(From left) Dieudonne, Sadiki, Lea, Linda, Derek and Violette at Safeways this Christmas

Many greetings, and a belated New Year's welcome to a special Latest News update. We've had the chance to catch our breath (temporarily!) so we can finally give you an update on what's been happening over the Christmas and New Year period.

The main news is that we had Sadiki and Violette visiting us for three months! As many of you know, Sadiki and Violette are the leaders of Family of God (a network of churches that began in Rwanda and has since grown into neighbouring Congo and Burundi). They came with three members of their family - 7 year-old Lynda, 11 year-old Dieudonné, and their son David (17 years old).

The family won the hearts of staff at the Tavistock Times and at Safeway - the picture above shows the pleasure in Lea's face at meeting them for the first time.

Tavistock town mayor Norma Woodstock with Joy Bond and members of the Congolese Bread of Life church from London

Vision

Sadiki and Violette's purpose in visiting was to strengthen further the links between Rwanda and Tavistock, and the vision they believe God is giving them through our work together:-

• Enabling the Africans to help their own nation and tribes by giving vision, and encouraging faith that God accepts them as part of His 'Family of God', and that He will use them as pastors, apostles and prophets for the establishing of His Kingdom in Africa;

• Resourcing them to give medical and educational help to their people (see the 'On stand-by' box).

An additional advantage of their visit was that David received training in computer assembling and maintenance - training which will be put to good use when the computers go over!

All-singing, all-dancing, full-on praise, African style!

Roast goat and beans!

A highlight of their stay was an African soirée held at the King's building in early January. Undeterred by the winter weather, over 80 people met together to listen to some thought-provoking reports about the situation in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, enjoy a rousing demonstration of no-holds-barred African singing and taste some authentic African cuisine. The varied (and sometimes challenging!) menu included red and salt fish, roast goat, green and white cassava, maize, beans and a red chili sauce that caused some calls for a fireman! The event was opened by Mrs Norma Woodcock, Tavistock's town mayor (looking very glamorous in pink and gold), and included input from Hope Baptist Church in Plymouth (which has a large contingent of Rwandan refugees in their congregation), the Bread of Life Church, a Congolese church based in London and last but certainly not least, Sadiki's own family.

Computer project update

Computer and medical supplies continue to flow in. We're now at the stage when, like the widow in 2 Kings 4:6, we may run out of jars in which to store God's blessings! We're desperately keen to raise the funds to ship some of the tons (literally) of supplies we've been given so it can go to good use in Rwanda. We can send enough medical supplies and equipment in one container to set up and run a small clinic in Kigali. If you want to help in any way possible, click here for more details. Praise God, some of the equipment has already gone to support God's work by other charities working in Rumania, Greece, Tanzania, Trinidad and Cambodia.

Sadiki, Violette, Linda & Dieudonne

We're very excited about how much God is blessing us, and we trust that He'll continue to do so. Please keep praying for us, especially for the resources to send the medical and computer equipment to where it will be set up and used to provide much-needed sources of healing, education and income for those who need it. And THANK YOU for all your prayers and support and encouragement so far! We couldn't do it without you!