The kitchen work at Café Forever can be very repetitititittitive and requires somebody who has ENDurance. It is a job that takes a huge amount of internal peace because every meal is judged by the eater, and if it isn't good people will generally let their dissatisfaction be known. I have worked in the kitchen at the cafe and I know how much stress this causes because you want people to enjoy their meal, you want them to come back, you want to be considered good at your job! Andrew Dimon has done this work faithfully for 3 years and now he has moved on to youth work at his church in Watford. His enthusiasm lifted our spirits on days when we were down and so we are sad to see him go. On the positive side.... Gabby has started with us and she is already proving to be a capable and loveable member of staff - even more so because she made my favourite - Spicy minced lamb! Gabby is Hungarian and has already been asked for goulash by one of the customers, which she produced. Come in and meet her.
There a a large number of new visitors to the Café and City of Peace, and some returning one's; J_ who has a fear of leaving the Island and is in a difficult, often violent relationship - returns now daily, K_ from the US who has arrived and is here for about 9 months, with us for Sunday service. And then we see people like B_ and A_ who we have known for a long time becoming more frequent of their visits to City of Peace, taking part in post sermon discussion. one issue that is regularly being looked at is marriage, many occasions of people struggling here. Amazingly St Lukes Shadwell is staging a marriage course at a nearby pub. I have spent considerable hours with a friend who is having a difficult time in their marraige as well as depression.
 |
| Flavour of the month! |
It started off a very warm summer and by the school holidays Natalie had already begun her maternity leave and I began taking half days as our children and the pregnancy where a bit tiring. We went and visited the Olympic swimming pool which is now open to the public, visited Eltham palace and all sorts of close to home/hospital type of things. It is very frustrating having a 16 day late baby! In the days before Ella was born the girls where entertained by our church friends as Natalie and I were in the hospital quite a bit. It is a huge thing the way the church becomes our children grandparents, uncles, aunts - a great opportunity for any church to show love. Colin and Daphne are two friends who have become attached to our church even though they live in Bournemouth! They kindly gave us a short holiday break shortly after Ella was born. She is now 8 weeks old and has a very loud voice on her, very cute and Lisa is besotted. For the rest of the holidays we were able to do more interesting things. My mum, uncles family and cousins came to visit us, and one day I had both my parents at my house!
We have had so many people visiting us for dinner/lunch at our house, it is a lot of fun, particularly when you get new people in (but with a new baby it is also exhausting). A friend who has been on the periphery for a while - he is sceptical about our beliefs - finally came to visit as a result of his daughter playing at our house - he ended up staying for dinner having just dropped in to collect her - it was a great evening. The next day his best friend came to visit him and told how he had been converted to a believer after having seen people dabbling in occultic practices! Amazing orchestration of events.
Coming up:
1. We have another weekend Church visit to Oak Hall.
2. Possibility of hosting Ballet classes at Café Forever.
3. Door into the back garden in January.
4. Christmas services and events.
5. Developing our allotment and the relationships there.
