Prayer Letter

We have been really enjoying the En Route course and are now in week 8. The photo shows us in the designated En Route classroom at All Nations. We are the only two British students on the course out of a group of 8, so it has been great working alongside and hearing the perspectives of people from different nationalities. Through the course we have been looking at 'Who am I?', 'The Bible and Mission', 'Culture and Religion', 'Relating and Integrating cultures', and we are now looking into 'Integral Mission'. We have had some really interesting and thought provoking lectures from a variety of lecturers, and it has been great to have time to focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of cross cultural mission work. We will finish the course by presenting our research projects, a project of our choice which is designed to bring together aspects of our learning from the En Route course which can be applied to a real world situation. Roger's project is on Chad and Islam and Ingrid's is looking at transitions for Third Culture Kids.

As part of the 'Culture and Religion' module we travelled to Southall in London and visited a Hindu Temple, Mosque and Sikh Temple, as well as a local Anglican church, all within close walking distance from each other. It was interesting to hear and see first-hand some of the different religions we had been learning about in the class room.

Outside of the classroom we have settled well into college life. It has been inspiring living within a community of like minded people and the boys have enjoyed playing with the other children. Another family, with similar aged children, is living on our corridor and the kids can often be found playing in each other's rooms! Both children have settled well with school/childminder and Mark in particular has enjoyed exploring the college grounds looking for fun trees to play in, as you can see in the photo. The college is surrounded by woods and footpaths so there is lots of space to play and explore.

During one of our lectures here at All Nations, we were challenged by somes figures about the number of people groups around the world with almost zero opportunity to hear about Jesus. Chad falls within this bracket as being a part of the world with many diverse people groups. It is sad to think of the millions around the world who haven't had an opportunity to hear what we would call the Good News and choose for themselves their own response.

Praise God:

That the course has felt like good preparation for cross-cultural missions work.

That the family have coped well with this first move.

Prayer Requests:

To finish the course well and get the most out of this training.

For all the preparations currently in progress for moving to France in mid-April.

That the family will transition well from life in the UK to life in France.

Once we finish the En Route course in March, we will have a further 2 weeks of BMS training before having a short holiday with family and some preparation time for moving to France on the 17th April. We will then start our language training on the 22nd April, which we will continue until the end of this year, before moving to Chad in January 2025.

We are so grateful for all the support and encouragement we have recieved from people as we start this new phase in our lives. Thank you for your ongoing support!