11. We are welcome

Last night the leaders here gave us a welcome Braai. What a good time it was. The food was great, the fellowship fun and the weather perfect. (No burning your meat outside in the pouring rain ceremony.)The people here are very friendly and so helpful too.
We also had a phone call from Brendon who had arrived back in Holland from Estonia so it was good chatting with him. All we need now is Internet at home so we can Skype and see our grandchildren and children.
Today we handed in the application for a bank account as the utility account had arrived. We also managed to join the library where we have this free Internet access. Things are looking up. I think that maybe this way is better while we are still settling in so that we are not tempted to stay at home and are forced to get out and discover our environment.
This morning we had visitors who are from SA and it was lovely to chat and talk about things we had in common. God has been so good to us. We give him all the glory.

10. The conference has ended.

We have now been in our new home for a number of days and as our container has not yet left SA we are as settled as we can be having unpacked all our suitcases and moved furniture around. The last day in Sheffield was good as we had a prayer walk and then the President shared communion with us. We had a group photo but even without it I am sure we will not forget the people we formed such good bonds with there. Our trip to Downham Market was great even though we had stopped to buy a double bed on the was so for part of the journey we were rather squashed. The bed is great and we are very comfortable. We were invited to the other manse for Sunday lunch (roast lamb) after the morning service that included a baptism. I managed to catch the start of the Grand Prix before lunch but had to wait till late last night to watch the high lights. We have been blessed with two T.V. sets so can watch upstairs in my study or downstairs in the lounge room. We still need to acquire some extra pieces of furniture but can cope at the moment with what we have. The dishwasher has worked overtime but I have not used the vacuum cleaner yet. We have walked into town most days so we are getting exercise. We still have no Internet so have come to the other manse to use their facilities. Today is a bank holiday so we can only pursue other business later in the week. We are using our SA credit cards but have a small heart attack every time we see what the price conversion is. We get paid at the end of the month but are not yet sure how we will be able to cash the cheque without a bank account. we just have to trust the Lord as He is faithful and has never let us down.

9. What a day!

This morning I woke up with a migraine so spent most of the morning sleeping. By lunch time I was feeling much better so could join the group on their outing to one of the local churches. The different sacraments were explained and for those who came from America and from African congregations this was an eye opener as they discovered how very different church would be in the UK. We returned for a lovely meal and then had a meetings where some of the questions were answered after which we went into our groups for prayers. We were blessed to have the President of Conference in our group. He arrived this evening because he will be leading us tomorrow as it is our last day here before we go to our new homes.
This has all been a wonderful experience as we accepted our differences and shared our experiences while recognising that we all had a common bond. The items we had shared to explain where we came from were on the table for the duration of the conference and we had opportunities to minister to each other as well as being ministered to by others. One of the children ended up in hospital with suspected malaria and my heart ached for the child and her Mom as they had only arrived in the country on Saturday. She is still in the hospital this evening. Tonight it is raining again as it has done every evening since our arrival but at least the days have been clear. We sure have been welcomed into the new land and look forward to what the Lord has in store for us

8. A visit to Sheffield town center

After a good night's rest we were ready to do some exploring and so after breakfast and storing all our cases in a hotel store facility we accepted a ride from some guests who offered to drop us off at the bus stop. In no time at all we were on our way to the centre of the city. we sat next to a young lady who reminded me of Evelyn and so when she asked me the time I mentioned this to her. What a lovely person. She showed us exactly where we had to go in fact she almost lead us by the hand. She also told us where we could catch a bus back to the hotel. We had a cup of tea at the Methodist church and then bought some lunch and sat in the pedestrian walkway and then took a walk to check out the peace garden and fountain before catching the bus back. A taxi had been ordered for and and he took us the short distance to the conference centre where we were welcomed and made to feel at home. After unpacking we waited in the lounge and met the different people as they arrived. The meetings have proved to be most enlightening and the people very friendly. The food is 5 star quality so we will not yet be loosing any of the pounds we picked up while in the USA. Last night we did not sleep too well as our body clock was still on USA time so at 03h15 I put on the light and did some reading before trying again to go to sleep. The day was very busy and so the result is that as soon as I have finished here and checked my mail I will be getting into bed. Tomorrow we are going on an outing after lunch so we are very excited about that too.

7. We have arrived in the UK

After a very long and at times a seemingly endless trip we have finally arrived in the UK. We had a bit of a wait for our shuttle in Jersey but then were blessed to have a driver who did not like being on a road that had a build up of traffic so he kept taking the scenic routes so we saw quite a bit of New York before we reached JFK. There we had another delay as the flight was an hour late and even when we were on the runway we were told we had a little wait because we were number 19 in the queue. We arrived in Amsterdam early so had extra time for the long walk to where the next flight left and then we found we had to catch a bus to the plane. the flight was good and we could even see land as we approached the UK. In Manchester we had another wait of an hour to get through immigration but saw a South African team a school boys who were here to play soccer. We were met by a young couple in Sheffield after an hour train ride and they took us to our hotel where we had a good nights rest. Must go to supper so will continue this later.

6. Waiting for Sharon and co.

Today Sharon and family arrive from Australia. Their flight has been delayed due to the bad weather in the area so we are all waiting. Douglas and Steve and the girls went 10 pin bowling this afternoon while Viv and I watched some videos we had recorded while out last night. Evelyn was still awake even though it was past midnight so I chatted with her for a while. She will be visiting Aunty Bee so she can pray for Evangeline before her op on Wednesday and also have a chance to see her with out the plaster casts. A very good idea I thought. Vera saw Aunty Bee today with Rachel so fun was had there too. I am so proud of how my girls have stepped in and are doing the visiting since I am not able to.

5. In USA for a while now.

Time is passing and homesickness is starting but today we visited my niece and so I was able to interact with her children, speak to both Evelyn and Vera on Skype and then also speak to Wendy on her Skype phone. The bonus was to see Evangeline who was awake for her night feed. Vera sent me pictures of Rachel and Evelyn will do so after the feed. All three girls are doing well as Mommies so I can relax but I do still miss them all. We are blessed to have my sister's grandchildren here so do have some lovely child interaction. Mandy has learnt how to sew and I look forward to helping her with the next project, a skirt.