Home and Away

Well, as some of you know we've been back in the UK visiting family, friends, and supporters. We are due to fly out to meet the Africa Mercy around January 15th, where we will be with the ship in dock for a couple of weeks before we sail to Liberia.

Back in the US(SR)!!!

Hi all,
No, we are back in the US, not he USSR, but I just remembered the Beatles song!

We arrived back from the Dominican Republic at about 3am Thursday, to temperatures a little cooler than we had been used to for the last month. There, the lowest temperature was about 75F, here they had the first frost of the year!

We had an awesome time and had our lives touched by some amazing people, but it was not easy at times, that's for sure. God was so faithful in it all, and we will share more (with photos) soon.

We are planning to be back in the UK in a couple of weeks or so, but will post a longer blog entry before then.

It's Getting Cold!

Time for an update. OK, this is East Texas, so erase any mental images the title may have created of snowdrifts and serious windchill! However, the morning temperature has dropped markedly in the last week or so such that emerging outside at around 8am it feels quite pleasant (for Brits and Canadians anyway).

Last week we all carried out our BST (and you thought it was called Daylight Saving Time here)! Actually it stands for Basic Safety Training, and comprised firefighting, first aid, and safety/survival at sea. It was a mix of classroom and practical exercises, and was really quite hard work. I enjoyed the firefighting part, where we all had to don the firefighters clothing and Breathing Apparatus in under two minutes, then go and rescue a 140lb dummy and put out a fire inside a large metal container. It was hot, smokey and very dis-orientating (or however that word is spelled). Did it though!!!

Last Sunday afternoon we had a pool party for Elliot, he being 7 now! Patricia did great with the food, as you see she made his cake in the shape of Texas with the icing (that's frosting here, bought in about 30 flavours/colours from any supermarket!) in the Texas flag colours. I'm geting worried, all those 'u' letters are starting to look wrong, American spelling is creeping up on me! Elliot had a great time, and people were very kind with some gifts for him. A special thanks to the Taylors & the Butlers too; your gifts got through the UK postal strikes OK.

In not much over one week we all fly to the Dominican Republic for around 4 weeks. We are going to be involved with outreach events and other practical serving where we can; school building, care of terminally ill folk (sometimes kids I'm told), and other stuff we'll find out about when we're there. We start taking our anti-malerial tablets tomorow, so it's getting very real!!

We'll try and put up another blog update before we fly; until then, thanks for all your love and support!

When in Texas...

Well, time for a quick update, and hopefully a few pictures!

We were taken to see a Rodeo last Friday evening. It was an 80 or so mile drive, which is just down the road for people here (huge state and cheap fuel, even though Texans think it's expensive). The show was one of those things that was great to see once, but I don't think people go every week, unless they're really into horses. Quite impresive cowboy/girl skills though (and checkout the Texan sized truck Elliot is standing by!).

The course is going really well, though there dosn't seem time to get everyhing done! Patricia led worship yesterday with 3 other ladies which went really well. Patricia also has started to run a beginners Spanish class for those who are going to the Dominican Republic in a few weeks; it is very popular and great fun! I have been designing, making and testing a low tech water treatment system that can be made with materials fairly readily available in developing countries. On Friday we get to drink the finished product, which is fun considering the stuff that goes in come from the sewage plant!!!! We do test it first to ensure that it's not going to give us anything nasty though!

Well, time to grab some breakfast before class starts at 08:15; and thanks to everyone for your support in so many ways.

The Adventure Begins

Well, after many months of planning, we've done it! We have been in Texas now for nearly two weeks on the Mercy Ships Gateway program. The flight to Dallas was fine, but we unfortunately landed just as a hurricane was making its presence felt in US airspace, so we had to wait over 6 hours for the last flight to Tyler that night...nearly 24hrs travelling in the end! Still, after an unexpected few hours in a hotel in Tyler, we were picked up and taken about half an hour away to Garden Valley, where the Mercy Ships International Operations Center is located, all 400 acres of it!

We took a few days to recover properly from the jetlag, and started our training on the Monday, with about 12 others, plus 3 other children actually here with their parents who are doing Gateway. There are a number of other children around, some of whom Elliot is making friends with; including one whos dad we discovered came from Canada but used to live in Bridgend! There is an outdoor pool here, so Elliot spends some time in that to cool off from the temperature in the 30's!

The course is excellent, and we'll try and tell y'all some more next time; plus some recent pictures. For the astute readers, the picture at the top is NOT of the three of us, but a very nice one of Patricia with Emma, a very good friend, at her xxst birthday!! (Hi Emma). I was just practicing uploading photos and thought it was a nice one to use.

Tony, Patricia & Elliot.

Update

Well, it sure is a busy time right now...what this space for more!