This is a voice from the “duisternus” no doubt,
unaccountably quiet, suddenly recognisable and eagerly anticipated! So much has
transpired since our last point of news, mostly due to the fact that blogging
has seemed to overtake the need for a separate ‘newsletter’. And a belief that
contact and interaction with some people would negate the need for others to be
kept in the loop. Sincere apologies, no excuse.
So, getting right to it: Easiest might be a point/month format
to start with and an expansion with details to follow.
January: Saw us regrouping at home with family and friends,
catching up what seems to fall through the cracks when travels are priority and
generally getting things done. We also felt that we should start making
arrangements to return to Bulgaria for a time and God was kind enough to
confirm this by making finances available to purchase tickets to do this. Also,
we have become more involved with a congregation in the East of Pretoria, we
are enjoying good fellowship and sound leadership.http://www.rightnowthejourney.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html
February: This is the
time that we shared about Bulgaria to our new congregation and at the
same time started on the preparations of forming a team to join us there for an
exposure and blessing trip. A great success it was.
March: Found us back in Bulgaria, fixing things that need
it, re-establishing contacts and friendships, trying to decide how best to cope
with the cold and snow. Making sure we had enough prepared and chopped firewood
to help with this. Paperwork for vehicles, taxes etc. that are all new to us. http://www.rightnowthejourney.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html
April: Friends and partners flew in for a visit while the
weather was still rather on the cool side. It was great showing them around.
They were a large part of getting the Gostilitsa kitchen closer to completion.
Thanks guys for spending time with us there.
May: Here the arrival
of the South African church team took priority. Thanks to friends and colleagues who
prepared them so well. We are grateful to have a team around us. God bless each
one of you. The time with the team was a wonderful learning experience.
June: Our time in Bulgaria came to an end with a rather
serious hiccup with Jean-Pierre tearing ligaments in his ankle during a
motorcycle accident causing us to spend our planned ‘time out’ with our
teammates in Turkey to be accompanied with a rather clumsy ‘moonboot’. During
our stay in Turkey Rita did something stupid (laundry) resulting in a Lumbar
Hernia which rather forced rest as doing much else was out of the question. On
our return to South Africa we found some disturbing things to have taken place
in our absence, causing us to get to work on setting up a ‘fool proof’ system
to cope when we are not around.
This is still in the making.
July: Empty nest has come to our family home. Dorianne moved
to Cape Town and two weeks after that, Jordan left for a three month stint in
Bulgaria. Rita got an abscess in her lower back and for the last six weeks has
been on antibiotics to try and kill the little beast. It does look as though
the nasty tablets have done their job. So very grateful. Jean-Pierre is in full
swing with meeting with leaders and establishing platforms for output…
August: Two computers, crashed and burned, causing us to
call on friends in the game to come to the party so Rita can do all that needs
to be done regarding bookkeeping and SARS. This is the task for the next few
weeks as the financial year end is the end of September. Looking forward to
getting it all done and dusted. Catching up with Partners and friends is in
full swing too as we go from house to house and have visitors upon visitors
invariably food is consumed and company enjoyed. We intend to catch up with all
over coffee…so watch this space and keep your phones handy.
We are so grateful to God for keeping us in His hand during
this recent season. Thankful for His hand in directing our every move. In Love
with our Father for all He is and all we are in Him. We praise God every day
for wonderful people that surround us.
This is the up to date report for now.
We ask forgiveness for not being as communicative as we should have been, and we continue to thank God for YOU.
We ask forgiveness for not being as communicative as we should have been, and we continue to thank God for YOU.
