Saturday 29 March 2008
Good-bye to the team
Greetings one and all. Last night we had a great time here at the Joyce's flat. We invited the DTS team to come in and have a prayer time. It was the evening of the last day of their "Lecture Phase". For those who aren't part of YWAM, the Discipleship Training School of which I (Rick) am a part comes in two 'phases' - the lecture phase, and the outreach phase. Each phase is approximately three months in length. Tomorrow, the team will be leaving the King's Lodge to go to a Christian children's festival to work in the ministry teams there. Spring Harvest is a national event that takes place annually. Thousands of kids from babies to teens will gather to have fun and hear the Gospel for a week at a time. Our team will be there for two of the 5-6 weeks that Spring Harvest runs. I and my family have decided after praying that we will not attend this part with the team, but will stay here getting ready for our 2 months with the team out in Turkey. We are getting really excited about the outreach there. So, for now, we are saying good-bye to the team. They will have a great time and have much opportunity to exercise what they have been learning about being missionaries! We look forward to hearing the stories. More later. . .
Wednesday 26 March 2008
CHINA and NORTH KOREA!
Humm, I obviously need to learn to publish the photos first and then the comment... I wrote more down below! The four photos under the photo of China are all of North Korea. I was amazed how close we could actually get to this country, yet, men in nice military clothing came out with big guns so we knew were not to get any closer to the shoreline than we already were! Someday I hope to return and see this nation changed.
1. The first photo is of a bridge between two Communist countries, North Korea - on the left, and China - on the right. This bridge was bombed out during the Korean War and has guards posted on the ends of the North Korean side. It was an amazing feeling going under this bridge on the boat.
2. A photo of a man and woman walking along the coastline with a load of something. The road was barren, frozen and a long distance between villages with only a few houses. Just to give you an idea how cold it was the thermometer registered -22C or -11 F for those in the States. The wind added a bit more to the chill factor! In my many, many layers of clothing, long wool coat and hand warmers my heart went out to the people suffering and freezing in this country.
3. One of the Villages along the coast - notice the terraced hillsides. It looks like every spare bit of land is used for raising corn when the weather is warm.
4. You can get a good view of the ice along the water's edge, very cold! Factories line the edge of the nation and yet the Chinese said rarely will you ever see smoking coming out of any of them as most of them are abandoned.
1. The first photo is of a bridge between two Communist countries, North Korea - on the left, and China - on the right. This bridge was bombed out during the Korean War and has guards posted on the ends of the North Korean side. It was an amazing feeling going under this bridge on the boat.
2. A photo of a man and woman walking along the coastline with a load of something. The road was barren, frozen and a long distance between villages with only a few houses. Just to give you an idea how cold it was the thermometer registered -22C or -11 F for those in the States. The wind added a bit more to the chill factor! In my many, many layers of clothing, long wool coat and hand warmers my heart went out to the people suffering and freezing in this country.
3. One of the Villages along the coast - notice the terraced hillsides. It looks like every spare bit of land is used for raising corn when the weather is warm.
4. You can get a good view of the ice along the water's edge, very cold! Factories line the edge of the nation and yet the Chinese said rarely will you ever see smoking coming out of any of them as most of them are abandoned.
CHINA and NORTH KOREA!
In January I had the amazing time of going with a small team into China for 12 days. What an amazing, beautiful country! It had been 24 years since last being in this country and I was totally overwhelmed with the changes. The last time we were there it was like walking back in time a hundred years, this time it was like walking into any modern city in the world! I had the opportunity to meet many lovely Chinese people that we hope to stay in contact with over the years.
The other amazing blessing we had was to stay in a hotel directly across the water from North Korea! I woke up to the sun just coming over the horizon in North Korea. Later in the day we took a bus for an hour and a half along the river and then boarded a boat that took us along the coast line for another two hours.
Though I am not able to post details of the trip I thought you would enjoy seeing some of the photos I took while there. I'd love to share with you some of the details if you want to write or better yet give us a call!
Saturday 15 March 2008
Graduation Celebration for the PCYM!
Ceilidh-noun
"a social event at which there are Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing and storytelling"
With so many Scottish and Irish people on the base it's only natural that we would celebrate one of our graduations for our students with this great celebration! After many hard hours of study and outreach it truly is a time to celebrate all that God has done in the lives of the students
(Several people know we named our Kaeli this because we felt it would be a intricate part of who she would be... humm, God really knew her when He gave us her name! :-)
Don't Rick and Alex look smashing in their kilts? Alex's amazing new hair growth is also quite amazing also! They had an amazing time, though it was a bit tricky learning to sit with a "skirt" on!
"a social event at which there are Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing and storytelling"
With so many Scottish and Irish people on the base it's only natural that we would celebrate one of our graduations for our students with this great celebration! After many hard hours of study and outreach it truly is a time to celebrate all that God has done in the lives of the students
(Several people know we named our Kaeli this because we felt it would be a intricate part of who she would be... humm, God really knew her when He gave us her name! :-)
Don't Rick and Alex look smashing in their kilts? Alex's amazing new hair growth is also quite amazing also! They had an amazing time, though it was a bit tricky learning to sit with a "skirt" on!
Saturday 23 February 2008
I have some great news! It has little or nothing to do with our mission here with YWAM, but it is still big news for me and for the family. I GOT MY DRIVING LICENSE!!! Isn't that exciting? You see, when an American comes to England, they can drive here on their American license for 12 months from the time that they first entered on their visa. So even though we have been in and out of the country several times since coming, it is all one visa entry according to the gov't. So, in December, I relinquished my priveleges of driving the Lodge's cars, and signed up for driving lessons. OK, to make a long story short, about a month ago, I took the driving test the first time. That's right, I had to take it twice. The first inspector had the audacity to fail me on my test. And for something as silly as what she called "driving on the wrong side of the road!" Can you believe it!? Man are they picky here. Well, in my defense, it's not like I was heading into oncoming traffic or anything. I was on a "dual carriageway" - what we would call a divided highway - and I was in the 'passing lane' instead of the lane used for regular travel. So I had to wait about 2 weeks and take the test again (pay the £48 fee again, too!). This time I passed fine, and now I have a British driving license, which is an EU driving license as well! I think it is exciting. So, thanks to all of you that were praying for me. That's it for today. We'll get back with some more newsy stuff later! Bye!
Sunday 13 January 2008
Hello friends!
Hello to all you brave souls that want to hear more of our news. Again, we'll likely get better at this as we go along. I'm hoping that Sue will get on here and make it look good and all that. I'm such a guy that I just sort of threw it together just to get it up and going. Following is a paragraph that I cut out of the recent newsletter just to slim it down a bit. Bless you all! Rick
We are loving our time with YWAM. It is so exciting to be a part of an organization that is taking the Gospel to the nations. At some point the thought may have occurred to some of you, “Why are they going as missionaries to England. Isn’t that a Christianized nation already?” That may seem like a good argument on the surface, but there are two things that make our move here make good sense. First, England has had the Gospel for centuries, but this generation of British people need Jesus more than ever, and we are making steps to minister into their lives and neighborhoods. Secondly, here at the King’s Lodge, we focus on the nations of the world. We are looking out for every opportunity we can find to go and tell the world. We are likely sending teams from the Lodge to at least 4 different locations this summer, and more throughout the year. We really are ‘going into all the world making disciples of all the nations’.
We are loving our time with YWAM. It is so exciting to be a part of an organization that is taking the Gospel to the nations. At some point the thought may have occurred to some of you, “Why are they going as missionaries to England. Isn’t that a Christianized nation already?” That may seem like a good argument on the surface, but there are two things that make our move here make good sense. First, England has had the Gospel for centuries, but this generation of British people need Jesus more than ever, and we are making steps to minister into their lives and neighborhoods. Secondly, here at the King’s Lodge, we focus on the nations of the world. We are looking out for every opportunity we can find to go and tell the world. We are likely sending teams from the Lodge to at least 4 different locations this summer, and more throughout the year. We really are ‘going into all the world making disciples of all the nations’.
Monday 7 January 2008
Well, it had to happen sometime.
Hey guys,
I don't really know why, but I have been resisting the urge to start a blog. The Borg seem to have had it right, though . . . you know, "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE, YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED". Anyway, like I say, I don't know why I have been resisting for so long, because I really do love technology. Yes, Kip and I are buddies, too.
Anyway, the Joyces have a blog now, and you are invited to drop a line and a comment, We'll be adding pics and stories of our lives here at the King's Lodge and beyond. Those of you that love the newsletters are invited to continue reading and enjoying them. I can't really tell you which of them we will update more often. I read newsletters more, but Sue says she is more prone to go to a blog and read it. So, take your pick. This particular message is from Rick. Bye for now.
I don't really know why, but I have been resisting the urge to start a blog. The Borg seem to have had it right, though . . . you know, "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE, YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED". Anyway, like I say, I don't know why I have been resisting for so long, because I really do love technology. Yes, Kip and I are buddies, too.
Anyway, the Joyces have a blog now, and you are invited to drop a line and a comment, We'll be adding pics and stories of our lives here at the King's Lodge and beyond. Those of you that love the newsletters are invited to continue reading and enjoying them. I can't really tell you which of them we will update more often. I read newsletters more, but Sue says she is more prone to go to a blog and read it. So, take your pick. This particular message is from Rick. Bye for now.
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