Hello all,
Again, it's been a very long time! And a lot has happened since then.
I started at RBS back in February, and I can assure you it was a blessing, but a long dragged-out difficult and boring sort of blessing! But I survived my 8 months there.
In April it became apparent that we would need to look for a new Church. At the AGM a lot of problems and grumbles were aired from the congregation, and it was better to go separate ways. We did hang around for another few months, but reduced our involvement and started praying about where else God would want us. A couple weeks later we went to check out a church who were advertising a full time youth worker post. We tried to go anonymously, but due to the genuine interest of so many people, we didn't leave anonymously! So after a long application and interview process, Marc was offered and accepted the job at Netherauldhouse Evangelical Church in July, to start in September. We've been there for about a month now, and feel so at home with new friends there that we are so thankful to God for placing us in this church, where we can grow and give, as well as receive (which is a novelty for us!)
In August, when I was thankfuly nearing the end of my job at RBS and had no idea what would come next, a very kind doctor I know offered me 6 months working in his practice, so that I could get some experience as a nurse! So God has blessed us both by giving us jobs in the fields we want to be in. I have so far worked 2 days there, and I've mainly been observing so far, but I know I'm gonna get lots of experience and learn a lot. And to help, its in a beautiful location! This is the view from outside the surgery.
The last 2 weeks of August we led a team of 10 people to work with Children's Vision International, a children's home in Bogota, Colombia. This was my fourth time there and Marc's second. For everyone else in the group, it was their first time. It was amazing experience and we worked hard! Our first day was spent doing the vegetable day, where we had to chop enough vegetables for 200 people for 2 weeks. Then we spent the next day sorting out all the donations we'd taken (plus an extra 20 boxes worth that hadn't been sorted yet), while Marc and the other 2 guys decorated a room...this involved emptying the room and dismantling a bunch of cupboards, taking up the carpet, scraping the ceiling, painting the walls, painting the ceiling, laying a new carpet, and building all the cupboards again! On the Sunday we took a group of kids out for lunch after church, then went to a premiership football game with another group of kids. As of Monday, we spent the next week and a half decorating the ground floor and one of the stair-wells of the younger kids house, the Genesis house. This wasn't an easy job...we had to scrape all the oil paint and plaster that was there before (it was in such a bad condition it just needed to come of), then have the walls re-plastered, then paint them. The scraping itself took about 7 full days of work. By the time it was all decorated though, and we saw the reaction of kids when they saw their beautiful new home, it was all worth it! All in all, the group got on well together (2 weeks in a relatively small house with the same 10 people, working together and spending all free time together can be hard), and we worked well together. It wasn't easy, and we had to pray daily for the strength we needed to get through, physically, emotionally and spiritually. God helped us get there, get on with each other, he helped us get through the tedious work, he helped us get through the language barrier, he gave us love for the kids, and he gave them love for us. Marc and I learnt a lot about leading a team, and we know how we can improve the next time to make it an even better experience for those involved. God was there the whole 2 weeks, and he's still with us now.
So that's been a brief overview of our last 9 months. A lot of happened, God has taught us a lot, and God has remained faithful through it all. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Take care and God bless.
