The end of the (World Outreach) line

Early in October 2009 I hand all the work of World Outreach UK Operations Director over to John Ball, one of the other WOUK trustees. I think it would be hard to find a more suitable man than John. As an ex-Publishing Manager of Scripture Union with links to Bible Society, he will bring valuable expertise to the job in areas of management, publicity and much more.

Now that what I began to do in 2003 is complete, that is developing and documenting office systems for World Outreach, it is clearly the right time to hand over.

Janet, my wife, reminds me that beginning in Summer 2003 when I began the initial work to take over the administration of World Outreach UK from the office in Dorchester, which employed 3 people, I had to work very hard to get everything going. The aim was to take all the records that were needed for the continuance of the trust from the 3-storey office in Dorchester, and to compress them into a form that could be held by a PC and filing cabinet in a small office in Reading.

During June 2003 I had made a whistle-stop visit to World Outreach offices in Singapore, Brisbane and Auckland to evaluate their computer systems and had learnt that none of them could be utilised to provide accounting and office systems for the UK office. Researching the software market in the UK also revealed that there was nothing available that was not either simplistic or over-complex for the task we faced. It seemed remarkable to me that with thousands of UK charities with similar requirements (or so I imagined), there should be nothing suitable for us in the marketplace.

So, apart from having to convert existing supporter records into a form that we could use, it was necessary to write a fair amount of software to interface to the hybrid QuickBooks package that was providing core accounting. As the months went by, the software expanded and generated work because we able to do more with the data than we had ever done before. We began to discover which supporters were interested in what and to write to them to keep them informed about their interests.

In time the World Outreach UK website was developed and it became difficult to keep all the balls in the air, especially because the office system continually developed as my understanding of VB6 programming and web systems increased. We moved to web platforms for forex transfers which greatly reduced the cost of sending money to missionaries. This development was spurred on by the comment made by one forex bureau that banks made 60% of their profits from foreign exchange. I don't know how true this is.

So while this was all going on, a lot of normal living had to be on hold. Although we managed to take holidays away at least once a year, it did mean that for 6 years the house did not get painted and the garden did not get dug, all the jobs that a man's muscles do better! Janet proved her mettle in allowing me to get on with the job and supporting me in manic working while onlookers sometimes assumed that because she didn't go out to work time must weigh heavily on her hands.

So it is going to be a great relief to pass the responsibility on to someone else. The office routines are set up, all systems are now frozen, and it only remains to complete the online documentation for 'those that shall come after', because John will eventually pass the work on to someone else.

Christmas 2008 News

"Really!" you say. "Have we not heard from them for 5 years?" It is very likely that there has been radio silence on our part for all of that time, but we will now attempt to rectify the situation.

It was in 2003 that Mike took up the responsibility of 'Operations Director' of World Outreach, an international Christian mission. Over the last 5 years the role has grown and developed, providing continuously changing challenges, which he has generally enjoyed. He has spent a lot of time writing computer programs 'to make the work easier', and hopes to spend a good part of his Christmas 'break' moving the website www.wouk.org onto a new, easier to maintain basis..

Over the years we have visited people in foreign places like Thailand, Cambodia (Mike only), Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Florida, Scotland and Cornwall, and even tried a short cruise to the Bahamas from Miami! Mike has this terrible idea that every holiday has to have a purpose while Janet is very happy to enjoy a rest and change of scene.

Having been a part of Whiteknights Church in Reading for about 10 years, we have this year removed ourselves back to Earley Christian Fellowship, enjoying friendship across both situations. Mike also attends the Leaders' Prayer Meeting in town at Greyfriars Anglican Church once a week, enjoying association with the wider church.

Janet continues in the calling of a housewife, looking after Mike, and keeping the house and the food supplies running. She keeps up with friends and family around the place and spends an hour every morning in a warm corner by the French windows reading theological tomes alongside the bible. We like the little house we have owned in Reading since 1995, it's warm and dry with a pleasant outlook front and back, and we feel God has been very kind to us in providing it.

Janet enjoyed the pleasures of the NHS from the 'other side of the sheets' when, while visiting South Mimms service station on our way to visit Mike's brother and sister-in-law in Norfolk, she fell into a flower bed and heard a snapping sound on the way down. A passing St John's lady diagnosed a broken arm and the satnav took us directly to the nearest A&E where it was put into plaster. Some days later, the Royal Berkshire Hospital, discovering that the arm was not healing correctly, put 2" stainlesss nails into Janet's wrist, and it took six months for her arm to return almost to normal. The lengths we go for excitement! A month previously, Mike had tripped over a kerb-stone in Morrison's car park. As he went down, a voice said in his ear "roll into a ball". He obeyed and rolled across the car-park, sustaining no damage except slight bruising. Amazing.

Tim (26) now works for DEFRA in the town centre, awarding subsidies to qualifying farmers, and enjoys applying his quick wits to using their computer systems and helping others who work with him. He's now moved out to a bedsit a couple of miles away in a large Victorian house and is enjoying a bit more freedom carving out his own lifestyle.

Ben (24) works for Slipstream at Green Park on the edge of Reading, ringing up companies to interrogate their technical experts about their computing needs. It's been a steep learning curve for him, but he's making the grade and growing into a very socially competent chap. But they both are; it's called growing up!

So, what else can we tell you? Well Mike is 63 and Janet's a bit less, and we're both wondering what the future's going to hold. For some years we have been thinking about moving to a flat, but the time hasn't been right. We both enjoy the garden, so if we move to a flat in the future we'd like there to be a mature garden around it. Ben still lives with us, and we don't want to turf him out, so he's got to be settled before we would move.

The World Outreach position involves routine office work which Mike tires of, and computer work which is beginning to become too difficult, so the writing is on the wall to pass the work to someone younger, more energetic and hopefully with a 21st century vision. At such time as this happens, we have wondered if it might be possible to live abroad again for a while and perhaps to become involved in some kind of Gospel work until it is no longer possible. We do wonder if all the bible reading and study over the years will find this kind of outlet again. It all depends on continuing good health and the will of God.

We read your newsletters with delight and great interest, so thanks for keeping up with us.

Funding the Family Business

Myles Wilson and Stewardship

Funding the Family Business, published by Stewardship for Christian workers, is packed with 25 chapters covering almost everything you need to know to establish a support base.

Early chapters look at the principles of giving: "If you are going to receive financial support, someone needs to give it, and because you can’t receive until they give, it is important to understand what the Bible says about being a giver before exploring what it means to be a receiver". The clear message is that because "it is more blessed to give than receive", support raisers are helping others to experience God’s blessing and reticence to approach potential supporters can deny them this privilege.

Later chapters deal more with the practicalities of finding supporters and asking for their commitment: "You want to make sure that those on your support team know why you want them to be your supporters, what being a supporter will involve and how they can be the best help to you in following Gods' call on your life".

As a workbook it is packed with stories, insight and exercises that will inspire, inform and guide in the ministry journey.

Testimonies
"Our support was declining and we were considering quitting. Myles' intervention and teaching completely transformed our view of support raising and set us on a fresh course with faith and vision"

"When we started looking into serving overseas, we vowed we would never raise our own support. But God had other ideas and soon we found ourselves reluctantly doing so. We then attended a Myles Wilson seminar and our reluctance was transformed into enthusiasm. We haven't looked back since and wouldn't change from it now - even if we were given the option."

"Several years ago, my wife and I  were receiving 70% of our target annual budget. We were in a financial hole, and could see no way up and out. I'm delighted to say that, with Myles as our coach, we were able to get to 95% of our budget within 6-9 months. Myles was a wonderful "coach" with a wealth of experience in this field. He not only has a firm grasp of biblical principles that lie behind the whole area of support raising, but has the personal qualities that a coach needs - encouraging all the time, but also prepared to confront and call for change when needed. He nurtured our faith in the Lord's ability to provide, and is a great teacher. He was for us a messenger from God, and we thank God for Him.

"Our mission has benefited enormously from Myles' training of both staff and mission Partners.  We have learnt not only how to go about raising support but why we want to do it.  Our aim is to develop partnerships between ourselves and churches, mission partners and the projects and ministries in which we serve, both here and abroad, and Myles has helped us to achieve that much more effectively."

"We have published a number of Myles' articles on giving and receiving in our magazine and have received more requests to re-use these in other church and charity publications than any other resource.

"For well over a decade we have used Myles Wilson to train our candidates in support raising.  His biblical, practical and enthusiastic approach has been a great help to many new candidates who can often feel unsure if they will ever be able to raise the amounts they need to follow God's call into mission.  However, despite some members coming from small churches with very limited finances, in the years Myles has trained our staff we have never had anyone not go to the field because they couldn't raise their support.   The foundation that Myles has helped us lay is to see support raising as a genuine way of getting churches, friends and family of our members involved in mission and as a blessing to the supporters where it is more blessed to give than receive."

More information

Christmas 2005 News

All this year Mike has continued to work as the 'Operations Director' for World Outreach, a job that he enjoys but spends too much time doing. The problem is that he is always thinking of better ways to do things, and so the job expands to overfill available time. He is trying to get a final grip on things as the paint drops off the house, and the garden continues to grow even when it isn't attended to.

In February, normally a quieter time for the UK office, Mike and Janet went to Thailand to see some of the World Outreach projects.

We began in Bangkok meeting up with Patricia Green the founder of Rahab Ministries who operate among prostitutes in Patpong, the red-light district of Bangkok. By daytime the area looked innocuous, but in the late afternoon as the stalls come out onto the street in readiness for the night market, we no longer wanted to be in the area.

We also visited the Good News team who, working from a three-floor townhouse in as suburb of Bangkok, run a bible correspondence course for 100,000 Buddhist Thai schoolchildren. They publish their own material and also go into schools all around the country taking assemblies, and placing Christian literature in school libraries. They have also worked among children affected by the tsunami, encouraging them to play and to laugh again.

From Bangkok we travelled to Chiang Mae in the north-west of the country. Chiang Mae is home to the largest concentration of Christian missionaries in Asia, because of it's proximity to Burma, Cambodia, Laos and, of course, China.

From there we visited two Children's Hostels for hill tribes run by World Outreach, one in Doi Sacket, and one in Mae Chaem where we happened on the annual festival and enjoyed the flower-covered floats as they came through the town, with youngsters playing all kinds of instruments, and dressed in traditional tribal costumes.

We also met up with the Brellenthins who run another Children’s' Home in Chiang Mai, and the McKnight’s who also live there.

Our last few days we spent down at Hua Hin at the Juniper Tree, a rest house for missionaries in need of recuperation. Unfortunately, by that time, we were both under the weather and couldn't wait to catch the flight home.

During our time in Thailand we were very impressed with the quality and dedication of the missionaries we spent time with and the quality of the job that thy were doing.

At Easter, we joined our church at Moorlands Bible College near Bournemouth for our traditional Easter house-party, a time of exercise in the New Forest, visiting National Trust piles, and eating well. About half our party were from overseas and we had an excellent time.

In June we collected Ben from Coventry at the end of his first year studying German and French and playing computer games. By general consensus it was agreed to call it quits and Ben began an intensive process of job hunting. He was told everywhere he looked that they needed someone with experience - at least not the experience that he had, so it was with considerable relief that he finally landed a job in a call-centre in central Reading answering the phone to elderly people who were interested in the 'Stay Warm' scheme to cap the cost of their electricity and gas supply. He has stuck this humble pursuit and won a number of rewards for good results.

In August we made our annual pilgrimage to Devon to participate in the conference that is held in the grounds of Rora House each year. Mike was particularly encouraged to follow through on a series of creationist talks by Arthur Jones, and, having now read more widely rejoices in believing that the account of creation in Genesis is literal and that the days were days as we know them now. A great weight has slipped from his mind and a quantity of other biblical truth is also beginning to slot into place.

At the end of August, Mike had his 60th birthday, a time to reflect on the goodness of God over the years, and to seek to ensure that whatever time is left should be lived to His glory.

Tim continues to work in Basingstoke at Computer 2000 which buys computer parts and software from manufacturers and sells on a low margin to the likes of PC World and E-Buyer. He normally leaves the house at 7am and doesn't return until 7pm, so it's a long day, and he works hard. Mike asked him one evening if he was undervalued, and he replied that he would work hard whether they paid him well or not. A good attitude we think.

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.

Christmas 2002 News

The time has come around again in writing to one other to share what has been going on during the last year. At this time last year, our annual newsletter was written, and printed in colour, but was never circulated. We can’t remember why, except that each year seems to be busier than preceding years whatever we do to reduce non-essential activities. Having decided that friends like to get news rather than a few words in a card, this year we have again sent out very few cards, and only to family members.

Tim is still at Keele University studying English and Economics. The English he finds relatively easy, but perhaps that is because it comes very naturally to him, but the Economics is requiring some steady hard work. He’s enjoying being a student, but we can see that he doesn’t enjoy being under pressure to perform. He continues to be very sporty, playing football regularly and going to the gym. During the summer he supplemented his income by working nights at our local ASDA, an experience he didn’t enjoy, but stuck to with his usual perseverance.

 

Ben is in the second year Sixth form at Reading Blue Coat School taking French, German and Economics at A level. Moving into a new school for sixth form has not been easy, but Ben has adjusted and his teachers are generally pleased with him. He has a conditional place at University, but we are by no means convinced that University would be the right choice for him because although he is very bright, he is not academic, and some other way forward may be better for him. At a time that the government is moving towards 50% of young people going to University, we are aware that the failure rate is about 23% with 17% dropping out of higher education altogether. Ben keeps himself in necessities with a paper round.

 

In the middle of March, Mike was made redundant from Hogg Robinson, where he worked as a database programmer, fallout from the September 11 World Trade Center event. Having been told by the CEO that no one would be made redundant, this came as a surprise, but was welcomed eventually as an opportunity to change direction.

 

Easter was at the end of March, and the family joined Whiteknights International Church (with whom we worship) at Moorlands Bible College for a long weekend away with some of the international students who join us on Sunday evenings. The college is close to Bournemouth, set in delightful grounds, and has a well-appointed sports hall, so there was always something for everyone to do. Tim joined us from Keele, and we all enjoyed the few days away, Mike walking in the New Forest and Janet enjoying gentler walks up Hengistbury Head on the coast. The weather was pleasant too.

In the middle of April, Mike celebrated his unexpected liberation with a week in Portugal visiting Peter and Jane Richards who work as language school teachers/missionaries in the areas around Mondim de Basto where they live. He very much enjoyed the time (spent moving from restaurant to restaurant - please don’t get the wrong idea), and commented (continuously) on the similarity between modern Portuguese architecture and what he had seen in central Africa where there is a strong Portuguese influence. Janet had to stay at home because Ben was taking A/S levels during May and June.

 

At the start of July, Ben went on German exchange to the northern Black Forest for two weeks, sampling youth hostelling, visiting Bodensee, working in a kindergarten, and attending a German school along with Lotte and Eva his exchange partners. Ben’s German improved rapidly during this time because we had made a pact with Lotte’s parents, Sebastian and Rita, that they would feign ignorance of English during this time. Originally, Ben had been partnered with Lotte, and one of Ben’s school friends had been partnered with Eva. However Eva’s partner dropped out, and Lotte had written to us (in excellent English) suggesting that Eva, who had not been to the UK before, should take her place. We felt that Lotte had been so kind in offering to drop out, that we should invite them both to come the UK, although Lotte would remain Ben’s official partner. This arrangement seemed to work well.

 

While Ben was away, his parents exploited their unusual freedom by going away to ‘little England beyond Wales’ where friends offered the use of a holiday cottage in a place called Marloes, southwest of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire. This was the second visit to this delightful area where we felt very much at home, and although the weather was unpleasant in most of the UK at this time, Mike and Janet enjoyed lazy days on the sandy beach and visits to sundry craft shops scattered in towns around. They did not repeat the horse-riding they had tried last time they were there when Mike had suffered extreme chafing on his legs and Janet had not been able to get off the horse (dismount is the technical term) at the end of the ride. Neither did they repeat their inability to get round a 9-hole golf course in less than two days.

 

At the start of August, Mike and Janet went to Summer Conference at Rora House in Devon for a few days, staying in an American tent, similar to a poly tunnel. The tent appealed to them because it had been designed for full-size Americans rather than the midget Europeans most tents are built for. As an example, the family car could have been parked inside the tent (but not with inner tents in place) and not be noticed by passers-by. The conference was enjoyable and valuable, as well as being an opportunity to renew friendship with many people.

 

During the summer, plans to erect a summerhouse in the garden changed somewhat, and with the help of skilled friends and an extended period of dry weather, a high specification chalet (insulated, decorated, carpet, power) at the top of the garden now houses desk, filing cabinets and a computer with broadband connection and all Mike’s books. This was a major physical effort, and Mike wondered at times whether he was going to make it.

 

Near the end of August, Lotte and Eva arrived for their visit to the UK and we broke all records and visited Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and Windsor Castle, and even went for a couple of rides up and down the Thames on a cruise ship. It was in London that we parked the car in a most unusual car park that, at high speed, carried the car up and away in a pod, and returned it to us some hours later, on proof of ownership and £20. We enjoyed the girls’ visit and managed without anyone having to sleep in a tent in the garden.

 

Meanwhile, continued attempts to get programming employment met with failure, the bottom dropping out progressively from the employment market as corporates followed each other like sheep into stagnation. Company after company in Reading laid people off month after month and it began to appear that self-employment may be the only way forward. Mike began to advertise his services locally, offering (i) to fix computers, (ii) to give advice on buying and using them, and (iii) to provide private tuition to secondary level students in mathematics and computing. Towards the end of the year work came in dribs and drabs from agencies specialising in tutoring.

 

During September and October, Janet started seriously designing Christmas cards to sell for profit under the name Mary J Cards. It became clear to Mike that Janet had hidden talents, because the designs were without exception very saleable, and the quality was high. They visited a few craft fairs together to clarify the designs and also called on shops and garden centres to see whether they could sell them through them. In the end it became clear that they would sell best through local contacts and eventually through a website when this could be set up. Nearer Christmas, Janet turned to designing general greetings cards selling well over 100 cards within a few days. Watch this space.

 

Later in the Autumn, Janet accepted the offer of an extra morning at the surgery where she works as a nurse, and, in addition to Monday and Tuesday mornings, with a colleague, ran a blood clinic from 7am to 11am on a Wednesday morning. It proved very pressurising with a record 120 patients packed into four hours, and after four months, Janet had to abandon it on doctor’s orders.

 

In October, we heard the very sad news that Jack Kelly had died, and Mike drove up to Scotland for a few days to be present at the funeral. Jack and his wife Eileen, had been loving friends for many years, and Mike had stayed in their big house in Auchenheath near Lanark for six years, driving through to Edinburgh to work and being involved in the building of the church that met for many years in that place. The funeral provided an opportunity to join with hundreds of other friends, and Jack’s family, to remember his life, and the tremendous influence for good that he, Eileen, and their family had been for many years.

 

Throughout the year we have had the pleasure of having Kikuyo Shinohara, known to us simply as Kik, staying with us as part of our extended family. Kik has been working in Gyosei College, now renamed Witan Hall (whatever that means) by City University who have taken it over, as a teacher of English. We enjoy her company and also the dilution to a house full of males that she provides. We also benefit from numerous discussions about far-Eastern culture and all that sort of thing.

 

Churchwise we continue with our friends in Whiteknights International Church with about 28 to 45 people meeting together on a Sunday morning (someone has provided me with accurate statistics!) at Leighton Park School where we rent rooms. Whiteknights Park is the name of the University campus close by, and we have a lot of international people coming, so that’s where the name came from. At present we have representation from Russia, Korea, Japan, Venezuela and China on Sunday evening meetings so we do have an international flavour. The big thing is that there’s opportunity for input into the meetings, something you don’t get everywhere.

 

This newsletter went out by email to those ones we regard as our dearest friends. However, to keep the size down especially for people in Africa, or those who don’t have a fast modem, we included links to photographs, rather than include the photographs in the text. Our websites are undeveloped, but we hope to work on them over the next couple of months so they will improve. Mike has bought a digital camera, so current pictures of the family will be much easier to obtain.

 

In the new year, Mike hopes to develop his business with help from InBiz, a private company who provide business advice under a government initiative, but we have no doubt that “dependence on God” is what it’s all about. As we get older in the Christian life, it seems to us there are two things we need to do. The first is to hold fast to the former things: don’t allow ourselves to get ‘old’, but to hang on tight to first-love, etc. And the second thing is to learn to depend on God more and more as our own abilities decrease. You may have more insight, but it’s the way we see things appear at present.

Christmas 2000 News

The time has come, (the walrus said), to write another Christmas newsletter. I had the misfortune to read an article recently in the Times, where an opinion was aired that Christmas newsletters were typically produced by the middle classes to tell everyone 'how well Johnny is doing in the orchestra', and that 'Celia has been presented to the Queen', not to mention that 'the holiday in the Bahamas was so relaxing'. I felt sorry that the writer had such 'friends'.

The letters we receive are full of real interest, and it with joy that we open and read each one, catching up on news we can get in no other way. We're all too busy! So, if you wrote, thank you for writing! Keep up the good work! And, if you didn't, we understand.

And so to our news. But let me first explain that, in the course of the year, we've experimented with sending some updates by email. So, if you're technologically enabled (i.e. you know the frustration of a computer), you may suffer a repeat of what you've heard before. Our apologies. Unlike historians, we do not rewrite history as the whim takes us.

Building work.

During May, a company of builders did a lightning assault on our house, in four days fitting a new bathroom, basins in each bedroom, a downstairs toilet, and pouring concrete bases for a greenhouse, an office and a shed! Phew! Tim studied for 'A' levels in our caravan in the front garden while Mike worked alongside the wreckers. Janet tried to keep her eyes and nose shut (to keep out the dust) and kept the chuck wagon rolling.

There are still many things to finish off in the house: cupboards to put up, shelving, papering, tiling, wiring, carpeting, in addition to daily working and living. For a time, Mike felt totally unable to make progress. Is it anno Domini catching up? But the situation is improving.

Tim's peregrinations.

In June, Tim (18) achieved sufficient grades to do English and Economics at a good University, but decided to have a gap year. He was taken on as a partner by the John Lewis store in Reading in September, and has been working very hard in the gift food department to earn money for a computer, and to prepare for university.

Ben's deliberations.

Ben (16) seems to have a gift for languages, and has done well in German and French at school. He's already been looking at Universities although he still has to take GCSEs. He has started a 12-hour a week job at ASDA superstore to finance strawberry laces and a projected visit to Tanzania.

A car accident.

At the start of August, travelling late at night in our Renault 21 with a caravan on tow, we had to swerve violently to avoid an articulated lorry that came out at speed into our path. Although we jack-knifed, by the grace of God rather than Mike's skill, the car ended up on the edge of the road with the caravan still attached. The vehicles were still upright, and although Ben had a scratch, we were otherwise unhurt. Tim had not been travelling with us. The vehicles were beyond economic repair. We were able to use our week-old cell-phone to call up the police and Automobile Association who sent out relay trucks. In a couple of hours all the mess was cleared up, and we were on our way home by chauffeur.

The next day, very compassionate friends, hearing of our accident, towed their own caravan to where we had intended to holiday, collecting it again after a week. So we had a week's break, but not quite as we had planned!

A replacement car.

We were able to replace the Renault with a Toyota Carina, which we are enjoying, money from a company merger unexpectedly arriving when we needed it. Amazing timing! But we failed to remove the removeable front of the CD player one evening when the car was parked in a dark spot. Although the thief did not get into the car, he left us with a large repair bill.

A new job for Mike?

Mike had been looking around for another computing job for some months, but younger management assumes that 55 implies obsolescence. But he is quite clear the new job will come at the right time. Meantime he plugs away, grateful for the job he has.

Janet presses on.

Janet continues to work for two mornings a week at the local Christian medical practice. She enjoys the contact and stimulation, but with the lads fast growing up, demands on her increase all the time.

For one reason or another, We have taken no real break of any length together for a number of years, and we probably need to make a real effort this coming year to correct the situation.

Church commitment.

We continue with a local fellowship, meeting on a Sunday when God habitually speaks through one and another, and where we also find warm friendship. On a Sunday evening we normally go to a Christian meeting for overseas students who mainly attend the University. We have enjoyed contact with families from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Mexico and other places. We cannot tell how much they understand, but we know they enjoy coming.

God continues to be faithful to us through the pressures of life. We are amazed at all the things that happen.