Serving with Europe Now in Bristol
PO Box 168, Bristol, BS9 2YE
We hope you all received Borderlines recently and were impressed by the
photos of us all.
The story since then
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.
Waving Goodbye
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.
Hello to Bristol
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.
Making It Happen
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:
buying and selling houses by the end of July
confirmed school places for Alan, Philip and Ian
making friends and settling in well
financial support
* 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.
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