It’s been a while since we last blogged. Life has just got in the way!
We’ve had family days, baptisms, hiding indoors and going swimming days….all sorts.
Work
So I’m writing this on my last day at work. I’m ready to move on, but it’s a bit weird giving up the commute to London after 13 years.
Thank God for the experience that this, and previous jobs, have given me.
Goodbyes
We’ve started our goodbyes. The other week and on Monday we saw friends that we won’t see for a year…and perhaps longer. Although we’ll stay in contact (hurray for Facebook and the internet), it’s quite an emotionally and exhausting experience.
On the weekend before last we had Harry’s baptism on the Friday and the children’s goodbye party on the Sunday. There was a pretty big age range, as all the kids invited friends, but we had a wonderful & noisy time!
Thank God for friends and the way technology can keep us in touch.
Pray that God will watch over our hearts and emotions.
Packing and Stressing
Every day involves packing now. It’s tiring and stressful, but we are making progress. The children’s rooms are pretty empty and much of what we’re storing at Allie’s parents has been taken up to Oxfordshire.
I think we’ll have enough space to pack everything we hope to take; but things pop up. We discovered that car seats count as one piece of luggage. 1 excess bag costs about £165….that would be an expensive car seat. They are light and will probably go into a couple of our bigger holdalls…but another late consideration. Andrew, who’s only going for a couple of months, will have to manage with just one bag so that he can take his guitar (which again counts as a bag…regardless of weight).
It’s the things that we can’t pack that are hard for the children. Felicity loves her red, wooden kitchen…but there’s no way that we can take it. Allie, particularly, is finding the ‘we can’t take’ conversations hard…it makes you feel so guilty.
Please pray that we’ll remember that everything will get done…but in His timing.
Please pray that we, and the children, will hold on to our possessions lightly.
Not Stressing
We bunked off everything on Sunday and had a lie-in; which was wonderful! In the afternoon we went swimming at a leisure pool in Burgess Hill…which was great fun and, afterwards, Allie noticed that we hadn’t mentioned or discussed Burundi the whole time we were there!
It was so nice to switch off for one day.
Thank God for down time!!!
End of Term Letters
I had a very weird experience the other week. I felt that it was appropriate to send a letter home to parents at the end of term; introducing us and briefly explaining my early thoughts and plans for the coming academic year.
I’ve received many of these over the years and it was very strange to be writing one for the first time…especially as I wrote it in Starbucks in Westminster…such a different world.
Please continue to thank God for this exciting opportunity.
Please pray that God will give me wisdom (no pun intended) in my new role
Raising Awareness
All our blogging etc… seems to be paying off. People are forwarding our blogs to other churches for prayer and we occasionally find out that we are in other church’s newsletters. It’s great that people are taking such an interest.
The other week also saw me speaking at a Men’s Breakfast, which was a great opportunity to share our journey with people we hadn’t had much contact with. And we were also delighted to be asked to come to our church’s 09:15 service (not a congregation we’ve ever been part of) to be interviewed and prayed for.
And then on Saturday we were at a party in Cambridgeshire and were chatting to two lovely women/ladies/girls (I never know which one to use…they all always seem wrong) about our trip…and it turned out that someone mentioned us to them at a wedding the week before…but we have no idea who and what the common link was.
WAS IT YOU?
A big part of our mission was to excite and encourage others. It really feels like this is happening and it’s fantastic to have so many people supporting us and taking an interest.
And, excitingly, we already have a couple of serious enquiries about gap-yearing or working at the school.
If you’re even remotely interested in spending some time with us in Burundi, just drop us a note and we can have an exploratory chat. We’d love to have you!
Thank God for all the support we’re getting!!
Fundraising
We continue to be blessed by people’s generosity and a general reduction in costs.
To date we’ve raised 62% of our costs; which is amazing.
Though we still need to raise £25k…our money runs out in October!
If you would like to support us financially, do visit our blog [here] for details on how to support us.
If you’ve already decided that you’d like to support us…but haven’t got round to it yet…don’t delay, the gift-aid system is a bit slow.
And we still need a 2 or 3 month loan of £6.5k to temporarily fund our car. It’ll take 6 weeks to arrive, so if we don’t sort it soon we’ll be without transport. If you think you might be able to help with this, please do drop me a note at jez.wisdom@gmail.com
Pray that we will remember that everything is possible for God and that He will provide.
Thank God for our generous supporters.
Dogs
The dogs have homes! Ruby’s already left us and seems to be settling in well with the Westwoods. Lucy will leave in a couple of weeks.
We’re pleased to have it sorted…but it is very sad.
Please pray that Ruby and Lucy will bless their new owners.
House
The house is on the market…but no tenants yet. It’s really easy to be impatient with this…but, again, we trust in God’s timing.
Please pray for the right tenants and the right timing.
Final Days
In 6 weeks I’ll be living in Burundi! In 8 we’ll all be there. It’s exciting…but starting to feel scary.
The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty rubbish as we finish packing and preparing the house for tenants.
Allie and the children will be going to Allie’s parents on 16th July.
On 20th August we’ll be off to New Wine…which we always enjoy so much. Wonderful worship, teaching and fellowship with some of our church family.
Then, during August, we’ll be spending some time in Crowborough (living with the Mills’) and some time in Thame.
Please ask God to protect us during these difficult days.
We’re….
…weary and a bit fed up…both to be expected…and need all the prayer we can get.
But we’re still keen and positive about our mission…but this bit’s hard.
God Bless,
Jez
