Day 864. Last night we headed to bed at 10:20 pm. We had successfully moved both kids to their bed. However, within minutes first Emmy and then Tammy climbed back into our bed and stayed there all night. At 6:15 Tammy was up, and a few minutes later Emmy woke up, and so I got up at 6:30. I started making breakfast and sat down to eat. Then Paul arrived to get money for the errands of the day. After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went to the living room to read a Bible story. After cleaning up, I went to the back to start doing office work.
I had been working for a while, when I heard Margit come, and they always go outside to see the sheep right away. It was about 10 am, when my phone rang. It was Paul. In total shock he told me that the Austrian team's visas had been DENIED! He was told that they had made changes three weeks ago and that they don't give any Westerners visas right now. They're upset with France which translates into all of Europe. Paul talked to the director himself who said he couldn't even give his friends from France visas or he would have been fired. He was sorry to not be able to help us, even though Paul's brother works in the passport department right there and was also present.
I was also in total shock, just like Paul. I've been in Mali for over 18 years, and I've never heard of anyone having a visa denied. The country is becoming more anti-Western world and pro-Islam, which is also why this is the first time school kids didn't have any days off school around Christmas at all. Mali is not heading in a good direction.
When Paul returned to the center not that long after we had talked, he told me that he had just had a phone call. The government is planning on releasing publicly next Wednesday that a Covid vaccination mandate starts on Friday, the 14th, for entering AND leaving the country. And so I got on the phone with Air France right away to change our flight on the 19th to leave a week early, before the mandate starts. Thanks to Covid I was able to change our flights with no extra charge. We're now leaving on the 11th, arriving in Vienna on the 12th.
And Paul said that he'll take our own paperwork to the immigration office tomorrow to extend our visas, so we have a 2-year-visa again and don't have to worry about getting an entry visa next time we come back to Mali. It's much easier to extend a visa than to get a new one. He said we should have it before we leave the country.
So a lot of action this morning! Because I was on the phone with Air France I was not able to start cooking, when I should have. Randy gave them some bread to hold them over. And then it wasn't much after noon, when we sat down to eat. The kids didn't eat much though, and had some watermelon and yoghurt, before I took them to the bathtub to clean them up. Then we put their clothes back on and put them to bed for a nap. It took a while, as always, with Emmy falling asleep around 1:15, and Tammy around 1:30 pm. Then I got up to go back to work.
At 3 pm Sammy woke up, and I took him to Randy. Then I lay down with Emmy, who was also stirring. At 3:15 both he and his sister got up and went to the living room, where Margit was already waiting for them. In the morning I had gotten my piano out of storage and I had been charging its big batteries, but they're old and a good number of them I had to throw away. Unfortunately they were not charging fast enough for me to lead the prayer meeting at 5 pm. I knew that I had a power cord and found it, so nothing could keep me from leading that meeting. Given that it was our last prayer meeting before leaving, and that I knew we needed to worship God and that Paul needed a touch from God, I was actually excited about the meeting. I hadn't used the piano since the kids were born, so I had to remember what buttons to push for the different things, and I went through my songbook to remember which songs we have. The kids were really interested in the piano. We have been saying that Emmy will play the guitar, Sammy the drums, and Tammy the piano. And finally they got to see a piano closeup!
After having gotten everything ready, including our living room, I still had some time to work on the French translation of the newsletter to get it done, even though the kids kept coming to me, wanting to get started singing and praying. At 5 pm everyone gathered in our living room, and so we got started. I started leading worship and led worship for the whole hour. I had gotten my precious flags out so that the kids could use them, and they did. They use flags and bands at one of the churches we attend in Vienna. Randy had his hands full watching the kids, even with Margit's help. Twice they came to me crying, once Emmy and once Tammy, and I kept leading worship, Randy helping them with whatever was going on. It was wonderful to worship like this, with my Malian family, the way we used to do in the past. I'm glad we got to do this. I had it on my heart to pray for Paul, and as the end was approaching, that time had come. I asked him to come to the middle, and everyone started praying for him. I waited to put my hands on him, and when I finally did, God released His power. His fire hit Paul who fell to the ground, where I kept praying for him to be refreshed and refilled. Randy and the kids joined me as well. Then I returned to the piano and did a few more songs before our one hour of prayer was up. It had been a wonderful time! Thank you, Jesus! Everyone left our house, and I had to immediately get to work making dinner for the kids.
We all sat down at the table to eat, after 6 pm. They had some bread with cheese, watermelon, pineapple and yogurt. Then I took them to the bathtub, where they were having fun. We got them out and ready for bed, and it was already 7:10 before they were all in bed. And as always, they were not ready to lie down and thought it was funny, when we told them to lie down. It was 8:15 before everyone was asleep. I got myself something to eat, ate, and after working for a while I finally got started on getting all the papers together for our visa extension application tomorrow, which took quite a while. I was quite worried, when I noticed that they had NOT put our visas into the passports at the airport like they should have, and I do not have the original visa papers any more. Your prayers are appreciated that that won't cause any issues tomorrow.
Now it's quite a bit after midnight and really time for me to go to bed.
