Sunday, January 24, 2010

January Edition: Getting up to Speed

It's been a busy and crazy month, and we thought we'd bring you up to speed on what we've been up to and a few things you could pray for us.

We had a car accident coming home after Christmas, and that left us without a car for about three weeks. No big dramas with the accident, but being car-less and in the south-west hasn't been the most fun. We still managed to go down to Mollymook with some friends for a week, followed by Seumas leading on a youthworks camp, attending a Gaelic intensive, and teaching at the Latin Summer School. Our car is now returned safe and sound, and decidedly cleaner than we ever kept it.

The latest big news for Rachel is that she has been accepted to study at SMBC this year. She will start a Graduate Diploma in Divinity half-way through the year and finish mid-2011 and is really looking forward to the chance to spend the majority of her time in the Bible. This is dependant on Seumas getting full-time work while she studies so please keep praying about this.

Our Mongolia plans are coming along. We are leaving on the 25th February, and arriving back in Australia on the 25th March. Tickets are booked, visa application is at the embassy, and vaccinations are underway. Everywhere we go we bump into people thinking about Mongolia and it has been great to get tips and encouragement. God works through his people and we have been seeing that in these surprise encounters.

In longer-term news, we have been a little slack at getting on with parts of our application process. Partly this has been because of the busy nature of December/January. Pray that we get a bit of a move on in this department.

We do require some practical assistance at this point: clothes for cold weather! If you have been to Europe in winter or somewhere else cold we would appreciate borrowing items from you. We do need thermals but coats, heavy pants, thick long-sleeved shirts and other layers are proving even harder to find. Rachel is a size 8/10 and Seumas is a small/medium. If you can assist us please let us know!

We hope to organise a prayer night before we leave so we will let you know the details of this shortly. If you can help organise this or have a venue we could use that would be spendid.

Prayer point summary:
- Preparations for Mongolia Trip in Feb
- Diligence in Seumas' studies
- Thanks for God's amazing provisions
- Work for Seumas to free Rachel up to study later in the year