News, late summer 2003

Are you settled in Switzerland? You may well be asking! Well, it depends on what that means. Yes, the furniture is in place, pictures on the walls, guest bedroom not only ready to, but receiving visitors. The larder (it's across the street and called Migros) is full. But despite all that, there remain a number of requisites to really feel settled and we haven't made it yet. Read on...

If the weather is anything to go by, it has been very hard to forget Spain. Perhaps you have felt the same this summer! So we bought season tickets for the local open air pool and have thoroughly enjoyed it, feeling justified when just nipping in for a quick dip in our lunch hour or after work. Re-reading this letter later in the year I will feel envious, too! Meanwhile, I've kept sweating over a hot computer, which nevertheless, remains below the critical level it often reached in Spain.

Language is getting going for Hilde as she works daily with local Swiss people. She is really into the swing with the Bern dialect, one of the hardest even for German speakers. Her brother and sister and families visited and her sister got very little from the Bern-dutsch part of the Sunday service. In my ivory tower, but being away frequently as well, it is also proving hard for me to get fully into the local language and culture. However, I did get one opportunity before the summer to do a devotional at our house group. I was also involved in the Vienna Reach the City training and outreach week, which was an excellent time with opportunities to speak in several languages, although the Austrians all seem to speak excellent English! A full report is available (on our web, too). As I prepare to take over the chairmanship of OAC in Europe again for a couple of years from next spring, it was useful also to get in touch with a good number of our active evangelists.

Spain remains very much on the heart. I, Chris, returned in April and June and we are both on holiday in Mallorca this month, after which I continue travelling while Hilde flies back to work. Trips have involved keeping in touch with contacts, plus starting to look forward to how ministry will develop over the coming years. Specifically, we are praying about a possible return to Easter campaigns. I visited Córdoba in June and met with the leadership team. Although they were very interested, there is no clear decision from their side yet to invite us for the 2004 Easter campaign there. We expect a decision during September. Your prayers please!

PrayforSpain

Even when in Switzerland, the mind is partly in/on Spain. With the excellent cable internet connexion that we have, plus TVE, we are able to keep right up to date and pass on the news on our web site. There's plenty there to be praying for! The web site has really kept me busy and I am very happy to see that gradually the number of visitors is growing. We believe this will soon begin to be a major contributor to prayer for Spain as people check the news, investigate a region, adopt a town or pray for an event. So far, while the number of visitors is only just beginning to grow (about 500 in August, but growing rapidly – 100 September 1-3, excluding me and search engines!), we have little feedback apart from well-known contacts, but several messages have encouraged. Likewise, it is good when we get general queries about Spain and are able to point them to the relevant page/site for more information. At present, the most significant problem is the relative lack of information from the churches and even missions. Even those who have pages maintain only passive information informing of their existence, objectives, etc.. Prayer letters, which are readily findable on the web, are not linked generally from mission sites and frequently not the other way either. Perhaps there is a security concern among some, but generally it would be better in my mind to be getting information out about the needs of our missionaries. (By the way, if you are thinking, 'so why doesn't Chris write more often?', perhaps you need to get into the Internet and see what I'm putting up there!)

In addition to the PrayforSpain site, I have been helping with translations between Spanish and English for various others, as well as working on the Spanish version of the Carrelet web-based web writer. It's an excellent system for both newcomers like me and more advanced users who need to keep their web pages updated while on the move and are more concerned about content than flashy presentations. Likewise we continue to support and encourage the rest of the Cyberporte project reaching out to Cavaillon, southern France, via an internet café and soon also over the airwaves. More info from Europe Now.

Nursing

Meanwhile, Hilde has been attempting to settle back into nursing. She really enjoys much of the job, such as getting up at hours I had never heard of and going to work. She can see and feel the tremendous needs of the patients, often not so dissimilar to what she herself has been through at times and is often able to give them a word of advice or encouragement. However, despite all this, there is a sense that she doesn't fit so well in the clinic. There are a couple of issues which make it particularly difficult for Hilde to settle, one on the theory of what they are attempting to do, the other the practical issue for team work and relationships. We are praying what this all means for our future, but have absolutely no clear idea at present. Should Hilde move to regular nursing in a regular hospital? Should she look for a similar type of work in one of the other christian clinics we now know of or should she try something more 'christian' than 'medical'? Or should we take another radical look at the new direction we have taken?

David Greenlee in 'Global Passion', the new book about George Verwer (and things- get it!) writes George once said that 'faith doesn't have Plan A and Plan B, but X, Y and Z as well.' It looks like we might have set out on a pilgrimage to assess them all for ultimate effectiveness (or something). We'll write a review when we've completed the lot! If you have a possible plan don't hesitate to let us know.

As we look to the coming months, therefore, there are many questions and few clear answers on the Hilde side. On the prayforspain front it seems clear, however, that the ministry is a valuable one which has a future. If it can be combined with a suitable amount of travelling ministry, I feel that it will be possible from almost anywhere, although I have a penchant for not moving much further from Spain. The next trip is in September (now) and shortly after I get back I expect I will be in a position to see more clearly the shape of the winter months. There may be more trips or more time at home. The Córdoba campaign may or may not happen and if so a trip or two may be necessary.

Thank you again for your fellowship and support!

Chris & Hilde,