40 Bicycles

News Update… The last week or so has been pretty eventful one for myself and the family. Here are a few of the things that happened:—

• On Tuesday my brother Mark went off to serve for a while on the MV Doulos. He will be in Scotland, the Faeroe Islands and France. He will then be going to spend some time doing some Christian work in Tramore, in the Republic of Ireland (at least that is what we are told!). He is accompanied by his trusty unicycle (‘the Precious’).
• I spent Tuesday to Thursday in Wales doing exams. They all went well. I also got to meet up with a number of friends, including the blogging Stephen Dancer.
• My granny moved into a flat just across the road from our house. She has settled in very well and seems to be making friends very quickly. As her new flat is much smaller than her old house, we have received a lot of very nice furniture. We have also received a lot of cutlery and other such things (I never knew that there was such a thing as a grapefruit spoon!). It is a real blessing to have relatives living within walking distance.
• My parents have just bought a new (second-hand) car. My brothers and I will now be graduating from the old rustbucket Fiat Uno (which was something of an orchestra on wheels…) to the Vauxhall Astra that has just been replaced.
• I tidied up my room. This took almost a whole day as there was quite a bit of moving of furniture, rearranging of my library and sorting out of old files to do. Hopefully the room will now be easier to work in.

Next week my brother Jonathan goes off to spend a few weeks in the Caribbean on the MV Logos II, ostensibly for mission work. Monika will be joining him later on and they will also spend one week in Puerto Rico. Jonathan and Monika are hoping to do some form of missionary work in Latin America in the longer term future. Richard is also away at the moment down south. He should be back soon, but with so many people away at the moment it is great to enjoy a bit more peace (at least whilst Peter is still in school). My great friend Elbert Baas has just set up a new weblog. Elbert has recently moved to Stoke-on-Trent with his wife Annewieke. I got to know Elbert a few years ago. A friend of mine, Dave, was a student nurse at the time and we held Bible studies in the student nurses’ home. There were very few other Christians in the home and so we prayed that some Christians would move in. It wasn’t long before Christians moved in on either side of Dave’s room. After returning to Holland, Elbert decided to come back and study in Stoke again after his marriage. Elbert and I can talk theology for hours. Over the weekend I have spent a lot of time in discussion in the comments after my last post. Do take the time to look at the debate. I would be interested to have other people’s thoughts. This afternoon I hope to get some shopping done and this evening I might watch England play Croatia. In the next few days I hope to finish my posts on Scripture.