Hi! We all experienced a slight existential crisis this last week as we realised that it was the 1 year anniversary of our moving to the UK. We really are feeling very settled here, far more so than I had expected at this point. But it is still hard to believe that we have been away from Nigeria for a whole year. We miss our friends and many things about the way of life there.
God has been so faithful and gracious to us in giving us a good home, a great church and family close by. Tim and I are also enjoying the new focus of our work and we feel like we have a good working from home set up. May was a busy month for Tim. He did a fair bit of travel. first up he was able to attend and participate in leading worship at a conference for the benefit of the Elim missionaries. Elim is our church denomination, you can find out more about them HERE. It was a huge blessing to have Rev Malcom Duncan as the keynote speaker and to (re)connect with folks on mission with the denomination. We have been enormously blessed to be counted among the Elim missionaries and will continue to do so.
Second up he was able to attend the Elim Leaders Summit in Harrogate. Great to hang out with missionaries, other church leaders we know and also folks from our church in Lancaster. Tim enjoyed and was challenged by Danielle Strickland one of the keynote speakers. She also shared a cool story about her husband when they were once in a taxi. Her husband got into a conversation with the African origin taxi driver and shared the Jesus Film with the guy in his own language via the Jesus film app. It is so encouraging to know that materials like this, the result of teams we work with around the world, who spend months and years working on such materials can used in so many different ways to reveal Jesus.
After a weeks break from travel Tim jetted off to Malaga in south Spain to lead worship for a conference co-facilitated by some friends. The conference "Adelante" is run by a group called Sent well who provides preventive and responsive care and resources for sending organisations, teams, and individuals. This conference is focused on first term missionaries and is designed to help build resiliency, dealing with the past and giving some tools to better face the future. It was a great privilege to have been involved and would encourage anyone who fits the criteria, especially those who have had a hard time to consider attending.
My (Ali’s) Thailand trip was so encouraging. It was so helpful to meet and connect with language assessment leaders from a diverse range of countries including Thailand, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon. It was also lovely to have some time with the Nigeria survey team that I used to work closely with in Nigeria.
My presentation went well and I was able to have really helpful, focussed follow-up conversations with each of the team leaders that has already resulted in more progress being made on language updates. [Insert presentation pic?]
I even managed to squeeze in a ride on an elephant which has long been a dream of mine!
Since I got back I have been busy with more follow-up conversations and with contacting leaders from countries who were not represent at the conference in Thailand.
Tim and I are about to take 2 weeks of annual leave to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in style with a holiday that we hope will include some diving and snorkelling.
In preparation for this, Tim has done the dive training to become an PADI Open Water diver. I dusted off my logbook and joined Tim for some refresher dives. Turns out you get quite rusty when you don’t dive for 25 years!
Dan survived well while both parents were away though Tim was actually back for the weekend in between and was able to confirm that he was alright!
He has been busy working on developing the online training modules project for Wycliffe and preparing for Uni. He has his accommodation sorted out and student finance confirmed. One goal he set for himself this year was to pass his driving test. Last week he jumped on a train down to Preston, where theory tests were available and passed! Next step the driving practical test.
Praise
Safe travels through this last month
Great meetings and conferences
Dan did a good job of taking care of himself and the house while we were away
Prayer
For a relaxing holiday with plenty of quality time
That Dan will have a good two weeks while we are away
