A very special wedding!

We had a fantastic time last Saturday for the wedding of my step daughter Verity with David Yarwood. Everybody had a fun time and it was great to meet new people and make new friends. Everything went smooth and as they say photos speak louder than words, here they are!

I'm delighted to report that the couple travelled well to their honeymoon location in St Lucia that they described as paradise. The Lord bless you richly Verity and David in Jesus' mighty name.

Fundraising fun!

    The 'Tour de France' comes to Hixon! I am not very confident in my drawing skills, so I thought I'd find a few pictures inspiring me and others. However there is no French reference there. Well we'll have to add a flag!

Another fundraising meeting!

Last night we had another fundraising meeting at the vicarage! The very ordered brainstorming session lasted more than two hours, not counting the time spent outside the box eating biscuits or going off on a tangent! It was fun! Everyone is responsible to put their idea into practice! 
One of our sister had a wonderful idea based on The parable of the tenants. So watch this space!

How to have an effective fundraising?
1) The event must be exciting and of quality, potentially attractive to all ages
2) It has to be well advertised. In the team Mid-trent Churches, we are using a magazine called compass and it's delivered free of charge in every household of the different parishes. 
3) In my personal opinion, it is effective when when people do what they are happy to do (obvious but not so easy to sort out). For example, one of our brothers enjoys preparing a quizz, and one of our musician sisters is sorting out a concert.
When does it go wrong?
1) Weather can make things go pear shape!
2) Not enough time given to organisation and communication could be disastrous!
It if goes wrong, not to worry, one has to learn from one's mistakes.
Do you participate to fundraising in your church? Do you find it a chore or a pleasure? 
Have a blessed day in Christ. 

Food for thought!

A Christian wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.

"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me I can't remember a single one of them. So I think I'm wasting my time ... and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."
This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.

It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall what the menu was for a single one of those meals. I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me strength. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be dead today."

That pretty much ended the discussion.

You should have been a boy!

Because Ruth was not a boy, her parents treated her cruelly. At age five, she was forced to work in their fields. She was never given much food to eat, and her parents rarely bought her clothes. See how God's hand was on Ruth's life and how He used her to impact so many other women in South Asia for eternity.
To learn more about women missionaries and how you can support one, go to http://www.gfa.org/women/

Picturesque Poitou!

Dear all, we are back home and I must say that tonight the temperature is cooler than in Poitou. Steven even got sunburnt in a few hours. Here are a few photos I took during our holidays in Poitou! 

A medieval tower in Civray

A medieval door in Civray

Eglise St-Nicholas, Civray

Eglise St-Nicholas, Civray

Fontenay le Comte

Leaving Calais

Another lighthouse at  Calais