June 2nd marked one year of living in England! Its been a full and wonderful year of planting roots, meeting friends, building routines, learning customs and holidays, and figuring out what the heck a tombola is. We wake up grateful and blown away that we get to be here.
Year two is a continued learning the area, people, and systems that are becoming more and more familiar to our family. Learning what rhythms work here to live and love life here in Manchester.
This has been a full month of life and ministry! The girls were able to participate in their first school sports day (field day), we survived our first British heat wave, Kris PASSED HIS DRIVING TEST on the FIRST TRY, Kris and I were able to celebrate our 14 year anniversary, Riley and Eleanor have been riding their bikes non-stop, we experienced an authentic Chinese meal made by some sweet friends, and there has been lots of stopping to smell the roses on our way home from school.
Ministry has also been full. English classes are about to come to an end, we are preparing to host a July Mission trip and lead two large community events, we've hosted a team from Florida (ya'll were the best!) and were able to spend time doing cultural surveys and pray walk an area of Manchester that a local church planter is preparing to move!
During one of the days we went prayer walking I met a man name Philip- who I unofficially gave the title of Mayor of the local Tesco shopping center. I sat down with some friends from Milton, Florida and we began talking with Philip. Almost an hour later we learned much of his story, his current hurts, and his servant like heart to see people and help. As we talked he said hi to almost every person that walked by and told us a bit of their story. He was willing to talk, saw the hurt and pain in the world, but anytime we turned to spiritual conversations and the good news of Jesus he shrugged it off. Many people like Philip were willing to talk about life and the problems in the community, but as soon as we mentioned Jesus the conversation turned cold.
We don't have to explain to people that the world is broken, they feel it. The world groans under the pains of sin and brokenness. Our hope is that Jesus is coming back and will restore all things and until he returns we share this hope with people like Philip, and we pray through the power of the Holy Spirit they are able to taste and see that the Lord is good.
Thank you for your partnership! Prayer is the bedrock of this journey we are on. Please reach out to us and let us know how we can be praying for you!
