Post Card from the Edge!

Got this post card from Harry last week and it had only taken a week to reach us! Very good! Well done SA Mail. Also well done on franking every one of the 5 stamps which Harry liberally spread over the surfaces of the card! He is having such a great time over there. He has been up Table Mountain on foot and in the cable car, been wine-tasting several times, has swum in the sea at Hout Bay, seen stunning sunsets from the top of Lion's Head Mountain, toured Robben Island, seen penguins and 'osterriches' (and enjoyed eating the latter!) done the biggest Bungy jump in the world, been cage diving with sharks and now wants to sky dive! He will be going up to Kruger next week and then to tour Soweto and Pretoria before flying to the Sudan from Jo'burg. He has a week there with medic friends and family before returning to the UK! Oh yes, and he's done a bit of doctoring too! Actually had hands on in the operating theatre! He has encountered Harvester Cape Town and been entertained and looked after by our family over there! I don't think he's going to forget this trip in a hurry!

Firm Foundations!

                           
We are beginning the Harvester Foundation Course at church on Friday evening and you are very welcome to join us. We begin at 7.30pm. The course runs for several weeks and I'm sure you will find it interesting and it will bless you.
Just a quick reminder of our address:
Unit B11
Tenterfields Business Park
Burnley Road
Luddendenfoot
Halifax.


Also ladies - we have a ladies' meeting every Wednesday at 2pm. All welcome.


                                 
PS. This isn't us by the way, but they are ladies!!!

The Apostle and Prophet of the Dance!

This is one of my favourite pictures from our Worship Conference at Harvester Reformational Church Halifax. Yes, I do keep giving us our full title but that's because I'm so very, very happy that this work has begun up here in Yorkshire, and that Duncan and I have the privilege of leading it. I took many, many photos over the weekend - over 700, but as I've already said, this is one of my favourites. Let me introduce you to Prophet Lynette Collins and her husband, Apostle Leigh who are the leaders of the dance in the Harvester Church in Cape Town. I think The picture tells you all you need to know about them! Look at the joy in their faces! They are busy bringing Reformational thinking into churches all over the word and teaching on the dance in ways that are easy to understand and are accessible to all. To dance for the Lord, not for the congregation to be entertained, but as an expression in the whole body of the church, of our love and adoration to God. This is how He wants to be worshipped - in Spirit and in truth. This is how we worship in Harvester Reformational Churches. It is liberating and it it wonderful. 

They are a multi-talented family as Leigh and Kristopher their son, are excellent mime artists and we were treated to a sample of their gift on our Saturday fun night! 

Sadly, this wonderful family - along with Eric, Leigh's brother and his lovely wife, Angie are on their way back to Cape Town now and it was very sad to say goodbye; but we are connected in the Spirit. We are one family, one body in Christ and we are very blessed. 

Some of you may be thinking that this post is really one that should be on the Harvester church blog, not this one, but the more I go on, the more I realise that our lives cannot be compartmentalised in this way. We are who we are, we believe what we believe and we share what we know on every occasion. "Go and make disciples of all men...". Our 'card' says "commissioned to go. Commanded to love". We have to practice what we preach!

So I hope the Christian content has not offended any of my readers. But if it has...maybe there's something to think about there?

Corker in Cape Town!

We are thinking of you Harry as you begin your first day on your placement at Tygerberg Hospital. As you spend your days and nights in the shadow of this beautiful and incredible mountain hearing the sea as it crashes on the rocks and splashes over the sand! Oh what a romantic thought, but it is true. Harry is in one of the most incredible places on earth and we wish him joy - as much joy as we had during our three months there last year. Yes, we were there this time last year - seems impossible to think that now, but we were. And it seems impossible to think how much has happened and how far we've come since then. What a difference a year can make! 
We know Harry will have a wonderful time. We know he will learn lots and come back a different person, even after only 8 weeks. But the changes won't be just in his head and in his improved knowledge and medical ability; no, the biggest changes will be in his heart, soul and spirit.
We tracked his flight right through to the 'Arrived' status on the KLM website and we cheered and cried as he landed. We look forward to hearing about and 'tracking' his journey as he lives there for the next two months. We will be praying for you, Harry. We love you very much!

How's Your handwriting?

Marking GCSE exam papers over the years has been an eye-opening experience. I'm afraid I'm coming to the conclusion that the vast majority of 15-16 year olds cannot write! Oh I don't mean that they cannot convey their ideas successfully onto the page.  They are as imaginative and inventive with the language as ever but they don't write with script that can be read. They are losing the ability to write legibly and I find that very sad. Keyboards and slide pads have taken over! Don't get me wrong, I love my lap top, but I also love the fact that I can, and often do, write with a fountain pen - it gives me great delight and it looks good and can be easily understood - well I think so. My dad had fantastic, beautiful handwriting. My sister has lovely, neat handwriting whenever she writes - it's always the same, always neat. Duncan and Harry both have very distinctive and lovely handwriting, as does Pam. As I said, what a sadness that this skill seems to be dying out in the future generations as they don't get to appreciate the beauty of it or see the need!

Photos of the Big Girls' Tea Party!

You have to hum "Mamma Mia" and "Dancing Queen" as copyright wouldn't let me put it on for you!

"Having the time of your lives ooh ooh ooh see that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing Queen!"

Big Girls Having Fun!

The Big Girls' Tea Party was a great success on Saturday. Wrenthorpe Mission was filled with ladies of all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds and we had a great time and many laughs.
The cake table was groaning beneath the weight of scones, cream sponges, biscuits, cup cakes and muffins the size of a small sub-continent!
The quiz on chocolate went down well - and very speedily! Boy do those girls know their chocolate - and can sing any theme tune on demand!
We took part in a silent, and then not-so-silent auction which all added to the fund raising for Worship Academy.
There were more serious moments - we heard a very moving testimony from Karen, who then sang a song she had written and we watched a dramatic dance which ended with single roses being given to some of the ladies. Beautiful moments.
The highlight for me was seeing nearly all of the ladies up on their feet (some feet in plaster casts!) and joining in the Abba sing along! We were all Dancing Queens for half an hour and it did do us good!
Thanks to Rachael Lindley for following the vision! To Jonathan Lindley for following Rachael on Saturday to make sure everything was smooth and almost seamless!
Until the next time...