We hope you all received Borderlines recently and were impressed by the photos of us all.
To make financing our move to Bristol easier, Paul transferred to The eXchange's Gloucester office in mid-April, initially part-time, but full-time since 17 May. During the week he has been staying with Steve Poulard in Bristol. This gives him the chance to start getting to know people in Bristol before we move and to prepare for the training course. Sue and the boys are coping very well, trying to prepare for the move (27 boxes of books packed and not half-way there yet!), but Paul finds the travelling very tiring.
Selling our house moves on slowly, as these things do. The house we are trying to buy is in a perfect location for the training course - no more commuting for Paul! It‘s not the house we mentioned last time, which was, to be honest, a bit ambitious, but is quite a lot larger (and not a lot more expensive) than our current one. In theory, our buyer, our vendor and our vendor's vendor all want to move before the end of July, and so do we, so please pray that this proves possible. Meanwhile we continue to use Steve Poulard‘s Guildford house for storage, and may yet move in there if the sale moves faster than the purchase.
Apart from packing, there is a great deal to be done before we go. Paul will hand over responsibility for two church bank accounts to Matthew*, the new church treasurer, in mid July (to old university friends, yes - that Matthew!). We are simply not going to be able to say goodbye properly - individually - to everyone at Westborough, not to mention all the other people we know in and around Guildford. The Elders have kindly suggested a church lunch for us to say goodbye en masse after the morning service on 1 August, which is a wonderful idea. Please let us know if you would like to come to the service (10 am) and/or the lunch.
Apart from buying the house, there are various things on which we need to make progress in Bristol. Most urgently, we have put in an appeal to allow Alan to attend the school we believe to be best suited to him: St Mary Redcliffe and Temple CofE School. There should not be a problem with the school we have chosen for Philip and Ian, which has places: Sea Mills Junior School.
Less urgently, but just as important, we need an office for Europe Now - a pink caravan is threatened! - and to make friends in a housegroup and church.
We have had several offers of help with the move, which has been much appreciated. We are very grateful to those of you who have offered some financial support, and also to those who have written to us or talked to us, promising to pray. We will soon need to set a budget with Europe Now, and what Paul is paid will depend on what has been promised. If you are thinking of supporting us, or plan to do so but have not yet told us how much support you can give, we would really appreciate knowing soon what we can expect. If you would like more information on how to give (standing orders, covenants, Gift Aids, charity accounts etc) please ask!
We are very aware of people praying for us, and know that this is helping us cope with a stressful time. The boys especially are very accepting of the move, and quite excited by the prospect. We hope it stays that way... With love
Paul, Sue, Alan, Philip and Ian
For prayer:
* 16 March 2001 - The surname has been removed because I received the following email yesterday: "It would be apreciated if you remove any refrences to me from your web site Many thanks". Always happy to oblige. [Back...]
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