Well the 10th Anniversary service went really well. It was a HOT day in London and about 80 people turned up, first in St John's Hall and then for a meal at Café Forever. I ate far more food than I have eaten in a long time! Henk Bouma preached on Abram's encounter with Melchiezedek, as usual an interesting angle and a good challenging teaching. Andrew Dimon and John provided us with the food, John barbequing outside burgers and hot dogs. People turned up from various places, some from next door, others from Northern Ireland (Sylvie) and Germany (Nash and Ruth). !0 years have passed and we have been really blessed. the reason I came to the Isle of Dogs was because I fell in love with this congregation. I am still sure that this is the best place for us. Here is the video we watched. Thanks to Audio Adrenaline for the wonderful tune!
Monday 28 May 2012
Friday 25 May 2012
It's a jubilee year!
If you have spoken to a resident of London, or even the UK, in the last two months there are 3 topics of conversation, and in the following order. First, the weather, always an English priority - this wonderful country is obsessed with the weather, which as far as I am concerned is a good thing; there are hints of corruption and crime in the news, but nothing that compares with South Africa where I was born, where naturally the talk is politics (the weather is rarely bad but the politics always). Then there's the 2012 Olympics and how polarising the opinion is, I personally see it as a money making scam that has as the icing - or rather sugar that makes the medicine go down - the improved facilities and added layers of paint in public parks etc... And lastly the queens jubilee celebrations. Fortunately we have been given an extra day of leave to join in the 60 years celebrations of Her Majesty's reign. Of course this is also somewhat polarising. But among us here in Café Forever it is of 3 baptisms, 10 years of City of Peace, and the weekend away.
Our annual weekend away took place over the May bank holiday weekend. I have been going to them since 2007 and haven't missed one! They tend to be chaotic, crazy, and very full, but always memorable for the right reasons. This year was no exception. The bad weather did not get us down, in fact it only drizzled a little at night, though the mud did add to the difficulties of our Sunday walk in the woods. We had the obligatory bonfire, silly games, swimming sessions and walking around town that have become a tradition at this event. I used my new video camera to capture the action. With a group of about 70 people, half of whom are below the age of 20, you would expect things to get tense at times, but everyone got along very well and some new friendships were formed and older one's progressed. It was particularly nice to have Fred and Carol with us and to be encouraged by their stories of love and their support for so many years. Edward Bellinger did an amazing job helping out Andrew Dimon in the food prep they both get SO much respect from all of us - we love you chaps! What wonderful food! Háute Cuisine! And when everyone got home they were EXHAUsted! I think I remained semi-comatose for about 3 days.
Then last weekend we had the baptism of Baby Esmé Bedell and Maxime and Virginia Ocampo. Esmé is about 4 weeks old now and didn't put up much of a fuss, Maxime (I was given the privilege of becoming her Godfather) was a little more interesting as she began clambering around on the nearby table. Virginia we have come to know last year and have quickly fallen in love with her and her family. Her and Lars (husband) are her for the last two years as part of the Olympic preparation team. They travel around the world, Lars is involved in taking the times of the events and Virginia with the media. Maxime is their beautiful 3 year old daughter. After the service we all sat down together for a meal.
As for the 10 years anniversary, well I have been compiling a short film to music (mostly photographs) of the past 10 years of weekends away, baptisms, parties etc... We will be showing it on Sunday where Henk Bouma will be speaking; being one of the original members of City of Peace he has travelled from Holland to be with us and we are always glad to hear from him. We are expecting a lot of people to be at this service, but if you cannot make it, please remember us, and give thanks for the 10 years of grace we have had, and encourage us for the future. We continue to hope for the day the Isle of Dogs submits to Jesus. I will post up the video after the event.
Our annual weekend away took place over the May bank holiday weekend. I have been going to them since 2007 and haven't missed one! They tend to be chaotic, crazy, and very full, but always memorable for the right reasons. This year was no exception. The bad weather did not get us down, in fact it only drizzled a little at night, though the mud did add to the difficulties of our Sunday walk in the woods. We had the obligatory bonfire, silly games, swimming sessions and walking around town that have become a tradition at this event. I used my new video camera to capture the action. With a group of about 70 people, half of whom are below the age of 20, you would expect things to get tense at times, but everyone got along very well and some new friendships were formed and older one's progressed. It was particularly nice to have Fred and Carol with us and to be encouraged by their stories of love and their support for so many years. Edward Bellinger did an amazing job helping out Andrew Dimon in the food prep they both get SO much respect from all of us - we love you chaps! What wonderful food! Háute Cuisine! And when everyone got home they were EXHAUsted! I think I remained semi-comatose for about 3 days.
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| Virginia and Maxime |
As for the 10 years anniversary, well I have been compiling a short film to music (mostly photographs) of the past 10 years of weekends away, baptisms, parties etc... We will be showing it on Sunday where Henk Bouma will be speaking; being one of the original members of City of Peace he has travelled from Holland to be with us and we are always glad to hear from him. We are expecting a lot of people to be at this service, but if you cannot make it, please remember us, and give thanks for the 10 years of grace we have had, and encourage us for the future. We continue to hope for the day the Isle of Dogs submits to Jesus. I will post up the video after the event.
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