Personal Express Autumn 2002

After the summer campaign our 'holiday' was a 10,000km tour of Europe, visiting friends and family, as well as our home churches in Germany and England and attending the OM recruits' conference in Holland. The high point was my parents' golden wedding celebration. The amazing thing is that it was virtually the only day of the whole tour when it rained! In Germany we arrived just the night that Hilde's aunt died. I was roped in to lead the prayers at the (very brief) wake.

In our last news we mentioned that we have been asked to prepare a new strategy for OM's work in Western Spain. Due to a busy schedule since returning to Extremadura, it hasn't been possible to do more than make the first scribbles, but one thing is certain: our post will cease in the New Year. On the one hand we have kept ourselves very busy, to the point of exhaustion. On the other, the post as such and the demands of the team do not justify the two of us giving it full-time attention. The entire team is now working on plans for the immediate future, but with the high-speed train link between Madrid and Barcelona from January the national office will be much closer to the team and able to provide overall support.

We are now obviously praying also about our future, but Hilde is seriously considering a return to nursing. There is an open door for her in Switzerland. After a break and yet more language study, I have a thousand things I would like to do, including various sorts of itinerant activity. Your prayer is also welcome... and watch this spot!

Much Love from us both,

Chris & Hilde