Wedding and door

One thing to keep in mind when using an online service, be sure to keep a copy of your document. I have written a long post a while back and then hit the back button, only to lose all that I had written! One step forward, two steps back. Anyway, I am now using Kingsoft Office, a free alternative to Microsoft Office and it is really, exceptionally good, I recommend it and if you are looking for it, here’s a link

We did have another weekend visit to Oak Hall, that went really well - Tom, Simon and I spoke about some stories from Daniel, notably the Fiery Furnace, Hand on the wall, Lions Den. I got the lion’s share of it. The thing that amazed me is how I think my life is so busy I have no time for prayer, yet Daniel’s life (Vice Regent - probably way busier than mine) was punctuated by prayer - that in fact he would been incapable without it. It is always a great blessing to be investigating the scriptures so intensely.

We have put aside the idea of Ballet classes at Café Forever as another organisation has taken up the spot in a hall 30 meters from the Café on the same day as we had available, sponsored with funding by the council. I have to say that the teachers are really excellent and my children love the class.

We are getting a door put into Café Forever in January, I have posted about this in the past, and on facebook, it will take about a week and will give us access to the back garden from within the Café reception, which is excellent and will increase our floor area when it is warm.

City of Peace got busy October/November to host the wedding of Michelle Palani and Peter Runge. Michele is a deacon in City of Peace (though she has been away for a number of years) and much loved Café volunteer. The event was magnificent, the service being held in the beautiful Christchurch building on the Isle of Dogs. As we live in a country far from relatives we have to grab any opportunity to get our children to be flowergirls and Natalie was quick to get Michelle's approval. The reception took place in Husk (Departure) and was attended by about 100 people. So many of the church were involved from the preparation of the food to the serving of the drinks, and the decorating of the tables. A ‘church’ wedding in the UK costs about £20k, but when a church is involved, it can come down to about £1k.

And now Christmas is upon us, we have already had our Christmas tree lighting ceremony complete with decorating ginger bread houses, fake snow and bauble making. Ella has been formally recognised in the church last Sunday, and we are now preparing for our carols service next weekend. Natalie's mum is with us at the moment and enjoying the winter here and seeing her grandchildren. It is really hard being so far from family and it is at times like Christmas when it gets dark and cold that people realise how alone they are. We have remained in London over Christmas since 2008 and have invited many of the locals who have nobody, or at least nobody nearby to join us as we also have nobody nearby - then we all have somebody! Happy Christmas friends near and far!

A busy, productive, warm summer.

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.