Week of Conferences

Week Monday 23 April to 29 April
This week became a week of conferences. For eight days in a row we attended church meetings, and as the time went on, the blessings we received intensified.
The first was at Hemel Hempstead Community Church from Monday through to Wednesday (held in what used to be an old gas works). Because this conference was targeting European leaders (we kind of gate crashed!), we met up again with 4 of the people who were with us at the School of Ministry in Toronto. Key speakers at this conference were Rolland Baker, Patricia Bootsma and Dan Slade.
Berkhamsted was our first major encounter with driving in the narrow residential street, where often cars were parked on the footpaths, and there was only enough room for one way traffic - quite a contrast from the wide streets in the USA.

Just as well we had a small car for the narrow streets!

One of the things that really blessed us, was how everyone was so warm, outgoing and friendly! We had some very precious and meaningful times of fellowship with a wide range of people. There were also some amazing contacts that were made, where we had things very much in common with some even though we lived on the other side of the world. The couple who were hosting us went out of their way to bless us.


Bob and Lexie, our hosts at Berkhamsted

Bob and Lexie's 3 storey, 6 bedroom home

We were also blessed by the liberty and freedom in the people that we saw, and that we experienced.

On Thursday, we took a four hour trip from Hemel Hempstead up to Blackpool. It was that evening that the next set of meetings was to start. These meetings have proved to be some of the richest times that we have experienced in the whole trip so far. We would not have known about them if we had not been told as an aside in an email from a friend. We stayed in a hotel very close to the beach in Blackpool, and that night, headed out to the Baptist church in St Annes, Lytham the venue of the conference, about six miles from the hotel.

"The Well", St Annes, Lytham

For a start, we were early (thought it began at 7, but not until 7:30), so were able to talk with people. Met a German lady, from near Augsburg, a place where we intend to go in Germany, to see an acquaintance of Karen’s from 30 years ago. She told Karen of some of the things that the Holy Spirit was doing in Augsburg. Karen became overcome with gratitude to the Lord, about how He was preparing things in advance for us, and giving us the reassurance that He is in control of what we are doing. We were invited to share a testimony, then we were prayed for. We were so blessed by what was prayed over us and the prophecies we received that night.  We also learned that the premises now occupied by Baptists had previously been an Anglican church with quite a history of revival in the past – with people such as Smith Wigglesworth and John Wimber having spoken there.
One of the senior ladies of the church told us that she was going to Ffald-y-Brenin Christian Retreat Centre in Wales, a place that we planned on visiting in the following week.

On Friday, it being reasonably fine, we went for a good walk along the seaside of Blackpool. This place certainly has been set up for tourism, with major entertainment attractions. We even observed the roller coaster operating in the rain.

Blackpool boardwalk by the sea

In the evening we were really blessed through the ministry of Mark Stibbe, who has a burden to impart the Father’s heart to people. We were blessed again also by the ministry of Rolland Baker, Saturday and Sunday.

Arriving in England

Week Monday 16 April to 22 April

Monday began with a very cloudy morning in Toronto, but we still set out  on a trip to Niagara Falls. We were able to use our Greyhound bus pass to Niagara, then caught another to take us to the Falls themselves, by which time it was sunny. We walked down through the glitz and glamour and along the path adjacent to the river and the Falls. The sight was awesome, there being 2 massive falls. One is referred to as the American Falls, the other the Canadian Falls.

The sheer volume of water going over has to be seen to be appreciated, and we got wet from spray. The USA was just a short distance across the canyon.

Karen appreciated the gardens especially some of the trees that were covered in pink blossoms –some type of Magnolia. 

The following day was our flight out of Toronto, so we caught the underground train and the bus to airport. When waiting at the Airport, God had set aside a divine appointment with Patricia Bootsma, part of the pastoral team at Catch the Fire Toronto. She was catching the same plane, and she prayed for us and prophesied over us. She also strongly urged us to attend a conference that she would be at over in England, one tht we had already in fact been considering.

The flight was overnight, so we arrived in London on 8th Wednesday morning, and caught the tube to Osterley Station. There we met up with another New Zealander, Andrea (whom we had met briefly in Toronto) and walked to her flat. She and her other flatmate, Vanessa were just so welcoming and blessed us with wonderful hospitality. They had house group that night, and invited us to share.

Vanessa and Andrea

We were escorted to various places by our hostesses. On one occasion we went for a walk to Osterley Park, close to where they lived. It was amazing to find farmland right there in the midst of houses in London. It was just beautiful, with lakes, cows, ducks, flowering trees, a mansion of a wealthy banking family, the Childs.



Osterley Park

The Child's Homestead

However, we got caught in heavy hail storm. Andrea said she had never seen hail like it, and this was repeated by an elderly gentleman we saw the following day.

Hail like snow on the ground

Hail on the roof

We were taken to a Japanese restaurant beside the Thames River one evening. Walking over the Richmond bridge, in the evening was so picturesque. We were also taken out for lunch to experience our first English Pub meal. This English Pub overlooked the Thames, which at the time was low because of the tide.

We had decided to hire a car for transport around the UK, so we picked up a car, a small Peugeot 107. We also purchased a Sat Nav, or GPS so hopefully we would not get lost. On Sunday afternoon we set out with the car and Sat Nav and headed for a meeting at Catch the Fire Wembley. There we had  Rolland Baker “sharing”. We left the meeting early, so could make our way with the  aid of Sat-Nav to our host family in Berkhamsted, where we would stay the next few days whilst attending a Partners in Harvest Conference at Hemel Hempstead. This was the one that Patricia Bootsma had urged us to attend.