May update from Les and Vicki
Dear friends,
Life has been very busy since our trip to Israel at the end of March! The tour we led there exceeded all our expectations in the richness of fellowship, and with the interesting historical and spiritually illuminating places we visited. The group of 39 people included about 14 from Siberia with their translator, 3 from Poland, 2 from New Zealand, and 2 from Cyprus not to mention Larry Hill from Ireland. We spent three days in the Galilee region, four in Jerusalem and three by the Dead Sea. One of the highlights of the tour was the marriage of Bernard Wilkins and Anna Ward from Tiverton. Les conducted the marriage vows and Larry Hill preached, Mary Seaton and I sang – all in the most beautiful setting under a palm tree by the Sea of Galilee. This was followed by a boat cruise across the sea in a 1st century-style wooden fishing boat. We enjoyed the natural beauty and surroundings of the places we visited, generally avoiding the religious buildings – focusing more on the biblical events which took place in these locations. Les, Larry, John Elliott and Pastor Nikolai from Siberia had plenty of opportunity to bring the word of God to the group in such a relevant and powerful way. The hotel by the Dead Sea had a meeting room for us to use where we enjoyed wonderful times of worship, prayer and testimony, as well as times of relaxation floating around on the Dead Sea caked in black mud! We are thinking of taking another group on a similar tour next year probably during the last week of April 2013. Let us know if you, or any of your contacts, would like to receive more information about it.
Some photos can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/media/
Now that we are based back in Epsom, Les and I tend to be home during the week and away at weekends in various places. This has meant that we hardly appear there on a Sunday; so Les has been doing a series of Thursday night Bible studies in Epsom on the subject of prayer. You can listen to these on the church website:
http://epsomcf.org.uk/wp-
Since returning from Israel, we first went to the annual conference in Germany (near Frankfurt), with our son, Daniel. Dave Medlock and Les shared the ministry. It was actually the 25th one hosted by Clem and Sylvia Fisher! We praise God for the blessing of these gatherings over the years and for all the lives that have been profoundly touched by the Lord.
We then attended the Word of Life Conference, Dublin, which was our next place to visit. The meetings were very well attended with Blaesius Fultang and Les speaking over the weekend. It was a great time of worship together with people attending from many different church backgrounds. From there we went straight to the Prayer and Bible Week, Cloverley, taking Blaesius and Larry Hill with us. It was an exceptionally powerful time with the sense of the presence of the Lord in the meetings. I know many lives were touched and changed during these days.
Since then we have had two very precious weekends in Liverpool with the church at Devonshire Rd. We feel such a strong link of love and fellowship with everyone there after our many weeks of staying with them on and off over the past 2-3 years before moving back to Epsom.
Les was able to spend a weekend with the church over in Tralee, Ireland and I got busy making wedding cakes while with my parents in Birmingham! (Becky and Nick are getting married on 6th October)
We have just returned from a wonderful week with Dave and Sajda Fenton in Provence, France. It was a great joy for me to be with Les as it was my first time to go there and see them in their home, and to have a few meetings in their church. It always amazes me how Les can switch into preaching in French after quite a long gap and with so many other languages in his head! It was lovely renewing fellowship with Dave and Sajda, who are doing a great work there.
Every blessing
Les and Vicki
