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Published: March 7th 2014
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Boningale Manor
Our address for the past 6 months On
Monday 25th Februarywe were invited to attend a meeting of East Shropshire Progressive Christianity (ESPC) which is part of the Progressive Christianity Network Britain (PCNB). These progressive groups meet to discuss all aspects of religion and the bible. They are not for everyone and it was interesting to sit and listen and understand that there are people with different and differing views from ours. Most of the people who attended are members of different Anglican congregations over the Shropshire area and some travel up to 40 miles to attend the monthly meetings at St Marys church centre.
Our final week in the UK is one that sees us as busy as ever. Sunday 2nd March started off with something a bit different when we saw some sheep just outside the cottage, Bob does not have sheep? Anyway we then saw Bob and Christina trying to herd 40 ewes into a field so it was on with the wellies and helped by blocking off one route of escape while Bob and Christina herded the ewes into a field and closed the gate. Seems the sheep had wondered onto the road and a passing motorist had herded them into
Our Cottage
We lived in the down stairs the manor for safety (It took until Tuesday night for the owner to pick them up by truck).
Then it was off to our final Sunday service at St Chads were we had been given the honour and privilege of leading the service. We had contacted David Glover at Holy Trinity and asked if he could email us a copy of the 1st Sunday of the month order of service and after a few minor modifications we used this for the service. When choosing the hymns we contacted Phyllis Collie and asked if we could use her Australian words to 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' which she said was ok.
The service went extremely well and everyone enjoyed Phyllis's words which caused much discussion after the service especially those referring to the animals. Our talk centred on Bush Church Aid (BCA) and especially the work of the BCA Nomads and more specifically what we may be doing with BCA, God willing, on our return.
Following the service was a bring and share lunch including wine plus a presentation to us of two St Chads mugs and a hand painted card showing St Chads church. It was a
St Chads
Our church for the past 6 months great lunch and a great way to say goodbye and thank you to the many Christian friends we have made as part of St Chads congregation.
One thing that was mentioned during the service was that the offertory from the service would be donated to a BCA project selected by us. What a special gift from such special people. This is something we will organise as soon as we can.
The Rev Jill Warren has been on sick leave from the United Benefice for the past 2 months and we could not leave without first saying a big thank you to Jill & her husband Richard. On
Tuesday 4th March we visited Jill & Richard at the Vicarage and shared a cup of tea and a chat. Before being forced to take sick leave Jill was a constant source of encouragement to us both when we first arrived in Albrighton. We were blessed with the Rev Jill & also the Rev Mary, who as Curate took over the three Churches in Jill's absence, they both enriched our lives and we thank God for all there love and support.
Then it was off to our final Tea Cosies
St Mary's
We attended the 9.30am Holy Communion & Bible study service on Wednesdays meeting. This was something we were not looking forward to because we will miss our very special friends so much. We first went to Tea Cosies on an invitation to 'Have a Look' at what went on and over the past 5 months we have only missed 3 Tuesdays afternoons. It has been a time of meeting so many lovely people who are so warm and friendly and it has been a joy to get to know them and share their life experiences as they all have special stories to tell. At the end of the meeting we received two special gifts and a card then after many hugs and kisses it was time to say goodbye. We have enjoyed the many many cups of tea and the wide variety of cakes and we will make sure that we keep in touch with each and every one of them.
Wednesday 5th March was Ash Wednesday so our normal 9.30am Holy Communion and Bible study service at St Marys was replaced by the Ash Wednesday Communion with Imposition of Ashes service. It was a very moving service with about 20 people in attendance. The message this year is not only
St Cuthbert's
The third church in the United Benefice what can we deny ourselves during Lent but what extra can we embrace during Lent and beyond.
Today
Friday 7th March we will be meeting two special ladies from Tea Cosies, Carmel & Jan, who have invited us for coffee before we attended the interdenominal 'Women's World Day of Prayer' which is being held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Albrighton. This year's theme is "Streams in the Desert' and was prepared by Christian women of Egypt.
The service is to consist of several readers describing ancient Egypt, rural Egypt and current day life in Egypt for city workers and students plus descriptions of Egypt's geography. The service also contains traditional hymns, prayers and bible readings plus the reading of Jesus and the Samaritan women, Evelyn has been asked to read the part of the Samaritan women and Jess the part of Jesus. Although God continues to put us out of our comfort zone we feel we have been well trained by our now international Christian family to cope with these challenges.
This will be our final Blog from the UK. Tomorrow night
Saturday 8th March we have been invited for dinner at the Manor with Bob,
Paul & Christina and on Sunday we will be packing ready to catch our taxi to Wolverhampton on
Monday 10th March at 1.00pm. Our National Express coach leaves Wolverhampton at 2.30pm and arrives at Heathrow at 7.30pm. We are staying at the Premier Inn at Heathrow before catching our flight home at 4.30pm Tuesday 11th March. We land at Tullamarine the morning of
Thursday 13th March before heading back to Taralagon where our Journey started some 27 weeks ago.
We hope you have enjoyed the updates to our Blog as much as we have enjoyed putting the Blog together. God has been so good to us over this 6 month period and we know that the friends we have made and the memories we have will last a life time.
For those in Australia we look forward to seeing you all soon, for those in the UK we pray that it will not be long until God crosses our paths once more.
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rosie miller
non-member comment
sheep sheep
love reading your present journey........sheep......they love you Evelyn. See you when you get back.