The Start of the Second Week . . .

Dennis and his car


Pictures of the Duck Pond and the man who comes and feeds the ducks every day



In the quietness of this evening, I (Brenda) sit here in an attitude of such thanksgiving watching Dennis put the finishing touches on his sermon for tomorrow morning. It’s hard to believe that we are already into our second week as residents of Ducklington. We have spent this week walking the streets and visiting with neighbors, as well as, improving Dennis’ driving skills. There have been multiple trips to the grocery store and two trips into the town centre of Witney – and we are still alive. Dennis is doing a great job of driving us around (but please don’t quit praying). Each day we have met people who are very friendly and helpful and in most situations they have offered something of their thoughts of faith and church going.

The boiler that runs our hot water heater as well as the heat in our house quit working sometime on Tuesday. We assumed that we just didn’t know how to work it, but when David and Janice came over Thursday evening, he diagnosed it as a problem. He arranged for a repairman to come on Friday morning and that ended up to be one of the sweetest and most interesting conversations we have had. The repairman made trips to our house twice that day and each time Dennis ended up standing in the kitchen visiting with him. He told us that he was raised Baptist and when Dennis asked about the current spiritual state of England, he remarked that it seemed to him the people had “lost their faith.” When people try to describe the lack of spiritual interest in England, they sound very much like what folks might say in the United States. Most people see very little need for faith or a relationship with Christ. They feel that they are perfectly capable of handling life on their own and so they do. Sounds so very familiar, doesn’t it?

We have continued to pray about how to interact with the polish lady, Daneuta, who has been coming to Ducklington Baptist for several months. After Dennis’ chance meeting with the young polish man (Lucas) last weekend, he decided to walk down to Lucas’ house and see if he or his wife (Barbara) might be able to translate a few sentences on a piece of paper for us to give to Daneuta tomorrow at church. We wanted to give her a greeting and let her know that we were very glad she is there and we also wanted to be able to tell her the passage that Dennis would be preaching over. Barbara was happy to write a translation out for Daneuta, but Dennis was also able to talk to her about what we are doing in Duckington. Possibly we will be able to incorporate Barbara’s English abilities into our ministry to Daneuta and in the process open up the opportunity to minister to Lucas and Barbara, too.

Today was an especially wonderful day for us and the folks at church. During the 16 months that Duckington Baptist has been without a pastor, there have been many pastors and lay people from the surrounding towns and churches who have been willing to fill in. The leaders here in Ducklington decided that they wanted to officially show their appreciation for all that has been done and so today was a service of celebration for these helpful servants as well as a time to introduce us to them. Some drove as far as 80 miles to join us today. We were so blessed to stand alongside such persevering saints and sing “Crown Him with Many Crowns” and “In Christ Alone.” We couldn’t help thinking back two weeks ago as we stood at South Side and sang the words of “In Christ Alone,” . . . “Jesus commands my Destiny.” Who would have every thought our destiny to be ministering to a tiny little church in The Cotswolds of Great Britain?

The words that brought a rush of emotional were in the song “Here I am, Lord.” Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I can hear you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart. Fifteen years ago when we became involved in the Emmaus Community in Abilene, we sang that song regularly. We would stand and lift our hands and with great devotion and commitment sing those words wondering all the while if God would ever choose to send us. We have to wonder if that was the beginning of the Lord prying our hands off of the security and comfort of where we were and testing our hearts to see if we would really go if He called us.

This week we have said over and over again that everything about being here brings such feelings of security and peace. We are supposed to be here. We are supposed to be living in this house on this street in this village getting to know these people for the purpose of introducing them to Christ. Today’s message from David Bosley recounted the road they have traveled as a church during the past 16 months. While we were finishing up seminary, they were praying for US! They didn’t know it and neither did we, but now we do. We are to be salt and light in our village of Ducklington and we are to encourage these faithful ones to do the same. A moment we will treasure occurred when Richard Crippen, pastor of the Baptist church in Burton-on-the-Water, invited the other pastors and church leaders in the room to come to the front, lay their hands on us, and pray for God to empower the ministry that will take place with us during these next 6 months. We will never forget it!

The booming voices of about 50 of God’s children - Anglican,Methodist, Baptist, and home church - filled that little 160 year old church on Witney Road this afternoon. We pray that the whole village heard it and that the Spirit of the Living God beckons them all to come and see what all the celebration was about. At least 8-10 pastors from area churches have all offered to continue to hold this blessed body of believers before the Lord continuously. They will be the ones we will lean on when we get discouraged and they will be the ones to rejoice with us when sinners come to faith in Christ. This is a sweet, sweet fellowship and we are thrilled to be part of it.