From Zambia to Worcester!

Wow! What a journey we have had these past few months!!
As many of you already know we left Zambia at the beginning of December; our bodies left, our heads are still trying to catch up and bits of our hearts still remain!
We spent most of November trying to squeeze the life out of every single day; embracing every moment and trying to slow down time...
We were overwhelmed by the send off; lots of cards, warm words, get togethers and tears. We were physically and emotionally drained by the time we left the gates of Amano but absolutely blessed by the students, friends and Amano family :-)

A few pics of our last month in Zambia!

Youth Group Christmas Party!

Grade 12 leavers do!

Christmas Play

Throughout the whole process of saying goodbye and thinking about the future in England we have felt such a sense of Gods peace. At times we have totally freaked out; 'Are we doing the right thing?', 'What will we do for jobs when we get back?', 'Where will we live?'.... and then we are gently reminded of Philippians 4:6-7, 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' .........

....Then followed the amazing story of how we ended up in Worcester....

.........Back in June we had discussed what jobs we would do on returning to England and where we would settle... Jona decided that he would look for small Christian Schools, similar to the setup of Amano, where he felt he could maybe build stronger relationships with the young people as opposed to a larger comprehensive. Although no jobs were advertised he decided to email 5 schools which he felt particularly drawn to. 4 of the 5 emailed back to say 'Thanks for the CV but no jobs!'. The River School in Worcester emailed to say; 'Thanks for the CV, no jobs at the moment but we'll stay in touch'.
As time went on, we emailed a few times but unfortunately, still no jobs! At this point I was starting to worry a little bit but Jona encouraged us to remain patient.
Then, amazingllly, during October half term we received an email from the school in Worcester with a job advert for a part time science teacher starting in January! Jona applied and was offered an interview on our return to England. So we decided to leave Zambia 10 days earlier than we had originally intended so we could get to Worcester for the interview and have a bit of down time before Christmas.
On visiting the River School we both got a clear sense that it would be the right place for Jon; a wonderful, Christ-centred, community focussed school. After spending the best part of a day looking around and chatting we felt excited and hopeful!
The school had asked that we all had a few days to think and pray about it, which we respected. Friday of that week we received a phone call to confirm that Jon had got the job! yay!

We have enjoyed a fantastic Christmas in Bude with the Dearings, Rass's and Burninghams; lots of laughter, fun, food and festivities.

The Brave Ones doing the Christmas Day Dip in Bude

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Christmas Day Lunch!

And now, here we are sitting in our little new home in Worcester! A one bedroom maisonette on the outskirts of Worcester!
It's a strange feeling to move to a completely new place; not really knowing many people or places. But we've had a great first week getting to know people... Jon has had his first few days teaching and is already really enjoying it.
We have started going along to a lovely church in the city centre and already enjoying getting to know people there! Our neighbours are all great and we already feel part of the neighbourhood :-) I continue to look for jobs and hope to find something very soon.

Apologies that we haven't been in touch with people or kept the blog up to date but I'm sure, as you can appreciate, the past few months have been a whirlwind!