Merry Christmas

Barka da Noel

And the angel said to the shepherds:

"Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you:  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."Luke 2: 10-12,   NIV

What a great time to celebrate - Christ is born.  He is here for all the people of all the world.  Let His light shine this Christmas season.  This celebration is indeed about Him.  Christ our Savior, our Messiah.   Proclaim the good news through all of your celebration. 

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9: 6

This truly is a season of Joy when we focus our attention on the true meaning and spirit of Christmas. 

 

For us there is no snow, there are no carolers, there are no streets decorated with lights or stores adorned with massive amounts of decorations trying to get you to spend your money.  On the streets there is bedlam as people struggle to make a living selling their wares.    At every stop we are met by a wide range of people, some looking for handouts, others urging you to purchase from them.  Urgency and desperation is always part of the scenario.   Along the roadside there are people, children, scrounging through garbage looking for anything that can be converted to cash to meet their most immediate need.

We do have our Christmas tree up; it is the tree we bought at an after Christmas sale just before we left Canada.  It has some lights and homemade decorations, including an angel on top that seems to want to burst out in song and sing - "Glory to God in the highest..."

We will gather with our family on Christmas Eve and have a time of being together and celebrating the birth of Christ.  On Christmas Day we will celebrate at Church where the service, in some Churches, will go from 9:00 am to until sometime in the afternoon.  We celebrate the fact that we can actually do this in this country.  That we can still celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  But, we are certainly in the minority.

Last Sunday we were at Church in what is called a difficult part of town.  We celebrated the Sunday in this small Church that had been rebuilt because certain people had burned the previous Church.  The congregation was small but we felt moved by the Holy Spirit within the service.  Their passion to minister to others was very encouraging.

Luke 2: 10 tells us that this child that was born was, and still is, for all people.  He did not come just for those who sit in comfortable pews in nice Churches.  He came for all people.  Please share this wonderful news and message to all who need Him.

Blessings in 2015 on you and your family,

Orest and Grace Pelech

Arrival in Niger

Well, we are now back in Niger.  Welcome to the warm!!!!

Speaking of warm it was amazing to meet our family again.  What a blessing to have this wonderful family to greet us when we came to Niamey.  We are currently staying in a SIM house in Niamey with Sani, Sara and Samuel.  It is taking some time but Samuel is warming up to us again.  He really is an energy buster, especially in this heat.  Sara has been inviting family and friends over to the house so we have been very busy. 

On our way to Maradi we will stop in at Galmi for a couple of days to meet and greet people.  We have dinners lined up with the mission community and Sara has a meal lined up for us in the village. 

We are having a wonderful time but it has also been taxing as we try to adjust our bodies to jet lag and to the heat.  We have had some trouble getting into a proper sleeping pattern.

We have been so blessed that we received funds to purchase a vehicle in Niger.  With the funds we bought a 2003 Toyota Rav4.  The paperwork (customs, police check, registration, etc.) took about 3 days to complete but we feel that the vehicle actually adds a level of security to our lives in Niger.  The funds will also allow us to purchase a generator which will be important as there are frequent power outages and some can be quite lengthy as in days.  This will allow the fridge and freezer to continue to operate without losing their contents.

While Sani left early to return to work in Galmi, Sara is staying with us with Samuel and will return with us to Galmi.  When we were leaving Canada we spent several weeks working out at the YMCA to get ourselves more active and able to deal with our ministry.  When we told Sara about this her reply was that we should not worry because Samuel liked to play - a lot.  She was right.  The little guy can keep you going.  Who needs a gym!!!!

We are looking forward to getting to Maradi and starting Hausa language training.  We can honestly say that when we arrived, despite the temperature change, our reaction was - this is comfortable, this is where we belong. 

We just wanted to send this quick note to let you all know that we have made it safely to Niger.  They checked everyone at the airport medically to ensure there was no Ebola.  The country seems to have had a good rainy season and crops were good so we praise God for this blessing.  With the rain, however, there is lots of malaria so please pray for the people and the medical workers involved in dealing with this.

Thank you all for blessing us with your support.  Please continue to pray as we venture forth into our new life and work in Maradi.

Blessings,
Orest & Grace Pelech

Update

Dear Readers

As you know we have been on home assignment since Dec 1 2013.  To the end of January, most of time was spent in Ontario with the exception of Christmas time with family in Manitoba. 

In February we returned to Alberta to our church family and friends. 

We have traveled many miles and visited/hosted many people over these past 8 months.  What we can declare is that we have been blessed by the ridiculous loving kindness of so many of God people. 

We have been provided a vehicle first from Pat, mom and Rick, huge thanks.

We have been provided with shelter, first with an apartment in Toronto, then various homes along our travels.  Then in Lloyd, thanks to Elaine and Norbert for their very generous loving kindness in providing a place to call home, along with Jason and Tannis.

We have studied lots, and lots.  God have given us wonderful opportunities to learn and help us clarify our call to service.  He continues to press into both of our hearts the needs of those to whom we are called to live among and declare His glory and promises.

Then Southridge church filled our pantry so that today we still are enjoying its bounty.  We have been blessed by so many words and gestures of kindness, our hearts are overjoyed. 

Now through your faithful generous gifts and support we are ready to depart Canada and return to Niger.  God’s accounting is truly marvelous and delightful to see.  My heart leaps with rejoicing and thanksgiving.

 

 

 

Maradi Bound

After much prayer and deliberation we will be heading to Maradi, Niger for our next term.  Maradi is 4 hours east of our previous location in Galmi.

God had made it clear that in order to minister effectively we need to live within the community we are going to serve and not in a missionary compound, and this is possible in Maradi.  We wish to work more directly with the local people though a number of ministry opportunities from sewing with woman, micro-financing, children’s club and ESL.  But first we will spend some meaningful time learning the language as well as learn the customs and traditions in the community we will live in.  We will work in cooperation with the local church, and develop the above ministries gradually and as language is learned this will allow us to communicate more effectively.  We are excited and give God the praise for this opportunity and answer to prayer.

Our target departure is October 15.  Please pray with us that God will provide for our full support.  For our first term we received many generous one time gifts, however those reserves are now gone and we need either more one time gifts or individuals to commit to regular giving.

 

Samuel turned 1 year old on May 13.  We are grateful to have received some updated pictures from Niger.

 

 

Keeping Busy in Canada

 

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  1 Timothy 1:2

 It has been a while since we have written.  Please do not mistake our silence for inactivity or not caring.  Just the opposite.   First, we tell you that we will tell you what has been occupying us since Easter. 

The first week of May we took a course on Church History, our dear friends and former Pastor Mike and D at Didsbury were kind enough to have us stay with them during this course.  Each day we traveled into Calgary together, as Pastor Mike was also taking a course for the same period of time. 

We returned to Lloydminster for one week, then departed to surprise Grace’s mom for Mother’s day.  When we were on our way, we received a call that Grace’s dad had experienced a medical incident, and our arrival to his bedside was now urgent.  Well we surprised my mom early, and we had the opportunity to be with family and dad until his passing on Monday May 12.   Dad was a faithful servant of the Lord, and we celebrated his life with family and friends on Friday May 16^th.  The fellowship was sweet and we certainly felt God’s presence and comfort during this time.  We are grateful that dad has been released from his suffering on earth, to now be in the presence of his Heavenly Father.  Mom is doing well, but please pray for her as she has now more changes in her life. 

From Winnipeg we flew to Phoenix to attend a week long life skills course designed for Christian workers called Sharpening your Interpersonal Skills.  Upon our return to Winnipeg we immediately travelled up to Meadow Lake Sk. for a speaking engagement.  That following week we attended a Kairos Course in Saskatoon for a week.  This is a cross culture workshop, essentially a reader’s digest version of the Perspectives course that we had hoped to take prior to our first departure, but never had the opportunity.  While in Saskatoon we visited with an aunt, whose husband passed away the same week as dad.  Right after Saskatoon we traveled to Calgary and met with a small group from a church we contacted.  We were blessed to have new partners in our ministry and we received delightful gifts to take back to Niger with us for our dear grandson.  This takes us to June 1st to the 13^th where we attended another course on global missions.  It is now June 25^th and we have several papers to write prior to a July 15^th deadline.

 

 

 

Travel

It has been a long January for us as we have been busy with dental and medical appointments in Toronto but we do leave for Winnipeg this week and then will start our quest west.

We have also had a great time visiting with family and friends in the South Ontario area while we have been here.  Once again it was amazing to get in contact with some of the SIM retired missionaries in the Toronto area and discover many connections to Niger.

We have met one retired SIM missionary who has very close ties to our family in Galmi.  Very exciting to share stories.

When we get to Winnipeg we will be travelling North, into the great white North of Manitoba and then into Saskatchewan on our way to Lloydminster.  Sure hoping for good weather and driving conditions.

As we travel we hope to share stories of our faith mission journey and to hear of many stories from all those we meet along the way.  Looking forward to meeting many of you over the next while.

Blessings

Orest & Grace