An unexpected blessing

Received our electricity bill in the post this morning and it had a letter accompanying it; it reads:

Dear AECT Beneficiary

The Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (AECT) is pleased to advise that your power account has been credited with your share of dividend income received by the Trust as the majority shareholder of Vector Ltd. The distribution is being made to customers connected to Vector's electricity network within Auckland City, Manakau City and parts of the papakura District on 21 August 2005.

So credited with $180 to our electricity account was a fantastic bonus; that should pay for our power for a couple of months now!!! Doesn't God move in fantastic ways!!!!

Bethells Beach & More

Yesterday we went to the most beautiful beach. Bethells is about 45 minutes druve outside of Auckland on the west coast. It is truly stunning place. It was a reasonably sunny day, so we were able to spend a fair amount of time lying on the beach in our shorts and Ts just basking in the hot sun.

The beach was probably 1km long, and i can honestly say there were probably no more than 10 people on the whole beach. There was one surfer out making the most of some fairly choppy surf which was fun to watch.

At one end of the beach is a huge cave - we walked into it thinking it was just a small entrance, but turned out to be a huge cavern, it was very grand and made us feel very small. Sadly our digital camera batteries had died so was unable to take pics.

Last night we had a lovely fish and chip meal with our friends Kim & Bruce, and watched The Notebook; we were both very moved by the film, it really is great - i reccomend it to anyone who has half an emotional side!!

The film made me feel very lucky to be married to Laura; It is so amazing for us to be on this adventure together; I love her SO much and wouldn't want anyone else here with me.

So, tonight the clocks go forward 1 hour which will make the time difference 12 hours between here and UK. I believe that in a few weeks time the English clocks will change making the time difference 13 hours. It's all going to be very confusing over the coming few weeks.

iPod

Think i forgot to say... we'd also love an iPod!! We're praying that in also. As we shed all our CD's before we left, we have all our music as MP3. It totally makes sense!!! Pray it in guys!

Kareoke

I decided to keep posting on the blog little and often, as I'm aware that we have only really been writing on big occasions. This way, you'll get a far more balanced representation of our life!!!

So... the sofa and the bed arrived and they are great; Last night I had an extremely comfortable night sleep, and was able to wake up and sit on the sofa in our lounge. For some reason, what used to be normality feels likea total luxury!!!

Last night St Paul's held a karaoke night at our local pub; It was quite a lot of fun although i really don't enjoy getting up and doing karaoke. Never-the-less, the evening was a great success; Every couple of months we have big church socials, and it is great to get people together and chat to lots of different people.

We gave out awards to several acts; Sadly the staff were exempt from prizes. Rich and I closed the evening by murdering My Way!!! I think everyone was glad it was over by that point!!
Thats my news for the day...

PS we bought a cheap toaster last night, so you can cross that off your prayer list!!! We desperately needed one for our latest breakfast craze..... Bagels!

New Sofa

Well this story is equally as awesome as the bed, car, and countless donations of money!!!!

As you'll probably know, we moved house little over 3 weeks ago, and for all of that time we have been living sofaless and having to sit on the floor. Now, I don't mind sitting on the floor all that much, but when you are having people over for dinner, it's nice to be able to offer them something more comfortable than a toilet seat!!!

Well, Laura's boss gave her a call on Monday (she owns a very very trendy design store called Eon). The shop has recently had a 3 seater sofa on display, and whilst on display one of its arms got scuffed. They fixed the problem, but because of the high standards of the shop and its trenyness, they are unable to sell it there.

So, guttingly they also didn't have enough space to keep the sofa in their store so she asked Laura if we would like to have it for FREE!!!! It's the same as the above photo!

This really is such an incredible blessing for us; This is a sofa that there is no way we could even consider affording - everything is seriously expensive in the shop, so to get it free really is awesome. The sofa arrives this afternoon which we are very excited about. Once we are furnished, we will do another video tour for all those absent!

God is SO good, and we're SO blessed by the generosity of the people here in New Zealand. If you want to continue praying with us, these are the things we're praying for now....

2 Widescreen TVs (one for us, one for Rich & Kath)
Coffee Table
Bedside Tables
Hi-Fi
Book case
Toaster
More money!!!

New Bed!!!

With a couple of different awesome stories of God's provision i thought i would split them up a little. As you may know, when we arrived in Auckland we had to borrow someones bed as we didn't have one, and certainly couldn't afford one!!! Well we have to give this bed back tomorrow as the Lady we borrowed it from is moving and needs it back.

We've been slightly concerned about this over the last couple of weeks, and have spent a fair old amount of time praying about it... On Sunday, someone came up to Laura at church in the morning and told her that she and her husband were going to buy us a bed. Sure enough, that afternoon we got a phone call from them; they were at Farmers (department store) buying us a queen size bed. In the shop, they were told that the bed could take up to 2 weeks to arrive.

Well, It arrived this morning with one day to spare!!! How awesome is God's provision; it's really awesome that he is able to use people to bless us when we need it the most - Praise God!!!

My guitar

So most of you will remember that before we left for New Zealand I arranged myself an endorsement with Avalon Guitars; I came away to Auckland with a beautiful L201 which is a sensational sounding guitar. There was a delay in me receiving the guitar because it had been sent off to Guitar & Bass magazine to be reviewed for their August edition.

So, I was walking along Ponsonby road on Saturday and found myself drift into a specialist magazine shop, and they had the guitar magazine in... And low and behold my beautiful little guitar was on page 30!!!

I took the liberty of visiting their website and purchased the article for download for nostalgia, and so that i could show you all what a beauty i play every week at church. You can download the review by clicking here

Hello!

Hi everyone, sorry we haven't posted for a while, things have been busy and we've been having lots of fun!

We've just return from the staff retreat in Waiheke, a small island about a 40/50 minute ferry ride from Auckland, and had a really nice couple of days together-getting to know one another and getting an idea of were everyone is going in their roles and ministries in the church. The island was beautiful and we had fun playing rounders, french cricket and rugby on the beach.
Other events include a new worship night Paul has set up called 'seek', which went really well and everyone enjoyed.

My new job is going well although i've been very tired with the early starts (however i also love the early finish as well!). Holly is gorgeous and Stella and myself are getting to know how each other work!

We so value your prayers, support, emails, letters and phone calls-please keep them up! I'm not sure if you know our new details so here goes...

Our new telephone number is: 0046 9 3020491
Our address: 427/184 Symonds Street, Grafton, Auckland, NZ
Hope to hear from you soon! xxx

All Blacks Game

I totally forgot when i blogged yesterday to write about the All Blacks game on Saturday. Firstly, It was fantastic to whitness them win; It makes a plesent change to be supporting the winning side after the embarassment of the Lions tour.

However, the NZ'ers just do not know how to support a team when they go to a match. There was pretty much no atmosphere whatsoever. It was a little dissapointing!!! Having been to an english football match, where you leave the stadium drained of all energy(through shouting and singing etc) I was heavily shocked that there was no singing, and relatively little crowd noise at all. We all just sat, very politely watching the 2 greatest rugby teams in the world, battle out the deciding match of the Tri-Nations competition.

Anyway, enough on that; Yesterday we picked up our new car - it's a Mazda Cronos 1.8i Automatic. It's a really great car for us, and we feel totally blessed by being given it! It's awesome how God is working things out here. This morning someone else came up to me and told me that God had told them to give us some money, wrote a cheque there and then and gave it to us!!!

Keep praying in the blessings guys!!! Love you all lots

The Move!!

Well, finally we are in our new flat and boy was it a mission!!! It was a total nightmare; I honestly never thought that moving house to be quite so stressful!! However, we are in our new place and it rocks!! It is warm, cosy, and cool!!

One of the stressful things (although minor) was that our sofas couldn't fit through the door - due to abnormal size feet and the doorway going straight in to a coridor there was no way of manoevering the things in. Needless to say, we finally gave up, and took a well over due trip to the Transfer Station (The Tip) and got rid of the sofas as well as a load of other junk that we have somehow acumalated in the 3 months that we have been here.

We are now SOFAless which is fairly frustrating!! So last night at home we sat down and spent some time praying; amongst other things, we pleaded for 2 things from God

1. That God would provide us with quality furniture
2. That God would provide us with a quality car (as we don't own one here, and have no way of being able to afford one.

We are faithful that God will answer prayer 1. This morning though I received a phone call in the office from a member of our congregation - he is getting a company car this afternoon with his job, and would there for like to give us the car that he owns... TODAY!!!! How amazing is that! God is so amazing! We feel blessed at this provision (although as I'm writing, Laura still doesn't know as I haven't been able to contact her!) and are more certain that God will provide every need we have.

Please continue to pray with us over the furniture, we really would love something to sit on!!!

Gotta go now, love you all

Another Video

Hey - thought I'd post a little video coverage from the boat trip on Saturday. Enjoy!!!

Click HERE

Things

Well, another action packed week in the house of Kingsley-Smith - we spent Saturday out on a friend from churches boat. When i say boat, it was actually a 45 foot power boat; we went out to a small island called Rukino which is about 15kms off the coast of Auckland. Considering it is the middle of winter the weather was just incredible. I made it into the sea for a swim, and it wasn't that bad at all, although i did have a shortie on. The boat had some canoes also so we spent some time exploring the beautiful coastline and enjoyd lapping up the winter sun.

This week we are preparing ourselves for our next big move - we're going to be moving to the city centre which will be so good as I'll be able to walk to church. This will save us considerable amounts of both time and money. Although we're excited about the move, we feel fairly unsettled at the moment. I think It will be good to really get comfortable there and settle in for the next year or so - it is really very nice.

On saturday I will be heading off to the Eden Park Stadium in Auckland with a freind Jeremy to watch the All Blacks play against Australia - after a narrow victory against the springboks on Saturday night, It's looking like it will be a scorcher of a match; Plus the All Blacks have got a new Haka which I'm pretty excited about seeing live. This will be the 1st time I've seen the All Blacks live, and am sure it will be a fantastic evening.

Laura starts her new job next Monday. She will be looking after 2 girls, Holly and Stella; She is excited, but again big change commands a lot of energy and we're both feeling a little under pressure right now.

So for your amusement I've posted a new set of photo's for you; click here to go to the photo section

New House

Well, here is hot off the press news of the day. We are moving!! This time just across the city to a more central location - we will be moving to a part of Auckland called Grafton. We'll be living on the same road that church is on, but about 15 minutes walk away.

It's a new build block, and we are going to be on the 4th floor in a very nice little 2 bedroom apartment. It was literally completed last week so has all mod cons. We have an impared view of the sky tower and a lovely courtyard. We'll put up some pictures in the following weeks.

It's late over here right now, so I'll be off to bed. Love to you all

A New Home?

Sorry its been a while since our last entry, life has kept us busy and things are all changing on this side of the pond. I (Laura) have been working hard as a nanny and loving it! and therefore have been looking for a permanent nannying job which i have now found.

I begin looking after Stella (2 years) and Holly (3 weeks) in just a couple of weeks in Mt Roskill. I will be sad to say goodbye to the twins, but i really believe God's hand is in this new job. Because of the location of the new job it is no longer possible to stay in our flat in Mission Bay as both of us would be travelling to the city centre (up to a hours drive in rush hour for me to get to work). For the past couple of weeks we have been keeping our eyes and ears to the groud for new places to live in central Auckland.

Apart from the new job and possible move our live is full of chilling out with friends, enjoying the winter sun, and walking along the beach-not a bad life eh?! No really, we are both working as hard as we're playing! Thanks again for all your e-mails, we love recieving them. XXX

Monday!

Hi everyone, Well firstly i would like to congratulate all of my fellow student friends on our graduation which took place just over a week ago. Today i recieved some photos from Anneliese and felt very proud of us all, but also very sad that i couldn't be their to celebrate with you having completed all of that hard work-you all look amazing.

Things here are as exciting as always! My tempory job as a nanny for 2 1/2 year old twins ends in 3 weeks as they are going to nursery and i actually feel quite sad, i'm very fond of them already but know that another job will turn up very soon-in fact i have an interview tomorrow night for another job so watch this space...

Our friends Rich and Kath arrived on Saturday morning which involved a 5am start-something we'll have to get used to i'm sure with the amount of visitors that have promised to come and see us. With the excitment of Rich and Kath arriving we also had to say a sad goodbye to Katie who has been working at the church for quite a while and organised our arrival and made us feel very welcome; shs is moving back to Nelson to be near her family-an emotional weekend!

Other news includes a possible move for us again-not another move accross the world but just to the other side of town this time- to Mount Eden. Our friend Jeremy and Emily live in a block of 12 flats there and it just so happens that one has come free in the past week. The flat is very basic and needs alot of work, but living there would mean we could save over $100 a week; money we could really do with having! We would really apprieciate your prayers that we would be wise in our decision to move and how we spend our money.

Please keep sending the e-mails to me-i'm sorry that i haven't had a chance to reply to all of them but its really great to hear whats going on at home.

Laura xxx

This will make you laugh

I found this song couple of weeks ago and it made me laugh so much i thought i should share it with you all also...

The weekend

Well this weekend has been really fantastic - I'll start at the beginning with Friday; we are so loving having Fridays off, but of course this last Friday was special because it was my 25th Birthday - so in celebration, Laura took me out for a fantastic brunch in Mission Bay; It was such a gorgeous day on Friday that we sat up on the balcony of De Fontaine and ate our breakfast whilst basking in the very hot sun, watching the boats out on the water - what could be a better way to start the day.

From there, we made our way over to a fantastic crazy golf course right next to the airport - i feel a great deal of shame in saying that I lost to Laura by 7 shots - my only solice was that we followed crazy golf with 100 balls at the driving range and boy did i perform!!! It was great to hit some balls, although the hire clubs were just totally shocking!!!

So you'd be fooled to think that our day ended here - we went on from the driving range to have a cup of tea and piece of chocolate in Parnell which is another really nice part of town. We popped in on our friend Brent who has a fantastic little Jewellery store - he makes his own stuff and is seriously one of the most talented jewellers in New Zealand, and probably beyond - check him out. Him and his wife Anna have been really fantastic, and we're loving hanging out and getting to know them. Brent is also about to buy a Bow and we're gonna get into a bit of Archery - very excited by that!!!

So the evening started with a burger fuel which i believe i wrote about just a few days ago - i was really dissapointed that i couldn't finish the bastard; it completey defeated me!! We moved on from there to a pool bar where we played several rounds of killer pool. We ended up in a very trendy bar in Parnell, only ruined by the disproportionate volume of the music - it was a massive bar with probably anout 25 peeps in it, but a pumping sound system with a DJ - very surreal. The night had all but ended at midnight when everyone had left - the party got started again though when Brent arrived, shortly followed by Paul Trevor of Chorleywood - we've been having lots of fun with Paul, and love having him around over here.

So then, in recovery we slepped in on Saturday until 1:30 which was blissfull - the last 7 weeks have been utterly exhausting, and non stop. We chilled out for most of the day before heading over to Brent & Anna's for an Indian and DVD - all i can say is, there is nothing like an English Currry; certainly something that the Kiwis haven't mastered!!! Was nice though, just not English!!

So today we had SOAK which went to an absolute storm - we clad the church with coloured mood lighting and set up prayer stations all around the place - a slight logistical task as we still have pews here that don't move - we got it looking pretty good though.
The evening started with a talk by me on the evening, we then had a great time of worship led by me, and then guys went off and did the prayer stations with the band playing in the background - the whole evening went down so well; the response to the evening was actually fairly overwhelming.

A lot of the congregation have come from large pentecostal churches in Auckland where there often isn't space to SOAK in worship - it can tend to be quite prescriptive from what i've worked out, so tonight was really refreshing for people to have 45 minutes to just really get into God and have no songs or hype; people were just so hungry. The potential in the church is so huge, and the temperature is certainly rising. We're so excited to see what God does here - we really are here at the start of somethign quite incredible...

We are really anticipated the arrival of Rich & Kath next weekend - they are going to be such an asset to the team and we can't wait to hang out with them.

So its getting pretty late, so I'll love ya and leave ya

It's My Birthday!!!

Well today, Friday 29th July is my 25th birthday - it feels a little bit like I've cheated and am celebrating early, but that is the joy of being on the other side of the world!!!

This week has been pretty manic. At church we have SOAK on sunday evening which is a service of extended worship - I'm really looking forward to it, but as worship is my bag it's been down to me to organise it!!! It is looking like it should be a really great night though - we're going to do prayer stations which is a whole new concept to people over here as well as some good old fassioned guitar led worship - what i do best!!! Enough of that though, more on my birthday!

We are on our way out in a minute to go and get a brunch down by the waterfront - i expect a full fried breakfast with french toast and maple syrup will be in order. We'll be following that with a game of crazy gold - i'm fairly sure I'll be able to win that but i'll let you know.

Tonight we're off to a burger bar called 'Burger Fuel'; they serve gourmet burgers which are absolutely delicious, and you can actually buy a burger called the bastard - i love it! It happens to be my favorite - there is something quite cool about going up to the counter and demanding a bastard!!!

Anyhow, one of the good things is, that If you have forgotten about my birthday you can blame it on the time difference. There is still time to send that birthday email or drop the $100000 cheque in the post!!! Thanks to those of you who sent birthday cards - much appreciated!!

Love to you all

Google Earth

Well, for all of you who have broadband and a bit of time to spare I thoroughly recommend you download this piece of software - Google Earth is the most incredible FREE mapping software that allows you to navigate the globe and zoom in to photographic detail of major cities such as New York & London. I particularly like taking a trip to the Grand Canyon!!! You do have to be patient with it when you are loading areas, but it is so worth playing around with it - you'll love it.

Tour Our House

Click HERE to take a tour of our house and Mission Bay. If you right click on the link and select the SAVE TARGET AS option, you will be able to save it to your computer. Depending on your internet connection it may be easier to do this...

Athlete Play Auckland

Well last night Athlete played their first ever gig here in Auckland New Zealand - the band headlined at The Studio on Kangarahape Road, and were supported by a band called Opshop. Athlete as ever were absolutely awesome - I think this is the 4th time we've seen them, and once again got the VIP treatment from Tim which meant we could watch the Gig from a very trendy balcony which gave a fantastic viewpoint to take some pretty decent photos. I've put them up on the site so click here to go and have a look.

This morning we took Tim for a good old kiwi brunch on our home turf Mission Bay and then took him up Mount Eden to see the breathtaking views across the city before delivering him back to town for him to fly off to Australia to play there. We've also put photos from Mount Eden on the site.

Good eh?!!

Well this weekend has been pretty action packed. Friday we stayed in which was such a treat!! We pretty much did nothing at all which felt so good - amongst all the business of new jobs etc it was really great just to kick back and relax.

Yesterday (saturday) we had such a blast - we went out to some beaches on the west coast with a friend Rich and his son Bradley (who is very cute). We went to a beach called Piha and one called kerikare (spelling?!!). The latter of the two beaches can be seen if you watch the film 'the piano' - its the really rough beach that they land on. Both beaches were absolutley breath taking, so we thought we'd get some photos for your pleasure. Check out the photo section to have a little look at them.

We also took a little stroll through the Waitakere range, where the views again are absolutley incredible - they are also bundled in there, along with some maori things with incredibly big willies!!

Today was a pretty exciting day for us both, I led worship this morning and preached for the first time ever - I spoke on worship and we then had an extended time of worship as response, which went really well; God is really on the move at St Paul's and it is really exciting to see it growing each week.

This evening, Laura did the prayers and was awesome - she is such a natural up the front, and it will be no time before the preaching / worship Kingsley-Smith combo is unleashed on the world. I may just add, that laura did all of this whilst arranging the collection, communion, and welcome.

I manned the cafe, which wasn't such a good idea - Auckland has a reputation for awesome coffee; I managed to make my coffee some sort of mix between treacle and tar!!!!

So we've just come home from the pub this evening - wetting baby Harry Cobleys head who was born today our time weighing 6lb 14oz we believe. Please correct us if were wrong.

So, we're absolutley loving it here - New Zealand is just the most incredible place; so much culture and heritage packed into such a small place. We'll be glad of visitors, so please do come and say 'hi'

Lots of Love to you all xxxxx

New Photos

Things here are going amazingly. For a taste of what has been happening over our first month take a look at our photo section - we have just added some new photos from the past couple of weeks. We haven't taken many photos so please bear with us - we will!!!

Great Weekend

Well, we had such a blessed weekend, although were thoroughly disapointed with the Lions result on Saturday night - it was a bit of a shocker!!!

On Friday night we celebrated our wedding aniversary in style - a couple from St Paul's paid for us to spend a night in a penthouse suit in a very posh hotel in the centre of Auckland; we were up on the 11th floor so had spectactular views through our 2 story high window. We went out for dinner also, at the revolving restaurant at the top of the sky tower which was awesome - such an incredible meal, and felt so cheap in comparison to what you pay in England!!!

We moved into our flat on Saturday morning and we love it - although we dont have any furniture yet apart from a bed, it is just so awesome to be so close to the sea and a great promenade with awesome coffee houses all over the place.

Sunday went really well, and I am starting to feel a little more settled as the worship leader - we still are in need of more musicians so will be praying them in over the coming months.

Laura has been looking at Jobs today and trying to sort the few possesions in our house - its really incredible how much mess can be made with so little stuff - she will write again soon when she gets the time; we still dont have a computer so its only when she comes into work with me that she can use the computer.

Well i have a meeting to lead worship at, so I'll be off. Please keep in touch; we love receiving your emails - sorry if it takes us a while to respond, it will improve!!!

We have a house!!!!

Well, news on the street is that Paul & Laura Kingsley-Smith have a new address again!!! We have just signed our tennancy agreement today, and will be moving into a new flat on Friday. This is going to be our permanent address for the forseable future. The address is...

3/20 Patteson Avenue
Mission Bay
Auckland
New Zealand
Home Phone : 0064 952 17 139

The telephone will be up and running from friday, so please don't try to call before that - also please do bear in mind the huge time difference when calling us; although we'd love to speak to everyone, we'd prefer it to be at sociable hours!!!

Well, the flat is perfect, its a little 2 bedder and is a one minute walk to the beach - if you want proof please check the map by clicking here. If you would like to know more about our new local area, click here.

Things here are going really well - i'm sorry that this is the 1st post I've made since we've been here; I have been pretty busy, and have not had much time to email people or put up blog entries. New Zealand is a fantastic place and we are loving it already.

Please do keep in touch - I'll be more regular in the next week or so.

Love to you all

Finding our new home

Well the past few days have been spent searching the web and estate agents trying to find afordable appartments in good areas of the city so we can set up home. We'd seen three places over thurday and friday and felt very disapointed with the results as they were either very tiny, a long way out of the city centre or just horrible! (Although one of the houses was next door to a very well known popstar who comes here for a few weeks of the year!?) To try and make ourselfs more at home in our little tempory flat we went to the warehouse (a bit like wilkinsons, but in a warehouse) and bought a washing basket and some coathangers which helped us loads in clearing the mess in our bedroom and getting rid of the suitcases from the floor and into the cupboard.
We went out again today (Saturday) with friends Kim and Bruce and found this really cute little flat right next to the beach which we fell in love with straight away, the only gutting thing is we have to apply to rent it and wait for the owner to choose an applicant-please all pray that we get it!
Other news is that Esther (my best friend form Somerset) called me this morning to tell me she was engaged and would i be her bridesmaid! As you can imagine- i was VERY excited!!
We are finding everything so cool here, everyone has been amazing and we are overwhelmed with the Kiwi's kind and friendly nature. Well worth a visit for all those needing a good fun holiday!!!

Our Tempary Address

Just to let everyone know that you can send any mail to us via the church until we get our own place, it is: 28 Symonds Street, Box 6349, Wellesley Street, Auckland, New Zealand.

We've arrived!

Hi everyone, well, we've arrived!

Its Monday afternoon on my birthday and things are so amazing here. We arrived on Friday evening, 12 hours later than we hoped so our journey in total was about 40 hours door to door, however my body has adjusted really well and i slept all the way through the night for the first time last night so all seems to be well. We have been made to feel so welcome here, eating out every day so far, and whilst Paul is working (he started on Saturday afternoon) i've been taken out for coffee or lunch or shopping with some of the girls which is wonderful!

Before i go on I just want to thank everyone for being so great and helping us so much before we left, especially Becca and Adam, and to all those who gave me birthday presents to take with me-it was so nice this morning to open some pressies on the bed!

I can't believe how at home we both feel; although we've only been he two full days, it really feels as if we've been here alot longer already. Everyone has gone out of their way to help us and we've already been lent a car, a tv, a stero, and a sim card to use.

Church was great yesterday; we went to both the morning and evening services and met loads of people and went to the pub after for drinks. In the morning service there were loads of really cute babies so i felt very broody! Talking of babies, Mike the vicar here, and his wife Bex gave birth to a little boy in the early hours of this morning which is very exciting, not only becasue i love babies-but because we also share the same birthday!

New Zealand is beautiful! The weather has been good considering its winter here, today it is sunny and some people are still in shorts although i've opted for the jeans and jumper combo (note there is no need for a coat in winter!) as i often feel a little chilly inside as there is no central heating.

Ok, i'm gonna go now, i'm sorry for all those who we told we would have internet straight away as we don't (i'm using the church computer) so forgive us if our communication is not as regular as we would like to have it. Our postal address is also not the same as the one we posted a few weeks ago but i don't have our new one! We will post you our address and phone number as soon as we get one!

New Photos

Well we're finally down in Watford, the penultimate leg of our Journey before flying on Wednesday. We enjoyed a fantastic barbecue at Lauras parents over the weekend and have posted some photos of the evening in the photos section of the website. We hope you enjoy them, and we'll post again soon...

The Gospel According to Chav

Well with so much talk at the moments about Chavs, I find this yesterday and it made me laugh!! Read on

There's this bird called Mary, yeah? She's a virgin. (Wossat then?)

She's not married or nuffink, but she's got this boyfriend, Joe, innit? He's does joinery an' that. Mary lives with him in a crib dahn Nazaref.

One day Mary meets this bloke Gabriel. She's like: "Oo you lookin' at?"

Gabriel just goes: "You've got one up the duff, you have."

Mary's totally gobsmacked. She gives it to him large.

"Stop dissin' me, yeah? I ain't no Kappa-slapper. I never bin wiv no one!"

So Mary goes and sees her cousin Liz, who's six months gone herself.

Liz is largin' it. She's filled with spirits, Bacardi Breezers an' that.

She's like: "Ooright, Mary, I can proper feel me bay-bee in me tummy and I reckon I'm well blessed. What wiv the extra benefits an' that."

Mary goes: "Yeah, s'pose you're right."

Anyway, there's the census y'knaaa? Mary an' Joe ain't got no money so they have to twock a donkey an' go dahn Bethlehem on that.

They get to this pub an' Mary wants to stop, yeah? To have her bay-bee an' that.

But there ain't no room in the inn, innit? So Mary an' Joe break an' enter into this garridge, only it's filled wiv animals. Cahs an' sheep an' that.

Then these geezers turn up, looking proper bling, wiv crowns on their heads. They're like "Respect bay-bee Jesus", an' say they're wise men from the East End.

Joe goes: "If you're so wise, wotchoo doin' with this Frankenstein an' myrrh? Why dincha just bring gold, Adidas an' Burberry?"

It's all abaht to kick off when Gabriel turns up an' sez he's got another message from this Lord geezer. He's like: "The rozzers is coming an' they're killing all the bay-bees. You better nash of to Egypt."

Joe goes: "You must be monged if you think I'm goin' dahn Egypt on a minging donkey."

Gabriel sez: "Suit yerself, pal. But it's your look-aht if you stay."

So they go dahn Egypt till they've stopped killing the first-born an' it's safe an' that. Then Joe an' Mary an' Jesus go back to Nazaref, an' Jesus turns water into lager.