Page 27 - PC Issue 14 Summer 2020

presbyterian.ca
SUMMER 2020
Family in Crisis: Prayer is Love in Action
Back in Canada!
Samuel took full advantage of the swimming pool during our long stay in Ghana.
port, with a letter from the Canadian government, explaining why we were out during the lockdown. We boarded our repatriation flight on March 30, and landed in Toronto the next day.
When we left on our family adven- ture, we never expected it to end with us being repatriated due to a global pandemic. Back then, we dreamed of returning to a big welcoming party for Samuel at the airport. Instead, we entered an empty hall, got into our vehicle and drove to the Airbnb we rented.
However, something else we never expected was the tremendous outpouring of love, concern and prayers from friends, family and par- ticularly our St. John’s community. Our hearts are full of gratitude. Our friends taught us something valuable about prayer: that prayers are an- swered when people act in love.
If you are interested in learn- ing more about our family ad- venture, please visit my website robertthiessen.com.
preached and we find reassurance in knowing that we are together in God’s care. We save time at the end for sharing news with each other. It’s not perfect—but it works for us.
Our last family selfie in Ghana.
By Robert Thiessen, Elder,
St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont.
In July 2019, my family and I set out on an adventure to Lagos, Nigeria, to adopt our second son, Samuel.
In preparation for this trip, I left my job as a general manager, we sold our house and we put all of our be- longings in storage in order to live in Lagos for an extended period of time.
After arriving in Nigeria, the adop- tion process proceeded without any issues. We met Samuel for the first time on July 8, when he was a toddler. We visited him daily at the orphanage, until July 17, when we took him to our then home in Lagos. Two days later, a social worker from the Nigerian gov- ernment ministry visited us and made an assessment of how our adoption was progressing. We appeared before a magistrate on July 23, and in a small office ceremony, a Nigerian magis-
trate pronounced the adoption legal and formally named our son, Samuel Adeoye Mandela Thiessen. The adop- tion process was complete.
The next significant step was to submit all of the adoption paperwork from Nigeria to the immigration office at the Canadian High Commission (HC) in Accra, Ghana. On September 9, our family flew to Accra, where we planned to wait for the final approval of Samuel’s visa. We were not allowed back in Canada without this visa.
When we left Canada, we knew that this would be a long trip. Fortu- nately, Ghana is a wonderful coun- try to wait in. We enjoyed our time there tremendously, visiting historical sites, museums, galleries and the ocean. The boys particularly enjoyed the local markets and the swimming pool we had access to.
In December, I read about a virus in Wuhan, China. At the time, I did not think anything of it or anticipate that it
might impact our plans. By February, it became apparent that the coronavirus was spreading into other countries.
In March, we became impatient with how long it was taking to process Samuel’s visa. We made an appoint- mentwiththeconsularattheCanadian HC to express our concern over the spread of the coronavirus. Our meet- ing did not go well. We were given a polite “we’ll look into it” and told to wait for a phone call. Two days after our ap- pointment, the Canadian HC closed its doors due to the coronavirus.
We then heard rumours that Ghana was going to close its borders to all travel in and out of the country. It was crucial for us to get home.
On March 20, we prepared a let- ter to Canadian MPs and government ministers, describing our situation and asking the Canadian government to help us. We sent this note to our friends and family, soliciting them to send it to their MP on our behalf. Many of our friends are members of St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont. The response from St. John’s was overwhelming. They sent our letter to their MPs, as well as called them to let them know that we needed help urgently. The Session at St. John’s formally contacted the MP for York Simcoe, asking the office to help our case. Within days, I was spend- ing 5 to 7 hours a day responding to emails from MPs and the offices of
the Immigration Minister and Foreign Affairs. We were being noticed.
Our friends at St. John’s also shared our situation through social media. A local movement was gain- ing momentum on our behalf. Gov- ernment ministers and MPs were receiving so many letters, that they could no longer afford to just brush them off.
On March 24, we finally received an instructive note from the Canadian Immigration Office, informing us that more documentation was required to support the legality of our son’s adoption. We briefly panicked, but thankfully we had the required infor- mation in a detailed report from a Ni- gerian case worker to provide the im- migration office with. The very next day, we received approval for Samuel to become a Canadian citizen; and the following day, while on an errand in the city, I was urgently summoned to the Canadian HC for Samuel’s visa to be processed.
The Canadian government noti- fied us on Friday, March 27, that a repatriation flight had been arranged. The following Monday, the day of our flight, Ghana implemented a lock- down of Accra and other regions af- fected by the coronavirus.
To ensure that we had a driver to take us to the airport, our hired driver spent the night in our compound in order to avoid being delayed by the police or military. We drove to the air-
at least 40%!
Feedback has been very positive.
People tell us that they feel connect- ed; they enjoy hearing each other’s voices as we sign in. The Word is
Connection
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PRESBYTERIAN
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Our first family picture with our second son, Samuel.
Doing Church Differently
By Sheryl Smith, Chair, Board of Managers, St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Peterborough, Ont.
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Pe- terborough, Ont., is a congregation that is getting used to change. In the last year, we have moved from be- ing owners of a landmark building in downtown Peterborough to a rented facility in another notable historic building in the city’s west end, the
Mount Community Centre.
When the COVID-19 pandemic was
declared, we wondered how we could keep in touch with each other. Some churches were doing worship through Facebook Live, others streamed to a website from empty sanctuaries and some from ministers’ homes. But our congregation has a large population of seniors and not everyone has a com- puter or an email address.
What we do have is a conference
call account! One of our members made the use of the account avail- able and now we get together, by tel- ephone, each week. A short service of scripture, music and meditation takes place at our regular 10:00 a.m. time. In fact, our conference call worship services are even better “attended”! People who might not have been able to get out to church can sit in the com- for t of their homes and take par t. We estimate our attendance has gone up