PENTECOST SUNDAY - WHAT A GREAT DAY!

We have had a very busy day today, hence the lateness of my post.  I was the host leader for our Church Service this morning as well as the Worship Leader and Mr. HCB and I were on the Coffee Rota, so we knew it would be very busy.  

We knew that Sarah and Paul, our Mission Workers, who are based in Thailand, but are currently home in the UK at the moment, were due to arrive at about 9.30 so got to Church at about 9.15 so that we would be there to greet them when they arrived.  

I left Mr. HCB in the kitchen sorting things out while I went into Church so that the Worship Group could go through the various songs we were going to be singing during the service.  I managed to get a shot of Janet playing her saxophone and also a photograph of the wonderful banner put up especially for Pentecost Sunday - and at each side is a shot of Sarah and Paul - and all was going well.  However, I was then told that there would be slight delay as there were some technical issues and unfortunately, the service could not be transmitted online today.  It didn’t matter for those of us in Church, but it was sad for the dozen or so who usually watch online.  

We knew that the congregation would be rather depleted today, it being Bank Holiday Sunday, but also our Youth Worker, Jake, and his fiancée, Zoe, were getting married in Portsmouth, so quite a number of people were going to the wedding and we prayed that all would go well today and in their future married life together.

However, despite the smaller congregation, It was a great service and we enjoyed hearing from Sarah and Paul about their work with the Ka-ren people in Northern Thailand, together with various videos they were able to show us - thankfully, the videos weren’t affected by the technical glitch!  We can find out news of them both on the BMS website and through their Prayer Letters, but it is always better to hear personally from  our Mission Workers and today was no exception.  

Paul is assisting in building up the IT ministry and teaches English to the youth, seminary students, and leaders from the Women’s department while Sarah teaches baking to the youth and women within the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention (TKBC) and the community, so they can utilise the skill for a livelihood.

You may remember Peter from one of my Blips a few weeks ago - well today was his 93rd Birthday, so of course we sang “Happy Birthday” to him with great gusto - but as I said just before we sang, if I had £1 for every person who whispered in my ear “Did you know it’s Peter’s birthday today?” I would be a rich woman!  You can see him in my collage with his arms around Dianne and Karen and I think you will agree that he doesn’t look 93 years young - we really must find out his secret!  I did notice some sad faces when I said there would be no biscuits with coffee this morning, but they soon changed to smiley faces when I said there would be birthday cake instead!

At the top right you will see Sarah and Paul together with Mr. HCB and our hosts for lunch, Annet and Martin and their daughter, Charlene.  What a lovely lunch we had with lots of chat about a variety of subjects - not least teasing Paul about when their wedding anniversary was!  Apparently, it is the day after Sarah’s birthday, which she said she deliberately chose so that he wouldn’t forget the date!  She obviously knows Paul well.  

Charlene and I sat together for lunch and had a lovely time together - she lives in Wales but had come up for the weekend, so it was good to get to know her - you can see her lovely smiling face at the bottom left of the collage.  I’m sure we will meet her when she comes to Swindon again.  

When we took our leave of Annet, Martin, Charlene, Sarah and Paul were going to be making their way back to Essex and we had then been invited to visit Gill and Dave, some other friends for coffee and cake - and had another lovely couple of hours with them.  A great day for me, as I didn’t have to cook or worry about food at all - but I’m afraid the eating plan has gone “out of the window” - and it’s all Gill’s fault for making such delicious cakes and cookies - not that she forced us to eat them - but it was great to see them.

I was looking for a suitable quote for Pentecost Sunday and this was an interesting thought:

“We do not need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come: 
     He came on the day of Pentecost 
          and He has never left the church.”
John R.W. Stott