September/October Update

Dear all our wonderful friends and family,

We have now reached the end of October and the Guinea Field Service is going well. 

Murray has had a busy last few weeks, with his supervisor being in the UK for a while. He has been the only one in the Purser's office - usually there are two - and has had an interesting, challenging time. Guinea has been quite challenging in terms of immigration and customs, and Murray has had to deal with many issues. There have also been three cancelled or postponed flights over the last week, which has meant a lot of work organising airport runs for both arrivals and departures. But throughout the time God has been good and everything has come together nicely over the last few weeks.

Candace is very pleased with the Admissions team. It's been a rather confusing past two weeks as 4 of the 6 anesthesia machines are not working, but the team has been wonderful in going along with the necessary schedule changes. Several of the larger surgeries have had to be postponed, while others have been done either under local or spinal anesthesia. The CT scanner is also down. The biomedical technicion says he hasn't seen this problem before in a CT scanner. There is another biomed tech flying in next weekend to work alongside the current tech to try and get things fixed so we can work at full speed again. The devil is doing all he can to try to stop surgeries. Please pray with us that these issues are resolved soon! We've been in need of a second biomed tech for a while, as the load is too much for one person. If you know anyone interested in working with us, please send them our way! :)

In terms of our future plans, Candace was able to get a Relative's Permit for South Africa in four days from the SA Embassy here, and that has been a huge blessing. She can enter SA for six months and not have to hold a return ticket. The only main condition to the permit is that she "not become an undesirable person", and I think that's pretty easy for her not to become! :-) So we will leave the ship one month from today, and head to Germany for a good friend's wedding, and then to the UK for a few days. (If you're in the UK and would like to see us, let us know and we'll pencil you in!) We land at Cape Town International Airport at 10h35 on Friday, 7th December 2012, and are looking forward to spending Christmas and the New Year with family and friends. 

As to next year, Murray has the potential opportunity to continue working with Mercy Ships at the national office in Cape Town while working on a long-term visa for America. If he does, then we would still be in the mission field, albeit serving from Cape Town. If you feel led to support us further, please let us know! We're excited for the future and the opportunities awaiting us! Candace is looking to volunteer at a hospital, and we'll be looking into options for a work permit soon as well. She is a Registered Nurse and is looking to continue working in a Hospital setting.  

We love you all and thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Much love, Murray & Candace