It's done now. Fraser has handed in his notice to Highland Theological College so we have to go to Nigeria! He's been working there for nearly 10 years and it always seemed the perfect job for a Christian librarian with IT tendencies until God used it to start the uprooting process. One of the ways Fraser realised that God was saying it's time to move on was when this previously great job became exceptionally stressful and no longer satisfying. As these feelings were described almost exactly by a visiting speaker to the college when she was explaining how God told her it was time to leave her job in education and go into full time Christian work they helped Fraser to realise that the Lord really was shaking him up.
On the topic of recognising God's pointers, last Sunday we were at Kiltarlity Free Church to speak after the morning service. It's a warm, welcoming church with a preacher brave enough to admit that at 12:31am on Sunday morning he had just torn up his sermon draft and was sending up a "what am I going to preach on now Lord?" prayer. The message he did give was very applicable to our situation and fitted powerfully with the theme of being obedient to God and trusting him in whatever situation he's put you in or is leading you into. My eyes were also opened by my reaction to a conversation I had with Shona, a visitor from Stornoway. When we tell people we're going to Nigeria their first reaction is often "You must be mad" but to me there's no problem. When Shona told me about people she knows who took their young family to work in Afghanistan my immediate thought was, rather them than me, although they love it there as that's where God wants them to be. I think it shows that knowing you're following what the Lord wants of you really enables you to see things with different eyes. A banal thought possibly but it struck me as helpful in deciding whether you're on the right track.
I meant to take some photos of the trays of cakes at the coffee morning but was too busy getting them ready and serving the lovely people who came to support us (don't say too busy eating cakes too as confidence is shaken if the cook doesn't the sample the goods). A big thank you to everyone who came and gave so generously. We're still getting donations from people who couldn't make it on Saturday morning although that makes me wonder what it says about my cooking. Support the mission but avoid the cakes? Possibly very wise and certainly less fattening! We're heading towards £500 and we're very grateful.
Monday 30 April 2012
Monday 23 April 2012
Once upon a time....
Once upon a time, a very long time ago when we were newly married, Fraser and I lived in the beautiful west coast village of Lochcarron. Actually, we didn't even live in the village itself but in one of three traditional white cottages about three miles away. The scenery is stunning but living there had its challenges, not least the water supply in the cottage which, coming from a stream, would often freeze up in the winter and dry up in the summer. Previous inhabitants of the cottage even found a frog in the toilet one day although the most exciting thing we experienced was the decaying mouse behind the electrical socket (detected by the smell) and the burst pipe that kept us up all night emptying pans of water.
We don't often get back to Lochcarron although it's only an hour's drive away but every time we do I want to stay longer. The air is so much fresher, the pace of life seems less rushed and the walks are gorgeous. We had an excuse to travel west on Friday as old friends at the Free Church had invited us to talk about God's plans for us in Nigeria. It was lovely to get such a warm welcome and expressions of interest in what we're doing. One of the great side effects of being called overseas is the opportunity to renew old friendships and to meet new members of the Christian family. I know I use this word a lot but it really is a privilege to be in contact with so many different Christian traditions from Anglicans to the Free Church and the many gradations between. We are keen to be sent out by a rainbow of God's people whether you sit, kneel or stand up to pray, sing Psalms sitting down acapella or modern songs swaying to electric guitars and drumkits: believing in Jesus makes us all part of the same family.
Driving over to Lochcarron brought back a lot of memories, not least of having to cycle from the cottage into the village (we were even poorer then and kept the car for emergencies and shopping trips to Inverness!(some would say they amount to the same thing)). Fraser's convinced that the wind was always against him going into work and still against him when he cycled home again. As he was actually blown off his bike into the ditch one night I think I might believe him.
We managed to avoid the deer sedately crossing the road on the way back to Dingwall and I hope we avoided the frog hopping across too but in a strange way it felt as if life was speeding up again as we drove east. If we had managed to sell our house I would have been tempted to suggest buying somewhere on the west coast to retreat to. As it is there's no interest in any of the houses for sale in Dingwall at the moment so we're thinking we'll have to rent ours out when we go away. If anyone out there fancies buying a characterful three-bedroomed house in Dingwall with views over the Black Isle and River Conon and deer that come off the hill into the garden please get in touch!
Finally, here's a quick advert. We're holding a coffee morning and card sale on Saturday, 28th May in Castle Street Church hall, Dingwall (10:30-12:30) to raise funds. There may be some people reading this close enough to come and support us. We'd be very glad to see you, feed you, sell you cards and enthuse about Mission Africa. Do come along if you can otherwise there'll be far too many cakes and biscuits left over. I won't even be able to take them to be finished off at our church the next day as we've been invited to speak at Kiltarlity church about what we're doing so we really need lots of people to come on Saturday.
We don't often get back to Lochcarron although it's only an hour's drive away but every time we do I want to stay longer. The air is so much fresher, the pace of life seems less rushed and the walks are gorgeous. We had an excuse to travel west on Friday as old friends at the Free Church had invited us to talk about God's plans for us in Nigeria. It was lovely to get such a warm welcome and expressions of interest in what we're doing. One of the great side effects of being called overseas is the opportunity to renew old friendships and to meet new members of the Christian family. I know I use this word a lot but it really is a privilege to be in contact with so many different Christian traditions from Anglicans to the Free Church and the many gradations between. We are keen to be sent out by a rainbow of God's people whether you sit, kneel or stand up to pray, sing Psalms sitting down acapella or modern songs swaying to electric guitars and drumkits: believing in Jesus makes us all part of the same family.
Driving over to Lochcarron brought back a lot of memories, not least of having to cycle from the cottage into the village (we were even poorer then and kept the car for emergencies and shopping trips to Inverness!(some would say they amount to the same thing)). Fraser's convinced that the wind was always against him going into work and still against him when he cycled home again. As he was actually blown off his bike into the ditch one night I think I might believe him.
We managed to avoid the deer sedately crossing the road on the way back to Dingwall and I hope we avoided the frog hopping across too but in a strange way it felt as if life was speeding up again as we drove east. If we had managed to sell our house I would have been tempted to suggest buying somewhere on the west coast to retreat to. As it is there's no interest in any of the houses for sale in Dingwall at the moment so we're thinking we'll have to rent ours out when we go away. If anyone out there fancies buying a characterful three-bedroomed house in Dingwall with views over the Black Isle and River Conon and deer that come off the hill into the garden please get in touch!
Finally, here's a quick advert. We're holding a coffee morning and card sale on Saturday, 28th May in Castle Street Church hall, Dingwall (10:30-12:30) to raise funds. There may be some people reading this close enough to come and support us. We'd be very glad to see you, feed you, sell you cards and enthuse about Mission Africa. Do come along if you can otherwise there'll be far too many cakes and biscuits left over. I won't even be able to take them to be finished off at our church the next day as we've been invited to speak at Kiltarlity church about what we're doing so we really need lots of people to come on Saturday.
Friday 13 April 2012
I would walk (drive) 500 (1500) miles....
As usual time has done its loopy thing and though the children and I only got back from our trip last night after 11 days away it seems almost as if it never happened. Although I now feel rather spaced out after driving for 8 hours yesterday (well done James and Ruth for spending most of the Easter holidays in the car without complaining), we had a good time meeting friends and relatives, renewing relationships and letting more people know more about our plans for Nigeria.
We're hoping to go out at the end of June but we still need to raise a lot of support. We're often asked by the people in Jos, "When will you be here?" Before we leave the country we have to have raised or been pledged about £20,000 per annum. It's a lot of money but our God is great and we trust he will supply all our needs. However, he has chosen to work through humans so if you do feel that the Lord might be prompting you to support the work he's doing through us, please fill in the form on our support leaflet and send it to the Mission Africa office in Belfast or get in touch (dawn.jackson@missionafrica.org.uk) for more details of how to get involved financially and/or prayerfully. If you don't you may have to put up with us for longer than planned and these posts won't get really interesting until we go overseas! You know it makes sense!
I hope you all had a glorious Easter. We happened to be in Aylesbury staying with my aunt and uncle over the Easter weekend. The service in their church (Southcourt Baptist) was alive and we truly felt close to God throughout. It was wonderful to worship the risen Lord in great music. I especially agreed with the preacher that after 40 days of Lent there should be champagne breakfasts at churches, presents, parties and celebrations for 50 days afterwards as our Lord has risen, instead of the measly one day on Easter Sunday. With the miracle of God becoming man at Christmas, his dying for us and rising again at Easter is the most significant event in history.
Just before the Easter day service we were given an interesting article from the April 2012 edition of Christianity Today. In it the author discusses the choices facing the Nigerian Church, how to react to the violence instigated by such Islamic groups as Boko Haram. Should Christians turn the other cheek or fight back? He argues that the role of Christians is to be "just peacemakers". To do this the Church needs a sound theological basis; theological education and good Christian teaching is terribly important and that reinforces our feeling that God wants us out in Nigeria to help strengthen the Church there. If you can, please help us to get there.
Finally, here's a fact I learned over the weekend. We met a friend and her family at Tiggywinkle's Animal Hospital. As well as cooing over an adorable hedgehog and watching in amazement as the attack tortoise, Mad Max, sped towards our shoes only to be thwarted by the wire fence, I learned that ducks cannot count. This may be obvious to some of you but it rather tickled me, especially as the fact was illustrated by a photo of a mother duck followed by about two dozen ducklings of varying ages. The inability to count can be something of a disadvantage if the duck swims out in the morning with 6 ducklings and returns with only 2 as she's still convinced that all her brood have come home. However it's great if orphan ducklings need a mother - just attach them to an existing family. Perhaps this fact intrigues me so much as it's quite flabbergasting to imagine that one day you might have 2 children but the next find yourself reponsible for half a dozen without noticing the difference.
We're hoping to go out at the end of June but we still need to raise a lot of support. We're often asked by the people in Jos, "When will you be here?" Before we leave the country we have to have raised or been pledged about £20,000 per annum. It's a lot of money but our God is great and we trust he will supply all our needs. However, he has chosen to work through humans so if you do feel that the Lord might be prompting you to support the work he's doing through us, please fill in the form on our support leaflet and send it to the Mission Africa office in Belfast or get in touch (dawn.jackson@missionafrica.org.uk) for more details of how to get involved financially and/or prayerfully. If you don't you may have to put up with us for longer than planned and these posts won't get really interesting until we go overseas! You know it makes sense!
I hope you all had a glorious Easter. We happened to be in Aylesbury staying with my aunt and uncle over the Easter weekend. The service in their church (Southcourt Baptist) was alive and we truly felt close to God throughout. It was wonderful to worship the risen Lord in great music. I especially agreed with the preacher that after 40 days of Lent there should be champagne breakfasts at churches, presents, parties and celebrations for 50 days afterwards as our Lord has risen, instead of the measly one day on Easter Sunday. With the miracle of God becoming man at Christmas, his dying for us and rising again at Easter is the most significant event in history.
Just before the Easter day service we were given an interesting article from the April 2012 edition of Christianity Today. In it the author discusses the choices facing the Nigerian Church, how to react to the violence instigated by such Islamic groups as Boko Haram. Should Christians turn the other cheek or fight back? He argues that the role of Christians is to be "just peacemakers". To do this the Church needs a sound theological basis; theological education and good Christian teaching is terribly important and that reinforces our feeling that God wants us out in Nigeria to help strengthen the Church there. If you can, please help us to get there.
Monday 2 April 2012
One by one
Today we are feeling rather sad as yesterday we gave our lovely cat away. It may seem a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things but we'd had her for about 8 years, she had a lovely friendly nature and we miss her already. Knowing that she's gone to a lady in church who's been counting down the days until the cat arrived and who will spoil her rotten makes it a little easier but giving Ari (Ariosto) away starts to bring home a little of the cost of leaving life in the UK. Just as it took me several days to stop looking out for the hens in the backgarden, I'm "seeing" Ari out there or catching a glimpse of her sitting on a chair before realising it's just a black bag.
It's a good job that today we're setting out on a tour of the UK. We call in at Ayr for lunch before spending the night near Carlisle. Tomorrow it's on to a village near Manchester for a couple of nights before reaching Aylesbury. That's the bottom of our U-shaped journey. The upward leg takes us to near Cambridge with a detour to Outer London, up to near Doncaster then finally all the way back home. Fraser's skipping half of this. He, dedicated worker that he is, has to return to HTC so has the joy of taking the bus from London to Inverness, a journey that starts at 6am at Aylesbury station and reaches Inverness at 9:50pm. I think my 7 1/2 hour drive from Doncaster with two children is preferable.
The aim of this grand tour is to catch up with relatives and some of my university friends. Unfortunately it looks as if I won't be able to wrangle an actual trip to Oxford into our schedule but seeing friends I haven't seen for years will be even better. Please remember us in all our travelling and with all the people we're hoping to meet.
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| Ari - always ready to help Fraser with his jigsaws |
It's a good job that today we're setting out on a tour of the UK. We call in at Ayr for lunch before spending the night near Carlisle. Tomorrow it's on to a village near Manchester for a couple of nights before reaching Aylesbury. That's the bottom of our U-shaped journey. The upward leg takes us to near Cambridge with a detour to Outer London, up to near Doncaster then finally all the way back home. Fraser's skipping half of this. He, dedicated worker that he is, has to return to HTC so has the joy of taking the bus from London to Inverness, a journey that starts at 6am at Aylesbury station and reaches Inverness at 9:50pm. I think my 7 1/2 hour drive from Doncaster with two children is preferable.
The aim of this grand tour is to catch up with relatives and some of my university friends. Unfortunately it looks as if I won't be able to wrangle an actual trip to Oxford into our schedule but seeing friends I haven't seen for years will be even better. Please remember us in all our travelling and with all the people we're hoping to meet.
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