Ali's news hot off the press

Hello all you lovely folks,
Thanks so much for all your prayers over the last few days, I have so
appreciaed them and feel so encourged by you all. The last few days have
passed in a whirlwind. I am writing from Dushanbe, Tajikistan. To get here I
had to travel through 5 countries in 24 hrs! I arrived in the middle of the
night and the next am headed for a retreat with all the members of my
organisation here. Tajik air was an experience to travel in, cast of Russian
planes which smelt of diesel and sweaat and were covered with gold gilt and
tacky gold curtains.
The retreat lasted for 4 days and has been a good oportunity to get to know
lots of people here. Ive met up with Laiking my tteammate who is exhausted
and very stressed out and was alos glad to meet Jo and chennelle from NZ who
will also come to Bam, ho are lovely and who I get on well with!!! Yipee
there will be a few more newcomers to spread the load especially as Laiking,
our leader is going for 3 months home leave at the start of Jn, so well
effectively be running the show on our own...scary, but the 3 of us all feel
better having voced our concerns eetc.
today we went out shopping in the markets here to learn how to travel around
in little minibusses ettc. Tajikistan is an interesting mx of russia and Asia
and the multiple people groups all look and sound so different with their
different languages and facial structures etc.
I will be here for the next few weeks sorting out visa etc and it feel good
and exciting, if alittle challenging to be here on this new adventure!
This comes with so much love and prayer to you,
Ali

Ali off to Tajikistan before dawn cracks

On Saturday my phone alarm jarred me into wakefulness - 0245. Time to get Ali up and moving since she has a plane to catch. We drove through the darkness across the wild rugged beauty of Northumbria to Newcastle. She flew off to Brussels on the first leg of her trip to Tajikistan. She touched down in Munich and picked up the ticket for the ongoing flight to Dushanbe. There she had to get the visa at 0400 on Sunday. All went well and our hearts were relieved when we received her text - 'Got my visa and now I'm off 2 sleep .... Ali'

She is there for a week or so of orientation and then heads for Iran where she will be based in Bam. This is the city where 80% of all houses were destroyed a year ago with huge loss of Life. We are praying that she will be a 'watered garden' in the middle of the desert.

Sitting here in a Computer meeting

I am sitting here in a meeting where decisions are made about the way ahead with Information Technology in OM. Fascinating to get into stuff that I only vaguely understand and yet which will have such a profound effect for the future of the organisation. Like it or not IT and the Internet are here to stay and affect our very lives.

Fortunately, since it is a techinical meeting I have direct Internet access and therefore can be doing this while the meeting is going on.

Thought I would stick up a family photo. This was taken in Cairo when we were there as a family at Christmas time.

Zara Joy Lyth - first grandchild 

Family Photo Cairo rooftop 

Copenhagen on the Logos Hope

I looked in awe up at the towering sides of the Logos Hope. This is a SHIP!!

Rachel, my old PA welcomed our team of 20 as we climbed up the gang plank and into the cavernous car deck. So this is the Logos Hope for which we have prayed so long. We bought this ice-class ship and renamed it. The buying was easy - now comes the huge task of stripping it all out and rebuilding it into the amazing ministry centre that we envision. It will probably take a year and more.

It used to run as an ice class ship through the stormy seas between Denmark and Iceland. Now we want to turn it into a place where a million people a year will have some chance to here the good news of Jesus.

I was at meetings about 'Financial Development' in Sweden where we are training more OMers in how to relate to our partners all around the world. We managed to slip away to see the Logos Hope as an extra treat.

First Time Blogging - Returned Today from the USA

I am starting to post news up in a what people are calling a 'blog' - short I think for a 'web log'. This allows me to put news up on the web which folk can access at their convenience.

Elsie and I returned today from Cincinnati in the USA. We have had a fascinating month in the US with a whole combination of different activities. It was partly designed as holiday but also very much a working trip. Here was what we were trying to do

• Pete and Fiona's wedding reception in Atlanta.
• A Kauffman family holiday at a ranch in Colorado.
• A one-week course in training for leadership matters at Minneapolis.
• A week with OM's International Executive Committee.
• Four days with Fiona in Cincinnati (Pete was away) where they'll be living for the next year.

Whenever we could we also wanted to squeeze in time with those who love and support us and believe in what God has called us to do.

Reception in Atlanta
The reception in Atlanta was a great success with many from the Hicks family attending and a good contingent from Elsie's wider family, many of whom drove down a full day's drive from Pennsylvania.

Ranch holiday in Gypsum Colorado
Through the wonderful kindness of OM supporters, the Wilson family, we were able to have access to a 18 bed ranch in Colorado for a week. We took full advantage of this and were able to put together a whole lot of Elsie's family from different parts of the US. 24 of us came together and had a great time of fellowship, walking, games of Scrabble and Risk. Since Elsie married me and we have chosen to base ourselves more UK than in North America, it means that we often do not get together with her family for long periods. Whenever there is an opportunity we grasp it with both hands. God is so good and his people so often demonstrate his generosity of spirit.

One thing which could have spoiled the holiday was an accident which happened to one of the little girls -- Tabitha Joy came off the road on her bicycle and hit a tree at high speed. She broke her thighbone and also a cheekbone and had to be airlifted by helicopter from the high Rockies town of Leadville to a major Children's Hospital in Denver in Colorado. By God's grace Tabitha well on the way to recovery. Although it made for a lot of extra work and worry and prayer, overall it did not in any way ruin the holiday together. We were just so thankful that it was not a spinal injury or brain damage. Bones do mend and remarkably quickly in young children.

Leadership Matters training in Minneapolis
As our children begin to leave home and move out to the regions beyond Elsie and I are looking at ways that we can do things together. For so many years I have had to travel alone and Elsie has been left with the children. Neither of us have particularly enjoyed this that it has been what God has called us to. Leadership Matters Course is just such an opportunity to work together. At the moment we are only doing one caution a year which takes approximately three weeks by the time we have travelled out and back. These courses are a fantastic opportunity to spend quality time with 36 young leaders, trying to share with them some of the lesson is that God has taught us. The aim of the course is developing skills in them rather than communicating knowledge. It is just the sort of course and I would have loved as a young Field leader. We were very much thrown in at the deep end and allowed to sink or swim as God-gave us grace. We will be going out to India for a two-week course in late November and early December. The skills of training well have to be learned. This course in Minneapolis was an opportunity to grow in the skills training. Wonderful!

International Executive Committee and Dedication of the New US Building
In the week of the 13th of September we were back again in Atlanta for four days of International Executive Committee meetings followed by the opening of a new wing of OM USA headquarters. It was wonderful to have Elsie able to attend one of these meetings with me. Almost inevitably I have not been able to communicate fully in the past what they are all about and she has not had the privilege of meeting a number of those that I work with in this way.

Four days with Fiona in Cincinnati
Fiona and Pete are settling in Cincinnati for the next year. They are making a new start for their life together and have decided to link up with a very good community-based church in Cincinnati. The unusual thing about this churches that many of the people involved have artistic talents. The Lord has given them a building that they can have such things as Art and Music studios - and it was remarkable together testimonies of a number of them who feel for the first time they are able to express the whole artistic side of their nature in worship to God. It was so good to see Fiona and to meet a lot of her new friends.

Alison heads for Iran
In two weeks Ali flies out to Tajikistan for some training before moving to Iran for six months. She is going to be based in Bam where there was a devastating earthquake a year ago. 90% of all the houses in Bam were destroyed. Almost everyone lost family members. Ali is really looking forward to this opportunity and continues to seek God from the longer term direction. The fact that she is able to go for the six months means that our work in Iran does not have to close.

Tomorrow I leave for Denmark for four days of meetings concerning financial development. These are our attempts to become better and thanking those who stand with us through giving financially strong . I hope after my return from that I will have time to catch up and get my feet on the ground.

I had very little sleep last night and so I'm probably not making a lot of sense. It might be best for me to close. For anyone who reads this and to praise for us we are incredibly grateful. Thank you so much for standing us.

Mike and Elsie