Wise men still seek Him!

Norm & Audrey Henderson          Christmas 2010

Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:2 (NIV)

…that I may gain Christ and be found in Him… through faith in Christ… I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Phil. 3: 8-14 (NIV)

Our quest continues!

 The Wise Men were on a quest to worship the King whose coming had been announced in the heavens. They stopped to ask for directions at Herod’s palace, but - you know the story - He was born in a stable, not a palace.

Our daughters, Mary, Janice and Karen (Dave’s wife) recently went on an “urban quest” in Ottawa, the goal being a warm coffee shop!  We’ve been thinking back on some of the “quests” we have had here in Portugal. Some have been literal quests, such as finding a Christian bookstore last weekend that had set up in the back of a car repair shop in an unfamiliar area: Google Maps sent us down two blocked streets. Other quests have been figurative, such as our quest for God’s plan, and to know when we will actually reach the place where God has called us to serve: Centro Evangélico de Medicina do Lubango (CEML), a mission hospital in Lubango, Angola.

Norm giving “remote assistance” via satellite, to a friend who was on a short assignment at the CEML hospital in Lubango.

It’s been said that if you want to know how to get where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve been so:

Looking back:

As we’ve advanced in our quest to learn “Bom” Portuguese, we have made many friends who have helped us to understand this culture that has so much influenced Angolan culture. And although we still have lots to learn, we are thankful for what we have been able to absorb. Language learning is a lifetime quest!

Our teacher has been excellent and we even took the European standard “B2” exams in Portuguese as a foreign language – although results are still to come. We have appreciated the time working together as a couple and covering each other’s faults with God’s love. Norm has presented MAF’s ministry twice and preached in church, and Audrey has been singing in a community choir – with a Christmas concert recently in Bethlehem! Actually it’s a district of Lisbon named Belém, which means Bethlehem. Audrey has found the choir to be a real help with pronunciation and informal language – and great fun.

Looking forward:

The next step of our quest is a very welcome break over Christmas in Ottawa, with our family. Our granddaughter Elizabeth (21 months) has often asked mommy to call us on our Internet phone and she has lots to say – we hope we’ll understand her a bit better in person!

Talking to grandparents!

Alpha training at A Ponte

Cleared for takeoff! Once we receive ordinary visas (which can be renewed while we wait for our longer-term work permits), we will be on our way to Angola. We expect to leave from Canada in late January 2010. It’s exciting that our time of preparation is nearly finished and we will have our tickets to Africa very soon!

We are thankful for:

·        A great year of language and culture learning

·        Our brothers and sisters in Christ here, especially at “A Ponte” church

·        More stable health for Audrey’s parents and a nice apartment

·        A clearer timetable - we’re going to Angola very soon!

Please pray with us for:

·        Our ordinary visas, and in due time our work visas for Angola.

·        The people of Portugal, and of Angola – for hope in Christ.

·        That churches here and in Angola, will work well together for the Gospel.

·        That sufficient funds will be provided for the “right” vehicle for the ministry.

 

Our ministry requires a vehicle!

Will it be this…

Or this?

Ministry Partnership^*:

You have all been a great encouragement to us, and we thank God for you!

If you would like more information about how to participate either in missionary support or with the Vehicle fund for our ministry with MAF, please email us, contact the MAF Canada, US, or UK office, or refer to https://mafc.org/donate.htm.

Please mention “Missionary support project C478” or “Vehicle fund project V78”.

May God richly bless your “quest” during this Advent and upcoming Christmas season!

With our love,

Norm & Audrey

Permanent mailing address:

315 Clemow Ave.

Ottawa, ON K1S 2B7

Canada

Internet phone: +1-613-526-1245        

norm.audrey@gmail.com

http://salmos127.blogspot.com

Skype: norm.audrey

Facebook: Norm Henderson

MAF Canada office:

264 Woodlawn Rd. W.

Guelph, ON  N1H 1B6

Canada

www.mafc.org

1-877-351-9344

Support: C478 Vehicle: V78

MAF USA office:

P.O. Box 47

Nampa, ID 83653

USA

www.maf.org

1-800-359-7623

MAF UK office:

www.maf-uk.org

0845-850-9505

* “Each gift designated toward a MAF board-approved program will be used as designated with the understanding that when any given need has been met, additional designated gifts will be used where most needed.”

Notícias de Outono 2010 em Português

Fall 2010 Newsletter: Notícias Henderson

Norm & Audrey posing in Lisbon

Notícias Henderson
(Henderson News) October 2010
“[Jesus] said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break... When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"... Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
    selected from Luke 5:4-11 – NIV

Portuguese culture is closely connected with the sea. Recently we toured a reproduction of a “Nau”, a square-rigged ship slightly larger than the “Caravelas” (caravelles) in which Portuguese explorers discovered Angola 500 years ago. It didn’t look very comfortable! We’ve also seen some lovely fishing villages with brightly-painted boats and nets drying on the beach, which remind us that Simon Peter was a “pescador” (fisherman). In the passage above he also acknowledged that he was a “pecador” (sinner)!

Fishing boats in Espinho

the Nau "Vila do Conde"

A visit is worth a thousand pictures
…actually much more! During August our Portuguese language teacher was on vacation. We are so thankful that we had enough Aeroplan points to spend some time reconnecting with family in Ottawa and in southern Ontario. We appreciated being able to share at “our” churches in both places and especially appreciated those who travelled distances to see us. In Ottawa we stayed in Mary, Brendan and Elizabeth’s home, with Janice - our very busy granddaughter adjusted very well to the recollection that we are three-dimensional, complete with laps to sit on! Back to our studies in Portugal now, we’re again appreciating the technology that allows us to communicate with them and with Dave and Karen by two-way voice and live video almost weekly at no cost, albeit only in two dimensions.

We’ve been so blessed by the visits of Norm’s sister Muriel, Audrey’s brother Carl and his wife Judy, Audrey’s sister Mary, and our youngest daughter Janice! What fun it was to show them this beautiful country with such a long history and to act as their translators – except for Janice, who gained a good foundation in Portuguese during her visit to Angola in 2009.

From Africa
Internet technology sufficient to handle video, even Skype, is available only to a privileged few in Africa. Our friend Gertjan Van Stam, who is doing amazing work developing Information and Communications Technology opportunities in rural Zambia, recently noted that a satellite Internet connection equivalent to what many North Americans have in their homes would cost them about 400 times as much – imagine paying $16,000/month for your ADSL or Cable Internet! Nevertheless they are rolling out Internet Cafés built into shipping containers, including a server room, a modest satellite Internet connection, and several PC workstations, to several rural sites, along with local training for the support staff and educators required. MAF Canada pilot Rick Rempel is based there and provides key support for the “Macha Works” initiative (Google it!) Norm is dreaming that someday, a similar program could be launched in rural Angola, where people have no opportunity to join the 1/3 of the world’s population that is now Internet-connected.

Dr. Stephen Foster in surgery

Our friends Dr. Steve and Peggy Foster, who founded the CEML hospital in Lubango, Angola where we expect to be assigned early in 2011, are currently in Canada renewing ties with supporters, friends and family. They were in Ottawa on October 18, when Dr. Foster received the prestigious Teasdale-Corti Humanitarian Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Pray that this profile-raising award will be of real benefit to support the hospital’s long-term mission.

Baptism - "A Ponte" church

Our local community
We continue to enjoy the fellowship of “Igreja Evangélica A Ponte” – The Bridge Evangelical Church – and were privileged in July to be part of the baptism of seven new Christ-followers, combined with a church picnic and fun day at a river park. More recently, two young couples were ordained as elders in the church, which will help to spread the load that pastor Mark and his wife Natália have been carrying.

Ordination service at "A Ponte"

During a visit to Mondim de Basto in the hills an hour and a half east of Porto, we took part in a local family’s “vindima” (grape harvest) including several hours picking grapes, an hour and a half stomping them, and afterwards a simple but excellent meal with the family. The next morning we worshiped with the evangelical church there and had lunch with the pastor’s family. All of which was great language and cultural practice!

Bacalhau – Portugal’s defining food
Portugal is the world’s largest consumer of codfish, once but sadly no longer from Canadian waters. Historically it had to be sold salted and dried in kite shapes, and even today is rarely frozen or fresh. The cod are soaked 24-36 hours in water to extract excess salt and soften them. The importance of cod is reflected in expressions like:
Comemos o fiel amigo – “we’re eating the faithful friend” – codfish of course!
Aperte aqui o bacalhau – “squeeze the codfish” – informally offering a handshake.
Isso fica em águas de bacalhau – “that’s in the codfish waters” – the subject, e.g. a business deal, is on hold, or stalled. We pray that’s not applicable to our work visas!

Thanksgivings
*    wonderful visits at home and from home
*    continued advances in our Portuguese
*    great friendships & fellowship in the church here
*    you!
Prayer Requests
*    successful studies, especially verbal skills
*     examinations Nov. 24 (EU Diploma, B2)
*    for friends here that we now have only 2 months to bless, and to influence for Christ
*    for the Vehicle Fund for the ministry
*    that nothing, particularly the still-lacking work visas, will delay our arrival in Angola

Ministry Partnership
If you are praying for us, we’d love to hear that and to know how God is speaking into your life, so that we can pray more intelligently for you too.

We are so thankful that the Vehicle Fund “Vehicle Fund – account C478 – Henderson” for our ministry with MAF in Angola is begiining to grow! Many of you are already assisting with monthly “Ministry Partnership” support. Please Email us, contact the MAF Canada or MAF US office, or refer to https://mafc.org/donate.htm if you would like more information about how to participate financially in either of these ways.

With our love and God’s blessing,
Norm & Audrey

P.S.: We are reachable by Email, Facebook, letter, or phone. We would be so glad to hear from you directly!

Permanent mailing address:
315 Clemow Ave.   
Ottawa, ON K1S 2B7
Canada
norm.audrey@gmail.com
http://salmos127.blogspot.com
Internet phone: +1-613-526-1245
Skype: norm.audrey

Until mid-December 2010:
Rua dos Castanheiros, 92, 4D
4470-032 Maia (Gueifães)
Portugal
Norm   - cell: +351 (91) 066 05 12
Audrey - cell: +351 (91) 063 72 36

MAF Canada office:
264 Woodlawn Rd. W.
Guelph, ON  N1H 1B6
Canada
www.mafc.org   

* “Each gift designated toward a MAF board-approved program will be used as designated with the understanding that when any given need has been met, additional designated gifts will be used where most needed.”