TODAY IS THE DAY! REMEMBERING JULY IST. 1961

              Please link to this:     http://youtu.be/x9SFtiTWawc                                                             

                        A tribute to my husband of 50 years. Thank you darling.

Stuart was born 1n 1936 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. He was a choir boy in the local Anglican church and won a scholarship to a minor public school. He was a very keen scouter and when he was 15 he attended a scout camp in North Wales. One Sunday night, walking along the promenade, he stopped to listen to a young man speaking about Jesus in a way he never remembered hearing before. The man approached him and asked if he was a christian. He answered that he didn't know. The young man read to him the verse from John 3: 16  which says: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.." That night he asked Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour and on the following night he responded to the call to serve as a missionary.

3 Years in the Parachute regiment followed and then while he was waiting to be accepted into Bible college, we met for the first time. After doing some outreach work together for a few months we had our first date and after a year we became engaged. Stuart finished Bible college but felt that God was calling him to ordained ministry. Both the bishop and the principal of the theological college agreed it would be best if we married before he began his university studies and so, on  July 1st. 1961 at St.Andrew's  in Kinson, Bournemouth,we became man and wife.


This is the only photograph we have of our wedding.
The others were lost on our numerous travels around the world!


Those travels have taken us to serve in 9 different countries on 4 continents and finally we have ended up in Rio as our last church before we finally "retire" to Watford, Here, on Sunday, we shall celebrate our golden wedding anniversary with our friends and members of the church family.


Naturally we feel sorry that none of our 4 lovely children can be with us nor our 8 beautiful grandchildren but we know they will be with us in spirit.


We are thrilled that our dear friends of over 40 years, Bishop and Mrs. Sherrill will be with us and he has graciously agreed to lead a short thanksgiving service celebrating in the way that means the most to both of us, praising God for his mercy and many, many blessing throughout the last 50 years of growing together. God willing, there will be many more.


              If you have time, please listen to the song  above by Johnny Mathis on YouTube. It is called
                                                            The Twelth of Never.
Johnny Mathis was my favourite singer at that time. (I don´t think Stuart had ever heard of him!)
              Here is the link again in case you missed it.     http://youtu.be/x9SFtiTWawc  

MOVING HOME

OUR  (EX) DARTMOUTH HOME

Hi some of you may know that I have been trying to get Stuart to settle down for quite a while now. It looks as if it might finally be happening. We are expecting to be in Rio until the end of September and then, DV we shall move to our new little terraced house in Watford. Why Watford you may ask? Didn't you have a house in Dartmouth? Isn't there somewhere more exciting with all the places you have lived and worked in?  The answer is we feel that this is what the Lord wants us to do for the next step of our journey and so we are being obedient. Stuart has very graciously agreed that he can put up with the winters in UK. (I could always send him off to see Lois and co. in S Africa or Suzanna and her family in Australia) So....we had to decide where we would buy our new home. For some reason I had this idea about Watford. Stuart remembered he had preached there many years ago on SAMS deputation. It is near the end of the M1 and therefore handy for Paul and Daniel to come and see us. There is the most gorgeous countryside round about. Traffic links are good and when our daughters come from far away places across the sea to visit, they won't have to make another trek to Dartmouth

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/14625978?more_details_carousel=1

This is a link which should bring up the pictures of our new house. We even got it reduced so we are very thankful.We are just about ready to exchange contracts and hope to move in early October. You can start getting on the list of visitors soon! Our house is 6 minutes walk to the church and town centre where there are excellent shops, the Harlequin centre, 3 theatres, leisure centres, transport links  and beautiful parks and woods plus delightful little pubs on the canal. Couldn't be better!
Thank you Father.

We feel very thrilled and delighted because the main reason we wanted to move was to be able to serve in the local community. Watford is a place where the Spirit is really moving.

This is a photo of the very old parish church which is bang in the centre of the shopping precinct which is mostly pedestrianised.  50 local groups belong to a christian outreach to the whole area with lots of very cool programmes and innovative ways of engaging people. There is a lovely bookshop called Presence in the High st..It is a place where all sorts of people go and all the staff are in some stage of training for christian ministry. Next door is the brand new christian bookshop and upstairs a SPA! All manned by Christians.

Upstairs and at the back is a dear little courtyard and a retreat centre where people can go and chill out for a couple of hours or receive counselling. Opposite is a branch of the London Bible college.

Of course, all the churches have their own programmes for members and lots of outreach too.

It seems there have been a lot of prophecies about what the Lord is doing in Watford and we feel very blessed to be a part of it soon. 

 .http://www.picturesofengland.co m/England/Hertfordshire/Watford/pictures/1125210

Not sure if this link will work or if you have the time and energy to look at some of the photos.

This last link is just to remind you that we are all here for a purpose. There is nothing more exciting than being part of that purpose so that every day has its new challenges and joys.

http://www.dailyencouragement.net/

God Given Opportunities:Joni and Friends

This is Joni Eareckson Tada. If you haven't heard about her, watch this video and listen to what she does. A couple of weeks ago while still in Rio, I was given the opportunity to volunteer with her outreach programme to disabled people in countries where owning a wheelchair is just a dream for poor folks.            

 191 Wheelchairs

 Joni and friends sent 191 wheel chairs to Niteroi, a city across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. The paper work is enormous to persuade the Brazilian authorities to allow imported goods in but with the help of the local Rotary club and some persistent people, it was all arranged. There were several therapists and mechanics who came from the States using their holiday time and their own expenses to serve people less fortunate than themselves.

This girl, aged about 24, had never had a wheelchair before. As you can see, she is very severely disabled. The therapists and mechanics spent nearly 5 hours finding a chair that would be comfortable for her. It had to be readjusted numerous times and all the while, the therapists, and mechanics with the aid of translators showed loving, reassuring care to someone who had every reason to be fearful of the pain and strangeness involved. You can see how happy she is here.

I was very privileged to be invited not only to translate but also be part of the evangelism team of 3. After all the people had received their chairs and been given a meal, they came over to our tables and were offered a Bible in various sizes of print according to their needs. These were supplied by the Brazilian Bible Society. Of course, many of the disabled and their carers who also came were Christians and so full of praise and gratitude to God for the brothers and sisters who had come to serve them. Others were spiritists, this lady I am counselling was a Jehovah Witness and she asked to receive Christ as her Saviour. Her carer was very pleased as she was a keen member of a Pentecostal church. The names of all the people who were counselled were noted down and it was someone else's responsibility to make sure that churches near where they lived would make contact with them and try to be of some help to them. Over 30 people made commitments to Christ .      

In spite of the fact that Joni has recently been diagnosed with Cancer, she continues in her role of encouraging everyone whom she comes into contact with and especially through her inspirational website. She is an inspiration to us all of how we should use the gifts that God gives us to reach others for the kingdom and bring glory to Him.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BY THE WAY?

CHECK IT OUT

http://www.joniandfriends.org/