Post No.8 - Redding, USA

Sister & Brother

Outside Kabod House, Redding

Well, we arrived in Redding in one piece after an uneventful flight across the Atlantic with Virgin Atlantic. The only glitch was not being able to catch-up with Martyn & Emma Sargeant (whose house we used) on their way into Heathrow as we were leaving. Their flight from Miami was delayed due to hurricane Isaac; we missed them by about 45 min. I would have preferred to tell them about the stolen bikes face to face rather than them finding this out in the letter we had left. But never mind, such is life! We were met at SFO (San Francisco airport) by my sister, Jenni, and her husband, Grant, who had come down from Seattle especially to meet us. It was great to come out of Arrivals and see their welcoming wave and smiling faces. We drove directly to Redding through a very busy and congested city, the free-way being up to 5-6 lanes wide at times, and grid-locked due to early rush-hour traffic. We saw the Golden Gate bridge from a distance, and the trip across the Oakland bridge was amazing. The trip up the Sacramento valley was just great. It is a very wide (further than the eye can see in places), flat and highly fertile farming region surrounded on either side by dry and quite barren hills. The I5 (Interstate free-way) runs its entire length and on through to Oregon (it actually runs all the way from southern California to Seattle). The off-ramps are numbered by the miles from its beginning. The one opposite where we are staying is 681 - that's a mother of a long road and indicates what a huge country the USA is. Most of the 3 hour trip was shrouded in smoke from wildfires burning in the hills; a number of these had done considerable damage.

The Bethel Church Complex

The NZ flag flying at Bethel

Bethel Prayer Centre

We arrived in Redding tired but happy, about 6.30 pm, only to find that the people who owned our accommodation had left the area and the property manager they had left in charge had forgot about us. However, after a phone call (praise God for cell phones) it was all sorted out and we were given the combination for the lock. The place is just great - totally ideal for our 4 week stay, and it even has a swimming pool, much to Lenda's delight! We threw our gear in the house and headed off into town for tea and supplies. This was quite a mission due to the smoke haze, gathering dusk and Grant not being very familiar with Redding. After tea Grant and Jenni took us to meet one of the staff at Bethel they had got to know when their daughter Katie (my niece) had attended the School of Supernatural Ministry. This is a great contact for us and will open a number of doors for us to explore the culture of Bethel. Later that night another Bethel associate, whose name is Chuck (Canadian) came over to meet us (actually, to meet Grant and Jenni) and again, this will be very beneficial. It shows that the old adage is true - it's not what you know, but who you know that counts! Today we had lunch with Stephen Hatley, who works in the missions department of Bethel. He explained how the Bethel community worked and gave us a list of events and ministries that we were free to participate in. I'll tell you some more about these over the next few weeks.

Smoke haze over Redding

First impressions of Redding: It reminds us a lot of Australia! Its hot, very hot (over 40 degrees at times), dry and the bush has similarities to Aussie bush - and it's smoky, as Aussie is at times. Also, many of the houses are built in the bush, which makes then very prone to fire, just like Aussie. Redding is very spread out with no real commercial centre as such as there are retail stores and food outlets all over the place. And they are all connected by a network of  huge multi-lanned and busy roads. They say Americans drive everywhere, and here is no exception! Our original plan was not to have a car (not affordable) and to walk everywhere. Praise God that Jenni (and the Holy Spirit) knew what Redding was like and decided to lend us her car for the duration of our stay; we would be sunk without it. But learning to drive on these roads and on the right-hand side has been a mission in itself. But we are still married! And we are getting the hang of it, and day by day learning the layout of the city is making it easier; we can even make our way around now without the GPS! Today the smoke cleared, and for the first time we had blue sky and could see the greater Redding area; that also helps in finding ones way around!

Lenda with Susanna & Andrew

But enough is enough! We'll share some more impressions in our next Post. Tomorrow we are participating in a weekly healing service/event; We need to go and write a list of the parts of our bodies that need healed.We're going to be like the lame man who went leaping and jumping and praising God! Blessings, Ian & Lenda

 PS. We meet up with Andrew & Susanna Wilson from Otane; they are over here for a year; Susanna is enrolled in the school of ministry.  It was great to have a coffee and a chat!

Our swimming pool. God is good!

Post No.7 - Goodbye the UK and hello the USA

Pete & Anna Smith with the Pimms

Well, our time here in the UK is fast running out! On Sunday we say farewell to St John's Harborne, pack our bags, attend to the last of the cleaning and ready ourselves for our trip to London by train on Monday morning. In London we will do a bit of sightseeing around the centre of the city before catching up with my cousin and his wife, John & Terry Weller, in Reigate in the afternoon. We will stay the night at an airport hotel so we won't miss our 7.30 am check in time on Tuesday morning. All going well we will arrive in San Francisco at 1.25 pm on Tuesday (USA time) where my sister and brother-in-law, Jenni and Grant Brewster, will pick us up and take us through to Redding. They are coming down from Seattle in 2 cars so they can leave one with us. It will be great to have our own car on this leg of the trip. In Birmingham the public transport has been great and we have been able to manage without a car, but Redding is a different kettle of fish, and wheels will be good even if we are going to have to learn to drive on the right-hand side of the road.

The famous No.11 bus route

Talking about public transport, on Friday we decided to do a final bus excursion around Birmingham on the famous No.11 bus. This is the longest commuter bus ride in Europe. It takes a circular route around the city servicing the key suburbs. It took us nearly 3 hour to complete the route from start to finish, taking us through some areas of the city we had not been to before. It's most probably the last time we will see such a cross-section of this ethnically diverse city! During the ride we had a very dubious looking young man (gangster) sitting behind us recounting to his friends, in very loud and animated tones, the story of a police raid on his house looking for drugs and money. According to him the police had bust down the back door and in the resulting search found about 4000 pounds. Due to his Brommie accent the story wasn't always easy to follow. We were quite pleased when they got off!

The garage and missing bikes

We had an interesting experience happen to us on Wednesday evening that has left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths; it's been the only real negative thing we have experienced and a reminder of the nature of the community we are living in. We had just returned from Bitteswell in Leicestershire where we had spent the night with Pete & Anna Smith whom our 3 boys had stayed with on their cricket excursions to the UK. We had always wanted to meet them to say thank you for the hospitality they had shown the boys. Stephen had come down from Manchester to accompany us, and we had had a very enjoyable few days. On arriving home I had decided to mow the lawns as the weather was fine and the forecast poor. While mowing the rear of the property the two mountain bikes we were using were stolen from the garage from right under my nose. I was very disappointed at my lapse of security in leaving the garage door open and unattended, if only for a few minutes. The first thing we did was pray about it asking God to (a) bring the bikes back or (b) for the situation to be used to bring honour and glory to him, and preferably for both (a) and (b). Then we rang the police! About 1½ hours later (9ish), and much to our surprise, a policeman arrived to check out the scene and take a statement. We gave him a coffee and chatted about his work and life in Birmingham until about 10.30 pm. We were up front with him about who we were as Christians, that I was a pastor, and we were prayerfully trusting God with the situation. I took the opportunity to share something of Jesus with him and in doing so he told us that he was a Muslim. I encouraged him to spend some time exploring who Jesus was, using the angle that if Jesus was real and true, and he had died on the cross and been raised from death to life, and was who he said he was as the Son of God, then he needed to be taken seriously. I gave him a biblein11 card and encouraged him to watch the gospel presentation on his computer (www.biblein11.com). After he left we prayed for him to become a follower of Jesus. I had a strong sense from the Holy Spirit that God was at work here doing something profound. If it takes the theft of two bikes for someone to be become a follower of Jesus, that's alright with me!… Since then Lenda and I have spent some time walking the neighbourhood looking for the bikes but so far we've come up empty handed. I wonder what tactics God will use when we are in the USA? Until next time. Blessings, Lenda & Ian

Thai Restaurant - Very Buddhist! 

Lenda at Rugby Station

Sightseeing the Birmingham canals

Post No.6 - Out And About

Ian read to risk life and limb

Lenda in men's size 8 shoes

Hi All! Life continues to be interesting for us in many different ways. Our connection with St John's Harborne is growing and we have had some very fruitful conversations with their leadership and members. We feel that we are starting to get a handle on what makes them tick, and also something of the journey they are being asked to embrace, especially by Nigel, their senior minister. On Wednesday we spent some time with Marcus, their worship pastor, who spoke very positively about the time he had recently spent at a worship conference at Bethel (Redding, USA); he encouraged us to make the most of our time there by just soaking up the place... That's exactly what we are intending to do, and our sense of excitement is rising as that time draws closer. But we still have two Sundays at St John's before we fly to the USA on the 28th.

Yesterday evening we were invited to attend one of their C Groups (their name for Life Groups) which was an interesting experience. It was a social night over a meal (supper we were told), so we had our tea before we went only to find that when we arrived it was a full, and very nice, evening meal. By the end of the evening we were full as ticks... But it was good to meet this group of people in their environment and talk about faith and the journey St John's is on. At the close of the group they asked us to pray for them.

Last Sunday after church we were invited home for lunch by a couple called Vinod and Angie Bhatia. Vinod is one of the worship leaders and a very competent musician, and we had a great time talking about music and worship, among other things. They were extremely generous to us and made us feel very blessed. Vinod is Indian and has a very interesting and encouraging story about how he became a follower of Jesus.

We continue to be stimulated by the books we are reading and to reflect on what this means for living the Christian life in faith and power. I'm reading "The Essential Guide to Healing" by Bill Johnson & Randy Clark, and Lenda is working her way through "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind". We've played a round of golf at Moor Mall Park, and walked on the sacred turf of the Belfry, spiritual home of the Ryder Cup (golfers will understand) and I continue to defy the odds by cycling these busy roads! The other evening I got a flat tyre and had to walk home - about 5 kms. Never mind, it was a nice evening!

Stephen at lake Hollingworth 

Zoe, Stevie & Lenda

Last week we had two very enjoyable days in Manchester with Stevie. We traveled by train, and enjoyed the scenery, even if some of it went by fairly quickly (190 kms at times). We met Zoe, Stephen's girlfriend, and saw a bit of Manchester and Rochdale, where Stephen is based. At this stage he is planning to stay in Rochdale and possibly apply for UK residency (that's what a girl does to a man's heart!), so it was good to spend some time with him. He's coming down to Birmingham next week to spend a couple of days with us as we might not see him for some considerable time. On Tuesday the three of us will travel to Bitteswell (train to Rugby; another spiritual home) to visit Pete & Anna Smith who our sons, Paul, David and Stephen, lived with during their time playing cricket for the Bitteswell club. It will be good to thank them in person for the hospitality they gave our boys.

Jacob, Esther, Josh & Rob

Last Monday we had the pleasure of catching up with Rob (Rag), Esther, Josh and Jacob Ewers of Walsall, Birmingham and Central Hake's Bay, NZ. They have returned to Walsall (northern Birmingham) for 6 months to connect with family. Esther's mum and dad, brother and two sisters live here so it is very much home for her; no wonder she was homesick while in CHB! We now understand where Rag & Esther's accent comes from - it's very much Bromie form the west-midlands. When we first arrived here and traveled on the buses and heard the locals speaking I would often turn to Lenda and say "That sounds like Esther!". We had a laugh with them about it. But it was great to see them and realize that we are on a very similar journey faith-wise, even reading the same books! (Rag and me, anyway). Josh is keen to return to CHB to possibly start an internship with Epic Ministries in the new year, so God willing, we will see the Ewer's back in CHB early January 2013.

Lunch together in Walsall

So we continue to live a quiet life here and be of some entertainment and amusement to the locals. Please pray for us, and especially that we would draw closer and deeper into God by the power of the Holy Spirit, so the kingdom-life we so much want to live and express with flow from that intimacy of relationship. 

May God richly bless you with your full inheritance in Christ Jesus! With much love, Ian & Lenda

Post No.5 - It's Pimm's O'Clock

Lenda in iconic London

Hi everyone! It's been a quiet week for us. Iv'e spent most of my time reading and watching the Olympics on tv. The coverage is very biased towards the Brits and it has been hard to follow the New Zealanders progress. But the British have really got in behind their team and it is good to see them doing well. We have explored a bit more of Birmingham by bus; the over day we went to Wolverhampton. Wow!  When I spoke with Nigel di Castiglione when we first arrived about St John's Harborne, he suggest I read Bill Johnson's book, "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind" as the best way to understand where he would like to take the congregation. It so happened that I had brought this book with me from NZ because I wanted to read it again, having done so last year, so I have been working my way through it carefully and prayerfully. It's implications are mind-blowing; it's what my sabbatical is all about, so can I encourage you to get a copy and read it with an open mind; there's a copy in St Andrew's library.

Lenda & Sonya; London at it's best!

On the weekend Lenda went to London to spend a few days with her niece, Sonya. She caught the slow train on Saturday morning (it cost about a fifth of the fast one) and arrived home early Monday afternoon. She loved the experience and especially the way London was in Olympic mode. She walked all over central London taking in the famous Monopoly realestate; she loved Harrods, and brought some mementos, but nothing sustantial, but she did see a dress valued at over 10,000 pounds! I wonder why she didn't buy a couple!! I stayed in Birmingham to read and connect with St John's, and in doing so discovered that I could ride a bike on these narrow and congested English roads without being killed (I've got the use of a mountain bike). Birmingham has a network of canals longer than Venice which are amazing placed to ride. Along many of them the old donkey paths (the canal boats used to be towed by donkeys in the days before the combustion engine) have been converted to cycle ways; it's a bit nerve-wracking when pedestrians or cyclists are coming the other way and need to pass; you just about need a life-jacket in some places! I wonder how many people have fallen in? When Lenda returned from London I took her for a short ride to St John's church during peak afternoon traffic. She wasn't as impressed as I was, but we are stilled married! This morning (Tuesday) we are catching the train to Manchester to spend 2 days with Stephen. We haven't seen him since we arrived so are really looking forward to giving him a hug and seeing a bit of his territory; it should be fun! Until next time, Ian & Lenda