photos from our travels

Amanaki, Simon and Lupeni in Lyon


Amanaki, Marc and Elias


Mummy and Simon in the sun in Valence


The SIM guesthouse in Orange

back to simon's roots

Our visit to Nancy was short but sweet! We stayed in the same flat as we had in the summer, but this time we were able to see the friend who lent it to us before she left. It was kind of her to leave it to us, as she was in Nancy this weekend but stayed with someone else so that we would have a whole flat to ourselves. I think it was nice for Simon to be back somewhere familiar. He definitely recognised it, and not only the flat – on Saturday morning I took him to the park, and as we passed a corner where a digger had been parked last summer, he shouted, “Digger! Digger!”

Our church was having a special weekend with a guest speaker, Raphaël Anzenberger, and Marc went to the Saturday morning meeting which was a kind of training session on apologetics and sharing your faith with neighbours and work colleagues. We spent some time with our pastor that afternoon, and on Sunday morning went to both the services (9am and 11am). Marc gave a testimony in the first and I did in the second.

As usual, it was great to be back and to see everyone again. Having been there for ten days in August we didn’t feel frustrated at not being able to see people for long, and we ate with a family from church and had a relaxing afternoon with them. It was colder than it had been in Orange, but still sunny and we found yet another playground for Simon to explore!!

We’re now back in Paris for ten days with Marc’s parents, with various people to see while we’re here.

Sun-warmed training

We are coming to the end of our week of informal training at the SIM base near Orange, in the South of France. We may have had a long drive to get here, but at least we were rewarded by warm weather. After winter coats in Paris, it made a nice change to be sitting outside in short sleeves for our discussions with the team here!

We have been able to talk about the practical side of the preparations for our departure - finances, visas, health considerations and so on - and also many other aspects of missionary life. The team here are a great source of knowledge but also encouragment, support, friendship ... we're very thankful for them!

Tomorrow (Friday 17th) we'll be driving up to Nancy where we'll be spending the weekend with our home church, and taking part in the Sunday services. Please pray that it would all go well!

news from the road

Our "Tour de France" is going well so far. We left Paris on Friday for Lyon - five hours driving plus stops. Sunshine and autumn colours made it very pleasant, though by the end I was glad to unfold myself from a sitting position!

We are in Lyon mainly to visit friends Marc made when he lived in Lyon ten years ago. We're actually staying though with a friend from their church who has a mezzanine for visitors, including private bathroom! Her flat is beautiful, and with Simon's bed tucked under one side of the roof, and ours under the other side of the roof, we don't disturb each other too much at night. We did wonder if we were actually going to arrive the first night, as the friend who took us there got a bit confused, and led us on a nighttime walk through a dodgy part of town before (fortunately!) finding the right place!

We have spent most of our time with our friends and their three boys, but yesterday evening visited another family who Marc also knew when he lived here. We went to their church this morning, and they invited us to say a few words about our plans to serve in Benin, which was a lovely opportunity to share.

Tomorrow we leave again to go down to Orange, and the SIM France base.

changing plans changing seasons

We originally said that we would leave for Benin in November if we had the necessary monthly support, and if my pregnancy continued to go well. It is now looking unlikely that we will have found 100% of our support by November, and although I am perfectly healthy, we have been advised by SIM in Benin to wait until after our baby is born to travel there. They don't want to risk too much stress in late pregnancy.

We had started to see this coming, so it wasn't as if our hopes were dashed overnight. Although it is a bit frustrating to have to wait even longer before getting there, we aren't going to just sit around kicking our heels until we leave. This month we are visiting family, supporters and the SIM base in France, as planned. Then we'll go back to my (wonderful) parents' in the UK, and will be there until the baby's birth. Marc is going to try to find temporary work, and we'll get more involved with our church in Bedford.

Here are a few photos of autumnal France: