Welcome to the family, Eric Connor!!

Evan Church Heads back to Africa
Evan will be leaving on January 24^th for Sudan, Africa under the auspices of World Relief.  He will be assisting in the new development and relief programs there.  It is hoped that the new cease fire will hold and peace will return to that region.

Evan’s contract is for six months.  He will appreciate your prayers.

What’s in an Identity document?
When we got back to Zimbabwe this time, we found a new rule.  All non-citizen residents now have to have a re-entry visa to come back as residents.  The re-entry visa is good for a year.  You have to be back before it expires.  And, if you don’t have an “alien” ID card, and a foreign passport, you can’t get a re-entry visa.

Well, it seems that when Bonnie was issued an identity card way back in 1985, they accidentally gave her a “citizen’s” ID.  That has never been a problem – until now.  They wouldn’t issue a re-entry visa, which means she has to return to Zimbabwe as a “tourist” and pay a $50 fee every time, and can only stay a limited time.  Sigh!

So, we found out the procedure, and went to work.  All day in the “queue” at the citizenship office to turn in her old ID and formally renounce the citizenship she didn’t have.  Receipt in hand, she was able to get the re-entry visa.  But, now she needed a new ID document.

Another day standing in line for about 4 hours, then told to “come back on Friday.”  On Friday she went and found another long queue.  She was the last person let in the room for the day, and she went through all the processes.  Finally, she stood at the machine where a new plastic ID popped out.  Relief!

As we walked across the parking lot she fished out her new ID to show me.  She was so happy.  As she read it, she found out they had written that her birthplace was – the United Kingdom!  Sigh!

But at least she is now identified as an “alien!”

Where have we been?
We left the US on the 17^th of November and flew off into the night.  We spent a day and night in Amsterdam to rest and hopefully get our body clock on to a new time zone.  The rest-part worked!

We flew on to Kenya for another day and visiting with our missionaries and volunteers there for a couple of days, followed by a flight to Rwanda to meet with the new bishop and learn how the church is doing there.  We were there about 3 days.

Finally, on the 24^th of November (my brother’s 60^th birthday but no one is telling) we landed back in Zimbabwe.  We had left on December 7^th 2003, and thought we would be back much sooner.

Our days in Zimbabwe were full.  We had to pack up our little apartment, as the owner needed it back.  We will miss our little flower garden – and the strawberries.  We got our stuff in a storage area in our church’s garage, in Harare.  I also served as interim pastor of the Harare Church for four weeks, as there had been some problems there.  We attended a funeral of a friend, which took most of a day.  We spent a couple of days in Masvingo for Bonnie to work on the Child Care program, and we visited our old home of many years ago at Chikombedzi (see separate story).  We were ready to leave on time, on December 22^nd, for the Middle East.

We spent Christmas and New Year’s with our friends in Amman, Jordan.  It was a unique experience for us.  We attended a 3 hour Christmas Program in the Iraqi Arabic Free Methodist Church.  It was exciting and LONG at the same time.  We didn’t understand the words, but did understand the story.  The church seats around 75 when full.  We had 250 that night.  Imagine!! The kids – about 80 of them – were in a separate very full room upstairs!!

We had the chance to visit Syria to see the beginnings of some new work there.  While there we visited Old City Damascus.  What a thrill to walk on Straight Street, eating fresh hot falafal right out of the hot grease, walking where Paul walked.  We sat in the traditional home of Ananias.  When I wrote Bishop Chauke about it, he asked me, “Do you see any better now?”  I don’t know about my sight, but my spirit was moved as I thought of men like Paul and Ananias and the others who gave so much.

We saw Mt. Hermon covered with snow, as well as the Rose Red City of Petra, back in Jordan.  It was a holiday never to be forgotten.  And, we had fun with our friends, eating and playing games with the kids.  It was a Merry Christmas and seems like it is going to be a Happy New Year.

Praise to God for His gracious gifts!

Where are we going?
We returned to the US on January 3^rd to have a CT scan (Doctor says all is well and he doesn’t want to see me for a year) and visas for 3 West African countries, that cannot be gotten from Zimbabwe.  We also visited and spoke in the FM Church in Clarkston, Michigan, where we also met our missionary, Cathy Bushnell, from Tanzania.  AND, we were able to care for our granddaughter while Becky was in the hospital.

We leave the US on the 19^th of January for Malta, another of Paul’s destinations, for a conference, then to North Africa to visit some of our folks.  We will visit one North African country plus Ghana, Togo, Cameroon where we will ordain our pastor/leader, Gabon where we have new work, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Egypt.  We are going to take 5 days of vacation in Egypt and cruise down the Nile from Luxor to Naswan.  Then, we host the All-Africa FM Missionary Retreat in Alexandria, Egypt for a group of about 35.  There will be time to see the pyramids, etc. too.

We will return to the US on April 1^st for the usual spring board meetings in Indianapolis, and later Central Africa Health Organization meetings in Michigan.

Smile
Latest quote from Serena when her new German Shepherd puppy was chewing on her… “Don’t bite me.  I am supposed to be your playmate!”

Chikombedzi
The phone rang in Harare.  The request was given, “Can you come to Chikombedzi to represent the Mission at the opening of a new outpatient clinic wing?  When?  We will set the dates when we know you can come.”  So we made plans. 

We needed to be there on a Tuesday morning so we left Harare on Monday.  We picked up Bishop Chauke and Sup’t. Dube in Masvingo, and before we got out of town, the pulley snapped off the front of my little Mitsubishi engine!  Fortunately it happened there!  So, we left the car at a shop to be fixed and rented a car, and four hours later left for the bush!

When we got there we found out that we were the honored guests the next morning and I, Henry, had to give the major speech! 

There were lots of government officials from the Ministry of Health, plus all the hospital officials plus all the church officials – some friends we had not seen in many years.  It was really a delightful experience.  And, I remembered enough Shangaan to give my whole speech in the vernacular – impressing the government people, and impressing me too!

To top it all off, when we unveiled the dedicatory plaque, the wing was dedicated in our name for the years of missionary service we have given Zimbabwe.  What an honor!

More family news
Dad Church was recently diagnosed with two different kinds of cancer.  It will be treated by radiation, but not chemo.  He and Mom will appreciate your prayers.  They continue to live in Yuma, Arizona and have a Wednesday night home bible study group meeting in their home.  Dad is their “pastor!”

Future Plans
There is a new training program in Amman, Jordan.  It has students from all over the Middle East, and is operated by a Methodist pastor from Korea.  Henry has been invited to teach there for a couple of weeks in May.  Several of our own church people attend this school.

We also plan to visit our new work in Dubai, UAE, as well as touch base with our Child Care Program in Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda in June.  We are in hopes that we can spend a couple of weeks working with the new bishops of Rwanda to help them set up a new Pastor’s training program in Rwanda.  Most of their pastors have little or no training.

In addition, we expect to take half of our six month home assignment in the US this year and half next year.  We expect to spend a month or more in Genesee Conference in the North East of the US, and Sierra Pacific Conference, in the West.  We will also be speaking in some churches in Wabash Conference, which is in the Mid-West.  We will try to publish a list of locations where we will be speaking when we have one prepared.  Hope to see a lot of you who have prayed so faithfully for us through the years. 

GHANA
THANK YOU to all who assisted with the Ghana Women’s Business College property purchase. 

We will be in Accra by the first of February and will be making the final payment and will be getting ready to start construction on the building.  We really counted on your help to make this project possible and you have helped greatly. 

On behalf of the Church in Ghana, Thank you very much.  Will send back some photos of the new site and its development.

Anyone interested in future projects, let us know.  We always have a list…