It's an exciting time to be overseas

The Lord is truly doing a lot of things around the world. There is evidence of it every time we travel, every time we speak with workers and in our everyday lives here in the UK. This is an incredible time for m work overseas.

Since our last post, we have been on several assignments and made a lot of progress in our local ministry. Yes, the opportunity to travel to interesting places is very exciting, but the chance to witness and be a part of God's global purpose is the real reward. In May, Bryan traveled into an 'interesting' country in the Middle East/Central Asia, a country known for war, genocide and persecution. In the midst of this, however, was the light of the gospel. Lights are appearing all over this region as workers are being bold, ch's are being planted and people are being saved.

Another assignment in June took us into downtown London and Paris. While some may see Western Europe as a less strategic mission, nothing could be farther from the truth. The reality is that large global cities like these are becoming quite multicultural. London, for example, is home to every major religion and most of the worlds' people groups are represented here. The Arab, African, Indian and East Asian people groups are especially populous. With the introduction of these new 'global' cities, we must rethink our strategies for m work. Reaching members of these people groups here means raising national m's in the future as they return to their homelands. This sort of "backdoor" approach to closed countries has proven quite effective all over the world. So as you consider overseas m work, especially consider Western Europe.

On another note, I should also mention that Mandi and I had the great experience of being stuck by the Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud (looks like I just punched the keyboard, but that's the real name of it). We were on holiday in Paris and Rome in April when that thing started burping, and it caused us to be stuck in Madrid, Spain for a week. We ended up driving back to London with another m couple (through Spain, France and Southern England). In hindsight, it was an interesting experience.

Our local ministry here has grown by leaps and bounds. We believe that our calling to overseas m work goes beyond our media work and includes our local community. The British tend to be a bit "stuffy" (by their own admission), so relationships take time and commitment. We have found one "in" to the community through pubs. Pubs are quite social places and we have made many friends there. These friendships are finally starting to produce fruit as we are starting to share the G. Mandi and I play music fortnightly (that's every two weeks for us non-brits) at a local pub and have had an encouraging reception. Many of our songs point towards Christ and we have had lots of good conversations come out of it. We are also very close to starting a house ch here in our home. It has taken a considerable amount of time, but the Lord seems to be opening lots of doors for it, requiring only that we be obedient. More on that as it develops.

We love you all we miss you very much. With summer over halfway through, be encouraged that what you do at Snowbird really makes a huge impact on all who experience it. We absolutely love getting letters and packages from SWO. You wouldn't believe how it lights up our day and encourages us. Thank you for remembering and supporting all of us overseas.

Bryan and Mandi