Chris writes: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!! Christmas in a different place yet alone a different country sure is strange and i must admit i found it difficult to get into the 'Christmas mood' and to think of it as us celebrating it away from UK. In addition we have even had some of that white stuff! A white Christmas! How amazing!! Our struggle remains the language and will probably continue to be so. Despite having said that when we arrived here seven weeks ago it seemed such a mountain for us to climb in terms of adjusting and getting to know our roles and the people that it is amazing to think what we have done in such a short space of time. We now have our boxes from the UK and are enjoying seeing our personal stuff around us and the place becomes much more like home. We have many good friendships out here now and will enjoy spending some time with them especially over the next week or so. Dave & Cindy have now left us for around two and half months so this will be the testing time for us, though the nursery is closed at the moment until 12th January there are always jobs to be done. We hope that we will be able to get a few days away for a break the week after next. So almost two months in and we feel fairly settled and are even adjusting to the erratic electricity supply which is particularly strange tonight - on and off every ten minutes or so. It would never happen in the UK - but then we are in Kosova and consider it a privledge to be here. Looking at the vast array of stars the other night - a sight i have not seen in a little while - made me think of that verse in Psalms 8: "when i consider the heavens...the moon and the stars....what is man that You are mindful of him...." Wow!! What a God! That is the most important thing - not our ministries but our relationship with God. How amazing!!

Lorraine writes- Today was the last day of Kindergarten for 2008. We re-open for the kids on Jan 12th, so the next three weeks will be very quite with out them and the staff here! Its been a joy getting to know the kids and staff over the last 6 weeks; learning about their culture and how they live and trying to learn their language. Having a break over Christmas and New Year will give us more time to get really settled and plant our feet firmly on the ground. I've found it hard to settle, but I guess moving anywhere new, especially a new country, does take time. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Life for a women here in Kosova is very different than in the west. I have to respect the traditions and learn to adapt to a new way of life. Now that we have our boxes, which arrived last week safe and sound, with our personal belongings in, its making the place feel really like home :-) Putting ones thoughts down isn't as easy as I thought it would be. But as Christmas arrives and with the New Year almost here, I'm praying that 2009 will be an amazing year where I can truly communicate whats on my heart. I pray that it will be a year of blessings and one where I will grow in faith and grace and serve the people of Krushe e Vogel/Kosova well. I endeavour to not get so worried about things and take one step at a time; to enjoy the surroundings and to develop deeper relationships with friends. We love to receive emails and post, so if you have any free time to write, we'd love to hear from you. Lots of love to you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR xxxxx

Well we have now past another milestone and have been here over a month and settling into a routine. It has been a busy weekend with Dave & Cindy away in Greece over the weekend. first thing on Friday we had a problem with the heating then we had a call to say our Christmas parcels had arrived at the border so i had to drive to Mitrovice. From there i had to go back to Pristine but we got stuck in heavy traffic and by the time we arrived the office had closed early for the holiday weekend! That is Kosova! Went to another church run by a UK couple on Sunday and Monday for the holiday we visited the staff in thier homes and ate Baraclav - a sweet cake for the holiday time - a tough and filling day!! Dave & Cindy were back on Monday night and before dawn on Tuesday we were back to sort the parcels out. After another long day we got the parcels to our village around 6pmish - that's life! Still it is so good to be in the centre of God's will!!

Chris writes: it is hard to imagine but we have been here almost one month. We are settling into life here in Krushe and starting to take the people and the place to our hearts. We are finding out our roles and beginning to feel more at home. Dave and Cindy have been great - so patient and gentle with us - but are preparing to leave us in a few weeks! We did get to celebrate thanksgiving with them last week - wow! I have now driven the auto a fair bit and am getting to know where things are and also my way round Prizren - our nearest big town for banks and things. The weekend was flag day - an extra day off to celebrate the independance from Turkey and some traditional dancing and stuff at the school. We visited another church on Sunday - a good friend and brother is the pastor - a very humble local guy. Hopefully this weekend we will visit a church run by a couple from UK. It really is hard to think we have only been here for a month. The big one is the language for me and would appreciate your prayers for retention! The weekend could be busy as the Christmas parcels are due to arrive and am unsure at the mo how this will work out and whether we will have to go to the border to meet the truck or not.....

Lorraine writes- Not been an easy two weeks, settling in; the lack of power and even the snow this week has caused me no end of stress!!! I have to keep remembering that we are on Gods path and here is where He wants us! I have enjoyed being with the staff and kids in the Kindergarten. In some ways they are streets ahead of those kids I left behind in Bournemouth, with manners and the way they play, but yet they are behind in so many other areas. Life is so simple here; I'm learning to take it slow and to chill more.

Chris writes: this weekend the snow came! Waking on Saturday morning it was quite a beautiful sight - of course it is not without its problems - but over here they just seem to shrug it off. It is unlike anything i have seen for a long time. In UK we just brush it off the path or it turns to sludge. Over here by today it was hard work to remove it from the path - guess that is another lesson i just learned! The power has been erratic as usual as well - usually three hours on and three off - on Saturday night we had no power at all so had to put one of the generators on for a bit just to keep the food frozen on Sunday morning before church just as i was clearing the drive of ice! Some of the young guys helped me. Welcome to Kosova! All that aside things are going pretty well apart from still hanging onto a cold. Dave and Cindy have been great and we are getting to know the local staff that we will manage. Getting to know where everything is and how it works and what switch must be where and when! How to get to this place or that - driving in a strange way (so says Lorraine as well!) Coping with the lack of TV and just watching Dvds which of course we get to control! The weekend was good went to church on Saturday and Sunday!! On Sunday after we went out for lunch with a friend and his wife and then visited some families we know - they were bowled over to see us - what a welcome! So all in all a good two weeks - Someone out there must be praying! They are being heard - thankyou!!

Chris writes: it is hard to imagine but we have actually been here over a week now and are starting to settle in and find our feet. I have managed to cope with the design fault on thier cars and am managing to stay on the wrong side of the road - most of the time! Dave and Cindy have been great at not putting any presssure on us and letting us find our feet. The weekend was good - took Raine for a brunch on Saturday for a sumona at a bakery in Gjkova - after almost two years the guy remembered my name! I felt qiute guilty at forgetting his! This life is soooo relaxed!! After a relaxed shopping trip we went to see the new managers at the Smile centre in Gjk. They started earlier this year and have similar testimonies to us. On Sunday we went to one of our home churches here in Kosova - as we start finding a regular place to worship and fellowship. This week has been hard as i have had a cold (touch of man-flu!). Must admit as i was wallowing in my self pity i felt it is never easy being ill away from home - then i remembered we don't have a home back in UK - this is our home! Home is where the heart is here in Kosova with Raine - maybe it sounds strange but that is giving me a strength - Krushe Vogel is our new home!! Had an awful night last night not much sleep at all - after praying eventually got some sleep and woke up and have felt loads better! Why is that a surprise! Day could end well as Raine has been cooking!!

Chris writes: has been a fantastic day - Praise God!! really felt some sort of a connection with the children and doing some useful (i think!) work. Playing with and dancing to some Albanian music with the children this morning - drove one of the autos (cannot say 'car' in Albanian! Look it up!) this morning - sadly as we all know, they have a design fault and they put the drivers seat on the left side so you have to use the stick with your right hand which takes some getting used to; then doing some gardening which everyone said looks good and had a kick around with some of the older children who also helped and encouraged with the gardening - this was a great opportunity to build relationships with them. After supper came down to earth with a bump while chatting with Cindy telling about how the people just don't respect the place or the work that has been done and how they have recently actually trashed the place while everyone was away - she said this really is about longhaul and we should not expect to see any quick results! Oh well - never mind.......keep trusting!!

Chris writes: Well our adventure continues and we are actually living in Kosova now! We had a good flight which was odd after we had just been stung for £70 by BA for what they called excess luggage!! We measured our carry-on bags beforehand and they fitted the measurements on their website ....and so on......anyhow to be fair we did have two holdalls and i was carrying/wearing the other half of my suitcase so i guess it was a fair cop! We arrived at the airport to beautiful sunshine - it was pouring when we left UK - ha ha God has a sense of humour and knew we needed a gentle introduction! We where met by Dave and Cindy - our bosses who are also giving us a gentle introduction! It really is a case of information overload at the mo. trying to learn the peoples/childrens names/what our roles are/besides the language is just too much - i really would benefit from an extra hard drive to plug into - so if anyone has any ideas!! I must admit i am not sure that any amount of cross cultural training would have prepared us for this - the CC is currently the easy bit! Please pray that both us and the people we serve will have enough grace until things start to kick in!!

Chris writes: it is hard to imagine but almost three months to the day we now stand just hours away from the next part of our Kosovan Adventure and actually starting a new life in the country we feel God has called us to. Emotions are a mixture of excitement, tiredness over the lack of sleep and just a desire to just get on with the next stage in our adventure! We end our UK tour in Kent and over the last week or so our final distance travelled was just about 900 miles. We are seeking a good home for our faithful car and have several interested! Our only outstanding issues are with our two mobile phone contracts which unfortunately run until the end of July - the call charges in Kosova prevent us taking them with us - so they shall remain behind in the UK waiting for new users! We have now just about completed the packing for the upteenth time and have even managed to offload a few more of our clothes! We even spent part of last night with my computer genius brother-in-law setting up new accounts on our computer: Skype, MSM and so on are all forms of communication now available to us!

Chris writes: 800 miles and two tired and weary travellers later we arrrive back on the south Coast of England! Over the weekend we visited some of our family/friends in the north of England/Wales. As imagined this was an emotional time saying goodbye to these people and the uncertianty of when we will be seeing them again remains - but thanks to the medium of the internet and Skype.....The weekend was particularly encouraging as we visited one church in Skipton - where they were actually talking and praying about Kosova!! This was great to be able to recieve further support and encouragement from some people we had never met before - the priveledge and opportunity to serve in Kosova made me feel honoured that we were able to go in this way. We are now in Worthing making the final preparations and visiting Family and friends before we leave next week - the time feels like it is racing by and the jobs that we still need to do seem to be mounting up! lol xx

Chris writes: Today is Wednesday and time is racing past. tomorrow is my last shift with bcha in Bournemouth. Lorraine has not been working this week which in a sense is a relief as we have to get everything packed, some stuff back to the flat, last few emails, and catching up with one or two people. We plan to leave for the north early on Friday morning, seeing friends and family before heading back south mid-next week then Kent next weekend for the Smile reunion and leave on the Monday. we are both writing lists after lists and trying to stay focused!!

Lorraine writes- Today saw our church family and friends get together after the service for a bring and share lunch. It was great to spend time with friends who are dear to us; to chat and laugh together. The final sorting and packing for our big off is underway and we have been so blessed by many words of encouragements.

Chris writes: the day went really well and it was good to see so many of our friends and family there to support us. During the service we shared a little - i spoke about the three things which had encouraged me 1) all the many people who had supported and encouraged us and it felt like they were going with us in a sense 2) was the ripple effect what we are doing seems to be having on other people and the many people Christian and non who have been inspired and motivated by what we are doing - it is quite humbling and something we would never have imagined 3) I don't know much about timescales when you are starting off in missionary work but three months from the date we got accepted to the date we actually fly seems pretty good - doing things like renting the flat which happened almost straight away (with a gulp at the time!) plus packing all our stuff into boxes and suitcases and storing some in the loft; moving in with families around Bournemouth; setting up new accounts; starting a new old job for me; besides getting the newsletters out and raising the money - we had to have at least three months in the back with the rest pledged (this seemed a mountain in itself!) - when we go next week we should have virtually all the money we need until July 2009!! Now i don't want to get super spiritual here or anything but to me, with or without the theology degree(!) that all kind of implies that God is firmly in what we are doing and He has not only opened a door for us but OPENED THE FLOODGATES!!!

The journey to actually living in Kosova started for us in what seemed a relatively simple way. Lorraine had grown tired with her career and needed a change. she moved to Kent and worked for Smile International organising their aid, this included several visits to kosova, part of the former Yugoslavia which had been ravaged by the war during the late 1990s. When marriage plans took over she left Kent and Smile behind and moved briefly back home to Reading and finally Christchurch to settle into married life with Chris. The move enabled Chris to complete his time at Moorlands Bible College as a college based rather than placement based student. Things were moving into place. This enabled Chris to have a period of five week block placement and the offhand comment was made about Kosova which Lorraine thought was a great idea - Chris was not so sure! As the time grew closer Lorraine was not so sure either! Five weeks in Kosova was a great test of our marriage - still less than a year old. We both Struggled - Chris was homesick and Lorraine found the flat large and lonely. Chris returned home with a great sense of relief and never expected to return. However it seemed that God had other plans for us concerning the country and in June of 2008 we returned as a couple this time able to share experiences.

On our last day with our bags all packed we visited Krushe, a place Chris had visited on his own and which had made quite an impact on him. While there we found out about a vacancy for a couple as volunteer managers. Chris had been searching all over for employment and no doors had opened so we persued this new opportunity very gingerly - rejecting at first owing to the lack of money involved! Eventually however we could reject it no longer so we started the application process. The constraints of email made this process a little uncertain at times but finally on the 10th of August we received an email to say we had been accepted! A mixture of elation and panic followed! The next three months became a blur but a great testimony to the goodness of God and of His hand being upon our journey to Kosova all along! We rented the flat almost straight away and moved in with various people in the Bournemouth area, sorting bank accounts, setting up giving accounts, set up newsletters, continuing or finishing and starting new jobs as roles switched around but thankfully we both ended up with full time employment, and waiting on God as we watched Him moving people to give - and give they did! We needed to have three months behind us in the bank and the rest of the year pledged before we could start life in Kosova. We set a target of being in Kosova before the end of November - which seemed very soon for our managers - ultimately we knew there was a vacancy and wanted to fill it asap. We looked at booking the flight and settled for 10th November - though we did not realise at the time precisely three months to the day after we had been accepted!! We can only but give the credit to our amazing God! Though we might have lacked the faith at first and have planned other ways if there was a shortfall - we need not have worried. To date (25/10/08) we have more than covered our first three months and are well over halfway towards the remainder with other gifts still promised! We move forward in our journey to Kosova in the grace and strength of our awesome God!!