Morgan's in Guildford

Kaitlyn says 'Hi to all my friends back home in Canada - I miss you'. This is the castle we went in today. It is a thousand years old, and is built out of bricks that go back as far as Roman times (at least!) We miss everyone, but are starting to get over our jet-lag. Keep praying that God shows us why we're here just as clearly as He should us to come here in the first place.

In England

We made it! We're now at my parents place in Woking, UK. The flight went well, we had a bit of a panic when we arrived at the house and realised we were missing a suitcase, but I went back to the airport and got it from the baggage hall without to much grief.

We're still getting over jetlag, and still wondering why exactly we're here. Hopefully things will become clear over the next few days. My job interview has been moved back to the 10th of August, so we have a few days to visit with family and do the tourist thing.

Back from Ottawa

Wow, what a crazy 36 hours. Left the kids with the baby sitters, drove to Ottawa, met with Joseph and Lisa from Ecclesiax, stayed overnight with friends of Heather's family, up bright and early to the British High Commission to sort out the girls passports and entry clearences, find out we can't get entry clearences for more than six months, but for the paltry sum of $600 we can get Heather right of settlement, and with some serious sweet talking can get the girls' passports expedited. Then out to lunch on a nice pavement cafe and then the long drive home. Phew.

Anyways, it all seems to be coming together, thank God, although once again not in necessarily in the ways we expect. Who knows where all of this is leading? But I think we're already beginning to learn some things. There are definitely some common themes emerging from the conversations that we've been having, and the art of prayer is definitely near the top of the list. Funny how despite the number of times that we've seen God clearly and directly answer our prayers, we still haven't given it the priority in our lives that it deserves. I think that that is our homework for the next little while.

Rambling Questions

Okay, I finally got a few hours by myself this morning to pray, read my bible and think. Some questions/thoughts arose, that I'll put down here for now and we'll see whether they lead us anywhere as we go forward ...

• Looking specifically at Acts 14 (but could be argued from lots of other places) that miracles and healing seem to be poured out through those who are evangelizing

• Acts doesn't tell us a whole lot of what they taught the first Christians - all we get is, 'Jesus is the answer to your messianic hope - He died and He rose again - repent, believe, be baptised'

• How do you rephrase that message for a society that has at the very least been exposed to the concept (however wrongly understood) of Christians and Christianity their whole life? There are very few people who haven't in one way or another made assumptions about Christ and Christianity from what they have seen in world politics, media, etc., not to mention all those dragged off to Sunday School as a child.

• Looking at the intensity of which the Apostles took the gospel to those who did not know, and the significant change in the lifestyles of the early disciples as a result of the knowledge of Christ, either we have watered down the truth and significance of the gospel so as to render it weak and ineffectual, or worse, we have allowed evil lives to continue, while putting a cloak of respectability over the top with our 'religious acts/service'.
  

• What would a 'Christ-life' look like today? What does it mean to be 'salt' or 'light'?
  

• What is to be done when 'the church' ceases to be involved in redemptive, discipleship-building, life-changing, world-impacting faith - even if it is 'relevant' to a small number of people within the society in which it operates. Since when is being 'relevant' the point, anyway? Aren't we supposed to be radical, not relevant?
  

splash pad joy

We went to the splash pad together this morning - don't you wish you could have been there?

Plane Tickets Bought

Well, we're at my parents' house now, house-sitting while they're away on their vacation. The move went okay on Saturday, despite temperatures above 35 degrees celsius, plus humidity. Four van loads of stuff - one and a half of them leaving again to other homes within a couple of days of arriving here. Another half a load was food stuffs that we'll use this month, a load of toys for the kids and our computers/instruments and one last load that will actually come with us to England.

Yesterday mom and dad left on their trip and I went out to buy plane tickets. So it is now official. We leave July 26th at 6:15pm and we will return to the 'new world' May 2nd, 2006. It was a bit daunting to think about flying overseas with two small children who couldn't cope with sitting in the travel agent's office for the one hour it took to get the tickets sorted out! Hopefully it will go better when I can give them my attention.

We also got the last of the paperwork ready to take with us to Ottawa on Tuesday (July 5th) which will (Lord willing) see us leave that day with the entry clearance visas we need and the girls' British Passports to come to us within the time left in Canada. (They say to allow four weeks and it is exactly four weeks from when we're turning in the forms until when we actually leave, so we shall see, but at least they will be got, and after that it becomes infinitely easier for the girls to move around, as these will prove their British citizenship.)

Trevor's finished work tomorrow, and then hopefully we'll have some time to relax as well as repacking, allowing Trevor to get some work done on a side project he's had on the go for several months, and catching up with all of our friends one last time before we leave. So if anyone's actually reading this and would like to get together, give us a call at the Seim-ery!

More later on!

Heather

Big jumps...

Yesterday I decided that, job offer or not, we would be in England by the end of July. I do have an interview lined up with this company, which is exactly in my field and just a couple of miles from my parents house. So we'll see how that goes.

I handed in my resignation this morning. They seem to like me, I got offers of contract work while I'm away and a job when I get back! I wasn't expecting either.

All of our stuff is now packed in big yellow boxes in the basement. We'll be moving out on Saturday.

All systems go!

bonhoeffer

"Moreover, our generation can no longer expect as yours could a life which finds full scope in professional and private activities, and thus achieve perfection and poise. And to make matters worse, we have the example of your life still before our eyes, which makes us painfully aware of the fragmentariness of our own. Yet this very fragmentariness points towards a fulfillment beyond the limits of human achievement."

'Letters and papers from prison'

First Post

So, this is the first post. We'll be heading to England within a couple of months, to visit family, to work, to relax, but also in some ways as both a sabbatical and a pilgrimage. We're not even sure exactly what we're looking for, but we know it has something to do with discovering what the community of God truly looks like. We have a few places to start looking, and I'm sure that we'll be directed to more as we go on. Let the journey commence!