Summer Update

GraceLife London's Newsletter Summer 2016

Summer marked GraceLife London's first official short term mission trip to Romania. The team, comprising of four of our members (Salesi, Shaun, Elizabeth, and Laetitia), helped with a Romanian church with their outreach program where they taught English and helped put on a Vacation Bible School. One of the STM members described their time as "the Lord truly blessed our time there. Pray that the Bible teaching the kids received will remain with them, pray the Lord will work in their hearts and bring them to repentance." Kindred STM An STM group from Kindred Community Church, led by Kevin Mohr, came out to spread the Gospel to London. The group engaged people around tube stops in Central London using "TheLondonGap.com" website and tracts which provide video tracts with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Compass STM Compass Bible Church picked up where the Kindred team left off, continuing to spread the Gospel to thousands of people throughout London. Led by Rob Thompson, fifteen men and women spent nine days interacting with Londoners concerning forgiveness through faith and repentance in Christ. For anyone who has been to GraceLife London our church pews have become legendary. Legendary for their uncomfortableness. Sojourners Fellowship Group at Grace Community Church has kindly answered this problem by donating comfortable pew cushions which has already been a great blessing to our church family as well all who attended the Summer Institute. Keep your eye open for the next issue of the GraceLife London newsletter with all the information on our Summer Institute including links to all of the seminars. Praise and Prayer Praise for the fruit of the Summer Institute. This year was the largest Summer Institute to date, seeing people coming from as far as Cyprus and Ireland to attend. Praise for the STM teams who have so greatly served and blessed the ministry at GraceLife London. Praise for the faithfulness of the servant leadership and their hearts for those they are shepherding. Pray for Tom and Adam as they finish up their degrees in the midst of a busy ministry schedule (Tom - D.Min. and Adam - Th.M.). Pray for Britain's leaders as they negotiate Brexit. Pray also that in this time of uncertainty that we would be bold with the Gospel and the people of England will see there is no confidence or security apart from in the Lord. Pray for the Pastors of GLL as they prepare every week to bring the Word of God to the people as well as ongoing health issues. Pray for the continued support raising for the Wallers and the upkeep of their visas.

The Drions The Drions have had a busy summer... a packed ministry schedule sweetened with lots of wonderful fellowship. We even got a climb a Welsh mountain with Jack and Lisa Hughes! Tom's health has been better and he is continuing to preach through 1 Corinthians, and Donna and Carys are homeschooling again after a summer break.   The Orgills The Orgills had a wonderful end of the school year with Sammy finishing year 10 and Alicia finishing year 7. The summer included a much needed holiday in Greece where the family was able to spend some great time together in the warmth of the sun. Ross' health is still fragile but he has been mostly able to work, and continues to pastor part time. The Wallers The summer was a time of seeing our friends come over from the Sates as well as spending some time with new friends from the church. Dana was able to go to Maine to celebrate her Grandma Jeanne's 90th birthday and spend some wonderful time with her family.  Adam spoke at the Men's Conference during the Summer Institute and continues his Wednesday night Bible study in Matthew.

Thanksgiving- London Style

Thanksgiving is an timeless tradition that dates back to the founding of our country. We all know the story that the Indians (Native Americans) and Pilgrims joined together to give thanks to God for a plentiful harvest He had given. Thanksgiving, being a mostly American holiday, looks a bit different in London.

To start with, normally we go to the local market pick up a can of cream corn and make a corn pudding. Well what we learned, after going to six markets, is that London does not have cream corn on hand. Adam pointed out that England did not have the Indians to show them how to make maze. :) 

Adam ended up making creamed corn out of double cream, milk and a can of corn to bring a Southern style dish to our British Thanksgiving.

Normally we hop in our cars and drive to grandma's house, well not in London. We hopped on the tube (several bags of food and all) and as you can tell it is not a holiday as the train car is quite full from the rush hour crowd. 

Here is our fellow American friend, Anita, with the turkey she wonderfully prepared. Adam received the honor of carving the turkey. 

Though we are miles away from our family and traditions, one thing is true. Thanksgiving was still filled with giving thanks to God for what he has provided surrounded by friends and family (in Christ). 

Our London Flat- UNDER CONSTRUCTION

On 30 November, we moved out of the church's basement and into our flat in London. Our 284sq ft flat is located a 10 minute walk from GraceLife London and right around the corner from Barbican tube stop. Living next to a tube stop is a huge blessing as any Londoner knows because it allows you to get around the city quicker. Being close to the church likewise is a blessing as Adam has been able to quickly get to the church for meetings and sermon prep work. Upon moving in, our rental company gave us this "house-warming" gift filled with mugs, candy and key rings. Now for the tour:


Because shipping is so expensive, we came over with just luggage. Through the kindness of Dana's sister, Jen, finding suitcases for us to pack along with Dr. Essex, Tom, Shawn and Elizabeth bringing suitcases with them on flights, we were able to get everything across the pond.

This is our wonderful living room window that we greatly love as it lets in a lot of light. However, we put blinds up shortly after arriving as we have office workers right across from us. :)

Here is part of our living room along with our dining room/bedroom. Yes it is a studio apartment which means one room for everything. Though it might seem small, the size has actually been a huge blessing in that it has made us downsize things we don't need as well as it only takes a couple of hours to clean the whole place.

This is Adam in our kitchen. We are so thankful for have tons of cabinet space and cute little cubbyholes to store our spices in. Adam's favorite part of the kitchen is showing people our microwave/oven. Yes it is a microwave and convection oven all in one.

Here is our bathroom. For my California friends, that silver thing on the wall is a towel warmer. Each of the bars heats up and gives you a nice warm towel. It is also great for drying clothing quickly.

Thank you for joining our flat tour and especially a big thank you to everyone who made our flat possible by your prayers and support! The flat is almost finished and we will post pictures when it is done.

Please continue to pray for us as we continue to transition to life in London. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure. We left the U.S. about seven weeks ago with around 35% of the support we needed for the year and the Lord has raised our support to over 65% of what we need for the year as of now. Our transition, as you can see above, has not been difficult but setting up a flat and getting to know a new city does take time. We continue to praise the Lord for all that He has done and continues to do for us. 

Family and Friends Along the Way

Even though we are in London now, it has been a blessing to look back and thank God for not only the churches and pastor friends we were able to visit but for the family and some seminary friends we were able to see too. 

The first stop was on our way out of southern California where we met my cousin, Emily, and her three kids, Brendhan, Kathleen and Patrick. We spent a wonderful time at lunch talking and watching the kids play.

The next stop was to see my cousin, Steph, her husband, Josh, and two (soon to be three) kids, Daniel and Lily, in Creston, CA. 

We were able to stay a bit in Houston with his brother, Lynwood, sister-in-law, Toyia, and two kids, Lyndon and Loryn. This stop included a stop at the pumpkin patch with big smiles all around.

After Houston, we stopped in Missouri to see Adam's oldest brother, CJ, wife, Lisa, and two daughters, Ava and Madison. We even got to help them plant a flower garden in their new house.

                                                       

In Louisville, I was able to see my friend and bridesmaid, Vanessa, and Adam was able to see one of his former classmates, Kyle.

We continued our journey to Richmond, VA where we saw his brother, Rob, and his nephew, Daniel, who recently surpassed Adam in height.

We wrapped up our family visits in North Carolina where we got to see my cousin, Leigh, in her first semester at college. 

Through the many stops along our trip, we thank God for his kindness in safe travels and the joy of seeing so many friends and family.

We Arrived in London!

We have now arrived in London! The Lord continues to answer our prayers as He has not only brought us over safely but also provided a place for us to live within walking distance to the church which we will move into at the end of November. The Lord also continues to bring in financial support as we have reached 47% of what we need for the first year here. Please continue to pray for financial support to come. Pray for us as we adjust to the time difference over the next few weeks. Finally, pray that we will be a help and a blessing to this group of saints.

The Lord answered our prayers in so many ways to bring us here. We have shared in a past blog post how the Lord provided visas for us in an incredibly short amount of time. We have also had plenty of other blessings to get us here.

To list just a few, first and foremost of the blessings we have received on our way getting to London has been the prayers that were prayed on our behalf and on behalf of GraceLife London. Followed by the blessing of family and friends who housed us as we traveled across the country saved us an immense amount of money (we'll discuss this in a later blog). Along with this was the blessing we received was the opportunity to visit with so many friends and pastors along the way.

After arrived we were welcomed on our first Sunday at GLL with an instillation service for Adam. There was a question and answer time with Adam as he was able to give his testimony of coming to Christ, going to The Master's Seminary, meeting and marrying Dana, and eventually ending up at GLL. The pastors (with a few pastors from other churches) prayed for Adam as he begins to serve as associate pastor. Following the prayer time, Pastor Rick Battenfield preached an encouraging message on 1 Timothy 6:11-14 called "An Exhortation to a Man of God."

The evening ended with a potluck feast and an overall warm welcome for Adam and Dana. The card above was a gift from the church where each family wrote words of welcome to us.

It is such a blessing to be at GraceLife London. Please do not stop praying for us as we seek to bring glory to God in our service to His people.

Cross-country Update 7: Richmond, VA and Danville, VA

Our final visits were in Richmond, VA and Danville, VA. We were invited by Bill Cross, associate pastor at Grace Bible Church of Richmond, to a meeting with the missions team.  TMS grad Rick Zaman serves as pastor-teacher at GBC. We were able to share with them what the Lord is doing with GraceLife London to spread the Gospel to England. The men were encouraged by the ministry of GLL and we left even more encouraged as they prayed for us and shared their excitement with us for what the Lord is doing.

Grace Bible Church has been an immense blessing to Adam's family over the past few years. Two of his brothers and his sister-in-law were benefits of fellowship with the saints and the biblical preaching and teaching at GBC. The congregation is full of people who love Christ and love His people. We praise the Lord for this church and their faithfulness to living out their relationship with Christ.

 In Danville, VA, Adam had a was able to sit down over lunch with Seth Lackey, the children and family pastor of Faith Memorial Baptist Church. FMBC has Daniel Lackey as its senior pastor. Seth and Adam were able to speak about the spiritual condition of the Danville/Pittsylvania County community and how the Lord is using FMBC in this area.

Danville has one of the highest crime rates in Virginia while also having over 200 churches in its population of 43,000. It is called "The City of Churches" as it has more churches per square mile than any other city in Virginia according to Forbes. We are grateful to hear that the Gospel is being preached through this local church in this particular area.

Cross-country Update 6: Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Central Virginia

After Louisville, we continued east till we arrived in Virginia. We were able to visit several friends and pastors on the East Coast.

Our first stop was Haymarket, VA where we were privileged to worship with Piedmont Bible Church on Sunday, October 18th. PBC is where TMS alum John Chester serves as pastor. John connected with Grace Advance to plant this church in 2012. It was very encouraging to see what the Lord is doing with PBC and to hear the testimonies of how the expository preaching taking place is affecting the lives of the members there.

After the Sunday morning worship and a wonderful lunch with John, his wife Cassandra, and members of PBC, we headed north to Baltimore, MD where we had a few minutes to sit with David and Marleah Mora, members of Hope Bible Church. David is a graduate of The Master's Seminary and currently serves at HBC often teaching Bible studies and one day seminars.  Our relationship with this couple stretches back to Adam's beginning years of seminary and working in the security department of The Master's College. We are grateful for their encouragement to us and their friendship.

Our day ended with a stop in Purcellville, VA where we met up with Dave and Ann Jordan. Dave is a TMS alum and now pastors Grace Bible Church and has since September 2013. Dave caught us up on what it is like pastoring in Purcelleville and the joys and challenges of church revitalization. Dave was one of Adam's main examples in seminary of godliness and hard work. As can be seen, the Northern Virginia and Baltimore areas have many men serving the Lord in pastoral ministry and we pray that the Gospel will spread throughout these areas with the many churches that are committed to expository preaching established there.

We are in our final week in the U.S. before catching a flight across the pond to London. Pray for us as we continue to prepare ourselves to serve in GraceLife London. Please continue to pray with us for financial support as we are around 33% of what we need for this first year. The Lord will provide what we need.