We got back safely and uneventfully yesterday afternoon. Now it is operation organization – do laundry, sort house, put bags away, find desk, run errands, etc. Generally it’s all about getting things set for a stable period of life at home. Thanks for praying for us in these two weeks. We can honestly say we are glad to be home now!
Well, back to back conferences are almost done. We’re tired and ready to head home. We all have sore throats, coughs, etc. Anyway, it has been good. It’s good to meet new recruits and old friends. It’s good to minister here and to set up some ministry opportunities for next year. It’s good to be a part of something big like this. We leave tomorrow am after breakfast, then drive to Calais, France, for a mid-afternoon ferry back to the land of my fathers. We should get home around dinner time. So two weeks, almost two thousand miles, one new tire/tyre (let the reader understand), two conferences, eight teaching sessions, six days of nursery duty, no serious injuries and lots of good interactions with good people.
Thought you’d probably like to see some pictures from the last weeks. So here you go (remember you can click on a pic to enlarge it a bit).
Enjoying the sand pit on a rare sunny day at home!
Here are the older girls at their first football (yes, football) match at Old Trafford.
Finally, after weeks of anticipation – Playmobil Fun Land!
Mariah enjoying the circus.
So much Playmobil to play with!
Then on to the first conference -with Abi and Esther (fellow missionaries from Westside Bible Fellowship!)
Hannah enjoying the children’s program.
Aliyah enjoying the Alpine beauty.
A stunning gorge near the conference site (near Geneva).
And a cute little Mead to finish!
My battery is about to die, but I thought I should update. The conference continues to go well. We are all tired and ready to head home (except Hannah and Aliyah who want to be in children’s programs non-stop!) The children all have colds, some coughs too. Please pray for sleep in the next three nights. Pray also for Melanie to somehow stay headache free for these days as she has responsibilities in the nursery. Other than colds and tiredness, we are well. It’s a blessing to be a part of something like this – an event that these participants will remember forever, just like I remember my new recruits conference in 1996.
We are here at the OM GO Conference now – a “sending out” for all those joining OM this year. There are people here from all over the world and they are heading out to all corners of the world. Very exciting!! We arrived at lunchtime after driving about 11 hrs. yesterday (mostly in the rain) and 3.5 hrs. today. The un-fun and un-glamourous part of missionary work! We discovered when we got here that we have a flat tire so praise the Lord that we made it safely over all the rainy roads. We’ve spent this afternoon settling in and the kids have all slept (they are pretty exhausted after the last conference!). Peter has just led a workshop on Bible study and tomorrow morning will speak to the whole group (250 new recruits plus others) on “The Uniqueness of Christ.” This is such an important subject – please pray for the Holy Spirit to apply these truths to people’s hearts. I also start work in the nursery/creche tomorrow so pray for God’s love to flow through me to the littlest people at the conference. We desire to be used in any way God would want to use us so please pray for divine appointments. We will try to post some pictures soon.
We’ve had a great week here in St Jorioz. Now we hit the road for the day to get up to Liege, Belgium. Tomorrow we get to De Bron conference center in Holland around lunch time, with a workshop immediately after. The children have been running, swimming, playing, etc., all week, so I don’t know whether they will struggle in the car all day . . . or sleep the whole way! We’ll see. Thanks for praying for us. This has been a great week for us – very refreshing in lots of ways: fellowship, fun, food, etc.
We’re safely here in St Jorioz, near Annecy, near Geneva, French Alps. Beautiful location and an enjoyable conference. There are 171 of us here. We drove to Paris on Friday (to go to PlayMobil Fun Land – glorified shop indeed, but fun nonetheless). Then we drove down to here on Saturday. There are a few folks that I know here, and lots of new friends for all of us. It’s especially nice to spend some days with our friends the Huertas from Hillsboro who serve in Romania. Anyway, just to let you know we are safely here and all well. Will try to give more news in the next days.
So we’ll pack the car, pray it’s ok overnight, go to sleep, then leave in the morning. We have a morning crossing of the channel, then on to PlayMobil Land near Paris (a glorified shop, but the girls are excited!) We’ll stay in a motel there tomorrow night then head on to St Jorioz where the conference is being held. There should be internet access there, so we’ll let you know more when we know more. Thanks for praying for us as we travel – it should be a fun trip, but fun can evaporate if there’s illness, breakdown, etc. Ok, time to pack the car.
It does get warm here, sometimes. Right now it is pouring rain and will continue to do so until we leave the country on Friday. This last weekend went well, although wet. We had a day with my family in Bristol, then drove over to Chippenham where we spent the night in anticipation of Sunday. We enjoy visiting the church there and it was a real joy to see them commend one of their own to go and work on the Logos Hope for two years. We got home at about 11pm and slept well! Now we have a couple of days to get ready before we cross the channel and head for France. We’ll visit PlayMobil Land on Friday, sleep in a motel and then head for the Christian Workers Conference in the French Alps. I believe we will have internet access there and so will be able to update the site. Just in case we don’t, here’s a synopsis – arrive on Saturday, enjoy fellowship and relaxation with about 150 other missionaries to Europe, Peter leads three workshops, we hit the road on Friday again and arrive at the OM conference on the Saturday, Peter speaks a few times, Melanie works in the creche, we come home on the 30th.
So tomorrow we are meeting up with my parents and sister’s family in Bristol. Then Sunday we are at a church in Chippenham (near Bristol). Thankfully we have a place to stay tomorrow night so that we don’t have to drive all the way back home. So we’ll be gone until late on Sunday night. Please pray for safe travel, health (especially when staying in someone else’s house!), and a good day of ministry on Sunday. The days are sliding by and before we know it we’ll be off to France and Holland next Friday. Still need to get some preparation done for that trip, so the first days of next week will be important days. Thanks for praying.
