After the pandemic hiatus and the very limited, sporadic opportunities for travel, I will be picking up with some more networking travel at the end of the summer and into the autumn. Here are some of those opportunities:
First, I was not able to do a mobilisation trip to ministry partners in Spain in May, as I had planned. Not to put too fine a point on it but I noticed that my UK passport was expiring in a few months, which prompted me to apply for my new one, which took a while, and I did not receive it until the beginning of June (but I do have it now, which is an answer to prayer).
Site visits in France, Italy and Germany
After preaching on the 7th of August, I head to the Continent (Paris is my first stop), and I will be back home in Wales on the 3rd of September (Deo volente). During those weeks of travelling, I’m hoping to do some site visits in areas where three, specific, European minority languages are spoken, namely (1) Francoprovençal (Arpitan), (2) Piemontese, and (3) Sorbian. I have not been in these areas very much, nor done much research on these language groups on the ground, so to speak. This will be an opportunity for me to get a better feel for these areas and the situation there, as well as trying to connect with national believers from these language groups, or with an interest in reaching them with the Gospel. While on the Continent, I’m also planning to take a few days of vacation time in Vienna, Nürnberg, and Berlin right in the middle of the other travel. I’ll end up in Amsterdam to meet with some former, missions colleagues in order to talk about ways of working together in mission.
Prayerwalking in Italy, meetings in Estonia, vision trip in Wales
October is also going to be a busy month of travel and ministry. At the beginning of the month (1st), I’ll be travelling to Austria, then on to Italy with a team from True North Community Church in Utah. We will be doing a prayer-walking project in the area of the Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy, which is where the Dolomitic Ladin language is spoken (3-10 October). When the Team departs for the USA on the 10th, I will head to Berlin on that same morning, then fly on to Helsinki on the morning of the 11th, then crossing over to Tallinn, Estonia by ferry that afternoon. I will be in Estonia for several days, reconnecting with our partners there and developing new mission strategies with them and other potential ministry partners. Then, I’m back to Helsinki on the 20th for more meetings with potential partners, and I return to the UK on the 22nd. On the 25th, we’ll be hosting a Vision Trip project in conjunction with our long-term partners at First Baptist Church of Orange Park, Florida (FBCOP), and their senior pastor, Revd. Dr. David Tarkington. They move on to London on the 30th.
Of course, during all this, there is always correspondence, administration, writing, publishing, planning at the organisational level in addition to simply being a testimony to Jesus among all those with whom I come into contact on the local missionary level. Wearing multiple hats can be a bit overwhelming sometimes—prayers are appreciated.