Five reasons to spend your next holidays in France!

You may wonder if it is a good idea to spend your next holidays in France. Here are five very good reasons!

1 - Space
Going to France will suddenly widen your horizon. Most motorways are empty and on the way you will drive through an amazing countryside. You may want to take the 'Route nationale' (free of charge) and stop in cafés or typical town restaurants along your journey.
2 - But I can't speak French
The amount of Brits living in France has increased so much that French people will cope with your hesitant French and will graciously put up with your lack of accuracy. They will be very helpful so fear not!
3 - It's fun
You've never done it before! So what, it's fun and exciting to start a new project. It's easy to plan your destination in advance.
4 - Culture
We live in a changing world and you may want to experience yourself a different culture instead of listening to your mate's point of view. We are all different and what you will discover and feel will be yours to cherish forever.
5 - Take your children, your teens with you, 
Don't leave them behind! They will remember a trip abroad and it will improve their listening skills in French. Fair enough, it may cost you more money but discovering France is more interesting (in my view) than being squeezed in a Majorca beach.

A few days in London

street art, near Hackney farm

#green exhibition

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Drought Crisis in sub-saharan Africa

At the end of 2015/early 2016, Sub-Saharan Africa experienced very poor rainfall resulting in a widespread drought and food crisis. Across Africa this has resulted in a significant increase in price for staple foods. Hands at Work is currently assessing the severity of the need in the communities we serve, to ensure that the most vulnerable children continue to receive consistent access to basic services. 

Will you join us in our prayers for a speedy and wonderful response to help these communities. This is a time where we can give and help because we have and they haven't. 

Remember this passage in Luke 21:1-4 

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Please share too. 

For more information about Hands at Work’s response, visit http://www.handsatwork.org/DroughtRelief

The names of the apostles!

Good morning my friends.
Are you a child at heart? I hope so and in that case this song is for you!

Simon Peter and Andrew his brother
James and John the sons of thunder
Philip and Bartholomew
and lest you doubt Thomas too
James the son of Alphaeus
Matthew used to make us nervous
Leadeus or Thaddeus or Judas, the son of James, he may have other names
Simon the Zealot and
Judas the Isacariot betrayer of the Lord

these are the 12 apostles

You can see this 'byzantine' frescoe in Auzance (Creuse) in the Puy de Dome. 

This is Jesus' last meal shared with the 12 apostles.
On the table a bread and a fish stand, symbols of the very first Christians, as much as a chalice and a host, symbols of Christ's blood and body.
While the apostles are listening to Jesus, Judas the traitor who sold him for 30 golden coins, is swallowed (on the left) by a dragon.

A fresque by Nicolas Greschny

Have a blessed day filled with the peace and love of our Lord Jesus-Christ. :-)

In my Father's house, Corrie ten Boom

Two weeks ago, I ordered that book, In My Father's house written by Corrie ten Boom on Amazon and it came a few days ago. I was over the moon because I knew it was going to be a great read. And it is! 

Christmas celebrations in the Kerygma bus!

Ems baked a delicious ginger house!

Joy, Sarah and Brian

Tonight, thanks to Colin and his team, the youth in Hixon had a great Christmas celebration. There were games, a quiz, gifts and carols. We all had a great evening! We had party food and delicious deserts. One of the game had a twist, somebody would call out a card, i.e. the queen of club and if you had it you could retrieve a gift that someone had, but it was not yours because somebody else could get it back ...so those gifts were only yours at the very end of the game! The children were very excited and keen to get their gifts back, the most popular were those, funny big plastic glasses, chocolate orange and a big box of chocolate bars (I can't remember the name now, oups!)
Have a lovely evening and God bless you! Remembers the Lord loves you so much, He is a loving Father and is looking after you. :)

War horse, the film

Tonight, my hubby and I decided to watch this remarquable film, War horse. It is set during World War I and it describes the beautiful bond between a young man named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) and his loyal horse, Joey. Albert's dad, Ted decided to buy the horse at an auction even though he needed a shire horse for the farm. As war starts, Albert and Joey are separated when Albert's dad sells it to a British lieutenant so that he can pay the rent. The two horses are deployed to Flanders where the unit is mowd down by unexpected machine gun. A very sad scene and the German seize the horses. Though I loved the film, some scenes are very moving and I got somehow emotional. 

If you haven't watched it, here is a link on youtube!

Harvest supper at Milwich, Staffs

Here are a few photos of a great evening spent at Milwich village hall for the harvest supper. The four course dinner was amazing, a choice of vegetarian or meat lasagne with peas and new potatoes, cakes, cheese, coffee or tea, Then the auction followed. Bouquets and pots of beautiful flowers, home-grown vegetables and fruits were auctioned for the great pleasure of the community. Another beautiful event filled with love, fun and fellowship between friends and newcomers in the village!

Supply teacher is a star!

Supply teachers have an unfair reputation, with some people assuming they do the role because they aren’t able to secure a permanent job. This couldn’t be further from the truth with the teachers working for Aspire People, like Elizabeth. She has been busy teaching and travelling across India.
Elizabeth got in touch with Aspire People this week to speak of her journey so far: “I’m living in Jaipur, Rajasthan which is one of the poorest and most oppressive states, especially for women. I managed to get placed on a women empowerment project, so my job is to teach English, General Studies and ICT skills to girls aged 12-20 in a village about 10 km out of Jaipur. I have also ended up teaching a lot of the village kids as they love to come along and learn too!”
Supply teaching is perfect for people like Elizabeth who want to take time out of teaching to explore the world and use their skills to help the less privileged in other countries.

Elizabeth’s education consultant, Ann-Marie, has been really supportive of Elizabeth’s time away, she said: “Liz has worked for Aspire People since 2011. After completing a long-term position at one of my local primary schools Liz approached me about taking some time out to teach abroad. I am really proud of Liz, travelling to India, working in an orphanage with poor children, its very admirable. This is the second year she has travelled to work abroad. It is something Liz is passionate about and of course I wanted to support her in achieving her dreams. That’s what supply teaching is all about, it gives you the flexibility you need to achieve goals in life that you have outside of your teaching career”
Elizabeth will be doing more charity work in Goa and Karnataka before returning home to England.

Find more, click here

Chennai challenge photos!

Yes, it seems ages ago that Imo went to India however it is never too late to show you more photos.