David Hay sent their February Newsletter with this message:
Attached is a PDF copy of our latest newsletter you can upload to the church app.
You will see from the newsletter that we will soon be back in Australia for Home Assignment. We are looking forward to catching up with all at TBC.
Blessings
David
The Newsletter contains:
- Home assignment announcement
- Volunteer news - The Leung family from the UK have now arrived. They have three-year visas. A young German volunteer will arrive at the end of March .Eddy will help again while the family is on Home Assignment
- Visa Update - still waiting for extension of visas. It is safe for the family to leave South Africa before the end of March while their application is being processed.
- Puleng commences her professional cookery training at the beginning of March, at the International Hotel School.
This message arrived several minutes ago from Michele:
Dear faithful prayer warriors,
We feel so loved and supported by you being on our side and praying fervently for us.
Here is little prayer point for our tomorrow morning / your evening.
Many blessings,
Michele and Flora. Open the attachment to read the details of Michele's request for prayer for Flora who needs to have a full medical examination as a step towards the issue of an Adoption Visa that will allow Flora residency status and to come to Australia with Michele.
Michele has sent this message with her newsletter sent on 10 February 2022 where she shares how she sees God's purpose in the delays in securing a visa for Flora and in her changing schools a couple of years ago.
Dear Friends,
We have lodged our adoption Visa and we have a position in line - read on to find out more!
Many blessings,
Michele and Flora.
Michele has sent this message with her January 2022 newsletter where she shares how she sees God's purpose in the delays in securing a visa for Flora and in her changing schools a couple of years ago.
Hi everyone,
Here's a quick prayer letter update - bless you for partnering with us in prayer.
As always let us know how we can be praying for you.
Michele and Flora.
It was a mixed blessing to receive David Hay's newsletter as we have not heard from them since September - they have been very busy.
David Hay sent the following message with the December Newsletter which he has time to write as Janenne and Rachel have COVID and the family is in isolation:
Dear Friends at Tuggeranong Baptist Church
Greetings from David, Janenne and Rachel. Welcome to our December newsletter.
We hope you had a wonderful and joyful Christmas! And by the time you are reading this, a happy New Year. There are some photos later in the newsletter of our iKhethelo Christmas.
We didn't think we were going to complete this newsletter before the end of December. We have been even busier than usual as the expected arrival of volunteers did not eventuate (more on that below). But we are now in isolation away from the children and other village staff as Janenne and Rachel currently have COVID. While not a pleasant time, it has allowed us some time to write this newsletter.
Please continue to pray for our son/brother Andrew. He has now completed his second course of chemotherapy and recently finished an eleven-month course of immunotherapy. His most recent scan appears to show a slight decrease in the size of the tumour, and hopefully this will be confirmed in a scan next week. We pray that scans over the coming six to twelve months will show the tumour continuing to shrink and completely disappearing.
Don't forget we love to hear from you! Please keep in touch and share what is happening in your life, your family and how we can pray for you.
With our love
David, Janenne & Rachel
The Newsletter contains:
- Update on Jabulani's medical condition (assumed name)
- Christmas Celebrations
- Wedding on one of the house mothers - and the story of the wedding photographer
- Visa Extensions - still being processed
- Volunteer news - visa and COVID travel issues
- Miraculous arrival of volunteer to cover work while the Hay family are in isolation
Michele has sent this message with her Christmas greetings in the attachments:
Hi there - Us Again,
Just here to wish you all a very happy Christmas.
May the Peace, Joy and Love of Christmas be with you now and into the new year.
Many blessings from,
Michele and Flora.
Michele has sent the attached update advising that the application for a visistor visa for Flora has been denied.
However, she include the advice that: Home Affairs Australia, after looking at all our documents have suggested that we are better candidates for a permanent residency Adoption Visa, and have asked us to apply through that pathway.
So MIchele see this as not so much a denial as a better pathway.
Michele's message with her Newsletter reads:
To Our Faithful Prayers,
We wanted to send you a Visa Update on where we are up to and why we wont be travelling to Sydney this Christmas - we will be home for Christmas - we just don't know which year that will be!!
Many Blessings to you,
Michele and Flora.
On Sunday 28 November 2021, the last recorded On-line Church service will be released.
Church On-line was introduced in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, when the Garratt Street Centre was closed. We have been through seasons when we have operated with various degrees and risk, in line with ACT Health guidelines. Throughout this time, we have continued to offer services on-line and in-person so that people could chose the option where they felt at least risk.
We now believe that, with the very high levels of vaccination in the ACT, the high levels now being achieved throughout the nation and the eased restrictions, it is now reasonable to discontinue recording a full on-line service each week.
The on-line services are produced at high-cost to our worship team. Their weekly schedule has been: Tuesday rehearse music segment of the service (including new songs and arrangements) and record the entire service, Wednesday post-production of the complete service and publication to YouTube and the App, Sunday rehearse songs and the in-person service at the Garratt Street Centre. The team did this work willingly and to the glory of God and we thank them for it.
From 5 December 2021, we will return to our previous habit of many years of making a recording of the sermon available via our website. Changes will be that we make a video recording of the sermon segment of each week’s physical service and, after some post-production work rather than immediately after the service, publish this on YouTube. The recording will also be available via our App and Website.
As our App is part of the Church Central group, the sermon will also be available to any users of Church Central.