Robinson ministry update - December 2020

Ali Robinson

We are enjoying the clear blue skies of dry season with fresh, cool mornings and warm afternoons.

Thank you so much for your prayers over the last month or so!! The time has been busy but productive and mostly peaceful!

Tim's time as Acting Director has been positive and he has felt great satisfaction in being able to move some key areas forward in the short time that he has been responsible. He has a final week left in this role as the handover is due to take place next Friday (18th Dec), during the office Christmas Programme. We are thankful that the incoming Director (Zach Yoder) and his family have arrived safely and are approaching the end of their isolation period. Tim is looking forward to getting back to having just one job to do rather than trying to balance the demands of the Entity Director role with his Language Programs Director role. This has been a busy season but we can confidently say that we have seen God's hand at work during this time.

The office closes on Friday 18th, at the end of the day and doesn't open again until the 4th of January and we are looking forward to a good break. Tim has been asked to lead worship for another mission's spiritual retreat so our whole family will be joining them for that at the nearby retreat centre. We are also looking forward to that as a good time of rest!

A British friend of ours who is also a missionary here (Helen Fisher) who has been sick for several months with little or no improvement came to stay with us for a few days in mid November. I was then able to travel with her to Abuja to help her catch a flight back to the UK for Christmas and hopefully to get to the bottom of her health issues. Despite the less than ideal circumstances we were able to have a fun time together and got to experience the new flights between Jos and Abuja, not having to do the 5 hour journey on variable condition roads was really nice! Helen is now back in the UK but despite lots of tests, still doesn't have any clear answers about her illness. Please pray that she will trust her heavenly Father through this difficult time and that the doctors will have the wisdom to diagnose what is wrong.

Dan is winding up his first semester in Grade 11(out of 12) and also looking forward to some down time over Christmas. He still has a couple of exams to go but overall the workload seems to be easing up a bit.

I (Ali) was able to run some Intellectual Property training over Zoom earlier this week for a group of SIL department heads in South Sudan. We had remarkably few technical difficulties despite less than brilliant internet connections and the great questions that they asked encouraged me that the training had been well received. I love being able to share what I have learnt with others, even in other countries!

Thank you once again for your prayers and support! We need you! If you can spare a few minutes at this busy time of year to pray for us, we would be very grateful!

Praise

• A positive time as Acting Director for Tim
• New Director and family arrived safely
• Christmas break coming up!

Prayer

• For Tim in the coming time of transition as he and the new Director work out how to work together effectively.
• Times of spiritual rest and nourishment as well as physical rest over the Christmas period.
• Healing and restored health for Helen.