Christmas 2004 News

We didn’t manage to write a newsletter last year because there never seemed to be time. So we need to cover two years in this one.

You’ll remember that we lived in Malawi from January 1993 until January 1995, working as missionaries under the cover of World Outreach, an international mission recommended to us by Keith and Christine Kelly. Back in the UK, in 2001 Mike was invited to become a trustee of World Outreach, and in 2003 the trustees decided to completely regenerate the UK operation.

At the beginning of 2003, Mike was continuing his self-employed work, fixing customer's computers, and teaching secondary school maths as a private tutor, but felt to offer his services to World Outreach to set up the new administration that the UK branch of the mission required. So in June 2003, Mike visited the international World Outreach office in Singapore, and national offices in Brisbane and Auckland to learn the ropes. He then set up shop in a chalet in the garden, complete with telephones and broadband, evaluating office software and importing the donor list.

From September 2003 he became Operations Director to World Outreach in the UK, responding to letters and donations, emailing missionaries, writing new software to interface with the database, and all the 101 tasks that needed doing. Intended to be a 3-day-a-week job, it kept Mike going all the time including evenings and weekends.

Meanwhile at the end of August 2003, Janet stopped working as a Practice Nurse for the Christian GP Practice in Lower Earley. She had continued her research into producing greetings cards, visiting trade fairs from time to time, and keeping up with craft magazines and new materials. She developed beautiful designs - Mike was amazed by her talents in this direction - and sold a few cards, but knew that the whole thing could not take off without a lot more input from Mike in producing a website from which to sell the cards. ‘Mary J Cards’ was started to secure income because Mike felt that tutoring and PC repair would not provide enough to live on.

Janet also became involved with an outreach to overseas ladies every Tuesday morning that alternated bible study and craft or cooking, and she sought to be a friend to these ladies.

In February 2004, responding to a kind invitation from the Sheats family in Florida, we visited all around West Palm Beach. Hiring a car we were able to visit Janet’s aunt Kate and cousin Simon, Cape Canaveral Space Centre, numerous shopping malls and eateries, and sample the obligatory Ben and Jerry’s ice-creams. The whole Sheats family could not have been more kind.

In May we enjoyed a short break with Peter and Jane Richards in Cornwall, visiting around the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project.

In August we relaxed for a few days of spiritual refreshment at Summer Conference at Rora House in Devon.

In November we travelled up to Scotland, visiting our old stamping ground of Edinburgh on the east and Glasgow and Auchenheath on the west, with a visit to the Myerscough cottage under construction in Aberfeldy. It was great to stay with Alec and Angela Workman in Carluke, and to visit all our other friends of long-standing.

Tim completed his three years at Keele University in Staffordshire with an English and Economics degree, and eventually moved into a job with Computer 2000 in Basingstoke where he sells PCs and PC supplies to the likes of PC World, Dixons, Staples, Comet, etc. He is very motivated by the work leaving the house at 7am and not returning until 7pm.

Ben spent a gap year working as a lifeguard at the Loddon Valley Leisure Centre a mile away, and from October has been settling in to the Coventry Business School, Coventry University to study German and French. In February he went to Tanzania while we were away.

Kik, our Japanese friend continued to stay with us for the fourth year. We enjoy her company very much.

Whiteknights International Church continues to prosper and grow slowly, and Sunday evening meetings still attract overseas students from the university, some of whom are responding to the gospel.

We’re all getting older – Mike is now 59 – and we are starting to ask the question: Where do we go from here?

We have just booked flights to visit World Outreach missionaries and other friends in Thailand in February 2005, and we remain open to the possibility of new horizons. The Lord holds our future in His hands and will lead us on. Of that we are sure.