Catherine's Chat

We returned to Scotland at the end of February 2024, following 2 months in Chad.
We moved to Peterhead on 1st March and have settled here, while we wait to see where God wants us next.
Emunah attends school, Inette is at nursery school and I have some work.
I hope that a way becomes clear about the future, but in the meantime, there is a supportive community here, to help us while we grieve.
I greatly value your continuing prayers for us.

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Greetings from Chad 🇹🇩!
We are here for a trip to greet our friends and to pack up our belongings.

We have had some really meaningful visits with old friends, who come to pay their respects to Aphia.

The girls are enjoying life here and enjoy going out in rickshaws and playing on the swings beside the house we are staying in.

We have had some ill health and would value prayers for wisdom in treatment and for full restoration of health. Chad is a challenging climate, although at the moment it is still cold season, so sleeping is not an issue. We plan to return to Scotland in February, God-willing.

Dear Praying Friends,
We are returning to Chad for a trip in January and February.
We praise God for visas already received.

The main aims of the trip are grieving with friends and sorting out all of our belongings that are in storage there at the moment.
We would especially value prayer for:
– safety in travel (via Turkey) to Chad
– papers needed for travel inside Chad
– my brain coping with all of the languages
– our health and coping with the heat
– the girls making friends, learning lots and enjoying the travel experience
– our conversations with our friends, concerning eternity and Aphia’s death

Sad news from us in Vanuatu.
Aphia collapsed suddenly and unexpectedly on 15th May 2023. Resuscitation was unsuccessful.
Catherine, Emunah (5) and Inette (2) are in Vanuatu at the moment and are well supported by family and friends.
The future looks unknown, concerning work in Chad, but we will post on here when we know more.
We greatly value your prayers at this challenging time.

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We are spending time in Vanuatu, working with Aphia’s sending church.

December is hot and humid here, so our health hasn’t been great.

We hope to return to Chad at some point in 2023, God-willing.

We greatly value your prayers, especially for Aphia in the meetings discussing the Mission Policy.

Thanks, from Catherine, Aphia, Emunah (4) and Inette (19months)

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We welcomed Inette Mary Tuwi on 6th May and we are very grateful for our care from NHS Highlands during the pregnancy and delivery.

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We had planned to go to Vanuatu for church deputation. We have spent a lot of time and energy on the paperwork needed and we were hoping to be accepted for a repatriation flight in March.
But Vanuatu is now completely closed,even to repatriation flights, as they have had their first community transmission of covid.
We are doing more deputation in churches and hope to go to the WEC Scotland conference this month.
We still hope that it will be possible to get to Vanuatu soon but would value prayers in our decision making.
We still hope to return to Chad at some point.

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Greetings from Scotland!

Unfortunately I had (non covid related) health problems in May that necessitated evacuation from Chad. Given the uncertainty with Covid, we evacuated as a family and arrived in Inverness, Scotland, where a church friend is kindly letting us use his house.

I was seen very quickly (after an initial 2 week quarantine,after our travels) and am very grateful for the NHS care. My health improved.

We have some exciting news. We look forward to welcoming a new Tuwi at some point this year. The baby is due in May, but I will be getting regular appointments and scans from February, to catch any problems early on. Emunah needed to be delivered 10 weeks early, but we are hoping and praying that this baby stays healthy inside for longer.

We would greatly value prayers for us as a family. This is definitely not where we envisioned finishing 2020, but we are definitely here until at least May!

We are very grateful to church folk, friends and family, for their support during this transition.

Our long term hope is still to return to Chad, but we have no idea when this will be possible.

We’ve been through a lot in the last few weeks.  We are in the middle of being evacuated from Chad for medical (non Covid) reasons.

But God has been equipping me.  I am not saying that leads to calm, peaceful days, but more that it is something to cling to in the emotional rollercoaster that we are going through.  An anchor in the storm.

So over the last few weeks, in the process of different Bible readings, there have been 5 verses that have jumped out and seared their place in my thoughts.  I am no artist, but my way of processing these verses has been to copy them out and put them up on the wall of our house.  And now as we’ve left the house, I thought I would leave three of them on here.  As a digital reminder, when physical reminders aren’t possible.

We are clinging to God as our Refuge in the uncertainty.  With Covid 19, there are a lot of uncertainties in everyone’s lives.  I hope these verses can bring hope to you the way they have to me, in these uncertain times.

Folk have been asking us what life is like here in Chad at the moment, during the Corona virus pandemic.

The government has put in place some restrictions to travel, schools are closed and large meetings are banned.  Here in our town, the food market and food shops are open but other shops are closed.  We are mostly avoiding going out, but every few days Aphia goes to the market to get fresh meat and fresh vegetables.  It is difficult to socially distance with a 2 year old when others are not socially distancing.

Like many around the world, we are becoming more inventive in our use of tinned foods and are baking a wider range of things than before.  We experiment with various recipes from around the world.  We don’t have a shortage of flour or yeast here.  Some recent experiments have been samosas (that look more like pasties), mandazis (a Kenyan fried doughnut) and Hot Cross Buns!  Some of the other experiments were not so photo worthy.

Both of us are no longer working as before, as both football training and English teaching are not happening at the moment.  We are still continuing Chadian Arabic studies, but at home by ourselves, instead of using a language helper.

Some expatriates have left Chad, but so far we’ve decided to stay.  We would value prayer for our ongoing decision making.  We’re trying to make the most of our time, now that we are not going out visiting folk.  Aphia is doing some studies online, we’re doing more painting and craft with Emunah and we’re both able to read and study more than before.  That makes us sound very productive!  I am finding it harder to concentrate and am learning that some days are more productive than others.  If you are struggling, do get in touch for a chat.  We are both online more than normal and free to chat.