Time flies....

I can't believe the last post was in September - well, actually I can. The last few weeks have been so busy for us that sitting down to update the blog has been the last thing on our minds. We've been juggling our new college commitments, new church life alongside family life and it has just been hectic.

Firstly, college. We both go in on Wednesdays, Jon has lectures on Tuesday and Ali has lectures on a Friday, at least until Christmas! After that it all changes again. The travelling has added a huge amount to our time commitments and our petrol bill! Still, Ali is improving and managed to actually drive on a motorway for the first time last Friday. Making friends isn't easy because we are both part-time and because we meet with different people on each day. The work varies - the lectures are covering some of what we have already studied at Redcliffe but what is new to us is good. Jon has more work to complete than Ali as she is not studying for her degree (yet!)

Secondly, church. Again we are meeting new people with all the blessings and difficulties that brings. It is good to begin to feel more settled as time goes by. We have led a couple of services and been involved in a few different meetings. We are looking forward to taking a bigger role as time goes on.

Lastly, family. Busy is our watchword. Some of the things we have been doing recently include: applying for secondary schools, making time for us and the girls, keeping up with housework, having new double glazing (courtesy of our landlord), etc., etc., etc.

So, where are we now? Tiredness is a constant challenge and finding some kind of routine amid the chaos is also tricky. We have really appreciated the support we've had from Kendal Road Baptist (the church we were worshipping at while at Redcliffe). Catching up with friends seems only possible in the school playground - though we have managed to pop into Redcliffe a couple of times and we have visited Kendal Road during the recent half-term.

What's next? More study, more driving, more church, more juggling!

One month on...

Time has flown by since our last posting. Through the summer we were really busy with visiting family, attending two weddings (friends from college and Jon's brother Chris) and leading a service at our previous church in London. The girls have settled back into school really quickly and we have just begun our courses at Bristol Baptist College. We had induction week last week which involved a lot of early starts and a lot of driving. This week has been our first 'proper' week and has also involved some early starts and quite a lot of driving.

Last Sunday was our first Sunday with Gas Green Baptist Church, the church in Cheltenham that we will be working with. It was their Harvest weekend and we had a lovely lunch together and met lots of new people.

We are planning on catching up with friends at Redcliffe tomorrow which we are really looking forward to.

Weather report: Clear

We have returned from our summer holiday where we stayed in a cottage in rural Brittany which was wonderfully isolated. We have had a much needed rest - marred only by crazy mosquitos that decided to attack us only after we had put the light out at night. Otherwise the last two weeks have been a real blessing. It gave us the opportunity to stop and relax after one college experience before the next one begins and we also were able to think and pray about the future.

And we have decided to move forward with the church in Cheltenham and told them our decision this week.

Cheltenham says YES!

Yesterday went really well and we had a good discussion with the church after the evening service.

They had a meeting for church members and non-members and very nearly all of them said Yes!

We have still to say yes to them - we want to pray a little more first - so we have omitted their name for the time being.

We are off on holiday now, to taps that work and fresh, drinkable water. :)

It's not drinking water that's the problem!

A week on and we have had to be really inventive this week. On Thursday when it began raining we rushed outside with every container that we could think of and collected rainwater. Very useful for washing, toilets, etc. It is amazing just how much we managed to get in the space of a couple of hours. It has also made us realise just how important it is to have a water butt to conserve water.

With the next bought of rain due tonight, the buckets, plastic boxes and paddling pool will be out on duty again! But as the rain is due overnight, they will be unmanned this time.

We are grateful to Jon's family for providing water and washing facilities - both for us and our clothes. And we can't wait for the water to be turned on again - we have never wanted to flush the toilet properly so much!

Still connected!

Thankfully the power station was not flooded last night so we still have electricity. Apparently the floodwaters stopped short by a mere 2 inches!

Still trying to prepare for this coming Sunday, but current events are distracting us a little.

And the rain came down...and the floods came up...

Today we are letting everyone know that we are ok - we have not been flooded out. We have , however, been affected by the loss of drinking water because of the flooding of the pumping station at Tewkesbury (which got flooded out on Saturday.) We have enough drinking water as we were able to get some from one of the local distribution points yesterday.

We are waiting to find out if we will lose electricity later on tonight if the Walham power station becomes flooded. If this happens we will be moving (temporarily!) to Wiltshire to stay with Jon's family. We did visit them today and experienced the delights of washing machines, toilets we can flush, showers and generally water that comes out of taps rather than bottles or large blue tanks in the street. It is amazing how big an effect one day without water can have. (We trained the children well - they keep flushing the toilet!)

This coming Sunday we are due to lead services at the church in Cheltenham. We are currently preparing for this and all being well this will go ahead as planned.

We apologise for the delay to your service...

We have heard from the church in Cheltenham, and they have said...

... can you come back and speak again, at the morning and evening services, and meet with people in between to give each other a chance to ask questions.

It is only a small church, and some of them (ie. a fair percentage of the membership,) were away, but it is still frustrating to not yet know where we will be in September. It is particularly difficult for the girls not to know where they are going to be living next year.

Couple seeks church for ...

In our last post we mentioned the possibility of us working with a small church during our time at college. We led a family service there this morning and we felt it went really well. The church will be discussing us(!) tomorrow night and will be letting us know their decision asap. Please pray that God's will is clear to everyone, whether that is going forward with us or not.

Weather report: very misty, thinning gradually

We had yet another chat with Bristol Baptist College about what happens next. Somehow despite us telling them we would be graduating with a diploma on several occasions, it was only when Jon spoke to them this week that this was finally understood. We will now be studying our third year over three years but will be in discussion with them again as to the finer points of how this will actually work in practice.

We are also speaking to a small church, who do not have a pastor at the moment, about the potential for a placement with them during our time at college. Although it is early days yet, we do need to have something in place before term starts mid-September.

The End Is Finally Upon Us

OK, so IT IS FINISHED! After two years of hard work, far too much serious reading, long essays, stressful exams, late nights, early mornings, managing family/college/church life, silliness, fun, friendships and fatigue, we received our invisible diplomas today - the folders look good but are empty! The real ones will follow in the Autumn once the University of Gloucestershire accredits them, but the awards ceremony took place today so that we can all celebrate together before we go our separate ways. Many students are leaving this weekend to either return home for the summer, or going on to their mission work (wherever that may be.)
It was really strange saying goodbye to people, knowing that we're planning on staying in the area for at least one more year, but also knowing that we won't be seeing them nearly every day anymore.
We have come so far in these two short years, not least moving out of London! Our time at Redcliffe has been a truly valuable and precious experience. We've learned so much about ourselves, about God and about our faith. We're richer people for having come here, and we're going to really miss the friends that we have made in our time here. (So if they're reading this - we love you all - thank you!)

Weather report: Fog

The reason for the weather report is that, at the moment, our future is still a little hazy. The latest news is that Bristol have said yes to us both but have offered us a college based course rather than a church based one. We are planning to meet with them soon to work out the details. Our biggest difficulties are with working out the girls' schooling, accommodation and college commitments if both of us are studying at the same time.

Illness wise, we are over the cough/cold season at Redcliffe and Ali's heel is improving but still occasionally playing up. We got through the Easter holidays, managing to complete some studies and even go out once or twice! The quick visit to London was a welcome change and it was good to catch up with family.

We are now two weeks into our final term here at Redcliffe. We are well aware that our deadlines are approaching very quickly and that we leave in five weeks time!!! One key pressure is our Hebrew exam - please pray that we will manage to learn what we need to and understand more than we do now.

Ministerial recognition recognises!

We had our ministerial recognition interview last Thursday and were told later that day that they could also see the call of God on our lives. This is exciting but scary! We are still waiting to hear from Bristol as they haven't got back to us yet.

Other than going to interviews, Jon has had a coldy-fluey thing which has left him with a charming cough (for charming read hacking!). He has kindly shared this with the family, some accepting this kind donation, others refusing to have anything to do with his generosity. Ali has somehow injured her heel - it began to hurt last weekend for no reason and the doctor said that the ligament on the sole of her foot is inflamed. She has been told to rest it - and is finding this really frustrating.

We are soon on our Easter break which will be a fun time of planning, preparing and writing assignments - not so much of a break really, more of a study interlude between terms.

We are planning on a quick visit to London to visit the dentist during the break - whoever said that the NHS system is improving, seeing as we can't find a dentist locally, is not telling the truth!

It is still shocking that when we return to college we will be in our final term!!! Where have the last two years gone?

One down, one to go

We are grateful to all those who prayed for us - for the travel (which was easy!) and the interview which we have managed to survive (just about!) The day itself was very long, tiring and intense and we will have to wait now until after the next interview (ministerial recognition) before we know the results. In the meantime it's back to study. We could both do with time to stop and collect our thoughts and just generally recover, but assignments, lectures, life, etc. are going to put that on hold for the time being.

It was great to catch up with everyone back at college again. It was good to hear about their placement experiences and about how God has been acting in their lives.

We've realised our time here is going all too fast. Our graduation ceremony is at the beginning of June and it is only about three months now before we finish, but this hardly seems possible.

Interviews update...

It is now confirmed: we shall be having our Bristol Baptist College interview on Thursday 8th March, from 8.30am until about 5pm.

However, because we are doing the interviews the wrong way round, we won't know the result of these interviews until after the regional interview at the end of the month.

Please pray for us as we prepare for it, and that the travel there (through Bristol rush-hour traffic) will be relatively painless.

The end of Cheltenham as we know it!!!!

No - we have not anihilated Cheltenham Spa - it wasn't that bad, but our placement at Cambray Baptist finished on Friday. We have half term at home - busy writing the reports that are required by Redcliffe, then we are back to studying (!) on Monday 26th February. We have two more terms to complete before our graduation in June. So that's quite a few late nights ahead as we contend with the impending assignments/interviews/preaching as well as family life.

February 17th

We made it! We have 'survived' six weeks of placement in Cheltenham! How well we know the Golden Valley...(for the unitiated that's the route we have had to drive there and back, and there and back, etc.)

A slightly odd week, but only in that we had to say goodbye to the same people several times over. This week was fairly normal - no snow, no conferences, no trips to Oxford. We did have lunch with a couple from the church which was really nice. Great to get to know them a little better and it's true that this world is small because we found out that they know friends of ours!

One good thing about only being in Cheltenham was the short journey home once it was all over - no it didn't take us two days to get home this time.

But, that's all folks! For Cheltenham at least - keep up to date with the latest adventures of the Edmondson family at jonandaliedmondson.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!

Saturday 10th

Jon led homegroup on Wednesday. It seemed to go well, but as usual, Jon let it go a little over time! (Hasn't yet learned to use a watch!) Jon found it interesting to be looking at a passage that he has translated from the Greek in lectures. (1 John 1)

Thursday saw us contending with a cold-ridden Abi and about two inches of snow. Driving seemed a little too precarious considering the weather, so we gave Tiny Tots a miss this week.

Friday was open church again, but the weather was cold and wet - sleet this time - so very few people were there. The hot cups of coffee and tea were much appreciated by those who made it through the weather, though.

Impending Interviews...

We visited Bristol Baptist College yesterday to meet the new principal and to discuss our options regarding our course for next year. It was good to have some of our questions answered and to discover that there may be more ways to become accredited than we had previously thought. It is possible that we could attend an interview in March if we want to and the college gets the go ahead for this to happen before our interview for ministerial recognition. Apparently this interview is the hard(!) one.

Ali will be preaching and being assessed this coming Sunday evening (11th Feb) and Jon's turn is on 4th March - again in the evening service.

February 6th

We can't believe we are in week 5 already - time is racing by so quickly! Jon went on a walk with some people from the church on Saturday in Adlestrop - great weather and good fellowship.

Ali did the children's talk in the morning service on Sunday. She blew a balloon up, let it go and then hung grapes on a piece of string! And all to illustrate John 15:1-17.

Jon led communion in the evening - but without the balloons, string and the only grapes were in the wine!

Ali went along to the lunch today and then shared some of her personal story at the Ladies Fellowship. Jon is busy planning the Home Group material for tomorrow evening.

February 2nd

Jon visited a couple of people from the church with Don on Wednesday. It was good to spend some time with them and hear about their experiences. On Thursday it was Tiny Tots again - very busy this week and lots to help out with practically. In the evening Ali joined the 'Facing the Challenge' discussion group which was interesting.
Today we went along to Open Church where a couple of new people visited which was great. Good to chat with people again and develop our relationship with them.
We've also been busy preparing for this coming Sunday when Ali will be doing a children's talk in the morning and Jon will be leading part of the evening service.

January 30th

Thursday we went to Exeter to the Christian Resources Exhibition so that we could go to a couple of the seminars there. Ali went to one called 'A gospel of words or signs?' which gave her a lot to think about how to include deaf people into the life of the church. Jon went to a one entitled 'Why don't real men go to church?' which he found to be interesting. It was a good opportunity to hear about some different issues and other people's points of view.

Jon went to Open church on Friday lunchtime and attended the service on Sunday morning. It was good to have the links between prayer for the OMF missionaries that the church supports and Kang-San Tan (a lecturer from Redcliffe who was preaching) who used to work for OMF.

On Friday Ali went off to Eastbourne to the Children's ministry conference for the weekend. Eastbourne was actually sunny(!) but unfortunately the conference was very intensive so she didn't get much opportunity to see the delights (!) of the town - although early Saturday morning she did get a chance to go to the beach and watch the sun rise.

The conference had some really good seminars on puppetry and she learnt some great action songs with Duggie-Dug-Dug (that's Doug Horley who wrote 'We want to see Jesus lifted high' for those who don't know) - it was wonderful to see a whole auditorium of adults all getting involved and doing all the funny actions - the chicken dance song was particularly memorable! There was also very funny magic trick involving a square of cloth and a banana!

During the main teaching sessions they did show a couple of videos that were shown during the Children's ministry course last year at Redcliffe (good to see Redcliffe leading the way...) The most challenging aspect, apart from cramp from writing copious notes, was feeling lonel,y as so many other delegates had come in groups from their churches.

Gloucester Roads No Longer Safe

For anyone who hasn't read our Cheltenham blog, Ali has passed her driving test!

January 24th

First up - Ali passed her driving test on Monday after the blog was published - She is still in shock!

Second, we were at another pastors' meeting yesterday morning, followed by Jon going to the lunch club and Ali going to the Ladies Fellowship. There was lots of postive feedback about Jon leading the evening service on Sunday, but he was accused of being a Pentecostal by one lady! (This was a positive comment...!)

Jon went to the Christianity Explored course that began at Cambray on Monday night. It was a generally good experience but it was the introductory session. Hopefully he will be able to continue going along and see some more of the course. Seeing as it is based on Mark - the Mark course we did in the autumn term will be coming in useful!

January 22nd

Last Thursday saw us at Tiny Tots Plus again. Ali was asked to man the tea and coffee station but had a few problems working out how to pour coffee, not spill the milk and chat - who said multi-tasking was a natural gift for women? Jon got his hands dirty - literally! He dived in with enthusiasm to the craft activity which was painting shakers with the children. He only managed to get one mark on his trousers...hmm, is this a new skill he has acquired?
In the afternoon Ali went to visit a couple of the older members of the congregation with Don. It was a good experience and very interesting meeting them. She enjoyed finding a bit more about them and their involvement with the church. In the evening Ali went off again to go to the mission prayer evening. She was able to find out about the different people the church support in India, Nigeria, Bolivia and the UK. It is good to know the church is committed to supporting their missionaries in prayer.
Friday we were both at Cambray for Open Church where we both had the opportunity to chat.
Sunday morning saw an early start again with Ali going along to the Gateway Fellowship again. This has been running for around 18/19 years. There was a big group of people there and it was lovely to worship with them. Ali was joined by the rest of the family for the morning service and then we went to lunch with a couple from the church. This was a great time and we chatted with another family who had also been invited. It is good to get to know people a little better each time we see them and also to share a bit more about our journey. A quick dash home via Redcliffe for a birthday party then tea and Jon was off to church again to lead the service. This went really well and he said it was good to be involved. The music was different again in both services. In the morning the Junior Choir sang a couple of songs, and both services had drums, guitars, etc. and had a much more contemporary feel.

January 17th

Sunday last started early with Ali going along to the Gateway Fellowship at 9.15am which is a service for adults with learning difficulties. One lovely chap had seen Ali with her usual hat on around Cheltenham and told everyone there she had a hat. This was funny, but only because she wasn't wearing it! It was good to use Makaton to sign the songs - one lady thought Ali had picked up the signs very quickly, but Ali told her it was because she'd been using sign for a number of years and wasn't to do with some sudden ability! The people there were really friendly and welcoming.
Following straight on was the morning service where we were interviewed by the associate pastor, Fred and given an opportunity to share a bit about ourselves, what we hope to get out of the placement and what our plans for the future are. The music for the service was provided by a piano accompanied by three violins, a cello and a guitar! Jon read the morning's reading, our first 'proper' involvement in a Cambray service.
Evening saw Ali at church again, as it was her turn to read the reading. Music this time provided by the organ and a trumpet.
Tuesday this week was a review meeting with John, Fred and Don again. Good to spend some time with them sharing about what we had been involved in. Then Jon went with John to Oxford where John is teaching a five-week course on Christ in the Psalms, once a week. This course is a one- or two-year course run by several different churches to support people interested in ministry, building upon a course already in place in one of the anglican churches in Oxford. There is one full day per week of both lectures and practical teaching and is attended by about 40 people. It was really encouaging to see not just this number of people attending, but also the commitment from various churches to work together to train possible future leaders.
Ali, meanwhile, went to the lunch club again - really nice to chat with the folks there and find out a bit more about what they get up to.

January 2007 update!

We've just received the date for our interview for ministerial recognition - March 29th.

We'll both need to take a service between now and then, and someone from the ministerial recognition committee will have to sit in on them.

Please pray for both the services, the interview, and our preparations for both, particularly because it looks like this will all be happening while we're either on placement or very soon afterwards.

January 12th

Thursday saw us at the toddler group - a new experience for Jon, a more familiar one for Ali. There were quite a few people there and it was good to be able to chat with the parent/carers and get positive feedback about how the group runs. We'll be going along next week as well.

Friday saw Jon getting up really early to go to a breakfast meeting of the local evangelical church leaders. Jon said it was good to be able to talk with people from other church backgrounds about how they saw church and the issues they are facing.

Jon then went along to the church which is open for a couple of hours at lunchtime. There is an opportunity for people to drop in for a chat, but it is better attended in the summer when the weather is better.

While Jon was at church at lunchtime Ali went along to a ladies bible study. They started a new study on the Holy Spirit which was interesting. The group seems to be thriving. The children who come are looked after by another lady who does a wonderful job enabling the ladies to study while the children play.

January 9th

Yesterday evening Ali was invited to a meeting that was discussing arrangements and plans for a women's away day. It was very interesting to see how they view the importance of women in pastoral care within Cambray.
Today we began by meeting with John, Fred and Don to talk over what we'll be doing during the week. We then went along to the lunch club and got to know a few of the more mature members of the congregation. The food was great, and the club seemed well attended.
After lunch we went in two different directions; Jon went to the men's prayer meeting and Ali to the ladies fellowship meeting.
The prayer meeting consisted of about half a dozen older men, although some people were away today. Jon was asked if he would mind opening with a brief moment of devotions - five minutes before the start! It seemed to go OK, and it was good to spend time in prayer with these men.
The ladies fellowship was a well attended group. Two ladies shared their personal verse for the year and Ali was interviewed (but at least had had prior warning and was ready to be questioned.) Fred spoke about Psalm 138 and afterwards there was a welcome cup of tea!
This evening Jon has gone along to sit in on a deacons' meeting.

In the next couple of days we will be attending home groups, a bible study and the toddler group, so will be quite busy dashing back and forth to Cheltenham.

January 7th

OK, so we're on placement again, but not quite as far as Brisbane this time! This time we're at Cambray Baptist Church in Cheltenham.
And no, don't expect daily blogs this time because we are not 10,000 miles away, experiencing the delights of a foreign country.
For those who don't know, Cheltenham is about 7 miles away from Gloucester, so we won't have to travel far at all, and will be able to stay at home (the girls are still at school.)
That said, it is a little complicated because it means travelling to and from there every time we need to do something. We hope we won't clock up 20,000 miles over the next six weeks!
We started, sort of unofficially, by attending the services on Sunday.
Cambray Baptist church is interesting because it still has the 'traditional' English Baptist chapel layout - raised church organ, balcony on three sides, raised pulpit, etc...
There are a few mod. cons. such as twin, rear-projected video screens at the front, a fancy lectern that can be raised or lowered, decent chairs downstairs and good lighting.
The morning service was a fairly traditional style Baptist service, with most of the hymns being played on the organ, the kids going out after about half an hour, and tea and coffee after the service.
The evening service was a communion service, but was strikingly different. After the first hymn, the reading was read, then we went straight into the sermon. After the sermon, we sang another hymn, listened to some notices etc, sang a song, then went into communion. This was interesting because we ate the bread together, not when we received it, sang a chorus, then drank the wine as we received it, not together. This seemed really strange to me because every Baptist church I've ever been to, as far as I can remember, does this the other way round. We then finished with a hymn. The whole thing took an hour; half for the sermon, half for communion.
I was really impressed that they had decided to change the format of the communion service, rather than try to cram everything in together or have a service that ran for another thirty minutes.
Apparently the morning service isn't usually quite so traditional, but we'll see next week what the difference is.
So, a good start, glad for a different experience, hope it continues so positively.

January 2007

After a fairly stress-free Christmas and New Year, we're now on placement for the next six weeks. This time we are a little closer to home, just seven miles down the road in Cheltenham. We've set up a blog for the placement (click here), like we did for Oz (see here). We're not planning on updating this one daily, though!
The girls are back to school now, so we'll be trying to juggle school runs and placement.
That's all for now:)