Merry Christmas!

Well this may be our last post from the UK for quite some time!

We finished here in Birmingham last Thursday. We are still here though til this Friday (21/12) as we have more space to do all our packing. So far it just looks like a bomb has gone off! Hopefully it will look like we've had a bit more progress by tomorrow evening as we leave Friday morning!

It has been a good term here which we have enjoyed, but we're also glad to be getting going now! Although the reality of it all is starting to sink in, and is quite scary. We've been really blessed with some great people to train with here at IMC and we will miss them a lot - but hopefully stay in touch.

We will spend about a week with family over Christmas, then we're in Liverpool for a bit over new year and then on the 5th and 6th of January as we have a commissioning service at the Tab (our church in Liverpool) on the 6th.

Then off on the 8th in the evening. When we get there we have 8 weeks language and orientation training before we actually start teaching. We're looking forward to this as it will give us time to acclimatise to a new way of life - but i think we will be itching to get back into the class room by the end of it.
We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends and a Happy New Year too. Dan and Becky.

Good News

When we last wrote KISC (Kathmandu International Study Centre) was having a few issues, but since then we have had some good news. The school achieved it's legal status recently, as before it was only temporary and hadn't been approved by the new government. Now it has more capability to apply for visas and do various other things which a temporary institution wouldn't be able to do.

We have also heard they have found a new site, which is available to move onto in January, in time for our arrival. Although this hasn't been confirmed yet. When we first get out there we'll be living in a hostel owned by the school, before finding our own flat.

We're currently working hard on assignments and are starting to organise our stuff. Working out what we need to take, what we want to take and what don't need. It is already looking like a 'fun' job! We only have 3 weeks left here now and it seems pretty scary that it'll all be over soon and we'll be off.

Other news is that one of the couples who were supposed to be coming to Nepal with us have found out this week that they no longer are. They were supposed to be living in the south of the country but for various reasons they won't be. It's obviously been a bit of a shock for them, but there are some other options open to them elsewhere which they are looking into. It means that they probably won't be going out in January as planned, unless something else gets sorted very quickly.

Last thing is that BMS World Mission (the agency we're going with) website has been relaunched. If you'd like to take a look then go to http://www.bmsworldmission.org/ and if you click on people and places you should be able to find us, although the info is very limited at the moment! You can also use the website to find out a bit more about what they do if you want to.

Dan & Becky

Dates

Since we last wrote not a lot has changed for us. We are now well into the course at Birmingham and have settled into assignments and lectures again as if it'd only been 5 minutes since we were last studying. Although we do have much more recent experience than many of those studying with us.

However the future is now starting to look much clearer. About 2 weeks ago a couple who teach at the school in Kathmandu we will be teaching at came to the college and we were able to have quite a long chat and ask some of the many questions that have been on our minds. We found out many things we didn't know, for example Kathmandu is on a fault line and is quite a high earthquake risk! We will be teaching mostly American and Korean children, even though the school is English and uses an English curriculum.

More concerning is the news that the school has been given until the 20th December to vacate the premises it is currently in. It has only been there 2 years having been kicked out of the last place in similar circumstances. Obviously this has direct consequences for us as when we arrive in January we have no idea where the school will be, or even if it will have a new premises. If they find nowhere else then they will use hotels in the meantime, but obviously it is a big concern for those at the school at the minute.

We have also been contacted directly by the school and have organised our language and orientation training. This will begin on Monday 14th January, and will take 2 months. Part of it will involve living with a local Nepali family for a few days to give us the opportunity of seeing how they live and practising our language. We are quite nervous about this although it should be a great experience.

As a result we have also got a provisional date for leaving the country. It looks like we will be going out on the 8th January, although this hasn't been confirmed yet. It should be hectic few weeks, with Christmas, New Year, our commissioning service in Liverpool on the 6th of January, then flying out, starting language training, and in amongst all that celebrating Dan's birthday!

A really positive aspect of life in Birmingham is that 2 other couples who are training with us will also be going to Nepal, and one of these will be in Kathmandu. Although they won't be teaching it will be great to have another couple who we already consider friends moving there with us.

The final thing for now, is that as part of our work with BMS we have to publish a regular prayer/newsletter. We are putting together a list of people to receive this at the moment. If you would like to be on the list then please let us know.

If you want to publish comments or responses then feel free, if you don't have a google account then just use the anonymous option and sign your name on the message you write (it won't appear straight away as we have to authorise it!).

Dan and Becky.

A new home

We are now here in Birmingham and this last week we have been settling into our new home. We arrived on Monday and have a nice little flat, including a very small living area. We felt very fortunate to have been allocated this as not everyone has a flat, some just have two en-suite bedrooms.

IMC (International Mission Centre) is set in lovely grounds and is a great old building. This week has involved learning our way around the maze of corridors and finding out about all the facilities. We've also been getting to know the other people who will be training with us, some, like us, who are here till Christmas, and others who will be here the whole year before going overseas indefinitely.

The most enjoyable part about Birmingham so far has been the food! Lunch and Dinner are prepared by an amazing cook. The food she produces is some of the best I've ever tasted, and she does it twice a day! I think we shall be rolled out of here at Christmas several sizes larger.

Last week we read an interesting story on the BBC about Nepal, especially interesting for any of you planning to come visit. You may well know what I'm talking about, but if not check out the story following this link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6979292.stm

Dan & Becky

Boxes, boxes everywhere

I'm not exaggerating either. Our house is full of boxes. Thankfully very soon these will all be transferred to our parents, and we're sure they will be delighted.

Our long, wet, summer is drawing to a close. We've managed to keep ourselves busy, mostly organising stuff for moving, however with less than 24 hours till we move everything out it still seems to be all last minute and rushed.

This evening we are off to a farewell BBQ with our church housegroup. Then tomorrow we will fill our hired van and transport all the stuff we have accumulated over the years back to our Mums & Dads. I'm sure it will only seem like yesterday they managed to get rid of it all. We then have only a few hours to get back up to Liverpool with our van or they will charge us an exorbitant amount for late return.

We leave our house for good on Friday, handing over the keys to the two girls who will be renting it. We are staying in Liverpool for the weekend, a farewell meal with friends at our favourite Curry house and then a goodbye meal at church on Sunday.

We then return to the south and have a week with our family before a week on holiday in Portugal with our two little sisters. Then we head for Birmingham and the start of our training.

It still seems a long way off, but in 3 weeks from now we shall be living in Birmingham! We were talking the other day about how strange, and sad, that our days in Liverpool are coming to an end. I've been here 9 years and Becky 6. As long as either of us have lived anywhere. I've now managed 9 years in Thetford, 9 in Grove and Liverpool has completed the set. Hopefully it won't be 9 in Birmingham too!

As Liverpool celebrates it's 800th birthday today, it seems fitting that the celebrations are rounding off our stay here. It's been a great city for us both, we came not knowing the other and leave on a joint adventure.

Dan & Becky

Leaving Work

Hello again. Thought it time we update you all on our adventures - even though they are barely started.

We've now both finished work. We won't teach another class for 6 months! It's weird to think that we won't be going back to our respective schools in September, I guess it'll really start to sink in about then that we are making big changes. Mind you if we were going back in September we wouldn't have got such nice presents from our friends at work.

Knowing my fondness for a certain football team my form brought me a huge Norwich flag which they all signed and a Norwich football. We also received many other gifts that will remind us of our work there.

We're now working our way through the summer. I'm keeping busy marking coursework and this week Becky is helping out at our church Summer Kids Club. It means she's dressing up as a pirate for the week!

Things are beginning to fall very smoothly into place. Becky's car was sold with minimal fuss and no need for advertising. Hopefully mine will follow suit in January. Our finances are starting to take shape too. We've set up a bank account that allows for free withdrawals abroad, slightly better than £1.50 every time with our current bank! We are also in the process of setting up a Stewardship Account, which will allow anyone who wishes to support us financially to have the money gift aided. Those of you who would like details about this then just make a comment to this message(we won't publish it) or email us.

Next week we celebrate our second wedding anniversary, which appears to have come round staggeringly fast. It will also see a sad day as we will be giving away our cats. Never thought I'd say that but it's strange what effect 2 little cats can have on you when you live with them for 2 years! Still, they are going to a good home!

That's all for now,

Dan

Birmingham

Thought it was time that I added my voice to this blog since Dan has started it off.

Last Saturday (9th June) we went down to Birmingham for the day to see where we would be when we go down in September for 3 months training. We met 2 of the people who run the training as well as some others who will be doing the training with us as they also prepare to go overseas.

While we are there we will have classes each morning, and then some study time each afternoon. We will be doing a variety of courses on the Bible, Christian doctrine, other religions, mission, cross cultural preparation, BMS, practicalities of moving and living abroad and so on.

The training centre is all in one building, where we will live, eat and study. We will have a small en suite room to ourselves, food is fully catered and there are quite a few communal facilities such as a lounge, computer room, gym and library. We are really looking forward to the change from normal life for a term, seeing it as a break from work and a great opportunity to prepare for going abroad. However, we are a little concerned about the lack of private space we will have there, but it is only for one term and I'm sure it will be character building!!

In the last week or so we have found 2 girls from our church here in Liverpool to rent our house, and a friend of mine (and her boyfriend) from uni has agreed to adopt our two gorgeous cats! Which is great news!

Becky.

All official now

Well there's no going back now, both Becky and myself have had our replacements appointed. It's brought to us a clear realisation that we are out of here!

I think I've found this harder as I'm more established in my school than Becky. We have both enjoyed strong departments and a good group of friends which we will miss.

We've also realised we're going to be missing at least 3 weddings while we're away, probably more, my Mum's 60th birthday and of course Norwich City's assault on the Championship title next year and their successful qualification for the Champions League the season after. We're definitely disappointed about this (not the football, the other things), but also recognise that this is all part of the sacrifice you have to make to have this amazing opportunity.

We've also been reassured that we're making the right move in the past few weeks. Everything is slotting into place relatively smoothly. Whenever we seem to hit a problem or a snag the solution is quickly apparent.

We are still looking to rent our house. We have some interested parties, but nothing certain yet, so if you do know anybody that is looking to rent a very nice, fully furnished 2 bedroom house in South Liverpool then get in touch!

We're going down to IMC in Birmingham in a few weeks. This is where we'll be living in September. It's a chance to look round and get a feel for what life for 3 months might be like. Hopefully we'll also meet some of the other mid-term people we'll be training with at the same time.

Dan

A brand new start

Hey, it's here, the one you've all been waiting for!

We've decided to set up a blog to keep people uptodate with us as we prepare, train and go with BMS to Nepal.

I guess theres not much to say at the minute, if you're reading this you'll already be aware of our impending move. Just to go over the details for you:

In July we'll both finish at our schools in Merseyside. In September we'll move to Birmingham to train at the International Mission Centre in Selly Oak. Then after 3 months of being students again we'll fly to Nepal in early January 2008!

We'll be teaching at a school called Kathmandu International Study Centre, or KISC for short. Check out the website www.kisc.edu.np .

We'll try and use this site to keep you up to date with what's going on with us and hopefully include some photos so you get and an idea of what our lives our like in Nepal.

We hope you enjoy reading this blog.

Dan & Becky