Raining in Scotland!!

Well we have made it to Scotland (just over the border in Lockerbie) and are having a great time of fellowship with Geoff & Janet Rushton. This couple run a trust that supplies book resources to works all around the world and today we are going to their warehouse to chose some books for the Samfya Library. There trust has also done some work in printing Bemba bibles, so we are investigating possible means
of working with them on this. Please continue to pray for our meetings with people.

The church in Eythorne, Dover, was a real blessing. They have a history that extends back to the 1500’s, the oldest Baptist church in UK. There are people in the church who are very interested in being part of building teams that may go down to assist in the building at Samfya.

To encourage you further, here is part of a report from one graduate by the name of Charles Chola. He and two other men went on a short mission trip into the Congo from 1-6 September. They were working with three recent church plants in a very remote part of Congo:

Distance Travelled - 78 kms
Transport Used - Bicylce, boat and on foot (most on foot!!)
Type of work done - Evangelism (open air and door to door), Teaching
Number of those who believed - 27
Problems - Having just one bible and no hymn book at each church, and the fall of the church building at Kabumba (due to severe winds)
Way forward -
* Pray that God can raise up people to help in the rebuild of this church wall before the rains
* Pray that God can open doors that some people can help this area with Bibles and Hymn books
* Pray that the church of Christ can start growing in Labanga area and that the Spirit of the Lord can move in this area
* pray that God raises people to be visiting this area

It is such a blessing to see the commitment that so many of these graduates have to gospel ministry. We were able to give Charles two boxes of bibles (48 total) which he will sell to these churches and the money raised will go to rebuilding the church wall. But as you can see the needs are ever present. We just can’t seem to supply enough bibles for this work! It would be wonderful to supply double that we do - please pray that God will raise up further partners with us in encouraging the work of God in village life Zambia.

Hello from Scotland!

Hi everyone,
Sorry I can't put any photos on today as I am using someone else's computer so this is just a quick hello.

Donald has an update as well but it is on his computer and can't update until we get connected to the internet.

It has been raining here today, but it isn't cold.
Katie still has a really bad cold and now I have a cough. Hopefully it will all be gone by the time Tuesday comes and we are on the plane to LA.

We have seen lots of castles and ruins of castles. Katie has really loved these as all of a sudden it has bought her Church History lessons to life.

People we have stayed with have been really great and looked after us well. We are at the moment in Scotland, in a town Lockerbie.

The last place we stayed at there was a girl Katie's age so Katie had a nice time being able to be with kids again and not just adults. The couple we stayed with in Gosport said it was nice to see that although Katie looks so much older than 12 yrs old that she still acted her age!

Katie has had another growth spurt and has grown out of most of the clothes we bought with us. We are hanging out for LA to do some shopping!

Well I must go as there is a coffee waiting for me to drink hehe

Lots of love to you all.
Gwen

Greetings from Gosport

Greetings to all from the Hampshire Coast (Portsmouth). We have had a wonderful three days sharing with Chris & Stella Fair. Our meeting with the Echoes of Service people has had to be postponed until 5th October so that did change our plans somewhat. We are currently staying with Martin & Naomi Cooper who were missionaries in Zambia for seven years and this morning I have a men’s breakfast to speak at.

We then drive to “the white cliffs of Dover” and on Sunday share at a church there where a fellow TMS graduates is pastor. This service is part of their harvest celebration and people bring food offerings to go to those in need and the service has a major missions emphasis. Please pray that the challenge in missions would touch hearts and encourage people in a closer devotion to Christ.

After the weekend we travel to Scotland for meetings with people in Lockerbie and Motherwell. Your prayers for safety and the opportunity to encourage others in the truth are coveted - we are certainly looking forward to being home with you all.

Friday Morning

I climbed up into the window in the castle ruins!
Lunch time at Rye.

This morning we leave Chris and Stella. They go back to work and we go to Gosport.

Yesterday we went to Rye, Hastings and Battle. Katie was so excited to go to Battle. I was wondering how she even knew about Battle as I had never heard of it. Well she told me Mr J. has been teaching us about the William the Conqueror and the Battle against the Normans and the Saxons (known as the Battle of Hastings) had a Battle in Battle!!! She was so excited. We were trying to decide whether or not to go and have a look at the ruins of the Abbey in Battle. We decided we should – for Katie’s sake. She was now really excited and said that Mr J. will be so proud of her. She spouted off all the information she knew (which I must admit was quite a bit). She was happy that she knew how it all ended now as when she left school Mr J. hadn’t finished reading the book! We walked around the battlefield but we couldn’t look in the main building as it is now a very flash school. Can you imagine going to school where William the Conqueror had fought a battle!!! Wow! Somehow we missed taking a photo of Katie at the ruins - what a shame!!!

We had scones for lunch in Rye. We were in this very quaint little cafe that seemed to specialise in cupcakes! Of course Katie had to have a cupcake for her lunch.

Hastings was not like our Hastings. It was right by the sea. It is a fishing city and didn’t smell very nice.

After our walk around Battle we went back to Rye and bought fish and chips. We had to have it at least once while we were in England.

We left there and picked up Ben and his girlfriend Emma. It was lovely to see them and spend some time with them. Ben talks with a real English accent now.

Well I must sign off again as we need to pack up again and head out.

Catch you all later

Gwen

Ps – Katie is still all stuffed up, but at least she is starting to get some sleep with the drugs kind of working.

Canterbury

Donald and Chris
Stella, Gwen and Katie

Today is Thursday. Yesterday we went to Canterbury. We saw a lot of old buildings and walked around the town. It was a fun day. Chris and Stella have taken time off work to be with us which is really nice. We have been having a great time with them – lots of laughing and joking around as well. It is nice to see where they live and actually stay with them.

Katie has an amazingly heavy cold, even though she has been taking her antihistamine! Yesterday we got her a bottle of otrivin and at least last night she was able to get a more restful sleep. I sure hope it doesn’t end up in an ear infection like it usually does in NZ and that it clears up before we get back on another plane. She is doing amazingly well even with the late nights and early mornings – although I must admit that she is still in bed as I write this and it is 8.00am! Not like her at all.

Yesterday we were inside looking at the Canterbury Cathedral – it was amazing although I wouldn’t want our church to be like it! There were groups of children on a school trip and we decided to listen in. He was telling the children about Thomas Beckett, who ended up being an arch bishop. Anyway the guide continued to tell the children that Thomas Beckett had excommunicated 3 other priests and the children were then told that once you were excommunicated you then go to hell! It was a good teaching time about salvation with Katie and that once you are saved we are always saved and it doesn’t matter what others say! (the men were excommunicated because the priest didn’t approve of something they did – which wasn’t a sin – they simply had offended him). It was very interesting that they were allowed to talk like that to the kids on a school trip – we can’t in NZ! I just wanted to grab the kids and take them out of there and tell them the truth!

We also walked around a castle in ruins and also on the old city wall. What an amazing day we had. Katie has been learning lots about the history in London. She has also been very excited when she knew some of the facts that she had learned from school in Church History Lessons. All of a sudden her Church History lessons have come to life – well sort of.

Chris wanted to do go on a punting boat so we all went punting on the river at Canterbury and through the country side.

Home again and a late night for Katie again. Ohhhh well I guess we will be home soon enough for her to catch up on sleep.

Buckingham Palace
Katie on the London Eye, Ohhh how can she stand so close to the edge
Meryl on the London Eye

Me trying to be brave at the end, on the London eye

Well Today is Tuesday and we are still in London. Today we will leave Doug and Royale’s home. We are very thankful for their hospitality and letting us stay with them and their sons! We have had a great time here. We are going to go and stay with Chris and Stella Fair today. We were able to catch up with them a bit last Sunday and it was wonderful.

Yesterday we did some touristy things – we went on an open top double decker bus and did a tour of the city. It was great and I would recommend it to anyone who was coming here. We got to see a lot more than we would have by ourselves and learned lots too.

We also did the London Eye. For those of you who don’t know what that is – well it is like a VERY HUGE ferris wheel. Instead of being in little seats you are in a big pod sort of thing that can take 25 people I think! Well, I don’t like heights as you all know, but I still thought that I would be brave and go on it anyway. I got on and it wasn’t so bad I thought. Then all of a sudden I looked out and there was nothing under us and unfortunately I was not brave anymore! I told Donald that I wanted to get off but the only way down now was to finish the ride, or push the emergency button and then you could get out and walk down the stairs, (ummm I don’t think so!!!!). Ohhhhh dear. I sat on the wooden seat in the middle of the pod with my eyes shut and my hands over my eyes! My knees were like jelly. My hands were so wet and by now I actually felt like I was going to be sick! My everloving husband told me to pray and then I would be over it! Ummm My lovely daughter tried to console me but I didn’t want her to miss the opportunity to enjoy it – she isn’t scared of heights! I told her to just go and enjoy the view and that I would be alright! On our way down now and it is a bit better as I can now see all the bits of the BIG wheel we are on. I never did get off the chair until it was time to get off. Katie said, ‘Mum at least you can say you went on the London Eye’. An old man when he saw that I wasn’t covering my eyes anymore came over and asked me if I was ok now and that he has been on the London Eye a lot of times and that there had never been any trouble and it has been going for 10 years! Even that wasn’t very comforting as it has been going for 10 years so isn’t it about time for something to break!

We also had Donald’s sister with us for the day and it really was great to see her.

We also went on a boat ride on the River Thames and that was wonderful as well. There is so much history here and it is all very interesting. We got to see Buckingham Palace. The queen was in but was obviously too busy to come and say hello to us! Hehe We got to the Westminister Abbey but got there 10 minutes late. We got there at 3.40pm – not very tourist friendly hours that is for sure. But anyway even the outside was amazing. Katie was a bit disappointed as she didn’t get to see where David Livingstone grave! Ohhh well at least she got to see the building where he was buried. We saw lots of other churches and buildings as well. They are all incredible!

We got to see Big Ben up close. Wow the photos just don’t do it any justice! I don’t know what other word to use but amazing! By the way did you know that Big Ben is actually the bell and the clock is actually called the clock tower – I didn’t!

We went under the Waterloo Bridge and did you know that it was built by women. The men had all gone off to war so the women built the bridge!

We also got to see the London Bridge. Did you know that it has been rebuilt 6 times! The second time was when the nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling down was started. The Saxons would throw rocks at the Vikings that would come up the river and so they tied ropes to the bridge and pulled it down! Just some other useful little bits that I have learned while being here!

Hi from London

Donald and Katie with the London eye in the background! -opps it is sideways again!!!
Katie and Gwen in front of the London Tower.
Big Ben _ sorry it is sideways not sure how to rotate it!
Donald beside the foundations that Charles Spurgeon laid.

We arrived in Heathrow, London after a flight of 10 ½ hours. Donald and Katie had been able to sleep but I couldn’t – I just dozed on and off!

We are staying with Doug and Royal and they have been looking after us really well and are very helpful with what to see and do here.

Saturday after arriving and having a shower we headed out to see London! We took a train into the city. We intended to go on the London eye but have decided after seeing the queue that we would do that on Monday once everyone was back at work! We went to the London Tower and they have a beefeater ( a guy dressed in a red dress and tights) as a guide. They give you all the history and a lot of the history here is very gory! Katie got quite uneasy and then ended up in our bed in the middle of the night! He talked about things like the tortures that happened, the people who got beheaded and also about 2 little boys that went missing and then they found their bodies later!

We got to ride on a double decker bus, a train and the tube. We have also seen Big Ben (from a distance). The London tower is where the British Crown Jewels are and we got to see them - ummm I wonder if they really are real!!!

We got back home at round 7pm and then us and Royal went to the local Indian Restaurant. After parking the car, we were walking to the restaurant when we heard an old man yelling. He was homeless and was yelling at another man. The other man ended up turning his walking stick upside down and hitting the homeless man a couple of times. It was a very yuck thing to watch! Ummm maybe that was what was upsetting Katie!

Anyway we got to have our dinner and the atmosphere in this place was incredible. It was just buzzing! We got home and I realised that I hadn’t had any sleep since 7am Friday and my eyes were starting to play tricks on me so it was time for Katie and I to go to bed! The nice thing was that church here didn’t start until 11am so we had a big sleep in!

Today is Sunday and Donald is sharing at church about Samfya Bible School and also doing the teaching. Charles Spurgeon helped to establish this church – how amazing to be here! Chris and Stella Fair have also joined us and we spent the day with them today. We went to visit Krystle and she is not well at the moment. As we parted ways they were then on their way to the hospital and Krystle was now there! We had dinner at Leicester Square! Katie has found it very exciting as she loves to play monopoly and we are seeing so many places from the board! The 5 of us walked though Kensington Garden and Hyde Park. There is a huge monument that Queen Victoria had put up as a memorial for her husband Prince Albert! It was massive – I told Donald not to expect one that big hehe

We had to go on the tube again today. I have decided that I don’t like riding the tube. As for getting there tonight we had to go down 3 floors down (I think). Now you all know I don’t like heights well we have now gone on an escalator that was the whole 3 floors all at once!!! Yep it was really long. The first time we went on it, it was full and Stella and I were chatting so as we got on it I hadn’t noticed! After a while I thought gee whiz this is taking ages and looked ALL the way up. Now my knees are going like jelly and I really don’t like having sweaty palms!!!

Ohhhh dear tomorrow we are planning to go on the London eye!!! That is like a VERY big ferris wheel (well over 130 metres up!) but it goes really slowly and takes about a ½ hour! Ohhhh I am so not looking forward to it however I will be a brave girl (hopefully) and do it anyway despite as Donald calls it and irrational fear!

Donald got a skype call from his sister Meryl and Meryl and Denys are in London! We are going to try and meet up with them tomorrow if we can.

Well I really should go to bed now as it is getting rather late!

Well update again soon.