Monday 13 September 2010

The Next Steps...

So, here we are at IMC in Selly Oak, Birmingham. After what feels like a long time of preparation, we have begun the long road to Cusco. It has been a good first week and we have already made friends. This will come as no surprise to many, but there was always a slight fear that we would turn up for missionary training and find that everyone else was super-holy and saintlike. However - and I mean this in the best possible way - everyone is refreshingly normal, with the same doubts, questions, and in some cases, sense of humour as we have. I think that me and Neil are both going to really enjoy the training and appreciate the time when the children are in nursery. When we are all together, the time is precious, partly because we are catered for and don't have to spend time cooking!

One of our first assignments is to prepare a biography of a missionary. I have chosen to look at Dorothy Day and am already challenged by some of the things that she said:

'The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart; a revolution which has to start with each one of us.'

'We have all known the long loneliness, and we have found that the answer is community.'

In other matters, we have already had to visit the walk-in health centre, due to awful nappy rash (Sophia, of course...) and we have been in quarantine to a tummy bug. I have felt icky over the weekend, following a nasty virus the week before. I think that it is a mixture of fresher's flu, new nursery and finally having a chance to chill out after a hard August. If you like to pray, please pray that we will all soon return to full health... in time for Neil's hernia op on Friday!

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