St. Ann's beckons...

Only five weeks now until we celebrate Easter for the last time in Britain .... then it will be goodbyes to family and friends before setting off for Belize on Wed 26 March! We are as busy as ever at the moment getting all the hundred-and-one little jobs done ... but the lists are gradually getting ticked off!

Here in chilly Birmingham we've had a false spring, with early daffodils trying to survive the heavy frosts. There's been ice on the canal all day. We enjoyed a lovely weekend visit to Chester and saw a family of newly-hatched ducklings with their proud mum, trying to dodge the icy patches! We're also looking forward to seeing Helen and friends in London soon, before going in to meet up with the USPG Team once more. We're hoping to do some sightseeing in the capital and be tourists for a change!

As you can see we have been sent some new photos from St. Ann's, only taken on Sunday 17 Feb! We're really pleased to have these and it will give you all more idea of where we will be. The church looks beautifully light and well-kept, and we're impressed by the number of ceiling fans! So thank you and hello to everyone there - we are really looking forward to being with you. Until then, may the Lord bless and keep you all.

Sending bits of your life across the world

Last Sunday's commissioning service went wonderfully well. Thanks to Bishop Tim and Alan Race, to the people of St Philip's who worked so hard in the background making sure it all went smoothly,and to everyone who came. It was very encouraging to have so many people there, from so many different parts of our lives: Family and friends, and people from just about every church we've been associated with over the last 25 years.

After all that excitement, it was back to Birmingham - and trying to finally decide what we wanted to send on ahead to Belize. The removal company arrived last Friday, and collected / packed / drove away the bits and pieces that we think it might be useful to have with us. (Although in the end we decided that it just wasn't practical to take enough of our favourite tea and marmalade to last three years...)


The trouble is, of course, having made the "final" decision about what to send / not send, it's just too tempting to think of 101 other things that could have been included. We're just going to have to put the tea in the suitcases that accompany us on the aeroplane!

Meanwhile, it's back to a flat that feels just a bit emptier for the next six weeks.

We've also now done the last of the Church visits for fundraising. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who is supporting us. At the last calculation, we've now been promised more than 80% of the total we need. Several churches and groups we have visited, are still to meet to decide whether they can support us. So we are hopeful that with some help from them, what seemed to be a huge target, will be reached.

Over the next month, the priorities are
- getting the academic work submitted to the university
- spending time with family and friends before we go

Lent is supposed to be a time of preparation. This time round, it truly is proving to be a time for letting go, in order to do the things we need to. "What are you giving up for Lent, Ruth and Malcolm"? "Well this year we are giving up the familiar life we've known in the UK; but we are looking forward with hope to the new and rather different sort of life that will replace it in Central America."