Christ is risen! Phil is baptised..!

What a wonderful Easter Sunday! I hope that your day was filled with the joy and hope that comes from knowing that Christ is risen indeed..! On this great day, Phil was also baptised… and I had the honour of being involved in his special day. As I’m practicing to be a minister (ie, minister-in-training/ student minister… whichever you prefer!) I got to practice my baptising skills on my darling husband! We had a great service at a nearby hotel, where there is a round pool, which was really cool as everyone could stand around and see Phil getting dunked. Phil gave his testimony superbly and Hazel did the reading: it was really great that she could be here to be part of Phil’s baptism weekend. Ian (our church Moderator) and I actually baptised Phil, and it was really special. It was fine getting him under the water, but it took a bit of a shove to get him back up to standing afterwards! Obviously, being a little short, it was a bit of a challenge… but it was fine in the end! Here are a couple of photos… Notice the white baptismal robes..! Aren’t they great? Phil and Ian were particularly excited about the prospect of wearing robes. We had the choice to wear them or just wear our normal clothes, but the boys were all for the robes… so I thought I would also… I felt truly angelic!

Ian and Phil going into the pool.

Ian and I getting ready to dunk Phil.

Unfortunately, we ran out of space on the camera for post-baptism photos, but don’t worry, he really did make it!

Have a wonderfully relaxing Monday..!

I have a summer job!

 

I just finished an interview with a lovely lady from Embassy CES and she is doubly lovely because she offered me a summer job! Yay! The plan is that Phil and I will work in Belfast for the month of June and then head for sunny England and work for July and some of August. By securing a job as an Activity Leader, part 2 of the grand plan is partially complete! (of course, Phil needs to be offered a job as an English Language Teacher in order for part 2 to be really complete, but I’m going to trust God and Phil that he will be offered a job too! His interview is later on this week… please pray for him.) Once Phil has been offered a job (holding thumbs), then we will figure out where exactly we will be working. Embassy CES runs English language and activity summer schools, so that’s what we’ll be doing, but we don’t yet know where, or with what ages we will be working. Phil will be working as a English teacher, and I will be doing activities and that sort of thing..! It sounds pretty fun and a good job for the summer, so I’m well chuffed! As I look out onto a very grey day in Prague, a gorgeous summer is enticing me… oh I can’t wait!

The Phil story… news from Prague.

So, Phil has been in Prague for a week now, and I thought I would update you on what he’s getting up to. I was looking for a picture of Czech beer and found the one above of this lady in a beer bath! I just couldn’t resist putting it in for your general education. A beer bath. How disgusting..! Imagine how sticky you would be? And the smell? Beer-breath stand aside, this is a whole new sort of smell! Anyway, this really has nothing to do with Phil at all. (I hope!)

Phil is doing really well so far. The other people on his course are good fun and an interesting mixture of nationalities, sexual orientations, religions and ages. He’s enjoying the post-working day beer with his new friends! Their days are pretty long and hectic, they start at 8:30am, and finish at 7:00pm. They have already had two teaching practices, which Phil said he didn’t really enjoy because of how pressured it was and how new it all felt, but he said that the feedback was good, so that’s the main thing. They are having to learn Romanian as foreign language students, as it teaches them how it feels to learn a new language, by being taught completing in that language. It sounds pretty hilarious! The also do teaching observation, as well as English grammar and language, and the teaching practicals too. So, sounds like he’s keeping out of mischief certainly..!

Lovely Czech beer…

Phil and his class buddies don’t seem to get much spare time, but they have been into the city a couple of times (once to go to Tesco..!) and he said its looking beautiful, if a bit wet. (August is often very wet in Czech… but September is lovely apparently!) The only thing that is a little on the nasty side is his accomodation, which he said is a bit basic and communist-feeling (!) but his flat mate is good craic, everyone is in the same boat, and they don’t have much time in their flats anyway, so he’s not too bothered.  He is feeling happy and at home, so that’s the main thing. I think he’s really delighted that a long-held desire to be in Czech has finally come true. Its pretty exciting! He did try to go to church last week, but he got lost, so he’s going to try again tomorrow… I’m hoping for the best..!

Nothing really happens in Sevenoaks, so I’ll not bore you with the non-events. However, I did have a great time chatting to the minister of Bessels Green Baptist over coffee on Tuesday. (Those of you that were at our wedding will remember Neil Durling as quite a character!) I was asking him about being a minister and how he enjoyed it, what inspired him, what annoyed him etc etc. It was a really excellent time and helped me think more about what I want to do, where I think God is leading me and where my passions and gifts lie. As Neil thinks I should get as much practice talking from the front, he asked me to do a wee 5 minute thing on Sunday night on some of my favourite Bible verses. Although its only 5 minutes, I’m a little nervous. I’m looking forward to it though, in a strange way. So yeah, if you pray, pray that I do an OK job tomorrow night.

Anyway, that’s about all really. Enjoy your weekend everyone!