April 2016 – Newsletter 5
Sam, Abby,
Rachel and Rebecca Baguma We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10
A few weeks ago I was on a mission to make two little chocolate Easter eggs for two little special girls. I had everything I needed, the moulds, the chocolate and a fridge…I was just slightly hindered by the 45 degree heat outside and 30 degree heat inside! Melting the chocolate was the easiest part, getting it into the moulds and into the fridge worked well. It was the process of actually taking the two halves out of the moulds and trying to stick them together before they melted back into a gooey mess that proved a problem. I know chocolate eggs are a far cry from the true meaning of Easter, but as random as this analogy is…Jesus died so that we can become who God intends us to be. Life can beat us down and break us, but God through His son Jesus can mould us into something new and precious for His glory. Living in Chad has felt a bit like that at times. An endless work in progress of God shaping and moulding us for His work and His kingdom but endless setbacks where we struggle and fall and question His purpose…Perseverance paid off and after putting my hands in the freezer for a good few minutes I was able to get two little eggs into a bit of tin foil with a ribbon around it and still intact. To see the delight on the girls faces and the excitement as they opened a chocolate egg made the struggle worth it, and when Rachel exclaimed with such excitement to her cousin when she was asked what egg she got…”a chocolate one”…I realised the delight I am to my creator who preciously made me and then moulds me daily to be who He intends me to be for His purpose. Work and home life has continued at a fast pace over the last three months and we are all feeling the effects of the business. For Sam there have been different human resource issues to deal with, very busy flying schedules to manage and support, complicated logistics of sending our Caravan to Uganda for upgrades and receiving a Ugandan Caravan here for two months to ensure flying continues, alongside all of the normal daily work activities. Operating with one fewer pilots at perhaps the busiest time of the Programme has meant very long days for Sam and the team at work and much less time at home with Abby and the girls. If you would like to read a bit more about us working here in Chad and some of the partners we support and fly, please do click on the links below:
A glimpse of the work MAF supports here in Chad An African for Africa Called and equipped for Chad
As a family we moved to Chad in July 2014 for Sam to take up the role of Country Director for MAF’s operations for MAF in Chad. We are very excited about the opportunity we have to be witnessing and serving through the work of MAF. Chad, Africa’s fifthlargest nation, suffers from inadequate infrastructure and internal conflict. It is one of the poorest countries in Africa with its post-independence history (from 1960) marked by political instability. Since 1966, MAF has been flying for churches, missions and NGO’s that provide humanitarian services, medical care and education, as well as being a Christian witness to people living in Chad’s very remote and isolated areas.
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April 2016 – Newsletter 5
Rachel is enjoying the new home school programme which she does each morning with Abby. It’s a great mix of topic work and basic phonics and numeracy work. Abby is trying hard to embrace the entirety of the activities suggested, even the messiest of crafts! Rebecca loves to play with her little friend Evie here on the compound and while Rachel and Abby do ‘school’ Becca goes off to play at Evie’s house. They are both happy, content little girls who are starting to play more together and enjoy each other’s company. Chad is now in full swing preparing for the elections to be held here this Sunday, 10th April. A few weeks ago our quiet peaceful neighbourhood suddenly began pumping out very loud local music. It was coming from the compound right next to ours, 10 metres from our bedroom window! Little did we know, but this house next door has transformed into a local hub for the president’s party so is a hive of activity. More often than not for the last few weeks we have had blasting music till the early hours of the morning. Two weeks ago the president’s party held a rally in town to begin the actual campaigning and proceeded to have 500 camels as part of the affair. I am sure it was a sight worth seeing but understandably for security reason we stayed home and enjoyed the peace and quiet while the house next door was empty!! About a month ago we had a couple of weeks of unrest in the city due to the opposition organising protests due to a serious issue that happened. These protests were very quickly stamped out by the police and army but do involve shots and tear gas and unfortunately a few students died as a result. So far the campaigning has been peaceful and uneventful, but understandably we are slightly unsure how things will be this coming weekend and as the results are announced. When the unrest hit a few weeks back we suddenly found ourselves in a social media blackout. We are not sure if and when this will happen again over the coming days but we will watch and wait. We are now preparing for a small break over the coming weeks. Sam has a regional manager’s conference in the UK the first week of May so we have decided to head to the UK as a family. It will be a mixture of family holiday time as well as visiting a few of our supporting churches who we haven't seen for two years, and catching up with friends and family in different parts of the UK. We leave here on Thursday 14th April and Sam returns on Tuesday 10th May and Abby and the girls will have a few more weeks with our family and will return on Sunday 22nd May.
Thank you so much for all your support to us and for the ministry of MAF in Chad.
Please pray with us:
Please do uphold us in your prayers as we now approach the elections and all the uncertainties that it brings. Please pray for peace in the country, a transparent and corrupt free process to ensure respect for the results, and safety for our team as we move around the city over the coming week. Pray for our time away and for safety as we travel. We are both very tired so we are looking forward to a restful time with family and friends. Pray for the programme over the coming weeks and months as all the international staff take leave at different times and we have relief pilots and engineers coming to support the work. Please join us in praying for the recruitment of two very critical positions for our team – a pilot and an aircraft engineer. Pray for preparations for the 50th anniversary of MAF flying in Chad that we will be celebrating in November.
Please follow our updates: Alongside our quarterly newsletter we are keeping a blog. This has more information on our time here in Chad. Please do take a look at the link and on the right hand side of the blog page you can sign up for alerts every time we post a new story. http://sam-abby-baguma.blogspot.com/
Please stay in touch:
[email protected] [email protected] BP 1182, Aeroport Hassan Djamous, N’djamena, Chad baggysam/ abbypeggs Abby Baguma
