us all as we are finding the weather rather hot at present and officially we are not in the hottest part of the year yet and we find it is sapping our energy rather already.

We pray that you all will have a wonderful week and may God Bless you each.

With love from us all. 

Latest from Dar es Salaam

I thought I had made a posting a couple of weeks ago only to find that it was at the beginning of the month, so sorry for not writing sooner. Since our last posting Paul has had another trip to Dodoma and was able to get with his project work again, but since being back in Dar other things have taken over his time. It remains to be busy so Paul is very grateful to have Neville here working on the day to day work for him, he has been a great help and support.

Edith continues to be busy with helping at the School and Nuru centre. The children continue to enjoy school and are both doing well. Last Monday there was a teachers day at the school so Paul took the day off and we all went over to a small island just off the Dar es Salaam Coast for the day, it takes about an half an hour ride in a boat. There we spent the day swimming and resting and enjoying being away from the business of Dar life. It was a lovely day with an enjoyable fresh breeze keeping it from being too Hot.

We have been finding it getting a lot warmer lately and we have seen temperatures into the higher thirties which with the high humidity feels even hotter. It's been in the high twenties before 7am most mornings, so it's rather warm walking to school and the office, we are finding these temperature very tiring and sapping our energy at times so please pray for strength for us all we are still heading into the hotter times over the New Year.

This week we have a visit to the programme by Annie Russel the HR Manager from MAF International Ashford office please pray for safe travelling for her.

That is all the news for now. God Bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers and support.

With love from us all Paul, Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella   

Back in Dar es Salaam

Dear All

We are now all back in Dar es Salaam for just over a week. John-Luke and Gabriella are back at school and on Friday we all attended the school for John-Luke class assembly. Next week on Friday we will all be at the school for International Day when everyone represents the countries they are from so we get to do two countries Uganda and Great Britain/England.

After our weekend in Dodoma we stayed there until Wednesday Paul worked Monday and then was off for the rest of the week as it was the children's mid term break. We did not drive straight back to Dar es Salaam but stopped off in one of the National Parks for two nights. We stopped in Mkumi National Park which is four/five hours from Dar es Salaam. This was the first time we have managed to visit a National Park since arriving in Tanzania in July 2010. It was a great break and we saw many animals. We only saw one (may be two) Lions also a couple of Jackals, but we then saw many Elephants, Graffias, Zebras, Buffaloes, Wilder beasts, warthogs and many from the antelope family. We also saw three Hippos and a Crocodile in a water hole. The place we stayed was a tented camp but they gave a very good service and the food was a very good standard. We then travelled back to Dar es Salaam on the Friday.

Edith has been busy with helping out at the school in several classes and Swimming as well as the help at the Nuro centre.

Paul has been very grateful for the work that Neville has been doing he has taken over the responsibility of the day to day work of the Finance Manager and is doing a great Job. This has freed Paul up to work on a number of projects that need to be done but the other work has not allowed time for this. Paul's position is currently being called Finance Projects Manager. This last week Paul has been busy in the Dar office which has meant covering for all the finance issues in Dar. This last week this included two trips the bank to undertake a few transactions, this you may think is not too big a job but here it can take some time and at least 5 hours were used up on these two days to get the job done. Other jobs included cash payments new loans for national staff and being the end of the month paying wages which Edith kindly came and helped Paul with. Paul had two main things to try and move on during the week but with all the other things going on the time ran out before starting these so hopefully he will make good headway on these in the coming week.

We also have a visit coming to stay with us for some time this is Lillian one of Edith's 'Sisters'from Uganda she should arrive by bus later today after having left sometime yesterday.

The weather here has already warmed up and some days we have been getting up into the mid thirties. It is normally in the higher twenties by 7am when we walk to school and the office.

Please pray for strength as the heat seems to sap your energy at times and please pray for a good week ahead to get some of the things done on our lists.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, we hope to get a newsletter out this month if all goes well.

God Bless and love from us all.

All in Dodoma this weekend

Dear Friends

This week is the last week of school for the children before their mid term break the following week. Please pray that they have a good week at school. Edith remains busy with the different jobs at the school and the Nuro centre she is now helping with swimming at the school.

Edith, Suzan and the children will travel to Dodoma on Friday afternoon by a MAF plane, as we will be having a fellowship time with all the MAF staff on Friday afternoon and then all the international staff will be having the weekend together. Then Monday there will be a further meeting with all the staff in the hanger.  

Paul is already in Dodoma as he travelled up there last Thursday to and over the day to day finance manager work to Neville and to start on the projects he needs to complete whilst Neville is helping.

After the Monday meeting the family will stay in Dodoma until Wednesday when we will travel back to Dar via one of the national parks arriving back in Dar on Friday. This will be the first time we have managed to make it to a park in the two years that we have been here.

Please pray for safe travelling over the next two weeks for everyone.

Please also pray for strength and comfort for Ben Tanton and family after the sudden death of his wife on Sunday. Ben is the son of Steve and Caroline Tanton who are our cousins.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

God bless and love from us all.

Paul, Edith, John-Luke & Gabriella

Time is flying past

Dear Friends

We are not sure where the time is going and it has been hard to keep you up to date so sorry about that. It is hard to believe that we are already into October.

The children are continuing to enjoy their school and are up and ready to go to school before seven every morning. Edith has been busy with her work in the Nuro Centre and also at the school.

Paul spent his first week back on handover with Fiona and preparing for the budget run he then traveled to Dodoma the next week for budget meetings and continued these in Dar the following week, the budget went in by the 14th. That then meant he needed to complete the August figures and so the next two weeks was taken up with that and another trip to Dodoma. This week he has been working with Neville who has come to help him here in Tanzania  Neville was the finance manager for MAF in Kenya and then later in Uganda and you may remember he was out for a couple of weeks last November. This time Neville will stay until Around Christmas he is going to take on the day to day finance of the programme whilst Paul will be working on a number of projects that need to be completed but time has not allowed with the other work. We are very grateful to Neville for giving up his time to help, his wife Janet will join him later in the Month. Next week Neville will travel to Dodoma where he will be based Paul will follow on Thursday for a week before being joined by the family for a conference.

We hope that you are all well and will try and do better at keeping you up to date with the news from us.

God Bless and love from us all.

We are back in Tanzania

Greetings from Tanzania

We are sorry for the long silence from us. We had a great home assignment and travelled around a fair amount it seemed we were on the move most of the time. We were not able to do so much visiting this time, so sorry if we did not manage to visit you, I hope you will understand but we really needed the rest and some good family time after the recent events.

We arrived back in Tanzania on the 22nd August. The children went back/to school on the 23rd and both are enjoying it very much. John-Luke is getting on well in grade 2 (Year 3 in England). Gabriella has also settled into school very well she has started in Kindergarten (Year 1 in England).

Edith has been busy with work at the Nuru centre, attending a mother's prayer meeting for the school each week and other things connected with the school.

Paul started back in the office also on the 23rd and has been busy catching up. He has been very grateful to Fiona who had been travelling down from Uganda each month to keep things up to date which has been a really help. The first fall week of work Paul spent with Fiona on the hand over. Then on the 3rd September Paul travelled to Dodoma for meetings and to start preparing the budget for 2013 he returned on 6th and continued the work on the budget which was completed on Friday and has been sent in to the UK for further review. This has kept him fairly busy so hence why we have not managed to get around to writing. Paul will travel back up to Dodoma to prepare the August figures on Tuesday returning a week on Wednesday. Please pray for the family whilst he is away. Please also pray for Paul as this will be the first time he has driven up to Dodoma since the accident in December he has travelled by road a couple of times but not driven, he will be on his own going their but will have passengers on his return.

We thank the Lord for seeing us through these difficult months and thank you all for your prayers and support. We will now try and give regular updates once again.

God Bless and love from us all

Paul, Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella.

Two weeks before Home Assignment

Dear Friends

We have two weeks left before we head off for our home assignment and holiday. We are very much looking forward to this break and feel we need it as well. Sorry for the not so regular posting but with the reduced hours we have been doing less computer work in the evenings so not getting around to the connecting so much on the internet.

Well last week John-Luke had his sports day at school and he managed to get two first places in running and a third place in the softball throwing. He has two further weeks and ends the year on the 22nd June. Gabriella has two more weeks of home schooling with Edith and then will join HOPAC when we return to Tanzania in August. Edith has been busy with home schooling, working at the Nuru Centre and helping at school in the Art class and learning the Library for next year.

Paul will head to Dodoma on Monday and hopes to return on Friday in time for Gabriella's 5th Birthday on Friday. He has a fair amount of work to try and complete when he is there so please pray that all goes well and he manages to get it done. Paul has been very gratefully for another period of help from Fiona from the Uganda programme. Fiona was here for two weeks at the end of May and we managed to complete the March and April management figures. Fiona will be back at the start of next week for a couple of weeks as well as two weeks in July and August to help keep things moving whilst Paul is away so we do appreciate her willingness to help in such a way as well as continue with the Uganda programme work as well.

Please continue to pray for us over these two weeks and then for safe travelling to the UK on the 24th June.

God Bless and love from us all.

A few days away

Dear All

Things remain to be busy here but we are managing.

We were due to go for a few days away at Easter but with our trip back for Mum's funeral this was delayed, so as Monday and Tuesday are the mid term break for the school we decided to go away from Saturday to Tuesday so we are heading about 35km south of  Dar to a place on the beach. The only problem is that Paul will have to come up to the city on Monday and may be Tuesday to a hearing with the Tanzania revenue authority so it will not be much of a holiday for him. We are praying that it might be all done on Monday so he does not have to come back on Tuesday as well.

School starts back on Wednesday and then if the hearing is all over Paul will travel to Dodoma on Thursday for a week returning on the next Thursday.

Paul is also due to have a visit by Fiona the MAF Uganda finance manager who is coming to help for a couple of weeks she should arrive in Dodoma on Sunday or Monday and then travel to Dar with Paul a week on Thursday.

We have been having a few of the family down with colds and coughs but everyone seems to be getting better now.

Thank you for your prayers and support they are very much appreciated.

God Bless and love from us all.

We are Back in Dar es Salaam

Dear Friends

Sorry we have not posted for some time but events in the UK meant that we were not so often on the Internet. Our return to Tanzania was delayed until the 21st April and we arrived on the 22nd.

Mum's funeral went well and we had a lovely service. Though rain was forecast as we stood at the gave the sun was shining and the singing around the gave sounded wonderful. Please continue to pray for us as the fact that Mum is no longer with us sinks in, please particularly pray for Dad as he comes to terms with being on his own after almost sixty years.

Last week we had a national holiday and today was another one so we had two four day weeks to get us back into the work and school. Unfortunately the days have been a bit like UK bank holidays with overcast days and rain but we had some good family time together.

Edith is getting back to school work with Gabriella and John-Luke is back into his school work. After a doctors report Paul has been put on restricted hours for the next two months so will be working from 7.30am through to about 2.15pm. There are a number of issues that we are having to sort out here in the Tanzania programme so please pray for us as we try to deal with these as well as all the other work. It's going to be a hard time for Paul with the reduced hours but he will be receiving help from Fiona from the MAF Uganda Programme. Fiona will be down for a couple of weeks for each of the next four months this is also to cover for whilst we are all in the UK for home assignment.

Thank you all for your prayers and your support.

God Bless and love form us all.

Paul, Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella.

Trip to England

Dear All

Paul has been busy in the office but has been very gratefully for the help of Fiona Stevenson who is currently the MAF Uganda Finance Manager. Fiona is down to look into the MAF Tanzania systems so she can help whilst Paul is away in the summer. Fiona will be here until the 4th April next week she will be in Dodoma. Paul was due to be going to Dodoma but that has been cancelled as we will all be travelling to the UK next week. It has been great that Fiona has been here as we have had a problem in the Dar office which is under investigation so she has been able to help with this as well as sort out a load of questions the Auditors had sent. We are also getting close to finishing January figures. Fiona has also been a help now that Paul will be traveling to the UK for Mum's funeral.

On Wednesday 28th we will all fly out to the UK, God willing. We have been given some extended leave due to all the pressures we have had over the past year or so, so hope to stay until 17th April. Mum's funeral has been set for 3rd April at 1pm. So after the funeral we will have some time with Dad and have some family time as well.

Please pray for safe travels for us and for us as the fact that Mum has gone to be with the Lord becomes more real when we arrive back and she is not there. Please also pray for Fiona who unexpectedly is helping to cover things for a some of the time that Paul is away. Also pray for the team and programme as they run along without their finance manager here especially for Frank, Cecilia and Paul J in the Dodoma finance department.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind message you have sent us at this sad time it has been really a blessing for us to receive them.

God Bless and love from us all

A very Sad Loss

Dear All

Just a short message to say that Paul's Mum suddenly passed away and went to be with her Lord on the 15th at around 5.30pm. She had been in hospital since Sunday but died very suddenly and peacefully.

Please pray particularly for Paul's Dad and then the rest of the family at this sad time.

We will all God willing be going back to the UK on 28th March as we are expecting the funeral to be the first week of April.

Thank you all for your prayers.

God Bless and love from us all.

Birthday Week

Dear Friends

This week we celebrate John-Luke's seventh birthday on Wednesday.

Edith is currently travelling back from Uganda and God willing she will be with us sometime around tomorrow lunchtime.

Paul has sent in a final set of year end accounts and now needs to complete some items for the Auditors and then needs to get on with January and February work.

John-Luke has almost completely recovered form Chicken pox now, today was the first day with a normal temperature in the morning. They are looking forward to having their Mum back so they came have some good food. Paul is also looking forward to having Edith back as well.

We hope you all have a wonderful week and pray that you are all keeping in good health.

God Bless and love form us all

Greeting from Dar and Kampala

Dear All

It has been a very busy and trying time as Paul has been trying to complete the year end accounts as well as deal with many day to day issues. We have had our Audit report back which has given us a number of recommendations so we will have a meeting this week to decide on how we should go about these. Some we have already started to put into place already as we knew they needed sorting out but we know there are a number of weaknesses in the system here that need addressing.

Currently Edith has travelled with Suzan (her sister) to Uganda for a graduation for Suzan. It was about a 40 hour trip by bus for them. They plan to be back in Dar a week on Monday. In the mean time Paul is in Dar with the children.

The year end accounts should have been in some time back, a draft has gone in but due to a number of reasons mainly day to day events, Paul has not yet finished though needs to very soon because of combining them with the other programmes.

Please pray for us all at the difficult and busy time. John-Luke has a high fever and today we found out that he has chicken pox so will be off school for a number of days. Gabriella has escaped it so far but we would not be surprised if she has it in the next day or so. Please pray for safe travels for Edith and Suzan when they return next week. Please pray for Paul as he works and looks after the children which now with John-Luke home will not be so straight forward.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

God Bless and love from us all.

We are still here

Sorry for not writing for the past week or so.

We now have our car back and that is a great relief. Last Thursday was the start of half term for John-Luke up until Monday then back to school on Tuesday this week. Paul had the day off on Monday and so we all when on a short boat trip to an island off the coast of Dar es Salaam and had a wonderful day together. The water was blue and clear and the beech was clean. It was Sunny and fairly hot but there was a good breeze.

Edith continues to home school Gabriella as well has volunteering at the Nuro Centre working with handicapped people making craft items to sell. She also helps at the school one day a week with art classes. Edith has now started also working in the library at the school, learning the systems, as she has been asked to help out there next year.

Next week Paul will travel to Dodoma by car with the programme manager to attend meetings and work there for a week or so returning on the 29th hopefully on a flight. Then on the 1st Edith will travel with Suzan to Uganda for a week or so. Please pray for them as they have a very long bus ride both ways. So we will be a one parent family for about three weeks.

Please pray for Paul as he tries to finish things off for the end of end as well as keeping up to date with what's happen now.

God Bless and thanks for your prayers and support.

A Week in Dar

Dear Friends

Paul returned to Dar on the 19th with Adrian who then returned to the UK on the 20th. Paul was very grateful for Adrian's help and we managed to get some things moved on. Paul was also grateful for Jasper Stephens who is currently living in Dodoma as his wife is a medical student, doing an internship in the Dodoma general hospital, so Jasper has volunteered to help us out where he can which has been great.

The family are all doing well and John-Luke continues to enjoy school and Gabriella home school and visiting play groups. Edith has been teaching and last week she also went to the MAF office to help

Last week started with Paul being on crutches due to a problem with the foot but he is now doing a lot better. Paul is also currently acting programme manager as Bengt is down in South Africa for surgery we are hoping he will be back the middle of this week. To add to the work load we had a problem in the Dar office which then took up a fair amount of time. The October accounts are now completed and we are trying to put together the figures for November and December, hopefully we will have a draft set out this week God willing.

Please pray for a good week at school and for Paul a clear week from addition interruptions so we can move on well with the accounts. With Edith's help we hope to finish the payroll tomorrow as that is now due.

Thanks you for your prayers and support.

God Bless and love from us all.

In Dar and Dodoma

This last week was the first full week back at School for John-Luke. Edith has been doing home school with Gabriella as well.

Paul flew to Dodoma last Monday with Adrian Steele one of the MAF International Africa Region finance staff based in Ashford. Adrian has come out to help upgrade the finance software as well as help Paul with some of the Year end work that needs to be done for the Audit. Paul and Adrian will remain in Dodoma until Thursday this week when they are hoping to get on another flight back to Dar so Adrian can catch his flight back to the UK on Friday morning. Please pray that they will be able to get this flight rather than having to find another for of transport.

Please pray for Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella as well as Suzan whilst Paul is away.

We are finding life hard in Dar at present whilst the car is in for repairs after the accident. The first estimate for the return of the car was Wednesday last week and that has now changed to Wednesday this coming week. Please pray that they will be able to complete all the repairs by this Wednesday so we can have the car back. We are stuck often at home without the car and it's hard to get the supplies we need without it.

Thank you for your prayers and support for us all.

God Bless and love from us all

First Week of 2012

Dear All

Happy New Year to you all.

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year here in Dar es Salaam, there was the four of us, Suzan and another of Edith's Sisters Lillian. We have been having to coupe with temperature up in the thirties and only the other night did it manage to drop below 28c during the night. So I expect most of you had a cooler Christmas.

Please pray for Edith who too day has not been feeling so well with a high temperature and headache, we are praying that she will be better in the morning and that it is not malaria.

Today was also the funeral of Paul's best friend Andy, please pray for his wife Jean that she will be given strength over this sad time. Also pray for Andy's family who or not Christians that the Lord would soften their hearts.

John-Luke started back to school today and was looking forward to it. Tomorrow Lillian will be travelling back to Uganda so please pray for safe travels. Gabriella will start school again when Edith is feeling better.

Paul was able to spend the time between Christmas and the New Year home with the family but has now started back to work and needs strength from the Lord to try and catch up. He has some of October to finish and then needs to get on with November and December work so the Auditors can be have it all on time. Paul has some relief coming out as Adrian from the Ashford office will be coming to give a hand for a couple of weeks, please pray for safe travels. So the plan is that we hope to travel to Dodoma on Monday hopefully by plane and stay for around 10 days travelling back the following week on Thursday. Please pray that we have a really profitable and productive time. Please also pray that the family will be kept well whist Paul is away.

Our car is currently in repair so please pray that it will be fixed soon as it's making things hard not having a car around.

Well thanks for your prayers and support we do so appreciate them. We would like to wish you the Lord's blessing in this New Year.

Love form us all. Paul, Edith, John-Luke and Gabriella.