St Andrew’s • Cheam
UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

Our missionary partners

St Andrew’s supports three missionary partners in prayer and through regular financial support through the Mission Fund. Please remember then in your own prayers, and if you would like to contribute to supporting their work, the treasurer|Treasurer will be happy to hear from you.

Our current partners are:

Bibi Nédellec with Wycliffe Bible Translators
The Cools family with Mission Aviation Fellowship
Sutton Schoolswork

September 2019 Bibi’s News

Dear friends!

This time, it is “for real”. I am now officially a French resident again, after 39 years spent between Germany, England, Benin, Togo and Cameroon. Debbie and I left Yaoundé on the same flight all the way to Paris, then as planned, we each went our different ways. She arrived safely in Washington DC, and I in Brittany, on Bastille Day! My sister was at the airport to welcome me back. Annie kept me company for 4 weeks! We had a great time together, and it was nice for me not to be alone right away.

Last Days in Yaoundé

A wonderful Farewell Party

Debbie and I were invited for a meal at some friends, but then all of the sudden the number of guests kept growing! Eszter and Andreas (on the right) are quite good at organising surprises!! Philip our landlord (left next to Debbie), Clémentine our friend (next to me) and David Wafo our Africa Area Director showed up. It was really special.

Eszter contacted our friends & family and asked them to scan old photos from us at various places and stages of our lives! What a wonderful gift to us was that slide show! We spent 15 minutes in nostalgia mode, and I think our friends also enjoyed it. (Let me know if you’d like to watch it, I’ll send you the link!)

At home in France now

Only a few days after I came back, Annie and I had young visitors: our grand- nephews with their parents of course! It was a fun time, especially accompanying Fanch (4 years old) with the guitar, singing with him the French songs he learns at school. We should see each other more regularly than I ever saw my nephew, their father!

I had mentioned to you in my last letter that I would have to sort out some complex administrative issues. Without going into details, I am pleased to let you know that a French organisation (charity called MENA) accepted to help me with the administrative side of things. Wycliffe UK and MENA agreed on how to do that. I am extremely thankful that a solution was found so quickly.

Have you ever heard of fishing on foot? I read on their website that an association was looking for volunteers right here, in Penvénan, during the great tides. Why not, I thought, this is a good way to meet ‘locals’!

When the sea is far off, people go out on the sand and in the rocks to look for cockles, clam shells, crabs, shrimps, abalones and lobster! They don’t always know the rules, the norms, the quantities allowed: our job was to let them know about best practices.

Sunset during a skype meeting

It has been nice to come back during such a wonderful summer! I know Brittany has a reputation of being blessed by rain most of the year, but I am enjoying its current good and pleasant weather. Picture above: late (virtual) meeting and the view I had that day from my office window. Most of my work with people is in the afternoon and/or evening. It is interesting to meet with people from all over the globe! The reality, of course, is that I live alone most of the time, but I also continue to travel the world. I try to combine trips together when I fly somewhere, to avoid unnecessary carbon print which is not easy when one works for an international organisation. Meeting per internet helps a lot already. I will let you know about work in my next newsletter.

I am in the process of looking at my financial needs now that my situation has changed. It looks like my current income cannot yet cover what my minimum income should be. I wanted to let you know that fact, as promised in my last letter. You can write me if you would like to know more.

I hope this letter will find you in good form!

A special Thank You to those of you who have written to me recently. It is always good to hear from you!

Blessings,

Bibi

Contact
Bibi Nédellec
10 Résidence Lise Bellec
22710 Penvénan
France

Support
Cheques payable to: Wycliffe UK
The Hub, Easton Street,
High Wycombe Bucks. HP11 1NJ
(Please add a note specifying that the gift is for me.)

Bibi asks that you do not circulate this information without her permission,
which she has kindly given for publication on this website.

Mission Aviation Fellowship - July 2020

Second Term Break has snuck up on us. Here's a little update of what has been happening on this side of the world.

Plane at dusk

In the last few months, the restrictions have been easing gradually. The girls started school/kindy again in May and they have really been enjoying being back at school. For Hans not much changed - within Australia, most people who were in a job were classified as essential workers, whether from home or at work. Most of Hans's work was done from home, besides the obvious of flying aeroplanes and giving flight training.

At the begining of the term, both girls were being homeschooled by Melissa. There was a program set up by the school and government to help out with this. In May the schools were reopened and both girls were able to go back to school. Both girls are doing really well. Olivia is getting really good at reading and comes home with really impressive drawings (I guess it runs on both sides of the family as Melissa and I both did arts at school). School holidays have started and the girls are just enjoying playing together until late in the evening. Olivia will have her 7th birthday in a couple of weeks. There's still some restrictions on how many people can be in a house, but we will be able to have a very small party. Both girls are growing so fast.

Melissa has been working hard. On top of homeschooling she also finished off another unit towards her degree and is on to the next unit now. It was a little bit stressful, but she did really well, and is awaiting the final score for the unit.

Hans has been training the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) students that are finishing their courses. He has also been helping out on the Papua New Guinea traning course. In the last few weeks he has been able to train one of the other instructors under instrument flight rules, which means she can now fly through clouds. Other than flying he has been working on course deveopment and workbooks for future courses.

COVID-19

Here in Queensland there are currently 4 cases of Corona Virus, of which 2 are still in hospital. Our state borders are still closed, except for essential workers and returning or new residents. Most people have to self quarantine for 14 days if they travel interstate. Luckily for Hans this is not the case as MAF's work is considered essential, and he has been able to fly to Arnhem Land (which is in the Northern Territory) in order to ferry aeroplanes to Mareeba so heavy maintenance can be completed on the aircraft here. So far he has been able to do 2 of these trips, and there are 5 more planned. The Northern territory has no cases of Covid-19 - we are being very careful while travelling. MAF has a travel restriction which only allows essential travel.

Prayer Points:

1. Prayer for the corona virus situation. Worldwide within MAF, flying has decreased by almost 80%. At this stage there have been no redundancies, and there have been people that have been furloughed. Please keep praying we will be able to keep it this way.

2. The girls are on holidays for the next 2 weeks, after they will be starting school again. Just pray for them as they enjoy some well deserved rest.

3. Pray for Melissa as she continues to study, especially that she can find the momentum in this new unit and keep it going.

We know that God is ultimately in charge, and that this too shall pass. There's a lot of fear worldwide - pray that organisations like MAF can stand out as witness in these trialling times.

Click to donate to Hans and Melissa

For more information please contact the team using the contact details provided.

MAF UK is a registered Charity in England & Wales (1064598) and in Scotland (SC039107)

MAF UK,
Castle Hill Avenue,
Folkestone CT20 2TQ,
United Kingdom

w www.maf-uk.org
E staffsupport^maf-uk,org
T 01303 852 819

Sutton Schoolswork

Simon

Sutton Schoolswork (SSW) is a Christian charity that is passionate about supporting students in Sutton to understand and explore Christianity and to develop spiritually, morally and socially.

Within the London Borough of Sutton there are 45 primary schools and 15 secondary schools and SSW aims to support all those schools in a variety of ways.

The Director of SSW is Simon Ellingham, who has already visited us. Simon has previously acted in the SSW Easter Experience at North Cheam Baptist Church where he played Jesus, and is retired from the Metropolitan Police.

Sarah

Kate

SSW has two full-time schools workers—Sarah Skinner who works with primary schools, and Kate Travers who covers secondaries. The schools workers work with the support of volunteers and of Children’s, Youth and Family Workers from the many churches which support SSW.

SSW workers reach 27,000 children and include leading school assemblies, teaching in RE and PSHE classes, running Christian Unions in schools and organising parent prayer groups. SSW also puts on two dramatised presentations, Discover Christmas and Easter Experience, seen by hundreds of children every year.

The latest news and prayer requests from SSW is usually on the Our news page.

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