One of BTBAB’s aims in relocating to Liverpool was to establish a base in the city for teams and missionaries to work out of. Shirley and I spent many months last year praying for God’s direction and when we looked at different possibilities, all of them were not the right way forward. During this time, I was lodging with Shirley as a temporary arrangement until God showed us His direction. And as always, the answer was not as we expected, the Lord answered two prayers in one way! Shirley had been praying for many years to have a house and God opened a door for her to move into a 2-bedroom house in a different area in Liverpool. So, she moved out on 2nd October, and I applied for the tenancy of the flat where she had been living for many years. As it is a social housing property there were no guarantees that I could stay, especially as it is a 2-bedroom property and I am single. But after 3 weeks, they agreed to transfer the tenancy to me, which is a miracle when there is a housing crisis! So now when teams come for training, they will stay at my flat and we will have the training in a local church. I have spent the last few months finding furniture and household items so that it is ready for the first teams to come. Many friends have been very generous in donating furniture to me, and other friends have helped me practically in transporting and lifting large pieces of furniture up the two flights of stairs! Thank God that I have a church family because I definitely couldn’t do this on my own.
In October I also ran the cultural orientation course for international students to help them settle into the city. We had 3 students that attended consistently, and one has since engaged in a couple of social activities run by the church. Now that we have run one course, we have learned what needs to be changed and I plan to run it again next September.
As I continue to network with different churches and leaders across the city, I have been privileged to speak at two churches this autumn. One was at Maghull Baptist Church where I spoke about the work of BTBAB at the Sunday morning service and we also had a stand with our literature and promotional material. I also went to Ebenezer Chapel in Walton which is quite a deprived area of Liverpool. This opportunity came from being at the youth camp in the summer, and they asked me to speak at the youth group. I decided to make it interactive, giving them real life scenarios of challenging situations I had dealt with whilst on mission trips to see what they would do, and then telling them what we actually did. They seemed to engage in the whole process asking some pertinent questions afterwards. Many young people in the church have never met someone who is a missionary and lives by faith, so it’s good for them to be introduced to a different way of life that God may call them into.
I continue to go to the pastors early morning prayer every month and at the November meeting, one of the pastors from a church in Toxteth offered us the use of their church facility for our training should we need it. This offer was completely unexpected, so Shirley and I met with the church leader in December and we are considering this opportunity for future events. Psalm 133 – How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
