Welcome back to Bradford

Saturday Sept 27th 

We left America one week ago today, and arrived in Bradford on Monday. I am determined to keep a journal this time of our daily activities.  I cant remember so much of our time here last time. Maybe another day I’ll write of our journey until today, but I really want to make note of what happened today. Billy and I are still going through a bit of culture shock- even though we know Bradford so well, we still battle it. We are mentally exhausted, but Linda has been so good to us here. She has helped look after us and let us get settled some.  Today was our first Saturday Gathering and most people that were here before remembered us,-  their faces lit up to see us. There were lots of new faces in the crowd as well, and they couldn’t believe we had come all this way just for them. It was an easy night at Saturday Gathering, calm and gentle, the way we like it. Billy and I manned the door- our usual post, but its my favorite post, as I get to chat with everyone as they  come in and go out. 

Gods timing is perfect. We know we are meant to be here in this season. Already we see so many struggles here and things people need guidance on. We met several new people at the Community Meals and have caught up with the ones who were here before. I met three new gentlemen the other day, one is Goth, and he invited us to the Whitby goth weekend for Halloween, Lol. 

We have had opportunity to pray for several people for healing.  One guy battling lung cancer, and several who are going through grief over loss of family members or close friends. 

Yesterday, I was able to go for a training to become a pastor to the homeless. We trained in first aid, CPR, de-escalation techniques, and went through some sexual abuse training. It was a great training and it was great to catch up with some people we haven’t seen since pre-covid. One guy kept going on about the time we had prayed for him way back when and how he had needed it at the time. It was wonderful to see where the Lord had him now. 

We have been a part of 2 bible studies this week already, and will be leading 2 different bible studies in the coming weeks as well. 

While we have been dealing with acclimating and what we would consider going through the motions, putting one foot in front of the other, God has already been doing so much. 

Tonight, on our way home from Saturday Gathering, we stopped in a little store front and God showed up. The store clerk heard our accents, and asked us where we were from and what we were doing in Bradford. It opened the door for a long conversation with her. We ended up standing there for 40 minutes talking about all things politics, Charlie Kirk, and morals. She is a self proclaimed atheist and stated she has never had much for religion, but she said she had been listening to Charlie kirk for a while and he had managed to change her viewpoints on things She even said at one point she had considered going to church but said she was worried she wouldn’t know how to act or what to do. We got to witness to her. We talked to her about the Lord and I believe she is almost ready to accept the Lord. She is definitely being wooed by the Spirit. We were just about to ask her if she wanted to accept him right then, and another customer came in and she had to go back to work. She lives right down the road from us though and we know the Lord put us here to be able to minister to her. We know her name and are praying her into the kingdom. We will be purposely stopping by that store on the regular now to continue to encourage her. It is encounters like this that encourage so much.  

Please keep praying for us, and pray for little Mocha.  She has been sick the past 4 days with bad diarrhea, and we would be lying if we said we weren’t worried about her.  We are proclaiming her healing, and have an appt at the vet on Tuesday, the earliest they could get us in, but I plan to call them first thing tomorrow morning.