No Power for 24hrs but Snow!

A heavy dump of snow caused a small amount of chaos yesterday…Not only was it ‘Quiet Day’ at college (where everyone had the day to read, prayer, relax on their own) but with the electricity went the hot water and the whole heat system... If it wasn’t for the beauty of a couple of inches of snow, I am sure things would have seemed a little different?!  But the snow was such a blessing! We awoke to glorious sunshine slowly eating up the magical blanket of snow…I became like a little child gobbling down my breakfast as fast as I could to maximise the time I could have in the snow. It was wonderful…the crunch underfoot, the branches laden with snow, the red berries sitting stark against the pure white and the warm sun rays making the chilly air, warm – it was a superb scene!  Thankfully to everyone’s great relief, at 6pm, just as more and more layers of clothing were being added to keep warm and candles lit, the electricity came back on and the sense of adventure began to diminish…

We've got a neighbour...

Zillah (what a brilliant name!), who is on our course here at college, is going to be just up the road – well, actually about an hour up the road from where we are planning to be in Uganda, (but that’s not bad given our very rural remote location out there…) This has also motivated us to start learning the local language ‘Runyunkole’, since she has found a handy little workbook with basic phrases in. So far I think we’ve just about mastered good morning and thank you - progress is slow! The great news is though that we won’t actually have to rely on this foreign tongue the whole time, as all the lessons at the Ugandan school (NMS) are taken in English – but it will be good to communicate with the locals and get by at the market etc.  So, hurrah a fellow Brit in close proximity...to share our experiences with.

'Who am I?' & 'The Bible and Mission'

We now know who we are! (Or at least that was the aim of week 1's lectures!)  We've completed the first module 'Who am I?'  This included doing the Myers Briggs personality test.  It was quite revealing and scarily accurate at working out our strengths and weaknesses, but I suppose it's important to be aware of these, so that we can be as effective as possible in our future ventures. We were also hugely encouraged looking at our identity in Christ from a variety of Bible studies. Now we're coming to the end of our second module, which is all about what the Bible says about mission and how the four Gospels portray Jesus' model of mission.  Aside from the studies Claire and I have been dusting off our instruments and playing in the worship, which has been enjoyable. We've just been out enjoying the sunshine and playing football with a few of the other students... Claire obviously played brilliantly, but unfortunately I came away with a bruised big toe (...nothing to do with her though)!