Picked up a little baggage...

Shannon and Monkey's I

Shannon and Monkey's II

Geoff serving up some lasagna

While we were in London, we picked up a bit of baggage at the airport. That's right! Shannon has finally, by the grace of God made it to England to serve and be a part of Calvary Exeter Church plant. 

The Lord has a wonderful plan for Shannon and without a doubt desires to use her tremendously here in the UK. Shannon is close friend of the family and we are blessed to have her here with us.

Please pray for her, pray that the Lord would provide for her, allow her to shine His love at all times and guides her daily as she seeks to serve Him. Shannon will be staying here with us in the Velarde Inn.

Upon our arrival back into Exeter, Geoff has prepared us a wonderful meal, thanks Geoff. By the way for those of you who don't know who Geoff is, he is our neighbor, our first congregant and my personal language teacher. He has been quite busy purging me of all my americanisms and slang, thanks Geoff!

Ministry at Calvary Chapel Twickenham: London

Small Village of Hampton

Prayer at CC Twickenham

Worship with Joni and team

A small landmark we drove by on our way to London

This past weekend I was invited to come and share with the body at CC Twickenham. The pastor at CC Twickenham is Rob Dingman and he was in South Africa teaching a Pastor's conference. Twickenham is a suburb of London. The city is very beautiful and the small village we stayed in was called Hampton.

We were able to stay at Mark and Lizzy Dyrud's cottage. They are Reality missionaries who are looking at planting a Reality London some time in the future, but right now they serve along side Rob Dingman at CC Twickenham, please pray for them. 

Hampton was a charming little village with a very quiet and peaceful environment, well that was until the Velarde's came tromping into town.

Our time in London was great, we had fun getting to know people at church and networking with others serving the Lord in Britain. We are grateful to Joni Dingman was showed us much love while were there.

Happy Anniversay

Just wanted to send Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary greeting to Pastor Rick and Kristy Barnett. Do you guys remember taking these pictures at Stacks. Who can tell me how to make that CORN bread they used to serve there?  

We love you guys and miss you guys. We wish you the best!

May the LORD continue to bless you and the ministry there in Okinawa.

JUST FOR FUN

Remember these guys....just found some fun pictures

Random Pictures From Our Life...

Our First English Carvery, Yuuummmy!

Simon and Stuart hitching a ride to the High Street!

Simon after his job interview at Lloyd's Bank, looking smartly!

Stu and Sandra's visit

Kids being kids!

Anticipated visitors from North Devon

A few nights ago we had some visitors come from North Devon for dinner. Stuart and Sandra finally after a month made it to Exeter. It was great to see them and hear what the Lord is doing in North Devon. Stuart is a missionary from South Africa that serves at the church in Woolacombe and has for the last 4 years. Sandra is from Ibiza, Spain. They met in London and have been married now for over 2 years.

Stuart and Sandra have been such a blessing and encouragement to our family since our arrival in the UK. We miss them dearly, it was great to see them the other night. We look forward to seeing them again. The Lord is using them mightily in North Devon. Please pray for them as they steadfastly serve the Lord.

The Ethos Project: Exeter

Check out the video that Simon of Chivenor has put together for Calvary Exeter. It came from some footage that we took in Exeter a month or so ago. We hope that you enjoy it, let us know your feedback.

Mary and Justin Visit to Exeter

The Petersen's stopped through Exeter to kick off their 3 week tour through Europe. We had a great time with them while they were here. We know Mary and Justin from Okinawa, we are grateful that we had this opportunity to spend a bit of time with them. We hope they had a good experience here in Exeter too.

They departed this morning to Heathrow to make a departure to Germany. Please keep them in your prayers as they will be visiting many different countries over the next few weeks.

PRAISE REPORT for Shannon's Visa

Thank you for all your prayers for Shannon's visa application, she received her missionary visa yesterday morning approved for 2 years, we are eagerly anticipating her arrival into the UK.

Happy Birthday Mike Ohhhh

Mike and Sofia

Damian, Simon of Chivenor, Mike, Hannah and Charis

Mike celebrated his 38th birthday tonight. We had an amazing meal, Sofia prepared his traditional Birthday meal, sour cream enchiladas. We were also joined by Simon of Chivenor, he finally made the move to Exeter and will be living with our neighbor. We had a great time eating enchiladas, cake and watching video clips on the computer.

Meet Jim and Mary Ware

Below are some friends of ours, Jim and Mary have been a huge encouragement to our family since our arrival. They live in North Devon, but were in Exeter for a couple of days. It was great to spend some time with them last Wednesday Night for Bible study as we studied the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Please pray for them as they serve the Lord at Calvary Chapel Woolacombe.

7th Year Wedding Anniversary

WOW!  We could hardly believe it that this past 29th of Sept we celebrated our 7th year wedding anniversary.  The LORD truly blessed us with each other and 7 years later that we  are a family of 6.

We have so many things to be thankful for in the 7 years the LORD has done in our marriage.

Silas Turns the Big Tre

We recently celebrated the third birthday of our third born. It was a lot of fun, Sandra baked him a yummy cake. Silas was thrilled to know that it was finally his birthday. he received gifts from Mike and Sofia, a football, and other outdoor toys to play with. 

Happy Birthday Silas!!!