We're Now Official!!!

It’s been a busy and exciting couple of weeks (and should’ve been reading this last week…but I typed it and it disappeared. If you’re reading this, I’ve got it right this time…if you’re not, I’m talking to myself J)

Church Support

Great news! On Wednesday evening the All Saints PCC approved the Mission Awareness Committees (MAC) recommendation to formerly make Allie and I Mission Partners.

This followed a great evening with the MAC recently, where they probed, questioned and challenged for a couple of hours. It was good to be put through our paces as we felt very comfortable with all the questions. I managed to keep my gags to a minimum and, when asked whether we expected to encounter corruption, resisted the urge to say that it was an essential part of my retirement plan.

Being Mission Partners at All Saints is really key as at it enables the following:

·         Sharing our journey with the church

·         Sharing our blog more widely

·         Lots of prayer support

·         Opportunities to fund raise

·         Some financial support

I am, however, still waiting for my membership card that, I assume, will give me preferential seating and complimentary snacks at the 10:45 service.

Although that, in some respects, nothing has changed since Wednesday, it does make our journey and plans feel a little bit more real!

Please pray that God will help us to really promote awareness and support in the church.

Give thanks for the MAC's support.

Blogging

We really want to be getting our blog out there….so please:

a)      Sign up for regular updates

b)      Pass on the details to other people.

We’ve ordered some cards with the website address on it to give to people. If you would like some to hand out, please just ask.

Please pray for discipline in our communication with supporters and for many to sign up to the blog.

February

The flights have been booked and some of the children will start their vaccination programmes. All very exciting, although it’s a shame I can’t get the time off work to go. No money yet,  but God will provide when we need it.

Please pray that we will continue to trust the timing of God’s provision.

Tough Times

The family’s had a tough and tiring couple of weeks…usual family stuff…but it’s really made us reflect that we’re having tough times in a familiar environment now and they’ll still happen in the much more difficult environment of Bujumbura.

Please pray that we will continue to seek to be ‘God-sufficient’ rather than ‘self-sufficient’.

Planning

Both Allie and I have time allocated to preparing for Burundi each week. This is fantastic and really helping us to read, plan and generally get on top of what we need to do for next year.

Please pray for us to use our time wisely.

French

My French progress continues to be slow and I’m still very anxious about attempting to utter French. The children are making better progress than me.

Please pray for my lunchtimes with Christophe.

That’s all from now. Allie’s hoping to write the next blog…so finally something worth reading on this blog.


Jez