Greg & Sophie
Hello friends or I should say Shalom my friend!
The sun is shining and the birds are tweeting just off our rooms balcony. We arrived yesterday, a little delayed due to some baggage issues in Ethiopia but safely with no issues so we thank God for that.
Last night the church we’re working with, One Way Ministries had the last day of its adult conference (we’ve been involved with the children’s equivalent previously) and we were introduced to the whole church and welcomed by Pastor Gatsi. I’m not even going to try to explain how welcome we are feeling already “everyone is so kind and generous” just doesn’t explain it in enough detail.
This afternoon (Saturday) we’re off to prayer mountain for food and something exciting so we’re told. It’s a mountain the church acquired and they now use it as a place where people can relax and worship in peace and pray over Zimbabwe. Poignant seeing as you can see over Harare from the mountain.
Thank-you for all your prayers and thoughts. Keep in touch because we had 10 wonderful welcome messages on this site yesterday and they were so encouraging!
We’ll take photos soon and upload them.
Love G&S x
Writing this on the plane is slightly funny seeing as I can’t lower the tray table over my long legs. But Sophie and I have just departed London Heathrow and the UK for the next year. A year? Some think this a long time, some say time will fly. We don’t know what we think but we know God will bless us abundantly in all our adventures! So for now a nine hour flight in front of a baby is what we have to look forward to but with,y smiling wife next to me I couldn’t be happier!
Bless you all and keep praying!
Leaving Heathrow at 9pm on Thursday 16 August – via Ethiopia (wish we could stay there longer!) land in Harare lunchtime Friday 17th. Stay tuned for our first blog from Zim…
The boxes are GONE! Finally! 8 Extra Large Boxes are currently being couriered to port to be shipped to portugal to be shipped to Cape Town to be couriered to Johannesburg to be couriered to the SA/Zim border then to be couriered to Harare for us to pick up!! Phew…PLEASE PRAY!
We can’t thank you all enough for praying for us so faithfully so far and we would neevr have managed to get the shipping sorted without some intervention from the big man. Please do continue to pray as the goods are transported – there is a high rate of loss of shipments being couriered by sea – apparently they just ‘fall off!’
Our house is looking considerably empty now…and big! Just ourselves and our suitcases left to pack and prepare… only 1 more week to go!
Please use the contact form to contact us at any time!
God Bless, G&S x
We had great ‘church’ service this morning. Well it was an Olympic celebration really but it was a great time for us to share what’s going on in our church and share some news about the youth. Israel spoke on Hebrews12 which has always been a passage that has meant a lot to me. Jon Cox talked on it when I was 17 and relating the ‘cloud of witnesses’ to the leaders at our youth camp resonated with me and still does. I really feel the support of God as my Father during our marriage so far and our subsequent adventures that are only a few days away now. My prayer is that Sophie and I take a little of this Olympic excitement with us. I truly believe that we’re running our race and it’ll be a huge success because this is God’s race with us!
Hi ALL,
Not long now! Time to leave is fast approaching and things are falling into place. We are continually praying for God’s support and he has provided thus far – please continue to pray for us in these nerve wracking few weeks leading up to our departure.
We are off to Oxford for a few days to see Greg’s lovely sister get married, which will hopefully be a gloriously sunny day – praise the lord!! So we will update more when we return.
We have found a shipping company to use for our donated resources including the school uniform so again this is a fantastic answer to prayer and please do carry on praying to ensure it all goes smoothly through customs!
Speak to you all soon,
God Bless, G&S x
Exciting news!
We received an email from Pastor Musora in Zimbabwe, with an attachment showing a letter from Immigration to state that our visa application has been….SUCCESSFUL! We are overjoyed with the news and would like to thank each and every person who has prayed for us on this matter.
There are still a couple of if’s and but’s regarding the visa however the pastor is in contact with immigration to smooth out the creases so please do continue to pray that things keep on the right track!
God bless, G&S x
On Wednesday we had a wonderful vision evening at the point so thank-you to all who attended. We’ve been once again blessed by some wonderful people and I’d love to share with you one of the words spoken:
“you are going to teach but there is so much you will learn”.
So important because we are aware of His Love that will shine over us and teach us more than we can imagine, and we want to be so ready to listen and hear from the Lord on this remarkable journey we are taking with him.
I shared tonight how some people throughout our marriage, have mentioned visions and words about Sophie and I climbing mountains. But they were unsure of where and how it would apply to our lives. When I went to Zimbabwe for the first time, the first place we were taken to was a prayer mountain (which by the way is a mountain the church have bought!) A mountain of prayer over Harare. You have to see this place to comprehend the magnificence of it! For me personally, this was the first of many clear signs from God that this was our place to be. In Zimbabwe, with this church, working with these wonderful people and literally moving mountains with faith as small as a mustard seed!
The overwhelming sense of belonging in Zimbabwe was echoed later in our trip by Auntie Debbie simply saying to me: “Greg, I love Sophie and always have but you are her missing piece- we are so glad to have you both”
Please continue to pray because God is blessing our marriage with his work and we’re continually thankful for that, and also that we would continue to hear his words and follow the path he is setting out for us.
God Bless, G&S xx
We’ve been feeling really busy recently. As we know everyone is!
For example Mike’s been crazy busy at work, my Mum and Dad are ummmmmming and ahhhhhhing about retiring and my sister’s been moving house. Add to that Sue’s commuting now, Josie’s got a summer job whilst working for Mike on the side, Matt’s uni course and Beckie returning to work.
Despite all of this Sophie and I have been feeling really close to God recently and I wanted to share with everyone how taking time out of our busy lives has really encouraged us for our trip! Spend some time with God and listen to what He says. We promise you won’t regret it.
Lots of Love G&S xx
Hello to all those avid readers on our blog. We’re still waiting upon news of our visa’s but all the correct documents are in the correct places so it’s a case of wait, see and pray!
In other news Sophie and I had a great (but incredibly busy) weekend: Firstly we were once again encouraged by the support of our church friends and my football team at our churches sports day. We really appreciate everyone’s interest and enthusiasm. It is wonderful when everyone is so keen to hear what is going on. On the other hand I did get completely out run by Ian Gayle in the 100m sprint but I can say he was a worthy victor! Secondly we were blessed to help run the family service on Sunday at Avery Hill christian fellowship doing one of Mike’s family worship roadshows. We got to have the first annual Avery Hill Hurdles and sack race competition and more importantly the whole church prayed for us. Sophie and I felt so encouraged by the wonderful prayers and words they spoke over us.
Only 45 days people!!
Ta ta for now, G&S x