The first month of 2022 has been full of many things to give thanks for and celebrate.
First up, we have started meeting together regularly as a church plant. Due to lockdown we can’t meet in homes so, our first gathering was a walk in Prinsemolenpark in Rotterdam.
It was so good to be together, to walk and talk and eat doughnuts – some of which may have been hanging from trees!
This month has also seen the start of us meeting together as a midweek small group. Due to lockdown it’s on zoom for now, but that hasn’t stopped us enjoying each other’s company and experiencing God’s presence with us. We have had some great evenings together.
This month we have also been able to celebrate having some new people joining us on the church planting adventure. We are loving the people God has brought along, they are all amazing and it is a real treat to have so much diversity within the group. We currently have with people from Ireland, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Paraguay, India, Hungary, Lebanon, the UK and the Netherlands. I’m looking forward to the first bring and share lunch!
Another highlight of the month was joining Kings church London in their week of prayer. Having around 200 people pray for this new church plant and pray that we would get our visa was humbling and amazing. Kings church, thankyou for standing with us and praying for us. We so appreciate you all!
So, the next BIG cause for celebration was that on the 23rd January we received our visa. This enables us to stay in the Netherlands for the next 3 years! Receiving this was a relief and a real answer to prayer. We are so very very grateful to God and to those who administrated this process on our behalf.
The list of administration tasks involved with moving country continues to multiply at what sometimes feels an alarming rate. We still need to rent out our house in the UK, import our car, change our driving licences, organise the transportation of our possessions to the Netherlands, set up a website, fix the oven … the list goes on. We are attempting to tick a few tasks off each day but are both finding this time consuming and draining. Your prayers that tasks can be ticked off easily would be appreciated.
The most urgent need before us is that we need to find somewhere to live.
As some of you will know we have to leave our current accommodation on the 6th March. Currently there aren’t a lot of rental properties available in Rotterdam so finding somewhere is proving a bit tricky. We did manage to find one property that would not only have worked well for us as a family but that would also work well to host the church plant.
Unfortunately, we heard today that they will not accept us as tenants as they require us to have a significantly larger salary in order for us to secure the property.
How can you stand with us?
We are trusting that God will provide, standing on his promises knowing he is such a good Father. We would so appreciate you standing with us and praying for us, particularly that we would find a home. One that works for our family and ideally has space for us to have family and friends to stay. A large living area which would enable us to host the church plant would also be amazing.
With much love and thanks
Phil and Sarah