In the Beautiful Eden Valley

From Friday afternoon we have been blessed to be in the beautiful Eden Valley in the north of England. We're working with local Christians in both Methodist and Anglican churches to make contacts in the local villages and spread the love of Christ around! There are 8 Anglican churches and 12 Methodist churches in this area with a short supply of ministers and small congregations. It's wonderful that we can be an encouragement to these believers and help to encourage the breaking down of barriers between the denominations and villages.

Already this week we have had the Olympics opening ceremony shown on a big screen in one church, a ceilidh on Saturday night, two youth events for 11-18 year olds on Monday and Wednesday, open houses in three places with people in the villages coming to a house and meeting us (and each other, for the first time in some cases!), singing and hand-bell ringing workshop yesterday and a film night tonight (Wednesday) in a local primary school. And Chris dressed up as John Wesley and rode a horse around a village where Wesley had preached, which was certainly an event (see the picture)!

Chris on his high horse, ha ha!

We've had some great conversation with young people through the Decathlon (as the youth events are entitled) and made contact with many people who the church haven't had contact with before, which is excellent! Pray that God will use the things we've said to people to work in their hearts.

We're very grateful again for the wonderful hospitality that we're enjoying. We are all staying at people's homes and being looked after very well! We have more food than we should eat; it's all wonderful!

Thanks again for your prayers, make sure you follow the blog, share it on Facebook and watch the video!