Now we are FIT!

At last we have been able to change our car! We were so blessed to receive a gift to upgrade our car, and have spent much of our time since we've been back in Brazil looking for a car and getting ours ready to sell.

Now at last we have our new car! Actually it's slightly older than the one we had before but a lot more modern. We tried a few other cars, before we settled on our Honda Fit (Honda Jazz in Europe). 

Honda Fit 1.4 LXL

It's automatic!

It is so much better in almost every way: most importantly it's automatic (CVT); it has electric power steering, making it very light and easy to drive. The seats are comfortable, and it's both small and economical (good as most of our driving is in the city), but it has a surprising amount of space inside and doesn't feel cramped. 

We thank God so much (quite frequently!) for this car - it is going to make a big difference to our life.

Holiday in the UK - Part 3

And now the final part of our stay in the UK. During our last 3 weeks, we stayed mainly in Brighton and Hove, with just a couple of trips out of town. Thanks again to everyone who spent some time with us. It's great to know we have so many friends, and to feel so loved. 

Although we packed lots into the time, we still managed to relax plenty - and it was especially nice not having to go to school/work every morning ...

Here is our final collection of UK photos: 

As part of its seemingly never-ending tour of the UK, the Olympic torch came to Brighton and Hove on 16th July! It was a grey drizzly day, but the town was packed and all the traffic stopped along Church Road and The Drive. To be honest, the torch itself wasn't that impressive, but it was a great occasion - a big turn-out, everyone very friendly and happy; clicking away on their cameras/iphones/mobiles and other miscellaneous digital photographic equipment.

 

There it is, don't blink!

On the Wednesday evening, we went along to "UNITED" -the international cafe at Holland Road Baptist Church. This is a ministry which has grown considerably since we moved to Brazil. There were people from all over the world (including Brazil), meeting up to talk English, to learn about each others' cultures and interests. We enjoyed meeting our evening - the only problem was it passed too quickly!

Internationals (like us)

As mentioned, we spent much of the time with friends - many cups of coffee and tea, delicious meals (plenty of curries), talking, relaxing, strolling on the beach …

Anyone for cards?

In the shade in Worthing

Beautiful!

Lovely! 

Smile!

Beach by day ... 

… and by night

We did have a couple of days out, both during our last week - one was at Thorpe Park - that was Mike and six kids. The kids spent quite a lot of time in queues, or upside-down; Mike stayed the right way up.

Another chance to be upside-down

Our last full day in the UK was spent in London - mostly around the Olympic Park and Victoria Park. We didn't have tickets for any events, but we saw lots of Olympic-y things.

We are definitely in the right place

So that's all folks! On Saturday 4th August we headed back to Brazil. 

Holiday in the UK - Part 2

After our first road trip, we returned back to Brighton for the weekend. We had plenty of things planned, and spent Saturday with friends, catching up, relaxing and chatting. 

Lou and her buddy

Josh and his buddy

Brazilian buddies

On Sunday morning, we visited St John the Evangelist church in Fareham. 

Our friends at St John's

We really appreciate the support that St John's has been giving us during our time in Brazil, and it was great to visit the church at last. Mike was invited to preach at the morning service, and we enjoyed meeting  the congregation after the service to chat. 

After a relaxing lunch with one of Mike's former work colleagues, we headed back to Brighton for a (windy) stroll on the promenade.

Two missionaries, and more than two beach hits

On Monday morning we headed back up north again, to visit Mike's mum and family in Shropshire. It was a great week with plenty of home cooking and time spent relaxing. 

OMUK is in the countryside!

We also visited the OM UK base at the "Quinta" to feed back on our first two years in Brazil, and to discuss our next two! We are also able to join in with the Thursday morning prayer time, and share a little with the team there.

Friday night saw us returning to Brighton to complete our third week.

Give us a call!

Our new phone is now installed in Brazil! You can call us from the UK at normal UK rates on our new Brighton number:

(01273) 900262

(You don't need the 01273 if calling from Brighton)

Holiday in the UK - Part 1

Well, it doesn't seem long ago we were stepping off the plane at Heathrow - and here we are back in São José dos Campos. A really great 6 weeks - many places visited, many curries eaten, many people relaxed-with and many photos taken. 

Thank you so much for the great welcome we received, and all the great hospitality and friendship. We've put together a quick photo-diary of what we got up to; you may have seen some of the photos on Facebook - but some new ones here too. We'll do two or three posts as too much to fit into one - so here's Part 1 …

We arrived pretty exhausted and so spent the first week relaxing. We were blessed with a really great house to stay in near Wish Park, and it was so nice NOT to have a routine for a change. Our UK tour started in our second full week, taking in Wales, Birmingham and Bath - as you can see below:

On the Wednesday, we set off for Merthyr Tydfil to meet up with old friends from Wales, USA and UK.

Somewhere near Abergavenny ...

Cup of Tea in Merthyr

At the chippy 

After that we crossed over to Birmingham - Halesowen to be exact - home of "OM Lifehope" 

We visited friends there, and made some new ones. OM Lifehope offers training in English and evangelism. We had a tour of the base and learned more about what goes on there. 

Old friends in Halesowen

Not-so old friends in Halesowen

Worship during prayer evening at OM Lifehope

Lifehope ministry in Wolverhampton

A Brazilian in Halesowen

After two nights at Lifehope, we headed back South, but on the way we spent a few hours in Bath, walking around the historic city and visiting the famous Roman baths. 

Outside the baths in, er, Bath

Fancy a bath?

The kids and Jane

A boy in the street

We stopped off briefly at Stonehenge, and finally arrived back in Brighton on Friday evening. Quite a whirlwind tour!

Some old stones