Thursday, July 17, 2014

England Encore

Bonswa, koman ou ye? (Hi, how are you? - Haitian Creole)

I'm writing from the friends' house we are now staying in on the OMS mission compound in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. We've been here since Monday, and so far, I'm glad to say, the pace of life has slowed down nicely (and necessarily...).

Storly's already accomplished several big things over the last couple of days, just from being here in person, talking face-to-face with people, following up contacts, visiting, networking. A major thing was accomplished yesterday that I can't actually tell you about yet, but it's exciting to see that doors are being opened for the radio ministry. That reminds me that many of you are praying for us regularly, most of the time without many specifics of what we're facing day to day. Thank you for praying for us!

Back to England

This is the last post from our June/early July whirlwind trip around the UK. (See previous posts for England, N Ireland and Wales updates).

We loved our time with the people at Bishop's Stortford Baptist Church, the church we started going to when we stayed with Mum before and after Esther's birth. They've always welcomed us back nicely, and this time was no different. We had a lovely time with Pastor John over cups of tea and biscuits ahead of our time to speak during the Sunday service, and it was great to see them flourishing in the new building they're in, and to hear testimonies of how God didn't answer their prayers earlier on in the building process, because He had something better in mind for them. They're doing some great outreach, and John really encouraged us as he spoke about appreciating our character and our ministry. Nice to hear! (sorry, no photos from BSBC for some reason, too busy drinking tea and chatting, I think.)


After a week in South Wales, we headed north to Preston for the OMS UK North West conference at Crown Lane Free Methodist Church, for two meetings Saturday afternoon. We arrived a little disheveled (as usual) after a four hour drive, but managed to tidy up and get into 'church clothes' before people started arriving.

Both meetings went well, and we were glad to be able to share about Haiti with people who have connections with OMS missionaries in other parts of the world. It was great to hear OMS UK Minister-at-Large Doug Atherton speak too, with his fantastic gift of preaching, in a Liverpudlian-mixed-with-South-Wales-valleys accent. He preached (as did a speaker at the OMS International Conference last week, and as I read in my devotions this morning - hmmm, is God trying to tell me something?) from Isaiah 6. This chapter is famous for the part where the Lord asks "Whom shall I send?" and Isaiah answers, "Here I am, send me." But the real point here is not how great Isaiah is for volunteering, but how awesome and holy is the Lord who calls him. [Check it out, Isaiah chapter 6].


We again relied on the hospitality of others. And were grateful to John and Elsie who looked after us so well. The girls especially loved their corner bath :)


And as we left, John gave us a tour round their chicken farm. We learned a few things about how eggs get from chicken to carton!





 




As we left the chicken farm, and headed for several hours back to Mum's, Storly and I both started dreaming about how we could help chicken farmers in Haiti to be more effective in the eggs business.

Cousins

Back to Mum's for a bit more time with family.

Our girls with my cousin Helen's girls, Evi & Maya. 

Me & my lovely cousin Helen.
Our girls with their cousins, my sister's two, Joe & Betty.





And short but sweet time with my lovely cousins Helen & Jenni. 


Back in the car.
Back in the car, towards south London to pick up a second rental car, so that we could drop off the first rental car on time, all the while following directions in French from the Sat Nav (!), heading to next stop in Swindon, sending emails on the way saying we'll be late for the conference call we're due on with colleagues from headquarters about the upcoming International Conference and the speech we were to give there.

Loved a couple of days in a hotel with a pool, and some time visiting my sister in her new place. Then back on the road to our final stop, good friends Neil and Helen's. I first met Neil when he started at World Vision, and sat across an office divider from me. Since then, I and then 'we' have so appreciated our friendship with Neil and Helen, and their beautiful children Faye and John. Neil's now a Vicar of a lovely church in Earley, and we loved just being there under his ministry and among his congregation.



We also loved being able to slump on their sofa for hours (watching the Wimbledon Men's Final) with no expectations from us, nowhere else to be. And the girls had a great time with Faye, making cupcakes, painting toenails and such. Lovely. LOVELY to be with them for a short but oh-so-refreshing time. 


That's it for the UK update. It was a lovely time of connecting and reconnecting with people. Pray with us that many who heard our story will partner with us by praying and giving towards our missionary support. If that's you, would you make that commitment by filling out the details on our prayer card, if you have one, or by contacting One Mission Society in the UK and letting them know you'd like to support 'The Michels'. Let us know how we can help get you set up as part of our missionary support team. Thanks very much, and ta-ta for now!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Land of Song & Revival: Home Again to Wales

"We'll keep a welcome in the hillside.
We'll keep a welcome in the Vale
This land you knew will still be singing
When you come home again to Wales."

"Land of My Fathers..."


As the Welsh National Anthem says, Wales in indeed the land of my father, and my home, though I haven't really lived there for a rather long time. Still, I did cheer, as I always do, when we crossed the Severn Bridge from England to Wales and saw the Welcome to Wales sign.

We'd been in South Wales two years ago, so it was great to go back to visit most of the churches we'd spoken at then. And great to see that though the numbers of people attending these churches where the Holy Spirit had once moved so powerfully (particularly during the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905) are small, their passion for the Lord and for His mission of reaching the world is not.


At Bethel Baptist Church in Crumlin, it was lovely to recognize some faces and to remember again that these people have been praying for the radio ministry for years and years. With very strong One Mission Society/Men for Missions connections, (their pastor is Jeff Jones, MFM UK President), they'd got behind the previous solar radios project, and had a model of the old radio at the front of the sanctuary. We loved our time with these people, who'd come out on a Monday afternoon to hear our update.


The girls did a great job everywhere directing people to sign up for our mailing list, take a look at our photo-book, and take a prayer card. 


With Chris Palmer, OMS South Wales & West Regional Director (left) and Jeff and Moira Jones (right). Jeff is MFM UK President, and pastor of this church.


Their Missions Board: now we have an official prayer card that'll be added to the many faces and ministries that this church prays for regularly (they've been praying for us regularly too, even without a prayer card!)

With the Scannell family

Lunch at my aunt Mary's house gathered some of the Scannell clan together for a few hours.




My youngest cousin David's son, Finlay, with his tiger mask. The girls had fun playing while us grown-ups talked (and drank tea :)


Grandpa and the girls. 

My dad's sister Mary, my dad, me and my grandma's sister, Aunt Yvonne.

The others joined in for the photo: Storly, Finlay, Hannah & Esther, and my dad's wife, Gill.

Lodge Farm

One of the sweetest moments of our whole trip for me was being back at Lodge Farm Church in Caerleon. When I started going to church as a teenager, after friends from school invited me to Young People's group on Thursdays, it was at Lodge Farm, in the room called the Cowshed, where I first made connections with the people and heard the truth that they shared that would lead me a few weeks' later to the Saviour. 


Great to enjoy fellowship with these precious people again. Great to share with them what God has been doing with us. Great to have Dad there. And great to see Bronwyn again (a family friend who I've recently reconnected with on Facebook after about 30 years...)


And great to drink tea and be refreshed again as we mingled. Roland on the left taught me to drive back in about 1990, and Ruth and her husband Owen took good care of us as we stayed in their home this time.






Great to see the Jones family!





Us with Bronwyn and her daughter Erin. 

Me and Maria.


With Phill and Maria. Awesome to hear what God's doing in and through them.
Phill's now a full-time worker - Evangelist, Youth Pastor & Schools Worker - at Lodge Farm, and
we loved hearing of lots of great opportunities they're having to go into schools
and share their faith. 

The Jones girls, Erin and our girls. 


Brecon Beacons

During one of many occasions pouring over maps - online, on paper, phone or Sat Nav (the British term for the GPS you might have in your car), we realized that our next church meeting was in Trecynon, not far from the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Parl, so we spent the day out in the town of Brecon, drove back through the Beacons (mountain range in South/Mid Wales), did a quick change into 'church clothes' at a Visitor Centre before arriving in Trecynon. 


Our rented-from-a-missionary-car-services-organisation 1980s Mercedes Benz.
Plenty of room in the bag to lug all our luggage all over the place.
No air-conditioning though, which we actually needed - we had lots of warm, sunny days.

Enjoying the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal.












The girls were amazing friends for practically the whole trip. Lovely to watch!


An interesting stop at a cafe inside the Parish Church.




Welsh souvenir shop - and no, I didn't buy anything.

The Brecon Beacons




Sheep!



A lovely day out before we headed to Bryn Sion Baptist Church in Trecynon, near Aberdare. 

Love watching people welcome our girls!

Leader Paul Poloha (OMS Board Member) asked Storly and the girls to sing a
song in Creole, so they sang Jezi Renmen Tout Timoun Yo (Jesus Loves the
Little Children).


A lovely time to enjoy fellowship.

Castle 

We left Storly back at Owen & Ruth's house to work on editing some radio programmes, while the girls and I went with my dad to Raglan Castle (a late medieval castle in south east Wales, built between 15th and 17th Centuries).















Spotted some baby birdies. 


Sirhowy

In the evening, we were at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Sirhowy. With just real genuine people. 







And our last meeting in South Wales - a Youth meeting of the Assemblies of God churches in the area. Great, lively worship. Great to see plenty of young people there, some with strong desires to pursue missions in the coming months.



Next stop: north-west England, for an OMS meeting at Crown Lane Free Methodist Church near Preston.