Life has got busier for us as a family over the last few weeks.
Die letzten Wochen waren wieder einmal super voll.
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As most of you will know Paul is Russian German which means that it is fairly common to build your own home. This type of life never appealed to Paul and it kind of put him off ever having his own home. Our home is on campus, we have an apartment which we are so thankful to God for. However recently God has been placing a huge burden on our hearts and because of what we wrote above we hugely believe it’s from God as it’s a big turn of thinking for us. We have a burden for North Cotes to have more staff, the issue is we don’t have any free apartments on site, there are a few main apartments for staff on site and we are taking one of those spaces. Sometimes there are staff members that will come for a few years at a time and these apartments are best fit for these types of commitments. Now we know we are here for the foreseeable future we are burdened with the idea of buying a house. Which sounds unbelievably silly as missionaries but we know that with God all things are possible. We wanted to be open with our supporters about this burden and that you would pray with us that God would make it abundantly clear if this is the path he has for us. Deutsche Wie die meisten von Ihnen wissen, ist Paul Russlanddeutscher, was bedeutet, dass es ziemlich üblich ist, ein eigenes Haus zu bauen. Diese Art von Leben hat Paul nie gefallen und es hat ihn irgendwie davon abgehalten, jemals ein eigenes Haus zu haben. Unser Zuhause ist auf dem Campus, wir haben eine Wohnung, für die wir Gott sehr dankbar sind. In letzter Zeit hat Gott uns jedoch eine Last auf das Herz gelegt, und aufgrund dessen, was wir oben geschrieben haben, glauben wir fest daran, dass sie von Gott kommt, denn es ist eine große Umstellung für uns. Das Problem ist, dass wir keine freien Wohnungen auf dem Gelände haben. Es gibt ein paar Wohnungen für Mitarbeiter auf dem Gelände und wir nehmen einen dieser Plätze ein. Manchmal kommen aber Mitarbeiter nur für einige Jahre, und diese Wohnungen eignen sich am besten für diese Art von Verpflichtungen. Jetzt, da wir wissen, dass wir für die absehbare Zukunft hier sind, bewegt sich in uns der Gedanke, ein Haus zu kaufen. Das klingt unglaublich albern für uns als Missionare, aber wir wissen, dass bei Gott alle Dinge möglich sind. Wir wollten mit unseren Unterstützern offen über diese Situation sprechen und euch bitten, mit uns zu beten, dass Gott uns deutlich macht, ob dies der Weg ist, den er für uns vorgesehen hat. The new school year has started, almost all of the students have arrived and today we started with student orientation. Last week Paul and I were able to orientate six of our ten volunteers.
Unfortunately, there were some issues with visas as this has been our first year having to do this (thanks Brexit) and we are still awaiting four more volunteers. Tuesday we had a day of orientation of what volunteers life is like here and then from Wednesday to Friday the volunteers went into their own roles and had some training for their upcoming year. Friday evening we had a games evening which we thoroughly enjoyed as we got to know the volunteers a lot more. Then on Saturday we went to a nearby town called Louth and did a scavenger hunt that Nom found online. It was a hot day and there was a lot of walking but we had fun. Last night was our first fellowship group where we told our testimonies and hung out with the volunteers. Please pray as the remaining volunteers will arrive over the next few weeks. May 2019 Paul and I decided to travel to journey to Thailand for two weeks to see the work there. God surprised us and laid the work at North Cotes (the missionary training centre) on our hearts. Our kids stayed with Noms parents and we went excited to see what God was going to say. The time in Thailand was incredible and Paul and I could imagine working there and even met people that we could imagine being our co-workers but God was working something else in our hearts. We decided we weren’t going to talk about what God was saying or revealing to us until the trip was finished. Towards the end of our trip we decided to go to a beach for a few days to read pray and listen. One day Paul asked me what God was revealing to me and I said, “no you need to speak first, I always speak first”. Paul explained how he loved Thailand and could imagine working there but feels like God is calling us to serve in England at North Cotes training centre. I was shocked, I had exactly the same thoughts! When we started talking about the ministries we could imagine helping I’m out in we both had the exact same challenge - volunteering work and taking people who are interested in missions on mission trips! The Lord had spoken. We returned to England and spoke with our leadership in North Cotes. We had no idea if these ministries would be what they would have us do but after they asked us and we explained that we both had the same thought separate from one another. One of the leadership team was so shocked, had tears in his eyes and asked if we knew this was needed. We had no idea but the lady who had been the volunteer coordinator before had mentioned to leadership that she didn’t feel like she could do it anymore and had even mentioned us as people to take over! We couldn’t believe it - God couldn’t have been clearer. We have just finished our February break and it was so nice to be able to spend some time together as a family. We were able to find a cheap deal to go away for a weekend as a family to a caravan. We spent the whole weekend just us 4 it was so nice! There was a swimming pool that both kids loved. Aria went on a big slide with me and Paul and then decided she wanted to go down herself. I was nervous at first but she got up and said 'again again'. It was so nice to see her enjoying tie with us, Ezra also enjoyed the water. We also were able to go to the beach and have a typical British beach day. Fish and chips, amusements, walking along the beach front and even went down to the sand. Aria took her baby Joseph with her everywhere and it was so cool to see her caring personality shining through. We are so thankful for this weekend as we haven't been able to spend a lot of time with the kids over the past few months and over the next few months it will be the same story. Please pray with us that we will have wisdom of managing our time well so that we can spend time with these precious children of ours. Enjoy the following pictures/videos from our weekend away. This morning I found a leaflet on the reception desk all about Missionary Kids or otherwise known as MK's. Children of people who are missionaries, in a foreign country. The leaflet had a list of different things to pray for and different ways to encourage missionary children. I thought it would be good to include this list here as I make this blog post about missionary children and the advantages and disadvantages in being a missionary child. Pray for missionary kids: You can pray for them... - as they face new cultures, language, education - at home or away in school. - as they might live away from there families and need to develop new relationships. - that they would be prepared for further education in their passport countries. - as they experience times of homesickness. - as they might live far away from good medical care and face tropical illnesses that are common overseas. - that they will have a personal faith and grow in grace, because their spiritual health is important. - as they often have to say goodbye to close friends, and to places that have been their homes for most of their lives. - as they return to their passport countries and may find it difficult to adapt to the cultures that are 'supposed' to be theirs. You can encourage them... - by Sending birthday and Christmas cards. - by sending small gifts like books, DVDs or sweets. - by keeping in touch via email or social media. - by finding out what kind of items they are not able to get where they live and occasionally sending a care package. - by preparing their home community to be welcoming and understanding towards them when they return. - by showing a genuine interest in what their life has been like without making them feel too different. - by including them in your activities and helping them to feel accepted and comfortable while adjusting to life in their passport country. - by recognising the needs of adult MK's whose parents return to the field, leaving them to pursue further education or careers possibly without the support of close family. When you pray for missionaries, please don't forget to pray for their children (missionary kids - MK's) The field of service can become more 'home' than their passport country. They have a rich life but it is not without its special challenges and stresses. Take time to get to know the children of missionaries you support and show them you care in practical ways. I also thought it would be cool to interview a few missionary kids that I know. Here are the responses to my interviews: What was your favourite part of life as a missionary child? Being able to play and spend time with the tribal kids every day: outside, in our house, in the woods, in the river… Hanging out with my Indonesian friends! I loved the language! What did you love most about the country your parents were serving in? The food, the weather, the people The tropical fruit was delicious! The people were so friendly! My brother and I had a lot of freedom and went everywhere on our bikes! What was the hardest part of coming ‘home’ on home assignment? Being away from my tribal friends and my home there Having an American accent as a kid and not being thought of as British. I struggled to fit in with girls my age because I was really shy. What did you miss the most on the field? Nothing Aunty’s and Uncles, Grandparents. And English chocolate and sweets, of course! Do you have any examples of how people encouraged you on the field? It was encouraging for me how people were happy that I was involved in the ministry. People giving little treats was encouraging. It was always encouraging when local people involved me and seemed to see me as one of them. I remember those adults who interacted with me as an MK and invested in me – I wasn’t invisible because I was a child. What would be the best advice to a home church who have missionary kids that they have sent to the field? Send them encouraging notes, acknowledging them in the ministry of their parents. Mention the kids as well when the parents are sharing in church, they are part of the team. If kids from their Sunday School class or youth group could keep in touch with them via social media, that would be great. It would help with the transition back to their home country for home assignment or when they have finished their education and move back to their passport country. Also, pray for the kid’s adjustment to the country their parents are serving in because children, of course, have to follow where their parents go. Some kids might not be happy that they are going to live in Africa or Asia or wherever. Any advice to missionary parents? Engage the children in the ministry, if it is possible let them play and live with the tribal/local kids and learn to speak their language, to become one of them. They are a testimony to the people/kids. Let them know that they are important and a part of the ministry as well. Include your children in your ministry/ministries by giving them little jobs to do so they feel part, make it a family affair! As parents, if you don’t have the right attitude or are struggling with the country and/or culture of where you are living, your children will pick up on that and feed off of it. Ultimately, this will affect their daily lives in this new country they are living in (learning the language/culture, making friends etc.) The two questionnaires above are of people who were missionary kids but are now older and no longer on the field. There shall be another questionnaire later from children who are still on the field. We have just started this week teaching phonetics. This teaching allows individuals to learn how to write a language that has not yet been written down. It's incredible that God has created language in such a way that it can be transcribed in such an amazing way. We hope that our students will enjoy this new module in the training and realise that it can be a lot of hard work. But one day there will be bibles written because they were able to write an alphabet for that language from their transcription and phonemic analysis. This is so exciting!
Please be thinking and praying for us over the next weeks as we continue teaching these lovely people. We are back in England and have been since the end of July. Life has been crazy busy as normal for us. The children are both in nursery and are really enjoying, so much so that Aria asks every morning for nursery and at the weekend talks a lot about going back again. Aria has learnt so much! She speaks a lot and thankfully understands both English and German. It amazes me still that she responds to both languages, made not always in speech but in action. Whilst the kids are in nursery we sit in on some classes and Paul spends the rest of the morning working. HE is in charge of the chapels getting different people to speak to the students three times a week for half an hour. He is also responsible for some administration work for the campus management team. The week after next we shall be teaching together for the first time. We will be taking a small group of students and teaching them phonetics (different sounds that have particular symbols). We teach this to the students so that one day they will be able to phonetically write a language that has never been written before so that they will be able to make an alphabet which comes in handy for the future work that the students are training for. We are considering going to Thailand sometime next year to see the work and see if that is if that is where we will be serving in the future. We hope that we will have enough money to do this because flights to Thailand don't come cheap. It would be great if you could pray for this that we would have enough money. It's been a long time since we wrote on our blog. Our second little one is 9 months old and we haven't shared his birth video on here yet. Here it is when our lives were changed for the second time :) On the 26th of March Aria turned two years old. Here is a video of some memories of our second year with her :) |