Written by Samuel & Elizabeth Simonyi-Gindele
Time is passing swiftly. The three older boys have started school this week and Seth and Abigail begin at the end of next week in the little Portuguese school. There are the usual challenges of adjusting schedules, getting used to new situations but, overall, everyone is settling in. Elizabeth and I now have our language lessons together which is a pleasure and, of course, neither of us are competitive so we don't egg each other on at all! Eunice says she much prefers couples to learn together as then they are used to communicating with the new language to each other and "grow" in it together.
You may have heard of the wildfires in Portugal. They are not near us but the smoke came our way, coinciding with some unusually hot weather for this time of the year, so it has not been very pleasant and we are thankful none of us have asthma, as it feels like there is an unseen hand around one's throat, between the heat and the smoke. Thankfully, the fires are now under control and I see the weather forecast promises rain in the coming week which will cleanse the air. We do miss the fresh crispness of this time of year in Fredericton.
We were thankful to see that prayer was answered and the elections in Angola went without hardly any mention of violence or killing. While the current president won another term, on top of the thirty-three years he has already led the country, there are strong stirrings of discontent among the younger Angolans, especially in the big cities, where the contrast between the extravagant wealth of the elite with their Porsches and yachts, and the typical Angolan living on a $1.25/day, is so obvious. The work of God continues there but it is a country which seems to be a special stronghold of Satan and currently every aspect of spiritual work is under attack, so please pray for Ruth Hadley, Brian & Debbie Howden, Mutondo and Florence Masaha, Joel and Kaleigh Griffin, and others, that we will all be steadfast and enabled to continue strong in faith serving Christ.
We have personally been encouraged in recent weeks by a scripture we encountered in our family reading in Isaiah 45:2,3: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron...that you may know it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name." These scriptures make us shake our heads at our lack of trust in the God we have. He is able to do the impossible. Our desire is that our faith might be in proportion to His ability, not our disability.